sambosa75

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.

I'm sorry but this statement is simply ridiculous! Get it through your skulls! Leicester are in League 1, too right they should be doing well. They have Milan Mandaric keeping their heads above water financially which has allowed them to keep hold of players like Matty Fryatt, not to mention able to pay the wages of the likes of Kerrea Gilbert, Stephen Clemence, Matty Oakley, Steve Howard, Bruno N'Gotty, Hary Worley, Paul Dickov and Jack Hobbs. All former or current Premier League players with bags of experience and probably all of them to a man on more than our current "big earners". Rupert Lowe hasnt crippled us financially. He is simply making a lot of decisions in light of the financial mis-management the club made when ousting him the first time round. Still, the anti-Lowers appear to think that Lowe is responsible for the manner in which we went gung-ho for promotion 2 seasons ago with no plan B in the event of failure. The club is not in an ideal situation. We all love this club equally and ultimately want the same thing but I dont get how we can compare Leicester City who have a Championship squad in League 1 to us, with a League 2 squad in terms of experience in the Championship. I know where I would rather be. As for Paul Ince, Blackburn might not be brilliant but they've got some pretty decent players like Gamst Pedersen, McCarthy and Santa Cruz and Ince has done nothing there to impress me. He did okay at MK Dons but he wouldnt change much at Southampton in our current position. No-one would.

1-0 Burnley... and theyve already hit the bar as well

Come on Saints...... WE can beat this SH!T!!!!!! SH1T!!!!!!!

Le Tiss surely has to be a central midfielder... In the hole with a more defensive minded option next to him... Right Midfield for me goes to Fabrice Fernandes. I'm sure I'd plump for Paine but it was a bit before my time. Technically Fernandes was a brilliant player and for 2 seasons there werent that many better players in the Prem that did what he did. I still think he'd be a good player to this day had we let him go to Liverpool but I think once it became clear we wouldnt let him go, he started losing his way.

I totally agree. Decent player, especially at Championship level but ready to slot straight in the a Premier League first XI which seems to be what he thinks he's ready to do, he most certainly aint. Shame though as he is a local lad but he seems to rate himself a bit more than the majority of the fans do. That said, hopefully his self-publicising will either put a lot of clubs off, or force them into bidding a good amount for his services. I'd rather keep him as I think he is a decent player but I dont ever think he'll be a player who could grab a Premier League game by the scruff of its neck and stamp his authority on a match.

Depends which academy you are referring to my old mucker... My nephew played for Saints away to Pompey on Saturday and won 4-2, scoring a peach of a header. That was the under 12's though I believe. For what its worth, apparently our current under 16's team is the best in the country at the moment and is ******ing on anything that comes close to them, so thats promising.

jog on and support man yoo then.

Presumably you are privy to information that noone else is then... What else can we do? WE HAVE NO MONEY. This season is all about consolidating our Championship status, giving the lads the opportunity to play and improve. We are going to get some pretty severe hammerings along the way and tonight looks like one of those nights. On the balance of play, Palace arent 3 goals better than us. Our inexperience has simply gifted them 3 good opportunities to score which they have taken. I'm sure we'd all love to have a team full of excellent, experienced players who were hungry for playing for Southampton and shyt over everything in this division but we cant afford it.

I noticed last week Will Cope has been hired by Sky now. Last week he was as Turf Moor. Strange, thought he was average at best. Not sure who the new guy is though. Anyone now where we are in the league, as it stands?

Dean Richards without a shadow of doubt. Claus was a decent player but he was always at his best with a more gifted, gutsy centre-back along side him and Richards was that defender. Dont get me wrong, Cluas is a legend. At his best, he could have gone on to bigger things but remained loyal but Dean Richards was quality. Despite the circumstances in which he left in.

OMG!!!!1111!!11 I actually agree with TDD about something! I too am a Saints fan, call myself a Southampton lad, pride myself on telling people I'm from Southampton when I'm asked and live in London for financial reasons. Should I start wearing braces and do the Lambeth walk... oi! Rabbit... etc...

It would be Closer than Close if she was up for nomination.

The guy who came up with it is very funny. There are more or his works on http://www.27bslash6.com

Newcastle United for me please. Preferably at St. James' Park on a Saturday, 3pm kick-off.

1. Dean Richards 2. Michael Svensson Great decision to do a B team, by the way.

Well done lads. A point away from home is a decent result no matter who the opposition. The fact it has restricted the points gained by Charlton is also a bonus as they would have been looking at this match as a "6 pointer". 3 games unbeaten and onlt 1 goal conceded. Its exactly these kind of statistics that will breed confidence and see us achieve more positive results. COYR.