up and away

It's sad that things have come to this, but the club have a shortfall in those paying for tickets and the actual crowd. They cannot force you to hand over copies of documentation and you can't force them to sell you a season ticket, however strange that seems. My concern would be who has access to those official copies and the safeguards to ensure they went no further. It does seem heavy handed and out of touch for what are considered fans, but when you see the lengths that fans will go to not pay. It does grate that we have to go through these hoops and the worst is thought of our intentions. The trouble is that several have those intentions and they find it difficult to distinguish between the two.

My opinion would be that we were not prepared to pay his agents fees for the move, something he could be contractually committed for? I would be sure for the right player that this could be over come, but I just don't feel Sharp is that player. We have too many forwards already with a injury history that is not optimum. I just cannot see the logic in adding one more to that list?

I have not seen anything from Barnard that shows this potential, Guly I fully accept. Connolley showed for me the short comings in Barnard and Lambert, something that has not gone unnoticed with Adkins in our pursuit of a pacey striker. For this type of money I can see us picking up far better on the continent. The big question will be whether Lambert is truly injury free this season and can perform to this level, because last years performances will not be good enough. Then again, how much can we get out of Connolley?

If Paul Allen had wanted the MLS franchise for Seattle, he would have no need for any others and of been the standout. The simple fact is that those that did want the franchise in Seattle had no stadium. Allen gave them rent free access for a minority holding in the franchise. He does not have or imparts any influence over the running of the team as he does with his other sports. He gives his priority to his other teams though I would expect he does attend. There is no way you can consider his involvement as being driven for the ownership or rewards of being involved with a soccer club, just something that happened in supporting his beloved Seattle.

It is well documented that Paul Allen was not involved with the decision to gain a MLS franchise. Those that did gain the franchise had no venue to play their home games and that is where Allen came into play. Allen gave them rent free access to the old Seahawks stadium, then the new Seahawks NFL stadium where crowds hit the ceiling. In return was given a small holding in the franchise. This is just an extension of his vast social projects that he has done for Seattle, but absolutely no drive to own a football club. What is totally bizarre that one, if not the worlds biggest philanthropists can be seen as devious when giving a radio interview for having no intentions of owning a football club. If he wanted to he could get a lot of revenue from one of the best attended MLS franchises, but happy enough with a low value minority franchise holding, not even the owner.

The club he supported wasn't relevant, and it wasn't, in the sense you mean it, a wind up. I've gone over this before in the dim distant past (and under another user-name), so here's a potted summary. tommac (real name Tom McLoughlin) claimed that he was the managing director of an airline leasing company and he worked out of a luxury office in Mayfair. Actually, he was a local manager of an American leasing company, and he worked in an industrial estate in Fulham. In the course of his job, booking executive jets for the hobnobs, he met two lawyers from Paul Allen's umbrella company in Seattle. They have (or had) a number of American sports interests, including a basketball franchise I think. Now, tommac being tommac thought he could make a killing out of this opportunity, and knew that Saints were up for sale. He pitched the idea of Allen taking over Saints to the lawyers, who by all ccounts gave a non-committal 'yeah, yeah, that's interesting' response. tommac then reported this 'interest from Allen' to the Southampton board, and presented himself as a go-between. The news was gushingly leaked (by Leon, I think?), and the share price went into orbit. When Mary Corbett, among others, tried to follow up this supposed 'interest', there was absolutely nothing there. Allen had, it seems, never been told of the lawyers' conversation with tommac. Indeed, I imagine the lawyers completely forgot about it. I can fill in a bit more, tommac saw an opportunity and was trying to make a buck, simple as that. No contacts, just a blagger who saw a lot of American money going into English football and tried to get a wedge. When the news first appeared in the Evening Standard I managed to get some info from the source report from a friend who did bits in the supplements at the time. One of the links he came up with was for an American sports agents, over here looking into the market after the American interest in Aston Villa and Liverpool. Tommac had some tenuous link here, either through conversation on a plane or hotel or some secondary business. The link to meeting a couple of Paul Allens lawyers would make a lot of sense, especially when you looked at Allens philosophy and spinning Saints as a nice, friendly family club. Then as luck would have it he bumped into the reporter in a London hotel lobby, gave him chapter and verse and the rest is history. I emailed Michael Nank who dealt with all Allens ventures and he kindly sent me all the communications regarding the matter he had just forwarded to the Daily Echo. It was very obvious from those communications that there was nothing in it. I remember Chorley commented as such when seeing the information at the Echo, but surprisingly went silent thereafter. What I can never understand is that this information was so easy to get hold of or just pop along to the Echo, but no one bothered. I thought Hone and Dileau were aware of what Tommac was (maybe not), but went along the any news is good news route in trying to find a buyer for Saints. Mcmenemy, Corbett and Crouch were taken in hook line and sinker for many months, even to the extent of bragging on introducing him to the club. As for sequoia, he put a slant on matters that came from within the club at the time, being pretty obvious from the gentle spin where that source originated.

