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Reply | Would you support a wealth tax?
at 17:56 14 Jul 2025
Interesting thread & thanks to Salisbury Saint for those stats - if you’d asked me the percentage of people on £100k I’d have been way off the mark! So, Joe Aribo earns twice as much in a week as the average wage for a year, wow… I remember reading somewhere that on the first day of the tax year Erling Haaland blows his annual tax free earnings allowance by lunchtime, is through the base rate tax band and onto 40% before bedtime and into the top 45% bracket by teatime on day 2 of the tax year!
If you want to raise an extra £2bn in tax, instead of trying to directly tax the very rich, who will doubtless tax-avoid most of it anyway, add additional tax to luxury goods , therefore the things they can afford to buy. For example, the fashion industry is worth an estimated £67bn a year in the UK, so, why not add an extra 5% VAT to fashion items? If this was done across the board it would raise around £3.35bn in additional revenue. There are plenty of other areas of what can be categorised as luxury goods, high end jewellery for starters that could also have 25% VAT levels imposed. Whilst they are at it, impose 25% VAT on all items sold at fine art auctions at Sothebys - if you can afford £20m for a painting you can afford an extra 5% VAT. And finally, scrap VAT exemption / refunds on luxury goods for export - huge loophole, plug it! Just an idea or two to raise extra cash from those who can afford to buy things most of us cannot but plugging routes to reclaiming VAT paid is essential. |
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Reply | Tyler Dibling Situation Not Good
at 16:13 13 Jul 2025
As I understand it, and Nick can correct me if I am wrong, there is an option the Club can exercise to extend TD’s contract by 12 months for the 26/27 season. This would remove the urgency to agree to a cut price deal, that said, if we don’t do something this summer then we find ourselves in the same situation again in 12 months time but with no fallback position as I think we have this summer.
TBH, if Dibling is just going to sulk his way through the season he may as well be gone for the maximum amount we can get for him as long as that money is then reinvested in top quality players capable of helping us win the league.
IMO the current Dibling situation is largely due to his fairly new agent. He was perfectly happy here until this German prat got involved - he, and his parents, were happy to sign an extended contract, but the agent? oh no, not that greedy 🤬, nothing was good enough. Happy players are of no major financial benefit to greedy slimeball agents so in a situation like this, drip feed the poison, destabilise the player mentally and make him unhappy. That way the agent gets his seven figure commission on a big money move, sod what is in the player’s best interest as long as the agent pockets a wheelbarrow full of cash. 🤬 |
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Reply | Transfer Latest
at 16:51 20 Jun 2025
Thing is, Sulemana could be great in the Championship - but he wouldn’t be because like a lot of players he’s a ‘Championship Sulker’ - brainwashed by the bright lights of the over hyped, money marinaded Premier League, he’d sulk his way through the season if forced to stay. Minimum effort, minimum return, waste of time even trying to play him at this level as he’s simply not interested. So, recoup as much of that record fee AQAP and reinvest it in proven players at Championship level that WS could make good use of. |
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Reply | Bournemouth to follow us?
at 16:33 20 Jun 2025
They have already signed Adrien Truffert from Rennes as a replacement for Kerkez
Age 23, 1 full cap for France, 5 year contract, £11.4m fee + £3m in add-ons |
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Reply | Saints - Goztepe’s feeder club?
at 16:04 13 Jun 2025
And the articles are all generated by AI, not written by a human. You only have to look at the way the articles read - no normal person would write that way… Just a load of guff along with everything else in that site.
Might still happen though 😮
Like Pat, trying not to go into rant mode just yet… |
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Reply | Club World Cup
at 17:41 12 Jun 2025
Can’t disagree with that in principle. They’d have a job on their hands if they tried to close it down right now, for example, Man U would launch an immediate law suit against UEFA as they would be excluded due their current / recent form over the past few years although there might be potential ways around it even for Man U if you use the UEFA co-efficient as a qualification criteria. Man U wouldn’t be the only ones either. I think what will happen is there will be about a five year period where the CL exists in its current (recently revised) format then there will be moves to further expand it much more along the line of the craved for ESL.
One of the scenarios that merited considerable discussion was to not havre a situation where clubs cut all their ties domestically so if they were to principally play in a ESL when created they would maintain domestic links through a B Team representing the Club in an English League and in domestic cup competitions. All sorts of different scenarios got put across over about a five year period, that was just one of them. All I know is the expanded format CL and the expanded format CWC that were scenarios on paper not that many years ago have now happened and there are plenty more out there to come. Quite frightens me TBH and not something I am at all comfortable with.
