The Kraken

Have we really? We have bought potential; Clyne and JRod looked quality in the Championship so we'll have to see how they step up. And we've signed a young keeper, also with potential. Davis obviously has PL quality. Reading have signed Danny Guthrie and Pavel Pogrebnyak. We've seen first hand the qualities of a young Danny Guthrie, Pogrebnyak did well last season and has also played in the top leagues in Russia and Germany. They've also go Nicky Shorey from West Brom (he started 25 games last season) and Stuart Taylor from Man City. In addition, Reading have also signed Garath McLearey, Adrian Mariappa and Chris Gunter from the Championship. No doubt, our signings look good so far, and at the end of the window may look a lot better than Reading's. As things stand I can't agree with your assessment that we've bought better than we have, they have made very astute signings so far.

Agree with the first part, I think we're relatively weak at CB and RM right now. Adkins has said already that we'll bring in one or two at CB, so that's being addressed. We'll see if we get anyone at RM; Matt Jarvis would have been a great signing but I imagine his price tag put most clubs off. Closer to the end of the window we'll see if anything happens, but I don't see any of Guly, de Ridder or Chaplow as a good enough starting option. CB is a definite problem position IMO. Fonte and Hooiveld together looked shaky last term (considering how strong we were everywhere else) and both prone to individual errors. IMO they would get torn apart in the PL. And the thing is, with the way our signings have gone so far with transfers from the lower leagues, I'm not sure there is a Championship defender I can think of who could come in and doing the job we need. Even Scott Dann, with his £6M boyout fee, is apparently not the player we need, he needs a commanding centre back next to him. Apart from Davis K and Davis S we have very little top level experience, which while not at all being the be all and end all, does highlight to me an inexperience in key areas. There's still plenty of time until the transfer window closes, but I'd hate for us to do a Hooiveld and leave it until the last possible minute to bring in a new CB (or two if we so choose). We have a really tough start to the season, and need to be on the money from the very first kick.

Looks all decent Flyer; most rational people would probably agree that both QPR and Saints developments will do well for the club and give them up to date training facilities more in-keeping with a lot of the clubs in the Premier League. What's going on with your ground? I heard there were plans for a new location and bigger stadium. Its a shame in a way, I love Loftus Road, its a proper subbuteo stadium and I've had some cracking away days there. But there's obviously no growth potential and its properly hemmed in, so a move is the only option.

Apparently this doesn't matter anyway. At least it didn't when Tottenham were spending more than us on their training complex. Although confusingly it did seem to matter than we're spending more than Stoke are on their new training centre, so maybe it does matter. I'm not sure.

Aboslutely spot on. I'm hoping we lose every single game in the Premier League. Just so I can say i told that we wouldn't............., erm, we wouldn't......., well, um, I'm not sure yet what, but I definitely told you so anyway.

Celtic has just as well sell their best players and save themselves a packet. Their reserve team could probably still win the SPL, for each of the next 3 years. Might also make the league competitive too.

Apparently Swansea's is not very good as they don't wholly own it. Do we wholly own Staplewood now?

Erm, yes. I'm sure Saints have got a very good idea of the price. Turkish seemed to have made an error in his calculations though, so I was correcting him. I was surprised you hadn't already, to be honest.

£20M for 20,000 extra seats? I'd bite your hand off for that price. According to Lowe/Cowan's previous price estimates it was £3,000 per extra seat. Wolves new stand was a bit cheaper, they demolished old one and built a new one, cost £18M for 7,700 seats (£2,333 per extra seat). At that price it would cost over £46M.

Whose being uppity? I was genuinely interested where you got the pictures from. And therefore how credible this source is with relation to the scale our supposed long term Cortesedome. No need to be over-sensitive about it God. Sheesh.

Who took the photo? Was it Groundskeeper Willie?

Great news.

How does it not do that? The top line is for blocks 1 and 2 (written blovks 1/2).

No-one knows for sure. The online system, which shows how many tickets are remaining AVAILABLE to buy, show that 21,661 tickets are "sold". However, as has been put forward by several people, that figure is unreliable as some of the stadium blocks are being shown as completely unavailable but its known that the club holds back a certain amount of tickets for comps, club officials, development players etc etc. This could, potentially, be applicable to some other areas of the stadium. So its perhaps likey that the overall figure is a bit less than the 21,661 figure quotes. Between 20,000 and 21,000 is a reasonable estimate to make IMO.

By hitting out at the buying club.

Our bid will be finalised soon. We can't tell you what it is yet, or when it will be finalised, but it does exist, honest. And its better than Chanrai's bid (even though we've not had it accepted yet, either conditionally or unconditionally).

Where has he (or anyone) said that we would get that low a figure?

The Gibraltar and Brighton games have changed my opinion of Pompey. Originally I wanted them just liquidated; let them die a quick death and let the Pompey Trust put them back together again. Now, I think it might be rather amusing to see them carry on, get spanked in League 1 (all the way down to League 2 and further), and see Chinny further Pardew the club until they're on their financial knees again in two years time when the parachute payments are gone. Then this thread can carry on and the little side show down the road can carry on apace to the Southampton Premier League main show. God bless you Balram Chanrai.

Indeed. That's the sign of an amazing chairman.

Well of course no-one WANTS to pay them all they're owed. But if liquidated the parachute payments will be held back to primarily pay the football creditors, including the players, so they'll get close to what they're owed if the club go bust, so that's one way they can get it. So there has to be a compromise to channel the PPs to the players and keep the club running, that's surely the only acceptable compromise that can be reached.

2, without a doubt. I really would laugh my arse off to see this team of no-hopers get thrashed all the way down to League 2 and beyond. Then, when Chainrai cleans up on all the PPs within a couple of years, the Trust can take over and live within their means of their 4,000 - 5,000 average gates.

If we're raiding Real lets just get Cronaldo on board; he'll be blown away by our ambition.

I'm waiting for the flexible price of season tickets to go down before I buy mine. Its a gamble but I think I'll be proved right.

Just the opposite, I'd have said.

I'm sure they may do, but if its as accurate as our one then its equally worthless. In any case I'm sure there some information out there that we don't know about which will clearly have an effect and make a comparison impossible.