Why? I really like it, especially on some of the casual wear from the megastore. Can understand people wanting to keep with tradition, but this one would not worry me either way. I definitely think it has a marketing angle irrespective of whether we keep the original crest or not.

Is this a local speciality, or something you picked up on your travels?

Normally don't have a great deal of interest in these pre-season games, but for some reason this 3 way match has really caught my interest. On the advice from others we have gone for the ML suite with the seating seemingly allowing you to get in and amongst it all. Really like the idea of this day out, just hope it lives up to expectation.

You can go on about how good his passing and link up play looks, but the facts paint a totally different picture. I had virtually given up on Schneiderlin until he put in about 7 mid season performances as defensive midfielder that were top notch, before getting injured. If he puts in those types of performances I really don't worry about his lack of assists or scoring, he showed in those games what a valuable asset he could be by not being petulant, positioning himself and reading the game well, finished off with some very decisive tackles (and his passing was good). If you try and make a case for him based upon assists and goals you are in the Franny Benali club, but I would definitely want him if he can reproduce that defensive form in the Championship, that he showed for that limited period of time in League 1.

You make some very good points about the defence, something I had not taken completely onboard in relation to their previous Championship experience. But just one stepping up and bringing in another can completely change the complexion of the defence. Our defence was more than adequate in League 1, but we are no longer in league 1 and the experience of our players in the Champinship does not bode well. What we have really lacked over the years is a defensively minded counter attacking side that can go away from home and grind out a result. We don't need to play in that manner all the time, but the volume of games and commitment required from the Championship shows it to be winning football. For this to happen we need a single centre forward with pace, complimented by pace from one other position. A midfield that has the capability of shutting up shop and a defence not known for regularly handing out gifts. The midfield could well have that option now, but the rest of it will need to change either from inside or outside. We only have to look at Brighton last season, where as individuals we had much the better players. As a team that was a completely different matter and they were ahead of us. Give Brighton similar resources to ourself for the coming season and I have little doubt which will be the most successful outcome.

We need a strong, skilled forward with pace to bring that attacking force into being, we don't need a striker having to slip back into midfield or the wings to contribute. Ricky can do a Fuller and be that player, but what he showed for the most of last season will not be good enough for Championship promotion. Connolley brought another dimension to the forward line at the end of last season to show what we had been missing and exposing Barnard and Lambert to the real need. In midfield we desperately need the type of player that Jack Cork displays on some youtube clips and hopefully he is that player. Morgan needs to repeat what he only managed for about 7 games in the middle of last season at Championship level and we have the basis for a very good central midfield pairing. There is little need to mention the quality of Lallana and Oxo, with Guly having an important role to play as well. Defence looks the weakest at present but it would not surprise me for players to step up to the mark and be counted. Martin could well be one of those players but that is a very big ask. The biggest concern will be Kelvin, where even the smallest minority could not be heard in wanting him to replace Richard Wright, an average CCC keeper at best. A lot of these negatives can easily disappear by players stepping up to the mark and Adkins organising us as a team. I have great faith after what Adkins did last season and although it's possible to see flaws, you cannot argue with the end result. I am not sure how the season will pan out but I fully expect us to be there or there abouts with our home form being strong. In Guly we have someone skilled at moving that bus to allow our attacking options to capitalise. A fit, disciplined team with the skill we have could easily be a force away from home, just don't know until we see all the bits come together. I don't expect us to further off than mid table even possibly a lot better. If things are not working out I expect that to be addressed in the January window and being in or very close to the top six come the end of the season.

