Saint 76er

Great to see the deal has been done. There was some suggestion that a visa problem for Guly's wife may have been holding things up. However, the OS saying we beat off serious competition from Serie A clubs may have been a bit of poetic licence though, as the deal was always slated as a loan with a built in option to buy. Presumably, all other clubs were excluded if we took up the buy option ...

A former Swiss banker ... OMG ...

Lee Hughes is out for County, replaced by Alan Gow on loan from Motherwell. Lucky break for us and balances out Lallana.

Adam Blackmore on Solent has just said that he has today heard from a trusted source outside the club that Oxo to Arsenal is definitely back on, with a loan back for this season. Blackmore was very confident of the bona fides of his source ...

I really feel we need a permanent dedication to Markus, who will forever be a hero to all Saints supporters. We were incredibly lucky and actually got the new owner that we would have most wanted but never dreamt would happen. A lovely, kindly, grandfatherly man who just loved Saints as much as any of us and who was a billionaire to boot! Love to have a stand named after Markus, or the whole stadium and/or a statue. We can't let Markus name slip away in a year or two, he's now a club legend for all time, in a different way but similar to Ted Bates standing. Both Ted and Markus were outstanding human beings and the city of Southampton was privileged to have them among us and guiding our great club. So, yes a lasting tribute is required please, it's clearly the wish of the people ...

Might be a good time to buy Mark Pugh then ...

I wonder what Mr Cortese thinks of this draw??? Money and exposure on the one hand against big distraction on the other ...

Hard for us to play our "reserves", as what passes for our reserve side don't really seem to play matches any more. Suppose those players train, but only our regular first team rotation actually see any match action these days. Would be a big ask for anybody outside that group to step in and play a one off game and against premiership opposition too ...

Just the position we needed to be in going into January, in order to attract quality players in the transfer window ...

Burley sacked!!!

Isn't this trading whilst insolvent then, and isn't that strictly against the law and involving serious repercussions for the directors who allow it? When will the authorities do their duty and step in to halt this none too subtle debacle? Finally, a Happy New Year to all and let's hope for the demise of a certain putrid football club in 2011 as that will give all on here a VERY Happy New Year ...

Rumours today that Jimmy Anderson pulled up with a sore hammy after Perth test and may be a doubt. Have to play him surely, unless it's really bad. Ponting is expected to play with his broken pinkie. KP says so anyway, he says they just inject pain blockers and away you go! Huge game this, of course, and first day crowd approaching 100,000 is expected. Not a good time for England to start reinventing their bowling line up though ...

Wouldn't mind betting Nige had a quiet word in Martyn Woolford's ear whilst he was there. Probably gave him a private tour of the facilities too, just to be friendly like ...

Adkins spent many years in the FL as a goalkeeper, he then managed Bangor City to two titles IIRC and took them to the Champions League. He then qualified as a physiotherapist before taking over at Scunny where his success was spectacular, surely no one could have done a better job with them. He has a full compliment of FIFA badges and a diploma in football management. For good measure he has a degree of some sort in financial management as well as one in sports psychology, just to make sure he is on top of the mind games. Added to all this NA seems to have bought into the gameplan of Cortese and Les Reed, which is clearly a vital requirement for any manager to progress here at the present time. Now, none of this is an absolute guarantee of success at St Mary's, but Adkins couldn't come much better qualified as a modern tech savvy football manager, but who has still been in the game for the best part of 25+ years. If he doesn't achieve success with us, I strongly suspect he will do in the near future for someone else ...

Richard Hughes or Michael Brown might not be averse to joining a club that can actually afford to pay their wages (and no need to move house either). Just a thought ...

According to that Rocketswanie fella on 606 Middlesbrough have maintained their interest in Rickie and have requested permission to speak to him and have offered us a striker in exchange. That's all, no idea if true or who any such striker may be, Scott MacDonald perhaps?

FFS now Poopey 1-0 up ... things are going tits up today alright.

Thought Pardew wasn't comfortable anywhere north of Watford. Most people on here were underwhelmed at AP joining a L1 club so can only guess at the Geordies reaction. Dosn't matter though as he won't understand a word they say or vise versa. All the Geordies want is one of their own not some bloke from, what is to them, a foreign land and who appears to have got the job as he is mates with the owner. However, on more concerning matters I don't think it likely we will sell anyone to Newcastle as can you imagine AP ringing up NC and, say, asking to buy Lallana. Considering the state of their relationship I suspect Mr C may just tell him to F off ...

How do you know when it is going to snow? Nobody could have guessed in advance the chaos snow caused in November this year! Presumably a winter break would be 2-3 weeks in January. Who knows, it may be quite fine at that time next year and having a pre-arranged layoff would not help in trying to catch up on the backlog from the chaos caused this Nov/Dec. Of course, there will be a complete shutdown in '22 when Qatars WC gets shifted to January and we can all worry about sun stroke rather than snow ...

You can't ... as that would require there to be a skate speaker who could also actually write, which does seem an unlikely supposition.

When the hell are these Wikileak people going to give the Americans a break and get around to dissing the dirt on those F***wits over at Fallingdown Park, which is the expose the world really needs to hear ...

My World X1 .. Davis Richardson, Fonte, Jaidhi, Harding Oxlade-Chamberlain, Hammond, Schneiderlin, Lallana Lambert, Barnard Oh, and I'd make Nigel Adkins manager too, and I'd have my World X1 play in white shirts with a smart red sash. That's the best World X1 for me anyway ...

Neilsen carrying out a police raid... female suspect .. "Is this some kind of bust?" Neilsen (observing the lady's chest) .. "Very impressive madam, but back to the investigation". They don't make 'em like that anymore. RIP Leslie, you made us laugh ...

Presumably AP will be about to follow then ... goodbye Avram goodbye, we'll see you again but don't know when, goodbye Avram goodbye ... back to Horton Heath it is then!

What's going on here, have the rules changed or something? I thought you had to be seventeen to sign a pro contract, hence the kerfuffle with Wenger trying to get his hands on Theo before he could sign a contract with us and people saying we should have hid talent like him and Bale and not put them on display for Wenger et al to drool over. No way many of this six are over seventeen, Sinclair may still be only 15 I think, but apparently they are now all on three year pro contracts. That's great for us, but the rules were supposed to stop "greedy" football clubs from manipulating innocent young persons (with the obvious exception of Wenger, who appears to be exempt). Can anyone confirm/disprove these thoughts? ..... thanks