John Boy Saint

I have to say seeing the Training, or Travelling Kit, Polo shirt in Black and White on Wednesday night, it is very smart, and given the choice would be my option this season.

I was sat in front of him on Wednesday night, he seems to be a very nice young man. The one observation that surprised me was he asked Jos "what formation are we playing now?". Not a negative but a young player keen to learn something that has maybe passed him by in his career so far, he certainly is eager to play a greater part with us.

I knew that I should have stayed another 2 days then set off on the 900 mile journey home at the final whistle!

Where are you staying as we saw you meandering up the road in Palafrugell as we headed of to Llafranc for easy dinner and more drinking back at camp. Hi light of my 3 weeks of Holibobs down there. Saw you posting the match report from the stand: we'll done for that. Team are staying bloody miles away!!

Jos sat behind me in the stand said they had a very hard training session this morning. So 45 minutes on a close evening was a good work out, the Llagostera goal was well worked and taken. Rickie was dripping wet at the final whistle. Both Rickie and Kelvin were very chatty with us when they made their way to the coach genuine blokes the both of them. Lovren was amusing too. comedy moment of the night was when my mate asked where they were staying Jos replied "**** Knows!!" "Middle of nowhere!!".

Bloody hell €15 to sit in the little stand out of the Sun (still chuffin sun burn hot on the beach at 7:30pm on the beach tonight) that's......that's 4.5 kilos of juicy king prawns for cooking in lashings of Garlic and white wine from Carrefour just round the corner from the ground: blimey going to have to re budget the last of our Holibob money!! Drive home after 3 weeks down here on Friday and this game is going to be the highlight of this years holiday: I won't be able to sleep tonight!!

Missing fact is that they play on an artificial pitch hence why for my Holibob treat they are playing in Palafrugell (an answered prayer) cos its real grass and MP knows the ground. So beach tomorrow then get scrubbed up, head to the game then dinner in Llafranc afterwards...... What I call a right touch!

Just in Llafranc 5 mins from Palafrugell and not one poster or notification of the game v Saints! Friends went near Palamos today not one poster there either: we must really be viewed as small potatoes Premiership!! At this rate I hope Wednesdays game is free to get in!! :-)

If you are Salzburg and want somewhere to eat try Alter Fuchs just over the river from the old town in the shadow of the Kapinzburg (?) hump in the town damn good feed in there and just for a wheeze try the Pine schnapps it's like drinking a Christmas tree!!

Those going to Palafrugell and Palamos checked at the airport bus station at Girona Airport and you have to catch the bus into Girona from stand 1 then the Sarfa bus to Palafrugell/Palamos. with a week to go no posters up yet!! Or anyone to ask re prices to get in, the Palafrugell game could be viewed as so incidental that it might be Gratis!!

I heard from somewhere that Mr Cortese does not like Stripes, so as when my bosses are acting the goat my default setting is at the end of the day it's their bat their ball, so just go with the flow! That said I don't like the new home shirt, the fact that Brizzle City has the same shirt raises the question: just how hard did Adidas have to work to get our signature on the contract, Chelsea have a £300 million deal we must have signed for a half chewed toffee a conker, and a cigarette card of Bobby Charlton. As for folks falling over themselves to get there hands on a shirt down West Quay that is pure marketing hype. The Sash is by far and away the best selling shirt, I was told by so done in the know that we sold our normal 6 months average sales in 2 weeks!! And the delay in getting more stock in was due to waiting for the next available production slot. So a best selling shirt is when you can't get Large to XXL July until October!!

Actually the turning up an hour early is not a bad thing as despite being against a local La Liga side my last experience saw them only having 2 windows for tickets open and a real bunfight to get in. It's a friendly so everything will be low key all round.

If you are flying in on Ryanair then you will arrive in Girona Airport (best check this out before booking accom) which is about an hour north of Barcelona by road, and about an hour from Palafrugell thanks to the first 10 miles being on single carriageway. If you arrive in Barcelona El Prat and hire a car you are looking at about 1 hour 45 drive with good traffic, Palafrugell and Palamos are about 10-15 minutes apart and driving you will go past the Latter. Otherwise from Barcelona you can get the train to Girona then the Bus to Palafrugell/Palamos, the bus company is called Sarfa and they serve most of northern Catalunya with a hub in Palafrugell. That should give you a few options to start with.

