Miltonaggro

Referring to groundhog day in terms of every summer - we very rarely tear up these games I remain optimistic for this season, strengthen that spine and the nice stuff can be underwritten by some guile and nasty.

Dull as ditchwater last home friendly of the summer. Same old, same old, unfortunately.

Reckon that will be Piroe towards the end of the window, 6ft 1 to Lambert's 6ft 2 and a proper target man. Let's hope so.

[im]potency

Very underrated Hammond, great strength and engine, plus a real team player setting by example. Went on to have a decent career after Saints too with Brighton, Leicester and Sheff U. When Saints were putting together that great squad to gain promotion from league 1 and the championship we seemed to have about five hits to every one miss, that ratio has been reversed in the last five or six seasons. Hope we can get back to that now, no need to overthink, round pegs in round holes. Manning appears to be exactly that type of signing, more of this!

I hope that you are right in terms of strengthening every position down that spine from keeper through central defence, defensive mid and a genuine centre forward (target man). It's what did for us last season and has cost us points for years. We are going to need some confidence and nous in the Championship, others like Manning to settle us and bring on the potential.

Turkish friend of the stars! Huw Edwards is hiding in the drawer under the bed, safety word is ‘Schofield’ apparently…

Depends on the pub...

£20m and a 40% sell on clause. Probably initially thought he'd been hacked.

To be fair, that’s a lovely sentiment on a site where cynicism has become an art form. Reaching out to a fellow Saints fan in unfamiliar surroundings is old school, genuine camaraderie and support. Let us know how you get on 👏

Hope here - in middle of this revolving door stage - is not to lose. Draw in this away fixture a good start but a win would be great. 1-1 or 1-2 Saints.

After last season’s debacle, recruiting a solid keeper early in the window was always going to be perhaps the best signifier that Sport Republic were true to their word in terms of owning silly mistakes and acting on them. At present, going into a critical season, it appears that our first team’s role as a high end non-competive work experience placement will continue.

Guarantee Mick Quinn was a better finisher, and he actually had tits!

Spot on! A look at the all time PL table is interesting.

Coming on here to post along those lines FF, one of a few near things in that great era with Bond and Clough close to LM. Francis was a class act, a ‘silky’ player often described as a luxury but in his day the most coveted forward in the top flight. Would love to have seen him in a Saints shirt. Not a bad manager either, particularly at Sheff Weds who had a third placed finish and both cup finals in his first three years.

I remember when we signed Boruc from Fiorentina for a nominal fee. He was 32 and with something like 350 first team games and 60 caps. Mad as a box of frogs, but first choice under Pochettino and on his day exactly what you want in a keeper - commanding, strong, and great craft. Thought he was the best keeper of our recent Premier League era. Prone to a serious brain implosion in about one of every six games, but his type in this side now would likely be a huge improvement if we are serious about being in contention.

Some cynical people are saying it’s all about money, but its probably to do with social awareness and cohesion. They deserve a big hand.

Last season we conceded 73 goals in the league and good many of these were down to having Bazunu and McCarthy as our first team keepers. No team in the Championship conceded that many despite playing eight more games, so we need a rather stark improvement defensively to be competitive. At the end of last season I thought goalkeeper needed to be a priority position for this summer, and a good indicator of Sport Republic's pledge to learn from their mistake in using Saints as a work experience project - a canary in the coalmine. I am hopeful that having come in recently Wilcox and Martin are now aware of our frailty and will seek funds to address it before the close of the window, a more pragmatic approach to Ankersen's vanity in avoiding the obvious. Bazunu is a youngster, and if the club think he's a prospect genuine support for him would be to either protect him within the first team squad as number two to a solid experienced mentor, or loan in out to build confidence and technique. Top level keepers need confidence, craft, and physical strength / presence and currently GB appears to be lacking all three. These attributes might come in time but ideally we need them there when we kick off against Sheffield Wednesday in less than two weeks or very soon afterwards.

I'm still predicting a at least a 9.5 by September, all in!

I meant £12.5m to be fair. He’s not worth more than that and I think Swansea know it.

Not really a fan of the Chairman Mao haircuts but I don’t really keep up with fashion these days.

If that happened Sunday league the morning after a lock in session the ‘keeper’ would never have lived it down 😂

That would be a superb result for Saints in two ways - Pareto optimal!

If it comes to it Swansea will add on another £500k and Saints will pay it.

World Snooker Championship?