NOTW has Saints finishing 23rd!

News of the World today say's we will finish 23rd and our most important player is Wotton. I'm not expecting us to gain promotion but I think last is a little bit harsh as well.

I'd settle for mid table and watching some great football and exciting youngsters. What does everybody else think?

They actually have us down as last as they have 2 teams at 5th!

Nice to see what the media thinks of our chances! Below Doncaster as well.

They actually have us down as last as they have 2 teams at 5th!

Thats a relief then, if it's the NOTW saying it.

Wotton as out most important player, that just shows how much time they put into actually watching the teams. I'd say Wotton will be a bit part player and a stand-in for Scheiderlin and Gillet.

News of the World today say's we will finish 23rd and our most important player is Wotton. I'm not expecting us to gain promotion but I think last is a little bit harsh as well.

 

I'd settle for mid table and watching some great football and exciting youngsters. What does everybody else think?

I'd far rather be like that with no pressure, than be title favourites like we have been for the past 3 seasons.

If they carry on playing like they did against West Ham then I think a few people including me may end up with egg on their faces.

Apparently the Gaurdian has us down to be relegated also.

They actually have us down as last as they have 2 teams at 5th!

That's a mistake on the Blackpool review - by a process of elimination they obviously have them as 24th, just below us.

In The Observers Championship review 9 of the 24 fans reviewing the season have us as certs to go down. The Sunday Mirror only has Plymouth, Barnsley, Doncaster and Blackpool with worse odds than us.

Depressing stuff - I used to always look forward to the pre-season reviews, even in the Premiership. I'd love to say they're all wrong (certainly hope the NOTW is), but can't realistically see us faring much better than lower mid-table. We'll see though - hope springs eternal!

That would be Martin Samuels having a pop at his mate Rupert we know how much he loves him.

Means nothing as didn't most of the newspapers have us down for a top half finish last year and how wrong were they!

COYR

Who cares, how can you tell this early. Basically the papers won't have heard of most of our players, our manager and we were shite last season. Thats what they base this on.

Its worth JP showing this stuff to the players and saying "Prove them wrong".

Im confident we can suprise people!

I would wait to read something a little more worthwhile (ie "The Game" in the Times) than that heap of sh*t, aka NOTW.

Wotton our most important player in the coming season! FFS.

This will all work in our favour, however, as there is little or no media pressure being laid on the shoulders of our young team.

they always get it wrong they said we will finish 7th last season!

telegraph said eull is our star player lol

Excellent news - the NOTW is absolute cr*p anyway but the more the media predict us doing badly the better we will do!

I will not be surprised if we win the league this season - we have a much better squad IMHO.

Good if people think we got rubbish odds of being promoted i may put some money on it!

All the paper talk means nothing at all. I agree that it gives our players the greatest of incentives to prove them all wrong. And if any of the rival managers think that we will be easy, they might be right, but the problem last season was that they thought we would be hard to beat, so defended with everybody behind the ball and hit us on the break. I would love to see them trying to play an open game against us.

In a sweepstake with my mates I have gone for 15th[ who knows, purely a guess]. We played well against

West Ham, but they let us play. Stoke[ an awful football side] will be more of a test, because we will play

plenty of sides in the championship, who play similar football. One of my fears is that if we play the pretty

football we did against West Ham, the cloggers[ there are plenty in the championship] will kick them to pieces,

with no protection from the useless bunch of referees we always seem to get at SMS.

Sadly Saints are in the pack of clubs that if successful would be described as a dark horse.

The dire financial losses we are making dictates a realism. The fact that any player that performs even half decently can be cherrypicked in January, the fact we've brought in a lack of quality players in monetary terms, the fact that if anyone wants one of our better players before the transfer window closes we'll snap their arm off - all point to a club in decline, not a club on the up.

Last season we scraped through on the last day.

I think the NOWT have it spot on, but football is a funny old game.

News of the World today say's we will finish 23rd and our most important player is Wotton. I'm not expecting us to gain promotion but I think last is a little bit harsh as well.

 

I'd settle for mid table and watching some great football and exciting youngsters. What does everybody else think?

Are there not 24 teams in this league?

The NOTW is a crock of sh1te.

Positive thinking here from now on. We are going to the Play Off position at least. The NOTW has never got it right and do we care what others think.

To be fair we seem to be about to put a team out with 8 players 21 or under, one who is 22, two veterans at centre back (one of whom has been injured for years), a manager with no English league experience, no funds to strengthen with, massive operating losses, the prospect of a bunch of disaffected and money sapping senior pros languishing on the sidelines, a half-empty ground and an unpopular board.

Tad pessimistic - but that's what the hacks who write this kind of thing look at. You only have to look at the innacuracies in press reports of games to see how much attention they actually pay to the players on the pitch.

they are basing that on not knowing our players or manager.

We have had the advantage of a couple of insights - there is no way on earth that team from Friday will finish in bottom few places. How much higher is hard to say.

Svensson is looking fitter and will,if stays fit, get better. Still have player of season to come back in.

