david in sweden

ah! maybe, but he was fun to watch and never flinched a tackle.....

but then again...what YOU consider to be a correct definition, (or otherwise)... is dictated by the fact that you are (I assume) - a native speaker of English. Words that may be casually used but without the same emphasis as we have. A prime example in Sweden...is the use / translation of the word ...eventually. In Britain, it suggests with a high degree of certainty ...some future measure to be taken, which is dictated only by an (undefined) period of time. To Swedes ..eventually means; something considered, but with no degree of probability at all. In short, just an idea / something that's been discussed, and certainly nothing that has been decided upon. Cortese is not a native speaker. He's an international businessman, who copes quite well IMO..with English communication. Reading between the lines.....it's quite possible that he just hasn't bothered. Meeting MLT hardly come into the category of "urgent business " and he's unlikley to bother himself about MLT's complaints, or indeed feel the need to meet him, any more than he would meet you or I as fans.

oh dear. Ted Bates was quoted as saying the Martin Chivers deal was the only one he ever regretted....(even though we got a British record fee at the time). Saul on the other hand was surplus to requirements (at Spurs) but was " fortunate enough " to score a goal in a Cup Final, whilst being unable to hold down a regular place in Spurs League side. Might have been a nice fella' and all that, but he belongs in the (enormous) category of players who scored a goal in a Final.. and whose career went downhill afterwards. ...at £40 K ...we were sha*ted by Spurs once again.

so let's not remind ourselves of Marian Pahars, then.

Niemi. of course....Michael Svensson and Claus Lundekvam (at their prime)..Jason Dodd and Frannie Benali at their best. Paine, Sydenham and Ron Davies (they were the best)....and Jimmy Gabriel to run the midfield. Hey ho ...nostalgia is a wonderful thing - isn't it?

OK. Language is my job...(to me) ..using the word " met " as in (business) meeting ... the inference may still be that they haven't sat down /discussed anything. MLT has used the media frequently to criticise NC, whereas Cortese has been ignoring him and getting on with his job as Chairman / de facto Owner. I don't stop to try and explain myself every time someone doesn't agree with me, nor do I insult them publicly or criticise them for their viewpoint. I've met and shaken hands (and even spoken a few words) to thousands of people ..it doesn't mean that I know them. .

....yours is in the post, Turkish........not to be opened until May 20th.

It's possible that he may have had some (UK) education for his business career, but having worked internationally in commercial banking he probably feels " safer" in a negotiations rather than in answering direct, controversial questions about some of the more unpleasant decisions that have been taken in the club. His choice of vocabulary (though good) lacks the fluency that you might expect from a Brit. (which of course, he isn't) but nevertheless I can see that his use of phrases is more related to words that he is more familiar with in Italian, and their meaning. Interestingly, when he said... he didn't know MLT...I don't think he was denying having met him, but more that he didn't know him personally to talk / discuss with, something that is very important in business is the personal relationships between the top management and key personnel. I'd be interested to hear MLTs comments if they'd actually sat down, had a meal and a couple of glasses of wine together....although I'd equally expect them to re-evaluate their relationship and be diplomatic about it afterwards. ..but that's not likely to happen. I do agree that to many people Cortese must seem like a cold fish who makes unpleasant decisions, but neither is he daft enough to endanger his career/ investment unless he were sure that MP were the right person to take us to the next level. For someone who has spent 10 years advising others on sporting / financial issues, he must be really determined to make a success at SFC, now that he has a chance to call the shots himself. Time will tell.

full back Alex Cherednik (23 games +4 subs.) struggled to get a place in front of the (then) emerging Jason Dodd ..and winger Sergei Gotsmanov (8 games +6 subs.) was never going to get selected ahead of MLT. They may have has good in their days in the old " well-drilled " Soviet side, but never really came to terms with the demands of higher level English football.

.......I seem to recall that he played last season in the League Cup game v. Preston and FA Cup game v. Millwall, and has been used in several different roles this season, and even scored as an on-coming sub. in the L. Cup game at Stevenage. The big fear is that he may become the type of highly versatile player who can play almost anywhere , but never able to command a regular place of his own. Clubs need them, but they seldom get much glory. In the past we had Delap, Tessem, and Lloyd James who were able to play almost any role, but really never got established in their own right.

