egg

The cost rose from £14m to £38m partly owing to £4m of "waste" and a desire to create "the 4 seasons".

It's a fact.

£52m wage bill. £38m Staplewood bill. KL funded £28m in April to meet pressing financial demands. Something had to give, but not to this extent.

The club pay half to the players.

Bought in players have their value ammortised over the course of their contract. I'm pretty sure (but am not certain) that homegrown players don't have a book value so stay off the balance sheet.

None of our players were "genuine PL proven players" when we were promoted. Ditto the academy boys when they broke through. Ditto any foreign player who has never played in the PL before.

Not at all. Financially we're very solid and have kl support, that I know for a fact. That's why, if this is true of course, it makes no sense whatsoever.

Ha! Hope you're wrong dug dug but faith is required. Everything I've heard suggests the money and ambition is still there but selling chambers makes no sense. He'll be a fixture of the England team for years. Poss captain material too. Hairline? I have an affro, honest.

Not a bad analogy Monsieur Bear. It feels like rape and pillaging with someone taking money. Flip side is the madame may go out and get good fresh meat ready to turn tricks in the pl. My gut feel is that all will be cool but I'd prefer evolution to revolution!

Agreed, RK may want a clean sweep but I find that unlikely. The only other possibility is that he thinks the next crop of youngsters are ready to replace those leaving.

Wow, I didn't see this coming. Chambers will be as good a rb as Shaw will be a lb IMO. One of the most talented young English players. I've been relaxed about the exodus until now (lallana, lambert and Shaw have been adequately replaced IMO) but lovren, chambers and poss Morgan is just ridiculous. I'm not sure how we stem the flow but we must do so.

The figures re us are correct. The wage bill last year was £52m. No idea about other clubs though.

Forget striking. What about a few players in a dressing room who don't want to be there. Can you imagine the damage that negatively does to morale? Multiply that several times and you'll get the damage it would cause the youngsters. People keep throwing up Suarez being persuaded to stay. That's one player. Unhappiness can be managed in isolation, but not in a group of players. Once the rot has set in, it has to be removed. My last words on the subject.

This. Somebody will be along shortly though to say that we should have been strong and made them stay. Presumably they'll say that had we had done that then everything would have been fine, or something.

Too true Del. Crazy that so many people are willing to disregard the truth to support their own assumptions.

Quite. Too much emotional nonsense on here, not enough facts. We've lost a good manager and got a good replacement. Ditto a number 10 and striker. We've also got a bloody good young full back to step into a bloody good young full backs boots. Despite that, the world is apparently a bad place.

You said this: You aren't seriously telling me that if the likes of Daniel levy was saints chairman that we would have lost as many players as we have this year? " Can you pls answer my question now?

Wtf are you on about? He promised champions league and all that goes with it. False expectations are dangerous, as we've seen.

He didn't walk of his own accord. Sure, his wings were clipped but that was needed. Markus died a long time ago. His daughter has been at the helm for a long time. Last summers spending, and the training ground commitment, shows she was committed. Those are facts - I'll ignore your rumours.

Didn't levy sell spurs best player last summer for a big fee? Didn't those scouse bullies sell their best player last week? Didn't Chelsea sell Luis for £50m? If Barca, Real Madrid or PSG come sniffing then even the big boys sell. If they can't block player power and ambition how can we?

The problem is Nic promised these boys, and MP, the moon on the stick. He then took the training ground spend to £38m and had to leave. MP then walked and the rest is history. Nic created a problem that the current regime are having to manage. This is a transitionay period which we'll get through.

Eh? I'm not advocating selling anyone.

You're talking as if we've lost most of a team and not replaced anyone. We've lost 3, gained 2 plus Targett. What's all the fuss about?

Yes, and he hasn't signed one for another club either. Nor have Morgan, Lovren, Chambers, etc. Calm down ffs.

Agreed. He's got defects that won't go away. He's worse than lovren, fonte and yoshida imo. A no from me.