The9

I am merely stating the facts. We're more recently familiar with the right end of that division AND the wrong end of it than them - and the middle, for that matter.

I like the idea of a Brighton fan, even a well-meaning one, trying to tell us what the Championship is like. Saints : 4 seasons at that level in the last 6 seasons (inc 2010/11). Brighton : 3 seasons at that level since 1993 - and without finishing above 20th in the second tier since 1990/1...

I could hear "One Markus Liebherr, there's only one Markus Liebherr" but not "Liebherr Wonderland" from the front of the Northam.

They've managed to avoid doing that with us and Sunderland for 3 years so far, I'm pretty sure if we get stripes we'll have the Rangers away/Athletic Bilbao. It also bears a striking resemblance to the image in this SFC Marketing email that came around...

I've bought 20,000 tickets, will that help ? By the way, we don't play in red this season.

Yeah, apart from the time the entire ground started sarcastically cheering him finally giving us a foul, of course... what were you watching ?

I'm more than happy to criticise them both. and Barnard was without playing distance of the ball and was charged in the back, I'd love to see the version of the laws you have read.

I don't think anyone wants to change it back, do they ? It's not Plymouth's fault either, they were adhering to FIFA's rules.

Referee was pants every time there was a 50/50, and luckily for us he wasn't a major factor in the result. As for the Barnard "foul", how dare he bend over whilst the defender clatters him from 3 yards away...!?

Gecko, have you got the Football League name and number font templates by any chance ? I like the designs, don't like the contrasting cuff thing though, and would prefer a bit more in the way of a stripe, either on the sleeves or on the side panels.

I am respectfully ignoring your nonsense about Guly. Signed on Jan 20th, he's played in 6 matches since, two of which we scored 4 in, plus a decent game against Man U. The other three were the Tranmere debacle, Hartlepool away 0-0 and Carlisle 1-0 at home. So three decent games and three not so great. He's also very good in the air, and has been all season, and sees passes that half the time Lambert (for instance) doesn't bother to run for. The "run of form" he had immediately before that coincided with us winning 5 in a row and scoring at least 3 goals against everyone except Premier League Blackpool, who we only beat 2-0. Lambert only scored THREE of our 19 goals in that time. Which is exactly why I'd like to see Lallana, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Guly sitting behind someone who makes runs and has movement like Barnard, rather than someone mostly immobile like Lambert. Added bonus of being able to sit two holding midfielders in front of the back 4 as well.

Whoosh.

Yup, that's about the sum of my complaint on the matter. I couldn't give a crap about having a sponsor on the shirt and don't regard it as any kind of "gift" to me, but forcing me to go to St Mary's to buy my ticket to avoid additional charges (including for away games) is bloody annoying.

Ryan Doble ? Also, Ox-Cham's interviewed in FourFourTwo this month and pointed out that he has always regarded himself as a central midfielder until this season and is always surprised at the Theo comparisons, so given our surplus of wide midfielders (relatively speaking) maybe that's an option...

Makes me laugh, just discussing how we haven't seen any new Umbro templates and there it is, as if on cue. But why doesn't anyone link directly to pics except me ? I don't really see where they're going to go with the new Saints home shirt from there. Even a central white stripe and not having the diagonal shoulder bit wouldn't be much different. That makes me think we might maybe get a broad stripe first (not dissimilar to last year's Hearts kit actually). Total guesswork though, we've only seen the one new template, the West Brom shirt will give us a clue (assuming they're still with Umbro). I suppose we could have a single colour sleeve... but then again even having this season's Rangers away shirt would be brilliant. I note the "new" Umbro shorts will have very little in the way of trim (no contrast trim around the bottom this year, but that's OUR colourscheme Sunderland have, so what will we have ?), and the new Umbro style socks look like they're just going to have two hoops on them, after this seasons plain / contrast turnover. That would work for Saints in white / red or white / black with the logo in the 3rd colour. There should also be a few keepers' kits around shortly then...

Doesn't that also remove the £3 online booking fee though ? So if you're only buying one ticket you're better off..?

I'd love to see what Guly and Barnard could do together. And Doble, for that matter.

I don't think all that much of any of our midfielders at the moment, it's the nature of the division we're in - everyone's flawed somehow. Hammond is inconsistent and slow, Schneiderlin doesn't play forward passes enough, Chaplow's lost a lot of the energy he had when first arriving and can't last 90 minutes. And they all get booked too often! Guthrie looked very average for a Bolton side who came 16th in the Prem, got relegated with Newcastle the next season and then came up in a team that was plenty good enough to win the Division without him in it (Nolan was 442 Player of the Season for the Football League alongside him and well above that level) - and he wouldn't have got a kick even then, if Barton had been fit and not suspended. This season they've mostly dropped him for Tiote and Barton and are 10 places higher this time than when he played 2 years ago. So he's a below-average Prem squad member. He WOULD improve us, but that's because we're in League One and even a half-decent Championship player would - but he's no kind of wonder player. I'd also be very surprised if he was remotely interested in signing...

We just did it once. You're also assuming no-one else around us is going to drop any points in that time.

There are some stupid arguments on here, at least START by comparing like for like regarding Saints and Peterborough's attacks... I don't even know which players you're comparing in this hypothetical swap at the moment, I assume Mackail-Smith, Boyd and Tomlin, but how would they fit into Saints line-up, and would that have an impact on the rest of the team ? Do they have holding midfielders who recently have started playing well, or what ? Anyone can score AND concede loads of goals, but if that was the the most effective way to play everyone would be playing W-M or W formation. Peterborough have started conceding fewer, but why, and will it soon impact on their ability to score due to players getting into a different mindset ? And while I'm on the subject, when did slightly above average for Saints Danny Bloody Guthrie become the messiah ? Ten games for Saints during which he did a lot of nothing of note except look a bit busy.

Phillips only just missed my list. He did a pretty good job for us while he was here, but due to the relegation he wasn't around long enough to really make his mark.

I assume the theory is that Orient are on a run of form and will have about 5000 plastics to help fill their home seats this time. Which they may well have if West Ham aren't busy.

In my decidedly un-humble opinion, I think Huddersfield are going to gradually fall apart in the next month or two, with them and Bournemouth scrapping over the last two play-off places with Orient. A Pugh injury would just about do for AFCB just like a Lallana one did for us for a while. 1 Brighton 2 Saints ------- 3 Peterborough 4 MK Dons 5 Huddersfield 6 Leyton Orient -------- 7 AFC Bournemouth

Since I've been watching Saints... so nothing before 1991, permanent signings not loans, doesn't include anyone who could loosely be argued to be an academy product, and based on achievements not hype. 1. Pele (I heard he scored 1000 goals ) 2. Antti Niemi 3. Michael Svensson 4. James Beattie 5. Marians Pahars 6. Chris Marsden 7. Claus Lundekvam 8. Kevin Davies (1st time) 9. Kevin Davies (2nd time) 10. Berkovic / Kachloul (tie). Honorable mention to Jose Fonte, and re-signing Lallana (academy rule aside) - plus for cash reasons Dean Richards and Kenwyne Jones .