rallyboy

I recently visited Normandy and then the Somme and Ypres. Other than standing on the beach and looking across where it all happened, I found the most moving bit in Normandy was actually at the Pegasus Bridge Museum. There is a weapon display there and it brings home the stark reality of what they faced. If I was sat at the top of the beach with a machine gun that dishes out 600 rounds a minute and has a range of 4km, I'd be fairly confident that no one is coming up that beach in one piece. The bravery shown by the forces on the beaches and from the Paras was extraordinary, and as referenced above, very British - low key. Imagine wandering up the road under heavy fire with your bagpiper playing? The fact that some of the veterans had to jump through hoops today to get passes to attend services, and that their police escort didn't even show up, says something too. When the guys jumped out into the water to liberate France seventy years ago no bastard asked them for an effing pass. And today when their transport didn't work out they just sorted it themselves. Top men. I guess we'd all like to think that if asked we might be as committed and brave as some of those guys were back then, but thankfully I've never been tested. They stood up and proved their worth. Respect. And long may their visits to Normandy continue.

Yes the former hero is now villainous deadwood that is being cleared to bring in the new battling heroes who will gobble up the bulging warchest and lead the mighty blue army back to upper midtable glory.

Can't be traded? Don't have any real value? The money goes to the Trust not the club? What a fricking bombshell that is! It's as if these so called 'shares' are in fact just donations sold to simpletons via emotional blackmail, smoke, mirrors, and smallprint that is glossed-over in the PDT's chosen media partner's regular sales bulletin begging letters, and the donations are being used to prop up an unsustainable business model that refuses to reduce wages and has delusions of grandeur based on some success just after D-Day... I wish someone had said before. I'm now just starting to wonder if this is 'real fan ownership' after all.

Before the recent departures you would think the decision to leave would be difficult but in light of the ongoing clearout of coaches and some players, it's a no-brainer. I'd also question how people like Lovren must feel as they see the squad being dismantled around them - we need to apply a handbrake before a sales flurry turns into a stampede. I begrudge no one the chance to better themselves and Lallana, Shaw and Rickie can do that. We need a strong managerial appointment as soon as possible to reassure the players that we do actually have a plan and intend to be competitive. But today it all looks a bit rudderless and Lallana's statement is fully understandable so let's cash in when his stock should be highest - after the World Cup. Ditto Shaw. Keep calm and appoint a good manager.

All the best Rickie, that was a golden era. What an honour it was to share and witness his journey from factory to World Cup finals - sad to see him go, but if you love em... Now let's build a new side.

You think we need to adopt a **** with a bell? Have you read some of the people on the main board? I think we just need the bell.

FarehamRed makes a good point, Krueger takes any flak over this sale, the last thing a new manager would want to start his new job with would be selling a legend or a clearout. See the case of Clough v Leeds fans. Either way, I still love Rickie - and in geography news, Fareham is red and white!

yeah Mack, slight price difference though. Looks like we are going to get more in cash for a 32-year-old supersub than the whole of plucky pompey cost the property developers. Times have changed. You'll be able to sing, scummahs going down with £200M in the bank....

He was an overweight goal poacher when he joined us. We've shared his journey from League One to the World Cup, it has been amazing for everyone. Whether the deal is great for us I'm not sure, but it's great for him, and I don't begrudge him the chance to go home. Legend is an overused term. Rickie is a legend. So who will be the first retarded tosser to boo him if he gets a game at SMS?

We really could do with a new ground design sometime soon. I miss those Maradona Harbourdomes that would host World Cup Finals, with their underwater casinos, seabed Mr Clive factory outlets and porpoise-petting zoos. I'm not sure that the proposed £1billion compulsory purchase of real estate is now justified in League Two. That was an era!

I got twelve. Course I didn't! But some smug fantasist always comes on claiming to have done better than anyone else. That is a tough set of words, some of which I would avoid using as I'm not certain how to spell them!

Indeed, sorry to see him go, he did a tremendous job for us - but on a personal level it is difficult to get too attached to someone who kept such a low profile. Without wanting to sound all sour grapes, is he the man for Spurs? If you analyse what we have done so well under him it is the continuity through all levels of the club that allows the blooding of youth, the quality of the academy, the attractive football. We still have all that, he hasn't taken it all with him. Our attacking football bordered on the naive on occasions and we struggled to break down some poor teams, so without wanting to ignore the record points haul, even the biggest Poch fan has to admit that the great season we had, could've been even better. The Spurs job entails managing an overpaid squad that needs half a rebuild, and managing enormous and deluded expectations. Some at Spurs believe they are bigger than Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool. They are clearly not. Other than attractive football, his strengths at SMS don't really fit the Spurs job, I don't see them dropping half a dozen big names and blooding youth - but that's their problem. We need a quality appointment asap. Wavering players currently have a great excuse for leaving. Either way we are going to end the summer in a really strong position, or as the richest midtable club in the division. Saints are no longer a soft touch in the transfer market - Lallana and Shaw will cost you £80M, and we'll chuck in Hoiveld for an extra £5M. Another new era begins.

