Holmes_and_Watson

No wonder I skip those bits. What an utter clown. Some other idiot said recently that he was a little surprised that JWP hadn't attracted the attention of a top 4 (later top 6 in the comment). Because JWP would be a great option to bring off the bench. I had no idea he only hadn't missed endless first team minutes, at a club he's loved at, because he knew there was a good sit down waiting ahead. I only don't recall who said it as I was turning them off. Idiot.

That's good to know. If we can progress up the leagues, I'm sure they will be needed. And hopefully we can attract top academy talent too as we go, combining that progression with the good name Saints already have in developing players.

I heard that they had to change the colour of the Man Utd font at half time during the beta, because they had trouble picking it out against the background. 🙂

Yeah, shopping trips with my parents where I had no control over the itinerary, but desperately trying to get near the TV department in any store or window close to full time. 🙂

"All I've ever wanted was an honest week's pay for an honest day's work." - Steve Martin

I've watched it a few times, and I'd put it down as cordial, without being particularly chummy. As they weren't covering their mouths, you can make out a few words. Ralph: Who would have thought we'd both end up here? Ralph: When I left you, I was but the learner; now I am the master. Ralph: Only a master of the Saints, Ralph. Ralph: Your powers are weak. You have a disjointed squad and no team spirit. Ralph: If you cut me down, I will still be made Director of Football. We're still waiting confirmation from VAR on whether the lightsaber strike was legal.

Thanks for all your work! Although disapointed that bias was built in from the start. Oh, the old "no, the transmitter was at Crystal Palace" line. 🙂

Oh, lets see... nips off to other bits of the Interweb for Sauce... Here we go... It was recent enough for it to stick in my mind.. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/west-ham-owner-s-ps1m-loan-to-crime-boss-9321418.html

I didn't get a "media are against us" vibe from the other posts. I thought we all agreed that they weren't worth listening to.

Oh noes! I might do that... because...um... by waiting for the mechanism to complete its full cycle, I'm preventing it jerking open and increasing wear and tear. So, over years I'm saving us all maintenance money casuing price rises? No? Rats...I'm just being annoying then... 🙂

I was really pleased to hear him speak up about it. His weight of opinion as an ex player and manager was a heck of a lot more convincing than the jellies he was sitting beside. Puts into context all the "footballing" guff Moyes came out with.

Well Done Saints!

I'd always land on the wrong page of Ceefax. We'd be on page 2 of 2 and I'd always get the other one, or vice versa. I always had that little tense wait for it to switch over. Looking back, there was porbably a button to move it on or I could have refreshed it. But Id' have been too busy desperately waiting to think like that.

Oh possibly. I don't see him too often. But perhaps he's just at the satge of giving an honest opinion. He did ask if there was time for him to get his say, so it wasn't a rant or anything.

Yups. Had Ralph gone off on a tangent, or not answered at all, he would have been picked up on that. It's only a MOTD studio pundit. Their mouths only open and spew rubbish so that air can get in.

Sullivan also made a nice 1 million payment to the head of an organised crime gang, who engaged in lots of violence and money laundering. Utter scum.

Souness has "no sympathy" for Zouma and has gone out of his way to say "He wouldn't have in the team this year" if he was manager. Until "he showed real remorse" Also as a player, he "would not want to be in the same team as him". Souness not having any of the PR statements from the club, despite what his spineless co hosts are saying. Well done, Sir.

The Villa 'keeper went out of his way to position Buendia in a way that increased the chance of a deflection. Zouma feeling "unwell" and has dropped out the squad. No excuse for having the utter scumbag in the squad in the first place.

If there was some sort of VAR conspiracy (puts on tin foil hat handily available from Salmons covid posts), I'd have thought the current top clubs would have conspired against the Sportswashers. Not that they would have preempted it, by already having bought it off. I mean, what's the point of being in the Football Illuminati, if some Journalist-Killer-Come-Lately can just buy their way in?

Does just mentioning the name, act as some sort of ward against a poster appearing? 🙂

BBC studio pundits are a good reason not to be a BBC viewer Professor. But spare a thought that it's hard for some of them having to share that IQ point around. A production assistant races on while the match footage is on, to move the point around. If I catch match of the day (very rarely), I make sure to watch it well after it's started so I can fast forward through their rubbish. I keep waiting for Jenas' parents to come in and tell him he's grounded for being up so late. I do admit to sometimes being a bit surprised by Ralphs honesty in his answers. But that's as much a reflection on the vacuous questions that are normally asked.

Matt Jansen is taking a heck of a long time getting here to play. Flashbacks of all those tense last minutes waiting for Grandstand's vidiprinter, or making sure I was near a shop window, if I was out, so I could catch the scores.

Pretty much all of the above. Having no key injuries - Armstrong, Romeu, JWP and Broja. Smallish squad size means that players get minutes combined with that stronger bench pushing players for some positions. improvement in players abilities, as Ralph's evolving playbook contines to bed in - Stephens, Valery. Genuine attacking outlet in Broja, which Adams an then support. Better game management, but that can be based on how we *can* manage games if we are in the lead and not hanging on/ chasing to get back in. Does seem to have had a new owner bounce. Perhaps they've promised franchises in lovely holiday locations. Perhaps a little of seeing that top Academy talent can and will go into the team as Tino did, keeps a few on their toes.

I didn't hear all of Scholes witterings. But I really don't think the concept of a manager having to spend a couple of months getting a team to play to defined systems has really sunk in. In a club with giant egos on the pitch, and most likely behind the scenes, it may take even longer. There should be changes apparent shorter term, but it will still look disjointed until more of it fits together. There's always the choice of not going down that path, or having a manager who implements layered solutions. Or a big shouty manager who gets short term gain through force of personality. And there's always the chance that the new systems simply don't work or won't work with those egos, which may well be the case with United. As Kraken points out, there's not the signs of the changes yet, and they look quite disjointed. He's been there a little while now too. But that may be signs of how much has to change all across the club. Or perhaps they picked the wrong Ralph* But they've shocen a longer term fix, and they have to see that through (appointing a permanent manager would be a good step). They also have to face up to the financial clout and progression Man CIty, Liverpool and Chelsea have already made, and keep a bit of persepctive. *The Wrong Ralph: Disney's madcap soccer caper coming to screens this summer.

The split does seem to have come about through some strong differences in tactical progression/ approach. Considering 1) that this happened before 2) the subsequent progression our Ralph has made since and 3) the endless hand wringing about lack of success going on at united, I can't see why our Ralph would want to go through it again. Other than loads of pennies. But if he's contemplating retirement over getting loads of further pennies at the end of his contract, and from interviews, that doesn;t seem the strongest of motivaitons for him presently. So, no. 🙂