SaintBobby

Tell Kelvin Davis to f**k off back to West Ham, then???? :smt039

I would pay £35 a game to watch Saints in the premiership, no question. However, that's only about 50% more than League One. But Premiership salaries are, what, ten or twenty times as high?

Is it really £1900 ($3000) for the best seat for a single Yankees game???? On salaries, I think the ludicrous numbers at the top levels probably ARE sustainable. The very top footballers are beginning to catch up with top American sportsmen and world famous pop stars. Btw, the argument that John Terry isn't 200 tiems as good as a £1K per week players doesn't hold much water. Wages - in every field - go up exponentially as you reach the far (talented) end of the "bell curve". I reckon Jenson Button is probably only about twice as fast as me in a F1 car - but I wouldn't expect to get 50% of his wages if a Formula One team signed me up! Ron's question - how does the meltdown manifest itself? - is interesting. My feeling is that once one biggish team collapses (Newcastle?) a domino efefct could kick in. Ashley has lost (or will lose) £40m more on Newcastle United. Football will at some point become less attractive for the hyper-rich and less palatable for banks to finance. One thing I just cannot comprehend is why footballers aren't paid - in large part - based on performance. This is a business with transparent results. Win bonuses, final league position bonuses etc. should be a far, far bigger part of a player's salary than at present. Some people have mentioend the American model - theer's an article about it and Saints here http://www.liberal-vision.org/2009/07/06/is-football-really-a-free-market-sport/ I don't see how there is a legal problem re:restraint of trade if the FA or UEFA were the "employer". Ronaldo could choose to ply his trade in the "independent Screwfix Sunday league" if he wanted. But would probably choose the UEFA "brand" instead.

We need a manager who can get us from League One to the Premiership in about five years. If (mind wanders off to dreamland) we get to the Premiership and want to build within it, we need a different structure to the team (pace and technique becoming comparatively more important than physical strength). I wouldn't want to overplay the assertion that you need to "kick your way" out of L1 and the CCC, but there's some truth in it. I was initially attracted by the Dutch experiment - but it's not the sort of football that works in the lower levels.

Not gutted if true - but highlights the need to get in a pacey striker. Preferabky one who understands the offside rule.

I know Euell isn't a fans' favourite, but I'd retain him. He's a commanding presence and shows leadership on the pitch. I think he could do a good job as CM or CF in League One. His wages should nosedive though. Saeijs would be a great signing. We desperately need a tall, strong centre back.

My match report is here: http://www.southampton-mad.co.uk/news/loadnews.asp?cid=TMNW&id=453359

There's probably about 99.999999% of the human race that I DON'T want to be manager. Of the candidates listed on skybet, I will not renew my season ticket if it's Tony Adams. It would be a farcical and crushing let down after the last few days, and I'd be paranoid enough to believe that Liebherr was some Blofeld character in a skate plot. I'd need to stay away for my own sanity.

He's my second choice. He'd be okay, but not quite as good as my first choice - the hugely underated Tony Adams. Adams has the drive, personality and footballing brain to unite the fanbase after a few good results and show that in the new era of our club, we will not turn to the past, we will not hold irrational grudges against those who have worked for our footballing neighbours and we can look forward to a brighter, successful future. Saints have been granted a second chance. We owe it to Tony to grant him a second chance too. (P.S. I don't believe any of this)

Without wishing to disrupt the "let bygones be bygones" feel-good factor, I can say with 100% certainty that your statement is untrue. It's amazing that there wasn't an inquest into this nonsense, but probably reflected how utterly dysfunctional the club was at the time. Paul Allen NEVER had any interest in purchasing Saints, never instructed anyone to engage in any talks, never looked into any preliminary investigations etc. His level of interest was zero. If not lower. If anyone is remotely interested in how I know this, they can drop me a PM.

Want WGS, KK or Coppell (in that order). I also think the chances are WGS c. 30%, Coppell c. 20%, Keegan c. 5%. I think WGS is the most likely of any named candidate, but is still odds against.

Sort of. But what people think will happen and what's likely to happen aren't completely different things. A 12-1 shot in the Grand National is simply a horse that has had a lot more money put on it than a 200-1 shot. But that is good evidence that the 12-1 horse is much more likely to win than the 200-1 shot.

Someone calculated that it's cheaper to buy a SH if you're going to attend 14 or more games. Given you're saying you will attend 50%+ (i.e. 12 or more), I'd recommend a season ticket. Also: 1. You get an Ajax ticket for free. 2. You may well need a ST to get away tickets - by memory, some of the away allocations are less than 1,000. You may find a ST is prerequisite for getting in to a lot of away games. HTH.

OMG.....that is quite an enormous shift - surely prompted by knowledge rather than just a bunch of Saints fans putting on £20 each. If it was the latter, wouldn't the odds shift more incrementally? (to, say evens, then 4/6 then 1/2 etc...?)

There's a limit to the amount of good news I can consume in a week... Not convinced about this story, but would def cream my jeans if this is true...

Troll.

One issue that's already been highlighted is the likely demands that will be made of Liebherr to "open his wallet" if things don't get off to a blindingly good start. We are going to need to have the patience of a....errr....saint.

Has this been confirmed somewhere - or is it a good guess?

Does that mean Wotte is confirmed as the man to spend the dosh?

Don't want to see the skates disappear, but their natural level is probably League One. I look forward to seeing them hurtle towards it as we pull away back to our natural territory...

Awesome if true. Kelvin definitely on verge of legend status...

Bloody marvellous isn't it? I don't know if he will throw cash at the club (he sounds like he'll take a methodical, patient approach), but he clearly moves us away from a "sell to survive" scenario. And...we're in League One FFS....I mean what's the average owner in League One worth? (at a total guess, £2.5m?....that's 0.1% of what Liebherr's worth....put another way, I think Liebherr is worth about 20-30 times all the other League One clubs combined!)

Thanks so much. What a wonderful day for Southampton FC.

But I want it to get to page # 118....

Not unreasonable during the exclusivity period.