spyinthesky

I am waiting with much anticipation at the thought of spunking £500-£600 to spend every fortnight watching us struggle in the Championship.

The worrying thing if we put this team in the Championship next season, they might just scrape into the top six. Maybe. Take out Ramsdale, KWP and Fernandes (in particular) plus Big Les and possibly Downes and THB and there is a Stoke/Swansea/Pompey type side, relying on our top rated scouting team to bring in loan players or 'bargains' within the £1-£3m range. Whilst Edwards and Charles and possibly Edioze will arguably add a smidgeon of strength to the squad the return of Arma, BBD and Baz will only add to the wage bill. There is a desperate need for a decent target man as has been the case for some time now.

Bale had an engine. Dibling doesnt, I'm sad to say as I would really like him to come good as he has basic talent

Did the club actually pay £15m for him?? Another waste of money on a striker to add to Brereton Diaz/Armstrong/Stewart/Carillo/Tall Paul/Mara. Only one that worked out in recent times was Danny Ings.

Just read an article about a guy called Dennis Montgomery. Anyone who hasnt heard of him, its worth a look at his background. I reckon his story could be made into a great film, dovetailing into stories on Mike Lindell (the Pillow Man) and other snake oil salesmen and purveyors of right wing nonsense.

Quite an interesting discussion. The 'Russian Tail' theory was something I had never heard of before and possibly may be relevant to the Brexit vote. Steve Bannon was apparently caught on audio prior to the 2016 US Election predicting that Trump would be ahead in the early stages of the election due to the fact that a lot of Republican voters live in small communities where it is relatively quick to collate and submit votes. As a consequence it was agreed that Trump would declare victory midway through the vote knowing that the larger population areas were expected to vote Democrat in larger numbers. MAGA supporters were primed to believe the election result was rigged and this they did with aplomb.

Nic, I think a fair point is made here. Whilst most fair minded people have sympathy with the plight of Refugees, very few would be interested in taking one in, especially as the majority of Refugees are relatively young men. In some respect this is similar to those who support Just Stop Oil. I doubt if there are many that would be prepared to do without the many benefits of modern living that are by products of oil.

The likes of Bournemouth and Brighton have been able to spend the transfer money wisely and actually maintained/improved the strength of their squads. They may both end up in the same situation as Saints did when they received decent money from the sale of Van Dyke/Mane etc and wasted it on crap buys.

I was speaking to a US client today. He reckoned that Trump's new mate Mr Tesla, was able to tap into the voting machines ie those which were accused of fiddling Biden's victory, and ensured that Trump won this time round. No idea if there is any credence in this but just suppose that Musk had been a supporter of Biden and this rumour was circulated amongst the MAGA mob, it is likely that another violent protest, stoked up by the Orange One, would have been on the cards.

I am in two minds re Tyler. He is obviously a talent but needs to learn more about his performance against the ball which is an important ingredient for a modern player. From the club's perspective if they can get a big transfer fee plus a future sell on deal, hopefully this will help finances. All that said, I understand that Tyler has recently bought a house not too far from Staplewood so perhaps that provides an indication that he may be with us next season.

Christophe, Thanks for your posts. Really interesting Bonne Chance for the remaining part of the season and next year.

Lesley has been no more than average for us across the season. I believe he cost Chelsea around 22-25m euros and dont think any club would be looking to pay that sort of money for him. Cant see him getting anywhere near the Chelsea first team so another loan here perchance?

Good grief. Rupert Murdoch and his clan must be well proud of their incisive and balanced News Service.

I must admit not being enamoured when he was signed from Spurs. Not first choice there and the fee was fairly tasty at the time. However he has been a shining light in our team since arriving and I will be sad to see him go but wish him all the best for the future KWP, Fernandes and Ramsdale have been the only players worth their wages this season and, as far as I understand, KWP has been nowhere near the top of the wages here.

Hopefully Shea Charles will come back to us next season and bolster up midfield. I dont really like being critical of Will Smallbone as I feel sure he is a decent lad. He might be OK as a bit player next season but he doesnt have the pace or physicality to be a starter even in the Championship.

Carillo at around £20m and even Mara at £8-£10m were awful buys but dont think we can point the finger at current owners for their purchases.

Does Livramento come into the good value category?

I'M WORKING DILIGENTLY (APART FROM MY REGULAR VISITS TO FLORIDA TO PLAY GOLF AND WHERE I SET COURSE RECORDS WHENEVER AND WHEREVER I PLAY)

Wasnt that Jess Yates who thought he was the father of Paula Yates but it turned out to be Hughie Green

I reckon SAA will be a decent player. However I wonder if there was an expectation within the club that Jay Robinson will turn out to be the longer term winger option.

I have spent an hour or so of my life which I will never get back watching the live broadcast of Trumps Cabinet meeting. It reminded me of what would be expected from a similar meeting in North Korea or in the bygone days of Royal Courts, full of sycophantic warblings from his appointed stooges. To be fair there seemed to be one or two ideas that seemed reasonable if the actual detail contained within the presentation was actually correct. As we know Trump makes up figures off the hoof. One which stuck in my mind was his claim, made more than once, that the USA had lost 90,000 car plants in recent years due to relocation of vehicle production away from the domestic market. If this was true and assuming the US domestic plants build around 10m vehicles a year, each plant would build an average of 111 vehicles a year. Mass production that aint!!

I will be renewing but have been a season ticket holder for many years and have had the same seat in the Itchen since St Marys opened although I am the only one of the five of us who sat together when the stadium opened. Sad to say that three of the group are not with us any more.

Quite a few empty home seats again?

Talk about pandemics, apparently the vaccine sceptic, Robert F Kennedy Jr is having to travel to Texas to console parents of a dead child who contracted measles. Having more or less eradicated the illness a few years back the pushback against the MMR vaccine has led to significant numbers of children not being immunised allowing the very infectious illness to return. Perhaps ingesting bleach might help?

Marjorie Taylor-Greene is one who apparently shorted stock a day before Trump's Tariff announcement. She is obviously knows a thing or two about the stock market!!