VectisSaint

Think its very clear that the problems in pre-season were down to Pardew and his team. It was nothing to do with where they had problems, going to Interlaken was not a problem, it was what they did when they got there. From DC's comments it is quite clear that certain players (almost certainly Lambert & Lallana) were over-worked and handled very badly. Of course Richardson's injury was just bad luck, could have happened anywhere. I was concerned last pre-season with the players jumping off the bridge to swim in the river, in my opinion that was quite a foolish thing to do, but as far as I know no-one was hurt doing it. I think Pardew just didn't have a proper plan for pre-season, and got over-excited by his surroundings and forgot the basics.

Pre-season was a factor at the start of last season, there is no doubt. The Club worked on things though and by mid-season we were basically where we needed to be, but how much easier it would have been if we had not had the wretched start we had.

The old system was not broke. Its just sad these days that the FL have to pander to a generation of people who don't understand that merit over a full season is what football leagues are all about, and need the instant gratification of an exciting knock-out competition to keep the interest up to the end of the season. There is no point playing a season of 46 games to see who gets the most points and then saying that 4th, 5th and 6th get another chance because "it keeps up the excitement to the end of the season". It is just a way to reward teams who don't have the mental toughness to succeed over a full season. Can't deny though that most of the semi-finals at least were gripping. Udders v Boscombe was one of the best games I've seen (ever). The finals (so far) have been a huge disappointment, mostly because in my opinion the wrong teams have won. So I guess Swansea will win tomorrow to complete the set.

It may have done, but then what? We wouldn't be in the position we are now if the club had gone down the route you are suggesting, that would have been a short term band-aid, and the downward spiral would have continued as we had no money, a blinkered chairman and good young players leaving for pastures new. Pearson would have done a decent job, but would also have moved on after spending a year here and showing that he was a good manager, but being restricted by the Board. Lowe was a ****, but at least what he did luckily ended up with us being bought by a multi-billionaire and we are now a club on the rise again. We would probably be mid table League One with the master plan you suggest.

Well not quite. They were founded in 1902 by dockers, steel workers and miners from Sunderland, Southampton and P****y, originally played in blue/white halves (a la Blackburn). In 1909 a student from Bilbao was spending Christmas in London and was asked by the club to take back 25 shirts but could not find enough. He was waiting for his ship home from Southampton and realised that Saints colours matched the colours of the City of Bilbao, so purchased 50 red/white striped shirts. 25 of these were given to Atlhletic Madrid, who were Youth team of Bilbao. Incidentally Saints were wearing Blue shorts in 1909, black shorts were not adopted until 1950.

Its always night in some part of the world, especially Wiltshire, you mong with brass knobs on!

I will, come on the Gulls, you can still beat Stevenage.

High correlation there between this list and teams that then played in the Europa league/UEFA Cup and struggled in the following season, you can add Saints to that list. Few of these teams can cope with success in the PL and playing in the unfashionable European competitions, due to squad depth. In most cases it would be better to play the youth team in Europe and concentrate on consolidating in the Top 6 or 7.

This is excellent news. Fitness is not the issue with DC, he is clearly very fit. If he can avoid injuries, and that is a lottery, then he will be a great asset in the Championship. When available he is arguably our most talented player outside of Lallana and Oxo, but when you add in his experience at this level he is a very valuable player to have in the squad. People moaning about his possible salary issues really need to understand where we are as a club right now, I suspect he is not on massive wages anyway, but there is little likelihood that he is blocking the way for some younger player. We can and do afford to have a bigger, deeper squad than others, as long as Adkins keeps the players happy then there is not an issue. as long as we are shot of disruptive egos like Puncheon there should be no problem.

Was he specific about which changing room? Hopefully he meant the Away one and that he will never set foot in the Home one again.

Why should we be scared of playing anyone. Are they going to go "boo" at us and make us jump? Should we call Ghostbusters? Either will give us a hard game as will a lot of other teams in the Champ, but I don't think anyone will be anything but confident next season.

46 league games in the Championship next season, really couldn't give a toss about Pompey, more interested in doing well over the full season than 2 games against a relegation bound team. We should beat all of the weaker teams and concentrate on getting good results against the top teams such as Leeds, Cardiff, Forest and so on.

Terry Paine lives in South Africa.

