saint1977

I usually agree with your posts Andy but not on this occasion. Morgan will thrive at Man U, just what they needed and Carrick and co will be reduced to League Cup duty. Barring injury, I'd expect him to play 40-50 games next season, given LVG does rotate.

Moin Ashraf on trial from Yorkshire. Unless we are totally out of money, I'd sign him until the end of the season and get him straight in the side if he's fit enough. Seen him bowl and lively in pace, highly rated Bradford lad but their seam attack has avoided injuries and very settled and strong, not least Ryan Sidebottom! Adams must have been dropped. Would rather have Terry and Dawson open at the moment, had we not lent the latter to get Essex promoted.

Colleague of mine is a Swindon fan and although he rates both players very highly, CB is a position players mature into at PL level and he think Saints will probably loan them out to an NPC side and that they'll be more in contention 16/17. Could be wrong of course and great that we have prospects like this. Turnbull is the more versatile of the two, Stephens likes to really bring the ball out from the back and get forward which suits Saints style of play, hence Swindon was a good destination. Turnbull is also recognised as comfortable on the ball.

As people have already posted, he was excellent for most of the game at OT after Toby went off (watch those hamstrings and groins Spurs fans) injured early on closing down Di Maria. Was a mixed first season overall but I think he'll benefit considerably from having a full pre season with us. Should get more opportunities with Europa League although clearly Saints will be making at least one signing at CB, fair to say neither Turnbull or Stephens are ready yet although they'll do well on loan at a good NPC club next year. See someone moaning about not getting Ogbonna but wasn't sure I saw a couple of Juve games, reminded me of a quicker Lovren e.g. will look impressive against bottom half sides with his recoveries but half of it is that his positioning gets him in trouble in the first place. Won't get that luxury in other games just as Lovren got exposed at times for us against better sides and certainly last season when facing Man U etc for Liverpool.

Whole thing is sad and reminds me of the season Saints had in 2008/9 - a fluke win at Reading but lots of poundings and men against kids most of the time. Sadly with Hants, it's struggling with older players but although I do think Weston could be more critical in his views on the club, I can see what he means, the quality of bowling in D1 has gone up over the years - most sides have some fairly potent quicks like the Overtons, Harris, Brooks, Mills, Finn, Shazhad, Wood (before England), Gregory and Rushworth. Better for them to get used to the dobbers of D2 first. How many Cat A players are we allowed to sign in one off season? Would imagine a lot will leave - J Adams, Carberry, Berg, Gatting, Tomlinson, Wood and possibly Dawson, which would be a shame. Question mark over Ervine's fitness. I'd build around Vince, who isn't ready for top flight bowlers yet, Wheater, Terry, Wheal and Briggs plus the emerging talents with the bat. Has anyone seen Basil Akram bowl? In terms of signings, Edwards would be a great overseas signing next year and domestically Fuller of Gloucs would be a great opening bowling partner, lively. Footit might be prepared to move from Derbys if he can't get a D1 move? Need to build a team and squad and stop all the short-term signings.

I've been there, it's southern Caribbean next to Aruba, although not been to the place Gingeletiss mentions, was with the missus and in-laws on holiday :-) Kontiki is one of the best resorts there.

Lot of money to stand there and be stunk out by JPFCW. See they've signed a 33 year old from Sheff Utd although unusually, they've not given him a 3 year contract although the one year deal is probably for stupid wages for that level.

In which case, if they knew Wood wouldn't be able to play much 4 day cricket this year, why let Coles go? Ok, neither party was particularly happy but even with Berg being a success, we couldn't have done any worse with Coles in the side. It also doesn't account for the bizarre decision to let Dawson go on loan when our top and middle order can't buy a run. The signing of Andre Adams - what can I say, total waste. Bright spots have been Berg, Wheater (in patches), Edwards and Wheal. Tomlinson looks finished and Adams looks devoid of confidence. I remember Tony Middleton, steady county opener although slow scoring ruled him out of progressing beyond England A despite being a handy player. Given how decent was defensively, it's amazing how poor technically the top order is this year, especially Vince.

Explains why the V Man made an appearance on here recently then. Time to bank the money, some of it's gone on Soares but two right backs has to be an absolute priority and I imagine the club wouldn't leave the position vulnerable with the long fixture list next season. Last season, Toby could cover there if Clyne was injured/out of form but it still left us vulnerable as Toby had spells out injured and we can't be certain he'll be returning next season.

Not really a surprise when you have to play for those coaches is it? Best advice for the lad is to transfer to another county where he'll properly developed. You've only got to look at Chris Wood's decline - and he's still comparatively young - to see what will happen if he stays at Hants being a left armer. Although he's a spinner, Briggs is another example of another good bowler ruined by Hampshire. Giles White should have gone after the last relegation and the end of this match deserves to be the end of his tenure. Average player in the poorest Hampshire side in my memory as well. Dale isn't working out either although I'd be tempted to stick with him and bring in a specialist batting coach, particularly to sort out Adams' and Vince's form. Don't know what we do about Adams, been so reliable over the years but if we had anyone else we could bring in, I'd loan him to a D2 side so he could get some confidence back against second XI standard bowling. The D1 stuff, as Overton and Harris have showed us recently, is rather quicker and more probing than the old D2 medium pace club filth. Tomlinson has found out just how big the gap is now.

