gio1saints

Think that was Orient away in the FA Cup following year. Was disgustingly literally packed like sardines you couldn’t move and underneath you the urine was flowing. We won though!

Possibly one of the few matches at which I felt a visceral anger that I can recall even to this day. I wasn’t on the pitch but desperately wanted to be - and only my being very mature very clever and sensible/law abiding and not drunk and obviously able to control my emotions from my position quite far back on the terracing, despite my impulsivity, stopped me joining in. 😉 Outside it was rather brutal as I recall..For you younger supporters who maybe don’t get why some older saints fans just cannot stand Everton…do some homework on it - 1984 is when it started -for me anyways.

Mateus has consistently been our best player, but celebrating any player award, in this season of terrible performances, seems wrong. Southampton FC supporters have been exceptional this season. So, instead of a player I’d give it to all Saints fans who watched Saints, home or away, especially the latter part of season when we were doomed. They have been excellent as the 12th man. At times the players did not deserve such support and our fans - good natured, loud and loyal, have been incredible. Saints supporters are the worthy recipients of Player of the Season.

I honestly do get this thing about Jack. I just think he’s getting slagged off a bit too much on here ~ he’s served suspensions, been dropped etc and been vilified relentlessly for getting sent off not giving a good account of himself and club as captain etc - but mostly for not being as good as other EPL CB’s. But, c’mon, Give it a rest time perhaps? Speak to him. Or speak with people who know him and speak with him. He is an honest pro, passionate about his role leading the Saints squad. What he allegedly lacks in technical skills nobody can deny he makes up for in heart. In an era where that’s regarded as irrelevant and players are interchangeable and disposable it’s surely refreshing to have a throwback “old school” player with “old school” values-like Jack, at Saints, certainly for long time supporters who can actually remember when Saints ALWAYS Had a player or two like JS in the team going back to the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Incidentally and maybe coincidentally ( or not..) times when we were figuring higher up the league usually.

I think the above discussion shows how easily subject to manipulation the current FFP rules are. That’s not a great secret. FFP has locked-in the gains for the wealthy and locked out the rest, when what it should have done is create a more transparently fair playing field. Literally, if the EPL was boxing what happens is that Tyson Fury gets to fight Frank Bruno or Henry Cooper most weeks. Ie heavyweights in name and history only and no longer competitive.

Already did that a while back. 😎. It’s a bit closing the door after horse has bolted though. Timing and the decisive use of exclusive insight is critical. I think maybe the comms chains got too long. It’s entirely possible that by the time SMS becomes Land of the Giants that there’s a newer approach that renders that old hat. We need to be on the right (UP!) side of the cycle. It’s clear we have been on the wrong ( DOWN) side in last three years.

It might be if I can find a way to monetise that assessment. Otherwise, yes, it’s simply self congratulating - a concept, perhaps, you may be familiar with?

It’s no joke and Spors is widely known to favour such an approach. We should not be surprised to see the average height of the saints squad rise over the next twelve-eighteen months. Im tempted to work it out as of now and bookmark it to look again in 12-18mths. I’d bet it goes up. NB reason 12-18mths is because there will be a time lag between unloading shorter players and recruiting taller ones which may not be immediately evident - plus the possibility of promotion where it’s been widely seen that saints have lacked physicality v many/most other EPL teams and that’s been an influential factor. Height helps with that. So expect further string athletes recruitment if we get promoted as well. It’s NOT about being able to play football that’s the first thing we need to sort out at Saints. If we cannot compete physically, and EARN the right to play our football, we will get beat each week or struggle against allegedly inferior teams. I’m not saying I like it- but that’s what path I see saints going.

Nice spot and well described. My recollection is that in 2021/22 we - and many in the football biz - were still somewhat in awe of the mysterious “black room “ from whence undervalued players from all around the world came to improve us, and themselves, - then get sold at a profit. Today the “ black room” myth has been dispelled and it’s called data analysts and every club is doing it and doing it professionally. My current theory is we just maybe we were slightly ahead of the data learning curve before they all caught up-and started doing it themselves, and better. That relatively no competition exercise turned into the usual market dominated by the cleverest and the wealthiest. That’s not us ATM, btw 😁

Are you sure? Did Ryan get an 40% pay rise from our promotion? He joined when we were in the Championship and I thought it was on a free - but he got more bigger bucks weekly than if we had to pay a fee obviously. What if that means RF does not get a pay cut cos he was joined on a free? Might be one if not highest paid player in squad?

WRT our attack next season : I do not see us having BOTH Archer AND Armstrong. AA likely goal tally and defensive work rate will be better so I prefer AA and hope we get a decent fee for CA. I also do NOT see TP playing Championship football next season. Back to Turkey methinks. I DO see RS being in the squad and trying to get some form from somewhere - but if he’s not scoring by Xmas he’s got to be loaned or sold. That leaves Jay Robinson who is raw and will not start, Tyler who is also still raw and we will not get £100m or even £50m or even £30m for, IMO, his last 6/7 anonymous matches have not gone unnoticed - so If he IS sold for say £25m then I’d expect a massive sell on clause. Then that leaves Sam E - who I think will be sold, Ryan Fraser who I think we will retain if he takes a pay cut and Kameldeen who I also think will be sold. We will need plenty basically.

