Chez

The Barnard signing was on the Echo before the OS though?

I know but it must have been tied in somehow otherwise why didn't we simply loan him to them?

He would have been free in June. Also its £175k + Patterson.

Personally I think this is an error as every time I have seen the lad (apart from two games) he has looked decent. Giving him away for free is absolute madness in my book. Even if it is part of the Barnard deal it is only going to be £50k. Far too low in my book. I suppose Pardew sees him every day so knows better than I, but I just wonder if having to play against Jardi in training every day has made him look bad. I wonder what other players Pardew has let go during his management career. Perhaps its not long enough to really see if he discarded a few gems. best of luck to the lad. I'll be following his progress and comparing it closely with Barnard who I know nothing about.

I thought Fowler looked decent in that game. He caused us a few problems but just didn't have the pace to hurt us.

is he better than Patterson?

laziest player I have ever seen in a Saints shirt ever. I might point that out to him, on the other hand why even acknowledge him after the way he ****ed us about in the summer. Good riddance.

I wonder if Pulis took them to the cleaners on that deal. I'm pretty sure negotiations went like this: "We'll pay 40% of his wages, no loan fee, oh and the loan ends on the last day of the season as we have no intention of paying his wages whilst he is away in South Africa. That's ok for you. No I'm not asking Jacobs, I'm telling you. And be grateful. Go on say it, I'm grateful Mr Pulis. Louder. Now bow, lower, I said lower, now walk backwards out of my ****ing office, don't stop bowing you ****er, quicker."

Pardew clearly doesn't rate him and his comments about wanting a striker that he can play to rest Lambert says everything. For me Patterson is the ideal understudy to Lambert and given a run would be a great asset. I think I'm resigned to the fact that he is out of here.

if he is good enough then its a no brainer, but if he is just a player that has hit a lucky streak goalscoring wise then we could end up with Saga Mark II.

just out of interest which games did you see him in last season? Did you see his debut at Reading? He was tremendous when he came on in that game and showed instantly that he was strong, gutsy and more than willing. Strikers that get stuck in always impress me, but I also liked the way he held the ball up and his ability in the air. He showed all these things against Millwall this season. He lacks finess I grant you, but the player you describe is not one I see. I'm dumbfounded by the "Lightweight" comment.

"Lallana is a ****er." Mental.

typifies the guy. Works his socks off on saturday then plays Wednesday despite being injured. I pity the supporters that don't understand the game enough to see what he offers both now and potentially in the future. You have to have patience with young players learning their trade. Just look at Le Tiss and his career at Southampton. You won't see a better player in a Saints shirt ever, but even he had his ups and down in the early years.

Scotland scored for fun in the CCC. Why would he drop two divisions?

the lower the price the more people interested though until you reach a market driven figure. Most Premiership sides could benefit from having a decent centra back added to their squad. How many can afford his wages I wonder?

Two things. Its Lille that have supposedly made the offer of 10 million Euros (Man City were rumoured to haev offered 8 million Euros when Hughes was around), and he's not at the African Nations - he wants to play for France. He's not playing for the Skates because he has an "inflamed big toe".

...automobile tyre kicking?

Stoke medical taking place in Soton? Seems unlikely, but possible.

maybe this figure was `created' so as to inflate the market. The idea being that if you know the skates have turned down £10m you are going to come in with a higher bid. Lens were in the second tier of French football last season and lie only 15th in this. How is a team like that going to afford a £10m transfer fee not to mention Kabouls wages, which must be massive. Lyon maybe.

another very good reason for us employing Harte right now. If we are going to spend on th eupgrading training facilities we should accompany this with the very best coaching talent and Harte is the best youth coach around as far as I can see.

bought EEN for 4p about ten years ago and sold them recently for 670p. Unfotunately they consolidated the shares a few years back so I only made 2.7p share not 666p, but a profit is a profit. **** load of risk on penny shares. For a while EEN were 0.25p a share as things went belly up with an explosion at one of their wells. If you are going to dabble try not to get too greedy and do a lot of research. Don't believe allt he posts on forums, because very often there is a lot of hype to help get the price up but by the time you have bought in the real money men are starting to look to sell.

Patterson is a big tall lad and has shown strength (I'm amazed anyone doubts this) and a high workrate in the games he has played for us. He's not lightening quick obviously, but he is quick enough for a big lad. When he was racing away from the Ipswich defenders last season to score he looked spritely enough. The problem is that he had two poor games near the start of the season that Pardew simply can not put to the back of his mind. The fact he was decent last season and had a great game against Millwall at the start of this seemingly counts for ****. IMO he has a great future and we should not sell this lad. A loan maybe, especially as Pardew doesn't trust him to see out games (so he's not even getting five or ten minutes). Played regularly he'd score at this level. I wonder if Barnard is a better player?

plenty are doing their best

I suggested we sign him when he was available from Barnet but we had zero funds that summer. I think he had a shocker for Plymouth early doors and Luggy lost confidence in the lad immediately. It's quite a jump from League 2 to the championship so maybe the step back down has helped him. I've seen a few times now for Franchise and he looks a real talent. Just the sort of player we should invest in before another CCC takes a chance on him.

With Morgan out I wonder if the Stock/Gilett swap deal, if it exists, will be rushed through in time for the game on Saturday?