Agree with the first part of your post, his form dropped off badly after January although I think it did the previous year as well around the same time, which IIRC was attributed to the effects of MP's pressing game which relied heavily on the full backs for width. I would partially concur about that costing him a move to one of the CL top level clubs like Man U but also his distribution is felt to be below the very top level expected at present. Gary Neville hinted at it before one of Saints' TV games last season. If his new manager wasn't Rodgers, I'd be more confident of him improving that aspect. Not so fussed about the other aspect unless it's cost Saints money, I suspect they took a lower fee than they'd sought in return for waiving of some bonuses etc Re: Ings, bit early to tell but 11 goals in a Burnley side who struggled to create chances all season and when he missed the early part of the season through injury, is impressive. Not often I agree with MLG! Can't help thinking with their glut of strikers (does Rodgers ever learn?) though that he's wasted a key part of his career though signing for them as cheap back-up. Would have been better to have gone somewhere else, got 20 goals and gone as expensive first choice.

Best of luck to Morgan, has served the club very well and goes for a big, although appropriate given how good a CM he is, fee. He's learned from last summer and has seemingly let the clubs get on with the negotiations - unlike a certain former team captain last summer. Hence his departure will be on rather warmer terms one suspects. I think that leaves Kelvin as the only link from the pre-Liebherr takeover era. Credit to whoever bought Morgan in the midst of our horrific financial crisis back in 2008. Fascinated to see who replaces him - Gueye and Clasie seem to be the favourites. I wouldn't be upset with Cabaye joining us instead, although as other posters have said, the latter doesn't fit Saints business model quite as neatly. Either way, seeing as we can't replace Morgan directly without a) risking the whole club b) flouting FFP, strengthening the CM department with 2 or 3 players who could become as effective as Morgan over time seems like the approach the club could take.

I'm not, Clyne is a good full back but not a great one until his distribution improves to the very top level. Gary Neville was saying that Clyne wasn't considered quite good enough on the ball and that's from someone inside the England set up. Add in Clyne's droppings (cue someone making a joke) for Saints and England - which hints at some attitudinal issues - and you can see he might still have some developing to do all-round. Clearly, the player feels he can do this developing at Liverpool on more money - or perhaps feels he doesn't need to make these improvements? We've signed Cedric and clearly need to sign another RB before pre-season gets seriously underway if the deal for Toby continues to be protracted but if we get the projected £12-15m for Clyne that should be very straightforward to do quickly. So should be good business for Saints. From the player's perspective - seeing as the VMan/Lallana had a moan about this - I'd imagine Clyne will do what he's done with us and Palace and have a couple of good years and then move to Chelsea/Arsenal/Man U/City, as barring a collapse from at least two of those clubs, I don't see Liverpool anywhere near the top 4 in that time. He won't be able to dip in form like he has done in the second half of the last two seasons though!

What, Clyne is joining Pompey?

Would help but we've also got to get more goals out of the midfield. Morgan improved on that front in his time with us but Davis is better in a deeper role and JWP hasn't looked like getting one from open play. Victor is never going to be prolific either. For all the strengths of our overall excellent midfield, someone who can run in behind the opposition's defensive screen with a bit more composure would convert a few of those 1-0 defeats - like Everton - into draws or wins.

Exactly, Delph hasn't suffered by signing a new long term deal with Villa has he? Clyne is or isn't signing a new deal with Saints because of England, he obviously thinks he can get more £££ at Liverpool although I still think he'll end up at a London club. He let his contract run out at Palace to join us so swings and roundabouts. We'll replace him, probably at a profit and might be able to make a contribution towards a second player for that position with some of the profit. Clyne is a very good player overall but was mediocre at times in the second half of last season and also MP preferred Chambers at times the previous campaign despite him lacking Clyne's acceleration. If I was him I'd sign a new deal with a release clause as he's not consistently good enough with the ball yet in his distribution to warrant the genuine CL clubs - Chelsea, City, Utd and Gunners - plus his positioning and concentration wandered at times in the latter half of last season. Liverpool will fare no better next season but he may go for the money and also there's 2-3 old team mates there to help him survive north of Watford.

And they'll probably still only get Pity in a way, two plucky cup wins and they could get battered 7-0 again by our U18s.

