sambosa75

Also forgot to mention, a lot of people already know but my nephew plays for Saints' academy and is one of the UK's brightest young players if what the scouts at Chelsea, Pompey, Saints and Reading have said is anything to go by. The fact Saints managed to outmuscle the likes of Chelsea (who incidentally offered a chaufer driven car to their Cobham-based training ground for all training sessions and matches for him) means that they are still putting a lot of emphasis on player recruitment and scouting still. Not that it particularly matters but I have it on very good authority that our under 16 side is amongst the top 2 or 3 sides in the country. There will no doubt be a few that turn pro in a couple of years time, but sod it... lets just close it all down and let the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal gobble them all up. That makes sense...

Okay fine, I'll be the one that rises to it... You say the academy is one of the most damaging aspects of the club. Perhaps for a club like Swansea with little or no reputation for producing top players ever in their history this may be something they can consider. Quite frankly, to say the academy should be shut is ludicrous. We are always producing good players and even now, if the club was in a position where we could augment the team by cherry-picking the very best talent from the academy instead of putting out more or less a whole team of academy products people would be cooing over how good our youngsters are. Players like Surman, Lallana, Dyer etc... are sought after players and will command fees of over £1m should/when they leave. The simple fact is at the moment due to financial constraints put upon us, we arent in a position where we can pay the wages of seasons professionals, so as a result we are forced in to playing academy products and cheap loans. You say the cost of the academy cannot be justified. I can almost guarantee the costs to operate the academy will be a damn sight lower than Swansea's wage bill, regardless of how cheap the team was to assemble. Morgan Schneiderlin was signed up for a fee of "up-to" £1.2m. I would imagine given the clubs precarious financial position, we didnt cough up anything near to that fee to sign him. I would be fairly confident the fee was more based on perhaps a set fee that has been agreed for when we sell him on, with clubs like Arsenal rumoured to be monitoring his progress. You also make a throwaway comment about getting in a manager capable of assembling squads for £500k. Who out there is capable of doing that? Martinez has done a fantastic job but if it was simply that easy to do it, do you not think everyone would be doing it? What you propose is totally unrealistic and totally unsustainable.

I do laugh at people that bring up the surface. 3 years ago, everyone was saying Nadal was a clay-court player only. Decent on the others but nothing special. Look at him now. Andy Murray has progressed in the last 2 years just as much as Nadal and has all the skills to win any of the majors, even the French which is his most unlikely one. He is young, constantly improving, has a great mentality and is fast maturing in his demeanour on court. It is my opinion that people who called Murray "Henman mk2" know absolutely nothing about Tennis. Henman was a serve-volleyer (a bloody good one too) but in recent times serve-volleyers dont win grand slams, you need more to your game which is why he was always found out in the end. Murray has got the baseline game, the fitness, the power, the serve and the shots to go on and win many majors.

He was never captain for us but I'd go for Alan Shearer. The perfect skipper. Lead by example, the opposition always knew theyd been in a game against him, could influence referees and would inevitably score a lot of goals. Other than that, Jimmy Case. Someone with a bit of grit and not afraid to dish it out a bit.

I see... regardless the point still stands. He was willing to put £2m into Southampton providing others did the same whereby £6m would probably make a big difference and make a lot of peoples job safe. I'm willing to wager £2m put into that company would have also made a massive difference though and would have spared these people their jobs. I'm, only asking the question because I'm sure the people that have been made redundant will be asking the same thing which they have every right to do. Do they not?

But if he was the great man everyone seems to allude to him being, would he not have that £2m available to put in to this other company to stave off administration? At the end of the day, he owns that company whereas he simply owns a stake in Southampton, surely it would make more sense finacially to do that? It's not a case of having a go at him, its a question that needs to be asked. He has openly stated he is liquid for £2m to put into SFC, yet makes all these poor people redundant when usually that is done as a very last resort.

Interesting. He's apparently got £2m to put in to Southampton Football Club providing Lowe and Wilde do the same, but hasnt got the money to put in to save his workforce from the scrapheap...

And therein lies the exact reason why this wouldnt work. All very nice the players saying how much of an honour it is to play for Maradona, but lets not forget these players are the likes of Zanetti, Burdisso, Samuel, Mascherano, Rodriguez, Gutierrez, Tevez, Aguero and Messi! They could have Alpine Saint managing them and they'd still do well.

I didnt say Ronaldo was the best player in the world. I also didnt say he was better than Messi. I said both were awesome players but I dont understand how someone can be over-rated when they score over 40 goals playing against some of the best and toughest defences in Europe. As for him not being a midfielder, he doesnt occupy a central role and isnt a striker. At best he's an advanced winger/attacker. Even still, I dont know many out and out forwards banging in 40 goals a season anyway. I didnt even say Messi hasnt been brilliant. Quite the opposite. As for me "fancying" him, of course I dont. I just think its quite funny people saying he's "over-rated" on the basis of his form in the past couple of seasons, he's anything but. As is Messi.

I'm sorry but when you score over 40 goals from midfield in one season playing against the calbire of opponents he was, you have every right to be rated.

Will the same apply for Ronaldo if he wins one before Messi? In my opinion Portugal are probably a better side than Argentina. Ronaldo and Messi are both amazing players but have slightly different purposes. Messi is an absolute magician who brings others into the play. He is also capable of skinning a skeleton given the space. I think Ronaldo has more of an end product and will always score more goals than Messi but a side with Messi in will probably score more goals than a team with Ronaldo. Ronaldo is far superior in the air and is arguably more of a team player as he will run more than Messi in 90 minutes. Not really worth comparing. They are both amazing players that have slightly different purposes in their respective teams.

