The Kraken

Its also very much a generalisation to say that expensive players take much longer to sign than cheaper ones. Have we paid over the odds for Rodriguez? I'd say that's the going rate. Steven Fletcher is a very average Premier League player who scores around the 10 goal mark per season, yet Wolves have just turned down an increased bid of £12M for him. Its hard to say this given that we've spent £10M so far; but maybe the realisation of just how much you have to spend to compete in the PL is coming home to roost. £2.5M for Clyne is a relative bargain, Davis was a pittance too. They are the exception; to get proper quality it takes a good deal of spending.

We already got Rodriguez. That was quite ambitious, wasn't it? And as I've said there have been plenty of big money signings that have gone through so far; how have they all happened?

That's almost in line with the amount of players NA says he wants. Up to £20M would be an incredible amount based upon what we've spent so far.

I'm thoroughly confused. We spent £7M on JRod to get him in June, but this type of thing isn't possible for other players. Although Arsenal clearly haven't had similar problems, they bought 3 players for £40M by early August. Like you say Chelsea got Hazard (plus Marin and Oscar for big money), Man U have got RVP, Man City have got Rodwell, QPR have got Hoilett, Liverpool have got Borini, along with many others from the PL clubs. Hmmm.

What about all the players who've transferred to clubs for fairly high transfer fees so far? Like RVP today, if you like. Why have they gone through if its so difficult?

Sorry, I don't understand why a higher standard of player takes longer to bring in? What evidence is there of this?

Well yes. neither I nor anyone else AFAIK have said that we won't bring in players before the transfer deadline. But if the manager deems it imprtant to bring players in before then, then I defer to his expertise. That it hasn't happened must be a disappointment to him, as it obviously is to us. My biggest fear is that we end up taking a Hooiveld-type gamble again. That worked for us last year, but surely no-one can argue against the fact that it really was a last minute roll of the dice. JH had been turned down by Copenhagen (where he had been on loan) and was massively out of favour at Celtic. yet he was our last throw of the dice and thank God it worked out positively. I'd like to see us avoid that type of last minute gamble this term. I'd also have liked the opportunity for the starting XI to play at least one pre-season game together; that opportunity has long passed. According to NA we're on the lookout for up to 5 more players. And we have 2 weeks to get them. We'll see what happens. As to your saying you don't believe it was realistic to get players before the season's kick off; I'd simply say that Reading set that target for themselves and achieved what they wanted to do in plenty of time.

Well you missed the most obvious one. 7) Player deferrals of £8M+ to be re-negotiated down to the £2M that the trust have available. That there is the ball game. No agreement with football creditors = no golden share.

No. And paying your fiver might be a start to getting the gig, you bloody tightwad.

I love it that Scotland are going for the Jack Charlton Rep of Ireland squad selection route by picking, well, Englishmen. Matt Phillips, Dan Fox, Jordan Rhodes; keep that going and we'll have a whole new B-team.

Don't know. If Jarvis goes to a bigger PL team I think he could be in with a shout. 8 goals for Wolves last term is impressive. But at 26 he's got to be thinking that his time is very fast running out. I know that I'd prefer us to sign Jarvis than Phillips. Although either owuld be most welcome.

And hasn't yet done so. Hence the lower price tag.

Matt Jarvis has played for England and scored 8 goals in the Premier League last year (as a midfielder) so has that on his side.

I'm thinking exactly this, an X-Factor style knockout bonanza.

I've avoided the rest of your post as its largely irrelevant after the opening line. We know that Nigel Adkins said he wanted to bring in up to 6 more players before the season started. We know that of those 6 he has been successful so far in bringing in 1 of those player positions, that of a reserve goalkeeper. We know that the season kicks off in 3 days time and its going to be going some (in the extreme) to have those players in place by then. What more is there to know? The manager set a target of bringing in players before the start of the season. That target looks set to fail. We may or may not bring those players in before the window shuts at the end of the month, time will tell. Stick your fingers in your ears if that makes the world carry on spinning for you if you wish. But no-one has suggested the club are doing nothing, and o-one has suggested we won't bring in anyone before the end of the window. once again I'm minded to wonder why some people need to invent a point of view to counter; can you really not counter the actual argument in the first place, so you have to make another one up?

Yes I know. They should have been. But the FL perhaps saw that there was a possibility the original creditors would have agreed to the CVA modification and therefore why the punishment was less than not actually agreeing a CVA in the first place. Do take note that I don't agree with this argument, but I can see where there is ambiguity.

You don't know what the creditors would have agreed to. No-one does, because they weren't asked. But being as Chainrai overwhelmingly held the cards in terms of the percentage of the debt there's a very good chance that any altering of the terms would have gone through.

Probably because Pompey's original CVA has been diluted and not scrapped altogether. They would still have paid some of the amount owed, but not all of it. There is an argument (not one that I ascribe to) that they could have gone back to all of the original CVA-1 creditors and put it to the vote again as to whether they would accept the revised terms of their CVA. If this had been the case, and if those creditors had agreed, there is the argument that the -10 is "unfair". Again, I don't for one minute agree with that, for me as soon as the terms of CVA-1 are not met or are altered then it has by definition failed and the club should be punished just the same as if they didn't have a CVA in the first place.

I got that far. No they won't have egg on their faces. I haven't come across a post yet that says we definitely won't sign players before the end of the window. Have you? I've seen quite a few (including my own) who relate to the fact that Nigel Adkins identified a requirement for up to 6 more new players (2 x GK, 2 x CB, 1 x RM, 1 x LB/LM), and that he wanted/expected them before the season started. To date we have one of those on his list (Gazzaniga), and are now linked with a formal bid for 1 more. So at the moment there's a bit of a discrepancy between what the manager was expecting by now, and what has happened. I didn't read the rest as that first line was so inaccurate to the actual discussion. Why do people have to make things up and put words in other people's mouths just to form a counter-argument. Is is that difficult to actually debate the issue that you have to make up a new one to rail against?

Its a throughly difficult sell to the FL. Survival relies upon re-negotiation of the players' deferrals and payments, which Birch has already just spent the past few months to get to the current figure. He needs to now shave off another 75% of that agreed figure. There are still parachute payments in the system which could be withheld and diverted straight to the players, so all the guff of "accept the new conditions or they'll get nothing if the club is liquidated" is a bit of a nonsense. And the PFA will look after their own and lobby for those funds to be paid. I genuinely cannot see how the FL can agree to the golden share in the current incarnation. And I cannot see how Trevor Birch, appointed by the courts, can justifaibly suggest there is a better than even chance that the takeover will go through with the current offer on the table.

I ran out of fingers to add it all up.

Vote Turkish.

So you predict we'll finish 8th?

He grew up in Cornwall (near Falmouth) and learned to sail there. Hence the mini uproar about the town of Restronguet getting a post box painted gold in his honour and not Lymington.

Also of Bolton, Stuart Holden was a great prospect before getting seriously injured. Looks like he may be back this season, would probably not be worth the risk but if he's fit and firing he'll look very good in the Championship.