Chez

I am not sure Stephens can be considered as a Saints academy graduate. OK, he was only 17 when we signed him from Plymouth, was initially put in the development squad, but after only about 6 months he was in our first team squad, not to mention the fact he'd played first team games for Plymouth. I guess it doesn't really matter. Who cares how and when young players come to us, if they eventually shine in the first team.

Ah, you just beat me to it. Think you have to be a paying member to receive PMs.

Its amazing what a designer can do given one minute and 45 seconds.

What was the wanking incident?

Smallbone, but only because we were relegated.

As I have said, he was offered a contract that you, me, every Saints fan and even MLT would all have said "where the fuck do I sign?" The big clubs have everything sewn up. They buy the best players from abroad, the best players from the Prem and the best youngsters. What chance do the rest have?

We were leaking a shed load of goals before moving to five at the back. We seem to be a bit more solid. Why do you want to go to four? Do you think we have their number?

Dibling was shite in the Watford game. He looked slow and did absolutely nothing. He's young, he offers great potential, but put a £10m fee on his back and you'd have fans slating his impact rather than calling for him to replace another Saint. If he was good enough he'd be playing right now, but it may take about more time for him to blossom.

Not sure signing a new contract would void the buy back clause, but you'd think there were time limits on any buy back. The fee we can get for him is going to be a lot less now he has a year left of his contract...which is typically when Levy appears.

It's all very well saying you'd do this or that on a forum, but if you were actually in his shoes, you were the player he is, and you were offered the contract he was, you would have done exactly the same thing.

If you want to retain the top talent you have to pay them. We chose not to. For a shirt period there was a lot of money made available to attract and retain youth talent, but when certain people left the club, the tap was switched off. Losing genuine young talent like JJM and AGR is a big loss IMO. These are potential Shearers, Lallanas and Luke Shaws. If we are ever going to have a side that can thrive in the Prem again, we will need more than just a few young players getting into the first team, we will need one or two actual superstars to emerge.

Chelsea offer you more money than you can imagine while you continue to learn the game and you say "na, I'll stay here earning buttons, thanks. If I get injured or fail, I'll put it down to experience."

tried and failed. Bit disappointed not to be able to go to the home game, but such is life.

Possibly, but none were impressed enough by what he did at West Ham to sign him last summer, so why would they now feel he is the player they need this summer? He's done well for us, but it's performances in the championship, where he impressed for Swansea. I'm not sure there will be a long queue. If we have the funds, I think he'll be joining us...although the two promoted clubs might be the fly in the ointment.

WBA deserved a draw at SMS. We were excellent first half, totally dominated and deserve to be leading. Second half was all them and they had a couple of great chances in addition to their goal. We scored on the breakaway, against the run of play. Could easily have gone the other way.