egg

Valery for KWP if he's fit for me, otherwise the team picks itself.

"We are best with about 40% possession". What a thing to post. We're best when we keep the opposition away from our goal as much as possible, and create & score more goals. There's no optimum possession stat.

Yep. Sign of the times mate.

Yep. But what we're playing for the players on loan, and the hit we took for shifting players permanently, isn't known but I'd guess that in some cases it's literally cost us money to get rid of players. Give it 6 weeks or so and we'll get updated accounts for people to ignore.

Truth is none of us know what we're paying in wages for our players, whether still here or elsewhere, but we know that our wage bill 2 year's ago was £110m.

I'm assuming nothing and agree with you. It was Batman's point that the £3m we'd spend on long for a season would get an upgrade. He's now agreed that it won't. *Poster name removed by mod.

He's got more ability but neither of them have Premier league ability.

I take that as a waffly way of agreeing that we won't get an upgrade on Long for what he'd cost us.

You said that we could spend the £3m a year to be given to Long on another player. That's £60k a week on wages with nothing left for a fee etc. Did you mean £40k a week plus a £1m transfer fee then? If not, you explain how £3m gets an upgrade and for who.

I thought it was funny. They had a go at him, he had a dig back, just a bit of banter. Amazing how these things get sensationalised.

Jamie, who will we get on a free transfer for £60k a week who'll be an upgrade on long? I'm genuinely interested.

Yep, £60k a week on a free transfer will get us a much better player. Jeez.

Del, I ain't getting back into this but spend half an hour of this wet Sunday quietly reading and understanding the accounts of southampton football club Ltd. Take a gander at the operating loss and understand / accept that the club has spent more than it earns. I won't comment again on the money side.

Good post. Only fans that don't understand footy and/or don't watch us play would be critical of Shane's running. There's running for the sake of it like Richard Chaplow or there's intelligent running like Long. His runs (difficult to see from a TV screen) take defenders out of position and create space, the space that Ings has exploited so well this season. Sure, the bloke can't finish, but criticising his running is just silly.

Jamie, behave. Everyone wants us to have better players. Everyone. It's the dinlos, as you put it, that think that money grows on trees and we can't just go out and buy more players without shifting some of the crap.

College

Wow. Billy Sharp in the champions league beckons.

Good, positive article. I feared that Ralph had lost the dressing room at the time of the 9-0 and had to go. The way he, and the players, have turned it around is remarkable. What I love about Ralph is the acknowledgement that he got it wrong, that he wasn't blaming others (the Redknapp syndrome) but instead took steps to change what he was doing wrong. They're rare qualities in the ego driven world of football.

Lease

On that we do agree.

That's cheating!! Assuming Gao stays that ain't gonna happen.

Assuming Gao stays, and given the reality of our finances (lots of crap players who's values are less then we paid on expensive contracts, an operating loss in our last published accounts etc) how should the club be run? The options seem to be : A) carry on wheeling and dealing whilst trying to shed the donkeys, or B) borrow to build, or C) something else - if so what? What's the solution?

Out

He's more than that. It's where he runs, and the space he makes for others. He's a good footballer, albeit a shocking finisher. Ings goal tally has much to do with Long.

Ever decr......