John B, the truth doesnt go down very well with a lot of these people. Rupert Lowe shouldnt be totally absolved from any blame but for a lof them to suggest Leon Crouch is this clubs saviour is a very misguided notion... in my opinion of course.

Call me old fasdhioned but it could well have something to do with the fact that we signed him at this point 2 years ago and he did brilliantly and earned himself a well-paid contract as it seemed he had enough goals in him to get us promoted. He was hardly prolific last season, bagging something like 6 goals. Couple that with the fact that he gave a good account of himself in the Euro Championships and then a club came in for him and gave him the opportunity to play in the Champions League against Man Utd, Celtic and Villarreal probably on even more money as well. I know what I would do if I had no major allegiance to Southampton. It's great we've got him back and fantastic to see him showing those around him how its done but to say we should never have sent him out on loan it a little short-sighted. I'm sure there were many, many more factors than Rupert Lowe wanting to stitch the club up as a few people who have agreed with the original post have alluded to.

The players we have are decent young players, most of which have been thrown in at the deep end due to the perilous financial situation the club finds itself in. This is no-ones fault but Michael Wilde and the fans who were desperate for "anyone but Lowe" during RL's first tenure. Rupert Lowe is not the perfect chairman but he would have never seen us in such bad financial shape. It was Michael Wilde in a sh!t or bust attempt at getting us promoted under Burley that has seen us being forced into loaning out players on massively inflated wages (all signed under Wilde's tenure) and fielding a whole side of youngsters and no-marks. Its the way it is. People need to get used to it. Until our finances are brought in to line with what the club is earning, we will be in this position.

Cant say I'm too surprised to hear we are 2-0 down. The first goal was always going to drive us forward in search of an equaliser, especially after making the attacking substitutions. We were always going to leave more gaps at the back. LOL at the idiots calling for JP's head though. Who do you reckon is going to come in with the club in the state it's in with the players at their disposal? Nobody.

Billy Davies is amaaaaaaaazing, delldays. I'm sure his hoof and hope style would work really well here, with the players that would be at his disposal...

Was that down Pine Road by any chance? You may have been next door but one to my Nan if so!

Firstly it depends on the kid. If you care about your child and the development of them as a person, I think the fact Southampton is generally regarded as a family club is attractive. I would say it also depends on the kids loyalties. Pulling on a Saints shirt for my nephew means something and you can visually see the pride he has playing in his Saints shirt wearing the number 7 shirt. Yes, there is more prestige in playing for a Chelsea, Man Utd, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Spurs, etc... but doesnt guarantee you'll be a better player and it certainly doesnt improve your prospects of making it as a professional football player.

I'm not sure whether you are having a go at my grammar, simply didnt read my post or are a total and utter dullard who is attempting to look intelligent at the expense of my post. I stated Southampton (Dave Puckett in particular) are aggressive in their approach towards recruiting the very best talent available to them. I then went on to state that my case in point to Southampton's aggression was how they acted when bringing Ben in to the academy despite advances from more "prestigious" or rich clubs. I dont see your issue with what I said.

You are very wrong there my friend. Southampton are as aggressive as they have ever been in recruiting the very best young talent. I would strongly suggest the players who are moving to Portsmouth are moving there as a result of not being pursued as strongly as the very best available. My case in point is my nephew, Ben. Up until a couple of months ago, he was being courted by Chelsea, Fulham, Portsmouth, Reading, Bournemouth and Saints. Chelsea in particular were very keen. Ben's football team Pace Youth (incidentally probably the Tyro team you are referring to as the coaches father is head scout for Pompey) played Chelsea at Cobham and on the evidence of Ben's performance was asked to return the next day to playe for Chelsea against Bristol Rovers. Ben played the full 80 minutes, scored and generally played well. Chelsea were apparently willing to bypass his trial period and sign him up on a 1 year contract, volunteering to arrange a driver to pick him up from his Boyatt Wood home every week and drive him to the Cobham training ground. My brother-in-law had his doubts about Chelsea however and expressed them to the club. All Chelsea could point at as their academy "success story" was John Terry. Not necessarily a bad example but not as productive as other academies. Southampton on the other hand were very aggressive. They could point to a string of successes that they have either produced or nurtured. Wayne Bridge, Chris Baird, Martin Cranie, Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott; all now Premier League players who have gone on to represent their respective countries, with the exception of Cranie who is stuck at under-21's. Still, not a bad level. Thats not even mentioning the fact that with one or two exceptions, our whole match day squad at the moment is comprised of products of the academy. No matter how bad the state of the club is in at the moment, the infrastructure of the academy will always be there. Obvoiusly we miss figures such as Georges Prost but the personel is sstill very good. Another good example is our under 14 side. I have it on good authority they are 2nd only to Arsenal in terms of talent and results.

Rio Ferdinand, Vidic, Ronaldo and Tevez please...

Men against boys. We are 2nd from bottom in the Championship and they are the reigning European champions. Without wanting to insult you, if you were expecting more than what we gave today you are deluded.

Lets get this into perspective, shall we people. We've just played the best club side in the world and lost 3-0, thanks largely to an offside goal, an unfortunate penalty, being one man light for a large chunk of the game and one well worked goal. We didnt create much and we didnt spray the ball around but were any of you really expecting us to do so? It was damage limitation from the first kick of the game to the last. We kept them to three, which in my eyes is respectable. We can now hopefully concentrate on the league and the club has benefitted massively from a full house and the television money.

http://matchlive.safc.premiumtv.co.uk/mlex/258741/matches/10172006/2686762/match_console.html?clubid=undefined Forest commentary available! Come on Saints.

Absoloutely incredible. Well done to the fans who are in attendance.