Wes Tender

So poignant that with his sad passing so soon after taking us over, he never got the see us returned to the Premiership. But he would have been proud of the way that the club has been run since his passing by his dear friend Nicola Cortese, with the help of his family. What a shame that he could not have been with us for the successive promotions, or at that first match of the Premiership season, playing the Champions. But he will always be remembered by all Saints fans with deep gratitude for what he did for us.

Bound to put in a dogged performance.

A good signing and a welcome one coming close on the heels of Buttner and at a time when some were beginning to fret at the apparent inactivity. As usual, we quietly beaver away in the background, keeping quiet about our targets until it is a done deal. This signing and others are speculated about in the press, but whereas some would seemingly prefer us to comment openly about every rumour, I'm happier that we go about our business in a more professional manner. As for the Rangers' fans comments about his ability, he must really have been poor to have been their captain, eh? Typical over-reaction from thick fans who immediately brand a player poor because they acted reasonably, preferring to play in the Premiership, rather than the lower Scottish leagues. One of them said this:- As unlikely as he sees it that we will get into the Champions league, I see it as being more unlikely that they will get back to the position of having sufficiently good players to win the CL, even when they eventually get back there, based largely on the fact that historically there have only been two teams in Scotland head and shoulders above the rest, but nevertheless only of a standard probably of our second division. So when they show their disdain that Davis has only moved to relegation favourites Southampton, they can reflect that during the coming season, he will be playing in a league comprising teams who play in the Champions League, instead of the lower divisions of Scottish football. But if we were to have signed their entire team, the one they had before administration, would they then think that we were relegation fodder, or would they believe instead that we were good enough to play in the CL? Probably the latter, demonstrating the level of delusion that they have over the prowess of their team.

Great news, a signing for us in the face of stiff opposition from other rivals.

They p*ssed on one of them as recently as a week ago, allowing a 19 year old to go to Havant & Waterlooville. There are another couple of 19 year olds still out on loan and who should be brought back in. Perhaps they might be merging with Havant & Waterlooville shortly, so can be reunited with that player again.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2169441/Portsmouth-problems--club-stand-brink.html Although it looked earlier as if they weren't publishing our contributions, there are now 20 comments up there, including one I sent and presumably also those from other Saints who thought that they had been ignored. So if anybody else wishes to point out the inaccuracies in the article, or to urge the FL to grow some balls, or to castigate Birch for failing to do his duty and liquidate them, then feel free.

Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery, Whitey. From what I understand from a long time friend who underwent the same, you are in very good hands at Southampton, who have some of the foremost specialists in the field as far as I'm aware. Once it's all done, I expect and hope that you'll have a new lease of life for many years to come.

Grow up, sonny. Keep an eye on the clock, it's getting close to school time.

As the past page of posts have nothing whatsoever to do with the thread title, perhaps the thread ought to be consigned to the "Childrens' Playground". If that is, we have such a place. If not, then this is a foretaste of what it would be like. Perhaps then all the puerile usual suspects can play happily together there, insulting each other, and leaving the rest of us who prefer to indulge in more mature discussions about our club in peace.

Read a headline on News Now that suggested that "Westwood could join coaching team". I was bitterly disappointed to read on and find that they weren't appointing TCWTB, but some other Westwood instead.

Although I'm not going to buy the new kit, that has more to do with me being quite happy with the sash shirt, which I particularly like because it had no sponsors name on it. Otherwise, I am faintly disturbed that we have jetisoned the stripes without any good reason like the one we had for the sash kit, but it is entirely up to individuals whether they buy it or boycott it. Upon the sales figures will the hierarchy decide whether it has been a successful exercise or not. In terms of column inches in the daily rags and debate elsewhere, it has been a success, probably for all the wrong reasons.

One wonders when this sort of thing will be stamped on by the mods. Or is Turkish one of the lads, therefore allowed to get away with it?

Well, we'll have to wait and see. But as I say, News Now is not exactly full of how QPR are front runners for his signature. He hardly warrants a mention, except in the context that he wants to go to us.

Best send in a suggestion to correct the information contained here, then:- http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/buettner/profil/spieler_38003.html

Not allowed to sign players and yet they release one of their former academy youngsters, a 19 year old, to sign for Havant & Waterlooville. According to this article, http://nonleague.pitchero.com/news/hawks-bag-pompey-youngster-14357/ he is a talented midfielder. But apparently not talented enough for the Skates. They make me sick.

