benjii

It's best for the team if Austin plays, scores a couple and puts some pressure on Gabbi. Unless Long leaves Gallagher is fourth choice striker and a run out against Wolves isn't going to change that.

I saw some mug with face paint so I marched straight over and stuffed mine up his arse. I shouted "I'm Batman, you mutha" at him as well.

Tadic has a record of 28 scored out of 34. 82%. So, even if our penalties don't look convincing, he should still end up scoring the vast majority of them.

Ref gave them the free kick FFS!

Bertrand wasn't that bad at all. He did loads of great work in the first half.

For a first match in the country I thought that was pretty impressive. He looked nervous for the first 15 mins or so but once he settled down he showed the qualities we've been missing. Definite upgrade on Davis in that role.

Presumably Wolves will play a weak team. No Championship club gives a toss about this cup any more do they?

Not quite sure why all the analysis was about West Ham there on MotD. Anyway, can't be arsed to read the thread but another match where we were comfortably the better team. We have deficiencies but even with those it's pretty clear we're one of the best teams outside the "big 6". If we can sort out centre back aerial weakness we should be able to have a good season.

As I pointed out after the Swansea game, any team with decent attacking players will score against that centre back pairing. However, on the ball, we remain the best team outside the top 6.

Yeah but they won the World Cup 50 years ago. That and their epic new footballing cauldron makes them the epitome of footballing romance and certainly not a dislocated, shell of a club run by spivs.

I think Boufal and Tadic can play together as long as Boufal is central and is, to all intents and purposes, the "main man" and Tadic is told to maintain width. I always think he's best when he's out wide.

No tears shed here if it's the last thing he does.

His ghost-writer on The Art of the Deal (who is deeply embarrassed to have contributed to his infamy, as it happens) is predicting he will resign by year-end in a pact to avoid impeachment and prosecution. Let's hope he's right and also that an even bigger **** doesn't take over.

He used to be Ming the Merciless as well.

As recently as 2000 you had to be in the queue in Milton Road at 06:00 on the first day of sales if you wanted to be sure of a ticket for a big game. One paid in the decimal style, however.

No it isn't.

Why don't Barcelona buy someone better for less? Mane, for example.

At the end of the day, he has clearly passed the tests now but it's still legitimate for fans to be interested in why the process appears not to have been completely straightforward.

https://www.ft.com/content/5edd4f56-4d01-11e7-a3f4-c742b9791d43 Refers to clubs having concerns rather than the PL. http://www.insideworldfootball.com/2017/06/13/lander-back-frame-southampton-pl-clears-gao-240m-takeover/ Suggests Gao initially failed PL tests and had to appeal. https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/3422978/premier-league-blocked-gao-jisheng-200m-southampton/ Let's hope his lawyers never saw that one...

4 years is pretty common for an initial contract. It's not worryingly short, is it? It's what Mane and Clyne signed (and probably a host of others), for example. So, no.

Goodbye to the Golden Ponytail

Clearly no nepotism down there then.

That's not what Lowe did at all. The PLC wasn't a shell company, it was the holding company (and he didn't try to liquidate it, he put it into administration). The fixed term debt in the group at the time was split amongst various subsidiaries, which was entirely normal given it was incurred for what was essentially the project-financing of a stadium. It wasn't some clever trick and only really became a subject of conversation in relation to trying to escape a footballing points deduction on a technicality. Gao may very well have established a company for the purpose of making the borrowing but it won't be a "shell" company. Why would a commercial lender lend to a company with no assets? If it did, it would expect to charge a very uncompetitive rate of interest. I agree with you that the debt may well end up on the club's books eventually though - that would not be a surprise.

Not fretting, merely pointing out that there are some questions and the situation is now far more complicated than it was before. And you sound a bit like a Skate. Frankly, I have an emotional attachment to the football club and I would like to know who its owners are and what their motivations are. Despite the cast of owners we have had over the years - some good, some bad - those questions have normally had pretty transparent and straightforward answers.