Wes Tender

So Toby is Dutch, is he? One is inclined to ignore articles like these if the originator cannot even get simple facts right. Also, as the single reply posted points out, we are not moderately financed, but maybe careful on attempting to be prudent with our spending.

It wasn't. But it raises the rose-tinted fantasy that had we had Suarez and Sturridge playing for us, we could have been second too, especially as our defence was better than theirs. Indeed, we could have been in the top 4 with Kane's goals, or Bale's before him. They will hope that Firmino is the next Suarez, but perhaps he will be the next Ballotelli instead. Sturridge might have his usual season of injuries and Stirling could still be off. But after analysing the players and what they might bring, ultimately I just don't think that Rodgers is much cop (kop)

Is the rumour that we are after Ogbonna really indicative that we anticipate that Toby will leave? I would have thought that CB is an area where we need additional strength in depth because of the European campaign and a long PL season. We suffered last season when Toby was injured and weren't quite as solid with Yoshida or Gardos deputising.

I think that you're right. It isn't that long ago when we first started our upward trajectory under Cortese and he talked about the club's ambitions to play in Europe, that certain posters derided anybody who dared to dream that it would come to pass. Why, we would never be capable of finishing a season above the top 6, or even Everton. Anybody who thought we could was labelled as deluded. Now it isn't beyond the realms of possibility that we could finish above Spurs and Liverpool and even squeeze into the top four if we have an exceptional season and one of the big four falter. At certain stages of the last season, Man U and Arsenal got off to slow starts and City began to slide a little towards the end of the season. Liverpool aren't the force they once were and I don't see Rodgers staying there much longer if his recent signings don't deliver him a top four finish, the same for Poch.

Yes, definitely.

Amended it to show balance. I realise that this is not the same Wimbledon, but then again, that was not the same Pompey either.

Corrected

We missed an opportunity to have either the Queen Mary or the Queen Elizabeth there. When I went to the Los Angeles Olympics I took the trouble to visit the Queen Mary at Long Beach, alongside the Spruce Goose. What they did to the Queen Mary is a travesty, with fast food outlets on the promenade decks and the Olde Worlde London Town mock-up adjacent to it was typically crass Yank Disney a la **** Van Dyke in Mary Poppins, but for visitors to LA, the three things were an attraction that was successful.

Extract from that website:- We're 9 places above Portsmouth. Surely not? When this development is finished, it will have one major advantage over Gunwharf; it will be directly connected to the High Street.

To southern Norway, Oslo, even Stavangar, yes. But Liverpool is closer to the habitat of the Norwegian Blue in the Trondheim area.

But handy for the twitchers going to Norway in search of the elusive Norwegian Blue Parrot.

That would be Barry Sanchez, eulogising over their early days signings of Hooper and van Wolfswinkel and decrying our lack of activity which would result in us getting the dross that was left.

I don't wish for one second to defend the actions of the Gendarmes, who are a dispicable excuse for a force of law and order, but if I'm correct, they have a system whereby they can determine the average speed between toll booths on the motorway. Whether they can get that information to the police at the likely end point of a journey like Calais, I don't know. Personally I think that we ought to get our own back on the EU countries who have motorway tolls when we don't (apart from one or two) by adopting the Swiss system and charging everybody around £12 when they enter the country and intend to use the motorways. If somebody doesn't have the sticker showing they have paid and is caught on a motorway, they face a stiff penalty. The ability for the police to exact roadside fines is an incentive towards corruption, so no wonder that the gendarmerie are so keen on the idea.

Here is chapter and verse of the situation regarding the Skates' port:- http://www.portsmouth-port.co.uk/about_us/statistics In the same way that their poxy 4th division football club is the biggest fan-owned club ever, their port is Britain's most successful municipal port I understand that the Council also bought Mainland Market Deliveries (MMD) when that went belly-up a few years ago. Gunwharf Quays was built on the site of HMS Vernon when that closed, so the Navy's decline frees up waterfront real estate for them. Ours is all taken up with our Liner berths and container port and what little is left is used to hold the biggest annual on the water Boat Show. Any Liners docking at Portsmouth are the crumbs off our table when our port gets too busy.

No more so than Bournemouth and Watford, or Hull, Burnley and QPR before them.

Last summer there was hysteria whipped up by the media and many on here feared the worst and were accepting of the predictions that we would be relegation fodder. As it turned out, the board played a blinder and made some great signings, not least of them the manager and we proved all the doubters wrong. Whether the loss of Schneiderlin, Clyne and possibly Toby will be greater than that of Lambert, Lallana and Lovren (and Chambers) remains to be seen. But because we replaced them with players as good or better in most cases, that fills me with confidence that we can replicate the feat this summer. Schneiderlin is the most difficult to replace IMO, but when the likes of Arsenal, Spurs, Man United who have been after him baulk at the price, then there is a succession of alternative names that are listed who are deemed to be comparable at a lower price. No doubt those players and others we probably have not yet heard about will be produced by the black room, as have other players during the past few years. And then when they prove to be great signings, we will hopefully be musing about what all the fuss was about and laughing all the way to the bank. Reasons to be cheerful? Koeman has a season of PL football under his belt and a good understanding of what the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition are. As one of the past top defenders in World football and a manager experienced in European football, he will be able to organise another strong defence, even if Toby and Clyne are both gone. Fonte and Bernard are a good foundation to add to and Wanyama is still a rock ahead of them. I reckon he will reignite Stekelenburg's career. If Rodriguez returns close to his previous best, we will have a very potent attack. The time to judge how we will shape up is as last season, at the end of the transfer window.

