beatlesaint

Antonio has said that he would be more than happy to stay here. Read the article on the OS for confirmation. It is not arrogant talking about a player preferring to be here than at Reading when he has stated he would like to stay. Its taking the words out of the horses mouth....which for this forum is a rarity I'll grant you, but in this case not so.

Christ, you can see by Strachan's body language that even he doesnt want to be at Boro, why the hell would anyone want to go there ?

Still waiting for you to explain your "arrogance" remark ! What has constituted arrogance in a thread talking about our possibility of signing a player has escaped me !!

No its not.....he hasn't signed an extension they have taken up the option of a further year. The club has taken up the option, Antonio has signed nothing except his roiginal contract back in 2008.

Me too, but the timing of this from Reading gives me hope. Why do this now, before the season ends when his contract probably runs until 30 June, as most footballers contracts seem to. I reckon Saints are looking to tie this deal up pretty quickly, get him to sign some sort of pre-contract agreement. Reading, for their part, are just ensuring they get their share, especially if they are a bit short of money.

If they hadnt taken up the option he would have been a free agent and they wouldn't have got a penny. Seems that when AP talked on Saturday about doing business with Reading over Antonio he and Saints knew or were pretty sure that they would activate the years option in order to get some financial package for him. IMHO of course !

Well I guess the fact they have done it now rather than wait til the end of the season in a couple of weeks means that our "talks/compensation deal" is progressing in a manner we would wish for !

Well at least that explains AP's comments about hoping to do some business with Reading over him. Looks like we will have to pay a transfer fee. No surprise they would go for that option really then.

Grant wont leave, there are too many things he enjoys about this area Besides he can spend all next season moaning about how unfair it all is, how football matters should be decided on the pitch, how they should be permitted to take on Juventus and Barcelona in Europe because the wonderful fans deserve it......

Lets hope so. I really dont understand whats going on....all the indications are that his contract with Reading is up in the summer, he himself is talking about "signing" for us yet it talks about us and them in talks ! Oh well, I'm sure it will all sort itself out in the enxt few weeks.

Is there any reason we are so **** at the moment ? have they caught the Saints disease of slow starters by any chance ?

Thats a very bold statement.......it should be red and white stripes, end of.

who is that bald figure at the front of the Directors Box at St Marys virtually every home game then ? is it Sarge ? Rosemary the telephone operator ? Henry, the mild mannered janitor ? Could be.........................

I'm sure Redcrapp will come out and take credit for teaching Eddie Howe all he knows, if he hasn't already of course !! They will have trouble keeping hold of him, especially if he does perform a miracle next season. He's only 32, what a future he has in front of him.

Go out the League Cup early, and the FA Cup, but try to defend the JPT. The squad should be big enough and deep enough to cope with a maximum 6 extra games (inc. the final that is).

I agree with you (as I usually do). AP's logic of having another season in this League, a season of winning games to build up that winning mentality even more is very sound and sensible. I think it will equip us better to deal with the CCC and do a Leicester, especially if he is bringing in Championship quality players during the summer.

Get Leeds up and out the way. After that Millwall or Charlton to go up please !

Why have you ignored the bit about what it says on Reading's website ? Would his current employers/parent club not know more than anyone else ?

and again he is out of contract with them in the summer !! The OS have stated it a few times, the READING website says he is on a deal until summer 2010 so they should know shouldnt they ? It is not unreasonable that AP does not know the ins and outs of contracts of players we have on loan, he doesnt deal with that side of things does he !

Yes he is....all this Reading will want him back talk is irrelevant. Its his choice, he will be a free agent.

Very true....but be careful, you will be accused of being a happy clappy

Lambert Fonte Harding

I said at the start of the season, although someone who couldn't get their head around what I meant argued the toss, that to reach the play offs we needed 2 or maybe 3 teams to rip this League up and get a bag full of points. Unfortunately with the exception of Norwich nobody has really done that. When Leeds went off the boil all the top teams became much of a muchness, nobody pulled away so they all took points off each other and that obviously increased their points totals in the top six which made it that much harder for us. I'm amazed really that with 3 games left we still have a mathmatical chance of reaching 6th place. It shows how well we really have done especially after having to carry out our pre-season within the first 5 league games !

I fail to see why so many cannot get their heads around this ! Our pre season was the first four or five League games this season, thats what ultimately cost us....and that is nobodys fault....well, nobody that is at the club now anyway

I think the "we can still do it" rallying call has come too soon and does look a bit OTT. IF Huddersfield lose tomorrow and we win then by all means start screaming it from the rooftops cos its game on again and as has already been noted we would actually be 1 point closer to them than could have been expected. But poor old Stockport can barely raise a team, Huddersfield know if they win and hold off Colchester next week they are in the top six. The chances of anything but an away win at Stockport tomorrow are very very slim.