VectisSaint

Antonio wasn't out of contract end of last season, his contract at Reading included an option for Reading to extend by a year, which they exercised, Antonio had no say in the matter. Its up to them if they are willing to sell or loan. They have a different set up now than when he joined us so I don't see anything unusual in the fact that he may be wanting to stay at Reading who must be one of the facvourites for promotion based on their form towards end of last campaign.

Assume you had had a pint of Stella when you wrote this, or maybe half a pint I should stick to the J2O in future

Think you have the "y" and "b" keys mixed up on your keyboard

Go and look at that starting line up again and ask yourself will it be the starting line up next Saturday. The only players likely to be unavailable next Saturday are Lallana and Richardson, it seems like even Adam is not ruled out. 2-1 up against the form team in the second half of last years CCC shows a pretty good performance in my view. We will I am sure have 2 or 3 new players before the window shuts, probably at least one before next weekend.

Its called a pre-season friendly. It is what happens and why I seldom go (last time I went to preseason I saw Pahars badly injured by Swindon mong), waste of time, pre-season friendlies are for the players not supporters. Sounds like we did well before the majority of changes were made which is good news.

Think if you take out 7 first teamers its fair to say half-strength: Richardson, Seaborne, Lambert, Lallana, Schneiderlin, Puncheon and Holmes all missing today. Shows that we have strength in depth in most areas though that we can still field a decent side, only area where we don't have depth is up front as Ryan Doble seems to be No4 striker at the moment (unless you consider Lallana a striker). MF is strong with Pulis on the bench (as long as thats where he stays).

Pardew has said he wants 2 or 3 before the window closes but is confident that we have a strong enough team to start the season. He may be reconsidering with the injuries of course, but injuries at this time of the season are par for the course, the only one that will probably miss the 1st game is Lallana, the others are almost certainly precautionary.

He did, I think thats why we bought him

Todays team is weaker than what we ended up with last year, granted, comes of having 4 players injured. Better team than what we had this time last year though, probably better than what we had at Xmas for that matter. In the end its still a preseason friendly. Bench is clearly very weak, but Pulis is there is we get stuck.

No, he spoke to Ted. Its in the name.

Can't believe some people, we have Connolly and Barnard up front, two of the best strikers in this division. We also probably have best GK in this division, I would accept that MF does not look great on paper today, bu the 4 starters are all decent players, perhaps just not all together.

OK, so the evidence you have is that Nick says so. Must be true then As I've said elsewhere, no-one on here knows anything for sure, but are willing to believe every word that is alleged by NI, who has an agenda, while berating NC & SFC. Personally as I have no facts make no judgements whatsover, but my gut feel is that there is more to this than meets the eye.

How do you know that? Not saying you are wrong, just fascinated to know how you know.

You are leaping to conclusions. Nowhere is there a single mention that he has been banned from St Marys. In fact there is nothing to say his season ticket renewal was rejected, read the original post, only that moneys were allegedly refunded (if they were ever taken in the first place).

Do we even know what you allege are facts? From the original post "Shortly after the season ticket deadline I noticed that my money had been refunded by the club". This does not say his renewal has been rejected, it could for other reasons, was his money actually taken initially, did he fill in his renewal form correctly, did his application miss the deadline, who knows? And who knows whether his emails and phone calls have been ignored, perhaps they have not even been sent. It does all seem a little strange, but some people seem to be more than willing to treat every word uttered by Illingsworth as fact, while having no eveidence, and every word uttered in defence of SFC or NC as lies, untruths or the work of Satan. Get a grip, NI is an outspoken critic of SFC, he puts himself in the spotlight and should not be surprised if he makes enemies and is not welcome at St Marys. I doubt that he would be refused a ticket if he tried to buy one for a match, unless he has been made the subject of a banning order, and in any case he could presumably get one of his mates (?) to buy one on his behalf. This is a non-story about a self-publicist who enjoys the limelight and is upset when the tables are turned on him. I wish him no ill-will (I really wouldn't know him from Adam, although vaguely recall his lame interviews on TV) but really he reaps what he sows.

Typo, should have been shorts of course.

