david in sweden

I seem to recall quite a number of correspondents querying why we paid out £1 million for an L1 player who (they wrote) ..." wouldn't be good enough to play in the Championship." Personally I knew little about RL at that time, aside from his goalscoring record and the size of his waistline.

You can see him scoring (several clips) ..for Feyenoord on U-Tube..plus other sites with an interview. Seems like a pretty level-headed lad.

To the 9 .. As CB Fry has said - I think you're getting hung up on the cost compared with the potential that we are buying. £1 million for an unfit Lambert looked a "chancey deal" - at that time. Better fitness, better service and better confidence has made RL the player he is today. At 30 he may have a short Prem. career in front of him. We 'd all like to see him do well, but if he doesn't carry on as before we have a major 4-5 month problem before the next transfer window, by which time we could be anchored at the bottom if we have a run of poor results. At some future time RL will lose his form, and his place and we need someone capable to take over - at that time. Jay Rod maybe a gamble, but his progress so far has impressed SFC that he may be come that person. Getting someone like (JayRod £7 mill.) may sound a lot -- for a 21 y.o. Npc player, but we are buying his potential to become an even better player than he is today. Had he been OOC or Bosman he might have come for nothing. Such transfers are down to good timing, and good luck. (T.Lee was such a transfer with no transfer fee ). People were anxious when we sold strat striker Martin Chivers for a record fee in 1967..but teenage Mick Channon was on the way up and proved (in time) to be more than a suitable replacement. Looking at our own situation , who would have valued 16 year old Theo Walcott at £10 million whe he was in our Reserve side?...or Alex O-C. who went from Academy to Premiership inside one season. IMO ..the £15 million fee may well look like a real bargain for Arsenal if he continues to develop as he had recently.

I get your point Clarkey, but a lot of this discussion is pure semantics. If we got someone BETTER than Lambert we'd play them instead, I always read "cover " as someone capable of filling the gap if /when necessary. In the event of a serious injury problem for RL, who do we have that could come and fill the gap? The same situation will occur next season with the goalkeepers. Obviously everyone sees KD as the first choice (and perhaps rightly so) but we must have an experienced Prem. keeper able to step in at a minutes notice. We can't have the "Bart scenario " again. Cover really means a viable alternative on the bench. It works in most other positions but RL really is an exceptional case, and it's stupid to ignore the problem and hope it doesn't occur.

he's still on holiday - in Mexico (apparantly), but he's in the driving seat as Burnley are willing to sell, but he needs to convince himself...never mind, first step inside SMS and a Nigel Adkins' smile should do the trick... Hi Jay, welcome to this wonderful football club, here's your ticket ..for the bus !

can we quote you in that ?

I'm glad that someone started this thread, because I'd been mulling over these thoughts since Dalglish got the push. L'pool have obviously been unsuccessful in luring a " big international name manager " to Anfield, and who can wonder with some of their performances last season. With Gerrard (my fav. player) and Carragher on the way to retiring the future looks gloomy for this once great club who have depended on a succession of Latin strikers to keep them afloat in recent years. I wish Brendan Rodgers luck at Anfield because I think he's going to need a lot of it next season. Rodgers did a fantastic job at Swansea (who had 6th spot when they won their 2011 playoff) but his predecessor (Swansea) Martinez, needed his own "Great Escape" scenario to keep Wigan clear of the Prem. drop zone...this time. The domino effect (of Prem. managers playing musical chairs) is further increased by the prospect of Paul Lambert moving from Norwich to A.Villa (another great name with a very mediocre side). He was successful at Norwich, but when will his luck run out .., Villa maybe his " bridge too far ". He will certainly take Grant Holt (asked for transfer last week) ..with him, but it may not be enough. Most interesting is (Reading's) Sir John Madejski's public statement " urging the new owner to make money available for transfers.." He went on to say that he didn't expect a lot of big money signings this summer, but praised Readings excellent youth players, who can come in ! Careful Sir John! ..we (Saints) have been down that road before... and it came to an abrupt and painful end. Surely every owner of a Prem. club realises the enormous challenge of..."just staying in the Prem."without actually winning anything- or could it be the Russian gentleman can only see the potential £60 million income the club will get this season, and doesn't want to spend it? of the other clubs; Chelsea (if they settle their management issue) can go on, and so too will Man.City as long as the price of petrol is so high. Wenger has gone back to the " boring Arsenal " style, but I don't see him going anywhere and they may come again as a title challenger...and then we have Man Utd. Flattered by their second place finish last season, I think they had a whole season of good luck which ran out in " stoppage time" in Manchester. Sooner or later..(Sir) Alex Ferguson must retire, but WHO DARES -- replace him? .and then we have... 'appy 'arry at Spurs.The Great Survivor..who is already sitting in the lifeboat before the iceberg comes into view. Now that he didn't get the England job (thank goodess)...he may decide to jump ship in the next year or so ..will Glenn Hoddle come again ? England boss Roy Hodgson will get more time to prove his worth - than the average Prem. manager does - but how will WBA fare without him? West Ham may have got promoted but I understood they had desperate money problems when Gold and Sullivan (or, is it Sullivan and Gold) took over. If they can't get their finances in order they may fall into another trap. Many clubs succeed by having the right manager at the right time, but after they part...neither of them benefits..as Lawrie Mac would be only too quick to recant on his ill-fated return to Tyneside in 1985. His bank balance may have grown, but his once great reputation was tarnished for some fans. Few people would say that Alan Pardew wasn't a good manager (despite his spat with Cortese) but the real proof of his mangerial skills will come next season. IF Saints survive a couple of seasons, and continue the Adkins way, the Prem. may look a very different place by 2014.

