benjii

I used to go to the Dell as a young kid / teenager. My grandma took me to my first match in the West Stand. A cup tie against Oxford. I loved it, although the consensus seemed to have been that it was a terrible match. I later had a season ticket, first in the Junior Saints section, then in the lower East Stand, right next to the away fans. Went off to university in 2000 so couldn't go regularly any more. I missed the Arsenal game but strangely wasn't too gutted at the time because I'd reconciled myself to it in advance. Obviously I wanted to be there though. I just remember a feeling of elation when listening to the radio and hearing that MLT had scored the winner. I was there mentally. I know it's cliche and I know it sounds trite but, genuinely, fairytale. I think you had to be a Saints fan in the late 80s and early 90s to understand what MLT meant but there, in a languid sweep of the left leg, was my footballing education, my boy's obsession, my hero, my own unrealised dreams, boiled down into a perfect moment and sealed forever. Sitting on the metal benches in the ****ing rain in an Italia 90 shell suit, utterly frozen and miserable. We want Branfoot out, say we want Branfoot out!! Le Tiss v Newcastle (I'll never forget watching those goals - incredible). The Man U 6-3, the Man U 3-1... the Ekelund / Le Tiss axis. The Wimbledon free-kick. The funny smell in the toilets. The funny walkway behind the East Stand. Frozen pipes. Franny's goal. Dean Richards, James Beattie, Claus, Egil. What?! Berkovic has gone to West Ham?! Dixon and Speedie (christ). "Reverse takeover". Rupert ****ing Lowe. Give Cosimo Sarli a chance FFS! Marian Pahars v Everton. A great season = 12th. And more MLT. No matter how grim, always MLT. Something about that ground was magic. I miss it. I've realised this evening that I don't actually know what the last match I went to there was, and that makes me sad.

Overly generous.

Why would clubs agree to pay the whole of a sell-on fee in an initial lump-sum when payments are usually staggered? Have you got a source for that?

Fingers crossed!

Talking of former strikers, this is the guy we need: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosimo_Sarli

WRONG THREAD

Camara was class though.

I saw him in Rhino club.

Worst "wonder goal" ever!

Fin.

Really? I see this cliché trotted out on here quite a lot but the world is full of people who are ****e at their job but bumble through regardless without any proactive management for many, many years. Are you sure you would be sacked? Are you sure you're not one of those people?

Indeed. I know lots of people who have worked for PWC, Deloitte, KPMG etc. and I can confirm that none of them are billionaires.

Is he, or is he just a patsy for Alisher Usmanov?

He'd work well alongside Carsten Janker or Oliver Bierhoff. I just hope Paul Hart and Arrigo Sacchi can get him playing near his best.

I think the police should investigate that. Sounds rather racist to me.

Frankly, if Walcott commands £100k a week and Arsenal want something like £20million, I'd rather just play Josh Sims.

The only thing we got wrong in the summer (apart from appointing MP) was not adding a striker.

This. Yes, the city centre has some shiny generic shops and bars. Much like any other city centre. Go out to where people live and it's a dump full of feral wastrels. I don't hold out Southampton to be some glorious paradise but neither do I buy into any suggestion that Liverpool is nice. It isn't.

I've been there. Thought it was ****.

Because Ings has barely played for years and Sturridge is a prize **** and both of them are probably on wages we don't want to pay. Apart from that, yeah, they're probably a bunch of idiots.

Maybe they can investigate this while they're at it: https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/jan/25/everton-farhad-moshiri-alisher-usmanov-new-money-ownership

If someone has the ball and you kick the lower half of their leg you are not going to get sent off unless you stamp on them, use excessive force, go in two footed etc.... If they haven't got the ball then it's just a kick and you will get sent off. That's why Beckham got sent off, although it was more of a tap than a kick and could hardly be called violent so the red was harsh. It's not at all relevant to this discussion in any case. The chap that Fer tripped had the ball. He wasn't lunging two-footed, he wasn't high, he didn't stamp, it wasn't with excessive force etc. It was a cynical trip. Yellow card What you are saying is that all referees are applying the law incorrectly apart from this one trail-blazing hero.

There are numerous deliberate trips in every match. You know full-well why it isn't a red card by any stretch of the imagination. Stop being a berk.

It was clearly not a red card and the ref made a ridiculous decision. That said, there is some merit in saying that the laws of the game ought to provide additional sanction for fouls which are clearly purely cynical.

Could be the least of his problems.... http://www.espn.co.uk/football/liverpool/story/3328015/liverpools-dejan-lovren-faces-perjury-probe-in-croatia-reports