ENSKIED

First we must agree this state of affairs which has seen Southampton "raped", well at least has seen the grass root support "raped", while other make millions of pounds - can't go on. If we agree that then we bring in legislation to prevent it happening again. Most of the power in this very poor state of affairs lies primarily with some greedy owners, many, many greedy agents and thence the players themselves. So having established the problem and most of the criteria involved - you facilitate conditions and clauses as standard into the contracts that make them work. For example a 12 month contract comes with clauses concerning sales and valuations and if necessary evaluation committees REAL ONES are set up, or conversely you don't allow 12 month contracts, or other clauses are enforced whereby the player MUST buy out his contract for a high percentage of any fee, a percentage that reduces with 'service', so after say five years a player can move without a contractual penalty thereby making a longer contract more attractive both for player and clubs. If all the players and clubs are bound by enforceable sensible rules then it can work. A "thing" works if : 1] You want it to really work 2] Procedures and laws are set up to ENSURE it works Go back a little over a hundred years and few people thought powered flight was possible especially powered flight capable of carrying say a thousand people at 500 -700 miles per hour or even faster. All things within reason are possible and you have to make therm so.

All it would take is FIFA and EUFA to get their house in order as it were and come out and say no club can buy another club's player WHEN HE IS UNDER CONTRACT - end of. All contracts must be honoured for the good of the game. If clubs are prohibited from buying a player under contract - after all that is one of the points of a contract, the rest of are legally bound by them - then that's basically it.

Woy Hodgson,"You do know lads that I still scout for Liverpool?" Reed "Why do think we invited you along Woy! £25 mill and Clyne's a Scouser!" Woy, "Hmm well have to say I like the look of him and that's a hard offer to de-Clyne . . ." Kruger, "Vunderbar! Pops dar money in the post - Ya?" Reed, "Brilliant another successful Saint's take-way!"

Hi Polaroid . . . . so the FA Cup and League Cup games which of course will be open to all the teams including those in the "new" English Prem etc could be played on a home and away basis in all cases, thereby making it much fairer? Certainly there are lots of ideas to be kicked around [pun intended]. My gut feeling in all of this is that it could, if handled and balanced correctly that's essential, generate real serious money spreading it around more. AND with appropriate enforced legislation help even things out. In that lots of teams are going to get a bite of the juicy cherry and "all" footy will become "revalued" most especially the FA and League Cups -that' would be my hope anyway.

This I totally understand and that is not in any way patronisation. Far from it, indeed having Liverpool in my blood as it were, if the same thing happened to us as happened to you I'b be gutted in the fullest sense of the word. I felt the same way when West Ham were asset stripped of Lampard, Cole, Ferdinand, Johnson, Carrick, Mascherano, Tevez etc etc et al - if they'd have been able to keep those players together they would IMHO undoubtedly have won the Title. How refreshing would that have been for football? Instead they were as usual asset stripped. In the Saints case it's been almost instantaneous, they were on the cusp of greatness and it's wham bam than you ma'am! I love football too much for that not to register and I know others who feel the same.

!] First thing that appeals is that research will be appropriately examined by the analysts and silk suits [if it isn't being done already] to find that fans of the big teams across Europe will in all probability go to watch their favourites be it real Madrid or whomever. Last night for example some 50,000 fans turned up at Yankee Stadium in New York to watch Liverpool play Man City. Last season over 90,000 turned up to watch Liverpool play a game in Australia . . . . . that could be a ready made sort of barometer? Travelling by air now often seems the cheapest form of travel there is and I feel fairly certain home based fans will also travel - football in the blood! 2] Personally speaking I think that there would be be promotion and relegation to create excitement. A sort of ECL of the sort that exists now on a three pronged basis that the winners of will be promoted into the European league . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .So those finishing top of the English Prem as an example [The Saints] go into the ECL and if they win that they are promoted into the European Premier League. Same for the FA Cup Winners they play against the other Cup Winners in a parallel ECL [Old Cup Winners] and the same again for League Cup Winners. Eventually then the three tournaments throw up three teams from around Europe who enter the European Premier League, while three are demoted back to their respective leagues. Crude at this stage I know with many things to be ironed out but something roughly on those lines might generate a lot more money, which will be the core of any analysis one would suspect.

From the heart to the heart.

