shurlock

Alan Ball, English and former player - left at a drop of a hat when City (pre-oil fortunes) came calling.

The English are still a massive scalp for anyone who wants a bit of trouble -the Russians, the scum of Marseille and any other chancer; but let's not pretend that many out there don't absolutely love that attention, even if they have no intention of getting involved.

Yep. Payet wasn't a favourite among the Southampton-can-do-no-wrong-West-Ham's-transfer-policy-is-a-joke crowd on here

As every 'hipster' supposedly does, have watched quite a bit of the Bundesliga and Bayer Leverkusen always catch the eye. Always on the front foot and go two up top. Longy would have a field day in that team.

Lucien Favre = the french Rod Liddle Murat Yakin = the swiss-turkish Richard Gere FACT

A mongboarder who died fighting for the truth.

You've never particularly rated Mané, have you pal? Praise through gritted teeth.

#familyclub

She dyes her tache.

Will say that Virgin Media delivers consistently poor service - only marginally better than their trains which smell like a s**t that has had nervous breakdown.

There's a first for everything. #schoolofscience.

They can have JWP for £100m

The need for validation is as endearing as it is desperate. Please, sir, remember our history. What's that after you strip out the usual cliches about Dixie Dean and a brief spell of success in the 1980s that was at any rate, overshadowed by their neighbours? The sh*thouse dullness of the Moyes and Royle years? The nosebleed heights reached by Mike Walker? Their widespread reputation as a racist club? Daniel Amokachi Glorious history that.

That's the spirit pal.

Give me phillip cocu anyday - looks like a European hedge fund manager with a taste for rothkos and popart.

Everyone knew we had money to burn in 2014; it didn't force us to overpay.

Dont we go and stay in Groningen, the spiritual home of the Koemans?

At their place he did. Exploited the gaps in our 3-5-2 by doubling up down the flanks, dragging JWP and Romeu all over the place. Koeman's substitution of Yoshida and switch to a back four was a recognition of this. By the time he changed things, though, they were very much in control of the game.

Always fancied a big les and brian mcdermott dream team - like a footballing equivalent of the Minions.

He's being amply compensated for that additional pressure. But f**k him. It's of little interest to me. He's made his bed, let him in it.

Remind me what you're a professor of again, pal? Feel free to crack one out to the Elgarian bluster of the Southampton Way, neatly laminated in an organisational flowchart; but the hard truth is that Koeman had tremendous say in our transfers (and other decisions): former players, a heavy concentration on the Dutch league etc. If anything structures seemed to become more personalised and idiosyncratic under Koeman's reign. One reason why, if you believe the ITKs, there was growing dissatisfaction around the club during our midseason blip, though that no doubt disappeared with the uptick in results. All this suggests that pragmatism rather than principle has been the order of the day. Nothing wrong with this to an extent; but lets not pretend otherwise when assessing the sources of our recent success and what it means going forward.

Harry Bassett has tipped Neal Ardley for the top.

Maybe the dutch boys can help out -who do they rate higher: De Boer or Cocu?

#moneyball

Can imagine Sibley making Les a builders tea while dictating that story down the phone to the DT.