Chewy

Excellent work, sir

I read this morning that psg owners (basically Qatar) want to buy a premier league club. So, knitting all this together, China has taken ownership of saints by shafting gao and lander, will sell to Qatar for a fortune to pay off some debt and we'll be in the champions league with naymar playing for us and Paul Mitchell running everything. Alternatively they didn't want to renew the contract of a very average chairman who almost got us relegated (twice ... Actually, let's not tempt fate, we could still be) had no rapport with the fan base, talked utter corporate drivel, instead of English, and oversaw a deterioration in finances due to horrific player recruitment and contract extensions because he had zero football knowledge with which to control les reed. And they think they might somehow be able to do better. Either way, I'm not overly concerned ...

Looking at how (understandably) devastated they were, I'd have thought hangover is more likely, but we'll have to wait and see. Would certainly be interesting to see how they react to any sort of set back (early goal, dodgy important ref decision etc)

Ah, but which Skov should we be signing There's an andreas skov olsen making an impression with nordsjaelland too! It's like buses, wait all your life for one skov...

Have to say I feel very sorry for Wolves (purely in the context of that game, think it's good for us next week). Better side throughout, cruising, then a wonder goal from literally nowhere and a penalty as soft (but still correct) as you'd like deep in injury time. If I was them I'd be absolutely gutted.

Will restrict my sympathy for wolves to the "other games" thread. From our perspective, that's perfect, exactly as LGTL just said above. That will take some getting over; they're a very good side so I'm very happy to gain any advantage we can over them, and I think they'll be very deflated for a good couple of weeks. Doesn't guarantee a result, but surely the best possible time to play them.

True, burnleys only chance now of getting relegated is having Cardiff overtake them. Avoid defeat and that surely can't happen. Wind and it definitely won't. Unfortunately, the same applied to us a few weeks ago ... Trying my best to forget that one, but just can't, it really was 4ucking awful.

No, nobody will make it easy for us, we have to do it ourselves. That's football (and life in general). Not a great result for us yesterday, but if we let Cardiff make up 6points on us between now and season end with our respective fixture lists, we'll deserve to be relegated. I doubt very much it will happen. Let's hope burnleys return to form lasts for at least another week! In fairness, looking at their fixtures they still need the win (or at least draw), could be the last points they get this season!

I'd rather yussuf poulsen, but think he might be a tad expensive for us. Add another Dane, maybe maehle and skov while we're at it and have half the Danish team? Plus poulsen supports Liverpool so his next move would be sorted? While I'm being overly ambitious, dortmunds alexander isak is ripping up eredivisie in Holland at the moment on loan at willem. 19, 6 foot 3, scoring for fun. Some big names are looking (Chelsea and barca) among them. Would be too soon for moving to them so if he can't make dortmunds team next year I think a year or two in the premier league would be a good step up for his career. Loan might be more realistic but he's Had limited game time in Dortmund for two years so might be frustrated there. Bit of a risk, but can't do any worse than what we currently have! Last suggestion from me, if Leeds do mess up promotion, think pontus janssen might decide it's now or never to make a move into the premier league. Good organiser, and good age, would be quite happy with that.