Yes I think you are correct there can be a double-edge concept to the ECL. However, keeping the metaphors going I rather liken it to banqueting at the top table, you want to be there [well certain people want to] and while there you hope to rub shoulders with the nobility and ingratiate yourself within their cosseted and closeted world - nothing like being on the life-raft in shark infested waters. While of course the rest feed off the scraps. The ECL is now where the big boys desperately need and indeed want to be, it's almost supplanted the domestic side of the game. It's certainly devalued it, one has only to consider the FA Cup as the prime example, to return it to its former prominence and glory it would have to lead to entry in the ECL. If it did then I believe the FA Cup would return to the competition it once was, virtually overnight. Also anyone else thinking that there is an inevitability factor in regard to it being only a question of time before we see a full-blown European League / Leagues?

Can't see that terminology endearing to the Blue part of Liverpool "look at the players who came from here and went on to a BIG club . . . ." maybe a course on the intricacies of diplomatic language wouldn't go amiss. Always providing of course [source dependent] it's not a wind-up from the Red side of the divide.

Well it's good that someone at least is getting some joy out of this, or at least appears to be, silver lining and all that. However, I'm not sure I totally follow the logic of the post I'd already questioned the validity of the EUFA FFP rules in the piece of my post you kindly highlight - but not to worry that might just be me and I'll give it some more thought later. The other confusing issue in that is why the "fighting for 3rd spot"? Has the Prem ECL qualification now been reduced to the top 3 this year? Using that latter point as a springboard to continue on with regard to the theme of Losing the Soul Of The Game, in reality it could be debated that actually winning the title itself in all this has also been somewhat devalued for example once again the ECL winners, this time Real Madrid did not win their domestic title. It seems all that matters now is finishing in the "Top 4" really and thus gaining the EXTRA money thereby generated.

Yes to be Shaw, he be no longer a Saint but now a Herethick. Soon to be a thin, disnoble but rich Herethick. [Old English spelling]

Hey nothing personally taken shurlock, I appreciate the circumstances and emotions involved I really do - that's why I elected to write on your Forum in the first instance. TBH I bit on the bullet to post here thinking I would get a FAR worse reception than I did - you've all been how can I say it - appreciative and welcoming. Those sentiments cover it anyway! And despite the circumstances it's been a pleasure exchanging views - this seems a very good Forum. Just one observation I feel compelled to make in regard to the BlueMoon comment you post, is that Man City have been "capped" by EUFA FFP rules having broken them and fined £49 million, so if they has have done the "asset stripping" in this instance then they would in all probability been in deep ****. Nothing that Prince Mansour might not attempt to buy is way out of but they might well have been made a serious example of; especially once our Jose [Mourinho] starts his err wailing - which he probably would.

Well then lar that's a bit bear-faced I have t'say! So then cat's out ter'bag all well an'good! Well then . . . . I well and truly nailed you mate! You see I was actually born in Portsmouth down by the docks, then of course I wanted to ride on the glory train and so became a Man U fan, pure plastic variety of course, I can assure you I have all the Man U shirts other credentials and tattoos even talk like Citeh folk now. I actually came on here after borrowing the fiver off my mate who is a Saint's fan and was easily conned into lending me it believing I was indeed sympathetic to the real cause of footy - how stupid can you get? The only caveat is that being a true Saint's fan the bastard wants £20 quid back for a job worth a fiver at most, citing Lovren and other notable sails, that's sails, as in sails away - gerrit? So who conned who then? Shouted in another funny accent, "Come On The Pimpey!" Or is it Pompey? Eeee lad I can never remember these days! Anyway call yerself a bear? Pusseycat more like! Off now to wind those slum ridden thieving Scouse gits up on their Forums! But don't worry I'll be back yer thieving bastard!

Well you see Rebel it's the plastic fans that the likes of the owners of Liverpool [and other major clubs] wish to encourage and thus sell what? Let's say six sets of merchandise in the form of kits and other paraphernalia to them each season on average. It's rather like throwing a stone into a pond the very core is the game itself but the ripples stretch far away now and there is lots of dosh to be made away from the core point i.e the grass root match going fans. In a way we don't really count any more we just supply the soundtrack to the movie as it were - the TV and their billions of dollars are King of this situation now. Taking the Liverpool Owners FSG they do not have a clue about the game itself - their number one sport consideration is still baseball, so why did they buy Liverpool at all? The money? The prestige? The glamour? To tap a global phenomena? Because they could? It's a mixture of all those aspects I believe. They are also in the process asset strippers? And the Saints are ripe for stripping? The core then is now a long way off and almost an incidental.

