Wurzel

If the thread title is The Battle for Seventh why aren't Arsenal involved in the discussion?

No, but if that leads to her having secret phone calls and meetings with those doing the flirting you'd at the very least have a few words.

Just wondering, would running around with the logo of Sky and BT's biggest rival on our chests influence that in any way ?

I can't ever remember us having so much of the ball and so many chances in a season whilst scoring so few goals. By my sums if we'd scored one goal in every game more than we did ( Ok I "know" that's not likely) we'd have had an extra 27 points. If we can get our strikers to locate the back of the net again, get the AM contributing, and/or simply instill a degree of confidence back into our attacking play, combined with less reason to rotate the squad this year, it's quite possible, if not likely, that we will catch at least one of those teams above us. Whether that requires signing a new proven scorer or making the best of what we've got will (hopefully) be down to Pellegrino to decide. Of course, the eternal optimist in me didn't bother to calculate what would have happened if we'd conceded an extra goal per game.

Southampton Way is the B217 running between Camberwell and Peckham. West Ham are not deemed worthy of a way, but there is a West Ham Lane in Basingstoke. To be fair, looking at those locations not sure which of us comes out the better from that

He is, but he's "our" knob. This +1 (except I did buy the sash).

Didn't realise Pellegrino had left Alaves, that news passed me by (ironically happened whilst I was in Spain). Having watched La Liga highlights all season we could do a lot worse than him. Assuming we're not going to chase someone under contract elsewhere (we're far too nice ) he is now top of my favourites list for the job.

You're not looking hard enough, he's in there (36secs he's on the Tackling banner, and Davis on the Stamina banner)

So, top of the league till bonfire night then all downhill from there

At the end of the day, contrary to much popular opinion that they are happy to just kick a ball around all day and take the money, footballers are winners. Not one of them would reach the levels of our friends down the road, let alone Premier League and above without that competitive streak and will to win. They're not stupid, they know they aren't going to win every game. But if they have the feeling that the best isn't being made of their and their team-mates abilities, that selection and/or tactics and/or club policy doesn't seem to be to try to win every game and every tournament entered they are not going to be happy in their work (to put it mildly). Not an ITK comment, just a general observation.

Jos Hooiveld?

I think Sky (although to be fair it's not just them it seemed to be every and any broadcaster showing our games) see the Premier League as some pre-ordained, scripted soap opera, similar to the WWE in America. It's about time it was made clear to them they own the TV rights, they don't own the product.

Unlikely, but maybe if they've got nothing else to do. But definitely not when their production lines are already full producing new designs to meet deadlines for already agreed kits for other clubs.

This presumably means that "end of season review" has taken place. No managerial situation tweets yet then?

This one? http://store.saintsfc.co.uk/Product/ProductItem?id=0000-14217

Away at the Emirates. With Puel and Wenger still both in charge. That'll make for an "interesting" atmosphere.

Would the Poppy shirts count as a deviation? Could we go with the Scope logo on the new shirt tonight?. Don't normally give a toss about the shirt but if rumours I've heard are true I might actually like this one !

If the club had no ambition why didn't they settle for the mediocrity of Division 3 with large crowds (for that division) and low wages? Until this season it has been steady progress every year since then, and even then our "hiccup" included some European ties and a Wembley appearance. What club (by their own standards) doesn't have the odd "bad" season ? Chelsea and ManUre last season are perfect examples, it's not having one bad season that shows a lack of ambition, it's how you react to it. Next year would be the time to judge, not now. Having said that I've seen nothing to suggest the club - or fans - have no ambition, just that they and most fans have realistic ambitions and realise success doesn't happen overnight.

First bars of Jackie Wilson Said, youtube it if you can't place it. His name fitted perfectly. The chant one of the best, was on a par with "Phil Boyer, Phil Boyer, first division's top scorer" to the tune of Sham 69s "Hershan Boys, Hersham boys, laced up boots and corduroys". (again youtube may be required for our younger readers) All goes to emphasise how unoriginal the chant of today are.

First paragraph - if a team has kept possession for several minutes they've gone backwards and sideways several times, so the second one would be a totally different attacking phase whether defenders have touched ball or not. Second paragraph. Unfortunate for them, but then no more unfortunate than with the defending team winning the ball in mid-half and hitting the (previously) attacking team (who may now have several players going forward and out of position) on the break whereas if offside had been given (correctly or not) they'd have had chance to regroup defensively whilst the free kick was taken. Swings and roundabouts, things balance out, **** happens sometimes. Unless a lino has made a really glaring error a replay would only be needed for those marginal decisions anyway. As a fan I'd sooner see play continuing as uninterruped as possible without being broken up because an attackers knee may or may not have been 6 inches forward of a defender who may even be on the other side of the pitch from him. Do such margins "really" give the attacker any advantage?

You're really not getting this are you? To be fair I wasn't for a while till it suddenly clicked. When the flag went up in the ORIGINAL attack either that attacking team score or they don't score. If they score, ball is dead, review the decision. If they DON'T score then there's no need to review it at any point as the possession, and subsequent advantage has then already passed to the defending team and lino can simply put his flag down again. Anything after that is a totally different phase in play. In the majority of cases i.e. any flagged attack that DOESN'T end up as a goal it would actually speed up play as there would be no need to blow up for the offside at all.

Before any of theirs come on here and try and claim otherwise can we just confirm - It's not a derby

I'm noticing more and more with each game that Bertrand seems to be taking on the role of experienced, controlling head in the team, more so when we attacking than defending. He seems to get involved at some stage in almost every attacking move on our left, and is getting into some great forward positions (sometimes too far forward, hence the disallowed goal at Wembley), pulling defenders out wide as Redmond cuts inside.

^^This^^ Speaking as one who has probably no chance of getting a ticket (2 home games this season) I accept that others who have been more often than me deserve to get first dibs. If it extends to general sale, or someone who actually had a ticket they can't use offered me one I'll be there. But to blatantly and publicly ask for someone you don't even know to help you jump the queue is, IMO simply shltting on your fellow fans and depriving someone more deserving of a ticket. The club has set an order of priority for a reason. Surprised the mods are allowing such requests on here to be fair.

Who are "they" ?