My take Gk sell one of Forster or McCarthy. Forster is not as good and on a tonne a week so rather him, but those two facts mean he's probably unsellable. Would get a decent fee for McCarthy plus he's still on a decent wage so would still help in that regard CB sell hoedt and Stephens, buy an experienced organising centre back Rb this is tricky. Need somebody not good enough to play every week and block valerys development, but good enough to play if Valery is unavailable or dips in form. A loan might be a useful option. Sell cedric Lb sell either McQueen or tragett, don't need both. Bit like gk, would rather keep targett as think he's better, but would get a better fee for him plus imagine he earns more. No idea also on how McQueen will be after his injury. Guess it depends on how good the club think vokins might be. If they're confident, worth the risk of selling targett IMHO Midfield sell (on a free?) classie, and one of reed or lemina. One is clearly better, but if Ralph doesn't rate him or he doesn't want to be here, get rid for (I'd imagine) a decent fee and a good saving on wages. If so, reed would be ok as squad depth IMHO. Am/ winger unfortunately no one would be dumb enough to buy Ely - he can hopefully be loaned out (we'll obviously have to pay most of his wages) or freeze out. Armstrong and sims fine (though I'd suggest make or break for sims if not both - they have talent, can they be consistent?) Give bouffal pre and early season under Ralph to assess, buy one or two, depending on bouffal. Hesketh probably to be sold (despite playing well on loan) Forward Ings, Redmond, obafemi + an other, lose the rest. As well as releasing Barnes, flannigan, rose and Davis that would free up a lot in wages and squad space and I think we could make something like McCarthy hoedt and Stephens - about 20-25m combined? Cedric targett lamina - 25-30m combined? Classie hesketh Gallagher - 10m? Austin, Carrillo, long - 15-20m? Assuming the ings fee is covered by gabbi (who knows with our board) Would give us 70-85m to buy a forward, a winger, a centre back and a right back (possibly on loan). To go real quality you'd probably be looking at 30m on the striker and 20m apiece for a centre back and winger leaving maybe 10m for right back? It'll be a push but just about achievable (especially when you factor in the wages, we will be making a saving there for sure). Of course, if we need to upgrade bouffal then we're looking at a net overspend, something I doubt our board will do. Going to be an interesting summer. Needless to say, this assumes we stay up ... Looking likely despite last night but not certain just yet.

Well ... that's my theory ruined then, isnt it? B*gger. Is that the definitely the case, though? I thought the fa cup winners spot defaulted to runners up, or has that changed. I know that how we qualified after the Cardiff final but was obviously many moons ago.

As most have said, gave a good account of ourselves against what is (extremely annoyingly) a very good Liverpool side. Even if they aren't League champions (and I 4ucking hope not) they'll get about 90 points this season so you can't deny they're good. Just very annoying salah scores that goal after the run he's been on (it was a perfect finish). The corner thing is annoying. It wasn't so much the starting positions, it was the naivety of those near the edge of the area getting over excited and sucked in when it became a bit ping pong like on the edge of the area. They saw a sniff of something exciting happening, abandoned their posts and then, along with most of the stadium, that sudden realisation of sh1t, this is big trouble. 5 seconds and a perfect finish later and we've lost the game. No issue with the third, we twisted and went bust. I was almost in line with salah for the offside, it looked tight so can accept the lino getting that wrong, but it obviously changed the game. And the sims incident was dreadful; other than that, not much to moan about the officials for really. Wrong end to see Keita, have heard different opinions on whether it was a pen or not. In terms of players, compared to their potential standard think just about everybody gave a good account of themselves. Romeu was a bit meh, and jwp is simply not effective wide right, even in that formation. He was fine, just not great. Defenders all did well, Valery continues to develop and Redmond was very good. Hoj probably motm for me. Trouble was the subs. Basically nothing on offer to change and improve things. Long was tired but only option was what he did, Austin couldn't lead a line alone for half an hour, nor Gallagher I'd suggest, so sims (or Armstrong) on and Redmond up was all he could do. Armstrong was about to come on before the goal, but probably just for fresh legs. Of course, the goal meant a double swap and a change of plans so can't really judge this. Unfortunately, can't think of anything much else he could have done to improve things given the players available. The squad is massively short of depth, especially for attacking options, so well done to those that played and performed, and here's hoping it's improved in the summer. It was a free hit, so no harm done and certainly our confidence shouldn't be damaged by that. Just a shame to get no rewards for a good performance, plus I really don't like Liverpool.

If man city win today, the semi final between Watford and wolves becomes a Europa league play off final as far as I can work out (fitting for teams in 7th and 8th, and clearly this season's 'best of the rest'). This is good news for us IMHO (so long as city win). We have to play them both; whoever loses has nothing left to play for at all, despite a good season Europe chances are finished. Whoever wins has nothing left until the cup final having already qualified for Europe and will probably be trying to avoid injuries. Of course, both are decent teams who have had good seasons, so games will be tough; but I think however today goes we should have a decent chance on Saturday, and against Watford later in the month against teams whose league campaigns are effectively done.

