Red

http://www.saintsplayer.com/ offer a decent hd stream for £5/mth without VPN (can also get directly on smart TV via browser). I only started last month and typical we were on TV during most of that (I have full Sky and BT and in Ireland you get one Sat 3pm game every week and we were one in that month!). I much prefer watching on TV so whilst having tested it have not watched full game as yet. Can provide further update next month if it helps?

That could be us now, if Nicki was backed - yes, yes, wasn't his money, and living beyond our means etc. etc. etc. but you do have to speculate to accumulate sometimes - losing MP was the biggest mistake we have made in a long time (Nicki leaving and MP staying would have been fine my me as well).

Great post Monk - sums up mostly how I feel. Our set up / team allows for a "flair" player like Boufal. Yes, he will be frustrating and lose the ball more times than score but he is the surprise package to unlock "park the bus" teams. MoPe seems to (eventually) listen to fan reaction, so if he drops Boufal, we need to be vocal (at games and forums etc.) to make sure he starts. Also Lemina needs to be further up the field (just behind Boufal?). Given our heritage with MTL - we should absolutely encourage and coach this lad to try and get even somewhere close to his achievement (remember the many so called professional idiots that criticized and avoided picking MLT as he was lazy and a luxury player!!). Not suggesting he is as good as MLT btw - just lets have some fun in how we play again.

Yes we do, because he has told us. He is responsible for all the football side of the club - recruiting managers, players, strategy, direction, "the Southampton Way", black box. etc. etc. What is not known is if he has control of the budget for player recruitment (doubt it), but we have spent reasonable sums on players that he would have sanctioned. So the buck stops with him football wise. Whether he has done a good job or not is a different issue to be debated, but we do know what his day job is. For my money he is very average and would not have lasted at a higher club than us - however that is our ultimate dilemma I guess, we have over achieved massively in reality to be where we are today, and can we demand more without a sugar daddy investment? I would like to think Les could help make us a bit better at least!

All about opinions I guess, but look at how we played today (and other games), too many side ways and back passes, and checking when in their final third, instead of moving the ball early and having a go first time, and particularly outside the box - that's how they got their goal, even if tree trunk should have done better. Our defense (other than FF, or should it be FFF) is okish, Lemina is great, OR seems to have gone backwards lately, but for crying out loud just up the tempo and shoot at goal - we make chances but seem too scared to have a go. That IMHO is down to the cautious attitude handed down by the manager - ergo his fault! The PL these days has developed technically and most teams are well organised defensively and hence very hard to score against, and the main way around this is to hit them quickly before they have time to organise themselves - Man City are masters at this this season. We do well until the opposition final third and then slow up - this is purely down to tactics and manager instructions, or at the very least MP should sort it, and so in my books very much down to him. I would give him until Jan to sort or he goes with Van D~~khead.

http://buffstream.com/watch/soccer-3.php Brilliant - would be perfect it could sub Red for Gabbi :-)

Redmond really is a passenger in this game, and possibly worse!

This! Also, I can understand we can lose, be unlucky, have lesser skilled players etc. (c/f to Watford that's a stretch I grant you), but when our highly payed players did not bother, and to me seemed unfit, lacking confidence, frightened to shot, and swatted aside like flies by the opposition players and pretty much clueless - it is extremely worrying and unforgivable. Every single players wages today should be docked and donated to charity. A shameful display, and struggling to thing of watching a worse (and cowardly) performance in nearly 40 years of supporting Saints.

That Lander Sports have issued shares against outstanding debt - usually a good thing (not always though) as the person owed the debt believes they will get a bigger/better return from said company than just having their loaned money repaid. However nothing to do with us directly, as we are not owned by Lander Sports, nor are they part of the security against any loans for our investment. Indirectly if majority owner (Gao) of Lander Sports does well, it's good for his personal wealth. Really need to understand who bought the shares and why?

Good point. What I don't get is why we don't play him in the U 21's or whatever our reserves is called these days, to build his match fitness and confidence. Also we surely have a coach to tell him to keep it simple to start with - don't attempt a worldie, just beat your man and play a simple pass forward. As has been mentioned, he clearly has the talent and raw skills and as we have done with a number of players we need to develop him in to a better player. Give him game time in reserves and coach him to be a more effective player in the PL. If we can't do that with Boufal, then forget on-boarding anyone from our youth!

http://buffstream.com/watch/soccer-4.php Also on Mobdro SK4 channel (but not English commentry)

