Professor

I quite like to look of the shirt as the traditional stripes can appear a little dated, but I won't be buying it because I don't think this style it will last. Looks to me like it will be a one-season wonder and its too far removed from the Saints shirt to be usuable in future years. You can wear stripes from past seasons and still fit into the crowd but this shirt will be for this year only and I'm not going to buy a shirt every year.

This looks like an old story - despite the 23 June dateline, I'm sure I've seen it before. But dear 'tache, I'm not so sure about Saints' mega wealth. I have the impression that Mr Cortese is operating within a budget dictated by estimated income. Haven't heard SFC making noises about any of the £10m or £20m plus players that the wealthy top half-dozen clubs are repeatedly linked to. I think we may have to accept that 'we know our place' and that we will be depending on the talent in our squad to over-perform. If we have a £15m player in our side it will be because one of our youngsters turns out to be a Walcott or a Chamberlain, or because we pick up a prospect such as Butland before he's played any league games.

Home-grown players do not have to be English; home-grown players are defined as those who "irrespective of nationality or age, have been affiliated to the FA or Welsh FA for a period of three seasons or 36 months prior to 21st birthday" (BBC Sport Website)

If you look at the summaries of some of our young players you will find that several are stated as having been with SFC since the age of 8. However, its also the case that a proportion of them do not go on to reach professional standard.

Adkins 'one or two' more signings is probably a figure of speech and could easily be as many as 3 or 4 to deal with GK, CB and strengthening MF&Wing. If so, if we can't off-load several of the the fringe players before the Transfer Window closes, there may be a few who are excluded from the 25 man squad. The issue over pay that has cropped up over Dickson must apply to Puncheon, Forte and Forecast, as the most likely candidates to leave, and if not, will they simply be left in limbo as non registered.

Unless someone knows better, the rules are that the 25-man squad must be submitted at the end of the Transfer Window (1st Sept). The squad must contain at least 8 homegrown players – or to put it another way not more than 17 non-homegrown players. Under 21 yr old players can be included as homegrown players if necessary to reach the required 8, but any number of under-21 yr olds can be used in addition to the registered squad. Clubs may register fewer than 25 players and may well do so if they have a large number of under 21s. The club does not have to register 25 players but any not registered, unless they are under 21, will not be available for selection. Saints current squad (not their squad numbers) is as follows:- 1. GK Kelvin Davis 2. Tommy Forecast 3. RB Frazer Richardson 4. Danny Butterfield 5. CB Jose Fonte (Non Home-grown) 6. Jos Hooiveld (Non Home-Grown) 7. Dan Seaborne 8. LB Daniel Fox 9. Dan Harding 10. Ryan Dickson 11. CMF Morgan Schneiderlin 12. Dean Hammond 13. Richard Chaplow 14. Jack Cork 15. Guly do Prado (Non Home-Grown) 16. RW Steve de Ridder (Non Home-Grown) 17. Jason Puncheon 18. LW Adam Lallana 19. STR Rickie Lambert 20. Tadanari Lee (Non Home-Grown) 21. Jay Rodriguez 22. Billy Sharp 23. Lee Barnard 24. Jonathan Forte Under 21 yr-olds RB Jack Stephens LB Luke Shaw CMF Corby Moore, James Ward-Prowse RW Callum Chambers LW Ben Reeves Str Sam Hoskins With only 5(re-corrected) non-homegrown players the club has considerable freedom to look worldwide for talent but what expectations do people have for squad changes, not just which postions are favourite for new signings, but which players might be excluded from the squad or transferred.

My understanding is that the Transfer Window opens on 1st July and that prior to that it is only possible to sign a player already playing for an English club, or a player out of contract. Players involved in the Euro championshps are also unlikely to be in transfer negotiations until they are home from the tournament. The clearout of second string players is a strong sign that SFC are going to make signings in defence and at GK and probably MF. I've no doubt the management are possibly even more aware than us fans, that having new players in place for pre-season will benefit performance in the first few games, but there is still 3 or 4 weeks for that to be done so it may be a tad early to get into worry mode.

I have no doubt that Adkins is up to it. His CV is clear enough. The question is whether his team will be capable of holding their own against the top 3 clubs from last season in the first 4 games. Those teams are stuffed full of international class players so that in terms of individual ability they must be better than any side Adkins can put out in August. That would apply regardless of who is in the Southampton manager's job and if Saints lose those 3 games it will be no reflection on Nigel Adkins whatsoever. On the other hand if Saints get even one point from them, it will be a massive boost to him. What the fixtures show is that you won't be able to judge perforame until 2 or 3 months into the season, unless we win 3 of the first 4 matches, in which case.......

