aintforever

There is no reason why you cannot combine spending silly money with a long term plan, in City's case they are aiming for Champions League football so the quicker they get there the better. If they are prudent and live within their means it could takes decades, if at all. If they reach the Champions League next year they will get a shed load of cash, they will instantly raise the clubs profile worldwide meaning they can attact top players for their first team but also compete with Man U and Liverpool for young players for the future. The other obvious benefit is that securing one of the CL spots they will stitch up one of the big 4. It would be fantastic to see Arsenal or Man U get hit in the pocket. With Saints I think it makes sense to plan long term but it may be worth throwing the cheque book at it as well, especially if we are in with a sniff come January.

I doubt Millwall will want to mess with the mighty Yoof, more likely they will bottle it and head down portsmouth for a rumble with some gay sailor types.

Nineteen Canteen you obviously have issues with McMenemy and Crouch because of your fondness for Lowe. Just get over it as you are coming across as a very sad individual. McMenemy is a legend with all true Saints fans because he put the club on the map. Crouch is held in high regard, despite making some mistakes, because the fans know that he is a true Saints fan, who has shown great generosity. Just accept these facts and don't let your love of Lowe ruin our new era.

Yeah, I bet the City fans are gutted. I would love it if ML splashed the cash, I don't get this affinity ******, all footballers are mercinaries, most of the best ones are not English. They will have just as much affinity with Tevez as they did with Goater, there is no difference except one is better and cost more.

Lawrie put Saints on the map, no true Saints fan would slag him off for speaking in the media or making a bit of money.

Good to hear he's showing strong leadership, that's exactly what this club needs. SFC has been mismanaged for too long, last season we were effectively not managed at all. We need people who know football and know this League, making the footballing descisions. AP's the boss and everyone at t the club needs to know it.

The man who gave us this... http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/jul/17/joy-of-six-great-team-goals?commentpage=2 ...has every right to voice his opinion.

In the Premier League Lowe gave us Steve Wigley. In the Championship it was Jan Poortvleit. Now we are -10 points adrift at the bottom of League 1 and you are not happy with Alan Pardew?!?

Those stats just show how irrelevant win ratio is.

I disagree, win ratio is way too crude - doesn't take into account resources, opposition, circumstances, timescales etc. Burley probably has one of the best win ratios of our recent managers, yet he squandered millions and left the club in a mess.

I feel sorry for Linvoy Primus and Hermann Hreidarsson, they've just extended their contracts but wont get near the first team once the galaticos arrive.

That's rubbish, there are plenty of countrys who could do alot more: United States - 26,215 United Kingdom - 8,300 Germany - 3,465 France - 3,200 Italy - 2,850 Canada - 2,830 Poland - 1,990 Netherlands - 1,770 Australia - 1,490 Romania - 860 Bulgaria - 820 Spain - 780 Denmark - 700 Turkey - 660 Belgium - 650 Norway - 588 Czech Republic - 580 Are you seriously trying to say that the Czech repulic only has the logistics to move 580 troops to Afganistan?

Well for starters it would help if all the current countries that were in there put in the same amount of troops as us. And I couldn't give a toss if Switzerland or whoever were traditionally neutral, I expect some Swiss died in 9/11 just like some Brits did, it's their problem as much as ours. It's admirable that the British feel it is their need to sort out crap like this but enough is enough, just get the hell out and let someone else clear up the mess.

France was just one example, there are hundreds of other countries not putting in anywhere near the troops we are. What about Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Sweden etc etc..... Having a larger amount of troops shooting Muslims just makes us much more of a target, the 7th July bombers all came from the UK, and were probably motivated by watching pictures of British troops gunning down people they identify with.

The Taliban obviously need to be dealt with but why the hell should it be our problem? The terror threat is world-wide yet the British and the Americans are the mugs who shoulder most of the effort. We should withdraw all our forces now and let some crap-hole like France send a decent amount of troops - we have done more than our share as usual. We are just a small island on a big planet, we're not a colonial power anymore. The more we stick our noses into other people crap the more of a target we become.

They should be in a rush IMO, every day without a manager harms our chances next season.

I don't think here is any real chance of Adams being Saints manager, it's more likley his name was fed to the media by the club to lower expectations - with all the talk of Strachan, Coppell etc. By threatening us with donkey Adams they know we will be over the moon when Cotterill is wheeled out.

What exactly did Woodward do whilst he was at Saints that improved the team? What exactly did he do that proves that a good rugby coach can easily be turned into a good football coach?

Apart from being ******, that's irrelivant as it's in a completely different sport.

I couldn't give a rats arse if he managed pompey or not, he's just a really really bad football manager. You just have to see his interviews to know he doesn't know what the hell he is doing, he talks complete nonsense.

I saw no evidence that Woodward could contribute anything at all, he was a complete and spectacular failure. "Later that summer, Sir Clive entered the world of football, joining Southampton FC as Technical Director. Less than six months into his new role, he was promoted to the position of Director of football, a position he held until September 2006, when he accepted the newly created and tremendously exciting full time position with the British Olympic Association." The above illustrates perfectly the Woodward brand of bull****, which many, unfortunately lap up.

I don't think it's a case of top players don't usually make good managers, more a case of it not mattering if you were a great player or not. There is naturally going to be more average players in management simply because there are more average players around. Experience is obviously important, it makes sense that players who have been journeymen and played in different leagues have a more rounded experience. There is no set formular, personality and understanding of the game is very important though IMO.

Take 10 points of Leicester last year and they still would have finished comfortably in the playoffs. So according to some on here we can hire any monkey and the playoffs will be a certainty. Or maybe Pearson is actually a good manager?

I would say we definitely need: A first choice left back, leaving Mills as cover. Cover for James at Right Back. A replacement for Saeijs, along with Perry, Thomas and Lancashire that should see us OK for CBs. A left sided midfielder - Holmes is perma-injured. At least 1 striker with pace - depending on who we keep out of BWP, Rasiak, John ect.

According to the people who slated Pearson, anyone can get a team with money promoted from League 1. So surely it doesn't matter who we appoint as manager, we will get into the play-offs regardless.