Professor

The same Man City that struggled to beat QPR on the final day of the season when they had the title as an incentive. Don't be taken in by the hype. Saints are in this league on merit and the additions to the quad make our starting 11 even better than last year and with more quality options off the bench. We can win the opening game despite being away from home and we haven't even added a speedy RW to the mix yet!

Dann would probably be happy to come here now the team is playing in Liverpool shirts but the risk iks that he's found his level at Championship, not Prem. Surely SFC can do better and if Wet Spam want to spend a big slice of their transfer budget on him, that should suit the rest of us.

If you have seen Gazziniga's ball control and ball juggling on Saint's Player you may be quite impressed. Not just a GK but a footballer. Its on the interview item with Chambers and Stephens at 1min 23 secs in.

I'd offer him to Palace as part payment for Zaha. Or even him and SDR.

Yes, I know. But that's how Jack Stephens described himself on Saints Player. As an ex-centre half myself, it was nice to hear (and I also converted from FB). But it confirms that Stephens no longer sees himself as competing for a FB slot. He also said there were 3 brilliant 'centre halves' ahead of him, which suggests Dan Seaborne is fit. Adkins has talked about signing 2 CBs but this interview makes you wonder. Personally, I still feel a bit nervous about our 2 Championship CBs being our main defence in the Prem, espacially with Martin no longer there, so I'd like to think that one signing might be on the cards, but do we need more than 4, now that Stephens is in that role?

I remember having to sit on the stairs in shock when I got in from work to a phone call from a work colleague to say Saints had signed Keegan, and telling me to switch on the TV. But soon after it was tempered a bit when you realised that Keegan had his personal plan and would only stay for two seasons before going home to Newcastle. It may be a very long time before Saints ever again sign the European Player of the Year but some of our most influential players haven't always had that profile when we signed them - Jimmy Case for example, thought to fading fast when Laurie Mac bought him from Brighton but gave us six excellent years. Steven Davis could be the new Jimmy Case and I can see him and Morgan having real influence from midfield.

Like all of us, I'm really excited about this season, even more so than when we started the last two years as promotion favourites. But just a word to the wise. Some of you may be too young to remember the 1990s, but a lot of you are not. I just can't help remembering that I was always excited then, every August, expecting this to be The Year that we would repeat the success of the Keegan Channon years. We had MLT, we had exciting players such as the Svennsons, Phillips, Crouch, etc., but before October the dream had faded. So, I'm excited, and I believe we will do well, far better than the press might expect, but I'm not going to hang myself if we don't......

Just back from Belgium with a few Euros left over - happy to throw them in if it swings it. Lens looks like the replacement for Oxo that we hoped SDR would be but wasn't so hoping the club get their man this time. Now, how about those 2 CBs, and what about the LB spot now that the Buttner deal is off, and despite Paulo G as GK understudy, there's still the new GK place to fill. Keep busy chaps.

It did get the Nigel bit right, and the Nathaniel so in terms of accuracy by the Daily Express thats about as good as it gets. The Duke of Edinburgh once described the Express as "a bloody awful newspaper, but what can you expect from a paper edited by Rupert Bear.

Who could have predicted or conjectured such a move? Could anyone have anticipated, estimated or foretold that we would loan a GK to Gillingham? To foretell or project that such a thing would occur would have needed a very reliable forecast.

Nathaniel is 5'9 which compares with Ashley Cole who is 5'9½".

Earlier statements did suggest that Adkins would have liked a couple more new signings on board before the bus set off to Lake Geneva but transfer decisions don't depend only on the buying club and we know that some bids have floundered and that others, such as Buttner, might fail. While the squad is in France it seems unlikely that deals will be finalised so I wouldn't expect much more to happen until at least the end of the month. After that we have Adkin's own opinion on the positions where he needs to recruit, which is not a wholeasale disruption of the squad but does offer genuine strengthening subject to the quality of the players brought in. If the quality of the two signings so far is anything to go on, I can't see that there is much to worry about.