- Lambert new long term contract - Lallana new long term contract - Adkins new long term contract - Martin new long term contract - Chamberlain still here - Massive recruitment drive in academy, medical, sports science, commercial and coaching staff - Club to be one of the few in England with category one academy status (that costs a huge amount of money to do) - 15 new 1st year scholars, some of a very high potential - Bid for Cork made weeks ago (before Under 21's and Jack's holiday afterwards, deal now concluded) - Bid for Sharp of £3.25m, indicated money available - Training ground costing 3x as much as the plans originally laid out before Markus' death There was never any need to look at the facts, that was painfully obvious for anyone who has mastered the ability to hold their breath for a second. All this topic is good for is identifying those who formed a liking for laying on supermarket floors crying and screaming in their formative years.

That bit is bullshyte. I know someone who works with Les Read closely and whilst they wont divulge any information on signings etc it is clear that NA makes the decisions on who to sign based on budgets available. Others have an input but NA calls the shots. They did hint that there is a vibe around the cub at the moment that things are starting to happen. Again when pressed the NC silence police threat meant lips were sealed much to my frustration. That bit is not total bullshyte, that I can tell you from the man himself. If Adkins wanted too he could insist upon a certain player and I believe he would get his way. But in all of this he sees the whole set up as a team effort, allowing the team to do their job and for him to reap the rewards of their effort. One of the most surprising things going on at St Mary's is that there is a lot of talented and experienced people and they all get heard, without the ego's overriding anyone. The buck obviously stops with Adkins, but he uses the system rather than fight against it.

now you are on a wind up...how would craig mackail-smith be a marquee signing and cork not...? again, where was brightons ambition when losing their star striker to a crap team and rivals in palace... they have just stood still.. It's even worse at Brighton. They lost the equivalent of Lallana and Lambert, only to bring in CMS. As much as I want players in early, it's costly and not practical if you are going for quality. We have an international scout now and far better bargains are to be had on the continent. For some of the real quality players we may have to wait until the window is about to close but there is no way anyone can doubt Saints ambition when you see what has been ploughed into the club and the intentions in the transfer market. We will get very good players for that sort of money if we are patient.

Very true, as good as a player I thought Matt Mills was and has become, it takes a while and is far more risky developing a defender than an attacker. If we are going to loan him out it should be at Championship level, he already seems to have the cut of L1. He looks a very good player who I thought should have played more L1 games, but I will not even question Adkins when he clearly sees developing the youth as a priority within other goals. I see the UI is calling for him to be given full opportunity, something risky for a defender unless you are double sure. Adkins has to impress upon the lad he is one for the future and give him every cup game going and any further that warrants off the back of those performances, but he has to be patient. I have full faith in Adkins developing these youngsters but that does not mean them playing at every opportunity, there are other issues to be balanced here.

Disagree - IMO NA was properly disappointed. You just have to count the number of times NA referred to OG in interviews to appreciate that the club supported and saw something in him (wasn't it somebody on here who spotted NA having coffee with OG in town, leading them to liken the two to a headteacher and pupil); and these were not sweet-nothing words: Wotton was released to open up a berth for OG when many others would have played it safe and kept him as CM back-up. I would agree with that, very disappointed. This is going to have no impact on the tribunal, they will be looking at the deals offered by both clubs and come up with a figure representative of those deals in that market. It is very difficult to bring the likes of Gobern through from the Academy, a lot of time and effort has to go into this and sacrificing the first team to a small extent. You only have to look at the time it took Matt Mills to develop to get the picture. We are committed to bringing Academy players through to the first team, with players like Oxo it's a no brainer, but with players like Gobern it's a lot of hard work and sacrifice. I read Nick Ilingsworths peice in the UI and that may well have some merit over the lads thinking. But he completely over looked the fact that promotion was the be all and end all for that stage of the season, with Adkins totally justified becuse of what he managed to achieve. I would be very sure that Adkins had fully explained his plans for the lad and he knew the manager was on his side, even after the kung fu rumble at cherry central. It would not surprise me if this came down to something as simple as a £50k signing fee or the like.

Cork has said he wants to get a deal done early so he can enjoy a full pre-season. He has talked with us and from his girl friends comments, it did not look like he was coming to us? That said, I am not sure what other hard offers are on the table and West Ham may well be strung until they offload some of their current high earners. If Cork was really serious about being settled at a new club early, we could well be back in the mix. Either way I am not too bothered and will wait and see who we get and how good they actually turn out to be.

I'll go along with all of that and his improvement during the run in was noticeable. But I saw enough from Connolley to see what we really need, slightly more pace and movement. Glad Ricky's been given his chance, but last seasons efforts will not be good enough.

