Chez

Anyone that was at Ashton Gate a few seasons back, seeing us get our arses kicked as was so often the case, will testify that he did everything humanly possible to win the ball in that gam. He charged around like hsi life depended on it making tackles ranging from kung fu waist high kicks right through to head first dives at peoples feet. Up until then I had slated him, pretty much from his first touch, but from then on I coud never find the heart to rip him to shreads on here as I had done so many times before. He offered total committment whilst many around him were barely breaking sweat. That said, along with Darren Powell, he was without doubt one of the least talented players ever seen in a Saints shirt. I have little doubt he will make a very good coach indeed. I wonder if he heard us at Brentford?

as I said on the last page, I've never been sure that we have £2m available for a transfer. That is a lot of wedge for a league 1 club looking to break even each year. We haven't spent that kind of cash since Lambert, and even then didn't the McGoldrick money go some way towards it? I would suggest the talk of Guly costing £800,000 is way off the mark.

Ipswich are loaded these days.

Spurs do it just to spite the skates for their missing £1m? No chance, but I made myself smile.

considering the damage it has done to MLTs reputation, it would actually have been a mighty fine stroke if PR if NC had leaked this story. Actually scrub that, they have both come out of it poorly - so whoever gave the story to the press was an idiot.

I'm still not convinved we have nearly £2m available to buy him.

had a quick butchers at a few Geordie forums and most haven't even seen that rumour yet. On a separate note I did notice this golden thread that might interest those of you that smiled at our own Ted Bates statue thread. Well worth a look. http://www.toontastic.net/board/index.php?showtopic=29363&st=0&start=0

when you say goalposts were moved do you mean we had to up the transfer fee or up the contract offered to the player (have we got that far?)?

NO. If you want another man U ticket you will need to buy another Carlisle ticket (or any other Saints home game should you prefer)

strange that we played both Martin and Seaborne then yesterday. Mind you they both perhaps needed a game to sharpen them up.

the days of youth development officers and later youth team coaches needling and balling out schoolboys and then apprentices specifically to test them and to harden them to what will inevitably come from 20k plus crowds seem to be long gone. This may go some way to explain why many of today's players are good when the goings good but dissappear when things aren't going well. I wonder how many younger pros these days have the balls that the likes of Telfer and Wright showed when they battled against real abuse from home fans. It takes real character to do that and that was certainly something the likes of Higgins, Rofe and Merrington looked for in a player back in the day.

on the Swindon Newspaper website under the latest story about Charlie Austin there is a fans comment saying that Tyson might be joining Swindon on loan.

"Dany is really a confidence player though. When he's on his game, he can be awesome and difficult to stop, but he's not the most consistent at this level. Should be fine for you guys though. When he's confident, his tricks and step-overs seems to come off, but if he's not getting the rub of the green, then his head can drop. I would not say he's got a bad attitude, but when things aren't going right for him, if his head drops, he can seem like he gives up, and fades out of the game. Just needs to be well managed to keep his confidence up and keep him motivated. He likes to feel appreciated by the fans, and have a good rapport with the crowd, and he's certainly a fun personality to have around in that sense. Make him feel welcome and give him your support when he has off days. If you boo him he'll lose confidence and go into his shell, but if you encourage him, he'll try harder. Just treat him well and he'll prove a good signing for you, I'm sure. Hope he does well down there for you, and helps you get promoted. It really is a sh*t league, and clubs of both our stature need to be back in the Prem where belong. Best of luck for the rest of the season mate." he's ****ed then.

he is certainly a decent shout especially if we are promoted. Currently Forrest have a number of players heading toward the end of their contracts and the chairman is trying to get the wage bill down and as a result has offered existing players such as Ernie less than they are on now. Needless to say negotiations aren't moving especially quickly.

He's not out of contract until the summer so I'm not sure your point counts. He's played 23 games so far this season despite two injuries, so I am not sure what your point is. He won't drop a division, no chance, no need to, he'll get offers elsewhere in the Championship if he isn't offered one by Forrest. Fonte is a red herring. Like Surman for us he was faced with the option of moving or see the club he played for go under. If Palace were financially sound he'd never have joined us. As much as I'd like to see him here, he isn't going to leave thepromotion challenging forrest for us. Another player simply not available to us.

he'll need to be thick skinned then.

Pilkington to us is just like Chamberlain to them. No chance. People need to be realistic about not ony what we can afford but also their actual availability. Back to N'Guessen, he is perfect for us in that he has the class to fit into our passing game, and that touch of quality needed to unlock a defence. Consistency is always going to be a problem for a winger, especially when he steps up in class and faces fullbacks that a little better than he is used to, which might explain the comments by some Leicester fans. Hopefully dropping down a league will have the reverse effect and he'll have the confidence to get to the byeline and get crosses in from dangerous areas. With Puncheon indisposed we needed a wideman and we have acted swifty. Fresh blood will help to reinvigorate the side after a small dip. Good work chaps. Roll on Saturday.

I saw him play for Lincoln. Looked far far too good for that level. He did well for Leicester in his first season. He was in and out early on then played a lot as they m,ade the play offs. New regime now with much more money to spend. Doesn't mean he is no good. Morrison recently sold to Sheff Wed is another decent player they have let go. He'll do alright here IMO.

Lallana injured and Puncheon wanting away means with or without Chamberlain we'd still need a winger. Well chuffed with this.

ha ha ha, I've finally got one. Nice. This is the guy I suggested we sign two summers ago http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?15710-Tom-Craddock&highlight=danny+N%27guessen post #23 and post about on every single HCDAJFU thread. Excellent. The guy was terrific at Lincoln, a stand out player at league 2 level, and Leicester signed him for next to nothing as he was out of contract. He went up to Scunny on loan recently, did OK by all accounts. I said then there was a great chance we might bring him here. Adkins will have watched him shed loads, with Lincoln being just down the road. Great move for us. Now for Lee Cook...

If we were bottom right now it would probably be an insurmountable challenge, but we are just a couple of points behind so I'm not sure that is true. "With the injuries and potential loss of Puncheon and AOC it will be a very tough challenge" might be more appropriate, but I don't wabnt to put words into your mouth.

Seaborne and Martin both playing. I thought one of those would play in Saturday allowing Jardi to sit out and be ready for the Exeter game. Mind you Seaborne was excellent against Exeter at SMS so perhaps Adkins has that in mind and will save him for that one. BTW are there enough U21s to fill the U21s or do we generally have to slot a few senior players in? If Pulis is back I'd of thought he'd have been on that bench. This is a real statement to Puncheon. We won't be seeing him again.

A journalist will ask what a player thinks of him potentially joining the club. That player can either say "I don't want to comment on a player from another club as it's disrespectful" or he can say "from what I've seen and heard he is a fantastic player and if he joins us that will be great. This is a fantastic club and as an Arsena player you want thebest players to come to this club to help us challenege for honours". Neither will be part of Wengers cunning plan to encourage him to Arsenal.

one thing's for sure, should we sell him or any other player the club won't make a big song and dance about in advance, ie by sending out a preview ****ter announcement saying "big news about X player is coming". Buying a player, certainly, but selling? No chance. You are better off registering for the potential buying clubs ****ter if you want to get five minutes ahead of the game.

caving in? There was no contact as of Monday. How much contact was made yesterday when they had a game on I'm not sure, but I doubt Cortese is tied to a chair and being tickled till he breaks.