benjii

Is it a Doris watching the VAR though? Probably not concentrating if Love Island or whatever is on the other channel.

WelCom3 tO Liverpo00l11!!! LOLZ HEY, Liverpool annOunce DJENEAPO!

I like the little boat in the video.

Sources are telling me this is done.

Sillage is the wake of a perfume. It's the extent to which a smell lingers. She looks like she would smell of lavender. She brings to mind scents of granny. She's probably got a drawer containing Fry's mint cream, some Murray Mints and some Opal Fruits, has a mild opioid addiction fuelled by medicines containing codeine and puts way too much butter on everything, on account of it no longer being rationed. RIP grandma.

So Stewart looks like the most sensible candidate by a country mile. That probably rules him out. Javid is playing the "change candidate" card strongly but Ducky's blue rinse brigade dont want change they want things like how they used to be in the good old days. Raab is too odd. Leadsom could do ok if she makes it to the member vote. She combines a hint of Thatcher, she's a visual sillage of lavender with lashings of whipped double-yesteryear on top. Can't see Hunt or Gove beating Boris. The others are too low-profile. It's going to be Boris. My goodness.

I dunno. The Bernaise sauce there is lovely. Maybe la grande dame, Rabiot, likes it there. Last I heard they were smashing into the isles flottantes.

Adrian Rabiot, then? Spotted in La Parisienne in Romsey.

By impetus, I don't just mean money. I mean a strategy, a direction, a plan. Something that everyone gets behind that gives them a goal to work towards. Self-sustaining is fine but it needs to be more than just "surviving". It needs to be purposeful. Like them or loathe them, the likes of Lowe and Cortese etc. had discernible strategies (whether they were ultimately sustainable or not). Even under Kat's ownership you knew what you would get, more or less, with Ralph K and Les. At the moment, I'm not sure. They've gone and we don't know what the plan is. Perhaps his strategy is to recruit the best coach possible and hand over more responsibility to the coach than we used to. That's fine if it works and maybe he'll turn out to be a great owner in that respect. As for the other points, they might not directly impact the eleven guys on the pitch but the football club is more to most fans than just that. It's an emotional thing. It matters who owns it.

Nothing to do with the FA, numb-nuts. The PL reluctantly passed him then changed the rules to refer to prohibited conduct that would constitute an offence were it to have occurred in the UK. This has been reported in the press and if you can be bothered you can read the PL rules and find the relevant section that was added (I have done this before but can't remember the reference).

Better than Erick Black or worse?

My point is that I have concerns about an owner: - with a history connected with criminal bribery, according to reports - who has not once made any effort to show he gives a shiny **** about the fans; what are his plans, what is his vision, why is he here? - who struggled to complete the initial purchase either due to lack of funds or inability to expatriate the funds - who's main source of wealth, as far as we know, has absolutely tanked in China over recent years - who has implied his sole reason for buying the club was to get some money out of China - who adopts an extremely opaque overseas ownership structure: why is his daughter the sole director of the ultimate UK holding company and why are the groups accounts consolidated in BVI? - who doesn't appear to offer anything in terms of impetus (that's not "feeling entitled", it's just observing that compared to a number of rival team owners (Brighton, AFCB, Wolves, Leicester, Watford etc..) he appears to bring nothing at all to the table, which is obviously a shame) - plus a very odd sponsorship deal with a company with a very odd website; that's not the biggest problem in the world but feeds into the narrative that there are odd things going on. You might find none of that worrying but if you think it's not sub-optimal then that's very strange indeed. Ultimately, sub-optinal ownership and lack of executive direction in an era of power-house ownership will lead to regression. So, at worst, I think there are things to be wary of that are deeper than just footballing. At best, I think we may continue to regress in footballing terms, simply because there will be an ever-increasing number of clubs we can't compete with. We are lucky that, at the moment, we seem to have a very good coach so we will probably survive next season.

I have never said there was one. Read the thread. Charlie Miller says there is. I have been saying there is no evidence for that.

Exactly! Dumb people like Egg and Soggy seem to think that: - this isn't the place for conjecture (er, it's a fakcin footbaw message board); or - conjecture is necessarily the preserve of the ill-informed and unthinking. When, in fact, there is plenty to merit conjecture. You didn't even mention the Chinese bribery cases or the PL's reluctance to have him join the club. Then there is the FT's use of "flamboyant", which is clearly code, as he appears anything but flamboyant. The only person posting things as fact is Charlie Miller. Everyone else is conjecturing because there are plenty of questions to consider. Nothing wrong with that. I haven't said he's done anything wrong or there is any great conspiracy. I am saying, in a level-headed and intelligent manner that these dimwits (Egg, Soggy) would do well to learn from, that there are legitimate questions and concerns.

What conspiracy theory am I advocating?

Mings is ****e.

“As long as the money reaches Southampton’s bank account and it’s in Pounds Sterling then it’s ok.”

You should read what I’ve actually written.

Oh, look, here’s the other one.

The worry is over having a useless and indebted owner. Your desperation to adopt a voice-of-reason persona is making you look like a condescending, ignorant plum.

How will he complete the Mayflower Park redevelopment if he sells us?!

Why do you say there is a link between Nanyang and Macquarie? This is not something in the public domain as far as I can see. I can't find any link between Nanyang, or it's owner, China Cinda and Macquarie. This link says the loan was backed by Gao's assets in Macau (whatever they are). https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Global/Issues/2017/08/18/Finance/Southampton.aspx Are you saying it was a syndicated loan and Macquarie was a participant? Seems like an odd thing to syndicate and for a bank like Macquarie to get involved with. I don't doubt Gao has debt. And I worry about his ability to act as a good custodian of the football club. I still think you're barking up the wrong tree linking the acquisition with Macquarie bank, which remains the holder of security over the football club, and saying that the accounts indicate any sort of repayment towards Gao's loan.

The Inbetweeners second movie is certainly not the worst example of comedy going bad.

I expect the 20m loan repayment was repayment of our previous working capital loan that Kat had underwritten. Repayment of that was part of the sale I expect.

Those chaps that used to own Pompey ran a bank, I think....