The9

Having once playing up front with a person charged with rape and cleared on a technicality (the jury basically said something along the lines of we think he did it but can't prove it with the evidence given), who then proceeded to leave the area, I wonder what the other Sheffield United strikers think about potentially having to have him on their side. Footballing ability aside, it doesn't seem conducive to the kind of "in it together, us against the world" spirit you need to dedicate yourself to the kind of selfless tasks that make up a lot of successful football performances. On the assumption that footballers in the main don't care about this kind of thing as long as they're getting paid and at worst are going to feel a bit awkward about it but just choose not to associate with them outside "work", and so it doesn't affect their motivation, I'm still thinking it's a load of controversy Sheffield United don't need for the benefit they'd get from Evans playing. That was before the sponsors started pulling the plug, which could easily cost them more than he'd make them with a promotion (and he's already cost them one promotion from L1 by getting put away in the first place).

I'm getting vaguely perturbed by the terrible analysis on here. They either fall into one of two categories, nicely illustrated here already: 1) We will do much worse, based on calculations matching up results from last season when we were not as good, thereby introducing a level of failure that the current side has not been shown to have, and extrapolating results from the last 2 months of the season where the players and manager who hadn't left yet were tangibly going through the motions anyway. 2) We're definitely going to come in the top 4, based on current results plus wildly optimistic predictions based on the false premise that all Prem opponents are equal or the not necessarily self-fulfilling prophesy that we're 2nd so we must be the 2nd best team in the division, generally insinuating things like playing Man City and Chelsea away is similar to playing West Ham or Swansea away (or worse, that it's like playing Hull). Personally I think it's somewhere between the two, with the specifics of the "somewhere" being dependent on unknown factors such as injuries and recovery time, suspensions and who gets them, and the vagaries of form - which itself is only partially reflected in previous performances against opponents for a side which is at best 50% different to last season's, and all of this is jumbled up in a nice bundle in which a couple of millimetres in two strikes of the ball could be the difference between 3 points and none. We have, after all, lost away to bottom half sides Spurs and Liverpool, as well as winning at top 5 sides Swansea and West Ham.

This would be the Ronald Koeman who has already categorically stated that he won't be leaving Saints for the Dutch job even if it becomes available, right? And the Daily Mirror which will pretty much print anything.

63 and 64 points are more likely to come 4th than any other points tally - 65-68 for 3rd. We have 25, so need about 39 more (13 wins) to have a decent shout of 4th. We have 11 matches left against sides in the bottom half (home and away) not including Spurs and Liverpool at home, plus Stoke away where we've already won, as well as the other 13 matches against fellow top half sides.ott Basically if we can beat the bottom half home and away we should finish at least 4th.

Apologies for the comment at the end of this article, I feel betrayed. http://www.newport-county.co.uk/news/article/half-season-tickets-2076249.aspx

Big weekend for the little clubs with the FA Cup first round weekend coming up.

Because he's a massive egomaniac. Which is what they wanted after Moyes - someone who had enormous self-belief and sees Man U as this enormous global force and treats it as such. Even if they're not.

Pfft, we should be treating Liverpool like every other midtable side. Let the lower sides beat everyone in the top 4 except us, and us beat all the lower sides, try and pick up as many points as possible against those around us in the top positions, and we're laughing. We should all want Liverpool to beat Chelsea, until Liverpool are nearer us than Chelsea are.

It's only £250 plus P&P, that's what it costs for a shirt £50, shorts £25 and socks £10 for home, away and keeper's kit (which also doubles as the yellow alternate away shorts and socks). Plus he said accessories - and probably training kit too. I just hope it fits. Seeing as I just mentioned yellow alternate shorts and socks, I wonder whether we'll bust out a completely new yellow outfielder shirt against Palace away on Boxing Day? We've already worn the yellow shorts and socks this season, and Palace's blue/red was adjudged to clash with Sunderland's stripes and their light blue away, wouldn't be surprise if the officials decide our red home and navy away are also too similar to their shirts. In which case, I want them to sell a replica of it... annoys me when we wear stuff you can't buy. Examples: They never sold the yellow away shirt from this season, only the 1976 commemorative version without the sponsor. Pretty sure they also didn't sell the yellow shorts we wore for almost the entire season when Burley just decided the yellow looked better than the blue. They didn't sell the white FA Cup semi final shorts: Or the white shorts we wore against Leicester away in the FA Cup in the mid 2000s (or the black alternate socks we also wore at some point in the 3 years we had that style of sock). Both were the reverse of the black/white normal home kit and worn with the usual home shirts in this style: Or last season's Cup alternates: White adidas socks Black adidas shorts We didn't sell these red shorts in 2009 (which were also alternate shorts with the home kit at Watford and Hull) and we didn't sell the red socks that were also a charcoal alternate - and that we wore for more of the 2008/9 season than the charcoal itself:

I never quite get the point of these kind of posts. Adidas launch a new set of kits every season, with different layout, material shapes and so on - we know it'll be striped, people are saying it'll be adidas, and yes, that's a striped adidas kit - but it definitely won't be that 2012 adidas style. At very worst with adidas it'll be a current 2014 design and they rarely use those for "proper" teams, so pretty comfortable it'll be a new 2015 style. (Sunderland's stupid "last season's design but not last season's kit all white 3rd kit" as used at Palace on Monday was one of those times they had to bolt on an emergency 3rd kit and the 2013 template is understandable). I'm not sure how difficult it is to picture "red and white stripes with adidas stripes on" as a general concept without needing to see an out of date version that it isn't, so I don't understand why it's relevant to be using old pics of old styles as if it will look like that, we're already into "2015 details". Speculation about other brands is still fair game (can't really go off the ITKers at this stage much as I'd like to, not enough proof - but it'll be gospel in a few months nevertheless) and all 2015 designs are relevant for that reason. I think we're safe from the dreaded all red, but even so, there's nothing wrong with working other previous designs into the mix (sash, halves, quarters, broad stripe, etc) because there's an outside chance that it's possible it might be those too. But a 2012 design that happens to be red/white and adidas, it's not that.

Fortunately the numbers are provided by the Football League and they won't have any say in the matter.

Absolutely no way Spurs are selling the kid who's scored 10 in 13 for them this season (albeit mostly on Thursdays). The Spurs fans are screaming out for him to start in the Premier League at the moment and they'd want way more than £10m, we'd probably be paying at least £18m with a load of add-ons to be prising him away. But I think he's only interested in establishing himself at Spurs for now.

I can kind of see that it looks like the Liebherr logo from an angle, but it doesn't head on.

What I make of that is that either Connor isn't a great observer of fonts, or that Liebherr have changed their logo since the last time I looked at it. Because to me, the MARKUS LIEBHERR PAVILION sign is in the same typeface as you'll find on all the Saints documents this season and looks nothing like the Liebherr logo seen on heavy machinery.

When it gets merged, the earlier posts go to the top. HTH.

Au contraire, there is only one kit thread, and this ain't it. Not a mock up or 2015 shirt to be seen.

You went too early on stationary, ffs. Great article, my inner pedant didn't spot the "so"s, but sure as hell noticed the "peak" at the black box.

Orlando City's new (because the team is new) kit for 2015 has been released: A different style to the adidas ones above, and an interesting overlapping sleeve thing going on - not sure how the white band around the bottom of the shirts appears IRL but it looks to be a feature, with the design looking like there's an undershirt incorporated.

You must have missed the thread I started last month? http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?52052-The-Long-Overdue-Pointless-2015-16-Kit-Thread#.VFt5pjSsWSo

I especially like that bit.

28_F, to support your argument "how many teams go there and win?" you could make a case that an average team would have 5 defeats at home in the 2 domestic Cup competitions and Arsenal only have 4, plus 3 of those sides are the current top 3 in the Prem, so they've only had one defeat at the Emirates in the past 5 years in domestic cups (which they generally do quite well in) to sides who aren't currently in the top 3 in the country - I'd say that was pretty good. Needs total stats of all cup matches played to show how many they won as well though, and I didn't bother counting those as I went - but they got to a LC Semi and a separate LC Final in that period. It also works to support Saints as a legitimate top 3 threat (if you ignore Blackburn's current position of "somewhere in the Championship").

Drogba has a much loftier point to fall from.

We could sign Andy Carroll to do that, AND he's more mobile and better in the air. Or if he isn't already, he will be by the end of Lambert's contract. *Sound of worm can opening*. Just saying, there are plenty of other options for players who aren't currently playing and who probably want to be at Saints, which don't come with a rapid expiry date.

Sooooo, the current songs are so "sh!t" that they actually persuaded Schneiderlin to stay (your evidence) and therefore we need different songs for him? Are you running Portsmouth FC?

You missed the bit where our system needs a mobile target man who scores overhead kicks and beats people and stuff.