Absolutely appalling. How dare he compare Hull with huge clubs like SFC. He has the nerve to say 'no disrespect' and then disrepects our club by comparing us to Norwich, as if they had anything like our record of achievement. Well, perhaps Norwich have, a bit; but Hull haven't, so Bruce should be brought Southampton in chains and made to kneel outside St Mary's for a full day.

I have the impression that Nigel Adkins he's a very decent individual who takes his role very seriously, well beyond just the job he's paid to do. But he isn't superman, doesn't walk on water and he is entitled to a private life. The idea that complete strangers go up to him to shake his hand is probably something he has had to get used to but it isn't right. Its one of the curses of celebrity, that like many others in the entertainment business, football managers are treated by some members of the public as if they are personal friends. We are not Nigel’s friends. We are the customers of his employer and when he isn’t working he should be given the space to get on and enjoy himself without interference.

Its a certainty that the club will sign a CB. The loan of Martin effectively confirmed that, leaving only Dan Seaborne as cover, and there must be some doubt about Dan playing in the Prem side. We've seen the result of slow CB's in recent years, the sad sight of Michael Svenssen when his comeback failed and the game at Peterborough when Seaborne gave away the fourth goal (I think it was). Jaidi not getting to play last season suggests Adkins will not want anyone who is no longer able to react quickly. I wonder if they might sign two CBs one as first choice competition for Jos and Jose and maybe a younger one with future prospects. I'd don't know to what extent Upson has slowed down in the last 2xyears but he certainly won't be signed if Adkins has any doubts. I'm sure the club see the position as one where you can't take chances and if they saw Martin as too much of a risk for next season, they won't bring in a player who carries risk.

His pic on Wikipedia shows him with mad staring eyes. Not a good sign.......

I used to live in New Milton and queue up at the paper shop by the station for the pink Echo on a Saturday night to get the first write-up of the day's Saints' game. I wonder if Nathan's granny was there then! He sounds good but is he better than Ward-Prowse?

Spot On. Because he has the image of a typical Sun reader the press seem to think the public like him, whereas many people regard him more like an East End criminal living on ill-gotten gains in his obscenely expensive house at Sandbanks . Being aquitted of the tax fiddle charges didn't do as much for his reputation as he might have thought and whatever reasons the FA gave, the whiff of something unpleasant must have influenced them not to see him as an England manager. You can be sure that the out-of-touch media bosses will give him a pundit job but I, for one, will not watch a programme that has "loveable old 'arry" on it .

Why not? The HCDAJFU thread is about suggestions or even wishful thinking. Where there is speculation in the press about a particular player, that is a small step up from just HCDAJFU and unless we have a thread for 'Players linked to SFC in the Press', which would be one way of doing it, separate threads that can fade away if the report comes to nothing seems perfectly OK. Its not as if an extra thread costs us anything, so why get worked up about it? And there is another option for those who agree with the delldays: don't read such threads, or if you do, don't reply.

You could guarantee this team would do very well, winning a high proprtion of its matches, --------- as long as it was playing in League1. Come to think of it, it almost is the L1 team. Such a small change from last season isn't really the evolution that Adkins has talked about, but it could be 8/11 correct. If so, should that make us feel more or less confident for results in August/Sept?

The Sun says, so you know it must be, er, er, what must it be? http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/4365237/Reading-table-6million-bid-for-Dame-NDoye.html The Sun says Saints are competing with Reading to sign Mariappa from Watford. Born in Harrow so he fits the 'young, English' test but has chosen to play for Jamaica. (Is Harrow actually in Jamaica?)

Agree. Despite those with rose tinted glasses who now think last season was piece of cake, it didn't feel like that when when we had the poor run of results in mid-season, when West Ham looked a threat and when Reading were overtaking us. In both of our promotion seasons, great as they were, we finished second, not top, and we were under threat right up to the end. The club benefitted from the squad that Pardew built to which Adkins has added an insistence on hard work and fitness, as well as his grasp of tactics. There's little evidence that success has been down to the transfer policy that brought us Hooiveldt, but after the start of the season, Billy Sharp and Tadanari Lee, but not until January and Iago Falque (who?). The big signing last summer, Jack Cork, has performed well but hasn't always held his place in the team and SDR hasn't made the impact hoped for. So perhaps those who claim the previous transfer policy is responsible for promotion, can explain why the club management has made this dramatic change which is getting the best by getting in early and having new players participate in pre-season.

Adriansfc is right IMHO. Sending-off is a very harsh punishment that can too easily be given wrongly, but even when given correctly it often ruins the game with a knock-on effect on the league table. It made sense in the days of the Corinthians when anyone not prepared to play fair wasn't welcome in the game but these days its often hard to see the consistency of referee decisions. The idea of an intermediate card, either for a temporary sending off, or an enforced substitution makes a lot of sense. So why is it that the administrators don't have the common sense to do something about it? As for the idea that its OK to cheat if it keeps your team in the Prem, where do you draw the line? Are other teams expected to cheat as well? And how far is cheating acceptable to fans - could you stick a hypodermic needle in an opponent to disable him as an alternative to trying to break his leg?

