revolution saint

I'm probably more likely to get a ST now than if we'd stayed up. I've had one on and off for last 30 years but the most recent L1 and championship seasons were my most enjoyable ones. I find it hard to get excited going into seasons thinking the best we could do would be a slightly above mid table finish.

Cheers, does seem strange to presumably concede far more goals than they're expected to. It'll be interesting to see how he copes managing a side that is (hopefully) expected to be around the top end of the table and with more resources than most other clubs. You'd think our possession stats would automatically be an improvement because, if nothing else, the standard of teams against us will be lower. I guess in that context it's going to be as important to look at chances created and goals scored. Don't know too much about him but Piroe seems to be a fairly regular scorer at this level.

There's loads of stats bouncing around but if I understand you correctly, only 3 more teams conceded more than Swansea this season BUT only 4 teams were expected to concede less than Swansea. Is it just that they have a shit keeper?

And that's kind of my point - the idea that there's one style out there that guarantees success and it's just a case of finding it. I'd be more interested in finding a manager who can look at the players we have and figure out what the best style would be for them (and obviously with the considerations of the league we're in). I'd like a decent manager who will be pragmatic and flexible rather than a dogmatic ideologue. Take your point about why it seems to be the case.

Completely agree. Not every appointment has to be left field and different from everyone else - it's almost like they feel this appointment has to differentiate us from the crowd. I'm not against possession based football but whoever comes in needs to be pragmatic and flexible rather than bound by principle to a particular style. The job is to get us promoted and I couldn't give a toss how that's achieved. I'm also a bit confused about why we're now looking at managers who are only linked with a possession based game. Why the fascination now? It's the exact opposite of a Nathan Jones style of manager who they had tracked for a long time. Smacks of someone desperate and chucking ideas out in the hope one of them will work out well. Your soft skills point is well made - I'd much rather a manager who is a good motivator and can maintain discipline rather than a tactical genius that overthinks and leaves players wondering what they're supposed to be doing. As you say, hope I'm proven wrong but......

I think too much was made of the playbook anyway. It's fine to have a philosophy, and most managers do, but it's always going to be compromised by individual player attributes such as talent, stamina, speed etc etc as well as the opposition. If you have something so dictatorial and precise then you become predictable and dull to watch. The best managers will adjust according to circumstances - it doesn't need a particularly prescriptive playbook. Besides which I quite like the idea of players having a bit of license to express themselves albeit within an overarching philosophy.

I’m watching the Boro v Coventry game. Coventry bossing Boro and one nil up. I guess we could have a chance with Carrick if it stays this way but not seen much to impress me about Boro. Only one game though so might be a bit harsh.

Should definitely try to get him in early doors.

Take your point that it's not as if we had a wealth of talent that's obviously better. However, Bazunu was the one that had the spot and he's the one that has let in goals that he should have saved and is the worst keeper in the premier league. Feel sorry for the lad because he shouldn't have been put in that position but in the context of who has had the most detrimental effect on the team, it's hard to argue against Bazunu.

What, the entire nation? That's a lot to fit into Manchester.

Flicked on to catch the voting but ended up hearing the UK entry for the first time. How bad must Germany have been to be worse than ours? Appreciate it's subjective and it's not my kind of thing anyway but thought the UK entry was really, really awful.

Don't know enough about any of the alleged targets. Looked up Russell Martin and he's the youngest or one of the youngest managers and he's finished 13th, 15th and 10th in the last few seasons - it's not that inspiring a record although there's probably been mitigating factors. I'd be happy with a possession based game and by all accounts Swansea haven't invested for a while so arguably he could be getting the best out of a poor side. Martin feels too much of a risk for me though - I'd prefer it if we could get someone who had achieved promotion and knows what it takes (or at least made play-offs). If Steve Cooper is available then he's got a much better record so I'd probably go for him. Or Potter. Or Tommy Widdrington.

Bazunu has to have a mention - isn't he supposed to have saved 16 more goals than he has? That would have made a huge difference. I feel bad mentioning him because he isn't as obviously crap as say Moi or A. Armstrong but it's probably had a bigger effect on the season.

In terms of incomings it wouldn't surprise me if we were back in for the Danish fella, Morten Hjulmand, at Lecce, and Carlos Borges at Man City. Heavily linked with both and seems like we were pretty close. Whether we could persuade Hjulmand now we're relegated could be an issue though. Could be back in for Liam Delap as well although considering the season he's had that might be a tough sell. Don't know enough about any of them to have much of an opinion but thought it might be good to speculate on players we might buy as well as those who are or will be off.

He'll be 24 in a couple of months so he's not that young and he's had one good season in the Championship for a side that walked the league pretty comfortably. Realistically the clubs that will be in for him will be clubs around the same size as us. So it's Burnley, Palace, Brighton etc etc and i don't see them dropping 40M on someone like Tella. Agree that we probably never saw the best of him and he certainly wasn't used in the best way though.

I quite like Tella and was looking forward to seeing him again but if Burnley offer anything around the 20M mark then it's probably a good deal for everyone.

I hope we replicate what we did with the search for a striker - get linked with a load of really exciting players from abroad that we've never heard of but sound really good. Come really close to getting them only for them to get a better offer at the 11th hour. We can then settle on someone that unites the fanbase in apathy and march on with some nice PR soundbites. It's the Southampton Way.

Prigozhin threatening to pull Wagner troops out of Bakhmut : https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-65493008 Wonder how the Russians will spin this?

Fuck knows but probably. Seems very convenient but further evidence that God moves in mysterious and yet entirely predictable ways.....

Wouldn't mannerisms fall under the nurture side of the nature vs nurture argument?

Of course it's important to me - I pretty much said that. You're very good on spotting the blindingly obvious

And that's entirely fair. If it's not important to you then don't worry about it. Personally it does bother me.

That's my sole reason for objecting to monarchy. Everything else is a distraction and detracts from the argument. If you believe that the head of state shouldn't have that job simply through the hereditary principle then you don't believe in a monarchy. We can have the debate over what replaces it once we agree that it's a stupid decision to appoint someone based entirely on who their parents were (or in Harry's case who they weren't). How much money they bring in/cost, what they're like as individuals is entirely irrelevant to the argument.

I've been using MidJourney a bit recently for AI images and it's quite impressive. Can get some pretty convincing photography and artwork. Don't get a whole lot of control over the image so general terms and themes work well but the moment you try and get really specific then it's a bit limited but I expect that'll improve pretty quickly. Looks like it could destroy the stock image industry almost overnight. Have to say I find the whole AI debate fascinating. I'd assumed that your creative industries would be fairly safe from AI but looks like they're more under threat than anywhere else.

I haven't really checked - that's just what he said. I guess every fan thinks their club could be more active and spend more money. Bloke I spoke with goes to a lot of their games so I tend to trust his judgement. Shame as I thought Viera was a decent shout. I doubt we'd go for him anyway. From what I can see Ankerson appears to be a a fan of more direct football and I expect an appointment that matches that philosophy.