Saints Stuff

**** me, Kevin ****ing Friend.

 

Hi guys. I went to see my doctor because I couldn't sleep and he recommended that I watch the England games as he said it would help. So I sat down to watch the England v Slovenia match last week and promptly fell asleep after about five minutes and have only just woken up. Has anything interesting happened?

 

http://readsouthampton.com/2017/10/11/southampton-consider-move-for-hand/

We could do with a helping hand at the moment!

 

He's apparently a central defender (we're a bit short on those at the moment, right?)
But I can't find much else about him. Couldn't even find how old he is. Hopefully he's for the u18's.

 

BBC2, 10pm, Premier League Show has Gabby Logan “behind the scenes” at Southampton and an interview with MP2.

 

Can someone summarise for those at work please

 

When you consider all of the doom and gloom peddled by the negative posters on social media, this MoTD Programme paints a very different picture, you will need to watch it to understand what I mean. Basically MoPo2 repeated that it was Les Reed that sold him the Club and its plans for the future, he still believes in it and says things will improve. He has been talking with the toon gaffer and says it is a must win game for him on Sunday against his old mentor. The rest of the programme highlighted how we nearly died and came back. Also bigging up the Academy.
Nothing new that we didn't already know and still no clues about the new ownership.

 

Wearing chinos must be genetic.

 

https://audioboom.com/posts/6387438-irish-hangovers-chinese-takeovers-and-the-king-of-crumbles

Couple of minutes about Saints (Forster's feet, Chinese takeover, well run club) starting from 43 mins.

 

You mean the sports media realise we actually exist.?

EDIT: One of the nicest things about the iPlayer is that you can chop put the bits you're not interested in. So a half-hour programme became 15 minutes.

 

I actually watched it all up to the Man U v Liverpool love in. Louis Saha comes across as a really nice guy. Seems well grounded.

The Saints bit was quite good, The academy, the facilities and JWP & Redmond. All positive stuff.

...Now please can we score a few?

 

Wilfred Zaha?

 

What was all that Hello Sailor nonsense about on her top?

We are Southampton not the bleeding Skates.

Now had it said "À l'eau c'est le heure" I could have lived with that.

 

I've been ill

 

Think Matty is 105 today.

 

He is a year older than me...and Fats [emoji16]

 

Interesting piece on the BBC site today about the Milan giants.

The link to us is the ownership. Take a read and think either we are being expanded or moving in with Portsmouth

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41558125


China questions
Suning have invested - heavily - in the Inter squad but they also have a long-term vision that revolved around redeveloping the San Siro.

Their plan is to reduce the capacity from its current 80,000, the fifth biggest club ground in Europe, to around 55,000 and use the spare space to massively improve the stadium's corporate facilities.

Rossoneri Sport seem to have been more interested in spending money on their team.

However, those with detailed knowledge of Chinese investment in football overseas view Rossoneri, by buying Berlusconi's club, as having delivered on President Xi's demand to either open doors to key decision makers in western Europe or generate greater wealth to be used at home.

It is not thought Suning have fulfilled either demand. Indeed, in August, they were accused by Chinese state mediaof using their investment in Inter to 'launder' money.

Suning denied this was the case. However, the allegation is being interpreted as the Chinese government sending out a warning that unless Suning start to comply with President Xi's decree, they could find their ability to do business severely curtailed.

Professor Simon Chadwick, a business of sport specialist at the University of Salford and expert in Chinese football affairs, said: "When it comes to football, listen out for who speaks first and look out for what they do.

"What Suning are now expected to be doing is generating a positive financial gain for the Chinese state and demonstrate that it is repatriating those funds. Otherwise, it needs to start connecting into Milan, to major trade and infrastructure projects.

"This is why I think AC Milan is particularly important. If you want to get anything done in Italy, Berlusconi knows who to talk to. Essentially, in buying AC Milan, the Chinese were not just buying a football club. They were buying their way into the economic and political heartland of Italy."

An alternative theory

AC Milan owner Li Yonghong is in charge of a club at the heart of the financial capital of the world's ninth largest economy
It is impossible to imagine Chinese investment in AC or Inter Milan not being subject to some kind of central scrutiny in Beijing.

But instead of wholly separate entities, what if they were - albeit loosely - tied together in some way?

It is interesting to note that whilst Suning were not particularly interested in going through Inter's finances in acute detail when they negotiated their takeover, they were keen on knowing who owned the land that surrounds the San Siro.

Last week, a statement from the Mayor's office in Milan revealed he had reached an agreement with both clubs that they were willing to invest in stadium redevelopment.

As tends to be the case, details are sketchy and enthusiasm for such plans will always be limited by the fact the stadium, and its surrounding area, is centrally owned. Should that change, the entire area could be transformed.

If Inter and AC, instead of working against each other in their own interests, were able to put on a united front, how much pressure could be exerted on the local government?

Even at the clubs themselves, there is a sense of not being entirely sure why Chinese investment should be so heavy in two famous clubs from the same city, which just happens to be the financial capital of the ninth richest country in the world.

In the short to medium term, major changes are anticipated within Milanese football, and the true nature of China's involvement there will start to become apparent.