Sorry but that is about the most unrealistic reason for not signing a better player. There is no place for sentamentalism by the club, just as very few players would show loyalty if offered a big enough wad of money. We need a top quality GK, and for once that can be stated as FACT! With only KD and Forecast an injury to KD would be nothing short of disasterous. In the Prem you don't survive by having second string players who are not worth their place in the team, you need two players of genuine Prem standard for every position which means two Prem standard GKs. With KD at the age he is , it must make sense for the second keeper to be as good or better than KD is now. There aren't many GKs to choose from so if Green is available it would be madness not to be looking at him.

Amazing that with whole of Hampshire (excluding the blue bit down the A27) is full of Saints fans working in garages, shops, hotels and yet we have no sighting reports of Jay-Rod. So is not actually here, or are we just a useless bunch of spies. Another possibility is that his agent booked him into a hotel in Portsmouth to keep him under cover from Saints' fans.

I gave up playing football as a CB myself in the 1970's because simulation, especially in the penalty area, was becoming common at my level of senior football, well outside the professional game. So it's not new that players throw themselves down, although the technique of making deliberate contact with the defender and then going down has become more refined until today's Prem League is almost in a class of its own. Serie A used to have the reputation as home to the 'best' simulators, but perhaps that could be claimed in England now. We've seen plenty of it in L1 and in the Champ over the last couple of years and not only by our opponents. There is the old adage that if you can't beat them, join them, so as long as the administrators and the referees fail to deal with simulation there will be continuing pressure on players, and on managers, to do it and even encourage it. In the Prem, should we be the clean team, playing by the rules, or should Adkins have the players watching videos of Ashley Young to see how to do it better than he does? Corinthian Casuals FC, playing in the Rymans League - still promote fair play and sportsmanship in football. Their predecessors, the Corinthians, twice provided all 11 players for an England team and in 1904 they inflicted Manchester United's record defeat of 11-3. The return match was played in 2004 when Man U won 3-1, meaning that Corinthians are still 12-6 winners on aggregate! It was a part of the Corinthian's approach to the game that if they were awarded a penalty, the fouled player would decide if the defender had meant to foul him and if he thought not, they would deliberately send the penalty wide of the goal. To win by the rules will always be far far more satisfying than a win by cheating, but these days satisfaction takes second place to the money.

Maybe you've missed the whole point. That if you are playing in a league where challenging for the title is not a realistic option that leaves only some 12 or so clubs competing to stay out of the bottom 3. Very much an upside down competition where being 11th or 12th halfway through the season is no guarantee that you can't slip to 18th. The gap from 7th to 18th isn't as big as it might appear. Last season, at the halfway stage, Wolves who finished bottom were only 9 points behind the club that was in 8th place. That a promoted team can hope to make a challenge within a season or two comes from Newcastle who were only promoted in 2010, but have been near the top of the Prem most of the past season and finished 5th. But to do it, a club has to invest in quality players, or have the luck that players they bring in prove to be better than expected.

It was similar in the Championship last year, with some very key manager moves such as Sven, McClaren, Allardyce etc., showing the anxiety to get to The Prem. Its not surprising there is even more desparation to stay there as the financial rewards have widened to such a massive extent. Clubs are showing a willingness to spend a fortune to earn a fortune and its not just players who now have multi-million pound salaries when you hear that £3m pa isn't enough for Redknapp any more. Like it or not, staying in The Prem is all that matters for saints next year. To expect to challenge for the title is completely unrealistic against at least 6 or 7 squads that are stuffed with international level players and most of the other teams having more quality and experience than our squad brings with it. The team has shown over two seasons that it can compete but it has also lost games against teams a lot less capable than those we play next season. A little quality brought in, the winning habit, and if one or two of the young players prove their worth, and we may well hold amid table spot but to do better is most unlikely and to do worse would be very easy. There is nothing about any of this that isn't obvious to the club management so we anxiously wait to what steps they are taking to make sure the hard won Prem status is retained. As fans, the waiting is hard, and whatever the management do, fans will always want even more, but I do sincerely hope we don't wait as long as we did last year to bring in new blood. To hit the ground running you really need your new players to have been fully involved in pre-season. That still allows a few weeks, but is only weeks. At least for us, we don't have to see a new manager being bedded-in first.

Don't like having players in the squad who can't play against certain teams. If we take him on loan it should be on condition that he can play against Chelsea otherwise it distorts the competition.