John Boy Saint

It's the words from that great pre match video from a couple of seasons ago with the great lines "we've been to the edge of the abyss and come back" and "we don't buy success we breed it" Just reading this thread is quite funny, as a few football puritans are close on getting their knickers in a twist over them, when in reality it's nothing new in football, just a variation on the old Football rattle that could be heard at many footie grounds before they were banned as a potential weapon in the bad days of the 1970s. Damn sight better than those Vuvuzelas

Booing was out of order really, he served us well. Maya did him a favour by getting injured at the Confederations cup, as Loren had been brought in partner Yoshida by Poch, Fonte saw the writing on the wall and dug deep within himself and gave himself and us few more good years, winning the Euros at the end of it all. In these days when players are wired up to satellites to monitor their performances, just like Lambert in his last season any fan, as much as it hurt, could see that the peak had been hit and the journey down the other side had begun. in reality on Saturday we should have been applauding him, as his shenanigans last summer saved the club from having to tell a loyal servant of the club that his days with us were at an end. Even more so for the fact that we bought him for £1.2m in 2010 and sold him with plenty of miles on the clock 8 years later for £8m. Pretty damn fine bit of business when you consider some of the players we have bought over the years for good money at the time, and just slide away for nothing. And cheers for the penalty he gifted us, in getting done by a player only a year younger than himself...priceless!

Harmless enough, although a tad annoying last week because the kids were getting bored and just slapping them randomly. If they have a 40ft container of them to work through they will be just right on a icy winters day when folks have their gloves on. That bloke on the video just painted a target on his backside, worthy of a clack near him just to wind him up

Peach and Boyer?

With you on that one. Not long into the game he was signalling across to the bench that he wanted to come off, then when Maya went to play a ball to him in space he signalled "no" he didn't want it, then he saw out the game??!! Think he was also getting a bit hacked off at Redmond in the second half. I heard from someone with a connection close to the team that pretty much the first available bus out of Saints he wants to be on it.

Sorry Batman thirded....... Without doubt they were getting done in the air which is quite a rare thing where Yoshida is concerned, but strangely enough most of the football is played on the floor, his reading of some situations at times is exceptional. There was a moment in the second half where the ball came to him he shaped and fainted to go one way then subtly switched direction, the closing West Ham players fell for it and he bought enough time to play the ball out without any pressure: but so simple it was exquisite............... It got a round of applause from many in the ground who saw it for what it was.

Radical and Boufal slow things down??!!................ Bloody Redmond just stops and goes errr umm derrr! Romeu had the ball Redmond was showing for it, Romeu ignored him as if to say, you'll be lucky, you'll lose i again, and I will have to run the length of the damn pitch again.

Well with about 12mins left he obviously hasn't set the world on fire tonight, and justified any reason to resurrect interest in dragging him back here.

For a first showing out of the box, I like the cut of the boys jib. The premier league is not a place for the feeble, yes his passing radar needs a bit of calibrating. But for the time he was on the pitch I thought Romeu looked very relaxed and less in need of going in hard on oppo players. The lad ain't scared of the ball, give him a few more games and he will be pretty good for us............ and Romeu

I would be pretty piddled off if I had a bloody pillock like Redmond in front if me, that waste of space offered feck all........... ah ball into Gabbi and rattle the crossbar, aside from that we were also down to 10 men with that numpties on the pitch, Zabaleta had Redmonds trousers down round his ankles all second half, if I was Boufal I would be throwing my toys out of the pram and knocking in the managers Monday morning.Whats Redmond got dirty pictures of Les watching Red Tube??!!!! Yes I have had a drink, bit still that boy was a bloody waste of space on the pitch today.................. BBC are a bunch of jokers too: they have Tadic as MOTM? WTF!!!!

Blimey West Hams Intercity firm must be reforming.......... Armed coppers down the Saints!! (yes I know).

Just lazily catching up, this nearly saw the screen redecorated!

For those of you born many years after these Psychedelic hued days, thinking blimey that's cheap for tickets! In 1969 my Mum and Dad had to move out of Southampton as Dads work was mainly in London, and the M3 didn't exist then, they bought a new 3 bedroom house in north Hampshire for the then princely sum of £6,600. Dad always said it was a risky purchase as the mortgage was only just within his means.

