The9

Well apart from the fact that they've already rescheduled the Saints match, New Zealand are still playing China on 25th, so no. And they won't play it on 29th when the Japan game was scheduled either, because even if Fallon is back in time they still have 2 other players out, and that's not the date on which the match is scheduled anyway. http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/administration/01/06/30/78/statusinhalt_en_122007.pdf Article 1 Principles 1. Clubs are obliged to release their registered players to the representative teams of the country for which the player is eligible to play on the basis of his nationality if they are called up by the association concerned. Any agreement between a player and a club to the contrary is prohibited. 2. The release of players under the terms of paragraph 1 of this article is mandatory for matches on dates listed in the coordinated international match calendar and for all matches for which a duty to release players exists on the basis of a special decision by the FIFA Executive Committee. 3. It is not compulsory to release players for matches scheduled on dates not listed in the coordinated international match calendar. 4. Players must also be released for the period of preparation before the match, which is laid down as follows: a) friendly matches: 48 hours; b) qualifying matches for an international tournament: four days (including the day of the match). The release period shall be extended to fi ve days if the match concerned is held in a different confederation to the one in which the player’s club is registered; c) qualifying matches for an international tournament that are staged on a date reserved for friendly matches: 48 hours; d) friendly matches that are staged on a date reserved for qualifying matches for an international tournament: 48 hours; e) the fi nal competition of an international tournament: 14 days before the fi rst match in the competition. Players shall join the association team no later than 48 hours before kick-off. There's also another bit saying Players complying with a call-up from their association under the terms of this article shall resume duty with their clubs no later than 24 hours after the end of the match for which they were called up. This period shall be extended to 48 hours if the match concerned took place in a different confederation to the one in which the player’s club is registered. Clubs shall be informed in writing of a player’s outbound and return schedule ten days before the match. Associations shall ensure that players are able to return to their clubs on time after the match.

But surely all the advertising slots are taken up by marketing companies advertising themselves ?

Can't say I'm particularly bothered about the sponsor (provided we're not skint of course, which would make it a little more important), but I could swear I heard Cortese blathering on about a blue-chip sponsor next time at some point. I can't find a link to it though... and I've already checked the announcement that flybe weren't continuing the sponsorship AND the "no sponsor on the home kit this season" announcement. I wonder if it was something that came out of one of his fan lunches....

Well done, but that 1925 change in the offside law from 3 defenders to 2 and Herbert Chapman leaving really messed you lot up didn't it ? Strange to think the last time you won anything the pitch wasn't even marked like it is today. My grandad's 90 this year and he's too young to remember Huddersfield winning anything.

They have 6 current templates in use - but only the round neck Saints away style (used by lots of others inc Forest, West Brom/Swansea A and Northern Ireland) and the striped kits used by Sunderland / West Brom / Rangers away weren't already in use before this season. The Man City kit, as well as Universitario, are just the 2010 England away shirt. Arguably the V-neck shirt used by Wales, Swansea H and Sunderland and Blackburn A is the 2009 v-neck collar on the 2009 England shirt model. The Rangers / Blackburn H is the recent Tailored By England home kit, as is the Saints/Peru sash. The Saints shirt is "bespoke", other than nicking the whole sash design concept from an existing Umbro Teamwear kit and the whole Tailored By look from the previous England home shirt just like those above. The Hearts kit is the Winchester (Wrexham) Teamwear shirt with a contrasting middle panel. ALL the Umbro deals are 1 year, but they'll still only be rotating 3 of those shirts out of use this year (and they've already got Universitario wearing the 2009 for another year).

Lots. Gives you some idea of the confidence the club has in our support when the likes of Stoke are doing early bird deals whilst in the Prem and we're... well... blindly stumbling along in the dark as usual. ...even the argument that we're waiting to find out what division we're in holds no water, just bring out two sets of prices, we've done it before (CCC Play-Off season we did early bird and the prices stuck whether in the Championship or Prem).

Depends whether it'll cost them more to move those who have existing tickets elsewhere or to change the segregation / policing than they'll get from selling extra tickets. They'll almost certainly have sold some tickets from all areas outside the away section already.

There was already a sponsor thread last week, it's why I didn't raise it when I started the kit thread.

I've heard they're not selling them off - I've also heard they're not getting any more in, which I actually think is a mistake for the sash kit, as it's a ready-made retro classic. The current away kit is utter gash though, can't wait to see it go.

I'm assuming you meant "don't", but basically every team in the Premier League is now changing kits every season. Spurs haven't kept the same one of any of their shirts for 2 years in a row since the early 00s.

They've managed to avoid it for three years so far... firstly by giving them white shoulder panels and a different collar on the same kit we had red shoulder panels on, then by us not changing kit unexpectedly in 2009 when they had a really generic plain V neck, then this season with our sash.

