hughieslastminutegoal

I have serious reservations about this post. The poster has previous but I'm not saying what that is or why that might be a problem for someone.

Are all your physio/coaching certificates framed up on your bedroom wall next to your One Direction poster?

I look inside myself and see my heart is black I see my red door I must have it painted black Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts It's not easy facing up when your whole world is black I wanna see it painted, painted black Black as night, black as coal I wanna see the sun blotted out from the sky I wanna see it painted, painted, painted, painted black

Nor with the London-centric BBC national TV who I note would rather say things like "Spurs moved into the top half of the table": and the following week: " Spurs lost 2-1 to Stoke" rather than "Southampton win again to maintain the pressure at the top with a 2-0 win against Leicester".

Did they all work for Southampton City Council?

Let's face it, hindsight tells us that Liverpool did us a real favour in the summer. Especially by taking Lovren, head detached or not.

So you aren't sure you saw handball but it was handball all day long? Personally I'm not sure if we were robbed but we've been, well, robbed.

If you were asked to transfer to Hull, maybe your employer might be giving you a message? With Taider being sent packing and now Ramirez being sent to Hull I think Koeman might be making a point.

Ridiculed if he shows ambition, but just a few weeks ago the club was being lambasted (probably be the same tw*ts) for having none.

My ol' man was an Arsenal fan and he was born within spitting distance.

The wife looked a bit silly when she said she was expecting when all she meant was she was hoping. So I just leave her hoping. But if she plays away on the other hand.....

That'll be why we've always sung 'Oh when THE Saints...'. Can't it be either?

First you need to know who's going before you know what kind of replacement you need. So let's assume the club knew who might leave - they got in a new manager and wanted him to decide what replacements he might want. But that was too slow for the players who wanted to leave. The clubs wanting to sign them, and the players concerned all agitated for the sales to be completed quickly and when it didn't happen instantly players began threatening to strike or started spitting out their dummies in public. And when the press start lapping it all up the players sense of their own importance went through the roof. I don't see how the club could have done things much differently.

If you were under 21 but getting no chances wouldn't you want a transfer? Your system smacks of the kind of contracts Virgin etc. used to give budding rock groups who if they wanted to stand a chance of being heard had to accept unfair contract terms. Do away with transfer fees and allow total freedom of movement within the closed season - if someone wanted away it would be so much easier to get a replacement. Players might even start getting some sense of loyalty to and appreciation of their employer. Free competition between players for jobs could excercise some downward pressure on wage demands (at most clubs). Football is now just an extreme example of the economic system as a whole - the top is just getting an ever increasing share of the cake at the expense of the rest and there's probably little that can be done to curtail the top clubs, whatever the system. However whilst smaller clubs may have to rely on transfer fees, they do so in an environment where players wages are too high because it is so hard to sign them. I don't go along with the view that says if these clubs didn't have to pay transfer fees the money not spent on them will be spent on wages instead - because they would know that there will in turn be no transfer income coming in.

You may well be right, but why spend nearly 20mill on a couple of replacements? The illusion could have been maintained with cheaper alternatives, surely?

Maybe it isn't a question of what they are (were) on but what they were promised, and the dimwits sucked it all up. And when KL said "hang on a mo' they all started spitting their dummies out. There are a few left who have the ability to think for themselves, but most are just in it for as much as they can get, and their stock is currently as high as it is ever likely to get (as most of us on here readily admit). IMO the club are doing the right thing - get rid of the grumblers (for as much as they can get) and rebuild. But they can't say that openly in so many words or slag the lot of them off in public. The Board want to try to keep a semblance of professionalism, even though it is a real struggle when getting dumped on by the manager and one player after another with an overblown sense of entitlement.

