redkeith

The wage bill for the 9 remaining players comes to about £7M a year. I can't see a massive queue of clubs lining up to sign Ben Haim, let alone pay him £38 K per week. I think the CVA terms give them a £10M a year total wage bill. Doesn't give them a lot of room for the 11 or so signings that they need .

Even if the Russians do take them over, I think that there will be severe restrictions on inbound transfers until the CVA is paid off. Until this time, the FL should restrict them to free transfers and loans, although they may well be able to get players in exchange for Ward and Lawrence, in the same way that they did with Wilson. That is what happened with Swindon and Bournemouth, but the same laws don't seem to apply to the skates. I don't think the league has the power to stop them offering outrageous sigining on fees to the likes of David Norris, so that is probably their best hope of raising a team next year. Off course, the Russians do have to pass the FPP test yet. Looking at some of the allegations against them, it may be difficult.

I had four pairs of Grey Gap pants , which were my lucky pants. However, not all of the pants were lucky and, as they we're all identical, it was pot luck as to wether I got a lucky pair or not. Since xmas, two pairs had to be chucked, as they were getting a bit holey. Since then our form has greatly improved. Coincidence ??

That boat seems to be cursed. First it runs aground, now this. Should have been called HMS Albatros. Still, at least it's not full of radiactive material. .... D'oh !

Forte ...... starts with an 'F' .... just like Funnell. Could this be and omen. Lets hope so. Don't know about the players, but I'm exhausted.

Since we first got relegated Richard Wright Saejs Cranie Mills Higginbottom Antonio Folly Oakley Griffit Blackstock Wiago All of the above seem to have been let go without much of a fight. The biggest waste though was the way Rednkapp and Burley didn't give the younger players a chance.

Mark Hughes and Stuart Ripley. I have an old copy of football manager 2000, and every now and then I start up a new game just so I can sell the pair of them. Useless mercanaries.

Also in the News today, it said that the Skates were more hopeful of a resoloution in the dispute over KPB and Muntari, with monies still owed from Italy. In the case on Muntari, they are chasing payment of the last part of the transfer fee for the sale to Inter, but they still owe money to Udinese fir the original purchase of the player. However , this is not a fottball debt according to FA/PL rules and so is part of the CVA. Can you imagine the reaction in the English press if ,say, Fiorentina had gome bust owing money for a player they had bought from an English club, who they had subsequently sold onto another English club for a profit, and then refused to cough up what they owed in the first place. The tabloids would have a field day. I think that the Italian FA should get Inter to pay off Udinese, and the Skates get any small change that is left over. I am not just saying that because it is the Skates, but if the same thing happened to an Englsih club, I would want the FA to step in.

So the transfer window has now closed, and Brown, Hughes and Ben Haim are still at the club ( how is the sispute with West Ham going ? ) . That means that they have to pay all three of them until July 1st, when the first two are out of contract, and the transfer windows opens for all of the clubs waiting to pay Ben Haim £38K per week. Their combined wage is £100K per week, for another 14 weeks. That comes to £1.4 Million, or to put it another way 2,800 full priced season tickets just to pay for the deadwood. Doesn't leave a lot for rebuilding the team, or paying the C.V.A .

On a more positive note in Saints' History , it was about this time of the 77-78 season that Tony Sealy got injured, opening up a place in the team for Tony Funnell. Funnell went on to score 7 goals in the run in, including the equaliser at Orient which sealed promotion ( barring a 5 0 defeat in the last game). If AOC or AL is out for a while, maybe there is another Funnell waiting in the wings ?

I think they are wrong about Man U. I reckon that Ferguson is really after Gobern. That tackle at Bournemouth reminded him of Scholes.

Anyone saying Gerrard didn't see him on Sunday, someone must have told him Liverpool were in Claret and Blue. I must admit that I agree with FF, that we have lacked a proper leader on the pitch, probably since Killer got injured. Oakley would have been a candidate, but Burely prefered to let him go and sign Idiakez instead. However, I can't think of many such players that we have missed out on in this years transfer market. Maybe Kishichev ( spelling? ) who wen't to Brighton or Carsley who went local and a League above. Players like Ball and Case are once in a lifetime signings. The fact that I have seen both in my own lifetime makes me very lucky. Nowadays, players like that would be off to Qatar, USA or Hong Kong, for one last big pay cheque.

Is it Dozy, Beaky, or Titch ? I think Dave Dee has passed on ?

The tapping up is very anoying. I know that it is hard to stop agents talking to other clubs behnd the scenes, but managers really should comment about other teams players, and wether they want to sign them. The LMA should drill into there members that when they are pressed about other clubs players, the response should be " He is under contract to another club, so it would not be proper to speculate about him" . Problem soved, although there would be lots of empty pages in newspapers.