THB, JB and JS have more experience combined than any other back three in the Championship. If we are going to blood a bunch of new players, including a goalie , I think it would make sense to retain SOME experience in the squad even if they don’t always start. Defensive solidity above all else seems to be the primary objective of the current management and I cannot see it changing much next year. Look at Burnley if you want to see where being miserly in defensive can get you in that league. THB will probably leave in any case so that leaves just two. We’ve got two younger ones lined up of course and perhaps Shea may also be an option ( though he seems a shoe in for CM) but experience IS valuable and ditching it because they not cutting it at EPL level is cutting your nose to spite your face.

1. I attend every home match and keep a tally of how many half and half scarves ( for me, this is a definitive recognisable criteria of a tourist visitor) I see in a little note pad, in pencil in case I need update it. I also add those who do not know where they are going in places i know are ST seats. This, to me, is also a recognisable criteria. 2. One qualification I personally have aside from my scientific approach - albeit in a variable data sample - is my attending every home match and generally doing a stroll around ground before shuffling along to Northam. I feel this gives me something of an advantage than if I were, say, to sit in The Unity until 7 mins before kick off then half jog up to the ground. 3. My third way of working it out is good old people watching. That, and a high degree of intuition of who is and who is not a first timer to St. Mary’s. My observational abilities are professional in that regard. 4. Occasionally, I will act as a Tour guide to seemingly lost St Mary’s visitors. I approach them casually like and kindly offer directions. I usually send them to the Cruise ships and The Titanic exhibition. Never get any complaints. Other than that @Matthew Le God I guess it’s just a personal opinion. 😁

Considering how many tourists were there I thought it was easily Saints fans best home singing performance of the season. The team acknowledging that at the end was NOT celebrating a point like that tosser Sutton said calling them and us “Losers “ but rather it was the team saying “Thank You” to the fans who made so much noise encouraging and supporting them through near 100 minutes DESPITE them being atrocious all season . All the players did what they had to do so MOTM for me was every Saints fan singing all match there on Saturday 🙌

I literally was in tears at full time. Thank you saints.

God. Our shooting practice is not good. Really not good. Why do they smash them over the bar? It’s not rugby.

Nah his media is shit. NB: never seen as many tourists at SMS in the what would be usually ST’s as today already. A good line in half n half shirts as well. Guess it’s the easiest match to sell on.

@Holmes_and_Watson I think you must be one of the genuinely nicest posters on here. And your views are pretty much spot on and often very incisive. You’re not an empty pot basically. My views, on the other hand , are sometimes whimsy sometimes serious, sometimes insightful sometimes way off the mark but always ultimately loyal to Saints. You, rightly, do not get much flak . I on the other hand, due to my sometimes provocative style and support for the right to have minority views on many Saints topics ( I have an instinctive reaction to bandwagons and scapegoating) do get incoming. Keep up your good input please. The rest of you- keep up the good input also please . Cannot make progress without it.. 😁

You don’t think Beyoncé would take the job? 😇. Tyler Swift may be a better option in which case. I can’t make up my mind. ps it’s a few hours before our get beaten by Man City occasion so I’m trying to put a smile on my face ahead of the grimaces from 3.00pm..😇 btw Saints are missing a trick not getting Mr. Line-Acre in the house.

😂Yes ok I understand. But I still reckon if Beyoncé applied for the job with her 312 Million followers SR would probably give her the gig! 😇

I did expect some reaction but I deliberately made it a bit outre in order to make the point. Social Meda is much much more important in manager recruitment than ever before. We’ve had players agents send vids out for years now so it’s a catch up exercise with the managers. It used to be cool if the manager could do a PowerPoint - now that’s old hat. Oh, and MLG - Ivan Juric I don’t know but NJ? All I heard before recruitment was his fabulous fabulous stats. Whoever was selling him did a great job..

But I’m told it’s nice to see some of our coaching team at Riverside Park walking the dog and taking in the sunshine before the big match. 😁

I understand City are staying at the place where the better teams tend to stay - HA BAR. Not surprising but I don’t think that we have beaten any team staying there this season. Ominous.

I’ve just realised. Once upon a time if you needed a new Manager you’d go and see who is the best most suitable you can attract/afford. You’d look at their results and have a chat see if they are alright. Get a reference or two. Today, the single biggest influencing factor in recruiting a new manager will probably be the new guys Social Media team. If he has invested wisely they will make him sound like the most in demand revered respected and “ must-have” manager around. Sound bites edited clips all the usual stuff. His football results are not what gets him the interview. His PR team are. And if he talks the right way and or has a big online following or player history in particular his past manager experience is irrelevant. Neville and Rooney are two recent examples but I’m getting a sense one or two of those being strongly connected with us have had major social media “ fluffing” - Rohl is one and we already recruited another before RM -arguably another - in the ill fated Nathan jones “one of the best coaches in Europe”.

He IS a very good player at that level granted but We’d need to sell at least 3-4 players before Sainz became a very necessary buy. Buying him today is a luxury but. Sargent, on the other hand, we need immediately before we’ve even sold. Season after season we’ve bought NOT A STRIKER …I hope we learn our lesson and bring at least TWO in.