The Kraken

Someone on twitter has said that it's a done deal.

Ah I see, a leopard can't change its spots. Fair enough then.

Not a hope in hell. He was lined up to go to Everton on loan but City refused to subsidise any of his wages, apparently £38K per week.

No, I haven't forgotten it at all. I just don't think it's relevant now, it was about 10 years ago, maybe more. Even if he was a bit of a tw*t back then (and I'm not sure how being filmed in a consensual sex video actually confirms that), he's since been married, had kids and grown up. I've never met him but I'll take the word of two of my closest mates about him plus any number of respectable press opinion compared to the blinkered tabloid sensationalism.

Yeah, get him in. We'll make his wages back in shirt sales anyway, and might actually sell the advertising hoardings around the pitch with brand Beckham on show. He can move back to his previous home and commute from there, Posh has Gunwharf just down the road for her shopping needs. I can't see a reason why this wouldn't or shouldn't happen.

Well said. I often hear Lampard being grouped in with "the likes of Ashley Cole and John Terry" and described as being an arrogant, big headed egotistical tw*t. Yet any reasonable description of him of I've heard (in particular from a couple of friends who've met him a few times through mutual footballing connections) describe him as a down to earth, well educated polite and affable guy. And anyone who doubts the committment level and desire to win from these professionals needs to have a word with themself.

Exactly right; many a time saw Claus and especially Tessem in the Rhino, ****ed out of their heads.

Seriously though, whose fault is that? Why is there such a disparity between expectation and actual results? We haven't been genuine favourites for a major tournament since 1996, and even then only because we played every game at Wembley. Yet the press go completely overboard about our chances. Why. Because they want to build up the team to the nth degree before they bring it crashing back down to earth. And all in an effort to maximise their newspaper sales by creating a massive national scandal. Every tournament we slump out of has a whipping boy. From Turnip Taylor in the World Cup 94 quali failure, the press has vilified Beckham, Keegan, Sven, Hoddle, Rooney, Mclaren and now finally Capello. Spot a trend?! No rational thought whatsoever, just a need to have a hate and blame figure to plaster all over the front and back pages to boost circulation. You blame the England setup for the way you feel; but we are not that good a side and we should not expect to win or get to the semi final of every tournament we play in. 1/4 finals is a good achievement for us. Perhaps England fans should blame the press, and dare I say it their naievity for the way they feel about the national team? I know I gave up my expectation of winning anything years ago.

If he carries on like it'll soon make the £12M look like they got the better end of the wedge. I'd love to still have Chamberlain here, he'd tear this division to pieces.

Exactly. I still struggle to see, when it comes to various topics particularly also including new signings, you get the moral crusade brigade who come on and effectively say "let's wait and see what happens before we make a decision". As if new transfers can't be correctly predicted unless they appear on the OS. As if the potential abilities of new signings cannot be judged until we see them in a Saints shirt. And as if genuine witnesses to the Seaborne incident can't be discussed until it's gone through the law courts. This is a chat forum for crying out loud, it lives off of rumour and conjecture! It would be a bloody boring place without all that. You kind of know what you're getting when you come on here, so quite why so many people bleat about it, I'll never know.

I think Matthew le Nutjob can account for 2 or 3 of those on his own.

No, of course not. But neither should we forget that Adkins targetted CB and CF as two areas that needed improving; we have no new CF and we still don't know if the CB area has been improved.

The simple response is "why did you let the away fans out and allow such a general melee to be created in the first place?" but we're going round in circles with that one and we all know it was the wrong decision by the police. Shame they can't admit it, you get the feeling this type of nonsense will just keep on happening.

It's in the police report at the top of this thread.

For the record, I don't think we need another sticker either. We could do with a striker though.

As much as it was a policing cock up, there's absolutely no condoning a Saints fan repetitively spitting at Millwall fans from the safety of a police corden. You deserve a slap for that.

The lack of intelligence on the day, I don't buy that, especially as there was the scuffle with the barrier inside the ground. How can there not be intelligence from previous years though? I remember 3 or 4 years back hearing stories of a group of Millwall walking through West Quay and the precinct giving random people a slap. P*ss poor decision, no doubt.

I think there's no poll.

Actually, there has, but only just recently. Only gossip of course, but rumour of a bust up between the two of them due to losing out on Gorkss.

Whack me in the underwhelmed category; I thought we were worse off than with Pardew and that it was a mistake. Happy to have my face rubbed in it though.

Erm, yes, I think I would.

Pretty sure the window opens up in the next few days. A loan can last only up to 93 days (although can be done in increments i.e.. Chaplow where we extended it when the original 30 day agreement expired). We could only sign in the Jan window, so any loan from the next few days would still have a gap over Xmas before the player could be transferred. Season long loan are not allowed to be conducted outside of the main transfer window.

I've resisted from writing him off, as a few others have done. However, it's completely natural to research a player, search message boards, ask fans of his previous clubs what he's like. Take Jose Fonte, for instance. I have a few mates who support Palace, all were devastated he left them, thought he could do a job in the Premier League let alone League 1, and confirmed he was a brilliant signing, one of Palace's best players over a number of seasons. Palace message boards were full of exactly the same. The case of Hooiveld is markedly different. You will struggle to find a good word to say about him on Celtic message boards. I've asked two of my close friends who live in Glasgow (one of whom is a Celtic season ticket holder) about him, and they think that he was absolutely terrible for Celtic ("pure pish" was the actual terminology) and said that they were amazed we would be in for him. They further elaborated that Scottish football is currently so far in decline that Saints would beat Celtic if they came up against each other, and Hooiveld is nowhere near good enough for their first team. Now, of course, none of that actually means anything until we actually see him play, and I thoroughly hope he's much better than we're expecting. Even if he's not I hope he gets a fair crack of the whip and isn't subject to Puncheon-type treatment. But, as much as gut-instinct can be wrong as it can be right, I can't help thinking this won't be the successful signing we're hoping it to be. and i'd be thoroughly delighted to be proved wrong on that.

I think, before Hooiveld, that we already had plenty of cover players in that position. He just seems another addition to that, i.e. not significantly better than we already have. I might of course be wrong and he could be the answer, time will tell. But until then I will remain convinced we missed a massive trick by failing to sign Gorkss, who would have improved us an provide a great partner for Fonte, whilst also of course adding to the strength in depth in case of injuries.

I agree. Despite what your average Daily Star reader will tell you, we are not a good enough side to be favourites for a major footballing championship, and haven't been since Euro 96, and even then only because we were at Wembley for every game. We're pretty good, from top 3 or 4 downwards, but reaching the quarter finals of a world cup should be seen as a par, and therefore commendable, achievenment. Anything else beyond that is a bonus and classed as real success. As for the FA and FIFA, don't even get me started down that road!