VectisSaint

Not good enough for Saints? You must be joking, a fit Jenas would be a very good addition. I just have my doubts that Spuds would be letting him go before they appoint a new manager who might want to run the rule over all of his players first.

Slightly odd article, based around the single premis that Reading have purchased a striker who has played 12 games in the PL for 1m less than we have paid for a striker who has not played in the PL. Do they really think this is the extent of the business we or Reading will do this summer (Reading have since signed Guthrie of course). And Reading apparently are odds on to go down yet we are evens (and how Wet Sham are 9/4 is beyond me). Lets not forget also that the last Club to win back to back promotions (before Norwich who have done very well) was the crap team Man City who went straight back down (before coming back up and winning the title). So much is written on the web these days that the talent for this writing is spread very thinly indeed, as displayed very well by this article which quite frankly could have been written by a 10 year old. Only time will tell, but I am confident of a mid table finish, and that Reading will stay up as well.

and fourth. We also need some CMs who can chip in with a few goals. Davis is hardly prolific but 17 in 140 is not too shabby for CM

Excuse my ignorance, but who is Steve Knight (ex-The County)?

Suppose I'm seeing things, but I thought there were stripes on the shirt, is it just my PC monitor playing up? Oh well if the shirt is just plain red then I hate it.

I think Tommy Fourpast is in the 12th row on the left. I was going to mention Rudi Skacel but thought better of it.

How about we use the away kit at home and the home kit away, and substitutite black shorts for the red, then it would be OK. Its really a bit of a shock to go from the white with red sash to this in 2 years. Hence why I prefer the away kit I think.

Considering he's 24 it would have been difficult to include him in an u21 squad last summer without someone smelling a rat. Still Pearce bashing seems to be in vogue at the moment so lets blame Pearce for Lallana being born 2 or 3 years too early.

Did you copy that from the BBC site comments, or are there 2 different people who really don't have a clue about Stuart Pearce in the world? How anyone can accuse him of being egotistic is beyond belief, and even more so when its as part of a discussion about goldenballsup. Beckham Inc. is a joke, retired from serious football several years ago, and quite rightly has not been included in a GB football squad. Anyway, whats this got to do with Saints? Unless Jack Cork is picked (highly unlikely) its really not going to impact us.

I believe Ottery. Did he give any hints about which team Hammond might be playing for when he gets this award? It won't be Saints, thats for sure.

We already have a keeper ready and able to do the business from the get-go. What we need is a very good backup with long term potential ready to step up if needed and not prone to a fit of the colly-wobbles when he gets a chance. Butland seems to fit the bill if our scouts are good (not forgetting that our manager is an ex-GK), although like many others I can't say for sure that I have ever seen him play (never went out of my way to watch Cheltenham).

So JayRod, now JaySpear, so is there a player called Jay Fly or Jay Pole? All seems a bit fishy to me. Maybe NA feels more comfortbale with a lot of scouse lads around, overcomes the language problems perhaps.

It never stopped Dowie

Its true that some clubs were following suit, but it seems that at least one of the clubs that we "followed" (Tottenham) with the benefit of more experience than us with having a Prem League squad are re-considering because they are finding that the opposition that they can find is not up to the standard they perhaps expected and it is not helping them get their fringe players prepared for introduction into the prem league. I can see it is a bit different in the lower leasgues, where the standard of opposition in the Combination is quite awful (even some non-league teams competing). There are also other considerations for smaller clubs, not least cost which may make them take the decision not to run a reserve team. But is playing against Hoddle's academy really the right preparation for fringe players? Still it will be interesting to see if we have entered or not, I'd like to know when the fixtures come out, because it would impact what we need to sign to support a reserve team.

I haven't seen anything yet that confirms one way or the other whether we will enter the Premier Reserve League next season. Saints seem to prefer the approach of not committing to reserve team football. We are not alone in that view, there were only 16 teams last season, and all three relegated teams were involved so numbers could be as low as 13 this coming term. There are moves afoot to restructure the Reserve League next season (2013-14) but it would be interesting to know, from the point of view of having players available what is our strategy this season. I guess the fixtures will be out soon and we will know. In the meantime here is an article about Spuds who were one of the teams that went the same route as us, and now may be re-considering whether the experiment has worked. http://www.footballfancast.com/2012/06/football-blogs/is-it-time-for-tottenham-to-contemplate-a-return

Did I miss Brazil and Argentina?

Who's to say, long term he may have done us a favour, would we have been taken over by Markus Liebherr if we had not gone into Administration. We might still be struggling along under the guidance of "he who shall not be named" if we had won against Derby and then been promoted under Whisky George. Then again. Still wouldn't really want him back, he is unfairly maligned but he is still not really that good and always gives the impression of not being arsed.

I guess if we were selecting this team to play at altitude we could include Delgado, and maybe even his buddy.

Maybe Kanchelskis on the right would be a good addition. OK, his single appearance for us was not exactly memorable, but he wasn't bad in his prime.

Peach was better left back than all of them (Holmesy was better LM) Sadly Bale would not make my team as I would have Big Ron up front to take the Welsh slot. Le Saux at LB if each of the Channel Islands can be represented, if not then Skacel made a decent fist of the job, but not sure if he ever signed. Niemi, Golac, Lundekvam, Svensson (M), Le Saux, Berkovic, Le Tissier, Schneiderlin, Pahars, Davies R, Channon

Millwall 40k, Luton 30k. Difference is we could have taken many many more but were not allowed.

I found watching Svensson the other night quite embarrassing. I was never his greatest fan, always flattered to deceive and was very powder-puff in my view. But the other night he appeared to have turned into a hatchet man, his tackling was atrocious and he should have been yellow carded at least twice (so sent off). I never thought he had it in him to do a passable impression of Hurlock. I know its not serious but would not want him back under any circumstances.

Aaron Martin is from the Isle of Wight (like me). We were having hippy festivals well before Glasto, doesn't seem to have done him too much harm (but it may or may not have blighted my Saints career).

Has anyone checked out who his Dad (or Mum) supports? No good bringing the lad through if the old man will be after a contract with Arsenal or Yeovil Town as soon as the boy is old enough. Only kids whose parents are both season ticket holders at Saints should be allowed into the Academy. I also dislike this idea that kids aged 8-15 are not allowed to play for their local club side if they are part of an academy set up. In some cases where 1 or 2 kids have been banned like this from playing for a club because of this elite set up the club teams have folded, leaving several kids who are not elite standard with no football at all. If the lad at the academy does not end up making the grade as will happen in 95% of cases, they will have been denied local club football throughout their childhood. I no longer coach largely because of similar scheme introduced here, we lost not only players but coaches as well (because the coaches were parents who were no longer able to support the Club because they had to become taxi drivers for their kids).

Its you that is missing the point. Kids football, Sunday League, lucky if you can get a referee let alone 6 officials, and the cost of Hawkeye is way beyond the reach of these types of teams (at least for the foreseeable future).