Wes Tender

Typo, I'm afraid. He meant this:- http://www.bringoutthebranston.co.uk/ I think that he was trying to convey the message that they would be in a pickle whether they chose Cala or not. It all stacks up, as you will see that they do baked beans too.

But it also mentions Horsea Island too. That was where the Skates wanted to have their stadium, so what else might be proposed for that site?

The Android in that article linked above in the Indpendent:- I don't believe a word of that. The man's renowned in his industry as being highly unethical in his dealings. This is probably just a ruse to blow his own trumpet and inflate his massive ego at the same time. I very much doubt that he would have the sort of contacts that would know the Liebherrs and Cortese.

Not if he invested in the likes of the Skates he wouldn't. But as you say, he is a comparatively minor league player and I wonder what percentage of his wealth he would be prepared to invest.

Well, I went to what used to be Stanley's in St Denys Road, only to find out that the new proprietor there is a Skate.

I posted this contribution on the other thread. Whether this is stereotyping the Japanese aspects or not, who cares? Perhaps a bit highbrow for the masses, but an Italian operatic piece that I'm sure Cortese would appreciate:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYwaf...eature=related The chorus would work well as a chant. Tadanari, Tadanari Lee, Tadanari, Tadanari Lee, He comes from the Land of the Rising Sun, Mount Fuji, cherry trees, And now the Purple Archer's playing here at St Mary's Tadanari, Tadanari Lee Tadanari, Tadanari Lee The Saints will win the Championship With Tadanari Lee Bonsai, Banzai, Sushi and Green Tea Geishas, Sumos, Bento and Sake Sayonare to Japan Say hello to St Mary's The Saints will win the Championship with Tadanari Lee

I wouldn't be that bothered if Scotland were to leave the Union as things stand currently. I was happy with the situation up to the time that they, the Welsh and NI, got devolved powers through their own assemblies/parliaments. Now with the farcical situation typified by the "West Lothian question", either we get our own Parliament consisting solely of English MPs, or they can all go to hell. When the West Lothian question was asked by Tam Dalyell, he wondered how long we English would tolerate 119 MPs from Scotland, Wales and NI exercising power to influence policy affecting England, when English MPs had no powers to influence the same matters in those countries. And that was in 1977! Let them all raise their own taxes to pay for their costly social policies, but as we have no say in the matter, let them kiss goodbye to their subsidies, the largest part of which are paid for by English taxpayers.

This article says that Pele has moved back to the South Coast. I can't see it posted elsewhere. http://evostikleague.pitchero.com/pele-leaves-pitmen-moves-south-7482/ The Wikipedia article says this So what is he doing down here? Does he have property or family down here? I presume that there is no connection with us. Who are these clubs interested in him?

Andronikou in that Telegraph article: The unsecured creditors have received nothing so far anyway and most have probably written their debts off already, as it's such a paltry amount spread over such a long time. But what a load of guff about the City of Portsmouth being built around the football club. We're taling about a history of the city going back centuries, built around the port and its prominence as a Naval Port, not some poxy little football club thats been there little over a century. As for the bit about it being essential for the wellbeing of the City, what a load of tosh. It's a drain on the City's resources, a blight on their image and a cause of mental strife on its citizens who support it. However, it is also a considerable factor in the increased wealth of a highly unethical administrator, so that is a good enough reason for Andronikou to spout this tosh.

You see what people are getting at? I asked this:- And you responded with that. So how many Asian players, Japanese J League in particular (and played for the National team) have come over here to play in the English second division? He might need to take time to adjust to our game, or he could be a revelation, scoring for fun. I would suggest that nobody has any really clear idea of how it might work out based on historic precedent, because as far as I'm aware, there has been none along the lines that I have outlined. So the line about "Asian" players is a red herring. You might as well lump players from Portugal, Germany, Denmark and Greece and numerous other countries together and make a sweeping generalisation about how European players would fare playing in Japan.

But he has a point which you dodge, answering by saying that he is on ignore. Have we placed a bid, or just expressed interest? I'm pleased to see your admission that you really have nothing concrete to go on regarding whether Cortese is or isn't a good negotiator and that it is purely based on speculation fostered solely on the outcome of whether we failed to buy players that we might not even have made offers for. As the club have a policy of not releasing information about specific players until a deal has been done, I would suggest that the likelihood was that most of these targets were put into the arena by their agents, or through press speculation that might even have originated from rumours on here. I would further speculate myself that if we were indeed after a player and negotiations failed, that it was because Cortese thought that the deal did not represent value, that the player himself had good reason for not accepting, that there were other better targets available, any number of reasons. Yes, Cortese might be guilty of being a poor negotiator, as you say. But there is not a single shred of evidence to support that position and indeed when it comes to selling a player he has been a very canny operator. Why he should be good at seling but a lousy buyer, that would be strange. Regarding your point about Asian players finding it difficult to adapt to this division, have there been that many? And how many were Japanese? And how many of them played at the level that Lee has? You may be right that he will take some time to settle, but I don't see much evidence to base that opinion on.

