derry

Bristol Evening news says Southampton pulled out after Fontaine experienced problems fulfilling a fitness test for his ankle, He also had a reaction after training on Monday. Seems pretty conclusive.

It could also be that Cortese pulled the plug because the press were being briefed by BC, he doesn't work that way. Elliott Ward comes to mind. Just a thought.

A realistic target without the ridiculous price tag.

Adkins has always been one of those rare managers that gets more than the sum of the parts out of his teams. He was always my first choice after seeing his S****horpe team at SMS and his subsequent record. He isn't going to allow the unquantifiable team ingredient he instills to be negated. We both know that the most important thing in a team is the teamwork, blend and cussedness that makes the team difficult to beat. A quality player may not necessarily add to that mix and could ruin it unless he is a fit in.

One of the worst things for a football fan must be the realisation that the money has gone and the players that were bought at inflated prices aren't really that good. My view is that it is ridiculous to spend inflated fees. Lambert, Connolly, DeRidder, Guly, Fonte, Cork were value, we need more players of their quality at their prices. Arsenal could afford to waste £12m if Chamberlain doesn't make it. £6m could buy us a lot of good Championship quality players.

I believe he has left the Rosebowl.

Cliff Huxford - promotion 1959/60

CMS was £3m ish, Beckford bid is about £2.5m, £6m is rediculous.

14 goals last season, £5.5m no thanks.

Two loans are enough, either swop him, sell him or let him see out his contract in the friendlies if he can't get back in contention.

I think we missed a trick in the short term taking Seaborne instead of the experienced Elliott Ward who has been a real success at Norwich.

Armitage Shanks is I believe a solicitor in the midlands so could well have relative contacts in that area.

Sounds like a better left back has been signed. The problems with the two existing left backs is that Dan Harding whilst a good tackling defender regularly gets caught out ball watching and gets wrong sided whilst of the two, Lallana has a preference for playing in front of Harding.

Let him go and get a reliable, stable, replacement in.

It's a balancing act, firstly no more than two or three, the team spirit is good so we need to preserve that, centre back, striker and maybe a proper all rounder. We don't need to waste money on big fees. There is still the Puncheon issue to resolve.

I think that was just to do a job on the day. I agree about playing wide right.

An absolute steal for £1m, already a very good footballer.

Whilst I'd prefer us to keep the kids with great potential and bring them in as the bedrock of the first team, for some reason I just don't feel the same about this one. It's just that with his father up to his neck in the unsettleing process it would only be a matter of time before he became an unsettleing issue for the other players. I must say I'm relieved to draw a line under it. I've a feeling the management see it that way too and the only issue was the price/add ons/sell on percentage. Of course they would say they wanted to keep him for negotiating purposes.

Bill, I think you should have used the word possibly a tremendous talent. There is no doubt he is brilliant for a 17 year old but in real terms he is very raw and doesn't seem to have a sharp football brain. his positional play is poor at times and will need a lot of work. Like Walcott in his hurry to get away I think he has gone to the wrong club. I really rate De Ridder who may not be as good as Chamberlain might become but is a far superior footballer at this point in time.

You should get treatment.

My judgement of him is based on watching two seasons performances. Going overboard about one good performance doesn't make him the answer.

We'll see. I hope he does but one game doesn't make a season.

Hammond played well yesterday in a team that collectively were well on top of their game. Leadership is not about looking good in a good performance. What he was criticised for by the current Saints first teamer, was going missing in a tough away match when he wasn't playing well, at a time when other players were letting their heads drop. That is the time real leadership comes into play. Yesterday he played well and scored a good goal, now he has set the standard he has to maintain it. If he can play well and lead and lift the team when we are playing badly he can be called a real leader. My view is that he isn't and when the going gets tough he will go missing.

Sums it up for me Ron. I thought Leeds tried to bully us but surprisingly had forgotten that league one was a lot more physical, I'm not sure we even noticed it, as it was the physical battle that we had to win in the first hour in every game last season.