Lighthouse

Palace away on Boxing Day, Arsenal on NYD, Everton at some point over the X-mas period and we play the top four 5 times over December and new year.

There is no way we are going to match the combined wage demands of Toby, Song, Remy and Cabaye.

If we do that everyone will want £80k a week. Plus Remy is decent but not incredible. Certainly not worth blowing our wage structure out of the water over. His best scoring season was at Newcastle and that was only really on par with what Pelle did last year.

I didn't realise a prank like this could be so cheap TBH. Supposing 30,000 Saints fans were to put up £100 each. A lot you say but for a 5 year deal that's only £20 each annually. Wish we'd known this sooner, we could have had all sorts on it.

Spurs have spent that before on Soldado and Lamela, I can't say I'm all that worried. If someone comes in with a big offer for Kane or Lloris they will be a worse team next season IMO. Besides, that's only about £19m. More than we're likely to fork out but not a lot more than we spent on Osvaldo.

Odds only reflect betting patterns.

I've heard they are a lot cheekier in Manchester than Southampton. Could have been part of his decision.

Milner will be a decent enough replacement for Gerrard but I'm not so sure the Scousers will be happy with that. He'd struggle to get into a top 4 starting 11 and that's where most of their fans will want to be. On a side note, I'm astonished that he is only 29. Could have sworn he was playing for Leeds in the Prem about 15 years ago, thought he was about 33 by now.

I would suggest you need to improve your literacy or mathematics.

Why are so many clinging to the notion that somehow preseason training will make him better? All it does is build fitness and teamwork ahead of the new season, it wont make anyone suddenly a better player. It's not as if fitness is an issue here. If he was overweight, out of shape or coming back from a bad injury then a pre-season would probably sort him out but it wont make him a better player.

I've been pretty underwhelmed with him overall so can't say I'm surprised or disappointed. He's not a 'handy squad player' that just seems to be a byword for not being good enough. A decent squad player should be able to offer something useful, Elia doesn't.

A holding midfielder who scores goals? Even the likes of Makelele and Vieira rarely troubled the score sheet, I doubt you will see one at Saints any time soon.

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/local/sponsored-spinnaker-tower-will-be-red-and-white-1-6783153 Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaasseeee!!

She should redecorate, far too much beige in that room.

Don't forget half our visitors were killed by the Yoof, so they couldn't vote in the poll.

There was a thread on an airline crew forum a few years ago where cabin crew were discussing their best and worst celebrities. A lot of the time the managers and agents are worse than the celebrity, thinking they are somehow running the world. The worst celebs by a mile is apparently Cilla Black. An absolute nightmare to talk to, you can't even offer her a cup of tea without some form of rude response. The typical divas are, as you'd expect, pretty bad. The likes of J Lo and Beyonce.

Probably the worst player I've seen at St Mary's since we came back into the Premier League, couldn't have given less of a f**k when we beat them 2 years ago.

It's all about the boat show and West Quay.

I think we need someone new on the right of the 'attacking midfield' if we're going to play that way. Mane plays best centrally, J Rod and Tadic both looked better on the left. Long might be able to play on the right when we're at home to the team bottom of the League but for the other 37 games we need someone else.

I think Russia would put their own self preservation ahead of Blatter. No doubt it would harm their chances of actually hosting 2018 if they were harbouring a man accused of corruption in the bidding process. Especially if he was convicted of wrong doings in his absence.

£15m would be a lot for a player who hasn't really proven anything yet and could quite easily be the next Luke Chadwick or Chris Eagles. I'd expect a loan if he did come here as I doubt we would pay what Utd might accept.

I wouldn't, we need some fresh ideas up front. There is nobody we can rely upon to score goals in the squad and nobody creating clear cut chances. Not to mention the goalkeeper. You'd honestly go a full season with Kelvin and Gazza?

I don't rate him. He doesn't score enough, he doesn't create enough and what the heck does 'honest' mean? He doesn't sell crack to the fans behind the dugout when he's waiting to come on? I think most people just mean he tries his best, which I'd say about almost all of our players. People question Pelle's commitment at times but he does take a lot of punishment from defenders and doesn't have the pace and agility to be all over a defence. How many times last season were we left ruing missed chances or even a failure to carve out an opening? Long is one of the guilty parties in that respect. I don't think Long was the answer to Hull's problems either. Hull finished 16th and 4 points above the drop zone last year, they weren't a noticeably better team with Long in it.

If our wages bill is maxed out finishing top 7, filling a 32,000 seater stadium with the 5th lowest wage bill in the League then I look forward to winning the League next year, as every other club will be in administration. There is room on the wage bill if we don't keep filling it up with 'squad' players like Djuricic or Ellia. I'd give Gaston and Osvaldo away for free at this point to get them off the books. I personally was baffled when we gave Kelvin a new 3 year deal, which was widely received as "well done Kelvin, that's his reward for being a great servant". No, the reward for being a good servant was being paid my annual every 3 weeks for the whole time he was here. Giving unproven players like Gazza and Mayuka such long contracts was daft too. 5 years for someone who cost £3m and has never played at this level? Players like that should get a 3 year deal and an extension if they impress after their first season. It's hardly like we were fighting big clubs for their signatures, we should be dictating these terms. Mayuka is Cortese's very own Tommy Forecast, he must have the best agent in football. We can't even give him away because of his wages.

Rudi Skacel - July 8th