More likely Guly signing

Not really clear what the risk is? Clearly he has been on a fairly low paid contract, not sure if pay as you play, I think they are a bit of a myth, but something along those lines. He has already stated that he is just about the fittest player in the squad, and he has overcome supposedly the injuries that he had. We did this sometimes in the past, stuck with a player through a serious injury crisis, and then just as the player had become effective shown him the door. Oaks was the best exampleof this, has played several seasons effectively in various divisions since and we took Jermaine Wright instead. To let DC go now would be a travesty, but the language (both body and otherwise) after the Brighton game suggests he may be on his way. I suspect if he does go one of our NPC rivals will snap him up and it will come back to haunt us. While Barnard's future is unclear (and even when it is) DC is exactly the sort of player we desparately need to do well in the higher division. Experience is one of the most prized assets and DC has it in spades. I don't care if he plays 20 minutes of half our games, he would still be worth the money, and in any case we are not financially strapped. Not so sure about Holmes, he hasn't had a chance to prove anything, but it is quite clear from the OS that he will be here next season anyway.

14th June - Paul Scholes

January 2nd. The signing will have happened in July, but will be announced next January as massive news.

Really can't see the Ammers being much of a threat next season, they are in massive trouble. With a bit of luck if Blackpool and Wigan come down as well, we could have a trio of weak relegated clubs, could be a good season for a team to get promoted to the NPC from League 1. Can't see any of those three being runaway winners, even if Blackpool and Wigan are not broke. Evidently Grant looked close to tears when he was being interviewed post match today, question is how can anyone tell, the bloke is the most miserable looking git I've ever seen, including me. Still think its a bit indecent sacking someone with a game to go, what is the point? Two managers called Kee/an in the Prem League next week.

Day for old news today is it? Gareth Bale may become a great full back now that he has left Saints. Next we will be hearing that Adkins has signed an extension to his contract.

Read all about it, read all about it. Big news, hot off the press. Our manager signed an extension to his contract 4 months ago. Read all about it. In other news, the Berlin Wall has been demolished and in sport England have won the World Cup 4-2 with a hat-trick by Geoff Hurst

Forecast & Pulis. I doubt anyone else in the first team squad will be let go, apart from Holmes, unfortunately and Puncheon, thank goodness. Some people on here are living in the past worrying unduly about increasing wage bill, when we are getting promoted. Thats Lowe thinking. I'm not saying we should blow the wage bill but we don't release decent players to reduce the wage bill any more. We release players because they are not considered good enough. Until we have better replacements there is frankly no-one apart from the 4 mentioned who fit into this category, especially if the loanees are not renewed. Quite frankly people suggesting Connolly or Harding should be released are out of their minds. We should be busting a gut to get them signed up on a new contract as quickly as possible, these are two of our best players who will certainly do well in the Championship and could probably do OK in the Prem. Jaidi will be OK next season, but probably not as first choice. The experience of all these three players is what we desparately need in a higher league. Expect to see 3 new signings at most, striker, wide midfield and central defender, assuming we don't lose Oxo or Lallana.

Not particularly difficult to predict runs like this at all. Happens almost every season that the top teams go on long runs of good results. It is not fluke, it is down to the top teams having stronger squads and momentum, while the small teams struggle to maintain form based on their smaller squads once the second half of the season gets underway.

Actually it isn't, it also involves Alderney, although they have not won the Vase since 1920 apparently.

Nigel will be taking a "Summer Holiday" - all aboard a red London bus would be just right I think. * Was quite scocked to learn that both Nigel Adkins and Andy Crosby's families still live "oop north" - can't be good working away from family so much, hopefully they will relocate "dan saff" during the summer, maybe then they won't look so knackered with long return journeys to see the wife and kids. [For those on this board under the age of 70, Summer Holiday was a film in the early 1960s about a group of chums taking a holiday aboard a bus around Europe, the film starred Una Stubbs and unfortunately also included Cliff Richard and his awful singing]

Have we finally said goodbye to the footballing genius that is Anthony Pulis? He has been missing from the OS List for some time now (unlike all the other loanees who are still shown there). I note that he wasn't even on the bench for Barnet's great escape yesterday. If he has gone, then I would just like to say, good luck Anthony in whatever walk of life you follow from now on, there must be something else out there other than football, maybe a job in HR.