VectisSaint

10 away games unbeaten, how good does that sound?

Up to 17th, Swindon 1-0 Orient

As things stand our home and away records are identical 10-4-4-2-17-12 Very tidy

I think they already did when they announced his appointment as Skates manager, how much more humiliation is there?

I don't think Rickie has been up for it in the last few games, I suspect the after effects of the flu he was suffering

If it means getting him off the Radio Rodent commentary team then I would support that, I might even then re-subscribe to Sainst Player. Serious question, do we know for sure that the post of Club President no longer exists? I was quite surprised to find that the OS seems to be missing any details of who is who at the Club (except for players and coaching staff of course). There is no mention of ML or NC or anyone of that ilk. Unless I am missing something (quite possible, lots of people think I am missing something). As I haven't been to a home game yet this season I have not see a programme - this information used to be listed on the 3rd page of programmes. Club's should have a Club President, if only as an Honorary position, no reason really why John Mortimore should not still hold that position. Lawrie is the other blindingly obvious candidate (awaits incoming from Mr 19C), but I'm sure that there are others who would be willing to fulfil the role. This is nothing to do with the running of the business, it is not a directorship, so should not be controversial for ML/NC to appoint. Its really about meeting and greeting on home match days.

-10 was down to the Football League, not the Football Association. When will people understand the basic strcture of football governance in England (I'll accept that you are in Scotland, but surely its the same there with the SPL, the Scottish Football League and the SFA - not Sweet Fanny Adams in this case).

Yes it is. Rules for Premiership teams are from the Football Association (FA). Rules for Championship/League 1/League 2 are from the Football League. Football League teams are additionally subject to FA sanctions (as evidenced by Luton's points deductions for irregular payments). The Football League and the Football Association are completely different entities, the FL is affiliated to the FA like every other league in England.

smooth or crunchy?

But the kids were played under JP, not Wotte. Try to keep up. Wotte reintroduced some of the older players and changed the style completely. I would love to see the evidence of him being a perfectly capable coach, his CV is not very good.

Might have guessed you would poke your head above the parapet with someone having a go at your Lord and master's puppet. When will people realise that Gillett is not a youngster. And actually Pearson did do well with Lallana when he introduced him (ignoring his League Cup appearance against Yeovil). Wotte was crap with kids, it was the other fella that was supposed to be good with youngsters, not Wotte. Still good to see you acknowledge that you are selective when supporting your own agenda. I have no agenda, I support Saints and have done so for over 40 years, and I am now very happy that the Dutch fiasco is behind us and the Lowe era now history. Wotte deserves very little credit, OK he handled the situation well when he was about to lose his job, but his vitriole against proper supporters earlier in the season meant he was always a dead man walking. Pompey deserve him, and I hope he does what I expect him to do with their set up.

But Saga is injured as well. Tuesday night demonstrated clearly our weak area, we have little cover for Lambert. Connolly is injury prone, Saga is injured and not in the plans, so we have no real cover (Papa and Pato I guess)

Not sure why you would think that, didn't show much promise with our youth last season, made Lallana look crap when it turns out a decent coach can make him look very good. Still I hope he gets the job at Pompey and is soon able to show his worth at a small and getting smaller club. At least he has experience at the Championship level should come in handy next season.

Firstly, it is the Football League, not the FA who have made the decision. It goes against the grain somewhat, but in this case the Football league are absolutely spot on with this decision. It would be an absolute disgrace if Ipswich were allowed to bring in another keeper when they already have 2 other professional keepers available, what is the point of employing 3 professional keepers and then when one gets injured implying that the other 2 are not good enough. If I was Arran Lee-Barratt I would be pretty upset that Ipswich even considered this. The loan would only have been for December as they can sign another keeper in Jan anyway. If Ipswich think they do not have adequate cover then that is entirely their fault and just down to bad management (did Keane let any keepers go at the start of the season, he seems to have got rid of a lot of other good players). It was also Cudicini that fell off his bike, not Gomes. Also Torquay have been denied permission by Saints to play Poke in the FA Cup so it would not surprise me if he was recalled in Jan as cover for Bart if KD's injury looks like being longer term than currently thought. I believe we also have another keeper (Pernicky?) if needed. I think long term Poke is the more likely backup to KD and Bart than Forecast, Poke is currently getting some invaluable football league experience with the Gulls - a clean sheet last game shows he is also continuing to do well one level below us.

Goal: No changes, KD will be back early new year allegedly, Poke can be recalled if required (confirmed by fact that we denied Torquay permission to play him in FA Cup rd2). Bart is fine, Forecast is dodgy backup if needed. Personally I would unload Forecast in Jan, if not perm then on loan. Poke has got to be a better bet long term otherwise we would have let him go permanently by now Defence: Need another CB whether or not Trotman stays MF: Don't see any need for a change, but another attacking MF would be good especially if Mellis, Antonio or Papa go back to their parent clubs Strikers: We need at least 1 new striker as cover for Lambert, clearly Saga is not wanted, so a direct replacement (though more of a target man) In summary very few incoming, lots of squad players should be loaned out or released, primarily the ones already out on loan.

As far as I know no-one on this Board can influence who we get next, and AP is never going to tell his players to go out and throw the game. So stop worrying about who we get or whether we will have a day out. The only possible bad outcome would be to lose at home to a lower league team, and with the team we now have I think this is unlikely. Nothing to stop a 3rd division team getting to the semis at least, and I think the semis this season are at Wembley (I could well be wrong on that) Que sera sera.

I hadn't realised that Markus had been injured or unwell. What was the problem? Glad to hear he is better now anyway.

See later post, Fitzhugh Fella is already working on this, and just to clarify its Solent Uni that honoured Mick, Lawrie and Matt not the Club.

I thought a centenary was celebrated after 100 years. 125 years would be our quasquicentennial anniversary, perhaps we should have that put on our shirts, would use up some of those left over Qs since Quashie left...

There must be a recall clause, we have denied Torquay permission to play Poke today in the Cup against Stockport, but have allowed Jake Thomson to play. We wouldn't do that unless we felt there may be a need to recall Michael.

I don't have any concerns about Bart. If ever there was a good time for him to come in it is now. Already played about 30 mins against Hartlepool, next up Northampton which he possibly may have played in anyway, then 3 games against (lets be generous) mediocre L1 opposition followed by JPT which he would definitely have played anyway. 5 games to bed in, get completely confident and work together with our defence before the big test against Leeds. KD is a great shot-stopper, no doubts about that, as good as anyone. But that is not the whole story for a keeper these days. KD is not great at crosses/corners, does not command his area in a completely confident way, and his distribution is at best average (nearly always an aimless punt upfield to give opposition 50/50 chance of winning it). If Bart can perform better than KD in any one of these 3 areas, then the number of shots he has to save should be slightly less than KD, and as long as Bart is a decent stopper then he will be fine, indeed we may well find that he will be difficult for KD to shift. Then again he could also turn into a bag of nerves and be absolute ****

Newspaper in "trying to sell papers" scandal, shock, horror.

Looks like Mawene is going to be out long-term so PNE are looking to get Trotman back as soon as possible, don't think they will be externind his loan or selling him to us.