The last time they played Croatia?

Some mad Vicar that writes a column for the Guardian. I think that he ought to act the good Samaritan, set an example and take a few of them into his own house.

I can have some sympathy with this opinion at my age. Here is the table when I was about 10. Liverpool are third in the second division and we go up as champions of the third division. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1959%E2%80%9360_in_English_football Most on here will never have known Liverpool as anything but a top team apart from us wrinklies. It is interesting to read those tables and see how the hierarchy has changed since then. Like you, I can't see them getting into the top four under Rodgers, unless that new striker they bought is as good as Suarez. But then again, perhaps we might find that one or more of Roriguez, Mane or Pelle hit their stride too.

So if we do keep him, is that a reminder that we could yet be a top 4-6 club? Because if Spurs are perceived to be a step up from us, this will be one in the eye for them that a player preferred to remain here instead of going to them. I would like to keep him because he is a very good player, but if he chooses to go, experience of the past season's coming and goings illustrates that it is quite possible to replace him with somebody of equal or better ability. He might wish for the bright lights of London, he might wish to play with others who are his countrymen. But on the other side of the coin, he knows how good our defence has been with him and has forged a good partnership with Fonte. He might not have Clyne beside him, or Schneiderlin in front of him, but then again, I am sure that he must be confident in Koeman's ability to get the best out of a defence put together with players brought in by the club. His predecessor Lovren is testament to how good a player might be here and how poorly they might fare elsewhere with a so-called glory team. Spurs' ability to recruit good players with hefty funds available did not produce anything like the results that we achieved spending considerably less. His coming to us on loan has given his career a massive boost and brought him to the attention of some top teams. Spurs are not enough of a step up and he would do better to stay here another season and then make the move higher up the hierarchy the following year.

It seems obvious to me that the vast majority of these migrants attempting to enter into the UK could easily be dealt with if the Government had the will to do so. The key to the situation is to determine whether they are just economic migrants (who we do not have to accept) or refugees, where a moral dimension is added. But even as genuine refugees, technically we do not have to accept most of them, as International Law states that in practice they should claim asylum in the first safe country that they enter. Most EU states are deemed to be safe, so if they turn up in the UK and claim asylum, we have the right to send them back to France typically, or wherever they came from in the EU. That country would also have the right to send them back to wherever they came from beforehand and so on. This article explains it quite well. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2010/sep/21/claim-asylum-uk-legal-position Were we to enforce rigorously the return of these migrants to France, even if they subsequently claimed asylum in the UK, the French would then be compelled to do likewise or to take effective action to prevent them landing on French soil in the first place. But as it is, they are content to wring their hands and suggest that it is our responsibility and what can they do about it? Personally I do not accept that many of those arriving in France are genuine refugees and it is easy for them to be schooled in what to say to establish credentials as refugees and it is difficult to check out their stories anyway. The only solution to the problem is to leave the EU and set up our own immigration policy based solely on what benefits us in terms of what they can bring to us by way of employent skills or investment, using a points based system similar to that the Aussies have. Other than that, we could be prepared to accept a proportion of proper refugees as part of a moral commitment towards those in genuine need of help. It is bad enough having to allow freedom of movement from the former Iron Curtain countries, without having to put up with this tidal wave of economic migrants from Africa and the Middle East. Our infrastructure cannot handle it, so urgent measures must be taken soon.

If you edit within a few minutes, I find that it doesn't mention the fact that an edit has been made. How long was the timespan here?

You make it sound as if it was Southampton Council's incompetence that lost us the opportunity of having the Americas Cup challenge and the Ben Ainslie Sailing centre based here. This article paints a different picture. http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/11306716.How_did_Southampton_miss_out_on_Ben_Ainslie_s_Americas_Cup_dream_/ As it rightly says, the Government have given unfair advantages to Skatesmouth and ignored the similar scenario that we have endured with the closure of Vosper Thornycroft and Fords.

Are they? They might have had decent success with Gunwharf Quay and the Spinnaker Tower, but that highlights the problem that their City port has, compared to ours. They are a port in decline, because the Royal Navy is in decline. Even their ferry business is in decline and will continue to be so with the high prices they charge. If they are such a thriving City, why would the Governement have to appoint a Minister with special responsibilities to improve their economy because of the decline of their docks and shipbuilding industry? We didn't have any such measures granted to us when our shipbuilders transferred their operations to Portsmouth, or indeed when Ford closed their Transit van operation and transferred it to Turkey on the back of cheap finance from the EU. Southampton on the other hand is successful as a passenger liner port and also as a container port. It is a pity that the Council didn't grasp the opportunity to encourage the development of Ocean Village, but other than that, Portsmouth is still a dump and Southampton is still the more affluent City.

Something for him to get his teeth into