trousers

It's in homage to Jan "more than 100%" Poortvliet....

It's true what they say about "great minds..." then! (no offence) And just to rub badger fur in the ointment....I predict Rotherham to be drawn at home to Pompey in the next round.....

Nah...can't see it....these are professional footballers we're talking about....surely they're clever enough to rise above potential dressing room chit chat.....

It's about wheat and chaff too..... (see above)

Worth a try. Get him in on a month's 'free' trial and with Derby agreeing to pay 75% of his wages if we keep thereafter (on a "he shows committment or return" basis) IF he plays well then he is definately what we've been missing this last few years - a bulldog in midfield. Absolutely nothing to lose if you analyse it logically and secure the right deal.

p.s. would help if I spelt Svennson (sic) right in the thread title of course....

The signals are that Svensson will play tonight. I hope he doesn't - we need him for league games, not the mickey mouse cup. I know there will be cries of "he needs match fitness" but, in Svensson's case that is a false economy....I don't believe he's ever going to be 'match fit' on a long term basis so it's more important we keep him free from injury and use him selectively for the more important games (cue: "but, every game is important....") http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/articles/article.php?page_id=10641

1-1 aet Saints lose 5-4 on pens

I'd have appointed Seymour Pierce personally. Are these other guys any good?

Will people please stop going on and on and on and on about takeovers. It's never going to happen. Apparently.

And here was me thinking it was the people going on and on and on and on about not going on and on and on and on that was keeping these threads alive....

Good spot. As long as Diggers stays shtum, the takeover is still on....

We'll obviously need photographs of earlobes before we can help ID these guys

Of course no one wants their team to be in a lower league given a black-and-white choice but given our respective circumstances and, thus, putting things into perspective, I'd rather be in League One and on the rise than in freefall in the Championship. We are simply putting off the inevitable. Lowe's masterplan of 'starting from scratch' with academy players would have worked wonders in League One but, evidently, isn't working out too well in the Championship..... And, before the clever-clogs come back with "So, you'd rather be in division 2 if we were doing poorly in Division 1?".....I say....No....with our current squad, our natural position is League One....not the Championship or League Two. IMHO of course

Source?

Yes. I always said we would need to find our natural level before we could bounce back. Division 1 is our natural level right now. I'm sure Lowe thought the same....look at the timing of his return....'twas at a time where we were looking dead certs for relegation....the Jan Poortvliet 'experiment' would have worked wonders in League One but due to our 'unexpected' last minute reprieve on the last day of the season Lowe found himself having to deploy a plan he had hatched for us being in League One rather than in the Championship. Which, of course, makes our current low table 'predicament' all the more understandable. So, yes, I'd be far happier riding at the top of League One right now than languishing at the foot of the Championship. One step backwards = many steps forward..... Fact. HTH

I assume that one is called a 'Jackson'?

Photoshop comes to the rescue again in order to make St Mary's look like it was full.

The 'trouble'is...we have both the away and most voiciferous home fans in the same stand.....how many other clubs have the away fans in the same stand as the rowdiest home fans??

IMO, the "ITKers" are worse than the tyre kickers to which they profess to know all about. The tyre kickers never say anything if their approach goes tits up, and the supposed ITKers that "promise" to tell why are even less honourable. One word: Plankton

Ripe for takeover

Anyone know who was on 3 points after 9 games last season....just so that we can work out which team JP meant to refer to in the OS article in question? Hull City perhaps?

Agree. I posted last season that it was "crazy" for our team to come out of the tunnel at the start of the game and run over to the Chapel Stand, leaving the opposition team to run over to the Northam stand to be greeted by loud(er) applause. (Ok, I know that the Saints fans in the Northam aren't cheering for the opposition but the general 'wall of sound' from that end must inspire the opposition regards of who it's aimed at).... When I raised this I got the wonderful explanation that our dressing room was nearer the chapel end and it was somehow far too 'complicated' for the players to swap over positions before coming out of the tunnel - I know footballers aren't going to trouble mensa in their droves but come on...."Complicated"....?! Give me strength. And I guess it's this running out to the Chapel end that more often than not results in us playing to the Chaepl end in the second half (because most teams can't be ar5ed to swap ends when they win the toss) One word: Epiglotis

This is my favourite JP quote from the OS: "West Brom last year had just three points after 9 games and were eventually crowned champions" One word: 'Perspective'

Absolutely. That's just the point....there's no accountability for them to explain what went wrong....either morally or legally. Poor.