Ted Bates Statue

Easy to mock but other teams are doing the same to an even greater extent. I went corporate hospitality at another ground recently and they're getting loads of revenue off people who want to watch a bit of live football with their tapas in a trendy bar. If the club can extract greater revenue to keep up with the rest (preferably without raising the price of my cheap seats in the corner) and invest it wisely in the squad, then that's good news in my book. Personally I draw the line at queuing up and buying a pint in the stadium. The match ticket cost can present more than enough punishment on its own.

I'm truly disappointed that nobody has suggested Tuchel this time around.

I've been thinking for over a year now that it's only a matter of time before one of the basket-case big 6 clubs swoops in for him. Why are Aston Villa allowed to have nice things?

Worth a shout. I think he will go far, but probably not with us. Didn't he leave here under a cloud?

Good to get your perspective, as ever. It's been a grim start to the season.

I haven't been yet, but from photographs they seem too low to be of any use. Building regs say staircase railing height should be 900-1000mm and balconies at 1100mm height, but I believe there is no standard for stadium safe standing. I think 1100mm would be comparable and sensible, but obviously it's cheaper to use less aluminium (and paint, for that matter)

Weren't we able to phase JWP in a great deal more, considering he wasn't quite as highly rated as the others mentioned who we played as often as we could in the relatively small amount of time they spent with us? Having said that, after they left us neither Bale and Walcott were exactly first names on teamsheets at their new sides. I don't think a few months playing Championship football at that age would significantly affect a footballer's long-term career prospects.

Surely they must realise the match is in two days, as opposed to two weeks' time.

Don't forget it's also a case of his shoulder being in the right place.

I think he had a serious budget by our standards, and I expected more from him. Funnily enough, I felt that the forum was unusually patient towards him in a way that hasn't really been seen with others. The win percentage thing is a classic argument, but of course Burley's record was better than managers like Strachan or Hoddle as they were managing us at a higher level. Definitely better than Dodd and Gorman though, but I think the stats tell us more about them than GB.

Could well be a plucky draw, before we get our arses handed to us by the next midtable side we face.

Propaganda football, this is exactly what Strachan was on about. Last weekend Brentford were making plenty of mistakes like we do, but then they were also pinging out perfect diagonal balls to the wing and bearing down on goal having almost bypassed our entire defence. That's the kind of possession I'd prefer to see us attempting. I remember him, isn't that the striker we were hoping to sign from Peterborough back when we were in League 1?

Highly incisive questioning, I give it 16/16 for gatekeeping combined with front-footed passive aggression

I've seen a couple of Brentford matches this season and on Saturday was in the opposite corner, where a pigeon was providing some of the early drama in persistently encroaching onto the pitch. Saints fans were in very good voice especially first half, maybe not quite as loud as Palace a couple of weeks ago but that lot are very heavily organised with their singing nowadays. A few pompey songs after the standard 10 mins but I thought it was encouraging to note that after at least the first two goals conceded, I could clearly hear OWTS cutting through the Brentford cheers. No surprise to hear "we scored a goal" at the end, but otherwise sure it got a bit quieter in the last 30 minutes whereas a couple of seasons ago there was non-stop "we never win at home and we never win away" which might have helped lift my spirits more. Pretty sure we can take squatters' rights over that one. I expected a muted reception for Adam Lallana but he was welcomed back with "He's one of our own". Brentford's West Stand were a bit louder than I expected, giving BBD grief right from the start and then for the second half got straight on Ramsdale's back with "shit David Raya" to which he applauded them like a returning hero. Later, "he's got the score on his back" and I sensed he was feeling a bit rattled, or perhaps I was projecting. It was hard to put up with their "olé's" during injury time just to emphasise that we'd got fucking schooled, with a bonus lesson in proper possession football. I think the make-up of most football club support is generally the same wherever you go in this country. 3 stands buzzing with idle chit-chat, various individual empty vessels bitching and moaning until going 2 or 3-0 up, most only getting vocal for the goals or refereeing, one home stand behind a goal balancing out the away fans if you're lucky. Palace fall into this category too.

No no, it's all good. It's important to be diverse and inclusive regarding all kinds of intolerance. Anyway, I for one would be fine with a fully blown fascist if it meant he could score like Di Canio

Hmm, my guess is Kevin Philips to re-sign

https://www.foxestalk.co.uk/topic/135231-new-sponsor-bcgame/page/11/#comments Some of their fans think it's their own version of our LD Sports (except of course, their owners will actually make sure the club gets the cash - unlike us having to scramble for a "legit" sponsor in Sportbetio) A points deduction may be coming their way but they only need to finish with a cushion above us + 2 other teams, so it's all fine.

Chill out Paul, hope you can do your talking on the pitch where you belong

I let this slide earlier, but I see you've fallen back into your old ways of treating pedantry as some kind of competition to drown out the actual discussion. Fucking hell, give it a break!

Wasn't sure if the vid was genuine at first, but it tallies with the 7-minute 3-part compilation I found on youtube. Nice to see a highlights video with genuine commentary for once. If he can't find the net, I can only assume his xG is sky high and his movement is magnificent to justify our interest in him. Top comment is from Sunday: "lol you have to update the video, today against Fortaleza there was another incident like that."

Great opportunity for Clinton Morrison to replace Jenas for both gigs.

I've always liked Jeff Stelling. I never pay much attention to who we're rumoured to be interested in, but I watched this video of Mandas and if these are his career highlights, for 17m? No thanks. https://x.com/SaintsSocialite/status/1822550843524001938

Most years they don't dare to win their first round match. One notable exception was in 2019 and they learned the hard way not to make that mistake again.

Very good of you to put yourself forward 😉 Either way, I'm going to keep an eye on the 12-13 season results as my comparison season for a newly promoted Saints side, but seeing as I remember our start quite well (LLLL) I'm not sure there's much to learn from the first few rounds. At least back then, we knew from the first match against Man City that we were decent up front. Who knows if Armstrong can build on his confidence and we can provide the service to him and Brereton, but I don't have much hope of getting points until the summer has long ended. Happy to chip in with the occasional post, but if it looks like we're going to sink like last time with mid-20 points or fewer, I'll probably give it a miss this season. I think it's rather telling that there are no posts in this thread from our last season in the PL. I know at the time I was comparing ourselves with the 2004-05 relegation side and we didn't even get close to their 32 points, which was my previous benchmark for a pretty dismal season. Come to think of it, that might be a better option than 2012-13.

Is that Onuachu...!?