Holmes_and_Watson

Animal

The Baker Street Irregulars have outsourced themselves to the CoT. We have no control over them. 🙂

There were plenty of excellent posts and posters on SaintsWeb in 24/25, making the season a bit more bearable. I doubt I'd disagree with a lot of choices. But, for me, the 24/25 SaintsWeb member of the season goes to... ...who put the answer in an envelope?!... nobody here is going to see me open an envelope!.... @Whitey Grandad Consistently witty, wise and smart posting throughout the season, and a pleasure to read. And it's not just me that thinks this. Experts have run Whitey's xQ (posting quality) against the forum's previous xV (voting likelihood) and...Whitey, put down the award...Whitey....Aaargh! Well, it's a bit awkward handing out the SaintsWeb Niche Awards for 24/25, from my hospital bed, but here goes with a few... Socrates Award: Just like the man who started as a Greek philosopher, before a career in Brazilian football, @gio1saints combined both. What started as something that read as a defence of Russell Martin, contained lots of thought provoking ideas of what we aspire to as fans, as a club and as a sport. Necronomicon Award: @Paul Chuckle for bringing back 17 year old Football Manager player guides, to hilarious effect. Cupid Award: We were all devastated by the departure of Stu's hair. But love finds a way. @Fabrice29 and @notnowcato starred in the doomed period romance, with Russell Martin, sharing windswept, unfulfilled looks of love as the Royal forces of reality overcame their last stand. At the other end of the market, @Matthew Le God's lust for Johannes Spors was sheer filth, and an instant bestseller. LOL Award: @Convict Colony (who will be too modest to accept) and @Turkish (who will add it to the achievements list) for me this season. Lounge Award: @hypochondriac posted his thoughts on a variety of subjects, happy to open up debate in the right spirit. Pen Pal Award: @ChristopheVAFC for the match links all season and @FredVaFC59100 for his different take on his club. Allez Valenciennes! ITK Award: CoT

But is he aggressive and front footed?

Pound for pound the best assistant to losing the best pound for pound manager in Europe. 🙂

It was supposed to read "Rik"

I guess some people would prefer to remember a Trollope to a Paine.

It does. Three different players wondering when Stewart is going to recover. 🙂 We do have the numbers of forwards in the squad. When we finished 15th in the PL I think it was Adams, AA, Broja, Long, and Walcott used to fancy himself there. We ended up thankful for Broja's purple patch. Now we have AA, Archer, BBD, TP, Stewart with Sule picked a bit for counterattacks. Plenty of Championship goals there historically too. Yet, despite each having strengths, we're looking for more of an all rounder; that Adams upgrade SR were going to give us. Stewart looks closest to that, with AA being capable elsewhere in the side. I'd not count on Stewart being fit. So, I'd say it was still something we'd need.

An easy win for @Carozzi

Invite

A bit of a drop down to my local non league...oh, you mean for one of your teams? 🙂 That must have been really pleasing to type. If only the internet was around in the early '80s.. We've signed Kevin Keegan!

This would help explain why he, and the likes of Downes were so disappointed. Martin said something along the lines of thinking he would get longer. Partly because, in his mind, they weren't far away. But also because they knew it would be a struggle, and were looking to build. It was the nature and frequency of the defeats that did for him. If we're giving it a plucky relegation scrap, he might still be here. There's an element of SR not sticking to their plan of backing Martin across additional seasons. Very difficult to look at the results and think of any other outcome. But SR jumping around between systems shows a lack of conviction, even as they praise the "project"

A SR problem, and not just a Chorley one. 🙂

When this came up before, there was the feeling that the club 1) realised how weak it was since last relegation 2) Did the business it could within resources, but clearly didn't get some main targets 3) Knew that it would be a struggle, but looked to have a more solid foundation for the next promotion push when it happened. Personally, I think SR are their own worst enemies in creating these problems in the first place. And by stronger for the next push, they meant not a massive dressing room full of sulking cliques. Which hasn't been fully solved, as it turnsed out anyway. But yes, if you have to go down, it does make sense to recruit to minimise that impact. Which is why, if those plans were at all effective, we should be pushing for a straight promotion.

Pilchards' stealth technology has moved on.