trousers

Just got back. The best debut performance I've seen in a long while. Mr Adkins now has a very nice selection problem, especially if Chamberlain stays. After watching tonight's game I've gone from being curious as to how our season will pan out to outright excited.

Very solid Saints performance. De Ridder looks a great prospect

De Ridder looks class.

Pretty even first half. Connolly man of the half IMHO

jordansibley: Davis, Schneiderlin, Lambert, Cork, Butterfield, Martin & De Ridder on bench, expecting them to get a run out for last half hour #saintsfc

jordansibley: Saints Vs West Brom: Bialkowski. Richardson, Fonte, Seaborne, Harding. Chamberlain, Hammond©, Chaplow, Lallana. Connolly, Guly #saintsfc

I might be falling for a "whoooooosh" trap here but even if Guly's number ends up not being '10' there is nothing stopping me asking for a shirt with the name "GULY" and number "10" on it, surely? Unless the shop assistant said "Are you sure you want 'GULY 10'? You're more than welcome to have it but I've been asked to advise punters it his squad number is subject to change"

I'm not really up to speed with the WBA squad - is that predominently 1st team squad? Edit: answer here: http://www.wba.co.uk/page/News/0,,10366~2403024,00.html ALBION have named a strong squad for tonight's pre-season trip to Southampton (ko 7.45pm). A host of senior pros will be involved in the St Mary's Stadium encounter as the Baggies look to give all their players a 90-minute run-out over the three matches this week. Steven Reid, Roman Bednar and Chris Wood all played the full game in last night's 3-0 defeat at Rochdale. And the rest of the squad has been split between the Saints clash and Saturday's fixture at Bristol City (ko 3pm). "We're trying to get as many people as possible to get 90 minutes over the three games," said assistant boss Michael Appleton. "Tonight we'll try and get as many players as possible through 90 minutes against Southampton and it will be the same on Saturday against Bristol. "We've got a squad we took to America of around 25 outfield players and we can't get everyone to play 90 minutes in one or two games. "Roman, Steven and Woodsy played last night, Daws got a bit of a game and I'm sure he'll get a bit more tonight. "We're at a stage of pre-season now where we need to get as many people as possible beyond the 70-minute mark. "We're just over two weeks away from the start of the season now." I wonder if Adkins has the same view as WBA - i.e. that they need to give players 70 - 90 minutes? Hope so. We shouldn't be swapping teams at half-time at this stage of pre-season (IMHO)

Source? Cheers

http://www.wba.co.uk/page/News/0,,10366~2402414,00.html ALBION'S first-ever meeting with Rochdale ended in a 3-0 defeat after two first-half goals - including a penalty - put the hosts in control. An inexperienced Baggies side - overseen by assistant head coach Michael Appleton at Spotland - kicked off the first of three pre-season games in five days, with trips to Southampton to follow tomorrow (ko 7.45pm) and Bristol City on Saturday (ko 3pm). ALBION (4-4-2): L Daniels; Reid, Dawson (D Daniels 58 (Garmston 78)), Downing (Turton 84), Gayle; Sawyers (O'Sullivan 75), Mantom, O'Neil, Roofe; C Wood, Bednar. Sub not used: Kiely (gk).

Just bought 2 tickets for me and the boy. £10 for the pair. Bargain.

Good man :-)

Nowt wrong with being a Thatcherite... ;-)

Wow. Great feedback from the German journalist. Interesting that he thought it was a decent size crowd.

I guess that would depend on how old the "old tv" was. What do you mean by "replacement upgrade"? Did the original "old tv" break down too and if so, after what timeframe? Maybe spell out the chronology of events on here (from "date of original TV purchase" to "today") and take it from there.

Totally agree. I left school after 6th form and a certain bank paid for my subsequent training in the IT industry. An apprenticeship in all but name. I think 'industry' (private or otherwise) should pay to 'further educate' the resources (aka people) they need to sustain their industries. Neither the tax payer nor student should be paying (directly) for "further education" IMHO.

Cheers for backing up The9's story. I will count the flood of apologies as they stream in...

Poortvliet for me

I did say 'may' :-)

I thought Mandleson was talking a fair amount of sense on Newsnight last night. Was admitting that Labour didn't do nearly enough to turn-around the manufacturing sector during their 13 years in power (indeed, manufacturing output fell at a greater rate under Blair/Brown than it did under that evil witch Thatcher). But he had some good ideas on what should happen to turn it around going forward. Not too dissimilar to the ConDem's apprenticeship proposals it has to be said.

;-)

You may well be right.

Looking at the smaller print of the quarterly growth figures...."hotels and restaurants" grew by 2.2% but "quarrying and mining" fell by 6%. I would venture we can thank the Royals Wedding for the growth in the hospitality and leisure sectors but feel it may be a tad unfair to lay the drop in mining activity at their feet

Politicians (of both colours) blaming 'external factors' when things aren't going well with the economy yet taking credit when it's going great guns. Quelle surprise...