James

You'll have to ask the OP. That's why I assumed the Norwich experience must have been due to a poorly positioned disabled section but I don't really know.

Are you being serious? I presume you're referring to the chanting right? If someone is being subjected to a discriminatory, abusive chant then it needs to be dealt with more harshly than leaving it to fellow fans. Anyone doing that doesn't and shouldn't represent SFC and I'd definitely advocate it being reported so that they can be identified and banned.

Ah fair enough. Would still like to think that people would sit down when its clear someone is having difficulty. I'm not sure I'd classify that as moaning per se.

Agree but this isn't really the point the OP is making is it? He's saying that, at some league grounds, the disabled seating is such that, if people stand, wheelchair users can't see. If the only way that a disabled fan can see the game is for me to sit down then I'll do it and so should everyone else IMO. It's not really a case of anyone 'moaning' at anyone else.

Don't really understand why acquiring new fans can be a bad thing to be honest. Like it or not, the big clubs that we (apparently) aspire to emulate have vast fan bases in America and Asia and use the increased revenue to fund, amongst other things, transfers etc. Does it really bother you if we hold pre-season in a foreign country where the average Southampton fan can't follow? Ultimately local fans are always advantaged (and not forgotten about) because they are lucky enough to be able to attend all games if they choose. Out of interest, what would you class as a 'real' fan? Someone with an SO postcode? Someone from the UK? I just don't really understand why people in foreign countries can't choose to follow Saints and why, if they choose to do so and feel strongly enough about them to post on a message board, they should be considered any less of a fan than someone who has the privilege of attending live matches.

He's basically next in line if we get another injury so I suspect he's been upgraded to first team training for now. Not expecting much here after our recent form, their recent result and our relatively poor record up there (last year aside). Would be nice to get a win to breed a bit of confidence pre-Wembley but, with all the injuries we've got at the moment and our defensive issues, I can't really see it. 1-1 would be my guess.

Sorry to hear about this, especially the chanting which is just outrageous. I get that away fans will always stand up but what are you suggesting SKD that wheelchair users shouldn't attend away games? That can't be right. Would hope that must of our fans would sit down if their standing was compromising the view of a disabled fan but unfortunately some of our away fans are, frankly, complete morons so do appreciate that it will be hard to implement in practice.

Forster Cedric VVD Yoshida Bertrand Romeu Hojberg Redmond Boufal Gabbiadini Austin

It's by the statue. Did it for Man U this season.

Ever: MLT, Pahars, Lambert Current: VVD, Romeu, Austin

Disagree with that. If you can't guarantee something then don't make an affirmative statement that you can't stick to. No one forced him to make an implicit promise of a replacement, he chose to say it. He could have given the interview pretty easily and just omitted that bit. Also, I'm sure some people would have continued to have a pop at Reed at the club but you can't deny that the criticism of him has exploded since the Fonte incident.

If he thought Fonte was going to stay then why make a public statement that he wouldn't be sold without a replacement? If, at the time he gave that interview, he thought he was staying then there really was no need to add that part on. This is an example of my major gripe with Les, he only speaks at times of intense speculation, says something positive and then it turns out to be wrong within a matter of days sometimes. He needs to either keep his mouth shut or only say something if he knows damn sure it's true. He wouldn't be getting anywhere near as much stick if a) he hadn't said we'd get a replacement for Fonte if we released him or b) he didn't have a previous track record of saying things and then subsequently not delivering. It just means he loses credibility amongst the fan base.

Intentionally not replacing Fonte is the root of it. Even if VVD hadn't been injured against Leicester we were effectively banking on him staying fit and playing every game for the next 4 months. That is, IMO, a completely ludicrous risk for a PL team to take. In reality we are pretty lucky VVD got crocked when he did, had it happened next month we probably wouldn't even have Caceres available as an option.

There were still almost 10 days to go when Vardy did for Virgil. That's almost a third of the window.

Agreed. Fair enough they messed up and are trying to salvage it but the fact this situation was allowed to arise in the first place, when completely avoidable and with weeks to sort, is ridiculous. Also not particularly happy with the fact that had VVD not been crocked we would have likely just risked it with what we have. Given LR's assurances about how well run we are it's not surprising they've taken a lot of flack here for dropping the ball and leaving us short in two consecutive windows.

Word. No one can credibly say anything else. Let's hope we get Caceres.

Whilst I appreciate the quality of this post I don't agree with it. I work in the City on a lot of relatively high profile "deals". I don't claim to know much about the football business world but what I do know is that you should absolutely never put yourself in a position where you get caught out on deadline day. Whilst he may not have foreseen what happened he should not, as a premier League director of football, have allowed himself to be caught out with no time to rectify the situation. The fact he has been caught out so brutally will always attach criticism and, Imo, justifiably so.

Well said.

Quelle Surprise.

Hopefully we will get him.

Genuine q for you - what has Puel done to prove he is an excellent manager? I suspect that, for every good result, I could cite twice as many awful ones.

Agreed. He has got to go. You can't present yourself as a smug know it all and then fail to deliver so spectacularly. His arrogance could relegate us. I don't even care if he reads this. In fact, I hope he does.

This whole "I feel sorry for Puel" act is getting pretty tiresome. The majority of this squad finished sixth last year. I get that we sold some very good players but to have us so close to the bottom is the fault of the manager only. The squad we have is much better than it's showing and that is the fault of the manager. It's almost a parody that you have a French word as your username and are defending a French manager to the hilt. We've been, for the most part, complete garbage this season and that's down to Puel. He's been let down but we shouldn't even be flirting with relegation.

They won't be replaced.

Out. Whether he keeps us up this year or not. I don't want him as our manager long term.