InvictaSaint

I work with an Exeter season-ticket holder who rates Seaborne very highly. I am therefore prepared to hold judgement. Furthermore, the comments made by OSM above indicate that there is more to the collapse of the Ward deal than meets the eye. If indeed fitness concerns remained, then NC was right to insist on certain additional safeguards within the deal. I don't feel that either NC or AP has let us down thus far, so I am prepared to trust their combined judgement. Certainly there have been no hints that AP was disappointed the deal did not go through, so one can only assume he agreed with the stop which was put on the Ward deal (if indeed it was us who stopped it) and with the Seaborne purchase.

I think this is near the money. I posted something similar last night on another thread. This is the beginning of the process, not the end; Pardew has put it out there - Stock knows, Donny know, we know, all of football knows. Either they deal, or he goes for nothing in June.

I think your last three words - deliberately chosen, I'm sure - are the most important. Doncaster already knew, Stock already knew, and now we Saints fans and the rest of the football world knows, that we are after Brian. The current difference in valuation is IMO irrelevant as Donny know they risk having an unsettled player for the rest of the season, if no other bids are forthcoming and one who, if memory serves, could leave for free at the end of the season (I think he is out of contract but am happy to be corrected). This is the beginning of a longish bartering process and for that reason I don't think it is a coincidence that Gillett has yet to sign for them despite their advertised interest. Pardew has put it out there now, so watch this space....

I wonder when Godwin's Law will kick in tonight....

Perhaps you would prefer to support Norwich then, since he makes you so happy? Nearer to Glasgow too; easier for Lambert to hear your moans when you decide to turn on him.

A swan can break your arm

Ahh, bless her; tell her not to worry - things will be fine... ;-)

:-)

You're showing your age now Phil! ;-) Didn't they go under in the mid-90s? Mind you, they were great when they were around. I remember a brilliant flight from London to Dusseldorf - there was only me, my then girlfriend and an OAP on the flight and the very nice stewardess sat in the middle seats (it was a Fokker, if anybody knows the aircraft) where you face each other and plied us with drinks non-stop for 2 hours. Happy days. God bless you, Dan (D)Air...

I see Aaron McLean (sp?) of Peterborough was left out today after putting in a transfer request. Could he be one of them?

apart from all the other mentions of Reo-Coker earlier in this thread you mean?! ;-)

From a fully paid up member of the "at home with kids tucked up in bed and too tired/broke/unable to get babysitter/uninterested to go out to a pub you normally get in for free but on NYE end up paying £10 to be glared at by a 12 year old bouncer before you even get a pint" club.....HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL SAINTS FANS, NEAR AND FAR!! MAY IT BE A GOOD ONE FOR YOU AND FOR SFC. COME ON YOU REDS!!

True story: went with a friend to see Luton v Plymouth about 4 or 5 seasons ago - it ended 1-1 and their number 1 goalkeeper at the time, Larrieu (sp?), was recovering from injury and ended up sitting next to us - and on the way in I asked a female police officer if there was a bin anywhere for my pastie wrapper. She replied "take your pick mate, this whole place is a bin". "Not a fan of Luton I take it?" I replied cheekily. "Put it this way" she said, "I put in a transfer request a year ago, when the waiting time for a transfer out of this dump of a town was about 5 years. That's how much we love it!"

1-4 now. Chants of "Sack the board", "Milan, there's only one Milan", "Where's all our money gone" and "You're not fit to run our club" have been ringing round FP this evening, quietly ignored by the Sky broadcast team.

On both occasions, the P*mpey defence looked completely uninterested; almost as if this winding up order - which of course hasn't been issued - has affected them. Hereidderson's watching of the ball as it skidded into the net bordered on pathetic.

Please tell me you are being ironic. If not, this has to be the mental post of the year. What planet are you on?! Unbelievable, truly unbelievable.

