Redslo

This thread has turned to a point where I feel compelled to quote Stevie Wonder: "Superstition ain't the way."

Or we end them.

Their financial fair play problem exists primarily if they get relegated.

Two domestic loans at a time--no more than one from each club. Unlimited foreign loans.

He did act as the voice of reason in the recent fan player dispute.

Let's just keep winning the next game until we don't have to any more. Or better yet keep doing it anyway.

No the maximum is five. If Arsenal wins the champions League, but finishes 5th and Everton wins the Europa League and finishes 12th, the fourth place team in the premier league will be bumped down to the Europa league.

My head tells me we only have 16 winnable matches--at least in the league.

Thank you for the kind remarks. I checked the UEFA web site and they don't use an apostrophe at all. Effect and affect are my Achilles heel. I never get them right as multiple secretaries have pointed out over the years. Since my secretary doesn't proof my blog entries, that issue will continue to affect or effect my blog.

I doubt we will hurt England's coefficient more than Hull did.

I suspect that NC overlooked the possibility that Katharina Liebherr would find out that it was fun owning a well run Premier League team.

I have posted my reasons on my blog. http://redsloscf.blogspot.com/2014/08/how-i-became-southampton-fc-fan.html Unlike the other American you mentioned, I am unlikely to watch a game in person in the near future unless Southampton goes on an American preseason tour that hits California.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2916748/Eljero-Elia-scored-twice-Southampton-win-Newcastle-United-controversial-character-grateful-fresh-start-Premier-League.html

According to Jeremy Wilson: "Wenger has already added the 17‑year-old Krystian Bielik this month and Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin is being lined up as a potential major summer signing although no bid or inquiry has yet been made." From here http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/transfers/11356445/Francis-Coquelin-to-be-offered-new-Arsenal-deal-but-Arsene-Wenger-may-bid-au-revoir-to-Flamini-and-Diaby.html

That's how it is supposed to be next season too.

Since Wilson clearly has good sources inside Southampton FC, I cannot be as skeptical as I normally would about the 6 million pound January transfer budget. I have to assume that it means that some of last summers profit is being reserved to exercise options on our loan players but maybe it was needed to pay other expenses.

His use of the term "literally" was itself a metaphor.

I am hoping the best signing of the Liebherr era is yet to come.

I wonder if the contract includes an increased fee if we get European football next year?

A fair point to be fair.

The problem is that there are only so many ways to say "money, money, money." I started and gave up on blog posts on this exact subject a half dozen times in the past four months. Eventually I will finish something that I believe is worth publishing and it will boil down to "money, money, money, relegation fears, money, money."

On the other hand, NBC's Premier League montage that starts their coverage every game and every show opens with a shot of Southampton huddling before a game in our red and white stripped shirts.

I cannot say what is actually happening, but Sunderland's owner is about as rich as Liebherr, which means he can afford to kick in millions of pounds a year. Sunderland is not targeting Europe right now. This matters because UEFA's financial fair play rules are much more stringent than the Premier League's rules. Under BPL FFP rules, he can pump in the full costs of youth development and infrastructure costs, plus 35 million pounds a year. If we are targeting Europe, Liebherr is limited to putting in youth development costs and infrastructure costs, plus around 8 million pounds a year. That is 27 million pounds a year more they have to spend. If Liebherrr wants us to break even, including youth costs, then that is somewhere close to 40 million pounds less a year we have to spend. Even less than that if the costs of the new facilities are being paid out of club income. That being said, I really doubt the owner of Sunderland is putting in the full legal amount. And we have players who are on salaries comparable to Defoe's including Ramirez, Osvaldo, and Alderweireld. http://redsloscf.blogspot.com/2015/01/southampton-weekly-salaries.html. The unspent summer transfer profit could fund some significant salary increases, but it may be needed to exercise the options on Betrand, Alderweireld, and Elia. Of course, Liebherr has, in the past, pumped money in and perhaps she intends to continue doing so.

It is impossible to know. The entire length of the season is probably not statistically significant enough to be sure. Our good goal differential tells us we are not getting lucky in our results relative to our goals scored and given up--like Tottenham was last year and Newcastle was in 2011-2012, but that doesn't mean we are being unlucky or lucky in the number of goals we score or give up. This is a bad indicator for Tottenham this year too, by the way.

Winning these six games in a row is the sort of thing Champion's League contenders do. Getting anything less than 11 points hurts our chances.