Difficult to judge when most are only names in a match report, but I watched a " streamed " U21 game v. a rampant Liverpool side who had several Prem. players in it ...a week or so ago. Liverpool had most of the play, but finished poorly, as we defended well, and they can feel lucky that they won the game through an unfortunate "own goal " deflection by Saints' best defender Turnbull. olher notables were CB Jack Stephens, and FB Matt Young and Matt targett. Calum Chambers looked impressive as did the US goalie Cody Cropper - but tbf ..it's early days to talk about Prem. debuts for anyone, but perhaps the two who looked best were; RW Jake Sinclair, and the speedy LW Lloyd Isgrove (newly selected for Wales U21). Sam Hoskins - is a promising striker (presently out on loan to Stevenage), and the U18 top scorer Ryan Seager.

from all I've read.....it seems that MP has some sort of star-status amongst fans, players and media types in Spain.....despite having struggled with the penniless Espanyol club for several years. Its no surprise that few people in England have heard of him, as most Brits' experience of Spain is a two week sun-holiday, and watching Barca and Real on the box. Of course he's "unknown " to most of us , but it doesn't mean he's without talent just because of that. Wednesday will be a real test for his new tactics. Time will tell but he may be more of a revelation than even Cortese imagines...?

I left it a while before responding but you got the most recent SNSUN, but to find the others you'd need a longer memory.....or have a copy of In That Number to help. Tommy Forecast will go down as the only player to have signed a 5 year contract with the club. and never played a League game Kasey Keller was a loan keeper - during Nov 2004 - when we had a goalie injury crisis. but before him we go back to the 1960's......and John Hollowbread (3k bargain in 1964) who played 40-odd games before being badly injured. A good keeper with a sense of humour that he shared with fans behind goal. In his turn, Hollowbread had been understudy tio the man who came before him was.... Ron Reynolds (bought for 10K in 1960 from Spurs) where he had the unenviable task of understudying the legendary Ted Ditchburn for many years. RR clocked up over 100 Saints' games in the early 1960's despite serious shoulder and ankle injuries incurred in matches. His last game was a derby match at Fratton when he injured his shoulder so badly at the start of the game and had to go off - and was never able to play again. Ron caused some concern (amongst fans) when it was revealed that he played with contact lenses, but to be fair, it seldom seemed to have impaired his judgement and he was considered a good, brave keeper at that time. Both Reynolds and Hollowbread have quite interesting personal histories published on Wikipedia - for those who enjoy history . I might have added a fifth name that of George Ephgrave. A great favourite of my (late)father. Ephgrave was signed by Spurs as an 17 y.o. amateur in the late 1930's. With little chance of first team duty, he had spells with Villa and Swindon before WW2 began. GE was captured in Crete and spent the rest of the War in a POW camp. He signed for Saints in 1946, where he shared goalie apps. with the locally-born Len Stansbridge for a couple of seasons. Ephgrave, who stood at 6'4", was distinctive not only because of his huge height...but his amazing ability to pick up the football - one handed. Both Ephgrave and Stansbridge later lost favour when Saints signed (the recently deceased) Scottish international keeper - Ian Black).

....or how about FOUR goal keepers who signed for Saints - after having been on Tottenham books in their earlier days...?

ANSWER: to Q. Three England managers who were signed as players by Saints..... (not Hoddle of course,) who managed both England..and Saints, but never played for SFC. Kevin Keegan Alf Ramsey AND a 16 year old who was signed as an amateur in 1949, but never made the first team named ..Bobby (later Sir) Robson. He later moved to Fulham and made some sort of a name for himself....

see if you've forgotten these .....?. Name three men who once signed for Saints, and later in their careers ....became England manager?

which gives you the perfect pubquiz question ; which youth team player had to wait 20 years to make his first team debut? (DW) (can't use that one now - can you ?)

or, leave it as it is ......and build multi-rise blocks around the ground and sell the flats to the highest bidders. (I always throught Overdell Court gave a good view).

....before or after we connect the underground heating system properly ?

Another example of poor journalism in citing SAINTS name to get a headline...about someone who was never even a first team prospect. NR was barely one season at the club, only ever played at junior level and certainly never came anywhere near playing senior football with SFC. He left the club in 2008 (as being branded a trouble-maker) and went to Newcastle via Swindon. Has already got his own page on Wikipedia and it makes very sad reading.