Saint Gaston!

Yes, that does somewhat make me wonder about your business plan. How much have you spent this transfer window on players? How much are you adding to that wage bill? And is that sustainable to your income and funding? There's no way, really, for me to say this without seeming bitter or coming across as a WUM - my known position as a Pompey fan counts against me here - but you seem to be employing the Peter Storrie method of club management at the moment. And that would worry me if I was in your position since the world now knows how well that turned out for Pompey.

 

Scousers sh**ting themselves over a bit of transfer gossip is the biggest laugh of this window.
Talking of windows haven't you got one to lick or are they all boarded up??

We are still in the race i'm sure.

 

We've probably got the lowest wage bill in the league except for probably Norwich. And with a chairman who constantly preaches the values of sustainable finance, I think it's safe to assume we're in quite safe hands.

 

Yes. People have been getting excited but it's best to adopt the attitude of 'it isn't happening until it appears on the OS'. That way we can avoid looking like total mugs. It shows that the club's prudent method of keeping transfers quiet is the best way whether the fans like it or not.

 

Money was set aside to gain promotion and to compete in PL. We got to PL 2 years early and were told that we had money in hand from the promotion bid. Up till now, Cortese has maintained a strict pay policy though I suspect he knew that he would have to relax that for the Premier League. I believe our Championship players were on contracts that increased their wages automatically on promotion. Cortese is not a risk taker.

 

To be fair to the mickey who came on here giving it the large "inbred" line, I'd be a bit miffed if we lose out on signing Ramirez only for him to go to another mid-table team. I mean, I wouldn't mind if someone big like Spuds, Manure, Goners, Citeh or Chelski got him, but not an avergae mid-table team, please

 

Not bitter mate, just a bit jealous

The difference is simple, this - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebherr_Group

or this - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Aleksandrovich_Antonov

Even more simply Millions V Billions and Crook V Established Global Corp

Good luck today anyway, are you running a book on who of the 20 players you apparently signed yesterday are playing? Now that's a business plan!

 

Why shouldn't people get excited?, the Liverpool fan was only on about the few WUM's that went over to their board chatting ****.

 

Plus we got £15m for Chamberlain. Whether that has gone on transfers or not.

 

It was only recently that Cortese said that you set money aside in the good times for the bad times...he would never put himself into the position of needing the parachute payments. Does make you wonder just how much St Markus put aside for us.

 

Hi MAJR. You'll probably get called a WUM shortly but I'll answer it for you anyway. Yes, I can understand how on the face of it a newly promoted club spending lots of money could seem reckless. But by far the biggest investment since Nicola has been in charge, has been at the training ground. Also if we were to sign Ramirez (or Matt Phillips), they are both young players with large resale value, same with Jay Rodriguez. Without retelling the Pompey story, when they went pop they were left with nothing but some unsellable players who ended being paid more in League 1 than most of the Southampton players in the Premiership. As Cortese has said before, if the Liebherr family decided they did not want to be involved any more (and they do), he could have a list of buyers lined up with no problem. In short, Southampton very well run, Portsmouth not. Incidentally if you are looking for a candidate for the next Pompey, I still think Blackburn.

 

Liverpool have become a negative force in English football.

Give them a good player or manager and they are bound to destroy them.

 

There's nothing wrong with people getting excited (I should have said 'jumping the gun') but [some] people have been acting like it's a done deal when it obviously wasn't (have you seen Saints Web over the past 24 hours?). Yes, it is exciting that Saints are after players like that and that Saints can afford to splash out £12m on a single player, but people need to hold off proclaiming a player to be a Saint until it's on the OS. And definitely not go winding up other fans on their own forums.

 

Back to Ramirez, is there any more news today or is everyone still crying over those Bologna quotes? Here's the situation as I see it. Personal terms agreed more or less, Cortese's offer on the table, Bologna chairman wants more of the fee up front or something along those lines. Strong words in Italian press a face-saving exercise for the fans who want it settled one way or the other and aren't happy with him. It's understandable that our Liverpool supporting friend has never heard of "negotiation" before, but I'm still confident that Nicola can come to an agreement over the next week.

 

Never go on Saints Web to many depressed/ weirdos on there

 

Pfft anyone who goes onto another forum with the sole intent of trying to wind them up is an arsehole anyway. The people who did it on the Liverpool forum are idiots, as is the Liverpool guy who came over here. Even if it's official there's no point going over there to try to piss them off.

 

I'd agree with that Qwerty. My little niggle at the moment is that NC doesn't like being messed around (although he may be more used to the Italian way) or, we think £12m is ok, but £16-18m is too much.

I haven't even seen Ramirez play with the exception of a couple of minutes highlights playing for Uruguay, but I am still excited!

 

I think both Ramirez and Phillips will sign for us.

 

Oh hell, is there ever! I go on there if my self esteem is a bit low, it is guaranteed to raise it again.

 

agreed.