Bbc gossip has one saints related piece today ... Wolves interested in Cedric! Could be very lazy journo work based on nothing more than a load of Portuguese people being at Wolves, but would be handy to get some cash for him. Still leaves about 10 others to offload. Think Bowen could be an interesting one. Bbc also had hull interested in a new striker so maybe they know Bowen will be off? As an aside, the replacement striker looks pretty handy; young, big, skillful, not very quick ... And plays for bristol rovers. A new Richie lambert anyone??

Obviously a surprising line up to us all as no one seemed to know about vesti being injured. On reflection, however, without him I think that's the righ team; only way of maintaining a back five without him would be either Stephens (no thanks) or Bertrand and targett at left back. Happy to go more adventurous, will no doubt be a surprise to Brighton too, and a win would be massive. Only issue I have is Ely on the bench. Assume lamina isn't considered fit enough, but I'd still probably rather have slattery or even Tyreke Johnson than Ely. Course, if he comes off the bench and bags a winner I'll not be complaining ...

Actually, think I might have been a touch harsh on Romeu and vesti. There's no way Romeu has offered as much as hoj or JWP but given current football wages he's probably OK. Vesti is overpaid for his contribution so far, but I guess he's improving so might end up being worth it; just looks so incongruous next to bednarek who's been our best defender IMHO ... Vesti earns 3 times as much!! And Stephens over twice as much!!!!! Lamina? Potentially, but too inconsistent and injured to judge. An awful lot of waste in there. Targett is a lot for a back-up, Gallagher never plays (not sure why, but fact remains). We have three keepers in a combined 160k. Over 200k on ings, long and Austin who can't score / aren't ever fit. Over 150k on Eli, boufal and Armstrong who have how many assists between them this season? The list goes on ... On the plus side, it surely means there's scope to bin off a lot of waste and reinvest more sensibly. With Ralph in I at least have some confidence it will be invested more wisely. Problem is with the length of some of the contracts will take a good couple of years to fully rectify this mess.

Maybe so, but my issue isn't with the actual amounts (galling though they are to the average person in the street), it's more about whether they've earned it. Not one of the 8 top earners (65k +) have actually earned their money this season (You could cut Bertrand and Ings some slack for being injured) and only Redmond from the next 6 on 60k. Again, if I'm being nice I'll cut Davis some slack for being loaned out and running down his contract which he deserves for his years of service. 1 person from our top 14 (15 if you include boufal) actually performing well enough for their money, and 3 you possibly don't mind due to injury /sentiment. From a commercial perspective that's dreadful, and rather explains why we're in the trouble we are.

I very much doubt we'd be interested in spending north of 10 million on a right back now, given valerys progress, however good we think he might be. Assuming Cedric isn't here next season, we will need cover, but think this particular deal is now dead. Might be that we rely on Ramsey for cover if we revert to Ralph's (apparently) preferred back 4? Would be a risk but I think Valery is making himself first choice for next season, and if so we have other areas requiring more urgent attention for first choice options IMHO.

Not sure I take away the same as you from those comments. Sounds to me like he's saying he's been told he's not up to it but isn't going anywhere. And why would he? He's on a lengthy, lucrative contract. I think he'll be anothe Classie, loaned out every season until his contracts up. Which is a bit unfair on classie as he at least showed glimpses of being a footballer. In the litany of poor signings over the last coup,e of years, he appears to be the worst, which is quite an achievement! Just in case he becomes the next messi and this gets dragged back onto the forum in 2 years time as proof of how little I know, may I say I'd be delighted to be proved wrong, but 9 months into his saints career and we've had one decent cross as return. I don't care how 'determined' he is to work to get into the team, I'd rather he went.

oh, should add - there's no way each of the teams will get their (up to) 15 points ... just looking at realistic points potentially available for each, not what they'll actually get.

Looking at the fixtures from each team's selfish perspective, i can make an argument for seeing about 15 points of on offer for us, Brighton, Palace and Newcastle (i.e. we could conceivably beat Brighton, Wolves, Newcastle, Bournemouth & Huddersfield without getting too silly about predictions). The two with less realistically on offer are Cardiff (12-14) and Burnley (11 max beating AFCB away and getting points v Everton & Arsenal). With that in mind it means IMHO each team has the opportunity to get away, but Cardiff & Burnley have a lot less wiggle room (they need everything to go as well as possible). Given Burnley's current form I really think they could be in danger. Good news for us is they play Cardiff so one of them won't be getting their full quota of best-case-scenario points. Personally, I'd ultimately rather Burnley went down but that would mean Cardiff picking up points which would lead to some very nervous moments before season-end. So out of respect for my ticker, I probably want Cardiff losing every week until we're safe ...