I agree. New CM is a good idea, more competition out wide is good, but Danns seems to be half winger/half CM. Good, but not going to replace Lallana/Chamberlain, and unsure how he'd play with Morgan or in a 4. Difficult. Rather focus on outright CMs. It's going to be difficult to bring in wide players when we have 2 such blatant first choices though. Not so sure about change the whole system as he would not be that much different to Guly. Not that sure I would rate him above Guly for next season, will have to wait and see on that one. I agree with what we really need, being the solid defensive midfielder you mention as we still have more attacking midfielder than most can put up. I just get the feeling the prices being asked for decent UK players is just too over the top and the continent may well yeild far better value.

He can't agree terms with them unless we agree a fee first so while he may wish to join them and we might hold out for the biggest fee, then he goes nowehere until NC says so. The only way this has gone as far and as public as it has will be because of the conditions of his contract, something similar to Theo's. If a club then comes along and agrees to all those terms there is nothing Cortese can do. If you have any clause which is not water tight or the buying club wish to negotiate, Cortese may demand that maximum immediately, this is where I believe we are at. This type of contract would not stop Oxo agreeing any personal terms on the basis the contract conditions are met.

I strongly believe he agreed personal terms with Arsenal the last window and it would be no surprise if he has not done so again. The trouble is that Cortese is holding out for the maximum he possibly can, a value Arsenal or any other club do not share. I don't see any movement now until the January window, unless either party change their view. For Arsenal that will be down to performances on the pitch and for Cortese that will be the length of contract remaining.

Bearing in mind we have appointed an international scout, he has to earn that salary and the value does not seem to lie with uk players at the moment.

What you spectacularly fail to understand is the relevance of the comments from this agent. Does it mean we will stop signing players? No Does it mean we will not be able to sign players we desperately want, No It does mean that certain offers will be left non negotiable and happy to take the consequences either way. You don't have any social or business debilitating etiquette with agents, it's the size of the fee they can extract. This statement is nothing new and originally quoted back when we were in the middle of a buying spree. When this first came up it was in relationship with the agent wanting us to pay his fee after a deal had been done with a club, we declined.

I think you just confirmed Hypos point. Hoping something is not true does not mean that it isn't, and does not address the significance if true. Don't get me wrong I'm not sure I believe it, just playing devils advocate. Just the smallest application of common sense to the tweet should get you there, but even that escapes your grasp. Let's look at what is actually said "They are so tricky to deal with now most agents and clubs don't bother". So we are not talking about players here, but the agents and the clubs. This is a simple one to answer, pay what they want and you will have zero problems. This is not the case of the clubs and agents being bothered, but it is Cortese himself who is not prepared to pay over the top or hand agents fees for doing little. It is clear that Cortese is prepared to lose out on deals where he believes the player is not that special to the team or feels he has options. Then just have a look at all the transfer deals we have done, where we have bought in loads of players costing fees where we have negotiated with clubs and the players agents. We even paid some costly loans at the end of last season that also had to be negotiated. So there is plenty of evidence that we have dealt successfully with many clubs and agents, so where is the underlying problem here? We know already this season that we are the only club to have a bid accepted by Chelsea for Cork, so there is no indicator the tap has been turned off. Cork is either waiting to see what other offer is around or personal terms are not to his liking. Cortese will have a value and will generally stick to that value unless the club feel it is a must have player, something I can't see of Jack Cork. We have also seen with the purchase of Lambert and Fonte that they will push the boat out to get the right player. We have seen from comments from the S****horpe chairman that he is a hard act to deal with, but as Adkins commented at the time, Cortese's dealings had been impeccable. No shouting your mouth off to the press like we had from Mitchell, just business like dealings. Then we had the case of Elliot Ward, then at Coventry. We made an offer for several players, signed Seabourne and dumped Ward. Why, because when you make a written offer you are commited to the conditions of that offer, including the offer period. Too slow to get it dealt with and you have every right to change your mind, that is the nature of these offers. So we know Cortese has dealt successfully with a lot of clubs and agents and there is clear evidence that we are continuing to do so even this early in the season. So if you are going to highlight any chairman, why would anyone with an ounce of common sense look in Cortese's direction? Things may change and finances tighten up, but we have no evidence so far, even to the extent of outbidding championship clubs receiving Premier parachute payments, even spending big money on a Plymouth youth player.