As an exile, I am looking forward to seeing the Saints on TV, not so much now that AL is injured, but hopefully we will put up a better displasy than the last two cup games against them. Unfortunately for me, France4 are only showing the lunchtime game, so I will have to put up with that ***** Tilsley on ITV , bigging up United all the time. French commentary is much better ( what I can understand of it) last time the French commentators both shouted 'Catre Rouge ' when McGoldrick was rugby tackled when clean through. They obviously don't realise that Man U players don't normally get sent off unless weapons are involved.

As this thread has been hijacked into a 'can't win anything with kids' thread, can I try my own hijck ? ( or make a new thread Mods if you wish) What was the best decade for the youth system ? 60's Paine Sydneham, Hollywood, Chivers,Webb 70's Channon, Williams, Holmes, Waldron, Andrezuski, Hebbard, Baker, Hayes 80's Moran, Wallace D, Wallace, Wallace Rod, Wallace Ray, Lawrence, Le Tissier, Shearer, Agboola, Puckett Baird 90's Kenna, Oakley Widdrington 00's see above Think the 80 ' s would take some beating.

If we bring Jennings back with us. all will not be lost. Maybe Bart will get a chance next week, and see if he can communicate with the C-Halfs. Shame, as the other results were good for us. Maybe we do need a bruiser for games like this, and Del Peiro on loan from Juve for when Lallanas injured.

2 Oakley 3 Maddison

We heard a rumour on the Saturday before Keegan signed, from a mate Kev West. I think the rumour originated from someone who used to stand under Lawries office. in one of the turnstile entrances. Didn't think it was true, chuffed to **** on the Monday when I found out it was.

Apparently they asked Scunny to re-arrange for tonight, but they said no. Sounds like they are desperate for the cash. Also, I'm sure that I read that they expected all of the season ticket monies to be handed over, once they came out of admin, but now it seems that the money is still being handed over pro-rata, after each home game played. Sounds like Barclaycard still aren't sure that they will complete their fixtures .

So the transfer window didn't bring in enough money for the CVA. How could they have come up with the missing £3 Million ? I'm no mathematician ( Sorry that's a lie I am a maths geek) but using these simple formulas I can see A solution . Wilson = £1.5 Million + Lawrence + Kitson Wilson = £1.5 Million + £3 Million for the CVA. Combining these two differential equations we arrive at the answer Skates = Cheating Bastards

I'm suprised that no-one has posted this link yet. http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/frattonlatest/Pompey-financial-report-to-be.6647296.jp This could actually be the start of the start of the investigation, although I fear that more information may have ended up in the shredder than in the report itself. Although everything is top secret, there are details of the sort of wrongdoings that could be taken further, such as using money owed to the Crown (HRMC) to continue running the business. I think even the Skates will find it difficult to dodge that bullet. Another interesting aside is that Al Mirage is not included in the investigation as he was never a Director of the company although, as he appears to be a creation of fiction, perhaps Sherlock Holmes or Rebus could be called in to make enquiries ?

Does anyone have some stats for Claude Makalale's goals and assists ? Or Alan Ball, Jim Magilton or Matt Oakley for that matter ? It is a team game, and is not just about individual stats. Stats won't show how many wingers have been set into spaceby a square pass to set up a goal, and thus get the magical assist statistic. In my younger days, I used to moan about Bally and his constant short square passes. calling it negative. Boy was I wrong. We have never played football that good since he hung his boots up. All those people wanting rid of Morgan, be careful what you wish for. And don't be suprised if lots of threads appear in the future saying that we should have never got rid of maorgan, much as they do now with Matt Oakley.

If they had shown it afterwards and England had lost the bid, it would have been dismissed as sour grapes. The whole FIFA operation does need looking at, in my own opinion. There needs to be more transparency about where the WC is allocated, and there should be an enquiry about ticket pricing, after all the empty seats in South Africa. Tickets should be sold at a fixed mark up on what normal league game tickets would cost in the country holding the competition, so that the fans that maintain the leagues in those countries can afford to go to the World Cup, which is supposed to be for theit benefit. Unless the last world cup was just about getting white middle class africans to switch from rugby. Also, the new stadium sizing criteria are rediculous. 32,000 is perfectly adequate for most group games. I don't mind if England loses the bid, as it will save Plymouth and Bristol City fans from having to watch their game from one stand, while the rest of the white elephant stadias are closed to save money.

Danny Wallace, at Old Trafford. I was at Soton Uni at the time, and used to watch the youth games at the Dell. Watched him score a couple of goals on the Weds, and was telling all my mates about what a good prospect we had. Low and behold, Steve Morans gutsfell out of his bottom and Danny gets his debut, along with Ruben Agboola in a 1.1 draw at Old Trafford. Danny would hacve scored the winner, but the ball bobbled up just as he was about to hit it. Crap pitch even then.