DuncanRG

The fact that he projects his bile is the problem, not whether he believes it. Jokes are every bit as damaging as honestly-held beliefs. Often they are more so, because people only have to laugh, not agree, to reinforce the message behind them.

We might still.

He wilfully (stubbornly) reinforces the oppression of women, people of colour, trans communities and more with his comments. He doesn't wear a hood but he goes as far as any other public figure in Britain, and he does it with a smile on his face. A poisonous little man.

I'll be interested to see how much they're paying the new board. Between them it might be that much or even more.

The most improved player under Pochettino after Jay Rodriguez. And he was pretty good before!

Sounds good to me. I didn't realise he was at the end of his contract - maybe he will go, then. I think he's a bit of a tit but he's definitely a good keeper. If he fits the mould personally then he'd be a great, if very difficult, signing.

Duh. It's a marketing strategy, not a precise equivocation. Green Bay are likeable and a second team for a lot of fans. Southampton have played that role many times over the years and I'm sure plenty of British fans would choose us if they had to pick a second team. Cowboys or Patriots fans might have a soft spot for the Packers, and Americans who support Liverpool or Arsenal might have one for Saints. That's as far as the comparison needs to go for our purposes. Whether that status brings in much money for Green Bay, or would bring in much for us, I don't know. Krueger will have a better idea than anyone here.

There's no better time to give him experience and help him improve, we haven't got anything to play for!

It's about negotiating *good* sponsorship deals. If our shirt sponsor next year is Auntie Pam's Tea Room then he's messed it up, if it's Siemens and we get £50m then that's great work and a huge boost for our commercial income. Obviously it will be somewhere in between but there's huge room to improve on the app3 deal, which is worth around £1m a year if I remember correctly. I can see the Green Bay comparisons myself, and I think if it's handled well we could make hay out of it over there. I'm not an expert on US sport, though, and neither are you. You'll never guess who is...

It drives me nuts when media use comments from ex-players and managers to generate headlines. Danny Mills thinks Leeds are in trouble - so what? The BBC in particular have a real habit, but I suppose you have to do something to meet the insatiable demand for football news.

One obvious area for improvement is the shirt sponsor, as our current deal was signed in the Championship. I'm no businessman but he may also look to monetise the area around St Mary's, negotiate a kit deal when (or before) this one runs out etc. Out of necessity most of this sort of business happens behind closed doors but one thing he has mentioned publicly is an opportunity to build our brand globally. He's talked about targeting the American market and - quite shrewdly in my view - identified a potential gap for us as the 'Green Bay' team for Premier League fans over there.

I'd imagine those sorts of contracts are heavy with incentives and performance-based bonuses. The problem is that our targets might be quite different in a few years' time and it's not easy to see that far into the future.

The quotes following the 2012/13 financials suggested that we inherited a difficult but manageable situation with no financial need to sell players. Since then, Les Reed has said that we're looking to bring in players. That's the most important bit for us as fans. The data is publicly available and the club have commented quite openly on the difficulties and how we're going to manage them. The main problem, to my untrained eye, was in commercial income, which grew by very little considering we got promoted to the Premier League. Improving in that area is Ralph Krueger's main job.

God, I'd stall to sign that if I were Pochettino. I suppose if he were to sign a contract like that it would include target clauses like Moyes' so we could sack him without parting with x years' worth of severance pay. That would help to prevent a Pardew situation. What a statement if we could lock him to it though!

27% of their transfer stories end up going through. There is a significant difference.

Emily Eavis has ruled out Oasis and says the third headliner is one of the biggest-selling bands in the world at the moment. Daft Punk? Coldplay? Not sure Metallica would fit that too obviously.

That's not the situation we're facing. Even in a worst-case scenario we'll keep most of our players, and most of our players are good.

Haha, I like this analogy. A lot of football fans are naturally pessimistic/insatiable, and this board has its share of trolls. On the whole I think we're alright though!

If I had to put money down I'd say they will.

Simple as that, really. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I fully expect 11 English players to start in our first World Cup game Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

All we've heard in the press from Juve's end is that they want him but at half the price. Ultimately that wouldn't mean they don't value him, just that they'd start low to try and keep the price down. We won't get the £15m we gave them as first refusal but £7m isn't a bad opening offer if they want him. We shouldn't be too surprised if they want him and not too surprised if they don't, I guess. But I'm confident someone will take a punt on him - when you've got ability people will ignore the complications. Hell, we took that chance and we're shrewd compared to a lot of clubs! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Or, you know, they have more than one target at left back. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've always thought this when Cork's been brought up as a possibility for England. His type is essential in the Premier League to protect the back four from quick counterattacks but isn't as important for internationals. It seems to me that Gerrard/box-to-box types can fulfil the defensive brief at international level and still get involved further forward. But as has been pointed out, we might be low on options soon. Cork could get a chance but it's just as likely players like Ward-Prowse will step up for their clubs and put themselves in the mix. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It represents tremendous progress, but our stock as a club has really grown because of the way we've got there. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk