The9

'82 or '92 ? County were as much on the radar as they were ever going to get in '82 !

Bloody right, I went to Fratton to watch that lot the week before they played in the 1992 FA Cup Semi Final, even qualified for a SF ticket (accidentally), and also saw them beat Millwall 5-1 which got Bruce Rioch sacked, but I knew all along my heart was with Ian Branfoot's beautiful, free-flowing Saints of Hurlock and Ruddock.

I have seen nothing to suggest we've even made a bid in the past 12 months, never mind had one rejected. The last report that we'd actually made a bid for him was January 2012, and we were a top 3 Championship side at the time. There are loads of summer 2013 reports that we are "reported to be interested", but nothing that we've had any kind of interest or made a bid (i.e. those reports are completely made up). He'll be a decent replacement for Holt for Norwich but I think they're signing him as an alternative to Van Wolfswinkel and may not use both of them together, pretty tricky to score from the bench.

Yet not Liverpool, or Man Utd, or Chelsea, or Spurs or Arsenal, all bigger clubs. Middling Man City, hadn't won anything for 30 years, fewer cup final appearances than Millwall in the previous 25 years, and in 1997 still getting decent but not spectacular crowds. There's potential in Newbury if someone throws a billion quid at them. Maybe they won't be champions in 2013, but you were talking about a jump of 11 years already from the date I was discussing before City even got taken over. They were a middling-to-relegation threatened Prem side with nothing resembling success in '97, and before the Commonwealth Games came along and gave them a stadium, showed no signs of getting any bigger. Even with Shinawatra's money they were STILL nothing major. Though they had a new ground, they were still only a vaguely decent top half side at that point. So, ANYONE can inherit a big, rich, owner and suddenly get the rocket treatment, and the threshold is getting lower as the top clubs are already bought up. The only question now, is whether someone can still launch a club with a wodge of cash while Financial Fair Play is in place.

Most of the training kit has contrast colours, but some of the polo style shirts have "same colour" badges. I actually like pretty much all of the training kit, blended badge or not. I'm ok with the away shirt too, but the home shirt (it does have white names and numbers, one minor redeeming feature) is just all kinds of wrong every single time I see it.

Screwed over by HD, IMHO.

Don't make me post it again.

It's no "On The Ball City".

How are any of the other clubs going to get close to them without getting into the CL, and what kind of player is going to sign for a non-CL club and be good enough to challenge Celtic and the kind of players they can attract compared to the other sides ? Even if better players sign for the smaller clubs, Celtic (and Rangers when they get back there) will be able to sign anyone who looks decent on a much better deal. Just the crowds alone give them a huge advantage. Whether Rangers can get back to where they were immediately on return to the Scottish Premiership (as renamed today) remains to be seen - the first season back will certainly be an interesting one, there's a possibility they don't immediately come second !

Slippery slope, wouldn't have happened in the 80s.

Nicely done. I've heard he's a shirter though, must be difficult for you to deal with ? Or is it ok if it's retro ?

I'm from Newport in south Wales, I support Saints because when Newport County went bankrupt in 1989 I happened to be choosing a University, and Southampton was my first (realistic) choice after their hastily-rearranged Open Day was gloriously underprepared, though if I'd got straight "A"s I'd have gone to Leeds and done a year in the USA... I'd also be lying if I said the thought of watching regular Div 1 football in a nice green looking city wasn't a factor. Lived here from 1991-94 and since 2005.

Pretty sure you're right. He's also going to be knackered from playing for two successive summers so when he doesn't start early in the season people will start jumping to conclusions... even though plenty of managers have chosen to rest "summer players" to give them a break, and he'll want to be peaking at the end of the season when the World Cup is looming.

That means you're not supporting anyone this season then ?

AFAIK we stopped being interested when we stopped having his former manager in charge in January, and everything since then has been lazy media speculation.

I think we played both Bittern fixtures at Fleming Park that season. I only played at Millbrook once that season, we had something resembling a competent side that week and still lost.

In 1997 Man City were just some other Prem team. On that basis, any current "just some Prem team" could get billions of quid and win the League. Their success wasn't down to how popular they were before they were taken over by some Sheikh, it's down to them winning stuff and buying world-class players. Anyone with the same backing could do the same thing, and let's not pretend that there's some long history of Man City love in the owner's background either.

Well for a start we don't play in Germany...

Lovren was entirely to blame for the second goal, block or not, he pulled his foot away from a potential clearance having misjudged it and the Schalke player scored as a direct result. He did also hit two or three laaaarvely crossfield passes though.

Doesn't, by any stretch of the imagination.

Um, probably worth a mod editing the Title to say KO 5pm, it's 6pm local time. Anyone in the UK looking at that is going to miss the kick off by an hour...

I don't think forking out £60 for a preseason friendly is "plastic", and nor is not wanting to attend a pre-season friendly against a bunch of nobodies from 2 leagues below. How did they get on against H&W ? Newport beat them 3-0 in Havant last Saturday.

Not sure why him being pictured in a casino (not necessarily gambling) means that his opinions on high APR money lending exploiters is any less valid, I'm pretty sure neither of them is mentioned in the Koran. Though I do think it's rather convenient that he's only bothered by this season's sponsor and not last, which was also a money lender, just not one with a high APR...

Wasted on me I'm afraid, took me a day to recall which song it was based on and that's the only line of the song I know.

Maybe it's all cover for him having his legs broken and repinned to make him taller ? Plaster boots are pretty built up anyway aren't they ?