Actually we originally ditched the diagonal stripe (4 seasons) for quarters, later for halves and only in 1896 for stripes. Incidenatlly until 1950 we wore blue shorts (or knickers as they were called) and blue stockings. So if we should stick to "tradition" would you have been happy to see us running out with blue shorts and socks, probably not, but for 50+ years that was Saints. Personally I like the diagonal stripe, my preference would have been the other way if I'm honest and being picky, and I think we missed a trick by not having a diagonal stripe on the away kit as well. I will however be perfectly happy to go back to something more akin to what we are used to next season. Will be nice to not have a sponsor though. By the way, for anyone who does not remember it, the Golden Jubilee souvenir programme is still online: http://www.jarvis-psv.me.uk/04_sport/04_saints/Golden-Jubilee/index.html I look forward to seeing AP in bowler hat at first home game in keeping with tradition.

Maybe I missed something but I thought the protest march was organised by a nipper on Facebook. Was I wrong and in fact the Saints Mistrust organised it? I know I'm getting old and the memory is not what they say it used to be (can't recall personally).

22, perhaps he was missed initially but he's there now Good to see the swaps so that our RB is 2 and our LB is 3 at least some people understand proper numbering in football. But surprised at Dickson being given 5 unless he fancies being a CB.

Two things from this completely pointless thread: (1) The interpretation of AP's comment as about as obtuse as could possibly be. It is fundamentally clear that AP was saying that he is OK to start the season with the squad we currently have, but that we will need more (and while the transfer window is open that is not an issue). As for anyone who "bricks it" based on an interview with a football manager, then seriously you need to take a look at yourself and grow up (unless you are only 10 years old of course) (2) Alpine admits he " doesn't know". That must be a first.

Hope NC pulls this off. It would be a great Italian Job to Get Carter.

Thank feck you are not running the club. Lets just spunk all our money on whoever is available now and potentially miss better options that may come along in the next 5 weeks. We aren't desparate for players, we already have the best 1st XI in the League, we need a few additions to give us some strength in depth, there is no need to buy right now, no need to panic. Not everyone is available, you can't just go to a club and say we want X, here's our money job done. It only works like that in games that 5 year olds play on games consoles (I assume you are a bit more than 5, but then again I've been wrong before). This is the real world of football, there are 91 other clubs in this country alone competing for the best players, we don't have some God-given right to buy who we want, it is often a long-drawn out affair, with bluff and counter-bluff.

How on earth can you come to such a daft conclusion. Last season we had a 10 point deduction, a dispirited demoralised team, curtailed preseason and need to bring in lots of new players, added to the fact that by most measures we were in the strongest Division 3 for many years, maybe ever, with 7 or 8 outstanding teams (and 16 mediocre/poor ones). The League is considerably weaker this season, we already have 10 points more than we did last season, we have the same 1st team as were the best team in the last part of last season, we have a settled management team and we have 5 weeks to go before the transfer season closes, we also have 3 good players added to last season (admittedly we have lost 2) plus we have a fit DC. Yet somehow you think we have a lesser chance than last season. Sometimes you talk a lot of sense. Other times you remind me of the press officer for Ferrari.

Always lots of little, niggling injuries at this stage of the season. The only ones I would be concerned about at the moment are Richardson and Lallana. We have adequate cover for Richardson (Butters), Adam is a bit harder to replace. Running round on rock-hard pitches after 6-8 weeks off plays havoc on any footballers. Think it as David Moyes yesterday dismiising concerns about pre-season injuries, in general don't worry.

Exactly. I see Man City have also said Bridge is for sale. Now I'm not stupid enough to suggest that Bridger would come back, but here is good example to illustrate the position. We pitched in early and bought Dickson, now Bridge is available. Is Dickson still the best out there, no, but we have more than enough LBs so we won't bid for Bridge now. AP is being very sensible. He knows he can buy quality, but wants the chance of buying the best quality, rather than make-dos. Some other posters here would rather get in now and buy adequate rather than top class. Plain stupid when we don't need to show our hand and also have a perfectly good 1st XI with which to start the season. It is 5 weeks until the transfer window closes.