Darren Randolph left Brum over the weekend, has had a good season for them and BBC reporting that he's likely to go to a PL club. Given Saints might need a couple of keepers - Fraser out for most of next season, Kelvin perhaps focusing more on coaching and Gazza getting loaned out - HCDAJFU? Watford might prefer him to Gomes and Sunderland need a good keeper, perhaps Toon if Krul leaves but can't think of others that need a GK. K Billy did hint at Martin Stekelenberg IIRC but if we do end up in Europe, we might need someone like Randolph as well, especially if the first choice replacement was a loan?

Easy to see with hindsight but even you nearly lost it, along with most of us, after the Chambers sale. As things have turned out, £11m up front was a 'gift' as Ronald suggested and even if Chambers goes on to be a top CB, he wasn't playing there for us at the time which can be pointed out when someone moans later. The quality of some of the new signings and Ronald and Les's calmness helped too. In 2004/5 though, we didn't have the worst squad either - Antti, Le Saux, Claus, Crouch, Beattie and Phillips - and should have at least stayed up even with the dross Rupert bought in that summer. Unfortunately, the club was in such turmoil behind the scenes and so political at the start of that season that the drop was inevitable, especially when you change the manager after 2 games (and a home win) and replace him with the tea boy. So I guess people were speculating post-Cortese that something similar was happening at the club. In reality, I'd argue we are in a better position because as fantastic as NC was, we are less reliant on one public figure and the myth of KL as a reluctant owner of the club has been debunked.

Excellent, big contrast from J Rod and Fonte to Lallana and Lovren. Imagine if we'd had Jay fit and available for some of this year, some of those draws and 1-0 defeats in 2015 would have been different.

Delicious. I'll laugh even more if Wolves then loan him straight out to a League One side like Gillingham, which they might. Would still represent considerable career progress for Jed. The Anderton example is hilarious. They had obviously forgotten a long line of expensive and fine players on their patch who have played for us - Chamberlain, JWP, Moran and I'm sure I could come up with others. If Awford returns to his old job, that will make a very political environment for Paul Cook. Can see that being quite unsettling and undermining all round, in addition to the usual hype they are heaping onto themselves before the start of the season.

Great news if true! Cheers KBS.

Great day and result. Mane, Long and Pelle just tore Villa apart. Awful defending from Villa, Vlaar was running in treacle and some awful howlers too from his fellow defenders. People are commenting that our midfield wasn't it's usual self but I think that was more down to the tactics of exploiting Villa's high (obvious joke there) and slow back line. Rather an optimistic week with this result, J Rod new deal and seemingly more prospect of Clyne agreeing one. Just seen Fer's winning goal for QPR - wow. Although he's underperformed a bit, I think Ronald could get him playing at his best and wouldn't say no to him or Austin.

I'd broadly agree with this. Depends where he is buying, but generally agree that the 1950s and early 1960s stock was well built until the system builds of the later 1960s and early 1970s came in and cut loads of corners (see Ronan Point). Any non-standard construction houses need careful assessment - they may appear a bargain but can be much harder to mortgage. Living in a private new build here in Devon from 2011 from a regional builder, the quality of the actual build is very good but it's the trades element like plumbing and boilers which let it down. Standard of the local trades here are awful generally speaking although Devon makes up for it in so many other ways! One thing you might need to look out for though - as it is a specialist job to remove roofs etc made of it - is asbestos from that era. Many types of housing from that era used it. Much of it may now have been removed from recently renovated or overhauled properties but it can still be found in outbuildings, sheds, store rooms, porches, canopies, tiling etc. Generally, if it's intact and not damaged and you don't sand it/disturb it, it shouldn't pose a risk to you but follow the guidelines. In the actual house, some people leave it and decorate over it if it's in sound and undisturbed condition. In properties which haven't had an overhaul since the 1980s, you may find it more in fixtures, fittings, ceilings etc. Would agree with those saying that area and type of development it is on is key. Mixed is probably better for re-sell.

I stuck with the LDs in the end (seat is Torbay which was a Cons gain from LD) but certainly in the South West, the Tories made a lot of visits and a lot of promises during the campaign and to reinforce their messages they spent an absolute fortune of someone else's money bombarding key SW marginals with literature. We got something pretty much every day for weeks and that's one household, the LDs don't have that type of financial muscle or big corporations/TUs to overpower others. Labour don't feature outside of Exeter, not that I vote for them anyway. Put simply, the Tories made huge promises (A303 widening, new sports stadium for Cornwall) in key LD target seats backed up with a relentless communications campaign bankrolled by private donors who will want their pound of flesh. So in this region, the Tories bought their victory by outspending the LDs several times over and some very good LD MPs were let down by Clegg's lack of vision although if you switch the focus to London, even a political giant and clever man such as Vince Cable was simply out-spent out of his seat by the Tory machine. I think the voters here were suspectible to this strategy as Labour never really invested in the SW at all when in power and it was neglected by Maggie as well. As I say, that's one region but suspect it may mirror what happened elsewhere in LD key areas/regions of England/Wales, bearing in mind that Cons/Lab were a zero sum game mostly.