The Kraken

I can't see that we'll do anything other than strengthen in January; particularly if we are still up around the top of the table and vying for promotion. We already know that NA wanted to bring in a long term solution up front (bid accepted for Sharp, turned down for Rodriguez) plus at CB. I also know that we're still in the market for another CB and that we had a multi-million pound bid turned down for a midfielder at the close of the window. I can see negotiations being ongoing all way until Decmber 31st whenCortese will break out the cheque book again.

Yep, true, and utterly needless.

Fair enough; but the trial is only due to last 5 days, so the best case scenario is a trial, an acquittal, and a few goals in a promotion charge.

Read your first line again and see how it come across; that's all.

Check who the OP is; it doesn't matter the likelihood of it all, simply that's its a possibility you can't rule out and therefore justification to scream like a 6 year old child about it.

So you're convicting him now, are you? If he's acquitted he'll be available from here on in. Lets not play judge and jury just yet, eh?

Seaborne was out drinking supposedly with the full consent of the manager, on the Thursday before an international break. Massive difference between letting the players let their hair down for one night (with the next game 9 days away) than allowing a drinking culture to permeate the club.

Point taken, but effectively all the press are doing is reporting from what is heard in court, rather than their own interpretation/exaggeration of the facts. So the truth should be somewhere within all that, just maybe hidden a little bit behind the sensationalism.

Depends on precisely what he's done, for me. Lots of hearsay and speculation flying around about what did and didn't happen, maybe a lot of that will come out in the press.

The problem with that is that Southampton is a thoroughly ugly city; you'd get an averhead view of the industrial docks and fawley power station! Hardly massively appealing right now. We missed the boat with Ocean Village, that should have been Gunwharf. Since then we've lacked massively behind. The Echo today has a story on the final design of the Spitfire monument, which is a start, but we need much much more. The devotion to housing above infrastructure really does us no favours at all

SEEDA weren't in control of massive sums, but it was still substantial funding. Having dealt with them over a number of years, I can happily confirm that they are a pretty shambolic outfit with a clueless management system, and it's no bad thing they are in the process of being wound up.

Not really hutch, as it's really two different scenarios that you're talking about.

Well that makes little sense, I don't even think you know what you're trying to get across there. I think it's best you try not to explain it any further.

Why? Who says the second team have to go, apart from you?

Thank God you're here, no-one had noticed that already.

Correct. I still don't understand why the second placed team just magically disappears.

If that happened we'd probably finish much lower than 17th.

I'm not sure if Nigel Adkins will be next England manager; not enough top level experience yet.

Why does the team in second just automatically disappear? If you beat the team in thrid place by a point, then you're in third place (unless the team in second place just magically erases itself).

It largely depends on Barnard's court case, I'd suggest. Connolly's strain last week showed how light of genuine strikers we are at the moment, his return will be very welcome and give us some great extra options. Touch wood.

He'd offer something different alright, being as he's not a striker.

It's the fantastic world of NickG, anything's possible in that particular happy little bubble.

I'd suggest Burnley's latest press release about the importance of them holding on to Jay Rod suggestst that that particular iron is still in the fire.

Don't talk daft Turkish, why would we want someone better than we already have rather than someone probably worse?

Who on earth is "Krackan"? Nice conversation, by the way. If it makes you sleep better at night, then whatever you say Nick, whatever you say.