Well, initially he had indicated that he couldn't afford it because he was unemployed. He didn't make it clear whether he had subsequently regained employment, so perhaps that is the reason. But as you say, he doesn't really make it clear as to why he became disenchanted, so the article is largely pointless.

Have they? There's not much about QPR's interest in him beyond saying that QPR and Fulham are being usurped by Southampton for his signature. There's news that QPR are to sign Fabio on loan from Man Utd and he can play at left back or right back and they're also after Senagalese CB Ba too. The fact that Buttner wants to come here gives us a degree of power over proceedings, as if Vitesse keeps him, it is not much good having a disgruntled player in your team.

Ditto. Next we'll be told that the atomic bombs that we dropped on the Japanese at Hiroshima and Nagasaki were unjustified too.

How long is the foreseeable future? And what happened to Newcastle? Couldn't they get there too? Oh, I see, they are not one of the usual teams. And Liverpool, one of the usual teams didn't fare too well last season, did they?

Fair points. But they will have formed deep relationships with the other academy players over several years and arguably these are formative years when these relationships are more important to them. I suspect that Bale, Walcott and Chamberlain will keep in touch with each other throughout their careers and beyond, much as University friends do. The additional factor against us, is whether they used to follow their home town clubs as kids and therefore harboured an ambition to play for them one day. One has to hope though that their parents/advisors recognise that they have thrived at our academy, have local friendships with their colleagues and that there is the probability that they would be an even more valuable commodity after a couple of seasons of first team football with us, than they would be as a reserve team/bench-warmer with the glory team.

We are happily in this position, so instead of being known to be a selling club, (which every club is, to a lesser or greater degree) we can at the very least forge a reputation for ourselves of producing a succession of youngsters with great potential, but whom we are only willing to sell on for silly money if it is our preference to keep them. If there is the demand for those players and if we don't need to sell, we have the whip-hand in any negotiations that are forced on us by the players' desire to have their heads turned by the opportunity to play for glory teams. I agree with you that it would be nearly impossible to pursuade them to stay beyond 22 or so, but there is increasingly a case that can be made out when they are 16/17/18, that their value might well be increased by them putting themselves in the Premiership shop window playing first team football for us, rather than bench-warming for the glory teams. At that age, they might themselves also prefer to remain more local with their families and friends too in familiar surroundings, rather than uprooting themselves, finding out that their chances of shining amongst the stars of the big name teams are much more remote for at least a couple of years of development.

The main difference between now and the Lowe era is that we do not need to sell if we don't want to. There is no boardroom pressure either to raise funds for the payment of dividends. OK, we can't keep a player who wants to move, but that also applies to even the very big name clubs too. But once contracted to us, we can at least get a decent price, or if we don't, tell the prospective buyer that we're not interested. If there is a situation like the one we are now in with Luke Shaw that three top glory clubs are after him, then the price is going to be massively inflated if he is to go to one of them. The other difference is that as a Premiership club, there is a strong case that could be made that rather than warm a bench with one of those clubs as such a youngster, he might do better to increase his value much further by playing first team football against those clubs for a year or two, also getting far more enjoyment for himself simultaneously.

Even Sean Connery has a bit of a lisp. But I take your point that Milliband and Balls-up are irritating bastards.

Va fa un culo = go and do an arse.

Agreed. Until he passes his 17th birthday and we tie him down to a contract, then our position is considerably weakened. Although he could leave now and leave the fee to be decided by a tribunal, one hopes that his parents and advisors would feel that there is some moral obligation to repay the investment that the club has put towards his development into a player who could command this sort of interest at such a tender age. At the very least, the repayment would be via him signing a contract with us, which would mean that if in future he wished to go to one of the glory clubs, we could gain a substantial fee, as we did with Walcott, Bale and Chamberlain. But if in future he decided to go for one of the glory teams, then that would have no bearing on whether we lacked ambition, as there are no clubs in football who are not forced to sell a player if he wishes to play elsewhere, as was proven by Ronaldo when he left Man Utd. At least if he is contracted to us and wishes to leave some time in the future, we could up his price if there are several interested parties after him, as there were for the others.