I'm also of the opinion that our loss of form has been mainly down to Chaplow's absence. I'd go as far as to speculate that had he been fully fit, we would conceivably have carried on with our winning streak, at least at home.

Quote Wes Tender: FFS, Hypochondriac, why do you insist on twisting my words to suit your agenda? Where in this sentence do I accuse you of writing off Lee? I noted only that you had "reservations" about him. Now kindly go back to my post and see whether you can give me an answer to my question regarding how you know that we have been inflexible in our negotiations about players, or that our targets have been unrealistic. Because otherwise, this position of "suspecting" that we have not, is purely speculation.

Do you have just one shred of evidence that we are incapable of flexibility in our negotiations with other clubs? Any evidence too that our expectations are unrealistic? If we refuse to pay what other clubs want, then that is a normal commercial situation where the seller wants more than a buyer is prepared to pay. If we negotiate and can't reach a compromise figure, then we will withdraw. Undoubtedly we will reason that we could get better value elsewhere. And why do players cost more in January? Surely if they can be bought in January, it is because they might be surplus to requirements in their current team, or that they cannot be afforded by that team if they are in financial difficulties. The nature of this industry is that agents tend to suggest interest by as many clubs as possible, because they wish to give the impression that their commodity, the player, is in great demand. Likewise, this makes good copy for the newspapers on slow news days. We could deny those stories, but why should we? It is in our interests to have other clubs in our division believe that we are after a player that they might be interested in. Firstly because the price will be higher if it is believed that several clubs are after him and secondly it does our profile no harm either, even if we have no inclination to pursue the player rumoured to interest us. The only problem with it, is that certain posters on here will use it as an excuse to have a bash at our board for failing to sign players. Yes, we acknowledge that you have your reservations about him even before he has kicked a ball in a league match yet. We also note that you also had the same reservations about Hooiveld, based on what Celtic's fans said.

He was awarded manager of the month in that April. The other managers at the time must have been really poor not to have beaten him, eh? He kept us up in the Premiership with a team that was very average. Souness didn't fare that much better the following season. We were very limited in our team set-up because we had a very limited team.

And without these signings in the Summer, we got off to a record breaking start to the season and roared to the top of the table and maintained that position through to the halfway stage of the season. In most positions we have had that strength in depth, apart from perhaps one or two places and we have made it through to the January transfer window and can fine tune the squad to give us enough impetus to push on to automatic promotion in the second half of the season. So we're short up front and have signed an International J League striker. Personally, I would have called that a big signing on the face of it. As the club's policy has generally been to keep quiet about signings until the player is unveiled as a done deal, I take this statement as a clear and unequivocal sign that there is something in the pipeline at the moment. IMO, the mention of a big signing will not have been suggested without there being some substance to the possibility. I don't feel that we are talking about these players from this division or the division below whose names have been bandied about; I wouldn't be surprised if we got in a surplus Premiership player, or somebody from a decent European top division team, the sort of signing that signalled serious intent.

I've no problems with Merrington as a commentator. He calls it as he sees it and as he has had years of experience as a player, a coach and has even managed Saints, he knows a damned sight more than most of those critical of him. There are enough diverse opinions after a match about whether a player had a good game or not and sometimes somebody can say a perfomance was man of the match and another will say that player had a mare. Such is the nature of the game. Do these castigators of Dave say that he always gets it wrong, or are they afraid to admit that mostly he at least might have valid points? Or is it just because they don't like his delivery or accent? I hate John Motson's delivery, the way that every sentence his intonation rises to make it sound like a question, but I don't question his expertise.

