VectisSaint

I would add Murty to that list. The guy reminds me of me, overweight (he probably is not quite so overweight as me). Don't get me wrong, I thought he had a superb game. He makes up for his lack of fitness by his vision and energy. I wish I could get up and down the flanks like him, carrying so much weight. But just consider how much better he will be still when he sheds a few more pounds. Other than me he also reminds me of Jason Dodd. Not the most gifted player technically, but a great bloke to have in your team. Think he really should be skipper, no offence to Kelvin but I prefer a skipper on the field rather than in goal. I was quite please yesterday with the fitness levels, considering the lack of preseason. The energy levels 1st half were very high, yes we ran out of steam in the 2nd half but that was because we were chasing shadows once we lost the ability to hold the ball up when Pato went off. It was bloody hot, but that was why Millwall looked fitter than us, if you are chasing the game in the 2nd half then you will tire more quickly. Whatever, we looked fitter than under the Agents Orange and 100% fitter than under Burley. A couple more weeks of AP and Wilkins and those players will be back to something like what we got used to under WGS.

Like the curates egg, he was good in parts. Didn't realise he was playing for first 10-15 minutes. Then he came alive, and showed some great vision in the rest of the 1st half. 2nd half once Pato went off and the system changed he was completely anonymous. He has the makings of a great player, I think AP has more idea what to do with him, and we will see him develop, but he has a long way to go. I think he will be better when played with Gillett to protect and allow him to get forward.

SFC were his employers. Whether thats Lowe, Wilde, Liebherr or Crouch is largely irrelevant. When you are treated like **** by your employer it takes a lot to make you forgive and forget, whoever takes over. Get over it, SJ is gone, no great problem. I liked him, better in my opinion than Rasiak, and will be grateful to him for the goals he scored that kept us up, but will not hold a grudge like some small minded people. This is the age of the profesional footballer, no loyalty, but so what , we reap what we sow. He was treated like **** by his employers (like lots of us are) and found a better deal. He did not "use" us, we used him.

News to me. Still don't think he did anything wrong. Player wants a better deal, lifes a drag and then we die...

SJ did not "use Saints staff and facilities", he was offered a contract by us when he was a free agent, got a better one from CP (supposedly) made an informed decision based on weighing up the 2 offers and decided to move on. There was no pretence or shady dealing. He was treated like **** by SFC, whether that was down to Lowe or not is immaterial, fact is he was, the fact that he even considered staying with us after being shunted around after being our top goalscorer and making the difference the previous season between staying and going down, actually speaks volumes for the man. Having said that, I don't wish injurieson anyone, but I did raise a little smile thinking more about the thoughts of Warnock when it happened.

Following that logic goodness knows what will befall Lowe and Wilde

True, he would have added bad luck, poor referee, the colour of the goal posts and the length of the grass.

There there precious

How ridiculous to label Saga as ****e. Its only because he has hinted he wants away. At times today the guy looked a class apart (better) than anything else on the pitch. Nothing came off for him and clearly he is not 100% fit, but he still oozes goals with the right support. When Pato and Saga played closer together from the middle of the 1st half they looked quite a good combination. If he really wants to move on then looking like he doesn't care is not the way, and thats not the way I saw it. Big thing for me today was how Pato basically defended from the front. He helped the MF so much by holding up the ball. When he went off we lost that critical aspect and the MF started to be overrun (thought to be fair to Millwall they did impress when Jackett made the subs). All in all a pretty decent first game, thank **** we're not Norwich.

Fair result in the end. Losing Paterson was critical, and Millwall being able to change things exposed us. Pato was our best defender in the first half with his hold up play, then Price changed things in the centre even though he went off shortly afterwards. However, a point is a point, only 9 behind Swindon now :-) Shows we actually have a decent 1st XI, its strength in depth where we are exposed. I think on that performance 4 or 5 good players including a new striker and we could do alright.

Think he's working for Sky in some way

Makes some sense, Luton just signed Steve Basham from Exeter, probably Harford looking for more experience up front. 10 from 27 league goals last season, ex Boro Youth Cup winner, looks half decent for this level. LOL at the poster that thought Luton were appalling. Maybe we can with the JPT this season. 30 point deduction they were always going to be relegated.

The bit that caught my eye was "Nicola is running everything at the moment". So what is Oldknow doing? Is he really part of the set up, or did he really just broker the deal. I thought he would be more involved on the commercial side, but this comment suggests maybe not. The scouting bit is deeply worrying. How has the system been allowed to get in such a state? I don't have (m)any good things to say about Lowe, but he was always very keen on the youth, yet we sem to have even managed to screw up the scouting for the Academy, and that can be very damaging and difficult to put right quickly. We really could do with Prost or similar back. Still, reasonably hopeful for Saturday. We do have a reasonably good looking 1st XI (which as AP says almost picks itself), but outside of that we look threadbare. Lets just hope no injuries or sill sendings off. Davis, Murty, Perry, Thomas, Harding, Lallana, Gillett, Wotton, Holmes, Rasiak, Paterson seems to be the team, with Mills, Schneiderlin, Saga, Lancashire, Bart and a couple of kids on the bench to make up the numbers. Not too bad.

And still, after all the debate on here, people cannot tell the difference between the FA (Football Association) and the Football League. We did not get hammered by the FA, we got hammered by the Football League. The two are not the same, indeed the FA and the FL have at times in the past been bitter enemies. One of the reasons the PL Clubs do not get hammered is because they are subject to the rules of the FA who run the Premier League, whereas the CC, L1 and L2 are subject to the rules of the FL. Incidentally I don't have a problem with the points deductions, but I do have a problem with the people that got us into the situation getting away with it, with no punishment, not even being banned from football for life. The points deductions though should be applied consistently, and not applied differently depending on finishing position.

I think if you are pooing your pants it may be better to keep your feet together

Read the criteria again. "Highest level" includes the Football League (thats us), and even more bizarely the Irish premier league (in Northern Ireland). I suspec that is not the reason for refusing the permit. I suspect it is more likely to do with his age, and the criteria of contributing to football development in this country. In any case whatever the reason I am 99.9% sure that an appeal would be successful, they almost always are. The only one I recall failing was the kiddy at Watford last year I think which was seen by everyone to have been one of the most heartless decisions ever made.

So you don't think the player or the players agent are privvy to contract negotiations

Or more likely from the FA, the player or the player's agent, or even the Home office for that matter, since it is an immigration issue. Plenty of sources, not just the club.

So it did, but it deffo was not on the OS 15 minutes ago. Mods, lock this thread, thought it odd that I spotted this first

You're welcome

now on OS

What it says on the title

Not delusional at all. Fact is his goals did keep us up to a great extent. On top of that he wants to play at the highest level, i.e. the highest level he can attain, and at this stage in his career thats clearly CCC. **** people about (not AP or ML's fault) and you don't get loyalty in return. Basically we lost SJ because of RL's mad experiment.

Will it be before Skacel signs?

Good things about League 1: Its not League 2 End of...