There was an interview with him on Radio 5 one evening recently on a long drive home, it was snipped up into bits played across the show, very interesting and very frank about what saw him inside, what an idiot he had been, seems to consider himself very very lucky and has gotten "his $H1t together" as a result. Fair play to him as he no way came over as a bit of a scrote yet admits that he was a bit of one, and could have easily remained one. Right back on subject

MUST read the dates on some of these bumped threads.................... Started at the beginning and quickly developed deja vu!

Well according to t'internet there is a gang..... oops coven of them called The Southampton Witches, they even have a Facebook page, so even if she has fallen in her cauldron or accidentally put a hex on herself pretty sure she will have a few mates who would gladly step in and give it a go........ anyone going through Burley out in the forest could nip in one of the shops and ask. Of course the Gao's might have a resident Feng Shui grandmaster in their employ, so double bubble........................ You build stuff on old Ancient Briton sites all sorts of mischief goes on: no-one still actually really knows how they built Stonehenge!

I would give that White Witch another go first, seemed to work all those years ago when we first moved into SMS.......... we might be in need of a recharge!

Not just him. i watched that game in the stadium without major beer goggles on, which probably made how bad we were even worse. it wasn't until later in the season, possibly the EFL cup games where a bit more effort was being made, then run in to the end of the season, it was just something that made me go hmmmm. That night in Prague was probably the most animated I had seen Puel on the touchline in the whole of the season, at times he was hopping mad. In all honesty, in light of the way this whole business has been played out over the summer by both the player and his agent nothing should surprise any of us. By all accounts there was enough discontent about Puel in the dressing room to enlist a few unsuspecting cohorts. Anyway before everyone kicks me round the playground, mine was just a thought NOT a statement of fact. Having won the ultimate prize in English Football, did anyone think what happened with Ranieri at Leicester would happen the very next season.............. Strange how they went for miles in the Champions League yet failed to turn up for domestic league matches.

I have a little niggle about the possible re intergration of VVD into the team. I have mentioned before that last season I thought the team did a Leicester with Ranieri on Puel. The evening in Prague just had something in it to think like that. 1-0 down McQueen with space to run into to open up attacks, him calling for it Puel telling the team to play to McQueen too and everytime the ball played to the opposite side which was much more congested. The person most guilty of ignoring Puel and McQueen was VVD. After being raped and pillaged for players every summer, I am pleased that Saints have been able to dig their heels in over this and also not buckled to pressure from the player and agent playing their games. It's also interesting that no one has tabled a bid, we all know that Liverpool is "the players preferred choice" but still you would expect someone to put in a cheeky bid for someone allegedly as good as Virgil. So we get to the 1st September and he is still a Saints player, he wakes up and decides he wants to play football, what's to stop him subtly getting his own back on Saints for not letting him leave. 0-0, 1-1, oppos attack "accidentally" trips a player or handles the ball, of all the want away players this summer his actions do appear to be the most messy.

Indeed what a lovely strike, almost effortless.

The world of sport must be having a quiet day for a national to dig that up and deem it worthy of printing. The club obviously don't care, and for Saints fans he is a bit of a cult figure of the folks behind the scenes thanks to the Barry Gayle skits, and a main part of this seasons Kit launch so UA don't give a tinkers cuss either. As has been said already, who cares!

Oh what joy, They may claim he is from Bolton, but he was born in p*rtsm*th!!!! Explains much................ the lengths those slippery sods down the road will go to!!

Steve Parrish the Palace owner use to post covertly on the Palace version of Saints web, Apparently he blew his own cover by posting something only he would know. Oooo maybe we should set a trap for Tom?

Can I add in early 2009 if someone had told me and my mate as we trudged across Northam Bridge back to the car in the drizzle with very little to say to each other aside from debating whether to bother going next game. (Which we did) That within next 10 years we would be standing in the San Siro wearing our Saints shirts in the Europa League it would have lightened the moment and probably had us giggling all the way home. Even more so in the summer as we stood with our toes over the edge of the Abyss, with chancers and time wasters mucking about...... you did wonder how the clowns down the road managed to get snapped up so quickly...... and us with all the infrastructure in place looking increasingly like the worst was going to happen. Thank you very much Markus and Katharina you will forever be in the hearts of Southampton fans.

Barcelona lost to Real tonight 1-3, knowing how trigger happy they are in Spain, if they get beaten soundly in the second leg on Wednesday the phone could be ringing on merseyside then in Hampshire. ............. just a whimsical musing. As an aside Ronaldo getting sent off was funny, if he stood a chance of getting the second yellow riscinded (the first was for getting his muscles out) he blew it by pushing the ref in the back after being shown the red.