Lallana's Left Peg

Potentially awkward situation for the club to manage - if reports are to be believed then in Matt Targett we have a player who is admired by bigger and better clubs than us and he hasn't committed his long term future to the club yet. The signing of Bertrand would put him firmly second in line to a starting berth at left-back, and he may be left with a decision - stay at Saints and be backup or join a bigger / better club that play more games where he may start, and earn far more.

17 seems reasonable considering all teams will be based at that campus. First team, Academy (U21 and U18's), U16's down to U8's, and Ladies Team etc. Considering Saints training ground will have at least one pitch of every grass 'type' that exists in the Premier League I don't think we can comment

Not great - it's very easy to get to the ground but parking can be a pain. I always park on Sir Stanley Matthews Way - there are several manufacturing / industrial organisations based on that road who charge the public to use their car park and also some wasteland which can be parked on. It can get busy and be a pain getting out but it's the best place I've found to park over the years. I always enter that road via the A5035 as well as it gets very busy around the ground.

Fonte, Barnard, and Puncheon in January 2010 I would say. I don't think we'll look to add to the squad this January unless anyone leaves (Cork, Yoshida etc.).

Better than signing a player who thinks his ability isn't up to much and has lucked out by joining Saints. As long as Tadic's attitude and application are spot on then he will get his big move eventually and Saints will make a handsome profit.

What makes you think that? I'm fairly sure we structure our deals exactly the same as other clubs do. In fact, didn't we head into this summer with £27m of transfer fees due for players already at the club?

Whatever gives us the best chance of qualifying for Europe. I suspect it's the Cup?

I was wrong about a few things this summer but the biggest is my view on Bertrand's ability. He's come in and played brilliantly.

What a crock of ****. It clearly took a deflection given the spin on the ball but how can anyone say the shot wasn't going in prior to the deflection as the deflection occurred a split second after the shot was struck. Peculiar.

Some of those revenue figures are surprising. I've no basis to challenge the Guardian's figures, but I am just surprised at many of them. That we and Norwich have the same matchday revenue as Everton and 40% (or so) more than Aston Villa. I suspect there are some differences in how clubs account for revenue.

He doesn't particularly have much pace which was always the worry when we signed him however its interesting to see the way and speed he has adapted when compared to a player like Ramirez.

I suspect the majority of them will win the war.

Think that ship has sailed with the signing of Long. Plus I suspect if he is available on a free in the summer then he moves to a bigger club in January for a knockdown fee or just waits until the summer to get a bigger wage etc. Could see him at Spurs or Liverpool.

I can't blame him for trying to come up with the excuses to absolve himself of any blame, but I just don't understand the hold he has over the press who continue to hold him up as some sort of good Manager.

Probably why he signed an extension

I think Forster is a bit better than Boruc now, and has the potential to be much better. Boruc is also old and we did need to bring in a new keeper. We spent a lot of money on Forster and a club like us won't spend £10m on a reserve keeper (that said we have spent £10m+ on reserve midfielders and forwards to be fair...). It was never realistic for us to hang onto Boruc once Forster was brought in. Boruc is too much of a senior player and has too much to offer to play a few games a season. We've made an investment in our GK for the foreseeable future and no-one can blame Boruc for wanting to leave and play football. Overall the conundrum is that we've spent £10m on a new keeper but with Boruc going we've not addressed depth in the position which is something that concerned us last season. However, I appreciate it's easier said that done because can anyone outside the Top 6 or so claim they have a decent backup keeper? Probably not. It's just something we need to try and manage.

I can't remember exactly - I think the family said it was based on affordability but the narrative was clearly that it was cheaper, including travel, to watch top flight football in another country than here. Obviously it meant sweet FA really but I suppose it was a story

A few years ago Sky (or maybe the BBC) did a piece on a family in the South-East who found it cheaper to get a season ticket at Lens and travel there every other week than get one at West Ham (or something like that).

Hmm not sure I agree with that. That a club makes a loss doesn't mean ticket prices should go up. Football is an expensive business to follow and its silly that the most popular league in the world does not have sold out stadiums for every single game. It clearly shows something is wrong. In a league where ticket revenue is dwarfed by TV revenue you would think clubs would come up with creative and fair ways to make watching the game accessible to all. I guess FFP has impacted that a little as well.

Would you prefer me to believe we can sustain this form and league position over the course of the season? Analyse our upcoming fixtures to understand what we'll need to do to remain in the Top 4? Last season I dared to dream because of the performance and potential of the team, and then the summer happened. So I'll not bother this time around and just be content that given the personnel turnover of the summer anything around mid-table is very good in the circumstances but nonetheless not something I am going to be particularly excited about.

They're all big periods really, I can't really put more importance on one than any other because we're not going down and we're not going to achieve anything better than we did last season. That doesn't stop us trying to be the best we can but it's hard to get too excited when it doesn't feel like a massive amount will be achieved.

Anyone know who the 'floppy haired' kid was that Les Reed referred to as likely making his first team debut this season?

If a club like us is selling a couple of good players each summer then that isn't the worse thing in the world - it means we'll always have a lot of cash to play with and that we are either recruiting well and / or continuing to produce good players via the Academy. It's very hard to continue to replace players I don't ever expect us to be better than we were last season / are thus far this season but if the club is cash rich and comfortable then I suppose under the circumstances it is the best we can hope for.

Don't like the idea of any team playing games away from the area they represent. But I suppose it is inevitable as the Premier League will always find new ways to ensure it is the richest league in the world.

Just to play Devils Advoate there is another school of thought that suggests with less than two years left on his deal if he won't sign a new one he'll be sold next summer. Clubs will take a chance on him as his fee will be lowered or they can just wait for 18+ months to sign him on a free which mitigates the risk of any transfer fee for them. Jay Rod has the power here and doesn't have much reason to sign a new deal if clubs like Spurs and Liverpool are eyeing him up. Same for Clyne too in my opinion.