SNSUN

:-D Sorry. From the list of betting odds, I wouldn't mind Paul Jewell. He's been about a bit, is still fairly young in terms of managers and IMO CDAJFU Doubt he'd want to move down south though. And, as this is my most sensible post of the day, I do think it will be an Italian manager coming in with a knowledge of the English style of play. So that does seemingly imply Zola.

A Ray Wilkins/Dean Wilkins dream team. :-D Or, to put it another way, not.

Whoever it is, if they don't get us promoted this season, then they're out too, and the Saints managerial merry-go-round continues. I'll be going to the Swindon game tomorrow, I'll keep my peepers open. (There, that should mean the new appointment is today...)

Except he does...

What's Mark Hughes up to these days?

Guly's only a loanee. I say we shouldn't annoy the permanants by dropping them and instead drop Guly to the youth team until he signs full time.

can you feeeeeeel the love!

Yay. I hope Do P isn't dopey. There, that's my contribution to this thread, I'm off for more wine.

Hate it. Though it isn't as bad as their other recent offering, the Cube: It's a Cube. I don't get it.

The team that started today seems to be Pardew's first team, so no look in there for Dickson*, I didn't see him play against Bournemouth, but against Plymouth I feel Harding was the better left back. (I would say that as a Harding fan though...) *which I suppose begs the question of "why did we sign him..."

I impregnated my girlfriend at half time, and this rough looking bird that was hanging around the blokes bogs, AND the sweetheart that sold me my halftime hotdog, so that added three more unofficial numbers to the crowd, but it still wasn't high enough. I apologise. I will be trying harder next time.

I agree about being in League One and struggling to attract some players - Brett Pitman, on the face of it, would fit in perfectly here, but with bigger clubs calling we wouldn't have much of a shot, even if Pardew was interested in bringing him in. However we were able to attract Fonte, a player from a higher league, who was playing regularly and well (although Palace were in a position that they had to sell, it didn't stop other teams from trying to bring him in), and we were able to bring in Lambert who, after two good seasons at Rovers could've made the step up. I'm still on Pardew's side, for the time being, but I fail to see why he's struggling to sign players - we did it in January, and we did it last August. Fingers crossed this will be remedied asap.

The sad thing is, it's catch 22. Pardew will see out August, and if he hasn't signed anyone, there's a very real chance he'll be gone based on this team's current showing. Then the next poor bugger in charge has no transfer window to do anything with the team, and has to use the players he's inherited from Pardew. Either sack Pardew now, or hope he signs someone and "his" team improve and assess how he's getting on in December, before the next transfer window is wasted. Waiting for the loan window would be folly, even waiting for the end of August would be foolhardy. I do think we'll see playing staff brought in - the question is, will they be the players we need to cover the positions we're short in? (Almost universally accepted as a pacy winger, central midfield box to box player and a tall striker...)

We are woefully short of luck. Barnard could've had a hattrick today. We did make chances, but not enough and not incisive enough. Two or three attacking signings are beyond a necessity. Thought Alex O-C showed good technique when he came on, apart from spooning our last shot over the bar.

I'm slightly losing faith in Pardew but we never seem ready for the start of the season. Sort the signings out at the start of summer, play pre-season against tougher opposition and get more luck! Everything is in the playing staffs' hands except for the luck.

I was going to this game anyway but I can"t deny I sped up with buying my tickets for it because of the circumstances. I think there'll be a big walk up and we'll sell out.

He's an annoying player, you expect one thing from him and he gives you something else that you're not expecting!

...and a remarkable bit of business by Mourinho too - not only did he get a shed load of cash for a player that people don't rate as the best striker in Spain let alone the world, he got Eto'o too, a proven goalscorer.

That makes us seem REALLY bad then... I get the feeling we'll beat Orient handsomely. No disrespect to Orient, but the whole club, not just the players but the manager, NC, backroom staff and fans will all be up for this one. Whatever happens, I'll be cheering my head off.

Effing spellcheck

Ridiculous or not, I've said all summer we should weaken the competition like last season, chuck money at Huddersfield and sign Jordan Rhodes. Young, tall and a goalgetter. Brett Pitman seems a good shout so far this season.

You jest, but I got bored of one of the old CM's once, and decided to spruce up his stats with the editor. He went on to become the best right back in the world, and quite possible the greatest footballer ever to have graced the game. :-) In that he won us our only major piece of silverware, I would class Bobby Stokes as a local legend. But the OP is right, it is a term that gets banded around too much. In 100 years time, when people read through Saints history, the name Rupert Lowe will probably feature more than any others...

Bob Crowe is a knob for taking a pay rise - I'm one of the Underground workers in danger of losing my job as it is now and perhaps having to take a £7 grand pay cut, all because LUL have decided to cut our booking office roster from 18 people to 14, and I'm the 15th man. I've been told that if I don't get a rostered spot four months after losing my position, I'll be dropped back a grade. These are so far unsubstantiated rumours doing the rounds with the reps, but it doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. I'd have to move if I dropped a grade, and I certainly couldn't propose to my missus. We'll see. I didn't vote to strike though, as I didn't know this was happening at the time, but it's irrelevant as it looks like the strike is going ahead.

COYRFFSWIFM UTS Nice idea btw

He's lost his footballing desire apparently. Not somebody I'd want to see at SMS, no matter how much experience he has. If he has lost his zest for the game, then coming here and sitting on a fat pay cheque for the hell of it is not something I'd personally like to see.