John B

I would not be surprised if most football fans in this country thought it was nuts that SFC would replace one of say Man U Liverpool Chelsea Arsenal Man City in the Champions League based on the whim of an Italian Banker with little knowledge of English football. However I dont think they would think it nuts if we played in the PL sometime in the not so distant future

Yes I agree I would like all effort and money put into getting us a team which can compete and stay in the PL before we think about extending the stadium. It would be a disaster if we were building a bigger stadium and got relegated

I think Cortese maybe difficult to deal with so as it is not the first time this has been raised But that seems how he operates and it appears to be working very well at the moment and I feel confident that new players will arrive and we will have a successful season like the previous two.

We dont know whether Cortese is difficult to deal with but there is rumblings that he is Whether by being more flexible Cortese would get in better players is purely hypothetical We will obviously get in some new ones but may of course miss out on some others but that is life but overall I would like to think that having a CEO and manager who were well respected in the football world would be an advantage to the club . So that other clubs and agents would want to do business with us this may well be the case at present but if it is not it is a shame as there is going to be real competition between Championship Clubs to this close season to get in high quality players.

I would have thought if SFC was a good club to deal with Agents would be persuading their players to move here over another club which was more difficult to deal with likewise I would have thought if SFC was a bad club to deal with Agents would be persuading their players to move to another club which was more easy to deal with But we dont really know how easy SFC are to deal with anyway so it is all conjecture based on one agent Just hope some clubs and agents find SFC easy to deal with so we get in a few more players

You need her more than she needs you

How come you are such a sensible poster when loads of others live in cloud cuckoo land where every thing SFC do is right and we are heading to the Champions League. I did notice on the another thread that there is some realism as posters suggested that Cortese knows the finances and should not over spend something a previous Chairman was pilliored for. However I doubt whether success ie being a top eight team in the PL will happen without out spending loads of dosh Dont current PL teams have academies but very few of the top teams seem to bring players through to play in the First Team regularly so why should it be any different with SFC Although we have produced a lot a of decent footballers from the Academy in the last ten years or so not many are playing regularly in the PL. The coming season is the 50th seaon I have watched the Saints and I dont really mind what Division they play in all I know is I will follow every game either live on TV or through the internet. The last two seasons have been pretty good and so were the first twenty five lets hope the next few are good as well

If we wanted CMS and did not get him I think Cortese is the mug To get decent players you have to pay the going rate

Neither am I Top 5 in five years is highly unlikely in my opinion without out spending £300m on transfer fees and loads more on wages Where is the money coming from Since the sad death of Marcus we have spent feck all despite bidding for some players apparently

I agree with you from what has happened in the last nine months or so but of course money maybe forthcoming in the next few weeks We will just have to wait and see

My point is it is not a very good return from the Academy in the last few years except for OXO and we dont know whether he wants to stay

It ia a bit worrying that we can not produce any youngsters who Are good enough and want to stay Lallana seems to be the only one and he has been a first teamer player for over three years now

What advantage would there be to the club of altering the Stadium it would cost money and I would prefer money to be spent on the team

Yes we developed him and get £10 m why should we get money from Arsenal if they develop him further Should we pay MK DONS £500000 if we manage to sell on Puncheon?

In business of any sort the buyer and seller have to be happy with the terms of the sale to go through Normally a buyer will not buy if he thinks the seller is not offering a good deal and is ripping him off. We don’t know whether the 40% sell on is in fact what Cortese is asking for but if he is I fully understand Arsenal's stance. We don’t know whether Cortese actually wants to sell OXO but if he does I doubt whether many clubs would accept a 40% selling on clause of course he should get as much money as possible £12m seems reasonable to me at the moment but if he was to excels in the Championship this season then more. Sometimes young players do not become great players so there is always a risk in buying them If OXO wants to go and of course he may not I think he should be given the opportunity to play at one of the top clubs in the world But I dont mind whether he stays or goes - if he goes we should be able to get in some really good players to help us to the PL if he stays he will help us to the PL.

Well it has collapsed due to the ridiculous sell on clause so not that good business perhaps

He does appear the best at ****ing off Pardew I agree. But he is doing a pretty good job at the moment but we will have to see how he gets on in the next couple of years.

Yes I was going to say something similar to what you posted If he does go for £12m which is very likely we should be able to get in some decent players but we must not forget that their wages will be high

Does not appear so at the moment although he might have and SFC are keeping it secret. However I think some members of the U21 Squad are about to sign or have signed for PL sides which have paid a lot of money for them For instance http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/13713913.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/13685517.stm

I like Brentford I used to work and know a number of their fans. It cannot be easy supporting a small team when teams like Chelsea and Fulham are nearby but they do so fair play to them. I also like Brentford because they play in Red and White Stripes and their Reseves were the first Team I saw at the Dell

Just think it is going to be similar to Gerrard and Lampard with England

Of course if we did not have Morgan I would be delighted but we do have him and I think he needs to play with a top quality experienced CM not Jack Cork

Heard it myself from someone who told me about Guly and Forte not sure I am overjoyed with Cork arriving However if Morgan is off then it is probably a good signing just think we need an experienced CM to play with Morgan

That is true as I never went to St Mary's when we were in the PL it is very unlikely I will go there if we are promoted

I agree that if everyone was paying £8 per game that the club would not survive but by charging a tenner many oldies like myself went to a game once a month or so but I will not be going at £27 a ticket