Lallana's Left Peg

VVD starts for Celtic - game kicks off in 10mins and is shown on BT Sport Europe.

But then what about wages and other operating costs? As has been mentioned, our owner wrote off tens of millions of debt on the journey. We have spent lots of money to get the club where it is today. We talk a lot about self-sustaining these days, but the journey saw us spend lots of money we didn't generate through normal revenue.

Will they be serving quiche at the village fete? Maybe a nice lemon drizzle cake?

Not sure what anything we did pre-takeover has to do with anything as that 'net profit' clearly didn't exist in terms of cash and was used elsewhere to run the club as we went into administration. In the first season of the takeover we spent well over £2m on transfers and goodness knows how much on wages - that doesn't really happen in League 1? Then in the Championship we paid Jack Cork and Tadanari Lee 20k a week, spent a few million on Sharp, and signed Hooiveld as well. We spent money and had a big wage bill too. Our promotion was not an 'against all odds' happening. We invested wisely of course, but that doesn't hide that we still invested well. Oxlade-Chamberlain sale helped, but Bournemouth will argue the funds they got for Grabban and from the Lallana sale supported their spending (to the point they passed FFP). I'm just saying that both teams spent a lot of money to get to the Premier League.

They'll be fun going forward and will beat some top teams but their defence isn't very good and not sure it is good enough to carry them to any better than last season.

We did, but they also sold Grabban and got money from the Lallana deal - maybe £7m in total.

Both clubs spent more than people think in order to get to the Premier League. Bournemouth staying up would be equal to us qualifying for Europe. Lets see.

Updated OP with the Jordan Turnbull loan.

I know their comments are realistic, but they do sound very defeatist. Not the sort of thing fans want to hear in public.

Talent affords you endless chances in football. There is no moral compass in the game!

PA reported that his total cost to Saints was £25m. If you were to presume ~£13m of that was his transfer fee, he costs Saints (net of income for loan fees etc.) around a further £12m for wages and his severance agreement. An absolute disaster in retrospect.

Will be a couple of years before we get another breakthrough, or at least players of the calibre of the last 3 years or so. Slattery is the one though.

Saints are all about momentum, I don't think we can make wholesale changes with a view to a narrow loss and then go and play a different team against Newcastle. I would expect a few changes but not too many - the key is not to over-exert ourselves but put in a good performance and carry that onto Sunday.

Alan Pardew on SSN just now saying that for Connor Wickham to have 80 Premier League appearances by the age of 22 is incredible and now it is about developing a few "tricks" to establish himself and push on. Same applies to JWP I imagine.

Lots of Academies these days hoover up kids rather than identify talent. They basically invite lots of kids to training sessions (the kids and parents get all excited and think they've been 'scouted') and the clubs keep the kids until they work out whether they are good enough or not, rather than working out if they are good enough or not and then inviting them. Every Sunday down at Powerleague Trafford half the pitches are rented by Manchester United and the nippers are out there playing football - some of them are awful but Man Utd just take them on to stop other clubs doing the same regardless of talent. I would estimate that Man Utd alone have thousands of U9's at these training sessions. It's crazy.

It is if you are a competent Manager!

So it's about 50:50 as to whether we're seeded or not?

Most importantly, they can't defend for ****.

Celtic will sell to the highest bidder. Their business plan is to buy and develop talent, sell, and save the money for when Rangers are back in the Premier League. And then when Rangers are back spend enough of them money each season to ensure they remain on top. He will go at some point, but how much for depends on Celtic's Champions League status and how many teams bid.

I've no doubt that on a sporting level Saints are more appealing than Sunderland. But players take a number of things into consideration when making moves, and money plays a big part. That interview doesn't talk about his prospects for Holland being better in the top half of the Premier League rather than the bottom half, he just references it as one of the major leagues. If Sunderland are interested I don't think they should be wrote off - they are getting players from teams who pay a lot of wages and they already pay a lot of money to the likes of Adam Johnson. They can pay big money and that means they can attract players, no matter how garbage they are on the pitch as a team.

I never said it is how to be successful, but the question was asked if Sunderland's interest meant the player may be more unlikely to come to Saints. If they offer better wages than us, which I think they can do, then I think it does make them contenders regardless of how good they are.

Not on a sporting level, but the sort of players they are chasing this summer mean they must surely pay more than we do? That would be a concern.

Does anyone know where I can find odds on top scorers in Holland this season? I think Solanke is going to be a great player.

Yep it could of course be posturing, but Neuer aside I don't think Schalke have sold any of their best players in the recent past and Juventus are having a hard time getting the Draxler deal done. It's hard to buy Schalke players that they wish to keep.