Window Cleaner

Right, two excellent examples, as the game changes and the squad has specific needs some players are capable of stepping up to the plate to play anywhere on the field. We used to have a name for that 'utility player' Dave Webb joined Saints as a utility player I seem to remember. It's the talent you have that counts not where you play.

Whilst we're on the subject of "playing out of place" which in my opinion is a complete myth anyway,you have to use the talent you have as best you can, has anyone noticed that Rooney is now playing down the left wing for Utd, him being a right footer and all.Seems to be working out OK as well. It is a current trend and several players are showing that provided you have the talent it doesn't matter which side you play or which foot you favour. Messi is of course the shining example of this, he's on the wrong side and better there than on the 'right side'.

I too would welcome Souness,should never have left, Lowe should have backed down, probably his first **** up of many.

We won't keep either of them;BWP because he won't take a big pay cut, McG because he can do better elsewhere.BWP is rumoured to be on 6/7K a week, we'd be wanting him to play for less than half of that, he's out of contract anyway so unless he agrees to our terms he's out of here. We need to establish wage harmony in the side, no-one on 8K a week and players who are performing better on 2K a week because it is demotivational whether you think about it or not. Imagine McG, scoring some goals, working his butt off alone up front getting slagged off as a lazy bastard in every Chinese Takleaway in Hampshire and seeing that other knob strutting around or doing nothing on 5 times that. Whether you perceive it or not it does have an influence on attitude. When things aren't so great you feel f*ck it why should I bother for a fifth of his money.

Still if the Heineken Queen takes over we might get another dose of Dutch. I'm not at all sure that Wotte won't be part of the set up next year.Depends who buys us and how much they have to spend. I surmise that on the sporting front Wotte is currently virtually running the club on his own.

Looks like a draw again then, pity we had them on the rack at 97/4 but once again couldn't bowl them out cheaply enough to enforce the follow on. Pity we don't have Tahir till July,could work wonders just now methinks.

We will probably get quite a bit for him actually, if we hold out hard enough. Not silly money but I think 2+ million would be obtainable. He is a good player but suffers from the impression that he's lazy,which he probably isn't. In a good side (without Saganowski,BWP and Euell dragging it down by their static performances) he will probably do OK.

Probably but the debt levels are probably nowhere near as great. If you take Germany for instance the top 3 this year aren't the same as last year. If you take Wolfsburg for instance. Top this year, 5th last year and 15th the two years before that, so progress has obviously been made,I'm not an expert on their structure but I wouldn't say their outlay on players is anywhere near that of Bayern Munich who are only 3rd this year.Italy? well AC Milan came a cropper last year and their championship seems to have 5 or 6 clubs who regularly battle it out.Don't know anything about debt levels though. Those side certainly don't cost anywhere near MU's or Chelsea's. Arsenal looked in serious difficulty this time round but hup a little 12 million dob for Arshavin seems to have put them back on course.

Indeed, but why do Liverpool,Arsenal,Chelsea and Man U have the dominance now? Because they are vastly in debt,debts that other clubs with more modest revenues could never even think of having. When a side costing 300 million plays a side costing 25 million there will only ever be one result, apart from the occasional fluke now and then. For football to become of any real interest to the masses again the debt train has to be stopped. Salary cap and cap on transfers per season has to be introduced. Otherwise the same 4 clubs will qualify for Europe season in season out until a breakaway league is eventually formed.

Yes I totally agree with Lawro on that 7 million spent and then 12million + sold the season after? Can't put it all on that really. I don't doubt for one minute that since relegation from the Premiership we have been vastly cash positive on transfers. That is not the cause, it's about salaries and performances from those receiving them. We failed to downsize all the activities quickly enough,that's where we went wrong.

My there's a surprise then..

Only at Southampton can such confusion reign over such a simple thing.

Not this time, we will field an awful side and get slaughtered. And I'm usually such an optimist.

Won't be much of a shop window for us come Sunday, we will get absolutely hammered, 5 maybe 6 nil. The smart money would be on breaking a finger nail in the warm up or something and crying off injured..

Euell of course, although there are others that haven't pulled their weight, or the weight of their salaries anyway. to me, and this is just me, any player taking more than 5K a week from the club this season (and last) has not contributed to the height of his abilities. I blame the players, make no bones about it.

It's a shame that he created the illusion that he would be fit and ready to go last summer. If he hadn't we might have got a central defender in last July and avoided all the tossing about with Lancashire,Pearce and eventually Cork who could have played midfield instead. No blame on Svensson really but his purporting to be an effective player sold us down the river when we didn't need that. Against Blackpool he was atrocious, he cost us that match . When you're finished you're finished no point in hanging on for dear life because you desperately want to try to play again.

Oooh I expect there's a lot of wool being pulled over a lot of eyes. It's all just Gee Up tactics, are the 4 interested parties falling over themselves to get their bids in? Don't seem to be but who knows. As long as mugs keep handing over money to pay expenses that don't concern them the administrators won't tell them not to do it. They're getting the best deal possible for the creditors like that aren't they. Some of the players we have on our books for next season are scary prospects, frighten them into leaving at lesser terms? why not, good for the creditors cos anyone buying the club won't have to pay them will they.

And the grammar, whilst you're at it. Should have After all you did mensh

I see 9 year old Matthew has got it wrong then....it is the players fault. 14K a week for 5 goals from 58 games is unacceptable.We could have got a League 2 striker in at 3K a week and he'd have fluked just as many.Bet Sam Vokes doesn't get 14K a week,yet the money paid to that player stopped us from acquiring lads like Vokes.

Not wanting to side with the enemy but I too don't really see why we talk about Skate's debt. They owe money buty they have decent Sky revenues plus a bit at the gate. They have players that they could sell for a total of over 50 million tomorrow, true the side would be weakened but not by all that much. Correct on the Mother Theresa front, give me a Ghengis Khan any day, at least you know where you are with them cos there's no bollax talked. If there's a choice between a Somali Pirate and a couple of likely lads from the Channel Islands give me the pirate any day. We should never have opposed the return of Hoddle because we didn't like his way of doing things,we are now paying for that.

I can't see that we'll fold either, but really any prospective buyer will just have to try to work out why the club could not sustain top flight football although all the indicators said we should have been able to.It will take time to see why the business was not viable and whatever it was that caused the insolvency will have to be thrown to the sharks.My guess is it's either the retail arm or the academy. Something costs too much other than the players,they cost a lot to be sure but with all the transfers out that we've made even a few silly salaries should be possible.

The nature of Aviva's guarantees has never been established. Sometimes they ask for preferential creditor status in that kind of transaction. It could be that they have a clause saying they will get paid before anyone else, happens in Europe, in the UK I haven't a clue whether that would be a legal possibility.

That won't happen either, all that needs to be settled is the amount. There are obviously good buyers but they have their ceiling price which isn't anywhere near the creditors floor price for the time being;Just a question of patience and time I expect.