IronCitySaint

Amongst the squabbling this discussion about the FFP rules are very relevant to whether a club can break into the top 4-6 in the league. I can't see how it will help us in the short to medium term as Man. City have already shown the way forward in openly flouting the spirit of the rules with the massive shirt/stadium sponsorship deals. The authorities said they were going to investigate that type of deal that clearly are priced above the value to the sponsor, then went on to ignore it. Not only do those clubs entrenched at the top have much higher earnings through the turnstiles, but will gain sponsorship deals vastly above what Saints can get so the gap may not close at all and nobody new would be able to break into the elite as the owner cannot subsidise it. Blackburn would never have been able to win a title under the FFP rules. There is really no comparison between the way US sports are run and the proposals in the FFP rules. The major sports in the US have a salary cap of a dollar amount that applies to all clubs, not based on revenue. Yes, teams are allowed to break the cap but then have to pay 'fines' into a pot that is redistributed to all. It does even out results somewhat and is great for competitiveness. Owners and fans of most clubs outside the top 4 would benefit greatly from this model if applied to the Premier League. We might actually see a different team win something. I cannot see the Man. Utd's of this world ever agreeing to something like that or the regulators ever having the balls to try it. Of course, there are major downsides to the way US sports are run as well, as seen by the constant strikes/lockouts which result from arguments over revenue. The only way I can see us getting there would be due to a 'perfect storm' of events unfolding. Abromovich gets bored of Chelsea and pulls out, SAF quids Man. Utd and they go through a period of turmoil, Wenger stays and gets even more crazy in his transfer policy, Spurs bankrupt themselves with their new stadium, Liverpool keep on being Liverpool. Actually, all those things could happen in the next 5-10 years and hopefully someone is ready to take advantage of it.

Good performance so far but really need to take advantage of some of those chances as Everton will surely be better in the second half? Very surprised Ricky didn't tuck away one of those chances. As others have said, it has a jammy 0-1 written all over it at the moment.

I think you are one of the guys always demanding 'hard evidence' for every comment made on here so where is the evidence that Nigel knew all about this amazing plan? Not just some whim from a passing comment made by Nigel at the end of an emotional day at the end of last season, you know, real evidence. I doubt Nigel thought he was working to some plan 22 games into the season that would see him replaced after a good run of results.

He should be careful. Pardew sacked after a 4-0 away win. Adkins sacked after a 2-2 comeback draw at Chelsea. If we win at Old Trafford in a couple of weeks the new guy may not last the month.

Everything was just going too well, wasn't it? Why does this club get saddled with Chairmen that care more about their own ego than SFC? This Cortese guy is acting just like Abramovich, but without the money. It is a clear statement of "this is my club and I do what I like." Appointing someone with absolutely no experience of English football and not even being able to speak the lingo is likely to destroy the close team spirit that has seen us through the first months of this season. Who is this guy and what has he achieved to deserve replacing our most successful manager in years? Absolutely outrageous decision. I was confident we would survive this season under Nigel but this has destroyed all the good feel around the club and can see us finishing in the bottom two now. The rest of the country and the media will rightly think we deserve relegation after this. Hope the players stick together and see it through but they must be as shocked and angry as the rest of us. One day when everyone has forgotten this argies name (can't even remember it now) Nigel will be having great success with some other club. Whoever that is, they are the lucky ones.

It is strange, but the BBC World News ticker was stating 30 minutes ago that Nigel Adkins has 'become the first casualty of the Premier League season.' But then checking all the other news websites there is nothing so maybe they just jumped the gun.

That's OK lads, don't worry about jumping or tackling or any of that kind of stuff. Carry on.....

It seems like the performance gets worse each game and I can't remember seeing a team so disorganised. It looks like nobody knows their roll out there - they are all over the place. The two centre backs are actually doing OK but are doing the defensive work of the whole team. Midfield is so far from the defence that they are no help at all and the full backs each have two men to mark and don't know who to pickup. Midfielders can't pass five yards and don't tackle. Looks like we will concede each time WBA get the ball but it also does not look like we can score anymore. At least at the start of the season we conceded but also looked like finding the net once in a while.Oh well, whole second half to come. 3-1 win for us! We don't do first halfs.

Coldplay song 'Us Against the World' has a line in it that says "And the Saints Go Marching In." Wonder if Will Champion had anything to do with that?

