Fowllyd

You don't reckon young Archie Gemmill will get on the score sheet then?

Robbie, you need to check your irony meter, it's malfunctioning. No, on second thoughts, you need to replace your sarcasm-laid-on-with-a-shovel meter, it's totally kaput!

This piece makes interesting reading, not least as it seems to be something of a break with the uncritical cosiness that's characterised the Echo's reporting of Saints thus far this season. http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/3985982.Rupert_s_great_Dutch_gamble_yet_to_pay_off/ Apologies if it's already been posted elsewhere - if it has I didn't see it.

As I've said before, a messiah complex!

Given Billy Davies' record for having an immediate, positive impact on clubs he's managed, I'd be very careful of what you wish for if I were you. Let's beat Forest and hope their board see sense and keep Calderwood in place for the rest of the season.

I remember Strachan being quoted as saying he hated the whole transfer window system, and I have to say I agree. It doesn't give any extra stability in terms of players being retained by clubs, as the rumour mill doesn't stop in September and suddenly start again in January - as we've seen. It can also cause horrific difficulties for clubs who lose a key player right at the end of the window. It may be that Kevin McCarra's argument in favour of managers being subject to a transfer window was in fact a piece of devil's advocacy, and that he'd rather see the whole transfer window system removed. I have no idea about that though.

In this league, this season, every game is a winnable one for us. Unfortunately, every game is a losable one for us too. And there in a nutshell is the story of our season. We'll lose or draw at home to a team we should be demolishing (Blackpool springs to mind, though there are plenty of others) and we'll win away when least expected (Reading being the most obvious example). The problem is that we can't rely on unexpected, spectacular wins against the likes of Reading. We have to be winning our home games, all the more so against the other teams in the relegation mini-league. I just hope like hell that we can start that process against Forest on Saturday. I won't give a stuff if it's the crappiest 1-0 game ever, just as long as we get the points. And if a win against Forest - however it's achieved - exorcises that demon of home form, then I'll be ecstatic. In spite of what I've written above, I'm optimistic - or at the very least hopeful. But that's down to my nature rather than anything else.

This is from today's Guardian - I looked at it and did a quick double-take! But yes, it is our Nick. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/dec/17/2 Interesting topic, mind...

Are you advocating some form of fly-paper? Or perhaps dental floss, if it's to be a thread? If what you mean is a giant sticky pole then I really don't want to know about it.

Forget 'they' - we're talking about only one person here. Lowe's other supporters have always been his allies, whereas Wilde is the man who was instrumental in his ousting. Personally - and this is purely my own opinion - I think it's largely a case of Wilde wanting to get Crouch back for the latter's part in his own ousting. Come on over baby, whole lotta ousting goin' on....

Even funnier if you know what 'chining' actually means (and if you don't, find a good butcher and ask there!). :D

I know it's a little late in the day to be saying this, but I can't help thinking we should have been voting for two 'engine room' midfielders and two attacking midfielders. I'd see Alan Ball fitting into the former category, and Paine and Le Tiss into the latter. Put David Armstrong in the final slot alongside Bally and you've got a pretty damn fine midfield four. Even then it means leaving out the likes of Steve Williams and Nick Holmes.

Indeed, and we faced incredible competition to get Poortvliet here...

I posted in a thread a week or two back that Lowe looks to me like somebody with a major-league messiah complex. He appears to genuinely believe that his approach is the right one, the only right one, and he'll pursue it to the last. Hence Poortvliet's appointment in the first place. And if you expect a sudden outbreak of pragmatism from him then I'm afraid you'll be sorely disappointed. For what it's worth, I'm voting no on the poll, but I'd agree with many others that the coach isn't the correct target of our wrath.

Ditto.

We are consistent in one thing only, and that is our inconsistency (apologies to Socrates - no, not that one, the Greek one). So, having given a pretty inept display on Monday night, we're bound to do something strange tomorrow. Saints win then, 2-1 or maybe 3-2. I shall wake up in the morning, fold my hands and pray for that.

Says on the OS that Euell, Thomson, Lancashire and Schneiderlin are all in the squad for tomorrow, with Paterson and Mills missing out. Good to see Euell, Thomson and Schneiderlin especially - there are plenty who'd wondered why Euell had missed out on the last two squads, and I include myself in that number.

I don't wish to know about your smoking habits.

What I consider possible is neither here nor there. Come to that, I don't even know what you're asking me to consider the possibility of. I asked you a simple question, which I'll repeat now: did Glenn Hoddle himself tell you the reason why he didn't return to manage Saints prior to the appointment of Sturrock? Can you manage a simple answer to that?

Did he tell you that himself? Not that I'm a dyed-in-the-wool cynic, but I do seem to recall you cobbling together a fabulous (in every sense of the word) story about Lowe appointing Sturrock purely to show the board how wrong they'd been to reject Hoddle as manager, then finding that the ploy backfired and we ended up relegated. Just wondering.

I agree with the first bit - I wouldn't want to see either of them leave. But how often did Lallana play under Pearson? Yes, there was the West Brom game, but were there any others? It seems to me that Lallana is a player who's still looking for his best position and role, and needs a bit of direction to help him find them. That'll be what a manager's for then.

I think you may need to re-read the article. It clearly mentions the alleged possibility of Hoddle replacing the then recently sacked Wigley. The time Patred mentions was after WGS left, so nine months (roughly) before that.

Make it into a live-action hologram and we can watch it every at half-time interval. That'll bring back the missing hordes.

He certainly seems like a new alias now. Are you sure of your facts here T (if you'll pardon the familiarity)?

I think he may have picked the ball up after another player was fouled. Does that count?