Hello Waggy - Yes my family feel the same, there is an essence in all of this that if Liverpool do anything at all this season it's going to have a sense of 'by default' attached to it and worse still if the Saints struggle it's not because of "footy" per se - lack of ability, lack of desire etc. but simply put because of greed. Something has to be done. This is destroying the very spirit of the game -your team against ours and may the best team win and we'll meet in the bar for a drink afterwards - simplistic I know but it seems now as though BIG business has finally hijacked the game we love. A close friend of my mine predicted this state of affairs a number of years ago now. I know the following sounds, well it sounds "something or other" but did abolishing the maximum wage eventually lead to this? Did the generation who instigated that ceiling understand more than we?

Thank you! With appropriate apologies to the Bard, "Such Goals As Dreams Are Made Of!" From a shared football perspective how good was Keegan? And the sad thing which I hate to belabour is how would you keep that team together today? Indeed how could you build that team? That in itself remains a measure of the damage? BUT that said we must not forget what we once had and perhaps ultimately it will fall to fans in the end to fight for it to return once again . . . . .at least I can also dream of that. Thank you once again.

No problem . . . . . I love football as much as I do my team indeed my team needs other teams in order to exist - think about it! So there is a very pronounced concept now that Liverpool must continue to "up" the Academy i.e. invest heavily in it, in order for us to truly compete. FSG are all for this. Pep Guardiola not long ago praised the academy in the press. It's a known fact, however, that the Saints Academy is the model to be followed, in that it has been and is a production line for REAL talent. One of the problems worth mentioning though for players coming through at Anfield is the Presssssssure! It's not so much "expectations" placed upon them as "demands"., in someways that is where the Saints Academy may have ours beat in that the lads coming through perhaps don't feel like they have to aspire to a form of Nescafe, namely instantly producing a major trophy and thus can develop at a more natural pace?

Hello lads. This is one of those posts you're not sure whether you should write or not but there is a compelling urge to do so; rather like an itch that can't be scratched and thus niggles away at your thoughts and since this itch concerns the game [now business] we all love I find myself at the keyboard. I'm a Liverpool fan and have been attending Anfield since I was 7 - it is what you did. We resided close to the ground itself and literally lived and breathed the game, in "common" with all the other kids in the back-to-back streets dreaming of one day playing on that hallowed turf, in many ways it was all we had. I played football to a fair level making it one time to Liverpool books before 'failing' . . . . . . . so this is just to let you know that a lot of grass root Liverpool fans are not happy at what's happened to the Saints, some are gutted, since what has happened is a symptom of the prevailing disease itself which is now blighting the game - in that it is becoming a mere billionaires plaything - and doesn't it show? Money was once important in football - but now it's become everything. Man City haven't so much won their titles as bought them and so on - good luck to them we must suppose. For me this latest, shall we call it a travesty? Anyway this latest travesty has raised matters to another level. What is happening to your Great Club cannot be for the betterment of the game but rather its detriment? One time you could have built on last season and with the team and manager you had in place in the next season or two have been challenging for the title itself, no doubt in my mind about that nor in many other minds such as Brendan Rodgers and our Americano owners, who incidentally know next to nothing about football at all. Anyway building teams was the way it used to be! Now your potentially great team is all but stripped to its bare bones. After all these years I'm beginning to fall out of love with the game I loved so much. Something has to be done in order to preclude this sort of dismantling of a major team ever again. Athletico seem another that will succumb to the vultures, how sad is that? How much HEALTHIER would it be for the game all round if Southampton [The same happened to West Ham when they had a potentially great team] had been allowed to continue on to build and take the title? The game NEEDS THAT, it constitutes a breath of fresh air; after all that was the magic of the FA Cup, it could be won by less fancied teams with the bigger teams often turned over. Where then do we go from here, can we place our hopes in the EUFA FFP rules or will they in turn become just another game for the Billionaires in terms of circumvention? It seems to be shaping up that way as I write. I hope and pray Southampton really do work a miracle this year, concomitant with somebody somewhere in authority realising this stripping of a team to the bones cannot be allowed, since it cannot be good for the game we are all supposed to love. The Liverpool v Southampton game won't happen for me because it will hurt and I think some other Liverpool fans feel the same. This isn't just about "my team or your team" this is shaping up to become a battle for the VERY SOUL of the game we all love itself. GOOD LUCK TO SOUTHAMPTON!