Saint 76er

Don't worry about Chip, he is on a five year contract and expectations are that he will see it out. They know it will not be a quick fix and Chip will be given time. NFCE is a weak division and pretty much all pundits have the Eagles bottom of it, at least on purely playing resources. That's where the Chip effect comes in as no one knows what he can achieve with this group of players with innovation alone. Maybe a lot and it certainly worked for him at Oregon. I think Iggles fans are wary but excited just in case this all comes together from day one. In reality it will probably take longer and another good draft and a few trades before it really clicks in, but then it could be really something!

Hi WC, ... You are being very optimistic re finals! Most fans and Philly media come out about 7-9 at best, plenty think under this. OL is improved with Lane Johnson, but Peters and Herremans coming back off injuries is a worry. Vick is an unknown, he is looking a little like his old self as long as he stays on his feet, but if he falters then so do their chances. The problem is Defence, it really is a bit ropey and the presumed transition to 3-4 will leave round pegs in square holes and may need a year or so and some different personnel to sort it. The secondary, for example, is just plain awful so look for plenty of high scoring Eagles games this year. What none of us know yet is the Chip Kelly effect and that is crucial to the season. The Chippah is one out of the box and his mind goes places other coaches never venture to. He was spectacularly successful at Oregon with his hurry up offense and trick plays, but nobody knows if this will translate to the NFL. Chip is full of surprises so anything may be possible and he says he will fit a scheme to whatever personnel is available to him and opponents certainly won't know what to expect, but this is the big league not college ball so it's a step into the unknown. Just hang on to your hat and hope for the best!

"How incredible, all three of us having the same dentist!" ....

That hat trick must have tired Guly out ........ or he's retired whilst he's on top !!

If we strengthen and it works out that Adam and others don't get to start every match then there could be a lot of armband swopping going on as there has to be a captain on the pitch as only he is authorised to approach the referee on behalf of the team. If Adam stays captain then there may need to be several vice-captains (not captains of vice as Benny Hill would say!) lined up ...

Think this is Adkins at Bangor ... If so you can go again Colin as I am signing off now. Cheers

Yes, that's his name. Hopefully, good by name and good by nature. Do you think he could be related to Maria? ....

Ron was every schoolboy's hero, he was THE quintessential centre forward, huge leap and hang time and bullet headers, but some of his best goals were with his feet. Big Ron gave us credibility in the top division, we were just promoted but had a genuine superstar that other clubs feared and in some ways we are what we are today because Ted had the vision to sign this great player (before he was so). Ron was our Roy of the Rovers and should never be forgotten at this football club. RIP big fella.

Firstly, no sightings of KD to report here unfortunately, although I don't get down to the supermarket so much these days so probably missed him. NC has made little effort to hide his desire to promote Saints as a global brand so he may well have plans in this regard. Whilst this could encompass a myriad ways, something on the kit thread caught my eye where a poster speculated that we may be looking to engineer a tie-in with a F1 team. This is the first I have heard of such a notion, however there is also a rumour that our shirt sponsor will be changing to a drink company next season ... ergo, Red Bull it is then, no? For good measure RB have a history of tie-ins with football teams, so on the 2+2=5 scale it's a shoo in, right?

They should have signed Whittington instead, and turned Fatpipes into a real pantomime ....

Those idiot skates do seem concerned with our finances and seem particularly worried that we are "cheating" if the Liebherrs invest funds into their own personal asset. The lack of an extended gene pool in and around Portsea ultimately breeds them brain dead, I suppose. However, the bigger picture is that around circa 150 million pounds or more has gone through cheats FC and yet they have plunged from PL to Div 4. It must be all but physically impossible for this to happen if that money (no matter how ill gotten) was spent on the team and on infrastructure. But they have no training ground, no proper academy, not even a clock at Fatpipes and next stop the Blue Square league. Therefore, my question is this ... who has actually got all that money they have ripped off from innocent creditors these last few years? Admittedly, the usual suspects have been widely canvassed in this fine study of human frailties you are now reading, but surely the authorities (judicial not just football) would have long ago put two and two together and been all over this like a rash? But no, 150m+ of other people's money just disappears in a puff of smoke and no one, apart from us and perhaps Luton supporters, bats an eyelid or thinks anything could be amiss. Even a "forensic investigation" disappears into the ether and nobody in authority goes looking for it. Strange. But you try not paying a parking ticket ...

TBH, I think this is more personal to those involved than just a money making exercise (the Liebherrs are billionaires after all). From what he has said it would seem that Nicola made a promise to Markus to see through their dream of CL football and it may be that Markus left funds for this purpose. The family don't need the money, as such, and very probably would wish for Markus' dream to be fulfilled in his memory. NC clearly has plans for the future and seems to be heading the club in the required direction poste haste, so it does not look as if anyone is looking for a buyer now or probably for some time to come. Presumably the day will come when the current crew are ready to move on, but we may be CL champions by then! Of course, who knows what would happen if someone comes in tomorrow with a crazy offer? Maybe it would be considered, or maybe they would just be directed down the road to a more deserving case who actually need the money ...

