Pat from Poole

McGoldrick is a bag of sheight though.

I remember this all too well, I presume you recall seeing the old duffer hanging out of the first-floor window of his abode before the game, chucking coins at us? Highly comical.

So much of it is about fitness in my opinion. If Adkins has them running up mountains until they puke in pre-season like Strachan used to, then I think we'll be halfway there. I've lost count of the number of opening day games I've seen Saints lose over the years when the players looked embarrassingly unfit.

Patrick Colleter did that unforgettable tackle on Poyet, of course. I remember him mainly for this, plus trying to start a fight with the whole of the Notts Forest bench. Proper nutter.

1. Monkou 2. Niemi 3. Pahars 4. Ekelund 5. Dia

Before my missus had our first child, we both played pool for our county (Dorset). Having kids kind of puts paid to hobbies.

Agreed. They'll still get 30,000 crowds for most games as well, they really should finish in the top two.

They seem to think they're signing Robbie Keane FFS.

The managerial situation at Wigan may be having an impact. There is absolutely zilch chance of CMS coming to Saints, we shouldn't be worrying about him.

Given the anti-Saints keyboard warrior activity of a number of Brentford's fanbase a couple of months ago, I'm sure you will all feel a degree of sympathy for them, given that their new manager is to be one of the worst strikers in the history of Southampton FC.

I'm sure I read in a paper somewhere that the ex-GMTV presenter Fiona Phillips was at the away leg in Belgium, as some kind of rebellious deed to annoy her parents. Though she now appears to be a saddo Chelsea plastic. I don't think i am entirely making this up, random though it sounds. Can anybody confirm I am not mad?

That's a very good point. I believe Cheats FC sold Pearce to Boscombe in 2007, well before their financial problems hit big time. Why should they be allowed to continue to reap the benefit of a sell-on clause following administration? (I expect somebody to now say that we benefited from a sell-on clause after going into administration ourselves - Leon Best maybe?)

Branfoot sending Jimmy Case down to Boscombe in his first few days as Saints manager was a pretty bad start to a far from glorious reign.

I'm no great fan of Seaborne, but I seem to recall that the 4-4 game at Peterboro was played on a pretty windy night, and he may have misjudged the ball played through for CMS as the strong wind caused the ball to move unpredictably. They were difficult conditions for anybody to defend in.

He's a proper centre-half, him. He'd be a really good signing for Saints. He stormed the Boscombe Player of the Year awards.

Why don't you just give it up? Personally, as the father of a disabled child, I find his past comments abhorrent. And if he's such a good manager, why has nobody pushed the boat out to persuade him to give up the easy life in Spain?

Good point. There is also the issue of the 40 minutes of highlights every Saturday evening on SKY's Football First, I guess.

I'm fairly sure it was the same Bishops that sponsored Cheats FC.

Ah sorry, Taffmeister. Will reach for coat.

A Cheating Skate, who is with that perennial WAG Danielle Lloyd. No ta.

Nearly went to Newcastle in January for a salary of about £40,000 a week, if memory serves.

I believe he has a tattoo on his arm saying "DALE", in case we (or perhaps he himself) are unsure who he is. I seem to recall that most unhelpfully he wore long-sleeved shirts when playing for Saints (hiding said tattoo), so allied to his fairly anonymous performances for us, it would admittedly be fairly difficult to pick him out.

I want Clifford back, so that we can have Socrates in midfield and Romario up front.

I definitely see Leicester and Burnley being in the top six. I think Howe will have Burnley a stronger side next season. As well as them, I'd say Birmingham, Leeds, Reading or Swansea, and then any one out of Forest, West Ham and Saints. It's going to be a pretty competitive League.

But Connolly is an absolute class act, with Barnard injured he was our last hope last season and he came good big time. I think he is still a definite HCDAJFU, there aren't many players available as good as him.