Schneiderlin signed for Saints in June 2008. Aged 18½. He has played 4 seasons to date for Saints, and was 21 in November 2010. I think there are grounds for counting him as " home-grown". I haven't read the small print, but as I recall there are various interpretations of how you calculate the 3 years / 3 seasons ? He was already INTO his third season when he reached 21...maybe it counts in the season you are 21, as they do with the U21 international squads.? Something for the PL lawyers to decide on.

I certainly agree with that part...but no-one seems to be writing about anything else.! Other transfers, fairly logically are likely to be TWO goalies (one to replace Bart and another to avoid us ever having to select Tommy F.) one right back..as it seems most people don't like Butters' age, or trust Richardson...but then again we do have Stephens !! Jaidi has retired and so expect another CB. If the JayRod...and /or...Phillips /Ince deals comes off we'll likely see the departure of Chaplow and Puncheon in exchange deals...so that still leaves room to sign another new midfielder. IMHO ..even if we sign Jay Rod, we'll get yet another striker too, but I don't know who we would choose.! other than that I have no inside info, read the same threads everyone else does and have no personal favourites to sign.

I am the last person who expects to hear from him. I'm not even permanently resident in the UK. Maybe he'll contact you instead....

the " so-called " budget clearly means money to acquire and pay someone for a contracted period, and depends on the players status at the time. JayRod being under contract to Burnley, and being "valued" by potential buyers / and his club at £7 million, or whatever figure is finally agreed - will cost is a lot over 4 years. But we are sure to sign others who are OOC / Bosman / free transfer players/ with much less initial cost and probably lower salary than Jay Rod will demand. In the end Cortese (who surely understands financial issues as well as any League Chairman) will make available as much as he thinks necessary - (and I don't expect him to confide that info. to the Echo). Though he surely has a bottom line and he won't overstep that....except in extreme circumstances.

I'm sure many of us would like to hear a little more from Nicola Cortese - but it's clearly not his style to go out and confirm or deny rumours all the time. I'm not disatisfied with the way he runs the club, but he clearly doesn't feel the need to placate the media and I don't blame him for that, and do you think that things haven't been going so well under his leadership ? ALSO; ...I don't think I "get all excited" as you put it (about rumours)..I've been a fan for over 50 years, and have lived through times more exciting that this - especially as we've been promoted to the top division twice before - and as for inane ramblings....surely I'm not the worst at that?

Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti says that because of latest bribery scandals ...Italian clubs should be banned from playing for 3 years. (sounds like a real vote-winner - that one), but if Lodeiro moves to Italy he might find himself signing for a club about to be banned..or bankrupt.

can we infer from this discussion that you are so disgusted with current ticket prices that you are going to boycott future matches in protest ?....or.....

Board meetings are often far less frequent than many people think, and would certainly be held on a midweek date and not at weekends. .besides....it's only an hours flight time to Switzerland....

there was a very large article on BBCs football site last week... with Blatter being quoted as saying it was a tragedy for football that games like that had to be settled by penalty kicks. How else do you suggest Herr Blatter? ...who didn't seem to mind supporting the idea for the last ..15 years?...

I think he's good enough to be selected, but Sharp and Lambert are first choice strikers, and with T.Lee and possibly Rodriguez to sign he wouldn't get lots of games with SFC, whereas Swansea don't have the same depth in their squad and he'd certainly get regular games there.

Nicely put Patrik. I'm afraid the "hate Pompey brigade" curse anyone who even gets near Fratton Park - except on a match day. For decades past, Pompey has been the end of the line for quite a few former Saints players before they retire. Good luck to DC if true. The movement in the other direction (to Saints) has been far fewer.

so... are we saying he'll be the new midfield " hard man " everyone wants? ...only hope he doesn't have a bad disciplinary record.

a number of people are already playing " musical chairs " with players on the bench. Who's first choice, Who's in, Who's out..etc. I think NA will use them all on a regular basis depending on; form, fitness, injuries and suspensions, and everyone will get a shout over the duration of whole season.

well you just don't know me Turkish, (or any of the other guys who followed this with their humourous comments). I don't write threads like that. I admire Adkins and see no reason why we shouldn't continue in the same vein as last season. As for him being "upto it", what I think has no bearing on what Nicola Cortese thinks ...it's his decision that matters. The real question is whether the standard of the squad is good enough to enable us to match some of the other Prem.sides. I think we will be very lucky to get above mid table, and even new signings may not be enough to lift us above that. After 27 years of "survival football " I'd be satisfied to survive every season for another 27 seasons ...by which time I'll be 90 ! As for the stats.... Can't promise I won't find a few to prove a point, or two sometime. David in Sweden.

YEEEEEEEEEEEES! me too. Deating them both would give us some credibility - even if we don't finish in the top 10. ...and Spurs and Arsenal , at least once.