John Lennon's ... Instant Karma, surely? WTFILN Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha,

I like this, but we need the reverse image, ie white front panel and red sides to match the RX kit. That would also look better with black shorts, as per the original. Just out of interest, do Rank Xerox still exist anymore, or Air Florida for that matter?

Think all the arguments for and against on here might be a waste of time as a criteria for expansion. The simple fact is that if all the figures have to add up before going ahead, then it will never happen as taking out a commercial loan facility for this type of money would be financial suicide, just ask Rupert Lowe. However, our Mr Cortese has talked lovingly of a stadium expansion from the get-go without batting an eyelid. There was even talk from one of his dinners that he had admitted sounding out the council about putting in plans for an expansion to 44000 and he clearly has detailed architectural drawings already drawn up by AFL, which suggests he is probably further down the line with this than some of you think. Therefore, the only real question is funding and it is unlikely to be a commercial arrangement involving season ticket sale levels or whatever. Somehow, Saints don't seem to operate in the same mundane financial universe that most other clubs are stuck in these days. It seems quite probable that Markus left a 'building fund' for Cortese to see through their dream of CL football and they both spoke initially of the need for a training ground upgrade and this is almost completed now, so the main stadium may well be next on the agenda. Don't forget that a top 10 EPL club with excellent facilities/academy plus a modern, say, 48000 seater stadium situated in a largish catchment area, with only a cr@p lower league/non league apology for a football club as a neighbour, will have a considerable value and rich folk like the Liebherrs will see the value of their asset skyrocketing with a bit of speculative spending and success on the field. Bottom line is that to increase the value of the club to such levels then the stadium is a vital part of the 'image' that is presented to the world. Even with on-field success our current stadium is not quite upmarket enough to make us seem like a big club. I think Cortese and Markus wanted a big club and would have known what it might cost, hence IMO Cortese must be confident that funds are available somewhere (probably a Swiss bank account) to fulfill the dream and I doubt if he cares less about season ticket surveys etc ... PS This may explain the apparently apathetic attitude to selling STs since he has been in charge.

Maybe Basel would be interested in Mayuka as part exchange, he scored for fun in the Swiss league and is probably highly regarded over there ...

How has Adkins managed to sign for Reading whilst still being employed by Saints? At least that's how it looks, as NA was supposedly on gardening leave but still a club employee. This would mean he would have to resign his post and thus not be entitled to a payout, or Reading would have to negotiate with Cortese for his services, which would normally require a fee. Seems unlikely Cortese would agree to this prior to our game against them. Apparently NA is taking legal action through the LMA for a settlement, but surely he is either under contract to Saints or he is not. Somehow he is now employed by one of our rivals but is still wanting monies from us. This all doesn't seem to equate and if he wasn't a free agent how has he walked into another job before the tribunal has met to assess his case?

Maybe they pulled Luke out just to be sure, but report says he is going for an ankle scan ... should we be worried? With Fox also injured, watch out for Matt Targett on the training videos ...

In terms of what is best for Saints, it may well be that Cortese is playing a blinder with this. Don't really care if NA gets paid out and chuffs off to the Championship, but since the Reading vacancy has now occurred it is very much in our interest to keep Adkins in his garden until Reading is sorted. He is a good motivator and could well keep them up, but we have to play them yet and he knows all our players strengths and weaknesses and would be well fired up for a game we will probably have to win. Don't know if he is actually in the frame for them, but hopefully NC will be able to string this tribunal along for a while yet ...

Since our beloved football team are indeed "The Saints" and our manager is Argentinian, does this now elevate our status under God's all seeing benevolence and mean that unfortunate incidents such as Saturday's disgraceful penalty saga will now become a thing of the past and that maybe even Jos and Fox will become an impassible left sided barrier? These do seem reasonable enough requests to such a higher deity ...

Don't bother Dave, only name required is Jon Forte (aka Jonno Quick). Jonno was certainly quick in scoring when he came on against MKD and the rest is history. A brief cameo that ended up in a 90 million pay day! Whatever we paid for JF/JQ he was the bargain of all time ...

I just want to say that this is the most accurate summing up of the ludicrous penalty situation that I have yet read, agree with it all. Holt fouls Shaw as ball sails by, then stops dead in the penalty area to create a collision Shaw can't avoid and then duck dives and tbh comes up looking embarrassed and clearly expects nothing. Lino sees all this and properly ignores it and game proceeds, except that some prat of a referee decides to up his profile on MOTD and amaze the entire stadium by giving a penalty in the 92nd minute of a 0-0 vital relegation match. You couldn't make sh*te like that up! Thank God for Boruc ...

Although I think Cortese is a bit of a w@nker, he does have his good points and maybe we should all support him .... (see how easy it is to do nostalgia Phil)

We shouldn't have gone on that boozy trip to Dubai, it showed in the lethargic performance of our lads, they all looked right s*agged out. What do you mean it was QPR that went, not us? It can't be, they looked fine. All we need is a proper defence and what exactly was Yoshida up to today? Been taking lessons from Fox by the look of it. Oh, and happy birthday to Poche. Now sort it hombre ...