Bobbyboy

I don't want to get into the Fonte/vision debate but in terms of 'bankrolling' in L1 or Champ, we did something that sides with money do tend to do. What we did in L1 was to say "who is the best striker in the division? whoever it is, buy him." It was Rickie. Sure we got lucky in that he's much better than probably anyone realized at the time and he's done well with our coaches, managers etc BUT the point is, it's a known way for clubs to 'buy' success... Blackburn did it when they won the Prem - both in the Perm itself (Alan Shearer) but also when they were getting promoted to the Prem: David Speedie (seriously) and Duncan Shearer. As soon as they got to the Prem they dumped them. We did the same with Billy Sharp at that level. (Of course we then didn't buy Suarez and Van Persie, so my argument and parallels totally fall apart here). Just saying it's a known, established way to get up the divisions when you have a little money and we're not the first team to do it, and to some extent you COULD call it bankrolling.

Compared to the prize money from the PL and TV revenue etc this isn't as much as we're getting for finishing 8th. What was that, like 80-odd million? Is it just me or is there about to be some serious, crazy, heavy inflation in the prices of Prem footballers? And can we hold on to Shaw and Lallana until the bubble truly is afloat?

He said: "This message is hidden because Barry Sanchez is on your ignore list. View Post. Remove user from ignore list" Doesn't seem to say anything else these days.

Harsh on Cork. Seems very defensive even without him.

Just remembered, it was for diluting CVA1 without asking all the creditors, so it was for something specific.

What was the one last season when they had points deducted despite being already relegated so it meant nothing? So many insolvency events I can't remember them all. Was that a general financial misconduct one?

He also got one against Hart in the April 2005 match which finished 1-1.

Is he still the 87th best player in the world?

This poll already has a 'North Korea' feel to the results. UN are going to want to send in observers unless we're careful about this.

soo... 5pm... anything happened?

I hear Wotton is back playing every week for them now.

After Jack's goal for the U21s the other day I thought he might be due a call-up.

Yes I would, and that's from where we are now in sunny Louisiana. There's no rational reason for it, just feels like home. Would take surroundings also (see some nice 6 million pound homes for sale in New Forest sometimes) but yes.

There was also that stat so much of the first part of the season about us having the best defence in Europe (statistically) for a few weeks. How did we do that? All down to Lovren and Wanyama?? This thread reminded me that the whole 'best defence' thing seems such a long time ago now.

United want Reed? How much of this is just "he's from Southampton, he must be good"? Reminds me of Nick Hornby's piece on Gus Caeser at Arsenal - England U21 purely on basis of club he played for. Not that Reed is Gus Caeser by any means, in fact he's looked pretty useful every time I've seen him. Just made me think of Fever Pitch.

Was really pleased to see Sam come on today, esp as he's only so recently back from injury. Definite bright spot in the day.

Was that last couple of mins the first time Cork and Wanyama have played together?

I understand about first choice etc but sheesh that's tough on Cork. He's be MOM or close to for the last few games. I guess this is final proof that MoPo stands by what he said, they can't both play in the same team.

Is that next season's kit?

Still struggling to believe how bad Fulham were in the reverse encounter. I think there was a spell where our full-backs took smoking breaks and let the midfielders cover their slots, and nobody really noticed. Fulham were shocking that day.

The encouraging thing is that even though (like a few posters on here) I still think we'll lose, and lose comfortably, the performance HAS been pretty good. So, here we go....

"A tackle that endangers the safety of an opponent must be sanctioned as serious foul play." Gaston's safety was endangered (by definition) if he suffers any kind of injury from this tackle. The word in the Laws is "must" be sanctioned. Therefore the referee is guilty of not applying the rules of the game, or, if he did not see it, the sanction must be applied retrospectively. Not saying that's what will happen, but the letter of the law is this. I don't see any way around it, contact with ball or otherwise. Conversely, if that is a legal tackle then the club should be writing to the FA and asking for someone to come and clarify the law that allows one play to incapacitate another without there being any foul or consequence. Such a move, if legal, would be good to know about as we could start using it in all our future games.

Does this mean we're keeping Fox, Jos and Gazzaniga? Does she know NOTHING about football??

Jos has scored a good few, for a variety of clubs as well.

That's a very good question. One possibility is that NC now has a 'proven track record at Saints' or some such, plus experience, plus knows the club etc etc. He could be regarded as a safe pair of hands. Obviously though that would depend hugely on the owner, but it is at least a possible answer to that question.