Cabrone

If we are offering a big fat pay increase - which I presume we are - and he's turning it down because he wants champs league and international recognition then I've got to respect that. How many times do players get criticised for being pay day mercenaries? He'd be the signing of the summer though if we could snare him (and keep him calm). The real deal up front, 25+ goals IMO.

Good video and looks like he would do very well in the prem. Celtic fans certainly rate him which is a great indicator. The more I think about this one the more I think we'd be a perfect fit for him. We have a young, hungry ambitious team and he's 21 so he'd fit in, we are reknowned for bringing through young players which would benefit him and we would give him the 1st team opportunities to be watched by the world. He could sign a 4 year contact and if he excelled could do 2/3 years at Saints and move on at the age of 23\4. We get a nice profit and the service of a top player, he gets some great mentoring and a move to a top club. That's assuming we weren't gunning for a top 4 ourselves, sounds crazy but with NC at the helm and Saints after these kind of players who knows anymore? As someone who is more used to signings like Shipperly and Neil McCann it's hard to comprehend names like Osvaldo etc.

If we were to sign Wanyama and Osvaldo then a European shot might not be so far fetched. Osvaldo is deffo champs league quality and Wanyama looks pretty tasty too. To think only 4 years ago we in league 1, on -10 and were contemplating the end of SFC and whether we'd still support a new club in the Wessex league. NC saw the potential and now we are talking about Wanyama and Osvaldo.....what an amazing ride.

Precisely, his emotional issues are the only reason we could even consider a player of his ability, the guy is nailed on champions league standard. If MP could buck the odds and coax him to come here I think he'd move on within 1-2 years like Tevez did at West Ham. If he was a success SFC would trouser a decent amount and would have had the services of a top class striker to boot. Alternativley if he blew up we'd have an expensive 'want away' striker on our hands. It's MP's judgement call but it's still amazing to think that the club are even considering it.

Osvaldo is absolute quality if a bit nutty - when he wants it he's one of the best around. Would be a seriously exciting signing but I can't see it myself. That said I couldn't see Ramirez before he came so who knows.

Look a much nicer set of fixtures than last year when we had a baptism of fire and never really managed to escape the relegation zone all season. This time we've got a good chance of staying well out of it from the start. Man Utd(h) last game brings back some memories from 2005. Would be sweet to beat them if they were in contention (dedicated to Roy Keane). Norwich's run in looks a total shocker.

Can understand why he's keen to move back to England, must be pretty frustrating for the guy seeing the paucity in attack for England and still not getting a sniff. He's a good age, has champs league experience, is hungry for international recognition and can score goals, esp if we could outdo ourselves and sign players like Ever Banega to supply the ammo. Paired up front with J-Rod and supported by Ricky in a Teddy Sherringham type role he'd score a good haul in the prem IMO. Plus he's British which adds to cohesion. He'd be a good signing and I'd imagine he'd be quite interested if we were to make overtures.

Judging by the YouTube clip he looks a skillful player who likes to play with pacy strikers up front, not really our current style unless we get a speed merchant up front. However the picture makes him look like he's on 10 pints and 40 cigs a day.

23 years old Croatian international Champs league experience Good in the air Yeah, not impressed. Bring back the days when we thought that the Mule was a good signing.

Anders Svensson, came with a big reputation but never really did it for us IMO. His sulk by the side of the pitch at Fulham was pretty pathetic too.

Top 4? Yeah why not. It's always possible but we'd have to have one hell of a transfer season. The trouble is that the best players are always going to be attracted to champs league teams + the top 4 are always going to have a huge pot of money to spend. Top 8-10 plus a good cup run would be brilliant TBH.

Best: Lambert, Niemi, Pahars, Killer, BT Worst: Forecast, Van Damme, Olivier Bernard, Pulis, Stuart Ripley

Pele - Cape Verde

I was too young to see him in the flesh but going by the reactions of those that did see him I'm surprised he's not up there. Was a very big part of the club's first stretch in the top flight and a legend to those who saw him. Time to put Big Ron up on the banner.

We all want him to stay but every player has his price and clubs like Chelsea and Man Utd would turn any 17 y.o's head around. I just hope he gets honest advice that has his best interests at heart, he's got lots of time for clubs like that after he's spent a few years learning his trade here. Not saying he will go now but if he did I wouldn't be surprised.

Whilst my pants would stay dry he's top 6 quality alright, would give us some serious heft up front. If we could get him for £15M I'd take it.

I don't think any other club in England could claim to have brought through a better forward 4 than SFC. Wallace\Tiss\Bale and Shearer would be totally devastating and that's not even including Paine. As far as defence is concerned best not dwell on that too much.

MLT, Niemi, Killer, Dennis, Case, Ball, Bridge, Bale, Keegan, Channon to name a few. Looking at that lot we've had a few good left backs in our time haven't we.

About time too. The greatest ever Saints player (IMO) and arguably the most naturally talented English player of all time. Well done Matt.

An audacious bid for 23 y.o midfield general Kevin Strootman would cause a stir. If the club want top 6 then that's the calibre they need.

Will always remember Venables as the England manager when Matt was on fire and who never gave him a chance. He always struck me as having a pretty closed view of the world, you were either part of his 'in' crowd or not. Tragically for England Matt was not and the rest is history. Sounds like his disdain for this club lingers.

If NC's contract was up for negociation then I see nothing wrong with how he has acted. He was perfectly entitled to pitch for what he thinks he is worth and what he wants for the club and the owners were entitled to reject him if they think he was asking too much. That's business. This is assuming that his contract was actually up for negociation, if it wasn't then I'd assume that salary and spending allowances had already been worked out in prior contract negociations and Samuels has a point.

This season has its ups and downs but overall it was good. My expectations which were 17th place and 40 points were exceeded. Biggest high was beating Man City, biggest sigh of relief was when Boruc finally got into goal, biggest downer was Nige getting sacked, biggest pleasure was the football under Pochitteno. IMO we need one more quality CH, a quality midfield general linking defence\attack and taking the captain's armband and a pacy, goal scoring centre forward to start to take over from Ricky alongside JRod. My guess is that NC will be targeting around 55 points next season and a good cup run. With some quality reinforcements I think it's doable.

Did anyone seriously think that they weren't going to do this deal? SFC has been a really good investment for the Liebherrs thanks to NC and the staff. They weren't going to throw that all away just as the club are at a point where they could push for the big time.

Don't worry, NC's been on the blower to Micky Fialka and apparently he's interested.