S-Clarke

Alan Nixon ‏ @reluctantnicko Burnley making a move for a right back. That's odd. Alan Nixon ‏ @reluctantnicko @danbsfc Working on a Saints story. Can't go into too much detail yet.

Burnley have turned down 2 bids from Premier League teams for Jay Rodriguez. One included Kieran Trippier and a player swap #twitterclarets

In a double deal with Jay Rod. + a player... is/was the rumour.

What planet are you living on mate? He's not a world class player. I swear you're on a windup.

What pessimists? More realism than anything else.

http://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10335~2764347,00.html In other words ''We've listened to what you've had to say, and we respect the history, but we're changing the brand anyway"

To be fair that was handy in L1 and the Champ as the coverage was so minimal, we'll be able to see 90' mins of every game we play next year. Whether it's on Sky's football first, Live on Sky/ESPN, or a live stream as there will be one for every game.

FFS! What about the pitch???

Congrats on your news..! I didn't go, but saw some pictures on twitter the next day....seemed quite a stylish event. Was it held at St Mary's in one of the lounges? Looked like it was all decked out.

go for it!

There was talk that came out of one of the 'Cortese Dinners' that indicated that we'd look to replace if we were promoted. Apparently we are under contract with the football league to use the website template we have at the moment, and the only way we'd be able to break that contract and go our own way was promotion. So I'd expect a new website in the near future....what with the new ticketing system, I'd imagine it will all be designed and integrated in some way.

Over ambitious to say the least. Spurs can't afford him. He wouldn't even batter an eye lid at us if we ever did show interest.

We barely raise an eye-brow over there. Calm down...!

wtf? 1.5b people will not buy our shirt from the middle east, so the figures you have added up there are pointless. We're not Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal, Real Madrid. They're the big clubs over there and we will not over take them. at all. ever. We may sell at best a couple of hundred shirts, wouldn't be noticeable on the balance sheets. This talk of income from the middle east just on the back of Chun is mental.

Lukalu is apparently joining Werder Bremen on loan, as part of the deal that see's Marko Marin join Chelsea...

We will improve the stadium if we stay in the league, I'm sure of that. It's all about evolution really. We don't want to run before we can walk....but as has been their remit from the moment they came in the door, it was to rebuild this club in a steady and structured way. So it's a logical step to make if we establish ourselves back in the league. Stadium expansion is a good talking point, as Swansea have also filed for permission to increase their capacity to 30k+. Wolves also did the same but may live to regret that decision.... It's all about striking the right balance but I think we need to establish ourselves back before we commit millions into expansion. Cortese will make the right call whatever though.

That's a good post and is pretty much my view on the whole situation. I've got no qualms with what Cortese has done for us.

I saw an official response from the FL a week or so ago, confirming that 2nd placed team in the Championship do not get any medals or trophy. They get £90m though.

I think I heard/read that if we stay up next year, then we'll add 3 extra tiers in the close season. That to me seemed somewhat ambitions though, that would leave something like 8 weeks to build 3 new stands... If we stay up and consolidate, it will happen. That doesn't mean we're destined for CL football though

Oh it did happen, and it was horrific. That day I sat and watched the worst display by a centre back that you'll ever see in the professional game. Step forward Alan Bennett. He mis-read the bounce of the ball, he couldn't distribute it, he misjudged his position and was beaten twice....yes twice, by a long punt down the middle of the field, and was outpaced by Jamie Scowcroft all game. Granted, he improved slightly after that, but he was an horrific football player and it's no surprise that he's bobbling around in L2. Reading are usually pretty good with their signings from Ireland, but they got this one seriously wrong.

He was a decent player to be fair, but his chance here was ruined by the time he made his breakthrough and his unlucky injuries. I'm surprised he dropped as low down as Winchester City as when he played for us, you could see he's football league quality. Could do a decent job for Bompey if they sign him.

Spending 1m on Lambert and 1.5m on Fonte does not suggest that we will spend the hundreds of millions required to push for the top 4. In fact, apart from the opening flurry in January 2010 I'd say our spending has been pretty modest - which has 'frustrated' some fans. I agree that you can't build a club without spending money as well, but I cannot see us making up the short-full required to hit the level of the clubs being referred to in here. It just not going to happen.

Their season has been dictated by the loss of Holden and also Chung, who I really rate. They've both had really bad injury's though and it would be a gamble to take if we were to buy one of them. This isn't Holdens first bad injury though, and he also had his injury problems in America. I don't think we'd take the risk.

David - I don't believe that it is a realistic short-term target to be aiming for Champions League football. If it is to become a realistic target we will need to spend some insane amount of money, which Nicola and co haven't shown any intention of doing so far. Their plan is to build a sustainable football club, built on the foundations of it's youth and development setup. This is to stop us needing to spend £30m on new players, as we'd develop our own. We have owners that have a bit of money, but they're not the sort that will just throw it. We will build a club that can stand on it's own 2 feet and not rely on the injections of sugardadys, and who knows what can happen in a decade or so - in the short-term though, I don't believe anything above mid-table is a realistic target.

Great read papa - what a few years.....it certainly hasn't been boring at any point!