Teamsaint1

I was at the jnfamous “Tear Gassed in Turin” game against Belgium in 1980 My only trip abroad to watch England.Got out of Turin the following day. We were used to trouble at games in those days, but I had seen enough. Great goal by Ray Wilkins though.

When we bought him back we blew a big chunk of money that we received as an option on potential building land Jackson’s Farm at Hedge End I think. I wonder what happened to that land as a Saints asset ?

Seems like a very good plan for our best players. Lavia is the benchmark. We would be mad to take a penny under £50m net for him, and I think we can get more. He is the finished article.

We’d be out of our minds to take £30m. With a 4 year contract and at his age the bidding starts at £50m I would say. And he can get an established PL slot as a starter, and likely a top 6 ( or whatever it is now) and European football. He has a lot of admirers. The only issue would be a low release clause and no bidding war, but can’t see that happening.

I agree We should fight tooth and nail to keep him, which we are going to have to with any of our better players. He'll be pretty much the best CM in the Championship, and we will be very lucky to get anything like his quality for much short of £10m I should think. And we really don't want him going to a rival club either.I wouldn't be surprised if some lower end PL clubs come in for him. The new manager needs to get him onside as a top priority.

The lesson of this season is surely that in order to get back to and thrive in the PL we have to win promotion with a much stronger structure and squad in place. We can't afford to gamble next season away, and in any case , who knows how the league will shape up next season. ( could be another 2X 100 point teams other than us) but if getting things restructured from the current shambles takes more than one year, then that is how it needs to be. Some decisions will need to be taken with a two year view, EG getting some younger players experience at top end Championship level

A repeat of 1974 would do me.

I agree. the playoffs have more plusses than minuses, ( the Championship promotion race would have been finished months ago without them, which is tough on Sheff Utd of course) but they should definitely be rebalanced in favour of the best placed sides. other non league divisions do variations on this.

What , the Steve Cooper we could probably have for the asking ?!

Charlie Taylor. anybody know what is going on?

So many times this season, after well over 50 years since my first game, I have wished that I didn’t care any more. That Saturday afternoons didn’t give me three hours of shredded nerves, more lows than highs ( it seems) . Can’t give it up though. And yep, today, despite all of it, despite the crapness of achieving only being the second worst PL team ever ( can we yet be the third worst ?) that point was really worth celebrating. Not like we celebrated in May ( and the pain of this season has been worth the joy of Wembley) , but still a good day. I’m starting to look forward to a decent campaign next season. Could be the year we win a league. You never know. Just can’t give it up…..

And in any case you would imagine that he has a release clause. Lets Hope Fernandes doesn't .

We could do with replicating the result from the final day of that season.

I don’t suppose there is any chance we can get Les for next season ? I wonder, even assuming he was prepared to play ithe Championship, what his price might be ? £20m ? anyway, sounds like a decent effort today. This is what we should have been doing all season. Just do whatever it takes to stay in games .

1 train per hour ( AFAICS) from Salisbury/ Romsey. So unless SWR have decided to put on unusually long trains they are going to be rammed. edit. SWR tell me on X that the 17.38 is planned to be two carriages. No comment.

He also has very few quality senior pros( esp forward players) to learn from, which is always a problem.

Much as we need to bounce back next season if possible, we also need to have a 2 year parachute- payment plan, to totally reset the club, which will take more than 10/12 weeks ,and make brave decisions, EG trusting some young ,hungry ,talented and potential PL players . AFCB failed, just , first time round, and they have done so well despite that. incidentally, just watching a long interview with Chris Wilder……seems to have an actual plan , based in the real world, and born out of adversity for competing and improving. That would be nice…..

Yep. They might do the things that poor teams need to do in order to occasionally beat better teams. simple tactics, settled back four, play to what few strengths you have, keep every game as tight as possible for as long as possible. The skate bishop ( sorry) put it well last week when he said that they back themselves to force the other team to make mistakes. I mean, we shouldn’t be taking lessons from them obviously, but his point was a good one.

You mean the way lower league teams do in cup games against higher level opposition , and where, EG, Exeter ( even when down to 10 men) v Forest recently ?! who knew there was a way to play against markedly better opposition.?

Unbelievably stupid from Manning.

The annoying ones are where it is left and up, right next to first. Very unsound positioning. Much like our defence much of the time this season.

Whatever else happens on Saturday, the crowd need to give Will Smallbone a good reception .

Mediocre players can play a big part in a decent team. Mediocre teams can compete with more talented squads, even if they lose more often than not. Recruitment has been flawed , and most especially the search for decent strikers, but what has happened this season is that we have failed to do, far too often, the things that mediocre ( or poor) squads need to do. Keep as solid as possible. Stay in games as long as possible ( last match being a classic example), put in absolute maximum effort, give the players their best chance of performing well in their best positions, and learning quickly from bad days and mistakes. The players should accept some responsibility, but management is where the buck stops . Martin got too much wrong,( should have gone after bompey away, ) and Juric hasn’t t really improved things. And as for the board, one can only hope that the new DoF is a big step forward, because that is what we need, with a really tough Championship campaign ahead. The word “Luton” should on the boardroom walls in very big letters.

Against Tottenham and Brentford they did a bloody good impression of not trying and also being useless. there are ways to play against more talented sides. Exeter did this stuff last night. And to stay on topic,despite his antics and form, I’m still convinced that FD can do a decent job in the PL.

Out of the cup . That used to matter. Now I’m not sure what does matter to those on the payroll. staying on the payroll mostly, I guess.