SNSUN

Good, a keeper signing, and Forecrud has gone. It's like two gifts in one go. We're one CB away from starting the season in relative comfortability, and four signings away from being a perfect side. (GK, CB, LB, Winger)

I believe signing Buttner would've been to displace Fox rather than Shaw. Adkins states we're only interested in signing better players that we have, and one would assume Buttner is better than Fox, hence why we were after him. Shaw will make it when he's good and ready, it's Fox that should be concerned about his position. I personally think Fox will be OK in the Premier League, but I'd be happy if we signed Buttner, or whoever, to compete with both Fox and Shaw. Sadly it seems like Buttner's fannying around with his agent makes this deal seem dead, and I get the feeling we're not a club that will be held to ransom. There are other options out there, or, we wait until January. I'm not fussed about missing out on Buttner, CB's and GK's take priority anyway. Can't Clyne play LB anyway?

I'm guessing that was intentional, right? :-D

This, but if we only signed one keeper, I wouldn't be too disheartened. We need two CB's though - 2 good ones, the last time we were in the Premier League we got relegated because of dodgy CB's. We can't afford that again.

Sounds like a winger. I like what I hear.

I was close with 0832 right? Great signing. Centre back next.

I'm sure height is one of them but there's not a great deal he can do about that. Interestingly Buttner is also 5'9'' so if that deal does eventually go ahead, we'll have short arses at full back! Any guess on the time this Clyne deal will be unveiled on the OS? I'm guessing photos will be done tonight, and it'll be posted at 0832 tomorrow morning.

I've always thought Lambert would do a great job in a midfield role, akin to Mark Hughes in his stint with us. I know Rickie played there earlier in his career too - could always be an option for the future.

He won't need his knees anyway, just his head and the ability to look up. :-D

West Ham sign Maiga from Sochaux. Another forward for their already large squad. Although this guy is apparently one to watch.

Baird was unfortunate. I still maintain that had we not got relegated, he's have been with us his whole career.

Palace mate told me he's signed. I guess the announcement will be made later. Good signing. Right back sorted. Up front sorted. Just the other positions to sort out now! Buttner and Fox would be a top left back duo too, and with both Stephens and Shaw coming through, it seems we'll not need to sign anyone in those positions for donkey's years, providing the Buttner deal actually goes ahead and nobody pinches Shaw.

Is that 3k a year? :-) I know he's not a Paul Lambert type signing but I can see him going to Villa to replace Heskey.

It doesn't matter how much Birmingham are asking for Butland, pay it Saints. Overpaying is irrelevant, displacing Forecast as number 2 is priceless.

From a personal point of view, Saints equalising in the JPT in injury time against Norwich was the best moment for me. I forget who scored it to be honest, Harding I think, because I was too busy mocking my other half (a Norwich fan) at the back of block 30 of the Kingsland. She wasn't pleased, especially after we won on penalties, but because I'd outed her as a Norwich fan to all around us! (FWIW, nobody cared.)

Heart wrenching story and the fact he has to endure the retarded crapheads of society every day that mock him for it is even worse. I hope he finds peace. Success in the Premier League would be just desserts for him.

I started the Simon Kjaer rumour on Football Rumours at the start of summer as a joke. It's good to see it's still alive. FWIW Kjaer is a top defender and if we do end up getting him (which we won't) I wish to declare myself an ITK.

Ooh ooh ooh Mark Paul. A name that gets trotted out once in a while with him described as the next Michael Owen. He wasn't. http://www.ex-canaries.co.uk/players/paul.htm

Anthony Pulis - if only for the comedy posts about him.

Nice bit of massochism on Friday 13th! I don't care about Premiership experience, they'll get that in the first four fixtures anyway without much expectation. 'Sides, there's more signings to come, so we'll see if anyone comes in with that. I like our lower league signings anyway. As Norwich did before us, it shows that quality players do exist in the lower leagues - I think some Premier League clubs are blinded to their own division.

After we'd been relegated from the Championship and knew we'd have the -10 points, I was waiting for us to hit rock bottom. You could argue that we hit rock bottom the day before Markus and Nicola came on board, as we knew it'd be uphill from then, but having to conquer that -10 was still mind boggling. The Stockport result perhaps was rock bottom, and from then on it's been constantly uphill. (My guess is until we get walloped on the opening day vs Man City, but I'll keep an open mind.)

From what I gather, he's improved a lot from his days with us. I still liked him though, from being plucked from non-league he obviously had some talent, he just needed nurturing, like Aaron Martin, only in a different position. As for Reading, it's surprising to see them sign nothing but free transfers so far. It's only a matter of time before they start splashing the cash.

Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, relegation season, freezing cold night. I was with a Palace supporting mate, who ribbed me constantly during the game. We lost 3-0, and Shefki Kuqi made us look inept. The only player that shone for us that night was Jack Cork (believe it or not) and I could see then he'd become a top player. (Thank God we then went and signed him years later.) My Palace mate said Lloyd James looked OK too. He didn't to me, he looked clueless.

Best job? Still not brilliant (very few jobs that take you away from your free time are, I guess), but I used to be a passenger boat skipper in Windsor in my late teens/early 20's. I started as a crew, tying up ropes, a bit of bar work, and largely able to sleep for half an hour every hour, which was a doss job and loads of fun. Very social too, we threw night parties for anyone stupid enough to pay for them and it was so easy to pull birds. The lack of a stock system helped too, when we fancied a sneaky drink. As a Skipper it was even better, just driving the boat up and down in the fresh air, anywhere from Hampton Court to Henley. It was even better when i was sunny. The pay was shyte (as a skipper it was a bit better), the company was badly run and in the height of summer we were working 16 hour days, six days a week, but otherwise it was lots of fun. Winters sucked a bit, standing outside in the freezing cold painting the boats up, but all in all a good job, and I made friends there that are some of the closest I have. I get paid tons now in comparison, but every now and again I do miss it.

IMO we'll bring in a GK, CB, RM and one surprise attacking player. We'll keep some of the players that the Echo mentions too as squad players. Dickson should leave, but is resigned to sticking around at the club on his bigger salary, Chaplow, Puncheon and Hammond will be useful too at some point. Harding and Barnard will sadly leave. Still, we'll see, there's still nearly 2 months to go until the end of the transfer window. I think our early season form (which I predict to be dire) may see one or two unxpected players be brought in, such as an extra CB or a RB.