Sunglasses Ron

I think he was top of all our lists for solving our defensive problems. Welcome to Saints 😃

Imagine if his name was Armel Hoedt-Dando! Poor bugger would never have a chance of making it here!

Yes, it's not unfair to say that. Let's hope the women's game will eventually truly stand on its own two feet.

I’m all for the women’s game growing and want my little girl to have the chance of dreaming to be a big star just like we all probably did when we were young. What’s really important is that it tries to be unique in its own right and not just try to bolt itself to the men’s game. I definitely don’t like some of the tricks currently being used to get our attention. Would love to see them using unique looking kits and promoting a creative-over-physical approach to playing the game.

The longer this goes on the more you wonder whether that highlighted bit of text has become engrained in the club. Do we now go into games knowing about this terrible record and thinking "we're going to lose, but that's ok as that's what we always do". Unlikely, but as good an explanation as any I guess!

Yes, of course, but it begs the question why has the first game of the season been such a problem for us over such a long period of time. I'm fascinated to understand this better!

I think I worked out last year that's it's two Premier League wins in 23 seasons (spanning 30 years): > Coventry away in 1999 (1-0) > West Brom away in 2013 (1-0) That's absolutely dreadful by anyone's standards. If you pro-rated that win rate (9%) over a season then we'd secure 10 points! Edit: Just checked our Championship / League 1 record and it was just one win seven seasons, Leeds home in 2011 (3-1).

It is what it is really, not much point in over-analysing. Not optimistic that we'll improve our horrendous opening day record, but then we did beat Spuds in that game last season.

Have edited your post for consistency as things are really starting to get confusing 🙃

Thanks! Yes, that is a bit of gamble really!

Have I missed the fee for Bazunu? If so, how does it compare to Henderson?

It's all making sense now, Bale, Bazunu and Ings all being announced this week with photos taken in our new kit 😃

Weren't we willing to offer him a 4-year deal before he left? If so, what's not to say that we wouldn't be willing to offer him a 3-year deal now having made a nice profit off him over the last 12 months? Trying to get him back for ~£15m would make sense in that context (unless he really annoyed the club with his actions before his departure).

I would have him back for no reason other than the fact I have a hardly-worn shirt with his name on the back.

Yup, I've argued this before. 10 years in the PL is a form of success, and we should celebrate it. Whilst fun at times, languishing in the lower leagues will definitely not increase our chances of winning any silverware of note, so our best bet is to keep battling it out in the top flight, hope we can re-visit the heights of the Poch / Koeman years and maybe convert one of the previous 3 cup semi / finals into a long overdue victory.

Generally agree with everything you’ve put 👍🏻 The massive hammerings and long runs of defeats are the only things that I would consider a shambles and needs addressing.

Are you suggesting that a season playing at Fartton Krap isn’t the same thing?

I'd pay £15m all day long!

Yes, he was also notably bad on 2nd viewing. To be fair, not a single fuck was given by any of those players that night so they’re probably all equally culpable for that terrible blot on our history.

Haha, first time round was a dark experience, but I kind of felt like I had to watch it to accept it had happened. If you watch now, it’s more like vaudeville entertainment. I have to confess, I watched the other 9-0 straight after and am now really on the fence as Bednarek was an absolute mess that night.

Just confirmed my thoughts on this by suffering another viewing of the highlights. His defending for the 2nd and 4th goals was absolutely hideous, beyond terrible. I forgot just how bad Gunn was that night too, utterly woeful.

In fairness, Long pretty much single handedly knocked Swansea out the cup, which facilitated revenue-generating games against Coventry, West Ham and Man City. That alone makes his contributions vastly higher than Walcott's.

Agreed. Ali Dia would probably take the award for Category 3!

Literally anyone in the Leicester 9-0 game. If I was pushed to name the worst then Valery would win by a nose.

Yeah, I'd call this a calculated risk that could go one of two ways of equal extremity. It's what we appear to have to do although I must say that Pope would have been my choice. But then what the hell do I know!