Matthew Le God

Butland could be our keeper for the next 8 years and he'd still only be 27 and retain a large amount of sell on value. Foster wouldn't as he'd be 37. I haven't seen Butland play but as Dazza82 implied, our scouts haven't got much wrong in the last 3 years. The England setup certainly rate him, so at least that is encouraging.

Brighton, Palace, Charlton in terms of travelling distance. Palace and Charlton both have good academies, Brighton are planning to spend many millions on their academy. All look to be heading for cat 2, Saints can use cat 1 status to attract players in those regions. Portsmouth if they survive the summer will be cat 3 at best. Will make it even easier than it is already to take the best players from the area as cat 3 clubs are restricted as to which players they can sign and work with. Same with Bournemouth. Swansea and Cardiff, relatively close and Saints will be in tiers above both of them. Cardiff investing in youth with new owners but will still only be tier 2. Forest, Ipswich, Leeds, Birmingham, Newcastle all have good academies. All look to be getting category 2 status. Yes, they are much further away but Saints can use cat 1 status as a factor to tempt youngsters to relocate. Those just a few examples, could name a number of others.

Seen him play a lot have you?

All those without category one status, which is going to be roughly 72+ of the 92 clubs in the top four leagues. As opposed to the current 52 clubs that are below Saints academy in terms of tier. I've already listed some in this thread, see post #267. But in particular those of larger clubs close to the 90 minute boundary (which will no longer apply to Saints).

Pompey have gone from being in the same academy league as us in 2011/12, to being a category 3 academy if they are lucky. Will now be even easier to hoover up the best Skate youngsters like Ward-Prowse and Oxlade-Chamberlain (not that it was that hard before ).

The number of top tier youth teams is being reduced from 40 clubs in 4 leagues of 10, to 18 to 20 clubs in possibly one league of 18/20 teams (maybe two leagues of 9/10 teams). That is a significant cut in the number of top tier youth teams. Saints are now going to be at a higher level than that of Newcastle, Leeds, Nottingham Forest, Ipswich, Charlton, Leicester etc etc. Last season they were at the same level.

I'm not getting confused at all. The FA in the summer of 2011 carried out preliminary audits to see at what level academies currently stand. Since then teams have been able to meet issues raised last summer. All I said was as things currently stand in June 2011, Saints, Chelsea and Man City would get cat 1 status if the official audit were to take place. The official audits have been taking place from March/April 2012 onwards and only now are we finding out the results. At no point did I say only Chelsea, Man City and Saints would get cat 1 status. At the time I even listed the other clubs I thought would make it. There is still some exclusivity about it, the number of top tier youth teams is being reduced from 40 clubs in 4 leagues of 10, to 18 to 20 clubs in possibly one league of 18/20 teams (maybe two leagues of 9/10 teams).

There are currently 40 teams in the academy system. These are pretty much being split in two with Saints in the top tier with around 20 of the best academies. Teams like Palace, Newcastle, Leeds, Forest, Ipswich etc no longer will be in the same league system as Southampton beyond the first year. Saints also no longer will be restricted by the 90 minute rule as they are currently as to where they can get youngsters from. At the moment a lot of Saints area is in the English Channel! As a category one club this will no longer be the case.

The audit is by an independent Belgian company. In theory they should give category 1 status to any club that fulfils the requirements regardless of how many other clubs have it already. I would say the bar will be raised in the future, but unlikely by the time the next audits come round in 2 to 3 years time.

It will make a huge difference, Saints as a category one club are no longer restricted by the 90 minute rule. Clubs in lower tiers will still be. Also category one status allows clubs to have more training time with players. More coaching time generally results in better players.

Yes, because I made that comment in the summer of 2011 when the outline and preliminary visits had taken place. Even at the time I said there would be more than 3 teams that get it. All I said was that as things currently stand (in summer 2011) only 3 would get it. There was never going to be a category one league with only 3 teams in it. What has happened is that the top tier of youth football is being halved in terms of numbers from 40 to 18/20. Saints will be towards the top end of those 18/20 teams.

And what did I say after that?... It is going from a 40 team top tier of youth football in 2011/12 to a 18 to 20 team top tier of youth football in 2012/13. There will be half the number of teams in the top tier, Saints will remain in the top tier. Can you not see how that benefits Saints?

Look at the local area, last season Saints and Pompey were both in the same academy league. Next season Saints will be in the category 1 league, Pompey in the category 3 league.

Category 1-4 didn't exist when Saints were in League 1. This is starting next season. Until now it has been a two tier system, 40 clubs are in the academy system (4 leagues of 10), the rest have centres of excellence.

Clubs have been spending in order to reach the cat 1 benchmark, EPPP has significantly raised spending in academies. Saints have gone over and above what is required and will be at the higher end of the cat 1 clubs. As I've said twice now, at the moment it is a 2 tier system with Saints in the top tier, it is becoming a 4 tier system with Saints in the top tier. Who said that? I certainly didn't.

I didn't say that at all! I said as things stand in the summer of 2011 only Man City, Chelsea and Southampton would be in line to get it. Since then other clubs have invested in order to achieve the status. Of course it was never going to be just 3 clubs. There is going to be a category one league, how could you have just 3 clubs in it? As I said a few posts ago, at the moment Saints are one of 40 academies in the top tier and below that centres of excellence in a two tier system. The new system with see Saints as one of 18 to 20 clubs in the top tier of a 4 tier system. Saints facilities put them towards the top of category one. They will see huge benefits from achieving cat 1 status compared to the current system.

Of course there was going to be a number of other cat 1 teams, if there wasn't Saints wouldn't have any teams to play against in the category one league. Who ever said it would be unique? Saints facilities and academy are still way ahead of a number of the other category one clubs and cat 1 status gives them huge advantages in recruitment. - At the moment there are 2 tiers in youth football - 40 Premier league academies in 4 leagues, below that are schools of excellence leagues. - The new system will see Saints as one of a max of 20 clubs in the top tier of a 4 tier system. So of course that is better than how things currently stand in terms of benefits for Saints.

20 goals last season would make you the Championship's 3rd top scorer. He had 15 on Christmas day 2006.

Every two years.

Bob Beech looks like he's had a few rough nights on a Southsea park bench and is in awe of Mick Williams. Trevor Birch on the other hand doesn't look comfortable having to deal with these amateurs.

You said Hooiveld only played "half a season" yet managed nearly as many goals as Guly, I pointed out he played in 85% (39 out of 46 games) of Saints Championship games. He actually started more games than Guly Do Prado last season. Is that "half a season" as you said? Plus as I also said Hooiveld's goals were also a very different type of goal to that of Guly - a centre back coming up for set pieces type goals.

"Half a season" Really? Jos Hoovield played in 39 out of the 46 Championship games for Saints. They were also a very different type of goal to that of Guly - a centre back coming up for set pieces type goals.

He was "awful in the Championship", yet managed to score 10 league goals and make 7 assists?

There won't be a court case, Green doesn't have a leg to stand on.

Yes