Enjoy http://buffstream.com/watch/soccer-4.php

So good to have a reasoned debate

And look where MU ended up as a result! Virtually all businesses and clubs are funded by investment or loans - shareholders in any company are loaners in a way. No one is going to incur a debt (personal, loans, or whatever) of over £200M to then p*ss it away. Gao is looking to grow his investment and the best way to do that is make us more valuable not less, i.e. to grow us and make us worth much much more. If all he was interested in was money - he would cash all his assets (cira £1.4 Bn) and wallow in his cash pile! Sure there needs to be shrewd management of the business to balance debt versus growth, but most businesses seem to manage well, and our Gao seems to be bit of an expert - policeman to billionaire in short time, compared to Kate (not knocking her by any means) inheriting dad's companies and wealth and still having to sell to fund an impending tax bill (allegedly). Also most of ML's other business seem to have been closed down - certainly not grown. Know where I would put my money. Also, the truly naive (absurd?) assumption that Gao raises £200M "debt" to pass on to the club and then plough every bit of SFC profit in to servicing /paying off that debt for the next 10 to 15 years to get back to square one is incredible. Remember he has secured the loans against his personal assets, so same as if you default on your mortgage you lose your house and probably a great deal more. He would be better off putting his money in a long term bond and make greater return. Even if his motives are purely financial, the best way he benefits is if we grow and become more profitable, which means we either sell a shed load more shirts or improve in the PL etc. or both ideally, which is good enough for me. Blokes just put £200M+ of his own money or fifth of his wealth (one way or the other) on ensuring our success - how many others were willing to do that?

Don't have an issue paying for it - problem is when you are outside the UK it is not possible to get to all games, and ones that I get to cost me around £400 to £500 all told per game, so can only get to a few. I pay full Sky and BT Sport subscriptions but how many live Saints games do you get a season?? I loved the Sky pay per view games for overseas viewers they had a few years ago but that stopped a long time ago. The PL are missing a trick for overseas viewers - why not charge £5 to £10 per game for any team? You are not going to affect UK game attendance, and will get IMHO significant additional revenues - could even split the money with clubs on a share of eyeball basis - yes it will favour the biggest clubs but that will never change, and we might just attract a large Chinese audience now.

Just watched a Kevin Bridges repeat on telly - brilliant. Maybe should have just stayed here - equally entertaining, if perhaps slower on the delivery!

Yep - swap Van C*ck for Sanchez - instant fix for both clubs. Pay San 500K per goal bonus to get round the pay structure! Simples

superb video, but commentary is approx 2 secs ahead of video - bit annoying, but better than the poor quality in other links :-)

This. If the team in charge (and ultimately accountable) for player and squad development feel JWP and others are assets for our club, then so be it and I support them. That is not to say it is not at times extremely frustrating when some or indeed all of the team do not perform to their full potential at all times (ala consistently), but if they did they would be bought by top clubs in a heart beat. We have come a very long way in a few years, and if we can stay top half by living within our means for the next 2 to 3 years we will be ok - and maybe KL will find the investment we need to move on. If not, I am happy to live within our means and in the PL for as long as we can, and the longer that is the more difficult it will be for other non PL clubs to catch us (Leeds, Aston Villa etc.). For those that want to replace JWP for a better player - question how much would you pay? When you think we have just paid £5M for an unknown and by most on here "rubbish" Polish CM who will not be first team regular for many years if ever - what would an improvement on a English under 21 Captain, with a great deal of PL experience cost?? I suggest beyond our current means/budget. So whilst we all want us to be ambitious, I for one want us to be ambitious within our our current means. One area I do think we can improve on is off-field commercial revenues - after all, isn't what Ralph was brought on for with all his connections?

Thanks SKD and others for the info - sounds promising and hopefully he will come good for us (even if we end up selling him eventually)

Highlights here if anyone missed them: Flannigan (?) looks promising - never heard of him before - anyone know any more about him and his progress?

Highlights here if anyone missed them: Flanagan (?) looks promising - never heard of him before - anyone know any more about him and his progress?

This one works - but no commentary http://www.footballwhispers.com/blog/watch-live-st-etienne-v-southampton

Not what I said is it? I do believe the crazy market is short term - this close season and maybe next at most; but granted that's my opinion and could well be wrong. As I said in my original post, I have posted before that I work for BT, and am 95% sure they will not bid for PL live coverage again, and with Sky Sports subscriptions down 50% this year alone, who is going to offer the same or more next time around? Broadcasters are purely in it for the money - they assumed more coverage = more viewers/subscriptions etc., but that has not come to pass - I was paying over £120 a month for Sky and now they want to charge more via the dedicated channel scam! Guess what, I have cancelled all bar the basic channels and the odd game I do want to watch I still can in some way. Sure the likes of Google, Amazon etc. might bid, but trust me I negotiate with them on a daily basis and they will not pay over the odds. As for stopping buying players - did you miss this bit "one addition in DM"? All I am saying is buy if really needed only and then at value. There will be a lot of very overpaid expensive players picking splinters out of their back sides in a year or two - rather they didn't waste our splinters is 'ol I'm saying!

With the crazy state of the market right now (which will not last, at least from UK TV income - see my previous posts), I would be happy with just one addition in DM to partner OR and we should be able to get someone decent from Europe for cira £25M, which we can easily afford (JR £15 and another £10M - JR wages should be enough to cover). All as long as no major outward move.