Saint Mikey

I would have thought that the only change would be the playbook. The rest of the strategy would remain in place, we would work with the new manager and hopefully only tweak the playbook to their requirements. This would then be implemented across the Academy, B-Team and 1st Team. The players would have to learn some different tactics/positions - but as pro's you'd expect them to adapt to that. They would have played numerous roles and systems already and would expect to throughout their career. The key would the appointment of another progressive manager who has a philosophy that the whole club believes in and players thrive in. Appreciate that it's easy to say and not so easy to put in practice.

😂 He's not trying to be a heavy weight boxer! I assume you are taking the piss, as 6-8 hours a day in the gym is pretty unachievable and even if it was - when it came to match day he'd be fucked and have no energy.

Great memories! Here’s a link to the teams: https://www.11v11.com/matches/southampton-v-newcastle-united-01-april-1989-89282/ You can see the whole season’s results here including that horrendous run. Looks like we beat Utd at the end of the season - don’t remember that: https://www.soccerbase.com/teams/team.sd?team_id=2471&comp_id=1&teamTabs=results

Was also at that game and remember it well. I think Ruddock took it as we’d missed a couple in previous games (can’t remember who missed them though). He did go on to take our next few pens but also missed a couple.

I've heard he's a lifelong Skate and has tattoos of all their club legends: Vince Hillaire, Whittingham, Awford and a whole back piece of Linvoy Primus. Understandably the club are trying to keep this under wraps until he's a star performer...

Gerrard & Lampard 'Dream Team'. Everyone will talk about whether there's room for both to manage at the same time, or whether one should be manager and the other assistant...

Probably on decent money for his level. Doubt many clubs in Lge 1 have any money to spend on a transfer fee either. Will be the same with Hesketh.

Agreed. TBF if the club have put a Tweet out like this, it means he’s been pretty amenable in the negotiations to pay off his contract and expect he’s foregone some cash that was owed to him.

Just seen that the line-up for tomorrow is Merson, Sherwood, Pulis, Glen Johnson and Morrison. Are they renaming it: Skate Saturday? FFS.

It is decent for a club of our size, but it's also a reflection of the quality of the England squad in the last 3-5 years. How many of these players would have got a game for Germany, Spain or France in that time-frame?

I heard that Bertie was all set to sign, but when he met Semmens - he wasn’t smiling. Semmens was furious, ripped the contract in two and threw it in the bin (Cortese style), shouting: ‘we only want players who smile at this club!!’ It’s a shame, but I applaud the approach taken from the club and hope we ensure ALL players smile ALL of the time.

If a player leaves without submitting a transfer request, I understood you have to pay the entirety of players contract up. I read this in the Secret Footballer and I swear Crouchie has also confirmed this. There are also 'loyalty bonuses' that have to be paid, so the situation is not as simple as 'sell them for whatever price and get them off the books', as this could represent a massive and irresponsible loss. This must be a big factor in us running these contracts down and accepting loan fees and small contributions on wages, so at least we reducing our losses rather than having one much bigger loss. It's not ideal from a squad perspective, but it helps the financial position. If we did as suggested above, we could be hamstrung from offering new contracts or signing anyone for year. So we just have to limp along a bit and be grateful we've got a manager that can get the best out of a small group!

Agreed. You've got Brandon Williams at Utd and Maitland-Niles at Arsenal too. Getting into any full-back slot in the England squad is going to be tough in future, as LB is well stocked too. Shame we haven't got the same depth at CB & CM.

Did this with Van Dijk and benefited from the £75m transfer fee due the 4 years(?) he had on his contract. Seems strange we haven't with others, particularly the two you mentioned. Even Mane too, although not sure he would have signed another contract anyway.

Exactly my thoughts. Probably to gain extra traffic/ad revenue? Every single aspect of Prem football is whored out...

Best keeper we've had in recent times for distribution was Gazzaniga, who was also a decent shot-stopper. Really lacked the presence in the area though and very prone to mistakes/lapses in confidence.

The whole make-up of football income was completely different then. All gate receipts (which was the majority of income for all clubs then) was shared 50% - home and away. That's why we could compete with the likes of Utd/Liverpool/Everton/Arsenal in the 80s. It's why clubs like Derby, Forest, Villa won the league and clubs like us and Watford, Ipswich came second. If you could do some decent scouting and management - you could have a good crack at the league. That changed in the late 80s and when the bigger clubs really started to absolutely dominate. Then came the PL income, Champions League and some clubs generating huge amounts from an overseas fan base - which put them on an untouchable level. You just cannot compare the two - so many things have changed.

Echo the views on this thread. Think that the pod has been really professional the last couple of seasons and I've really enjoyed the analysis, interviews with players, ex-players and the 'Total Recall' feature. It's clear that a lot of effort goes into organising and producing the pod - hope someone else can pick up the reins and shoulders some of the heavy lifting. Thanks Ben and team!

The problem with both of those isn't just the transfer fee. We could push our normal strategy and pay £30m maybe for one (even though Bournemouth are likely to want much more), but what wages does a £30m+ player command? £100k+ p/w. That just isn't going to fit into our wage structure. We bought Redmond when Norwich were relegated last time round for what, about £12m? He'd done OK, but hadn't pulled any trees up. Market has gone through the roof since then though. I like the look of McGinn but looks like we'll priced out there as well.

Didn't hear this mentioned by the commentators (although didn't watch the whole game), but it was good to see an-ex skate/plucky hero - Simon Eastwood, save the decisive penalty!

This jumped out to me too when reading his stats. Why has he not been on loan and had a decent bout of games in League 1 or the Champs? Still can't understand how teams are reluctant to let their young players go out on loan to play games and gain experience when the U21 league is clearly not fit for purpose. It did players like Morgan and Lallana a world of good. By the time they reached the PL, they had 150+ league games under their belt and hit the ground running at that level (more or less). 23 is not that young in footballing standards and he really should have played 100+ senior games.

Lewis Cook was called up to the England squad, earned a cap and then was injured - he hasn't got back to form yet. On form he's a CM who keeps the ball well and someone we could do with. Fits our usual age target, but Bournemouth may want a few quid. Bournemouth have a few players others teams will want or gamble on. Ake, Willson & Brooks (as already mentioned), but I think Lewis Cook, King and Ramsdale will also get PL moves. Billing, Lerma, Solanke, Ibe (who's already left on a free now) have been a big waste of cash.

Exactly. The intention of the programme is to highlight middle-age men's issues with the neglect of their mental & physical health. Some, who have serious addictions that (in Ruddock's case) are driving them to a early grave. Some (like Merson) are trying to turn their life around, and for the moment at least - are achieving it.

Thanks for posting. Very interesting reading. Still basically hamstrung by poor buys on high wages that we can't shift. This has had a knock-on effect with performances, attendance and ultimately overall income.

John 'Budgie' Burridge! Listened to Paul Robinson chat about him on Graham Hunter's podcast recently...