InvictaSaint

Benali-Shorts on the Buettner thread is claiming deal is now on verge of being done.

Fair-ish point, minus the sarcasm. Doesn't detract from the fact that it is clearly not PROVEN that you NEED established PL players to survive, or do well.

Can anybody recall, off the top of their heads, which big name, 'quality' established PL players Norwich and Swansea signed last summer? Any names spring to mind? No, me neither......and yet both of those teams did more than OK.

Any further news on this front?

Does anybody else find they get to 6 mins from the end and then it freezes? Or is it just me?! Yet to see Sharp's hat-trick goal!

Living in Medway, close (but not too close ;-)) to Gills' stadium, I have seen a lot of Paulo and trust me, he is an excellent goalkeeper who should only get better. I have never seen Butland play, but he would have to go some to beat what I have already seen of our new signing.

Ahhh yes, but will it have a monkey chicken petting zoo? Well? No, thought not.

I wonder if Stoke fans are currently bemoaning how unoriginal their new home shirt is, and how they could try to do something different instead of just red and white stripes with a slightly different collar..... On an unrelated note, it looks like Crouchy has lost a bit of height this summer.

Could be wrong (and apologies to all concerned if so!) but isn't Pilchards real name Colin Graves? That would tie in with the tweet from MasterCGraves and the post above about the Michu rumour emanating from him. Hope it's true!

Yes, that's a really good read. For old fashioned (but true!) football romanticism, try "The Miracle of Castello Di Sangro". Cracking book.

If you've ever read Simon Kuper's excellent "Football Against the Enemy", you'll know exactly how football in Ukraine works....

Formation

Assuming (ha!) this is to put pen to paper.

From Fourth Official ( Everton fan): @Fourth_Official: Mirror claiming Everton want to sign Jay Rodriguez, what what money? always been big interest but can't afford him unless we sell @Fourth_Official: Plus as the BBC have confirmed Jay Rodriguez as said two days ago is in Southampton finalising a move to Southampton #Saintsfc

Agree.

All we know for sure (if Monk is telling the truth ;-) ) is that Rodriguez is in Southampton and is talking to us over (at least) the next day or two. The only offer Burnley have accepted is ours. Everton do not have permission to speak to the player directly as they have neither tabled a bid nor had a bid accepted. By all accounts they will have to sell to buy. How long will that take? Is the player going to gamble on something which may never happen, particularly if Burnley reject any bid lower than ours? He would be mad to take that risk and I don't think Burnley - who stand to lose money on a player in the last year of his contract - would take too kindly to him doing so. Above all let us not forget that Alan Nixon is not a Saints spy, planted on earth to give us the information we want so that we can go away happy; he is a journalist paid to promote his employer's publication and to keep people dangling, mesmerised by the promise of more snippets to come....

Not doing much for the image of his club's supporters....

Haha! Yes it does doesn't it? It just really appeals to me, not just because of the symmetry but because it's different whilst remaining very much "Saints" if that makes sense. As ID is ITK, I wonder if there is an element of truth in the design he posted.....or maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part!

Interesting that Itchen Dan posted this one on its own back on May 28th. This, I really like........

Not of immediate relevance I know but Green is a genuinely nice bloke, and not your average selfish egotistical footballer; regularly spends his long summers doing charity work abroad, but without any of the accompanying publicity that certain others court.

Adkins' first home game in charge of Saints was against Colchester United...

Forte to Col U on season long loan

Don't know who hartysaintboy2 is but here is Alan Nixon's latest tweet on JRod: @reluctantnicko: @hartysaintboy2 Not even bothering on that front until Wednesday. Nobody else bidding at 6.5m. So down to Saints to sort with the player

Nixon now saying that no other bidder has, as yet, made a move and that nobody likely to match our 6.5m offer. He (Nixon) cites Thursday as being the day by which J-Rod signs or we cut loose and move on. Time will tell I suppose.....

Same here please.