I sense a bit trying to get a fingernail under the edge of a bit Alpines wallpaper here. His wife has gone down there after dropping the tin lids off to find out what's what and in good faith no axe to grind he has passed on the need to know details in good faith for those looking to make the trip. Just add a bit of knowledge to those going to Palafrugell the last friendly I saw there was Palafrugell v Espanyol in July 2009 (so MP was manager) the price for general entry was €15 back then, but then they were playing against a local La Liga side so there was a licence to up the prices. I will get the definitive answer in the next week. There is a very limited capacity grandstand but plenty of standing all round the pitch with the only bit of banking at one end i will endeavour to get Palamos details if I go in that direction.

And the shocking front page revelation that Sammy Saint was the product of a Wild Night between Super Saint and at glamour model of the day.

I think one of the funniest things in one of them was a picture feature titled "Footballers who you wonder how they got laid" Number 1 : photo of Harry Redknapp.

I thought this was going to be about them things that made the lights work on your bike at night!

I must say that this is very tempting as I always do this part of the world with work at a rate of knots against the clock. If I was doing this I would probably do the run up to Vigo for the Friday Saturday, then Sat night Sunday morning return to Porto for mooch about taking in the Brazilian restaurant down by the Seafront, and a longer meander round the Port caves at Gaia.................... I am slowly talking myself into this!

Promising to be a nice little commodity for his agent, sold to us for shed loads delivered very little v the price tag, Fiorentina have been sniffing around, now Athletico Madrid and conveniently Champions League finalists Dortmund. Makes me think a little of Demba Ba who had a good showing at West Ham then snapped up by Newcastle where he also performed well, then out of the blue his Agent chirps up informing the footballing world that Ba has a £10m contract buy out clause. Ramirez needs to up his game and put in some regular impressive performances for his agents little game to work.

It's only an hour, if that, should you hire a car at the airport. Probably the first 10 miles the slowest then dual carriageway for the rest. Buses pretty good: http://www.sarfa.com/paginas/sarfa_portada.php?id_idioma=3 should give you a starting point. No trains I do know of folks who have taken a taxi from the Airport €60 ish As posted elsewhere Palafrugell quiet inland working town, Palamos working fishing port seaside town with very little "Kiss me Quick" but a bigger choice of hotels and only 10-15 mins from Palafrugell. Playa D'Aro much more Touristy. There is a good choice of Camping too with self catering caravan and bungalow options in the area. With Quiet relaxed, more commercial, remote, and very remote Nudist on offer! As the high season has not fully kicked in you might get some good short term deals.

There are regular coaches that run from Girona, and 99.9% certain from Girona Airport to the Bus station in Palafrugell, the route that they take will take you through Palamos , along with all the other seaside towns, from the Airport en route and vice versa. The bus company is called SARFA (I just tried to get a link for you but safari is acting the goat!!). Never used the bus myself but know of quite a few folks who have and they have never moaned about the price so I guess it's is reasonable.

I wouldn't go that far myself, but the number of times I have seen the posters advertising the various friendlies v CF Palafrugell over the years and wished that Saints would somehow find their way here while I was there. Now it's finally happening is a very surreal feeling. The one thing about this pre season set up is it looks very positive, no league one cloggers but a mix of different styles, in different places.

It's becoming easier mind. Although if you read some of the posts in HCDAJFU it appears that many contributors on here also struggle to get their heads round the fact that we can persue these "better" players with pipe dream price tags. But then on the flip side fans of other teams see the sale of a certain left sided player as a done deal simply because it is a necessity enabling us to continue putting 50p's in the electricity meter.

Hoo-bloody-Ray a chuffing miracle!! Thats Wednesday evening in Palafrugell sorted out, that is an exceptional playing surface for the home ground of a Spanish 7th Division side. Saw Espanyol play there in a pre season friendly and saw them played off the park first half. Shame I can't make Saturdays game as that is a very nice little ground. Both an hour from Girona airport with direct flights from Bournemouth for those tempted. Palamos is a working fishing port with seafront hotels certainly not Benidorm Playa D'Aro down the road is the place for that. Palafrugell is a very pleasant little town in land from the sea which is not that far down the road When you get to the sea it is very quiet and can be a bit expensive. if you are planning on these and want Barcelona thrown in you are looking at driving for 1:30 - 2hrs.

Certainly a full house, there are even people sat on what looks like the roof of something alongside the covered stand. That Picture of Elm Park, I was stood in that stand when Saints played Reading in the league cup 1978 and in the second half watched Saints fans climbing up the Floodlight Pylon in the away end, took a while before the OB and stewards could get them down.