Sour Mash

Alpine on top form tonight

Who hasn't embraced and enjoyed it? It was a good day out and good for us to win.

So not most of the players then?

NC is just lucky that his £2m+ a yar salary allows him to walk away from his job and put his feet up in Milan for a few months, most of us don't have that luxury I'm afraid.

Like most of the players what?

well that tweet doesn't make sense - why would we give permission for them to agree "everything with Lallan's reps" before we've even agreed the fee, that's not going to happen. I'm not sure what you mean by him being their version of "the V-Man"- I don't think the Vman ever gave us any transfer exclusives.

So no serious stories or speculation on any of those five as I thought.

But that's the crux of the position we now find ourselves in; we can no longer say "we're aiming for CL football" without having to start backing up our words with serious intent and resources - if those resources aren't there, they're not there.

No, I didn't ask "which clubs have structured strategies in place". My point is you are very naive to think most clubs don't have one, they just won't come out with mission statements for the fans every 6 months.

Very good, well-balanced post.

Has someone really put their time into producing that

A lot of teams finish one season 8th and the next 17th? I can't think of too many that have done that. Quite a naive idea to think that the vast majority of Premier League clubs aren't planning and preparing to be the best they can be.

You think Wanyama, Osvaldo, Ramirez Clyne and Chambers are being chased by Champons League teams? Which teams and for how much?

What are the "clear structure and strategy" of the other 19 Premier League clubs?

So a new thread, and one long, long post and you don't actually tell us anything new as to why we're on a "downward curve".

So there is a big queue of owners that not only want to buy the club, but want to sink hundreds of millions of pounds of their own money in taking us to the Champions League? You reckon?

What does that mean? What do you think?

Batman, just to be clear, are you saying you don't believe that any of the recent Saints articles, Neil Ashton pieces have been influenced by NC's PR contacts?

What "money thing"? I've simply asked under what circumstances posters would welcome NC back, the context is obvious and important or makes the discussion fairly pointless. No, I don't think we're in financial trouble, weird thing to ask. Do you still think KL is going to be milking the club for its money?

Exactly this. For those wishing for his return, under what circumstances and with what backing would you be happy with?

"I am trying to catch up with those things. Some things I will never catch up on, but my children and my wife are happy to have me back" - Oh, what a hero "The question for us was not if we could win the Premier League but how" - I often wonder "how", still can't see an answer apart from £150m to spend.

But Shaw might want CL qualification and league winning ambition and not be worried about fear of failure. You agree it makes sense for Lallana to want to kick on now if he so chooses. So what do you want done differently?

Was it that clear? What was his vision?

So at what point would you sell Lallana? What would be your "legitimate case" to our players that we are a better option than Liverpool, Man Utd, Arsenal etc?