Small part of my agrees; think that resilt dented our confidence and really set the tone for the next month or so. It set us on a bad run which resulted in two things: being embroiled in this years relegation scrap when we never should have been, and the sacking of Hughes (and subsequent appointment of Ralph). Long term then, probably for the best. The only choice for me would be Cardiff. Draw and we'd be 5 points clear of them, win and it would be 8. Either way I think we'd be safe, and Cardiff down, so it's the single worst result of the season IMHO.

This is a really good point, and something I'd forgotten. I still to this day try and turn up half an hour before, and have recently found myself wondering why when there's nothing but loud music to 'experience' (actually, good excuse to have a chat with my 'seat neighbours' ...). And it's because it was ingrained in me as a kid to make sure I got in early enough to get a spot where I could see, especially important when you're a kid and couldn't see a bl00dy thing for 90 minutes if not. The atmosphere definitely benefited from this, gave the crowd a good chance to warm their voices up!

I seem to remember that happening for an entire European cup final once (was it red star v Marseille?, maybe steaua?)

Well, seeing as there's not football for 2 weeks may as well contribute some irrelevant rubbish Can't see a reduction. Put simply the majority of clubs would have to vote in agreement, and seeing as all but 6 or 7 of the clubs are scared witless about relegation and loss of revenue, there will always be a majority in favour of not reducing (turkeys voting for Christmas). In reality, most clubs would clamour for more chance to be involved (less risk of suffering a major loss of earnings); there has been talk of a pl2, and until very recently talk about including the old firm. Of course, simply adding in a second division of the pl isn't especially appealing; aside from pl clubs having an exclusive pl league cup instead of playing in the efl cup there is no opportunity to do anything differently to now so what difference would it actually make? Plus simply adding in 20 more clubs would water down the financial gain of the very top, while reducing the appeal for tv companies of the efl, reducing income for lower level clubs. It would simply widen the gap while actually making both parties suffer financially - the only 'winners' would be the clubs ranked 21 - 40. There is, of course, a creative solution available. Not saying I'd agree with it as elements go against my understanding of fair competition and the traditions of what a league should be. There's also many variations on this theme so it's just an example, but imagine something like: 32 clubs, in 4 (presumably geographical) divisions, home and away v each gives 14 games. Split into top and bottom 4 of each and top 16 (and bottom 16) play each other once, 15 more games, 37 in total. The odd number of games would suit the pl as it would give a reason (opportunity or excuse depending on your view) to need a neutral venue for a proportion of matches, allowing for games to be played all over the world which has been mooted. You could then really spice things up by maintaining points within the 4 divisional groups to provide four 'champions'. This would provide another opportunity for a money spinner - an end of season 'play-offs' to determine the actual champions. Many drawbacks; no guarantee of playing any club outside of your 'division', so clubs gaining promotion and dreaming of the big games might not actually play United or Liverpool or whoever they dream of. And assuming they're in different regions, United and (for example) arsenal would only play once (assuming both finished top 4 in their bit). It's not how a league is meant to be in all our understandings of what a league is - quite simply it just doesn't feel right to me based on all my years of following the game. However, on the plus side it would allow (in that example) for 12 more teams in the pl; selfishly one would imagine our chances of dropping out would reduce. For the power and money men it allows for games abroad, and it would provide an end of season finale lacking in domestic football since the demise of the fa cup. Be honest, the best seasons in terms of the title are when it goes down to the wire. Plus if you're totally honest with yourself, you'd probably tune in to watch the playoff, title determining final, wouldn't you? I know I would, and I'm pretty certain the millions of global pl fans would. And lastly with a split halfway, the top section would presumably get a bigger split of the spoils, thus keeping the elite clubs happy at possibly increasing the size of their cake slice. On balance, negatives are mostly about tradition and fair play, and positives are mostly about money. Given what the power brokers of the pl seem to rate as most important, every chance something like this could halpen then!! And just to repeat, not saying I want this, just saying that I could see something like this happening.