Toon Saint

Jeez, amateur stuff. Who could have predicted that selling all our best players for megabucks before signing replacements would prove so difficult?

Can see how those quotes might be edited to appear worse than they actually are. For example, he may well have been asked 'what do you make of Luke Shaw's prospective move?', before answering: "Everyone has ambitions, everyone has his own future in his hands so we'll see." Probably reading far too much to into it but he favourited a tweet from Chris Rann the other day about being made Saints captain. I think he is a classy enough guy not to demand a move, but if someone like Arsenal do come in for him with a good enough bid, then things might change. He would be the player I'd be saddest to see leave.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnkFfPUxf5o Would love to see Pelle giving Alex Crook this kind of grief next season.

Does he play in goal?

10m euro so about £8m. Not a bad fee and at least he will be wanting to actually play for us.

It requires a sophisticated tongue bears. Do you have one?

Like Pele but the 'l's are silent. So something like pe-yay.

What fresh hell is this?

Sharp and Mayuka front-line next season. Deadly.

I wonder whether Koeman has mastered the phrase 'What the f*ck?!' for when he returns to staplewood.

Ambition, resolve, and some nice silver spoons.

That man is insufferable.

Balls. I wonder whether Koeman even had the chance to speak with them both. The moves just seem to have been deferred until end of WC and all the talk of getting right price for the club seem a bit hollow given how quickly they have been sold. Not a good day to be a Saints fan. Let's hope for some incomings next week, as it is going to get harder and harder to convince new players of our ambition if all we are reported as doing is flogging off our best players.

He's a good lad but not the brightest of sparks when compared to the likes of JWP, Chambers, and Sam McQueen, and no coincidence they nicknamed him 'dopey' when growing up. Don't ever get the sense Luke had the same attachment to Saints as some of the lads in his age group, which is probably no surprise given that he grew up as Chelsea fan living close to their training ground. His family seemed a bit too invested in the myth of Cortese as well and there were rumours about his agent trying to insert some clause in Luke's contract that if NC left then so could Luke. Remember his Dad also sparking off on twitter about the new board having no ambition or vision when Cortese resigned, so you got the sense that it's not just his agent that would have been pushing the move. Still, not sure any of us could say we would turn down £100,000 a week as an 18 year old. Shame he couldn't have stayed another couple of years and given us back a bit more for the 10 years spent developing his talent, but good luck to him.

I wasn't being entirely serious, but certainly not something to be dismissed either given their recent histories and law-suits of genocide filed against one another. First two games against each other as sovereign nations were only last year in the WC qualifiers. Things got a bit tasty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAgfdKUz1LY

If Tadic signs does that mean Lovren will be off, or are Croat-Serb relations a bit better now?

Alex Crook in disguise?

Yes, all very nice. Now that the Shaw deal is done would you kindly depart from the forum and take your United love elsewhere? Thanks.

Sorry but hope Franny isn't appointed as u18 coach. It would reek a bit of cronyism and if Dodd and Williams weren't deemed up to the job, I hardly think Franny is the answer. Get someone who is experienced with a proven track-record at that level. When the main onus of the club is on youth development it would seem strange to appoint a guy who only has u12 coaching experience to his name.

Crook also tells me in World Exclusive that player sales will mostly fund our transfer budget: @alex_crook: £27m up front payment would clear #saintsfc outstanding transfer debts but club have promised the cash to Koeman to reinvest #shaw #mufc @thomas_j_morris: @alex_crook is that on top of additional transfer kitty in place, or are funds being raised purely from player sales? #saintsfc @alex_crook: @thomas_j_morris majority of it from sales #saintsfc Contradicts what Guan has told us (£35m kitty) and also reinforces theFalseLibero's point about Crook's behind-the-scenes knowledge being extremely limited. As if we didn't already know that...

This.

He scored or set up 23 goals last season which is 43% of our total. Baffles me how you can think he contributed less than any other starter. Yes, we could have done with extra striking options (Osvaldo was supposed to be that) but it is a bit strange to call him the weakest link - why would Liverpool have come in for him, if he marked us out as poorer than the teams above us? As talisman, target-man, playmaker, and reliable goalscorer all rolled into one, I bet we will miss him an awful lot.

Care to justify that ridiculous statement?

Five - Lovren, Hoovield, Osvaldo, Mayuka, Ramirez. Actually think Lallana might stay now. Liverpool have quite a history of missing out on their main targets in recent seasons, and they also look to have moved on with Shaqiri. Think we have priced him out of a move and can't see any other club - except for maybe Tottenham, who you'd like to think we'd be loathe to deal with - matching Liverpool's previous bid.