CB Fry

Thank god for that. Picking up my S2 tomorrow. Would have been gutted if SP didn't work on it. It will save me lugging the laptop into the kitchen for my very regular cooking dinner/Saints match situations.

Warnock's stats are great, actually. For a kick off, Warnock has been promoted into the Premier League twice, against Nigel Adkins zero times. Warnock struggled in the top division, but none of us know how Nige is going to get on. Warnock has just managed longer than Nigel has and at a higher level - big Championship level clubs fighting for promotion, not league one level clubs scrapping at the bottom of the Championship. When Warnock got Cortese style backing at QPR what happened - they ran away with the league, far more decisively than Nigel has achieved thus far. And this is last season we're talking about, not ancient history. Let's have a look at Adkins in a decade's time and see where he is then. People thinking he is never going to fail anywhere ever are just deluding themselves.

I think we will be about 12th in the Premier League, with the club announcing around about now that we have been sold to a South African/Japanese/Russian/American group of investors. If the Leibherrs want to get a return on their investment, then this time next year, when we are in the Premier League and looking safe for another season, is the best time to sell us on. Let's just hope they aren't mental case Indian chicken farmers, or full-of-it Yanks mortgaging the club they don't own to the hilt to generate cash to buy the club.

So basically, it is all thanks to Rupert then. I jest of course. Actually this is a really good point. The minus ten season helped take off some pressure, and also add in a "us against the world" attitutude which no doubt helped forge the squad together.

If we're in the Prem next season then this seems highly unlikely, unless we are playing them in some "tournament" in Thailand or something. Clubs don't really ever play teams in the same division in pre season on home soil, except for the community shield of course.

Well, not silly at all. 85 points has been enough most seasons in the last decade or so. Reading have won eight in a row and still trail behind us, even if they win their game in hand. And if Reading do end up winning every single game they ever play ever again, which some on here have worked themselves up into a frenzy thinking they will, there is still another place to play for. And 85 or so is probably going to be enough for that.

We do. We drew 1-1 at home yesterday.

As long as we beat Barnsley, no problem. We can't win them all.

Sorry, can't agree. Four points from these two games will be fine. I think you're being a bit melodramatic. Three weeks ago I bet you were fretting about Birmingham who don't even merit a mentionhere. If Reading, come saturday, have gone on to win what would be eight games in a row, then, well, well done them. I think it unlikely. It's funny that you also assume that West Ham and Reading will only come unstuck in "tougher games" but worry about Saints dropping points in games they should win. I think it perfectly possible that WHU and Reading can not win winnable games as much as we can.

....and this is where the pointless agonising comes in. Reading are not going to win every game from now until the end of the season. And neither are we. We can drop points in the next week and it will be fine. My point is if Reading do go on an amazing winning run of winning 10 games in a row or better then no, there will be nothing anyone can do about it because it will be a freak run of mega football which no one will match. Basically what I am saying is, it won't happen.

As opposed to all the other seasons in the history of the championship where all the teams not in the top two places don't bother trying to challenge them. Of course there's a chasing pack. There always is. Reading have won 6 in a row or something - do you really think they are going to win eight in a row, ten in a row? And in all fairness, if Reading do anything like that, they'll be champions and there's nothing any other club could do about it.

We don't even need six points, and it is highly likely we won't get them, just because that's what happens, even when you're top two. Four points this week would be 69 points from 36 games. That's 1.9 points a game, plenty for a top two finish, and would leave us needing about 16 points from ten games to pretty much cast iron guarantee promotion. 16 points from 10 games is basically scraping-into-the-play-offs form. All in all, I am saying we do have some wriggle room to "screw up". Let's not think we have to never drop a point again.

I wonder, next time we lose a game we should have won easily, how classy your reaction will be? How classy will you be next time we don't get a stonewall penalty awarded to us? Leeds, at very least deserved a point. Warnock on the Football League show was fair enough from what I could see, especially about Kelvin. The only classlessness on this forum is from the gimps who had already decided Warnock is bitter/classless/bad loser etc and decided to whinge about that before Warnock had even said a word.

Don't really know why but I think it won't be Harry. He'll blame his health or something, and we'll end up with the "dream team" of Pearce and Hodgson, hyped up with a load of old ******** about Pearce being groomed to take over in four years time, effectively giving us two shi te England managers for the price of one, and locking down a good six years of soul destroying mediocrity. And to be fair I quite like Hodgson but he will get a rough old ride and he won't get us anywhere other than stuttering into the second round and then back on the plane. And one last point - I don't think anyone can do any better than that anyway, except possibly Mourinho.

It's worth pointing out that Saints vs that lot has been called El Classicoast for a grand total of one occasion, this season. That name is as much made up media b* ll ocks as the idea that Portsmouth is some hotbed of mad-passionate ultra loyal megafans.

I hear he's pretty handy with a chisel and a lump of marble too.

Just confirmed on OS. It's Avram Grant.

Pretty much no chance in any of our lifetimes, unless Liverpool go into administration. Roy Hodgson got slaughtered by scousers for being "small-time" and he'd managed Inter frigging Milan.

Let's hope all four of them lose.

I can't believe Sam didn't take the opportunity to thank Saints for our work developing Kevin Davies who then served him so well at Bolton. Bang out of order IMHO.

We will walk this league.

Second. We've got enough in us to go up automatically, but I think West Ham, player for player, are just too strong for anyone to stop them winning it. We normally get promoted in second place anyway don't we?

Benji's got it covered.... Agree with this completely. 85 and I think we're home and dry for second. And that post really shows the value of points in the bag. We've had our amazing run already this season, and now we "only" need to maintain good form to hold off the competition. The competition need to start pulling together amazing runs and hope that we collapse.

Or, alternatively, wave real money at them, which everyone in the stadium wouldn't have to make a special effort to bring along. And going on about toast is falling victim to the belief that running gags on web forums mean anything in the real world.

There's an awful lot of information in that interview. Not sure if that guy is just a trusted journo with great contacts, or Sullivan just likes blabbing. We're lucky to get Cortese to admit that we paid an undisclosed fee.