Watching it on Fox Soccer Plus in the US, the commentator mentioned how noisy the crowd was at the start of the game and followed up by saying "there is always a great atmosphere at St. Mary's." I guess it is all relative but it sounded a whole lot better the most of the other games - at least on the TV. Could only hear Saints fans in the second half.

The first direct team we have played this season and the player most capable of dealing with it is dropped. Baffling.

Question: Why play Cleverly ahead of Adam? Answer: Because he 'plays' for Man. Utd. Maybe too simplistic an answer but if Adam played for Mau. Utd and Cleverly for Saints who do you think would have been picked to start? I've always thought it odd that lesser players for bigger teams get the nod ahead of others. The reason usually given is that they are playing at the highest level and playing with better players makes them better. But, if you are at the best team in the country then surely you spend most of your time playing against worse players whilst those at 'lesser' teams spend all their time playing against better players and therefore should have an advantage. Oh, well.

As some others have mentioned, Glenn Cockerill got terrible stick in his last year with us. I always remembered him as a great player for us and thought at the time that it was a bit harsh. Remember one game in particular from under the West Stand that everytime he got the ball he got a volley of abuse and you could see the confidence being sapped out of him during that game. Then he scored a brilliant one-on-one goal and hardly could be bothered to celebrate - he must have been so ****ed off. But, he was rubbish that season and ended up at Leyton Orient to prove it.A bit later on Kevin Moore used to get quite a bit of stick but he was a victim of the Branfoot era. Not a bad defender but not up to the standard we had been aiming for before Branfoot arrived.

Fantastic performance today to cap off a fantastic season. Wish I was there but alas stuck at work in a far away land watching on the internet stream. Happiest day for a very long time. Keep it up next season lads - you all deserve a crack at the big time.

This was my first ever game at the Dell. It has all been downhill since then!

Lambert any day. Carroll may well be the biggest waste of money in football history whereas Lambert is probably one of the best value for money players currently in the game.

Think that was the Everton game where he should have run to the corner (Beattie also scored against us that day). Redknapp's first game in charge was highlighted by conceding two goals in the last minute to blow a 2-0 lead over Middlesbrough. Still, Crouch was our best player that miserable season.

I didn't even realise that they showed Championship games on Fox. That Fox Soccer Plus channel has become a bit of a pain as they now show quite a few games on it that used to be free on FSC and I don't want to pay the extra for the plus channel. Free live streaming from the internet is much better value!

Listening on Radio Wales and have only heard them mention two Saints players all first half (Richardson & Lambert). Are we playing in this game? Strange how we have gone from invincible at home to completely useless in such a short time. How can confidence go so quickly?

This is a bit embarassing what with it being on national TV. Everyone will be sitting there thinking 'how did this pile of **** get to top of the league?' Knew it would be like this after reading articles about Leicester being 'down to the bare bones,' 'not won two in a row forever,' 'never keep clean sheet,' 'can't score for toffee.' Had 3-0 written all over it. Need a BIG turn around in the second half just to restore pride. This could be a defining half a game for the season.

I'm sure you are proud that your best player is English. And how exactly do you reconcile independence with joining the ENGLISH premier league?

Not a great performance but Rovers came for a draw - they were time wasting from the first minute - and these are the types of games that have caused problems over the last few years so it is great to get all the points. I thought Guly was good. OK he is a bit frustrating but his touch on the ball is probably better than anyone else we have and it was an excellent goal. If he had better players around him he would be more effective, IMO, and think he is also wasted out on the wing. Biggest problem today for me was having no central midfield. There was just a big hole there the entire game. Also, glad that they had nobody to really run at Butterfield as he looked very nervous. Connelly was great when he came on but doubt he has 90 minutes in him yet. Maybe Guly up front with Lambert next week. We are going to need a strong Easter with Huddersfield and Peterborough looking practically unbeatable.

Last time we appeared live on FSC was the skates game last season. Hope it will not be the same result.

IIRC, there was actually just over 5,000 for that Port Vale game towards the end of the Branfoot era. There was also at least one league game that season that had less than 10,000. Then again, I remember a wet mid-week game at Chelsea in the same era that had only just over 6000 in attendence. Our attendences have always held up pretty well considering all that us fans have had to put up with over the years.

Lower West until the terraces became seats then onto the Milton terrace and the Milton seats until the end of the Dell.