The odd thing about the John Terry case is that it seems it may not be a crime to call a person any of the well established noun swear words associated with sexual parts and bodily functions but it may be crime to use an adjective about a person that they would use about themselves! I am white and I can tell people that fact. And if someone wishes to verbally abuse me they can do so as long as they don't add the adjective 'White' to the swear word, although if the person doing the abusing is white themselves, that may not be a crime. On the other hand if the person abusing me is black, it may be a crime for them to call me white, just as John Terry, being white, was accused of calling someone black. Is it just me, or is the law stupid. Surely, its one thing to abuse a person for being different, but quite another thing to refer to differences just as an add-on to an insult. For a group of Englishmen to go out to pick on Welsh people, for example, and to taunt them for being sheep-****gers is something one can understand the law dealing with, but for two grown men who are trading insults to be charged with an offence for each referring to the other's Englishness or Welshness, seems a strange use of the law.

Latest quotes from Nigel Adkins suggest quite a lot more development of the squad than might have been expected from the immediate post-season comments. Although that might be hard on some of the players who contributed to the two promotions, epsecially getting the club out of the NpC, its hard to see a place for sentiment in top-level football, where winning as many games as you can is really all that matters. So it seems the total recruitment could be 9 players: GKx2, FBx2, CBx2, 1xCMF, 1xRW, 1xSTR. Only two signed so far, but based on the speculation, its possible there could be 7 more signings to come. I'm inclined to think I'll believe it when I see it but it doesn't look like fantasy land.

Nigel Adkins talked about the squad evolving. By releasing Bart and loaning Martin he made it clear he wants a GK and a CB, neither of which have yet been signed, so that seems definitely 2 to come. The signing of Jay Rod and Steven Davis both add quality leaving the most obvious weakness on the RW. Five new players GK, CB, CMF, RW and STR would seem to be in line with NA's evolution plan but many of the players being linked with the club would take us into the realms of revolution. Buttner and Clyne may be good players but how great is the need when LB and RB are positions that are well covered and we have young players ready to step up? So is the speculation just paper talk, or are the club actually going for revolution?

Could we have a thread for complaining about threads rather than have complaints spread across other threads?

An excellent example of what can be wrong with this Forum. Often its great, and informative, but the aggression and rudeness shown by a few towards people who all support the same team is very sad. This OP was a perfectly reasonable question that just needed a straightforward answer plus maybe some explanation and some comment on why the 5 sub rule was not good. Instead we have sarcasm. Its just a shame and not even amusing.

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/9805422.More_market_moves_to_come_from_Adkins/?ref=eb Halfway mark on signings this week sounds right. Three in and three more to come. The Echo assessment of who the club will want to move out lists the most obvious ones:- Dickson, Harding, Puncheon, Hammond, Forte, Barnard. Wonder if Chaplow should be added to that list, but the Puncheon saga shows its not that easy to move on players who are on decent wages and prefer pay over play.

Can't imagine starting the season without filling the vacancies at CB and GK but RMF looks the weakest first choice spot. The Zaha rumour could just be based on initial interest but it does suggest the position is to be covered. If so, there could be three more signings after Buttner which would be more than the than the 'squad evolution' that NA spoke about. Six players in would be a real statement of intent. Maybe those who have doubts about Zaha are right but he is young, will mature and still likely to improve so he could be the replacement for Chamberlain that neither Guly or SDR have been. If not him, they do need someone like him on the right wing

Sure he'd be fine but its question of priorities. A RB to compete with Frazer (and DB) would be a good addition to the squad but with GK, CB and RMF all needed (IMHO) how important is RB if it puts any of those other positions to strengthen in doubt? Is it likely the club will make 7 signings, given NA's comments about evolution not revolution? But if they do, all the better; it would certainly show determination not to be a YoYo side.

Great signing but it still seems odd to see him pictured with a shirt that is just not a Southampton Shirt. Much as the club may say its selling well and fans all love it, I can't help thinking it will have a short life-span. I'd still like to see Davis in Red & White stripes.

If Butland wants a guarantee of first team football he probably needs to stay at Brum. Sounds like he wouldn't get it at Spurs and the reported offer from there with a loan back would up his pay but limit his freedom to move anywhere else in18 months time, as well as preventing him from staying at Brum if they win promotion. If he comes to Saints there can't be a guarantee of first team football because he'd have to compete with Kelvin but that would make it up to him to play as well as he can to get the spot on merit. Choice for Butland seems to be Prem now or Prem later with no career reason to sign for Spurs but maybe higher wages.

Third thought. Oh Well.....

Second thought

First thought