GS you bang this interminable drum each time we slip up - slip ups which are becoming increasingly rare, thankfully - and it is becoming almost obsessive. I would simply ask you this, because I know you will not be able to come up with an answer: which other team, in our league, came so close to extinction, so late in pre-season and was able, thereafter, to mount an instant promotion challenge? To say the point is 'moot' is both untrue and somewhat disingenuous of you; it is anything but moot. We came close to going under, were saved late, lost an almost entire pre-season, lost a number of established players and to add insult to injury started with the weighty millstone of a 10 point deduction round the players' necks. That we are where we are now, some 16 weeks later, is a minor miracle; and we are still progressing, developing, getting better. Why this obsession with where we "should" be? Where is the natural law which states that Saints "must do better" and "should be higher"? Nowhere, because it doesn't exist. We are improving, we will continue to improve, we will in all likelihood mount a serious promotion push next season if we come up short this season. In the meantime why can't you focus on the many, many positives, rather than falling victim to that peculiarly English disease of looking at what isn't right?

My only problem with that perspective is that it was only recently - and I think I am correct in saying this - that AP has even mentioned the play offs as a possibility. Publicly, the club has played down any chance of anything better than mid-table because of the Lowe-Poortvliet-Wotte legacy and the ten point deduction. Unless AP is telling the fans one thing and the players something completely different, I don't see where Lallana or anybody else for that matter, got the idea that we would definitely - or anywhere near definitely - go up. Wasn't a two year plan to get out of the CCL1 always being touted? If so, what's to stop Lallana and Morgan from waiting until May 2011? Neither is exactly going to be over the hill by then are they, a mere 17 months down the line? And if what you say is true, and they don't want to be clattered about every week, then we shall wish them all the best and get in others to do the job. After all, it seems that Leeds and Colchester have managed alright without spending millions, and we probably have better resources than both of these teams.

I know why you might be feeling like this Alps, but I don't fear what you fear, I really don't. The regime Burley was working under was one which needed results far more quickly and which consequently put more pressure on the team manager. They [Wilde et al] bet the house, garden and granny's jewellery on us going up and knew it was either win or bust. None of us can say that Liebherr and Cortese have shown any sign of behaving in the same way; quite the opposite in fact. We don't have to sell, we can probably match CCC wages and beyond, so AP doesn't have to worry in the way Burley must have [if he was capable of such anxiety :-) ]. If we don't go up at the end of next season, maybe certain players will move on, but I look at us now in a position of strength, built on foundations of stone, whereas Burley's Saints were running on quicksand.

We're doing well, getting better, showing top 6 form, but we will lose games - that is the Saints of December 2009. We have come such a long way in 4 months and have the promise of signings next month, so we are well placed to make further progress. Not too gutted about today; second in 48 hours and away to a top of the table side. People need to be realistic in their expectations. We may still make the play offs, we may not, but all along people have been saying that next season is the season we take this league by storm so anything over and above that this season is a bonus. Bottom line - we aren't there yet, but we are heading in the right direction. Happy New Year one and all.

At last, some sanity. Post of the day without a doubt.

Given that we started on -10 after almost losing our club, the progress we have made in such a short space of time is anything but pathetic. You are expecting too much too soon. All part of the instant gratification generation I'm afraid.

David Prutton v WBA the year we went down, I think.

I still have nightmares of watching David Howells put on the keepers' gloves and then effectively falling over as a penalty whistled past him into the net. Not his fault, I know, as he wasn't a 'keeper, but it just made us look so......amateurish. Walking away from the ground was no fun either; Charlton fans are amongst the most aggressive, least gracious and contemptible supporters in the country. In my yellow away top I felt like a lone salmon swimming upstream against a tide of red Athletic shirts.....

Best: 4-3 v Norwich (Camara) - for the excitement if not the skill; some of the defending was Sunday League standard! Also 3-2 v Sheff Utd and 3-2 v Arsenal at the Dell. Also enjoyed 3-1 v Spurs at WHL as Hoddle was sacked the following day. 4-2 at Chelsea was fun too...(Strachan) Worst: any home game v Watford