If we play them in the cup this season we'll have to sing "Premier League, we're having a laugh" this time.
I remember him bitching and moaning about the low offers that Liverpool put in for Charlie Adam - we then found out that Holloway had a percentage coming in any sell on fees. The man is a complete hypocrite who was perfectly OK about offering £25,000 for Bradley Wright-Phillips when Plymouth Argyle were on the verge of going out of business. No time for the man at all, so I don't care what he says anymore. You'll notice from the story that they are also blaming Matt Phillips' agent, so who approached who?
You guys take Holloway's words far too seriously. He wears his heart on his sleeve and that's his style, I wouldn't want him in charge of saints but he's fine by me. He certainly doesn't "hate" Southampton and he has said some very complimentary things about us recently. He's no genius but he's no idiot either despite his accent. He hasn't said we were the club involved here so it's just paper talk at the moment.
Well noticed. The Mail twisting their own comments into someone else's quotes, well they are the experts at that I suppose. Holloway doesn't really hate us so no point getting upset about him. As for Phillips, well if Guly and Lallana didn't exist I would happily pay large money for him and Phillips this season. Would be very pleased if either were bought. But hey it might be rubbish.
Say what you will about Holloway, but he got his tactics and selection spot on when they twatted us up there. Taking Phillips and Ince out of the equation, I wouldn't swap any of theirs for any of ours. If they keep Phillips and Ince, they'll do the same to quite a few teams and I'd make them one of my favourites for promotion. Holloway talks a lot of ****, but that doesn't deride the fact that he's done a very good job at Blackpool.
He actually plotted a great result at St Marys that would have been even better had sir Richard not scored in the 110th minute.
Karl Oyston, Blackpool's chairman, was just on TalkSport. He confirmed it is Southampton that he's reported for an illegal approach, as well as an agent.
Transcript of the interview with Oyston on talkSPORT: "We've reported a club and an agent, I'm not saying which club." "Is it Southampton?" "I'm not saying which club it was, but we've reported a club and an agent." "It's being reported that its Southampton you've reported though, is that correct?" "I'm not saying which club......oh it's going to come out anyway. Yes, it's southampton we've reported, and an agent." Although someone on SaintsWeb says "To be fair he did at the end insinuate it was more the fault of the agent than the club."
Sounds highly plausible. Is it tapping up if the agent contacts you? I guess we'll find out soon enough! Must happen all the time though.
If an agent approaches you with a player you want, would you really deny interest. Of course not. You'd take the hint and follow up interest with the club in the proper manner. It's a very grey area, but meeting the player privately and making an offer directly would cross the line.
But discussing terms in principle? Probably should count as tapping up but it must be so common. Most clubs seem aware of whether there is interest from the player before they bid. Just a case of where you draw the line I suppose.
With the amount of media coverage on transfer rumors it's easy to 'tap up' a player. All you have to do is leak to the media that you're interested and hopefully that player will be excited enough at the prospect of joining your club that they hand in a transfer request. Pleased saints are in for Philips, personally I think Blackpool are resigned to losing him and this is a way of alerting other clubs to start a bidding war to get the best price they can. Hold your nerve Cortese
It's not Cortese who needs to hold his nerve but us. We'd all pay an extra few million just to get the player we wanted in the team now. It's not our money and we don't have to balance the books.
