Toon Saint

I hope Moses can lead us through the exodus. Sorry

Ah yes, studied History at Uni of Liverpool and did a second-year module in this. 'The Liverpool gentleman and the Manchester man' was the old saying, was it not? Seem to remember that the Cheshire salt and coal trade and the opening of the Sankey Canal also played a big part in Liverpool's rapid rise, as it was only a small time port before then (Liver pool literally means pool with muddy water). Led to believe that the infrastructure already in place (established through the salt/coal trades) was very important for you becoming the major player in the atlantic slave trade. At least that's what I wrote down all those years ago anyway.

Well JWP can actually run properly for a start, not waddle around the pitch like a duck. Gillett had such a peculiar gait.

Just remember being amazed by his maturity when I saw him for that first home game back in the Prem vs Man Utd (2-3). He's not quite imposed himself on games as I thought he might do, but he is still so young and it looks like Ron is actually giving him a fair crack in his natural position (not shunted out on the right), and maybe even encouraging him to smash a few howitzers from long-range. Hopefully Ron can have a similar impact on his career as he did with Clasie. How many years has JWP got left on his contract? Three? Should look at giving him a new 5-6 year deal IMO and start to build the team around him. He really is a fabulous talent, has everything technically, just needs that bit of arrogance to start dictating play more...but I'm sure that will come with time and big-game experience.

He's weird looking too.

I hope Schelotto and Tadier aren't 2 of the 3 signings Ron mentioned. Tadier looks decent, but Schelotto....seems like the type of signing Paulo Di Canio would have made at Sunderland last year. 2 loans is fine but don't want to pad the squad out with dross.

How quick is Isgrove? Absolutely electric pace even in the last minutes of the match. He must be at Theo acceleration levels there. Looks to have come on a lot under Koeman as well. I know highlights can be deceptive but he seems to be playing the right final ball everytime and some great link-up play with Tadic and Pelle. Could he be the one that surprises us this year? Anyone at the game with a more detailed perspective?

Just an excessively negative article really, despite what has been a very traumatic and difficult summer. Feels like Smith is trying to land blows in places we haven't been kicked before, like with the academy, certain players being linked with moves away (Jos ffs!), and some renewed attempt at provoking uncertainty over KL's intentions without ever providing a reason why. Lots of contradictions and groping around in the dark for theories (Shaw and Lallana told the club they had no intention of playing for us again/board didn't subsequently do enough to keep them; KL has ended her association with PR company indicating confidence in how club is being run/ no one knows her intentions + old reference about her wanting to sell up) but no real answers, or objective ones anyway. Some of it rings true and not many can say that they can have confidence in the new boards communication skills but I'm getting a little weary of reading Smith's brand of Cortese - worshipping rumour - mongering bile. It just seems so transparent you can imagine Nicola standing there, with an arm draped on Ben's shoulder, as he merrily slaps away on his keyboard.

https://audioboo.fm/boos/2364807-ronald-koeman-talks-to-bigadamsport-about-schneiderlin-osvaldo-loan-deal-signings-brighton-win

Think that 15 year old academy prospect might have a few choice words for his parents in a couple of years time. I'm sure we'll get on fine without you son

Do we need Fer? Got plenty of options at CM as it is.

A new 5 year deal for JWP is in order I think. When he starts to impose himself on games more (like tonight) what a player he is going to be! Hope he gets games next year in his natural position and not shunted out on the right as Poch seemed to do.

Ten years between the opening of St. Mary's and the Amex might account for some of that difference in cost. Don't get me wrong, our stadium is perfectly fine - brilliant views from almost every seat and pitch is always immaculate - but does lack a bit of character.

The Amex is a great stadium isn't it? Wish we could have gone for something a bit more unique than our copycat pudding bowl effort.

He offered me a bit of a grovelling apology over twitter as well. I fear the lad is a bit fragile.

Bit of an 'empty vessel' as Rupes might say.

I guess it is a little unclear how Les Reed, the management team, and the recruitment department work together to make those kinds of decisions on contract renewals. Reed has repeatedly talked about player contracts being his domain (suggesting some level of autonomy) so would Poch's view on Cork or Fonte have necessarily been the most significant? I did sense that Poch wasn't Cork's biggest fan (and vice versa), but you'd think Reed and his team would already have formed a strong opinion on his worth to the club and made preliminary efforts to start contract negotiations (which seems to be the case with Fonte but not Cork), as well as strong recommendations to Koeman that we should keep him on. Hopefully it will all be sorted soon, but does seem to be dragging on far too long.

Don't know why this has been allowed to become an issue. Fair enough the recruitment department are under massive pressure to get signings over the line at the moment, but what were they so wrapped up in between January and May that they couldn't offer Cork or Fonte a new deal? Krueger acknowledged the situation in interviews with Blackmore but we've still seen no progress, and with Alan Cork giving not-so-subtle hints about it on twitter we can assume that no new deal has been offered yet. Perhaps he is just not that highly rated from within the club. Utter madness if that is the case.

Are you ITK Jeff?

Probably one of the smarter things we can do with Osvaldo to be honest. No one seems to want to pay any cash for him so why not swapsies?

Andy Townsend? An instinctive loathing, reinforced by his terrible commentary. Once threw the ball away from him in that 3-3 game with Boro when they equalised in injury time with 9 men. I was only a nipper then but it felt good.

Wonder whether Ralph needs another couple of stitches to add to the 52?

Jeff, are you ok? You keep making threads about people over-reacting or not behaving as you would like, but get all defensive when you are actually challenged on the very points you are trying to make - even making a bit of a sad attempt to try to get me banned from here. It does seem (to borrow FC's words) that you have set yourself up as the 'sycophant of the board', and you are now floundering as you struggle to justify their actions while keeping up the pretence of your own position that you adopted early on. I did make the point about Sibley being club spokesman, and employed to communicate the views of the board, did I not? I've given you lengthy replies to some of your posts before but you've told me that you can't be bothered to read. There are 2 lies that we have identified in your thread, and placed in the context of LR being 'relaxed' about the situation with Poch, Krueger's insistence that the board would do 'all they can' to keep the youngsters at the club together, and the latest discrepancy between the board's stating that Rodriguez and Morgan are not for sale and then Morgan, clearly believing he was on the verge of a move, kicking up a ****-storm on twitter, it is fair to say that many feel that the board cannot be trusted. That lack of trust extends to their ability to make sound strategic decisions and also their ability to communicate openly, honestly, and transparently with the fans. Not all can be classified as outright lies (though some have been, and others simply distortions), but fair to say that they have created enough bad blood for them to have their motivations and integrity seriously questioned.