The Kraken

According to Lambert himself, it would appear so. He gave an interview on TV where he admitted he'd been speaking to Steven Gerrard about a move for a few months.

Haven't seen wages but I reckon £40K is probably not right, surely? Not for a current England international at a Champs League club. If we're not offering more on a short term deal but (arguably) have Ramirez on his £2M a year net (up to £80K if that's anywhere true) then I guess it says "something". Quite what that is, I don't know! It was rumoured that in the lower leagues we were paying Lambert and Lallana £25K a week. If their wages "only" grew by £10K or £15K in the ensuing rise then it's an indication of the challenges we will face recruiting anyone decent enough to retain a top ten place.

God knows we absolutely need to. The perception right now is that we're spinning out of control with no direction at all; it's hard to feel comforted by the current situation; no wonder the players are getting agitated by it all. The Klingons are definitely off the starboard bow, the shields are up and they're shooting at us and every time they land a punch they are sapping our power.

We didn't announce that until 21 June last year, Diggo. Don't get me wrong, I think we're a shambles at the moment. The perception is terrible, and I'm losing faith by the day. But the idea that all would be rosyy if only Cortese were here is limited IMO, and very assumptive.

No Nick, I'm not certain about anything. Neither are you, or anyone else. What I'm pretty much convinced of, though, is that Cortese was on a spending spree that wasn't sustainable and it was a primary reason of why he walked away / was given the shove. he banged on for year on year about living within our means without actually achieving it. then the new board take over and make various references to overspending and the general financial situation that needs reigning in. If Cortese was still here and had the authority to spend as we was before, then I'd agree we'd likely still be in much, much better shape than we actually are. I just choose to ask the question of why he is not here, and the answer of "a perilous financial situation with unsustainable losses" keeps coming back.

This is going to be the new SWF myth, isn't it? "If Cortese was still here, none of this would be happening, we'd be progressing upwards rather than looking downwards". Dear oh Lord. It's going to be a very long summer.

And is Suarez worth £23M now?

Apart from Sturridge and our central defenders shutting out and both scoring, I don't think anyone else has done anything of real note tonight. Against limited opposition too. Still, just a very friendly game.

They're going to score 3 goals? Excellent.

Saints related post: Lallana has been utterly anonymous so far. No-one has shone for either side, but if Lallana wants his spot in the side for the actual games he needs more than this. Good goal.

Even worse. If he gets injured our only other "options" are Phil Jones, Chris Smalling or James Milner. It's a bit like watching Maya Yoshida at left back. That worked well....

This is even more boring than a pre-season Saints game. And that's an extremely low benchmark.

I was going to ask if Lallana had. What an awful game of football this is.

Very true Charles. Very true. Losing players to Man U, Man C, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and perhaps Spurs is inevitable IMO, those clubs have far much more to offer than Saints do. So when they come calling, those players will go 99% of the time. Fonte and Cork in all likelihood won't go to one of them; yet if they leave us for any other club it's a sign that we're just as inconsequential as we've always been. I thought at least that the days of losing players to the likes of Everton, Villa, Newcastle and Sunderland might be behind us. We'll see if that was misguided.

Last one out, turn off the lights.

Fake gear of variable quality; some pretty much as good as the original, others hopelessly substandard.

How about the Saints Foundation? I know that they've organised various trips abroad and given out new and old Saints shirts.

Correct. Well put.

I'd thought all season long that he was being lined up for the Director of Sport role.

Gary Lineker ‏@GaryLineker 54 mins Mauricio Pochettino is the new manager of Spurs. Needed to get that tweet out quickly before they fire him.

Its probably a minority opinion, but I can't really blame Pochettino for moving on. He came into the club promised a vision by Cortese; that has since changed. Cortese has moved on and the board are talking about financial consolidation rather than pressing on higher. Spurs will give him an actual chance of breaking the Champions League top 4 rather than staying here and being happy with another top ten finish. He did very well for us, absolutely no doubt about that, and moved us onwards and upwards from the superb groundwork that Adkins put in. That said, Pochettino also inherited an excellent bunch of players. The challenge now will be recruiting a decent manager and stopping the floodgates from opening. Though I'm not sure where I stand on believing we'll achieve either of those two things. Anyway; cheers for the memories but I can't send too many best wishes.

OK, serious question. If the teams in the Championship (or League 1 and League 2) don't think the system is fair, why haven't they done anything about it?

What's the alternative? Stick your fingers in your ears and pretend that it's all a complete mistake? Happy clap me up.

I have to say I agree! Well put.