stevegrant

We're not

£12m includes ALL of the add-ons. Initial fee of around £7-8m.

Also this: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/crystal-palace/11034484/Tony-Pulis-in-showdown-talks-with-Crystal-Palace-as-manager-unhappy-at-lack-of-transfer-funds.html

My understanding is that, while Koeman doesn't see him as a starter, he would like to retain him at least for this season and perhaps review things after Christmas. He's versatile and has the right attitude, but RK (and others at the club) believe that the likes of Ward-Prowse and Reed have made great strides in the last year or two and are almost (if not yet) on a par with Cork on a technical level, if not on experience and know-how. Of course, they'd possibly/probably lose him for nothing next summer, but £3m isn't a massive amount in the grand scheme of things.

Oh ****, forgot about that. Trains from the other direction via South Bermondsey will still be running, with South Bermondsey being the terminating station. That actually means it should (in theory) be easier to get away after the game, but you'll have to go the long way round.

I'm led to believe the club has agreed absolutely nothing regarding the sale of Jack Cork to anyone.

If you or I strolled into St Mary's and attempted to film an entire game on a camcorder, we could expect a tap on the shoulder and a request to stop and/or a threat of being thrown out. From the ground regulations on the OS:

This, basically. It's a copyright enforcement thing, as well as it looking absolutely pathetic.

Nope, seeded draw, only 25 potential opponents

Burton Albion v Queens Park Rangers Port Vale v Cardiff City Middlesbrough v Preston North End Stoke City v Portsmouth Huddersfield v Nottingham Forest Swansea City v Rotherham United Watford v Doncaster Rovers Millwall v SAINTS Bournemouth v Northampton Town Brentford v Fulham West Bromwich Albion v Oxford United S****horpe United v Reading Derby County v Charlton Athletic West Ham United v Sheffield United Swindon Town v Brighton & Hove Albion Leicester City v Shrewsbury Town Crewe Alexandra v Bolton Wanderers Birmingham City v Sunderland Gillingham v Newcastle United Norwich City v Crawley Town Bradford City v Leeds United Aston Villa v Leyton Orient Burnley v Sheffield Wednesday Walsall v Crystal Palace Milton Keynes Dons v Manchester United

1 in 50 chance.

Finalised seeded/unseeded pots: SEEDED: 1. AFC Bournemouth 2. Aston Villa 3. Bolton Wanderers 4. Brighton & Hove Albion 5. Burnley 6. Crystal Palace 7. Derby County 8. Fulham 9. Leeds United 10. Leicester City 11. Manchester United 12. Middlesbrough 13. Newcastle United 14. Norwich City 15. Nottingham Forest 16. Queens Park Rangers 17. Reading 18. Southampton 19. Stoke City 20. Sunderland 21. Swansea City 22. Watford 23. West Bromwich Albion 24. West Ham United 25. Cardiff City UNSEEDED: Birmingham City Bradford City Brentford Burton Albion Charlton Athletic Crawley Town Crewe Alexandra Doncaster Rovers Gillingham Huddersfield Town Leyton Orient Millwall Milton Keynes Dons Northampton Town Oxford United Port Vale Portsmouth Preston North End Rotherham United S****horpe United Sheffield United Sheffield Wednesday Shrewsbury Town Swindon Town Walsall

Spent most of the season on the treatment table.

You're actually using Costa and Sanchez as examples?! £30m+ signings who have proven records at the absolute highest level of the game. Definitely realistic options for us... When you're in the market we're operating in - and, just to clarify for you, we're not in the market for a £30m+ striker - there is a far lower guarantee of success. Bony, Benteke and Kone (to a lesser extent) have been successful buys for a good price, and that's clearly the lines we looked at with Pelle. Goalscoring pedigree in another league is fine, but you can't rely on solely scouting abroad because not every player adapts immediately to a new country, a new system, etc. Sometimes you have to look domestically, especially if you want to get a deal done quickly, even though you generally don't get anywhere near the same value. That obviously points the finger at the club for taking too long to get things in place, which is a fair criticism, and as a result we are going to end up paying a bit of a premium, but that would have happened to an extent anyway with the knowledge of the business we were going to be doing in the other direction. He's been playing for teams who don't create many chances. We created 11% more chances than West Brom last season and a whopping 26% more than Hull. In a team that creates more, it stands to reason that a striker is likely to have an opportunity to score more goals.

Every single one of the names you list has absolutely no experience of top-flight football and would represent a monstrous gamble. Given the forward options at our disposal, we needed somebody who has been there and done it. His record isn't outstanding by any stretch of the imagination but considering it's now costing £10-11m to sign a player with goals in the Championship, that's the ridiculous situation this league now finds itself in. The top clubs can afford to pay the £20-40m it costs to get 20-goal strikers, we're shopping a level down from that. Nobody has yet come up with the name of a striker currently playing in the Premier League who would be a better option for a similar fee and would realistically sign for us.

I wasted my time reading every single word of each of the posts you reported, none of which contained a single insulting word. Where have you provided any insight? There's none that I can see, Boruc potentially being unhappy at not being first choice anymore is hardly a revelation worthy of the Paul Foot award. You imagine correctly.

Yeah, could be, and would certainly make sense. Saves us around £1.5m or so.

An exit strategy that included violently assaulting one of our most senior players? O...K....

Seem some Leeds-based rumours that we've basically got our money back for him, which would be pretty impressive. I was under the impression we were quite happy to let him go for nothing, just to save on the wages.

Yeah, it was probably worth the relatively cheap gamble given his age and African Cup of Nations performance earlier that year. Not quite worked out so far, perhaps Koeman can get something out of him.

Can't imagine they'd be in any great rush to join anyway, but that's a conversation for elsewhere (perhaps here, which I thought was quite interesting)

£3m

Indeed, but I would suggest the Romanian Lei is more closely linked to the Euro than Sterling, hence Romanian journalists having quoted the price in Euros and not pounds.

Much easier for them to say that when they only stand to receive 25% of any transfer fee anyway. If their cut was 75%, I would guess they wouldn't be so enthusiastic about him sitting on his arse for two years and leaving for nothing at the end of it.

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?51389-League-Cup