The Kraken

Why do you say West Ham have no cash for transfers? All of their transfers have been undisclosed so there's no way of knowing for sure; but it looks like so far they've spent around £7M or £8M. They were looking at Carroll for a £2M loan fee (which would have taken them up to our level of spending), and God only knows what they are and will be paying in wages. For all the talk of them being financially f*cked, they're certainly not being run like that. They do play some poor football, but they have some good players and Allardyce is a good manager in this division who proved with Blackburn that he can get a poor side to comfortable mid-table. I think West Ham will finish the highest of the promoted sides.

I think poor old Ash is a bit angry and confused, bless him.

You're making yourself look a bit silly, pal.

I don't rate him at all. So much so that I think that given that his U21 and Olympics appearances are behind him, I reckon he'll be playing Championship football within 2 years. He hasn't got anywhere near Tottenham's first team and (13 first team games in 5 years) and, now 22, really doesn't have many games under him at all (and most of them at Championship level).

I'm warming to it. The sheer amount of pictures and loading times are still what I feel lets it down, its all a bit over the top, and unnecessarily cluttered in places. But the navigation is definitely better than the old site, that was shockingly bad for finding older articles. This new site is better and people will get used to it, I just hope the loading times and overuse of photos can be sorted out.

Excellent, another thread where Alpine gets rabidly angry, hostile and irrational.

After bigging up Johnno Quick I completely forgot about his 27 minute cameo Pretty poor all round, really. Although seeing the development side thrash others by similar scores it'll be good for them to start playing in a league with proper competition within their age range. And probably give a much better idea as to whether they're ready for the first team/squad.

There's only 2 of them. What's the story with the other 9?

Another #SaintsFC substitution: Jonathan Forte replaces Sam Hoskins with 63 minutes gone. Here it comes...

Its ok, Johnno Quick is gonna come off the bench and fire 4 goals for a famous comeback victory....

Whoops. GOAL: SUTTON 3-0 SAINTS U21 (IBE 41)

Maybe we should make it so that you're only allowed to discuss things with a positive slant? That might be less offensive to some if any negative posts were just deleted.

The Mo looked dead on his feet, can't see him doing anything. 5K and 10K is too much.

Not necessarily. Bertrand started the Champions League final with Ashley Cole, so di Matteo may see an alternative role for him. Chelsea don't have another left sided defender so they have no proper backup for cole without Bertrand. Can't see him going anywhere, particularly as Cole is not getting any younger and indeed may need to be rested against the lesser teams and for cup games.

Clubs are allowed up to 8 "standard" loans during a season; 4 of those have to be of players under 23 years of age.

You can't field a player who isn't registered to the club with the Football League. Its why there are deadlines before games so you can't just sign someone 3 minutes prior to kick off. For weekend games I think the deadline if Friday at midday, not sure for weekday games. They may have to put out a youth team against Plymouth if the takeover drags on, I can't believe the Football League will gloss over it and sign without ensuring there is security that all their conditions will be fulfilled (actually scratch that, its the Football League so I have no confidence in them at all). I'd have thought they need to work through the weekend to have the whole deal signed befoer Monday morning to allow for all the registrations with the FL etc to get done in time.

Well Birch has already said it'll take longer than the "deadline" of Friday. You'd imagine not much will get done over the weekend, at least nothing officially. They're playing Plymouth in the League Cup on Tuesday; so the deal for them has to be concluded before then to compete in that. In the time it takes for Chinny to agree to the takeover the FL have to agree to the transfer of the golden share (and with the various conditions attached to that it surely won't be a simple task), they have to agree contracts with players, and they have to get them registered with the football league. Not impossible, but a tough ask.

As long as Chainrai wants to bid, the Council's loan cannot be invoked. It was conditional on no other commercial bid being on the table. Therefore the Trust's bid doesn't exist unless Chainrai walks away, and they cannot afford to bid without the loan. Simple really.

Just for balance; a Man City side featuring Joe Hart, Gael Clichy, Joleon Lescott, James Milner, Samir Nasri, Nigel de Jong and Roque Santa Cruz lost in their pre-season game on Tuesday. To Oldham. Maybe on the back of that we're favourites for next Sunday's game?

Well you have to admire the (blind) optimism, I suppose. Although to be fair, if Fratton Park is taken out then the club really isn't worth much in itself down in League 1. Its just the level of lease payments for the stadium that would determine whether its a feasibile purchase or not, I'd suggest very much not. I don't know why Fratton Park is so important to them all of a sudden. Lots of their fans saying they wouldn't mind going down the phoenix route but losing Fratton Park would be a step too far and if that happened they'd jack it in. Yet they were perfectly happy to entertain ideas of moving to somewhere better when they were blinded by the Premier League's bright lights. Weird.

That's one option of course. But its a bit cleaner for him to get them to up their current £2.75M bid to around £4M or so and then just make a clean break. Surely even the Trust couldn't afford a £1M fee over their heads, I know they're desperate to take over but the profits on that just wouldn't stand up. And I expect the business rates would be utterly huge for a plot that size.

This BMXing is aboslutely mental, its like watching MarioKart. Brilliant stuff.

Really just outlines that the Trust have never been in the running; Birch was only ever going to deal with Portpin. You simply have to believe that Portpin and Birch have agreed a sum in terms of player wage deferrals that Chainrai is happy to swallow (it would be utterly ludicrous for Birch to agree sums blind to Portpin). The Trust have seemingly been kept out of the loop on this while they scratch together to find the money they need. The council putting the criteria for "no other commercial bid being on the table" gives Birch the get-out clause he needs to deal direct with Portpin and keep the Trust in the shadows. This could actually play into Chainrai's hands. He gets the club on the cheap; he gets to pay off the CVA and some of the derferrals without dipping into his own pocket (using parachute payments). And he can play the Trust to his own ends, get them to up their offer to him (they now don't have to fund the CVA so could add that to their offer to him for Fratton Park). So 2 years down the line, with parachte payments gone and Chainrai losing interest with no more funds to channel into his back pocket, he'll sell up to an increased Trust bid. You have to say hats off to the man, he's played Birch and the Trust absolutely perfectly.

Agreed. If we don't win by 2 goals we're sure to be relegated.

Maybe I'm thinking of another film then; this was also a blockbuster but the scene was in a London pub and there was a football game on the TV. Could have sworn it Mission Impossible, there we go.