The Kraken

According to this facebook page: They had almost 20,000 in early bird sales by late April.

Agreed. I was expecting at least as many sold as when we were previously in the Premier League. It seems we may not even achieve that figure, which is very disappointing given the apparent never-seen-before feelgood factor and potential of the club. Still, a bit of time to go yet so we'll see.

As previously thought, and with Blackburn seemingly holding out for £6M, apparently we get another Jose Fonte. I don't see the value in that at all. That's not how we play. At all. Lallana cannot be considered in any form a glorified full back. Nor can Guly, de Ridder or even Chaplow. Our full backs are also very attacking, and the addition of Clyne does nothing to redress that approach. Yes, there are also a number of positive comments I also left out. Dann could be a very good signing, but I'd just be concerned we'd be spending a considerable sum of money and not actually getting the player we truly need. If we do buy 2 CBs and the next one is the better, commanding player that Dann supposedly needs then fine. In Nige we trust and all that.

Malcolm Waldron.

Any mention of it I've seen has just been along the lines of "Southampton's new kit, a deviation this season from the traditional red & white stripes". No outrage or anything, just a general indifference to it. As for the red shorts & socks I doubt too many outside Hampshire actually know and care enough to make a song and dance about it.

Like I say, I think its only a possibility if the club is liquidated first. Chinny's primary objectove is to get the high wage earners out, cream off as much of the parachute payments as possible then bail out. I think a realistic option 2 for him is going to be liquidate the club and then sell for development with the football covenant out of the way. I don't see a scenario whereby the club continuing with a sold ground for development is a likely possibility.

Oh of course, I agree. As I say I wouldn't be surprised if TBH does the off pretty soon, claiming fears for his safety. Kanu ain't coming back any time soon so he's gone, Kitson is in the firing line so he may choose that way out too. All the while the little sh*t storm being created here has little or no effect.

TBH was at training. Although with the witchhunt being whipped up I wouldn't be surprised to see players refusing to show up for fear of their personal safety.

I think that's a massively tough sell. There's all sorts of precedents for League 1 clubs sustaining a stadium of that size. Espcecially so were they to just mothball one or two stands. IMO that wouldn't come close to stacking up. The council and planners would fight tooth and nail to stop first a sale of the ground and then development permissions, I just could in no way at all see that happening. If they were liquidated then yes, or course. But Chainrai is seeking to first of all keep the club going. I'd say his next option is liquidation and a sale, but not CVA and then a sale.

I simply can't see how players will accept a deal. They would have to write off hundreds of thousands of deferred payments, on the off chance that they might get some of it back over 5 years. And write off any claim they have to their earnings over the final duration of their contract. Alternatively they can refuse a deal and if the club goes under become a football creditor, and therefore in line for a much bigger chunk of the parachute payments as their compensation. The only decision they have to make is the moral one; do they lose out on a huge sum of money so that this incarnation of the football club can survive? Or do they not agree to compromise, see the club go under and reform, and actually get paid a decetn whack of what they are owed? Its a moral dilemma for the players, there is no financial argument at all that can be made.

Yeah that's my point, Chinny couldn't just take over and sell the ground while the club was still going. He'd have to liquidate and keep the charge over the ground, refuse to allow a Phoenix club to use Fratton.

Unless I'm missing something, they can't just sell the ground for development though. There's the covenant on it that it can only be used for sports purposes, and you'd have to think if that was indeed Chinny's motive then he'd be blocked at every turn by the council and planning departments?

Well I think we'd all trust that. But a bit of healthy speculation never harmed anyone. If Blackburn are holding out for anywhere near £6M (and there's no news suggesting they need to sell) then I'm not sure I see too much value in it.

Don't bother, Charlie is a bit of an oddball WUM who rarely makes any sense.

Depends on the fee. Just like Dann I think Fonte would look a lot better with a top quality dominant CB next to him, so I'm not sure exactly how much more we'd be getting than we already have. Dann went to Blackburn for £6M, I can't see them wanting to take too much of a haircut on that. Even £3.5M would be a lot given his past 2 years.

He only played 20 games that season. He was injured in the January and didn't play again for the rest of the season. He then moved to Blackburn in the close season, and by all accounts looked a shell of the player he was before. Big gamble IMO.

Not from what I've read. A lot of Brum opinions I've seen are that on their own Johnson and Dann were ok but that together they formed a brilliant partnership. There's a Daily Mail online article today where a couple of Blackburn fans are pretty scathing about Dann, a positive comment from a Brum fan is tinged with the fact that they think he needs to play alongside a better, more dominant centre back to bring the best out of him. I've not seen enough if him to know if he's better than Hooiveld or Fonte, so for the price being mentioned its a definite risk. Edit, link here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2177550/Southampton-want-Scott-Dann-Blackburn.html

No. I don't.

Yep, that was pretty much my reaction to this thread too.

This is the crux of it for me. Clyne, Gazza and Rodriguez are all highly rated and potentially decent signings, but I think we're still one or two players short of proven top quality. In the spine of the team we have Davis, who while being an older head was rather found out at top level in the only season he was there. At centre back I think we'd be extremely suspect with Fonte and Hooiveld together and think (as Adkins has hinted) that we need to bring in at least 1, maybe 2 centre backs. Steven Davis is a much needed addition at CM. Up front I think RL is still plenty good enough to be the fulcrum of the side he has become, but the strikers around him will need to step up. I hope we get at least 1 top CB. I think Clyne could well become a star, but I still have concerns over left back and right mid and I have no idea at all if JRod is going to as good as we're all expecting from his price tag. And it is due to be a massive season for Lallana where we'll finally see just how good he actually is against top level defenders.

I'm convinced the Laughing Man is one of us in disguise anyway.

This. The ratio of fair minded Pompey fans to deluded souls who can't even fully blame the club for their previous shambolic dealings is quite staggering low at times on their boards. Some just refuse to accept any blame on the club at all, and that's its all the Football League's fault for allowing their owners and not exerting enough financial checks and controls.

For me its still entirely dependent on one or two signings; I'm convinced Jos Hooiveld and Jose Fonte are nowhere near good enough as a defensive combination to consistently cut it in the Premier League. Perhaps one of them alongside a new signing would be ok but I think they're both too prone to individual errors and we very much need a commanding leader for them to play alongside. Get a proper decent CB in and I think we'll finish around 15th or 16th. Get 2 in (which despite Adkins hinting at I don't think we will) and I think 10th is possible. Get none and I think we'll get relegated.

The thing is, the constructive answers come from the fans reps and forum mods, who (to be fair) have always seemed to have had a more balanced view. No problem with people like that who accept that the club is 100% to blame. Its the idiots who bleat on that its the Football League's fault for the Fit and Proper Test, who can't/refuse to see that the latest -10 points is entirely fair (if anything lenient), and who say they wouldn't swap the cup win for being run properly and potential liquidation, that I have no sympathy for whatsoever.

You do make me giggle, God. You do. Hats off to you