Charlie Wayman

Absolutely inspiring as long as we have the courage to stop all those other lesser equipped greedy bastards from stealing our best graduates. Cortese must tell the "BIG Four" to Eff Off and build their own systems if they want good players in the future.

Only to half-wits with their heads in the sand. The thinking people know he has a point.

This is not news. Likely Bids for these players has already been widely reported in the press. OXO has not be mentioned anywhere in a Liverpool connection, only Gooners and they have more immediate concerns to address as has been widely discussed on here before as well.

We are Swiss owned. Roger Federer always wears a plain Swiss-Red shirt and White shorts so let's guess that we'll be in a Red shirt with a White sash next season and White shorts and White socks. We always do well in white socks. No Black. Just a variation of gym kit. Well, I only get three a day so might as well use them all....

Bloody Hell! Somebody actually agrees with me for a change and that is not to knock the great managerial job that he is doing here. Maybe we should appoint Gerard Houllier as DoF to help Nigel, a role that should work for Houllier as well despite his fragility. Nicola... over to you to sort out the details.... After all he helped discover and groom most of the French tam that won the World Cup and European Cup a few years back.

Why does this thread bring to mind the great lately-departed Lord Duckhunter? Best grass, best food, best hospitality... the one thing he forgot was we played not the best football! Who was that Welsh comedian bloke (Max Boyce?) who used to patronise the England Rugby Team of the 70's by saying: "We may have beaten you but at least you had the best jerseys!"

The biggest threat will be injuries and a lack of quality in depth in midfield. Lose Lallana or Schneiderlin through injury for any length of time and we could struggle. Keeping them 100% fueled up for 46 games will be a very big 'Ask' and of course we can't by the law of sod.

Wrong. Not even Cortese would expect top whack before he can guarantee a full house. Competition for spaces it's called. My guess is it won't be a blanket increase of 20% but a variable rate depending on position and seat cost, say 25/30% on higher value tickets and maybe only 10/15% on lower value tickets. That way you don't lose those least able to pay and the rich bastards can subsidise the poor. It's called being decent and democratic if you're poor and soaking withe **** if you're rich. A time honoured principle and imaginative unlike the football we'll get to see.

Never heard of a free press then? Hadn't got you down as a bigot. What ya wanna do, pick on them when things are goinfg badly?

I think we have to look deeper than the surface on this. Wenger will be under tremendous pressure after a very disappointing season and it remains to be seen whether the restructured ownership at Highbury still buy into Arsene's philosophy of buying in good cheap youngsters and turning then into superstars who form the basis of a team that win everything... Except of course that THEY DON"T! This is the big question and if they decide it's time to call it quits, Wenger may well be shown the door (in a gentlemanly fashion of course like being retired upstairs to be Head of Yuf Development or some-such hollow title. If Wenger goes then expect Arsenal to adopt new policies and start buying in more experienced players from overseas like their rivals and Yuf will fo now have had it's day there. We keep getting told that Arsenal 'have no money' so in these circumstances £10m for Oxo makes as much sense as watching England play test cricket against Sierra Leone on a wet Wednesday. My guess is either; (a) The Echo is stirring to get some sales in this dead part of the year (b) Oxo's dad is panicking 'cos he knows his lad is the last thing on the minds of Arsenal's management right now The other question is his own demeanour - he looked very happy indeed at the Walsall match and was clearly delighted to be part of a winning team on the up. Nor is it affecting his England career being in a lower division, so from his perspective "what's to worry about yet?" "Money", I hear you say, "Money" I'm sure he's getting more than £30 a week as well, Cortese is far from being naive fool of that you can be very well assured.

This thread is the greatest feat of self-delusion in the history of this halucinogenic website. The idea is so preposterous that it can be taken seriously only by those who are permanently ****ed out of their heads. For goodness sakes guys get real and grow up.

Why would they sell when they could walk the league next season. Don't be surprised if they repeat what they did in 05/06

Don't fancy Cardiff and Reading as rivals next year, managers or no managers. Could all our nightmares be Blue? Those two plus Brum, Brighton and Pompey

We are already a foreign owned club with (a few) foreign players are we not so where does that leave your pronouncement? Where does English-ness or British-ness begin and end for you? You'd be wiser to remember that this so-called 'foreign money' is investing in Britain employing many thousands of UK nationals who might otherwise be jobless including players from these islands. The more attractive the product the greater the inward investment. Money attracts money so it's all to the good. Your "professorship" is clearly not in philosophy or economics

Exactly how do you "avoid going up"? That's a concept I can't quite get my head around unless you're talking about match fixing! I'm hoping we can avoid going down but after that will take anything on offer. Evidently the current team couldn't beat ManUre's 2nd XI so no chance they could survive in the PL so the answer to your question is 'No'. We must build a PL squad before we get promotion not when we get there and are struggling to survive.

