angelman

I would keep him and sell MS, given that MS's head seems to be elsewhere.

well according to transgfermrkt.co.uk they did, and that was being used as a basis of an argument.

And Utd over paid by about 6 times for Shaw. Those figures are not worth taking on board unless it fits your negative outlook on life.

Ha! I reckon we are going to win 1-2, so there.

My glass is half full old boy. Surprised your's hasn't over flowed yet what with the amount of crying into it that you have done. But we'll see, although I think 10th is more likely. Of course, but I am referring to the level of player that we can afford. I am not sure that we are going to drop £30m on a player and offer him £100k pw wages, so that excludes most of the German squad even if they were tempted here which of course they wouldn't.

It isn't if you want to finish lower down. I want to maintain a challenge on 8th or above, and therefore I think PL experience is vital. We weren't challenging for 8th in our first season back were we?

Sorry, you lost me there with regards to relevance.

Opinion or fact? My opinion would concur, which leaves Hull going for Deeney? I see their attempts to get Welbeck akin to ours getting Hernandez.

Hypo, I agree but also have to have the experience in there as well. A balance of the two.

Whether he is better than Long or not is somewhat immaterial if he is earning £75k a week. If the club have a wage structure in place, it is so much better to stick to it. I am presuming Hull would have to smash theirs for him to go there, which is a bad move. Personally I would prefer Long to Welbeck, not least because of personality. Welbeck is too flash.

Steven Davis will get 4 or 5. I wonder what odds I would get for Pelle to get Golden Boot.

He is a good player, hence why he has been linked with another PL team. But how good he is, and how highly he is rated, is reflected in which teams come in for him. I thought back in June/July that Everton were being linked with him.

Isn't it ironic, the club has been shafted by (now ex) players, their agents and some might say their new clubs in a most ungentlemanly manner, yet when it comes to Morgan who is also acting in an ungentlemanly manner, the club is expected to take the moral high ground and act in a gentlemanly manner. I have got to the stage where I don't want him ever to play for Saints again. But I hope that the club cuts it's nose off to spite it's face (to the tune of £25m or whatever) and don't acquiesce to the petulance of this player.

A lot of people say that they would be disappointed if he left, and I would regret it as well. But....looking at the line ups people want and expect, Cork never features in the starting line up. I realise the emotional attachment of one of the old gang, but it's time people realise that we have entered a new chapter and in football there is no place for sentiment. People also are saying the board is mad, but honestly, I put my faith in Koeman. It maybe difficult, but so be it. We have no divine right to finish in 8th place, and I am looking forward to this season. I fully expect to get battered a few times (starting Sunday) but then that's my pessimism - if the worst does happen I don't get disappointed. If we get a draw thanks to the Human Wall, then I will be more elated. Koeman is the key.

S-C. Goalie is surely storinger, although if Boruc does bunk off, that will be a similar position to last year. At present it is way stronger. The defence might still have the same weaknesses, esp CB but time will tell. Maybe the Romanian lad will be as good or better than Lovren. Midfield, taking Lallana and Schniederlin out will be a problem. However Tadic and Ramirez (who I am hoping will be like a new signing) will go some way to alleviate this, as will the Algerian lad. Attack - personally think that the addition of Pelle and Long would be an upgrade on Lambert and Osvaldo, but time will tell.

LOL - I completely agree. When the press were orgasming last year over Liverpool winning the league, I was hoping City or Chelsea were going to do it and I was ecstatic when that happened.

Exactly - it's called a buy out or release clause. Seems most people in Europe seem to be able to insert it in their contracts, as well as the likes of Remy and Saurez.

You've bought into the arrogance of the PL. We are not the only league and for many, not the most attractive league.

Why on earth would Soldado want to come here??????

It's Ashton who has written this, so I wouldn't take it as gospel. Who on earth signs a 4 year contract and has it that he can leave within 12 months? If I was the club, I would exclude Daily Mail from SMS, although I guess that that won't really achieve anything.

Ashton's a **** and I must say that this is pathetic article.Verbal agreements are worth diddlly and what's his point about Boruc? I wonder if he will ever write an article that is positive about the club?

Did we tell them it was a one time bid and to take it or leave it?

Nice article. I am refreshed to see more and more people thinking along these lines. I have felt it now for a good 5 or 6 years, or maybe as soon as Abramovich took over Chelsea in 2003. Before that, there was always a dominance by the big boys, and Spain is Spain, but since then the gap has grown to what it is now and as you say it is only going one way. I do wonder though, what the supporters of the top 7 think of the situation. We had the Scouser come here not so long ago who wasn't happy with what is going on with football, but I imagine him not to be the majority. I suppose it is human nature to not care too much about those beneath you when you are at the top, especially when it is to do with a sport that ultimately has little affect on peoples' lives. If football didn't exist we would still go along with life quite happily and find something else to do on a Saturday afternoon, although the once sacrosanct universal 3pm slot is now a distant memory. I know that many of the supporters of these clubs complain about ticket prices, eg Arsenal over £1000, but both Arsenal and Spurs have a waiting list for season tickets of something like over 20,000. But how many supporters of these clubs actually go to the games rather than use the excuse that it is too expensive and watch it on Sky instead? (Maybe they should bin the Sky and buy a season ticket). It has become the norm now - anyone under the age of 30 would not know what the old days were like. Many over 30 don't seemingly care. Those disaffected I am guessing are over 30, but the PL/Sky has new people coming on line the whole time to replace the "old" people. Looking at The Seven, I sort of pity Everton and Spurs fans. Of the big boys, they have no chance of winning the title. What are they doing at the top table? Just making up numbers, like the rest of us do to make up the PL so as to avoid the big 7 playing each other 4 times a year. Maybe that is what they would prefer? There are already reports appearing that they are begrudging the rest of us an equal share of TV money as they view it that they are subsidising the rest of us. I can see a time when clubs negotiate their own TV deals - hen that happens the gulf between them and us will be so large that there will be absolutely no point in competing. Actually there isn't much point now. But the worst thing is the greed of the top 7 (a little unfair on Everton to lump them in on this). They make so much money yet they want more and more and to exclude everyone. The real losers in all this is the way that the PL have s*at on the lower leagues by blackmailing them re with holding parachute payments and other payments if they can't get their way with regards distributions. Then they blackmailed the Football League again over the Elite Player Performance Plan. Then there is Financial Fair Play. Then etc etc etc. All is done to make the rich richer, and we too as a club benefit from much of this, although it is well documented and discussed that FFP hamstrings us. And what is happening to funding at grass roots? This all suffers due to the greed of the big boys. And finally, and we are guilty of this to some degree, every time an overseas player is bought, the money flows out of the English game. The balance of payments has an unhealthy deficit. Looking at the big 4 (not ManC/U, Chelsea & Arsenal), over the past two seasons they have bought from overseas clubs about £456m worth of players, whiles selling about £107m. So that is £350m from 4 clubs flowing out of the English game. It would be intersting to see what would happen if a 15% surcharge was levied on overseas players (with monies going to fund grass roots) - but of course that won't happen. The PL wants to protect its "best league in the world" status so that those in the Far East can enjoy it. And that there is the big problem. The PL is being set up to appeal to people thousands of miles away who have never had to flog hundreds of miles to a ground to make early kick off. Or go to the Emirates for a 8pm Monday evening kick off with no possibility of catching a return train because they have finished for the day. Modern football is broken due to its relentless pursuit of money.

Yum. Popcorn while watching the soccer.

agree. it was a wee bit oxymoronic.