Gloucester Saint

The only hope is that Juric might do Dragan and all of us a favour by calling out most of the assorted shite Rasmus has compiled and insist on full control of recruitment. Even the ‘better’ signings like THB have still been below Claus’s Jumpin Jacks-soaked nadir in 2004/5, and can’t hold a light to Claus when he was very good and on the straight and narrow before that. There’s been far too many Davenport and Bernard examples since SR turned up.

We’d be better off leaving player recruitment to strategic tie up with a leading agent like Wolves do - point them in the direction of what we need position and profile wise and set a package limit. Rasmus has not got a clue. Whoever’s idea it was to sign Ross Stewart should be put in stocks at the Bargate on a Saturday morning and have sharpened 50p pieces aimed at them for being a moron. Or given the Freedom of Sunderland.

Was driving back from Hampshire after visiting family and forgot about this game. Quelle surprise a defeat. Another goal for Tyler at least to add to his value. Hey ho. It’s been a good Christmas and if the club aren’t bothered in the slightest about results I don’t see why I should give a toss either. Until they get an SFC Director of Football with a good profile to dislodge Rasmus’s input and a squad who give a shit to give Juric some kind of chance next season I don’t see that changing.

Farage and Badenoch spat escalating with Kemi complaining about the extent of Farage’s airtime on GB News and making threats about regulatory action. A few issues there Kemi: - You’re not in power and not likely to be so for some time (hint, it won’t be as PM) - Hypocrisy; not long ago that Tory cabinet ministers were being interviewed by Tory MPs - Nobody watches the channel apart from Tory MPs, Reform and the most hardcore and obsessive members of both parties Musk now apparently ‘fake news’ assigning Kemi’s X posts as well. Remember, Reform is the party for working class people.

Plymouth it is. He probably wants Norwich - chance their Danish manager gets the push with them drifting 12th, 8 points off the play offs. Some of their more clued in fans have noted this season’s tactical clusterfuck so not sure it will be the love-in he hopes if it happened.

IIRC Saints voted against it, but 13 clubs voted for.

He really did drink the Pep Kool Aid. Deluded. My WBA colleagues will be delighted though, they are not fans of his.

It wasn’t just Truss though was it? She stupidly poured IEA super accelerant on it, but the economy was already well fucked under Boris and public spending out of control with the cost of the ramped up civil service to deal with Brexit plus COVID debt on top. A bit like the 1970s stagflation, Howe and Thatcher didn’t get out of that in 6 months, or 24 months, took into later 1982 to really show signs of recovery. And they took some very unpopular decisions like doubling VAT early on, letting shipbuilding and steel go to the wall etc. SDP were winning by elections, and Tories were frequently lagging third in the polls. If we are still at this stage in 2026 onwards, then I’ll revisit my perspective and be as cross as you are. It took time to build this mess and poor decisions by politicians and publics to get to this point. It won’t transform in 6 months. I didn’t vote for them and not a huge fan FWIW. Far too timid for a start on reconnecting with Europe which would help close the economic gap but then I would say that. I know we have different views on that aspect. Where we agree is that their communication and presentation of policies is poor and has to improve. The press and social media is far more hostile than Blair had, the electorate highly cynical with all parties (including Reform) and not willing to own its balls ups. You can’t have a hard Brexit, lose £40bn pa and expect 2000s era quality public services. Some of the Red Wall seats need a serious reality check - levelling up doesn’t achieve what you want when you’ve cut several % off GDP - but so do this government. They need a Campbell or Ingram figure for when the shit has to hit the fan. That’s where Starmer has been wanting and I think Streeting or Milburn might be leader by the next GE. Abandoning Rwanda was not an error though, it was a very expensive fig leaf token for 1% of illegal migration. When people are flooding out of nations like Eritrea where permanent conscription starts at 14, Rwanda with a few quid in your pocket isn’t a deterrent. The rejections are actually being processed quite a bit faster and numbers falling but the boats are increasing which is another PR challenge. There’s actually been quite a bit of progress in disabling the gangs but it’s an ongoing battle. The smugglers are now operating out of Germany because France is too hot in terms of being dispersed.

They haven’t made the impact hoped yet but if they hadn’t have taken steps to repair some of the severe damage from Boris and Truss they’d have been accused of recklessness. Personally I preferred the Blair and Coalition eras to this, but a hard Brexit plus Truss’s failed gambles and the Ukraine war haven’t exactly given the new lot much scope for manoeuvre that those two eras benefitted from (and Cameron tossed away). Personally, I’d have repealed the stupid and unaffordable NI cut instead of what they did, and Ed Miliband has always been a twat. However, as a Lib Dem majority government will never happen, and then the alternatives are Badenoch or Farage….obvious to give them another couple of years to start making some headway.

You’d have been saying the same in the pub in 1980 about Geoffrey Howe the last time a new government had an in-tray that chronic. And in 1981 and early 1982, people talk about the Falklands effect but the economy picking up and Michael Foot being 15 years past his sell by date helped the 1983 landslide. Howe got pelters for doubling VAT similar to the employers NI increase and it was perceived monetarism was killing the economy, lots of pressure from even their own side to stop it.

Didn’t vote for this government but to compare Reeves to Truss shows pure senility. That’s usually what I expect from Andrew Neil. The flop at GB News has turned him into a bitter old git. No different to Soggy posting a whiny one from the Guardian, Andrew Neil is best ignored.

Another example of why business and politics are different in what drives them. This time, Musk being rational but finding how irrational the GOP is https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyv7gxp02yo

Really quite facile spat about membership numbers between Farage and Badenoch https://www.harrowtimes.co.uk/news/24820989.nigel-farage-threatens-kemi-badenoch-legal-action/?ref=rss

Had the odd good game eg Swansea away at tail end of 17/18 to keep us up but on the whole, Champ with Watford is the right level. Pure senility to think that he was worth £17m from Lazio’s fringe squad which is about £30-35m in todays money. Edit - didn’t know he’d gone to Saudi but explains why Watford are doing much better! Wesley never stays anywhere long before stinking the place out.

Oh Pep did learn from Russell Martin 👍

Tilbury I reckon. Enjoyed it though and agree with those on the Italian Job and Moore Bond films, the BBC documentary on/with Moore on Xmas Day was good, worth watching on catch up if you didn’t see it.

Incredible they were due to have Xmas Day off. Everyone knows in the football industry in that top five divisions in England/Scotland and the more ambitious ones in the sixth that Xmas day is a work day preparing for the Boxing Day fixtures.

It’s the fact the club signed a player for £10m instead who can barely walk and was nowhere near fit instead that makes it even worse. Really lucky that AA and CA stayed fit pretty much all season.

If you wanted a metaphor for Rasmus Ankerson’s contribution to Southampton Football Club, the signing of Kamaldeen Sulemana is very apt.

Yep, and if you go back only slightly further you get Carrillo and Armstrong. Add on another £40m. At least AA did the business in the Champ even if hopeless in the PL.

He’s been rightly sacked and long overdue.

You probably played against old man in that era, played for Hound. Apologies for any late challenges experienced!

Archer time.

Signed for lower Champ/League 1 money so needs development time and minutes. There’s a decent player in there, can cross the ball very well but defensively lax. Will be interesting to see him in a few weeks under a different and vastly superior manager than the village idiot he signed for who couldn’t organise Netley Central.

Not just him, although it was poor. THB should win the second ball from the cross that came back in and failure to do so costs a goal. THB very disappointing this season.