Well thanks, but I'm pretty sure that if people think ST prices are too high they also think ticket prices per game are too high. Excellent value compared to poor value game by game tickets isn't excellent value. It will be interesting to see what will happen if we don't go up, because I can see a LOT of people walking away at the current prices for a third season in League One, the same thing happened in the Championship. A whole heap of people claimed it was a boycott... but did they come back ?

But as part of their teamwear range it will also be a year old by then, and being worn by any parks team who has a spare £300 as well... Umbro have been quite restrictive in what they're allowing pro teams to wear this season - there really are only about 4 designs in use even including the various Chilean and Peruvian teams they have under contract, and most of them are just the England red world cup shirt in slightly different colours. Even our sash kit was already a teamwear design with the sash going across the other shoulder (as you'll see on their teamwear link). I'm just a bit surprised there aren't more NEW styles out there yet, as far as I know Blackburn, Sunderland, West Brom, Swansea, Rangers and Man City are currently with Umbro and I haven't heard that they're changing. We won't look like Stoke, they're with adidas and their 2011/12 shirts are usually previewed by the MLS styles which are already being worn.

Someone will.

We're only 2 months from the end of the season, which means two new Umbro kits for Saints will be rolling along fairly soon. Or if last season is anything to go by, in July and August. Either way, the Umbro deal requires a new home and away shirt, plus we'll (hopefully) have a new sponsor, and will almost certainly be back to the red and white stripes for next season. I was just wondering if anyone had seen or heard anything from new Umbro that might help us figure out what Saints will be wearing next season - or if anyone had any preferences. All I can see from Umbro at the moment are variations of the 2009 England away template used by Man City, a bunch of south American sides and now Peru's third kit, and the varieties of the Umbro teamwear range http://www.umbrofootballkits.co.uk/catalogue_1.aspx?id2=6:2527&id2=6:2519&id2=6:2516&id=6:1444 that includes the current Saints kit (also Sweden away below) this Wrexham kit , the Wrexham away kit (same style as the previous England away) and the 2009/10 efforts they had with Sunderland and Birmingham, which Saints have already used for their navy away that season. There doesn't seem to be anything obviously new, though obviously with England getting a new home kit earlier in the season there will be an Umbro style based on this : PS We're not really discussing the sash kit any more, we're going back to stripes, it would be very strange and unexpected if we didn't.

As they've already sold a lot of home and away tickets for a match that would have been only 10 days away, it would take a lack of interest on Argyle's part regarding the new date for us to get a bigger allocation. Weird playing them in our first home and last away games of the season.

It is if you've worked out that was a feasible date...

Guesswork, like mine when I assumed that was the only date we'd be able to use as well !

I have to say I'm now considering it, and I had no intention of going to the other date/times. Could end up being a massive waste of energy to a nothing match if we're Play-Off confirmed but can't get to 2nd... or it could be a massive promotion party, championship party, etc... bit of a gamble.

I'm guessing their ex-manager will shortly be on the coaching staff at St Mary's, possibly with more to follow. Then again, maybe someone could start an awesome "Adkins to rejoin Scunny" thread or something for the hand-wringers.

No it isn't.

LOL, actually as with anything it took about ten seconds to get Wiki up and see which of their players were current internationals. The new date means we'll have a game in hand aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllll the way to the last week of the season. F F S... On the bright side if there's any time when players can get through 3 games in 7 days it's when there's something obvious to play for. Which there probably will be - though Plymouth will most likely either be down or safe by then.

A not-entirely-realistic angle on the realities of life there. Not everyone is in a position to drop whatever job it is they're doing and whatever income it is they're getting at a second's notice for the opportunity to POSSIBLY get a better opportunity. If he chucked it in or got sacked, where does that leave him if the big move doesn't come off ? I speak as someone who once missed out on playing in a national league for a club who was in the UEFA Cup the same season due to having to work Saturdays in a sports shop. Seriously, even my agent was taking the p11ss.* Even at the time I was thinking "I have to at least TRY to do this or I'll always regret it", so I changed jobs within the same company to a 9-5er so I could get there for weekend matches, but that window of opportunity is not very big, and there are lots of other players out there. *technically speaking I never signed anything, but he spotted me and got me there, and he was an agent.

Losing Mackail-Smith would be a massive blow to them. Anyone who's seen Peterborough recently can tell you their movement is excellent and he's the most mobile of all their attackers. It's often the space he creates by shifting about and pulling defenders with him that is exploited by their other attackers to score their goals. As a comparison, where would we be without Lallana holding up the ball for the rest of the team to join the attack, but how many of our goals does he actually score ?

For the record, it's also no kind of maple syrup.