St Louis

Maybe I'm just putting 2+2 together, but... The club have just launched a (god awful) leisurewear range called 'Inspired by Ings': https://store.saintsfc.co.uk/Product/ProductList/57600 Surely you wouldn't do that for a loan player, a month before you return him to his club. I know our commercial team/club shop is bad, but they cant be that stupid, can they?

I agree, I dont think Long is the long term solution, I just think he is the best option we have now. Hopefully Ralph will be able to bring in a striker who has a mixture of composure, strength and pace this summer

I think we look a far better side when Long starts than when Ings starts. I feel that Ings' general all-round game is OK, but he does slow down our play. We looked electric in the first half last night, with Long, Armstrong and Redmond stretching Watford all over the place. They were forcing the Watford defence into all sorts of mistakes (even after 7 seconds!) Long's finishing may not be the best (although that was a beautiful dink last night!), but I for one think we look a better team with him on the pitch, and I bet Redmond et al like the extra space he creates for them.

Off the pitch, the club has to be run like any other business, and currently they feel that the squad is too large and the wage bill is too high, so players need to be moved on before bringing in more. I dont think its literally that we cannot afford another penny, they are just trying to balance the books.

Ditto, we stole a point, and I'm happy to take it and run onto the next one. As many have said, we would probably have lost that game under previous managers, and the most important thing is that Palace didnt pull 3 points away from us. Ralph is working miracles with a bang average squad. Cedric clearly better than Valery too, etc but if he didnt want to be here, then I'm happy for him to do one and for Ralph to have faith with the players that do. I'm sure if we can stay up this year, Ralph will start to shape his squad in the summer, we just need patience and to keep putting points on the board, even the undeserved ones. Onwards and upwards....

Couldnt agree with you more! Nobody on here has any idea what goes on behind the scenes, right at the top! Saint86 has no idea whether Reed was moved on as he also didnt want to see the prize assets sold every season like us, its just easy to presume it was all Les's fault and what he wanted. I would hazard a guess that the DoF would actually be the one that would want to keep the best players, as he is judged on team results/position, etc whereas the owners hold the purse strings and want to balance the books and make profit!?

Awful news, I hope He makes a full recovery. He brought us some good times, and left only for his beloved Spurs, which I’ll never blame him for. On a side note, am I the only one shocked that we seem to be the only club to have not tweeted our best wishes to Glenn? Even clubs from all corners of the globe, and with no association have sent their love and thoughts to Glenn and Family.

About £30,000 a week.... https://mlsplayers.org/resources/salary-guide

About £30,000 a week.... https://mlsplayers.org/resources/salary-guide

Has the ticket gone LadySaint?

I think Danny Ings might have to miss the Brighton game..... through exhaustion! https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/7210786/danny-ings-ruby-blake-model/

Carillo is still our player (asset) so they (Reed or Hughes) were never going to say he is cr*p and was a disastrous signing! They will big him up where possible, and hope he is a success in Spain, so that we can either re-integrate him with more confidence (unlikely) or sell him on somewhere near to the fee we paid.

Completely agree, I thought he answered everything as honestly as he could. It does baffle me sometimes how us fans seem to think we (or anyone else) could do a better job. Reed would probably love to be able to keep our best players and splash loads of money on big name signings, but thats all out of his hands, its not his money. So given our net spend is low, and we are probably about the 15th - 20th biggest club in the country, I think we have overachieved to have finished 8th and above for 4 of the last 5 seasons. Lets just hope last season was a blip (as Sparky alluded to), but even if its not, I dont see how its Reed's fault!? In the real world, no matter who our 'director of football' is (or whatever his title is) you cant stop your best players from going to the big boys, there is a hierarchy (even Liverpool lose players to Barcelona, etc) and Reed/Ralph cant spend £30m - £40m on a player if the owner wont sanction it. Apart from last season, our recent league positions have been strong (and above where we really should finish as a smaller club), our academy is still healthy, the players facilities are great, and we appear to be running the club sensibly profitably. I better put my tin hat on, but I for one would like to get behind the club and give Sparky (and the owners) the chance to put right the awful season we had last season.... let's just hope that was a blip.

I still have these available if anybody in Bournemouth fancies them last minute? Despite others predicting it will be the worst night of your life...... I've never been myself, so cant judge, but thought it sounded amusing and a better option than Big Brother! Who wouldnt want to hear Trevor from Andover moaning to Mark Hughes about how flat the beer has become in the concourse?

Sacked because a guy didnt score in 7 league appearances? He didnt look great admittedly, but it takes time to adjust to the PL, and if he had settled and stayed this season, then he may have done OK longer term? All clubs make transfers that dont work out, its not a sackable offence (unless every signing flops!) And I would guess Pellegrino was the key instigator in this one, backed up by his staff... and they've already been sacked! Reed/Krueger guilty of backing the manager.

I have 2 tickets for the Fans Forum on Thurs, and we now cant make it. So if anybody would like them, please let me know.... Free to a good home I'm based in Bournemouth and work in West Parley/Ferndown, if anybody this way fancies going and wants to collect.

Did you miss the suicidal header back to McCarthy which was intercepted by Lennon? McCarthy saved Hoedt's blushes there. I feel nervous every time the ball is near him, definitely our weak link in my opinion.

Some may see it as an advantage, but im worried that Burnley will have had 3 competitive Europa League games before we meet them on Sunday. We dont look anywhere near ready yet (based on friendlies) and look like a group of strangers and no spirit yet. I think we will improve as the season gets going, but we could be hit on Sunday by a team already in their groove..... I think 2-0 or 3-0 Burnley unfortunately

Was Alan McLoughlin our first £1mil player? That didnt work out very well either....

I used to work for Virgin Media, and you are correct that they are very tight with brand guidelines and usage. Red is their primary brand colour, and very occasionally they would allow the logo it to be white as a secondary option colour (usually only on a red background though), so that is why the sponsorship is red on the away kit (as white would not standout against yellow). Their brand colour in not blue (but many of their competitors are: BT, TalkTalk, NowTV, SSE, etc) so despite it looking better on our mocked away shirt, they would never consider this just for 'fashion'. The Red looks so bold and stands out on the yellow, so they will be loving the impact that has on TV, Video Games, etc.

Doesn't make him a bad player though!? VVD, Wanyama, Forster, Davis..... Petrov, Viduka, Larsson, Arteta, Adam, etc all turned out OK in our big league.

OK then, not blue, maybe plain red with yellow trim or something? They surely wouldn't use a totally legit looking striped kit which some people would actually like, for risk of the actual real one being less popular!?

Surely if it was all a big joke they would have teased us with a blue kit or something? Not an average looking red and white striped kit?

I agree he contributed to us being in the relegation fight, but did Danny Rose really contribute more on the field this season? I think not! If Rose played about 8 games in an injury hit season for Saints, he wouldn’t be going surely?