Do you really see Saints as a regular Champions League place contender? We are a medium sized club who may from time to time push into places 6,7,8 and 9. How much every year would we need to spend to be a shoe-in for the chance of a regular CC spot? I think the effort and cost would most likely be prohibitive, so the target needs to be more realistic (and the ambition tempered). People keep going on about KL having betrayed her father's vision, but at the same time keep on ignoring what the stated ambition was - to make the club self-supporting. Whatever the public statements have been about the Cortese/KL split, KT doesn't appear to have the 'ambition at any cost' bug. Cortese just got ahead (and too fond) of himself. Having sold a vision to the players that wasn't wholly shared by KL, it is hardly a surprise that so many have been infected by the 'I want CC football and a mega pay packet' disease. When a couple of them manage to get it all the others similarly minded (not all blessed with a lot of brain) feel entitled to the same. What's happening at the club is an epidemic and removing the infection (letting the infected players get away) is probably the only treatment. It would seem the infection really began taking hold long, long before the end of the season, and who knows what grapevine message Cortese put out when he was about to quit. At least the club is getting in plenty of money and has a new experienced doctor with plenty of international experience and contacts who should be able to infuse fresh blood into the patient. All in all, I think Dr Ron is quite a lucky man - I don't believe for a second he wasn't briefed about the position, but no one can expect the truth of the extent of the rot to be openly discussed in public - and accusations of blame bandied around - it isn't the Swiss way.

Shaw will soon have on hand a big time charlie's advice on how to bed a granny, not to forget invaluable expert coaching on how to bed your sister-in-law, a lesson Shaw can keep for later... The benefits of going to a "big club" are endless.

... while announcing to the world that he is a liar, a chancer and will do anything for a quick buck. Effing nonsense. Just maybe the new board knew that MP would go, knew what the knock-on results were likely to be and needed a clear headed leader who wasn't going to be panicked by simple-minded football fans who are all geniuses when faced with a confluence of difficult problems.

You might not worry about looking a div, but a man of Kreuger's obvious quality certainly would be. They are in a difficult situation and will work through it in a proper business-like way - i.e. not in the usual ludicrous "football way" - maybe it's a good thing that he isn't a "football man" otherwise he might behave like the other twonks who run the game.

Absolutely right. Why would anyone hire such a person when their intention was to asset strip? Just to lie to fans? What would that achieve? Just to sell season tickets before bailing out? He would look like an utter stool pigeon.

A bit off topic, but do you have ANY evidence from the various sports concerned that SCW's motivation of their athletes produced brilliant results? I think cycling for one might be a bit miffed by his contribution being bigged up like this. Nevertheless as an Ice Hockey fan, I'm sure The Oilers ex-coach has plenty of good advice to offer, as a board member.

The BBC item implies that KL wants to sell asap, that she doesn't want to wait 2 or 3 years to do it. Cortese has said that in the event that Liebherrs wanted to sell he had people waiting to buy, that the future would be guaranteed. If there's been a rumbling issue since May I can't imagine that NC hasn't a backup plan other than just to do a disappearing act. I think he'll be in there fighting for what he wants - I don't think he'll just walk away from his achievements. This is of course pure speculation, if such a thing is still allowed on a discussion forum.

Well done in spotting speculation. Have a house point. The words 'it seems', 'I think', 'my guess is', 'probably' and 'might indicate' wouldn't have made that crystal clear then? But if you think no one can speculate I suggest you ask for all discussion threads to be closed forthwith.

Are you sure? Management buyouts are hardly a new thing and a Cortese-led consortium surely would be a similar thing - and all the equity is Liebherr's anyway so it would be up to them (her) to look after the family's interest. Cortese's last spat with KL was in the summer transfer window and before that investment at Staplewood appeared to have stumbled for a while. Now he resigns in the January transfer window, so it seems pretty clear that there has been an issue about nvestment and vision since ML died. My guess is that there was probably some kind of gentleman's agreement between NC & ML for Cortese to eventually become (at least) a part owner - an Italian banker running an English football club just for salary never seemed a likely proposition. I think it likely that KL has probably demanded too much for the club, Cortese (and his possible backers) think the price should be lower on the basis that the added value has been brought by Cortese's efforts, so he's hacked off about that. Remember too that NC/ML played a waiting game before they bought the club - they wanted it at the right price. It paid off for NC then, maybe he's trying the same tactic again, trying not to look too keen to buy. However if MP does also quit it might indicate that NC and his backers have finally walked, that KL has been too intransigent on the price. It did make me laugh when people said KL would sell because she isn't interested in football. I suppose that must mean she is interested in locomotives, cranes and other heavy engineering. Mind you from the photo of her I can see why that might be the case.