Hold the front page - they sold six t-shirts in a day... I only came on here because the main board currently has too many people clearly troubled by mental issues making stuff up and generally being knee-jerk and overly-theatrical about what might and might not happen - but that leisurewear bombshell from Fatpipes did cheer me up. Anyway, back to the sobbing - if Poch goes I'll never attend a football match ever again, it's all too much...etc

I think I might just await some facts before going all kneejerk. In the meantime, anyone who has run out of commas, here are a few for you to use so we can understand your posts. ,,,,,,,,,,,

That's a blow. They sounded like experienced guys who could survive with the raft. While the recovery of the yacht may answer some questions it's a sad end to the search.

you have to feel sorry for Spurs fans, now they don't know whether to slag off Poch as a smalltime loser who they never wanted, or hold fire in case he does appear and they have to admit that he was always their first choice.

That is clearly begging, dressed up a bit. I understand why a new club might want investment to start, but one year in, income way ahead of projections, why are they still asking their fans to dig deep and pay for things? And if things are that bad, how can they increase their playing budget as claimed, prior to season ticket renewals? They must be the only club that spends the summer sat next to a cashpoint with a scabby dog, a bit of cardboard and a paper cup.

But he's not gone... He's still out there quietly briefing media on Southampton issues, and now through interviews. Meltdown, crisis? I liked much of what he achieved at SMS, he was a vital part of the journey, though I was often uncomfortable with some of his actions. But now, for me his stock falls a little more with every tabloid PR campaign. Hopefully he'll get a new job, stop talking to pet journalists, and we can all move on.

Lockers? That's Phase Two, planned for 2018.

There is a football facility with changing rooms etc. pompey have done a deal to use it and put some cash in to change things a bit. They do seem to be bigging up the fact that they have basically joined a gym. Meanwhile, they have had to cut costs and dump part of their youth development programme. While they obviously need a training base, if cash is that tight, continue to develop youth for the future, but let your overpaid journeymen train on the village green. I'm not sure why cash is that tight, they are ahead of all projections on income and have already pluckily pledged to increase the great promotion warchest. A cynic might think that the positive talk is all about season ticket renewals.

it will be interesting to see if he is there as an investigative journalist asking the questions about the accounts, the sackings etc, OR as a simple mouthpiece for further propaganda. I thought the PR war was over, hopefully it is and we can all get on with life. So come on Benjamin, show us what you are made of, what are you - man, or one of Nicola's little dancing puppets? And if that hilarious quote about Shaw is anything to go by, dance little Beeb boy, dance!

That's a bit harsh, they did manage nearly a decade before their first financial collapse. I've lost count now, it's approx five serious bouts of insolvency in the history of the three or four football clubs that have formed and folded in the city. At least the new business celebrated a full year without needing to be bailed out...

So the plucky ownership fantasy is no more, a month earlier into the summer cashflow crisis than predicted. Wake up few and smell the fat - it was always just a donation, but through the vague use of language and the odd fib it was spun to milk the partially-packed lardy fortress faithful. Saints are fan-owned, Chelsea are fan-owned, Newcastle are fan-owned - even Cardiff City are fan-owned, I saw him wearing the shirt. And down the road the Trust has less than 50% invested and three votes on a seven man board. The property developers have control.

yeah, but you didn't win the league when Bruce Forsyth was at preschool....mutter, mutter....dock strike....jealous scummahs....mutter...bitter nutjobs....don't own your own ground....gonna lose all your players.....we own our club....we don't want to be in the Premier League, no really, it's rubbish......Nazi tank driver.....etc

Are we still in crisis? How did the firesale go? Presumably we got relegated as everyone hated us for sacking people. Funny how the same nutters from all over the country who gobbed off then are now holding up Saints as the saviours of English football. The circle of football life. Think I'll await facts before worrying about too much. And who'd like to volunteer to be the first tit to boo Lallana or Shaw if we cash in, they further their careers, and they then return to SMS with a new team?