The Kraken

Roy Hodgson - Sporting Director for SFC season 2014/15. Maybe.

Supposed Chelsea 3rd kit.

When do we get the monorail?

Is this thread still going?! :lol: No hindsight needed to know that it was an idiotic idea to consider selling Cork then as it would be now. He's a genuinely class player. And had he been in the starting line up from the start of the season I dare say he would have been knocking on the door for England. With Lampard and Gerrard probably out of the picture after this World Cup there are two spots opening up, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him in there.

So what you're saying is that no English team should ever be allowed to any other English team as they enter the FA Cup together? And league teams definitely can't loan to other league teams as they both enter the league. Sounds like a foolproof plan.

Prob not long at all IMO. They were always going to tail off under Moyes but should still have had enough to finish 4th this season. I think they'll spend over the summer and finish 3rd or 4th next season, with or without Moyes (preferably with). Their days of dominance are gone but they have such amazing resources that it would be a f*ck up year on year to finish outside the top 4, and even Moyes isn't that inept.

*wipes tear from eye* That was a beautiful dedication, Brian.

Never mind the Champions League semi finals, we've got a unique kit.

You're talking b*llocks pal. Many Saints fans above teenage years have long regarded Bournemouth as a second club of sorts; the inoffensive little brigade down the road who you hope the best for. Cherries results used to get read out and cheered at the Dell if they had won. It's like a big brother - little brother relationship. Of course we care.

It's not really that weird, is it? They're a local club who've never been a rival. It's a bit like hoping Eastleigh get to the Conference.

They haven't got a bad run-in of games either. Come on you Cherries.

Fine by me dude. Your opening comment was "I think you're looking at it through rose tinted glasses", which was a bit of a generalisation rather than my opinion. As I said, 2 years in League 1 was about enough, I was glad to get promoted from that. But I have a lot of respect for the Championship as a division, really enjoyed our time there (even when we were really sh*t; bizarrely I went to more games that season than many others). Horses for courses, really. Hopefully we'll keep improving as a side and actually compete for some stuff. But the whole "survival at all costs in the top league" is something I left behind long ago, I know that I've enjoyed football in both divisions equally at various points.

I think you're looking at it through your own viewpoint, so it's probably best not to try and tell others their own opinions. Everyone thinks differently about this, so trying to apply a common way of thinking is as bizarre as it is pointless. You say we had 4 seasons of dire football in the Championship. I'd counter that by saying that, from the start of the Premier League (and arrival of Branfoot) we had many more than 4 years of dire football. So that's not exclusive to the Championship by any stretch. And for all the results you want to cherry pick, there's plenty in the Premier League you can point to that were embarrassing days as a Saints fan (Spurs 2-7, Arsenal 0-6, Newcastle 0-5, Everton 1-7 etc etc etc). The one thing I will say is that watching Saints this season is probably better than any other Premier League season I can remember. It's up there with the 1989/90 season in terms of enjoyment for me. But having watched a whole load of turgid sh*t in the Premier League years, I truthfully enjoyed the lower leagues just as much, often more. Yeah, it was good to get out of League 1 when we did. But the Championship is a brilliant league, and while relegation is definitely not to be wished for, I'd know that a return to that sort of football is no problem for me. If it's not for you, then fine, I completely accept that others will think entirely differently. But that's my opinion and I know some others feel that way too, so it's no good telling me what level of football I should and shouldn't find more or less enjoyable.

Maybe I'm strange too but probably the most I've enjoyed going to watch Saints over a consistent period has been in the past 6 or 7 years, probably the play-off season onwards. A big part of that mix has been relegation (in fact two of them). All supporters want to aspire to the best for their side, but relegation holds no fear at all for me as I know going to watch football can be equally brilliant in the lower leagues despite the obvious gulf in quality. In a completely theoretical situation, if you offered me our past 10 seasons or 10 seasons of finishing 8th - 14th in the Premier league, I know what I'd take.

Cool story bro.

Well yes. It was utterly ridiculous seeing the ref and linesman do all they could to not look at the big screen prior to making their decision.

There's a directive from the Premier league that all clubs should not show any replays that are in any way contentious. It's a directive that has been in place for years.

What would you like them to say?

Yep, on this occasion it would have been quicker to review the video footage than have a chat with the linesman.

This is the nub of it for me. Where does the referral system come in? For all decisions? Or just some? If just some, which ones? As much as I think it could be a good idea, I also recognise that there's a possibility it could also completely ruin the game if it's applied in the wrong fashion.

Embarrassingly bad refereeing. Carroll battered the keeper in the head!

When you're trying to make an argument that Gazzaniga isn't the worst keeper in the league, you really are beginning to clutch hold of those straws a little too tightly.

Well I'm not precious enough to need to be spoon fed information about exactly what we're going to do and when, so unlike you I'm not worried by what has or hasn't been said. And if there's no more mention of CL football then that's a good thing IMO, it was all empty rhetoric anyway.

I have no idea what has to do with your original statement of what he actually did say.

What's not to believe? He's just said that we're in a financial position that we don't need to sell. Not that we won't sell any of our players if the right offer comes in or if they agitate for a move, which is a relatively likely scenario IMO.