Chez

not for me, slow, not great in the air and not as good as Rasiak. We need a pacey striker IMO.

dreadful. How do you approach that? I just can't imagine myself standing in the Milton giving him **** all afternoon but that's exactly what should be done...

I'll tell you why, because he is a slow midget and that is a terrible combination for a centre back. As good as his positional play migth be we are constantly caught out at set pieces. He just does not win enough headers in vital areas. I'm not talking about winning headers from goal kicks, I'm talking about balls in the box, when you don't have a run up. Height is everything in these situations. I would add that I totally disagree with your assessment about his composure when bringing it out from the back. IMO he is appauling when in posession. He is neither comfortable on the ball nor a decent passer. Last season Jardi had Rigewell alongside of him. He offers a fair amount of pace and did a lot of Jardi work for him - chasing players out wide and down the channels. Perry doesn't do that very well either. For me getting Jardi in with JPS alongside him would make us formidable at the back. With Harding offering extra height we might actually start looking like a team of giants. Perry gives everything but if you want to win things you need to be ruthless and I'd start right there at CB if I wanted to win the league.

went to Madrid for my birthday a few years back with the intention of watching Athletico. Went down to the ground on the Sunday lunchtime to get a ticket but found the stadium all shut. Thought it a bit strange, but then again thought perhaps it was the ciesta. Later that eveing as we were getting ready to go back to the ground to see if we could get a ticket from a tout etc there seemed to be lots of clips of Athletico games on the various news channels. Initially I thought it was a preview, but it turned out to be the previous evenings game - they had switched it a week or so before to Saturday, which I later found out was quite common in Spain.

never man the oldest back four, this has to be the slowest back four in history.

My best mate is a Brum season ticket holder and he says about Jardi last season: "overall he was awesome. Can play at championship level still although not if he has to run. He struggled a little in the middle of the season, but was immense in the run in. He would be great for you. He's a captainesc figure and of course he's massive". If its a choice between a slow 5 feet nothing Perry and a slow 6 feet 3 Jardi there is no choice.

Bailey at Charlton impressed me greatly in both games last season. Shelvey is a talent as well. What we need most though is pacey talent up top and Backford is the proven talent there.

nor are Norwich.

Pardew signing but then he didn't play him (4 starts and 16 sub appearances) so you have to wonder if he has faith in the lad (admittedly there were othjer strikers available to him).

listen to this man.

Is a banking background, allbeit looking after customers involved in sport, really the kind of experience required to successfully run a football club? I don't know, anyone able to offer any insight here? Obviously I'm glad he persuade ML to spend his coffers here, but only time will tell if he guides the spendng the right way.

I'm slightly dissapointed in the sales if I'm honest. They've knocked nearly £100 off the price, offered free tickets to under 8s and Lowe has gone.

Indeed. Wonder if we can get them to pay some of his wages.

he has a year left on his contract.

I'm not just happy we have a club to support but elated. That doesn't mean I'm not ambitious nor does it mean I am stupid enough to think that this set of players is good enough to challenge. Having said that I'm not going to start moaning about our lack of signings to date. Clearly the players we want are not there. If the right money is not there then fine. ML has saved us and if he doesn't want to spend more now so be it.

we have money we just want to pay the right wages for our league income. Stern followed the cash.

not seen a great deal of Murty since he has been here but will our defensive frailties at set pieces be solved by signing a 5ft not much full back? I keep saying this but if we continue to pick Perry then we need some height in the side and I mean a 6"4 centre back and a 6"odd striker and maybe something similar in midfield. Either that or we need some Gary Neville, Jason Dodd or Paul Telfer types that win headers from set peices all day long.

he's been decent in every preseason game so far and looked very much `up for it'. We need quality throughout the side and my worry would be that if Saga and Rasiak left would we be able to identify affordable quality players willing to play in L1.

very good shout but the failure to match Palace's contract offer to Stern John shows that we are not going to pay more than League1 market value which puts him out of our price range if the Posh can't match his demands. They are relative big spenders. I'd like to see us match what the Posh did and spend big on a player like Boyd (best non league player out tere at thetime).

careful, that sort of talk will have you labelled as a happy clappy. Can I ask if Mills was any threat at all on the left?

still living in the premiership then? No idea why you are talking about the two friendlies, it took just 5 minutes of his debut to tell you everything you needed to know. Sharp, decent touch and 100% comitment. If you didn't see it then my guess is you don't have the eye to spot talent. Don't worry, give it a few years and he'll move up the leagues and then you'll have hacks telling you he's talented so you'll feel comfortable.

their manager has said several times that he wants 7 attakers. If Tyson goes it will be to another CCC side.

agreed but we ended up playing Molyneux and then Surman when we had Mills.

absolute fantastic news - oh what a happy clappy fan I am...sigh. Brilliant signing, and it is a signing because he could easily have moved to Scunny in the Championship but obviously our ambition, set up and contract offer were to his liking. Can I just add that he is a great prospect and anyone that saw his debut will have spotted straight away what a tenatious talented player he is. He should niot have been loaned out IMO and like James should have been given the season to progress or at least provide cover. No idea why we signed Molyneux. Great news.

Didn't take long before we got our first `happy clappy' name calling. Every Saints fan wants the absolute best for the club. We are all ambitious. We all want to see our side at the top. Still, if it makes you feeel superior you do carry on.