And we didn't use Skacel, Rasiak, John (well for ten mins) BWP, Dyer, Davis, Davies, Saga.

I can't believe people read (look) at the NOTW let alone believe the news it prints.

Anyone who was at SMS on Friday would know that there is very little chance of us finishing 23rd.

As for most important player, it'll be Schneiderlin. Absolute top-class act. Wouldn't be surprised if he's at Arsenal in 2 years time.

Most oppostion fans think we are sure bets for relegation...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/aug/03/championship

I think they are in for a surprise!

It's in the NOTW, 'nuff said

Thats a relief then, if it's the NOTW saying it.

Phew! I was getting worried. Thought is was a serious paper, not the Trash of the World

Most oppostion fans think we are sure bets for relegation...

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/aug/03/championship

 

I think they are in for a surprise!

Me too.

These are the same muppets that had us down as finishing 5th or 7th last year

The news of the screws is only good for boobies.

Sunday Telegraph has us finishing twentieth, same as last season.

But who tipped Reading or Stoke for promotion, pre-season?

Cambsaint

It can only get better!

to be honest i can see us having a really good season this year and possibly mounting a promotion push. hope i'm right!

Pundits know nothing.

After all, 'You cannae win anything wi' kids.'

I've taken up William Hill's offer of 40/1 on us winning

COYR!

I suppose they do not fancy us for the cup competitions either .. then.

telegraph said eull is our star player lol

At £750k/year wages, I would hope Euell scores 15 goals, makes 20+ assists and is instrumental in ensuring our promotion. If he plays anything like his 1st half season last year, he should be paying the club for the privelage of putting on the shirt...

I've taken up William Hill's offer of 40/1 on us winning

 

COYR!

Got 74/1 at Betaq!

Betaq also have 10 teams (half!) down as 1000/1 against winning the prem. How crap and boring has the top division become with Man U and Chelsea at 2.4/1 and the rest as no hopers.

Time to prove everyone wrong

COYR

Given that most Saints fans haven't yet seen the "new" team, formation and style its not surprising that outsiders don't know much about us.

If everyone is expecting us to fail - thats a good thing, less pressure

Sadly Saints are in the pack of clubs that if successful would be described as a dark horse.

 

The dire financial losses we are making dictates a realism. The fact that any player that performs even half decently can be cherrypicked in January, the fact we've brought in a lack of quality players in monetary terms, the fact that if anyone wants one of our better players before the transfer window closes we'll snap their arm off - all point to a club in decline, not a club on the up.

 

Last season we scraped through on the last day.

 

I think the NOWT have it spot on, but football is a funny old game.

This is the harsh reality that ought not to be ignored unless you are a dreamer or a fantasist. As you righly say, we aren't a club who can turn round and tell some predatory Premiership club that should any of our youngsters show real talent that it's hands off, he's not for sale. Our dire financial situation has backed us into a corner so that we are forced to play the youngsters, ready or not. If any of them really shine and a Premiership club offers to pay megabacks for them, does anybody really believe that the lure of the bright lights and the thick wallet won't entice them away from us?

If we are not bought out by investors with serious cash soon, then the policy of selling any player that shows promise and using the proceeds to keep our head above water is a downwards spiral that will be hard to reverse.

ps. Be careful of including NOWT, especially in capitals. Misguided Missile will have you down as a Northerner.

Weren't Stoke & Hull favourites for relegation last season? Shows what a noddy topsy-turvy league this is

The more the rest of the world expects us to fail the better.

If we're playing the kids then keeping the pressure off is just what the doctor ordered.

And that also means we the fans have to get behind them as much as possible, never mind what anyone thinks of the chairman.

Anyone caught booing at any time in the first few months should be given a good slap.

And if you want any indication of how lazy many sports journalists are, and how little they know about our team, check out the BBC's squad selector for SFC.

You can pick (among others) from the following:

Le Tissier, Lundekvam, Viafara, Makin... Idiakez, Mettomo, Kaland, Ostlund, Pericard, Iain Pearce, Fatty Hammill etc etc.

Only name missing is A Dia

They actually have us down as last as they have 2 teams at 5th!

They're just using sensationalism to increase circulation to help them pay off the

damages they owe to Max Mosely .If they'd just put out a story about him and 5 hookers they'd have got off scot free, unfortunately, as is usually the case with the News of the Screws, they got carried away. I would think the very fact that they have us at 23rd would be reassuring, they're always wrong.

While I think that sticking money on us to win the League at 74/1 is a slightly worse bet than getting the jackpot in the National Lottery, and some of the realists above are probably right, maybe all this can work in our favour: nothing like a siege mentality to stiffen the resolve - amongst fans as well as players. But, and it's a big but, it will depend on us having a good start. What's gonna happen if we lose the first 3 badly?

If ever there was a time when a team needs its fans tight behind it, its now.

I wouldn't worry about predictions in this league! Look at the previous 2 seasons... Leave predictions for the premiership.

I think we will have a few surprises for some fans that think we will be in the bottom half, i'm hopeful that we can push into the top 8.