All any of you need to remind yourselves is that every team that went up via the play-offs for the past 6 years has come staright back down again. talking about the top six is therefore futile. Talk about the top two and you might be getting somewhere but not top 6 and let's get real, saints will ne tbe top 2 for sure. I'd guess Cardiff to win it and Swansea for auto. Yep, I know that means Reading to go up next weekend and then down again next year! The south's version of Yo-Yo specialists WBA Brum, WHU and Blackpool are most likely to implode and sink to mid-table as players stampede for the exit door and managerial changes.

I wondered who that plank was who kept driving past me and honking his horn. It's normally very quiet in Chilbolton Avenue so I thought I'd better put you straight before or all your horny mates turn up with their old bangers honking the place out! It was not Nigel Adkins it was me!

This is great news. David Connolly is a really nice bloke and will be good for the dressing room. He's a trier, he's blessed with rare skills and never stops running: let's wish him well with fitness this season. 20 goals from him and we should get the 46 points minimum we need to stay up. What a choice to have to make, David Connolly or Lee Barnard, two very similar types of players all fired up, that'll keep No 7 honest for sure although I don't see it as a problem as Ricky Lambert just keeps improving every game. In fantasy land I would prefer Michael Owen as the fox-in-the-box but for now David Connolly will do me just fine. I like him, I like his attitude, I love his goals - what's not to like?

The aim of course is to knock balls into spaces where we do have players which is why Morgan Schneiderlin may well turn out to be the best midfielder we ever had here. It's called looking around you long before you receive and pass the ball - not a difficult skill to acquire especially by one with international pretensions. Anders was an enigma, some time she appeared to be classy but on too many other occasions he clearly bottled out of tackles or couldn't be arsed to run and tackle so letting oppos run past him into dangerous areas. Overall verdict: a flawed artists who flattered to deceive - 4/10

;-))

It's not just football, it's everything, shows, restaurants you name it every bugger wants you to book in advance these days - always with a friggin' booking fee of course and penalty clauses if you decide on the night not to go. It's all a marketing con designed to scare you witless about not getting in so that you part with your money early; once they get it try getting it back! It works only because too many people are gullible or daft enough to fall for it; those who "must have" or "can't say no" screw the rest of us they never stop to reflect that it doesn't matter a toss whether you miss a game or not or don't go to a particular restaurant. Time after time when you arrive pre-booked there's always plenty of room and how annoying is that - very effing annoying!!! It's very rare to see a genuine sell-out. Sadly this nonsense of pre-booking costs everyone in the end not least the perpetrators 'cos as likely as not a lot of us get the hump and say "sod that for a load of ****" and don't bother to go anyway.

As always simply not bold enough in the clear-out so some expensive journeymen get retained whatever their past contribution and irrespective of our future needs. So with few going through the building "Exit" expect even fewer coming in through the "Entrance". Looks like every seat on that effing bus has an annoying. 'Reserved' ticket stuck on it! The retained list always gives some insight into what will happen next. This one suggests a lack of toughness in telling a player his time has come wahtever his past contribution - FFS we are not running a bloody retirement home - but taht's what you could expect when everyone has a smile on their faces? If they are all friends and mates together as one, it'll be like a 'flippin Masonic Circle - with no room for anybody trying to break into it.... ... and inevitable it means we have not freed up any wage bill constraints to add some bigger signings. For this announcement read "more of the same", "no change", "we're good enough as we are to do a 'Norwich' etc. I hope they are right, 'cos we won't have much say in it yet are expected to shell out another £5/600 to support their beliefs. 'Twas always thus - Saints fans get used to boots in the ballacks... one at a time lads, please!

Absolutely right. At the end of the day it's League 2 football and there's a recession on and biting deeper ever week. A lot of people are going to struggle this year and onwards and quite a few will lose jobs and committing to a ST for many right now would be considered by many non-footballing wives a luxury too far with such uncertainty ahead. You know the old cry - "cut out the fags and booze and look at all the money we can save" to go on holiday to some worthless despotic slumpit of a dog-****e beach or perhaps more meaningfully on a new pair of trousers for Wayne or dress for Tina.... 17500 tops in my view at start with maybe another thousand picking up the half-season bargains at Christmas if we're doing well enough to be in woth a shout od something worthwhile at the end.

You shouldn't spend the rest of your life knocking Harry Redknapp. He'e done well when given a free hand, the real trouble here was the constant meddling in team affairs by the Great Lord Duckhunter and his refusal to open up the clubs purse strings and allow HR some room for manoeuvre on players coming in on loan or acquisitions. Still the Great Lord never did "get it", that ultimately it isn't about running a business from the bottom line it's about running a half decent football team. You eternal slaggers off of HR should respect the fact that he has taken Spurs a long way beyond their level and ours when we beat Spurs here twice in a week in our Cup Final Season of 2003.

Mancini to take over apparently.. just heard on RTI