The Kraken

Article says we have the option to sign him permanently in the January window, so it sounds like a very good low-risk deal.

I think we should have a thread a day if it means we get the players in! Can anyone actually clarify where "Guly" will play? I know the article says he's an attacking midfielder but any ideas whether that's been part of a midfield 2 or 3, is he out wide, or in the hole? Apologies if its been confirmed before but I've been away on hols and haven't trawled back through.

I think many people have already stated that gelling is not an issue for only 3 players. It wasn't at Xmas for Fonte, Puncheon, Barnard or Seaborne so why would it be now? We've had a p!ss poor start, that's for sure and I'm pretty disappointed we're seemingly still a fair distance from the squad we need to be. But we haven't "f*cked up" the season at all. Did Norwich "f*ck up" their season last year with a worse start than ours? You can throw the towel in now if you like, but I'll carry on supporting.

While saying "nothing's happening" is truly ridiculous as no-one on here has any clue what's really going on with negotiations behind the scenes, I'm getting ever more worried as the end of the transfer window approaches of our ability to get in the 3 more players we really need to contend this year. I still have faith it'll happen but would like to see it done before the last day.

Being as the article contains zero quotes attributed to Pardew or anyone else at the club concerning their stance on transfers, it probably is complete b*ll*cks, yes.

Crouch never played for Saints after we were relegated. Edit; scratch that, I think I just missed the point....

Unfortunately, in this case Alpine's been proven right so far. We were all banging on about how important it was for us to come steaming out of the blockes from the very first game, and that hasn't happened yet. Yes, of course there's plenty of time left in the season and the transfer window is still open. But for the squad not to have been strengthened in two such vital areas (CM and RM) does point questions at the manager. I think Alpine was wrong when criticising AP in June and July for the lack of signings by then, but we're now in late August and seemingly no closer to getting the players AP said he needs. I still think we'll sign the players we're missing, and of course I think our fortunes will turn around. But it's no good re-writing history and pretending now that a slow start doesn't matter; it does. We're the "team to beat" in this division and the longer we stumble along the more difficult it will become to turn losses and draws consistently into wins.

If you think this is bad, wait until the Olympics is right on the radar; you'll have every two-bit union from here to kingdom come threatening mass walkouts, the country will come to complete standstill.

Very much agree with this, and with CB Saint's assessment of it. I saw one poster on the main board say it was "the most upset I've ever been for a death outside the family". Fair enough if it is, and maybe he/she has been sheltered from losing close friends, but the amount of grief is a bit excessive for how I feel. I'm very sad that Markus is gone, he was a perfect owner in so many respects, but I just don't feel the grief that others claim to do.

Tough to tell exactly, but as I understand it Les Reed has a slightly different role to DoF. His role seems to be dominated by looking after the coaching setup for the whole club, at all age levels. A DoF, in my eyes anyway, seems to be more closely associated with the first team and is a bridge between the manager, the chairman, the technical director (Les Reed in this case), the scouts, agents etc. Although previously Cortese had said he wanted a DoF by the end of the season, so maybe that's changed. Edit; just read his job descriptions, so perhaps you're right. However, that role would seem to have him reporting to AP, whereas a typical DoF role would have AP reporting to him.

This is a large part of it, for sure. Rather than just ignoring the club, The Sun in particular with their "South Coast Club" nonsense are trying to escalate the row and make it into a big story, presumably for printing when they have less news to fill the back pages. However, it doesn't stop them being right in principle. It's just yet another small step from the club in trying to manipulate and control all editorial content and news coming out of St Mary's, which is quite a worrying approach in my view. What next; a ban on selected national journos in the ground? We've already seen an Echo ban, so it wouldn't surprise me in the least.

I'm going to go all Alpine here for a second, and I hope this is just a slip of the tongue as AP's trying to award some platitudes, but I'm a bit concerned if its apparently so easy for us to get bamboozled at home by the likes of Bournemouth.

Sky Sports News seem to be completely ignoring our game, not been mentioned once yet.

I honestly don't see the problem. Why should the club provide free inner-city parking? Anyway, surely if you use the travel club it negates the need for a car?

Would fit in perfectly for the departed Antonio; would love this one to come off in the next few days. Wonder if he needs more of a pre-season after being away with the U19s.

I have absolutely no faith in our judicial system when a company is allowed to rack up £130M of debts, continues to trade while ignoring all credit responsibilities, and this is deemed lawful and correct. Farce.

I'm not at all surprised about the outcome, I knew they'd get away with it. Joke decision. So now its ok to rack up over £130M of debt with horrific management and get away with it. Good call.

That's a complete manipulation of the truth. Again.

Alpine, you criticise Turkish in this thread for not reading everything you wrote, then you choose to ignore parts of my post in your response. I said believe that IF we start badly then AP will be given the boot. I'll quote the part of my message you clearly missed from then on. There is no contradiction. You see, the difference is that you believe we WILL start badly; in fact one of your previous, more ridiculous, posts suggested that our start will be even worse than last year. I believe that you are wrong in that belief. But, I guess by then end of August, we'll know one way or the other how we've started the campaign.

Firstly I disagree that AP is a weak link, and think its a cheap shot. But I do agree that, unless we're off and running and in the top 2 or 3 right from the start, AP will be under massive pressure and if, after only 4 or 5 games we've stuttered out of the blocks and are down around mid-table, then Cortese will wield the axe. I've always said that I would start to get concerned come August if we haven't made all (or at least most) of our signings; I can understand the reasons that we haven't to date, but AP won't be able to use it as an excuse to his boss if the current squad can't produce results. For the record, I think we'll be ok, that the squad we currently have will be enough to get us where we want to be, and that we will strengthen with further players this month; it just would have been much nicer to have the full squad by now. But whatever happens, its going to be an interesting season and going to games is going to be enormous fun again.

Off to Majorca on the 14th for a week. It maybe wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if I got stuck there....

I guess we can demand what we like. Whether we get it or not is an entirely different matter.

I think the tribunal figure was quite fair actually. Brentford were reportedly hoping for £300K from the deal, being as they will more than likely make £250K from it they won't be too disappointed. It was typical tribunal negotiations; we offered £100K, they demanded £500K, the actual figure was somewhere in between.

He wouldn't leave on a free. He's under 24 and has been developed through the youth system; therefore in exactly the same manner as we've experienced with Dickson we will be due a development fee from any new club, which will either be pre-agreed between us and the new club or will go to tribunal.