suewhistle

I think they're beginning to get it.. They haven't even got 5p in the pound...

Man U reserve keeper as well, we hope...

Bloomin 'eck, I think you've summed it all up in one sentence...

True, but can you imagine the opposition manager pre-match: "So mark Lambert, he's a real danger, we've got to double up on Lallana, Guly hass a great shot on him so don't give him space, Chaplow can also score, we;ve already talked about marking the kid, watch Barnard in the box, for corners watch the CBs...." Schneiderlin will then go and score...

In today's Guardian...

What are the odds on a good crowd after last night??

Interesting.... I wonder how Blackpool will react now?

So if it's still 0-0 with 5 minutess to go do you think Holloway will tell his team to go for a quick breakaway own-goal?

heh heh. Just back in the room for a quick look...

Kiss o' death, eh?

Ooh, so he has: not that I didn't believe you or anything...

I didn't expect that: excellent news! It was sheer pleasure watching him in the couple of games I got in over Christmas. A real statement of intent (had to say that..) and let's hope it starts by putting on a thousand or two on the gate today.

Yes, we've expressed our concerns here, particularly after ML's death, but I think we can never expect to know the full details. Like all business or life that final 1% has to be based on trust and instinct and the balance of probabilities. If anything changes we'll have to review the situation again, but at the moment I don't think we're "gloating": I think the expression "delighted relief" is more accurate.

Yep, we may be "buying it", but with our own money and not with borrowed money or bouncing cheques or promised payments which the club KNEW they could not honour as they were trading insolvently: which as has been pointed out on here is illegal.. Average crowds about 5k more than yours and a wage bill of cheaper players means we can probably afford it. Investment is being made, but with an eye to the future - the improvements to our training ground a case in point. I presume you are now paying cash for the rental of the facilities you use for training, if anybody actually trusts you now. It still is a good laugh on this board, at your expense. With Mack rill we laugh empathically, with you with derision.

Leave the donkeys on the beach Leave the donkeys on the beach If we're winning....

Hmm, so from crowds of 20k plus (and a few more at Wembley..) to crowds of 3-5,000... Ambitious, eh?

No. 2: Yesterday came up with an interest , in truth already rather dated, by Torino for DP. The Brazilian plays happily for Southampton but must resolve some bureaucratic problems (in practice his wife's permit to stay), [if not] he'll change his team. With his agent they've given until the 20th January to resolve the question or else he'll return to Cessena. Torino, however, haven't thought about him since last summer: and negotiating for a trequartista* [creative MF who plays in the hole] DP can't be the priority for Petrachi. Not sure about UK regs over accompanying spouses: could it be she has to apply from outide the country?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/jan/06/fifa-transfer-matching-system Bad news not just for City, I'd imagine; although I think P****y's days of international transfers are probably over for a bit.

Jeez, are you sure?? It's certainly the case that they'll never make it into a film: how could they pack it all in and avoid criticisms of an improbable plot. They might get an "entertaining" or two and maybe The Echo would give it a 5 star rating...

Would PL clubs really be interested in someone, as pointed out here, playing Wessex League not so long ago: would they be going for a player to slot in to their line-ups or one for the future? If the latter I could see Saints being in with a (small) chance in that we would offer him Championship football for next season and the prospect of being part of a team that might earn Premiership status, plus bigger crowds than the opposition.;-) Oh well, we'll hear about transfers when we hear about them..

Not long back after driving back across France, but I'll see if I can find time tomorrow. At least I won't be out skiing as I picked up a nasty cold over in the UK. At least I saw two wins though, which is one better than the whole of the previous 4 and a half years I've been away! From what I saw Guly is getting increasingly comfortable in English (L1) football.

More than Preston can afford, but then I'm going to guess, even without checking, that our gates are bigger than theirs..

I was wondering about that after the 4-1 win and a decent atmosphere with 24k. It would be good to see towards 30k like last year though I assume it will be less. Still, 24k is good for the third division.

At last! 4 and a half years abroad so only seeing games at Christmas and early season and I've seen one win in that time (Exeter last Christmas). So a real pleasure, although conceding first brought on a "oh dear here we go feeling". But by 3-1 I was only feeling a little nervous - being a long terms Saints fan - and said "I'd feel happier with 4" and 10 seconds later Chaplow duly obliged. Even better was that I got to miss Alpine on the match day thread - from the references here he seems to have been "on form"! Lambert's goal was in front of me and like many I thought he'd hit the side netting. Great timing for the turn and the shot was vicious. Lallana is a sheer pleasure to watch with his control and touch as is Ox. The guy next to me made a joke about Guly being substituted just before he missed another one, but although he was frustrating he covered a lot of ground, was always available, passed well but showed he needs to hone his striking instincts: lacks a bit of confidence in those situations. Jaidi did the simple things well and Fonte covered for his lack of pace. We need to cut out gifting goals like we did and tweak our finishing skills and we are going to punish someone far more than we did today. I told my friend to line up a ticket for the last home match of the season as I'm seriously considering coming over for the weekend to celebrate, even if I'm only a poor English teacher!

Don't get obsessed by 16" Deppo... Actually on the roof of my car I had 41cm but I can't be bothered to do an accurate conversion.