In conclusion, yes, in principle you are quite right. They would have difficulty moving to a closed shop right now as that is still considered as a taboo in quite a few quarters. Europe is still the jewel in the global crown and I could see future struggles between FIFA and UEFA for overall control of the elite club competitions due to, yet again, the massive amounts of money involved… |
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Reply | Club World Cup
at 16:16 12 Jun 2025
Correct Nick, if 2021 is in the qualification period that would mean season 2020/21 as the CL Final is at the end of the season. Just think where we were in the 2020/21 season compared to right now… So, as you say, certainly not the best team/s right now. I think over time FIFA will push this tournament harder and harder. Up until the end of the 23/24 season I used to chair an FA JLC (Joint Liaison Committee) for London & SE England and we used to get regular ‘scenarios’ to discuss and report back on from FIFA, UEFA & the FA. We had a Project Team set up to analyse whatever was sent through and in my personal opinion there is definitely a long term agenda running in the background to establish both European and World Super Leagues, by stealth if necessary, over the next 10-15 years. This expansion of the CWC is just the beginning. For example, obviously there is no guarantee that an English team will win the CL - who’s to say in a five year period PSG, Real Madrid & Barca won’t win all 5 finals? That would leave England with zero entrants. Plans - sorry, ‘scenarios’ exist to expand the completion further by relaxing the qualification criteria to include losing CL finalists, even all 4 semi-finalists. ‘Scenarios’ also exist for having geographically zoned qualification groups (Leagues by another name) for Europe ect, ect… This is being pushed for by the people who organised things like the Saudi Pro League heavily backed by global media stakeholders already in place due to their existing relationships with FIFA for World Cup broadcasting rights. A European Qualification Group could at some stage quite possibly become the craved European Super League by stealth as excuses to expand it would be found until it was a done deal. |
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Reply | Club World Cup
at 20:46 11 Jun 2025
It is an expanded format from this season onwards. Only two teams from each nation are allowed to qualify - unless more won each continent's equivalent Champions League during the qualifying period. As Chelsea and City both won the Champions League in the qualifying period, they have taken England's two spots. The qualifying period for European clubs to compete in the CWC 2025 was 2021-2024. |
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Reply | Returning Goztepe Loanee Might Save Southampton Millions
at 17:26 6 Jun 2025
For every Kevin Keegan signed there was a Mike McCartney
Considering the number of McCartneys we have signed in recent seasons surely we are due at least one Ballon d’Or winner - as Keegan was when he joined us, or if not, at least a runner-up!! 😀 |
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Reply | KWP
at 14:03 29 May 2025
Agreed, model pro, been great for us and has always done what was asked of him without question and always giving 100%.
On the subject of being paid well, the one thing that has always baffled me is how low his salary was compared to some other players on our books not fit to lace his boots - clean them maybe, but that’s about it. It has often been reported his gross salary is £20k p/w yet Aribo is reportedly on £70k p/w and there are others on double KWP’s salary. I hope he gets a seven figure ‘golden hello’ from the club he joins as he is a free transfer and a decent last big payday.
Good luck to him and thanks for your loyal service. |
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Reply | Nathan Jones takes Charlton to Wembley
at 14:03 17 May 2025
He’s got no chance, there’s a ex- goalkeeper on the FA Committee tasked with making the decision who always hated crosses 😀 |
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Reply | Can Southampton Poop Everton's Party
at 20:15 15 May 2025
True story from that memorable last League game at The Dell. At the time, Vic Akers was the Arsenal kit man although probably better known as the Manager of the ultra successful Arsenal Ladies team. Back in the day, Arsne Wenger often used to sit on the bench with Pat Rice one side of him and Vic on the other side. As Le Tiss warmed up and got ready to be subbed on Wenger turned to Vic and said “you know what happens now, don’t you?” It did! Matt thundered in a spectacular winner to write a fitting final chapter in Dell history. Known Vic for years through football admin at County & FA level so no reason to doubt the story. He said Wenger just looked at him with an expression that said told you so, rolled his eyes and shook his head. No words were necessary as pandemonium surrounded them from all four sides of the ground. |
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Reply | You know you are 💩
at 17:19 10 May 2025
Good shout sir! So did I - all is not lost then, a point for Saints and 2 points for both of us 😀🍻⚽️ |
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Reply | Saints v Man City Thread
at 17:14 10 May 2025
Well, I’d go to the foot of my stairs - if I didn’t live in a ground floor maisonette 😂⚽️😂
Unbelievable stats, but all said and done Farley has outwitted Pep, or those with a less charitable view would say dragged Citeh down to our level 🙂
It’s enough to make the Citeh plastics melt in the south coast sunshine 🌞
Never thought I’d be raising a glass to 12 pts after 36 games! 😮 |
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Reply | You know you are 💩
at 17:01 10 May 2025
That’s knackered my UI Predictions for the season 😂⚽️😂 |
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Site Scores| Forum Votes: | 76 | | Comment Votes: | 43 | | Prediction League: | 29 | | TOTAL: | 148 |
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