Perhaps a bit highbrow for the masses, but an Italian operatic piece that I'm sure Cortese would appreciate:- The chorus would work well as a chant. Tadanari, Tadanari Lee, Tadanari, Tadanari Lee, He comes from the Land of the Rising Sun, Mount Fuji, cherry trees, And now the Purple Archer's playing here at St Mary's Tadanari, Tadanari Lee Tadanari, Tadanari Lee The Saints will win the Championship With Tadanari Lee Bonsai, Banzai, Sushi and Green Tea Geishas, Sumos, Bento and Sake Sayonare to Japan Say hello to St Mary's The Saints will win the Championship with Tadanari Lee

Of course we're sh*tting ourselves about their new owners. It's going to be the real mafia, the Italian one. Any bad words published on here by us and revenge is a dish best served cold. I wouldn't want to end up in the Itchen wearing concrete boots, so as soon as they sign the deal, I'm changing my user name just in case.

As you say, total and utter retards. For instance, if we were so tight for money, why would we give away 4000 free tickets a match to bolster attendances? They even manage to contradict one another, so thick are they. And bloody ineffective our style of play must be, for us to be top halfway through the season.

Likewise I can't wait to see what sort of idiot will take you over. Your last half dozen owners have given us lots of laughs and there is no reason to expect that the latest lot will disappoint on that score. As I observed before, you lot seem to attract that sort of owner like sh*t attracts flies. And of course we're interested in you; you're our main local rivals. And who is hand-wringing? Not me. I'm enjoying the comedy value that you lot dish up, what with fake sheiks, non-existent sheiks, Russian mafia money-launderers, gun-runners, etc. Do I detect that you are getting a bit tetchy, Forest?

Well, if you believe that CSI bought the Skates solely because they wanted a football club in their portfolio and settled for you when they failed to take over another couple of clubs including little Bournemouth who had the sense to reject them, then good for you. Most intelligent people can't see that there is anything attractive in the proposition, given the level of debt that you are saddled with, the decrepit old stadium owned by somebody else, the land around it owned by somebody else, the lack of your own training facilities, the insubstantial attendances insufficient to cover your running costs, etc. But despite all this, Antonov just wanted to buy you so that he had a football club in his portfolio and although he has been arrested for serious criminal activities, his intentions regarding the Skates were entirely honourable. Yeah, right. You seem to think that your poxy club is now currently a decent proposition for some other purchaser, but you only have to consider the above facts as reasons why you are not. For a start, which buyer with any intelligence would take you on with the uncertainty existing with the situation regarding the necessary purchase of the ground and the land surrounding it? And then you suggest that once higher paid players like Ben Haim, Kitson and presumably also Lawrence, Mokoena, Mullins, Norris, Rocha, and Benjani have gone, then you will be capable of making ends meet with your low attendances. But then all hopes of any chance of promotion back to Premiership will also have disappeared too, making you an even less attractive proposition to any potential purchaser, who would be able to pick up some other Championship club with a better ground, decent infrastructure, less debt and more potential return on their investment than the Skates. Any potential buyer must also be concerned about the possibility of a points deduction too, which might well make relegation a distinct possibility. A buyer would almost be better off under those circumstances buying a club in the third division with decent potential and infrastructure. After all, even in the third division, we were a better investment than you in the Premiership, as the passage of a couple of seasons has proved. So pardon me if I disagree with your deluded opinion that you are a decent prospect for a buyer in your current state. Your past record of recent owners shows exactly the sort of buyer you attract. Why it should be any different now, God alone knows.

But Forest Gump says that the Russian mafia would be stupid to attempt to launder money through the Skates, because since their administration and the farcical last few owners, they are under a microscope. I have asked him more than once to furnish us with a valid and plausible alternative reason why anybody sane would wish to buy them and eagerly await his reply.

There was one I believe, many moons ago on this very site. From memory, that linked the Gaydamaks with Chinny, with the Jewish criminal accountant, the shonky solicitor, etc. I think that there were at least a dozen names with links to each other. Can anybody be bothered to trawl back several hundred pages to find it?

Ah! I was awaiting your return, Forest Gump, so that I could press you for an answer to a question I asked you before you disappeared over the Christmas period. You may recall that I asked you for your opinion as to why people like Antonov of the Russian mafia would be interested in buying your poxy club if it were not for money-laundering purposes. You enlightened us with your opinion that money-laundering was not the purpose for their ownership, but when pressed to give any sensible alternative motives for the purchase, you have been peculiarly reticent. Are we to presume that you don't know the answer? If so, be honest enough to admit it. If not, give us some pertinent reasons. And what would be the reasons for anybody to be interested in purchasing your cesspit now, when the situation is even more dire? I see that some Italians are sniffing around. Would this be the real mafia, Forest, the genuine article? Or is it possibly our own dear Cortese, who will then ensure that you sink without trace so that the plastic fans amongst you will swell our crowds even more, to justify enlarging our stadium?