saint1977

Oh certainly that's the case, the planning alone would take quite some time in terms of re-routing the road layout and would need to be part of a wider regeneration strategy. The City Council's track-record is distinctly patchy in this regard and look at how long the Vospers regeneration took! The Kingsland expansion could happen in a couple of seasons although again, the Council would have to be satisfied that the transport planning would work as that footbridge would not take much more traffic. I think we should see how the club gets on in the top flight over this season (and hopefully next!) before we get too excited.

This looks fantastic, as someone has pointed out plenty of clubs have published such ideas (including one about 20 miles from SMS) but clearly developing the site is on the agenda. With the Fair Play regulations coming in, this is one of the best ways to raise revenue and profile although the new TV deal may keep wages inflated. The waterfront in that part of the city is badly underutilised and regeneration would be very welcome. Soton only really has the De Vere for conferences and SMS in its current guise so I can see the sense there. A double decker Kingsland would also have fabulous river views and could make the stadium stand out in a way that it doesn't at present. Any sponsorship on the upper level seats would be visible from miles away and from the air so could command premium money. This would cost big money and the cautious side of me thinks we'd need to stay up this season and have full houses with quite a bit of pent up demand for the next couple of years for it to happen. I'd love to be proven wrong though. Who we bring in for player recruitment this summer will also be a litmus test of where we are aiming short-term. J-Rod was certainly a good start/

The fixtures aren't a variable we can control but it is a tough start. The Wigan game already looks key to staying afloat early on but the tough start may have a benefit in preparing us well for the mid and lower table teams to follow.

Exactly, which why I think someone is smoking Everton's alleged interest but lack of cash out so as to force this deal through over the weekend. I still think this deal WILL happen. I'd imagine Eddie Howe is keen to get on with his own rebuilding of Burnley's squad so he'll wan to stop any stalling or delay tactics. My priority however is Saints and we've got half-a-dozen new faces to bring in so the club need to get this done over the next 48 hours or forget it and move on asap. Fair play to Cortese for backing Nigel on this one but I can't help feeling it won't do Nigel much good if he can't get this deal done very quickly. He might even find that the club bring in an expensive striker for him that might not be his first choice.

Certainly this seemed to be the case with Cork last summer and I can recall some posters doing their nut on here because people thought he wasn't going to join, club were taking ages etc etc. I'm not sure this will take as long as a couple of weeks this time around because Saints have a lot more transfer business to do this summer and the deals are inevitably more complex when you are in the PL. I'd imagine they'll look to get it done early next week or move on to other targets in this position although clearly J Rod is their first choice. He's in Soton and all seems to be going well but we'll see what happens. I've moved around so relocating isn't too scary for me but if Jay has only lived in Burnley it's a big call. Overall though, the fact we've wanted him and led the chase plus Fox and Cork are here I think will sway Jay to sign.

Strange what some folk are concerned about, I'm rather more concerned that the PM's Chief of Communications (as he was at the time) may have lied in a high profile trial.

That's realism though - Dean had an excellent start to the season but faded quickly and really struggled to put two consistent performances together after that. Certainly by May despite starting V Coventry he was behind Morgan, Cork and Chaplow in the pecking order and it appears likely we will bring another CM in. Dean is unlikely to get many starting XI chances next season and in his late 20s, may not want to be on the bench when he could be playing every week at NPC level which is still a high level of professional football and anyone who has succeeded there deserves a lot of credit. With regard to J Rod, great signing if we can complete but I hope it doesn't turn out to be a drawn out saga like Matt Piper was (although we dodged a bullet with him joining Sunderland given his injury record!). Good statement of intent and it's noticable how we are being linked with a lot more players in the media since the bid became public knowledge. It puts a marker down for the quality of this summer's recruitment and that we won't be taking on seemingly every discard on big wages that agents bring to us.

Not sure that it will and really we only have 2 fit out and out strikers at the moment - Lambert and Sharp. Lee did well in a cameo spell last season but won't be fit for a while and will need time to get that sharpness back. Barnard missed virtually all of last season so using him at PL level for any length of time would be a huge risk, he'll probably get a season's sharpness back under his belt at Millwall or somewhere else NPC on loan. DC has been released and it seems Guly prefers midfield. I was surprised at us seemingly being after 2 strikers but when you look at it like that it makes sense.

I don't want to appear a nitpicker but legislation introduced last month means that the unfair dismissal qualification period has doubled from 12 to 24 months although this is not backdated I understand for people that started in post before April 2012. Surely two years is enough? I'm mystified as to why a small ideological segment of the political and commercial worlds are so obsessed with, we've already got some of the most dynamic employment laws in the West, surely to drive up productivity we should focus (as Willets, Cable and Cameron do seem to be doing to an extent) on investing in R&D and rewarding and exemplifying the best performing staff. For every poor performer, there are probably 100 good performers and surely it's better for the economy to focus on retaining and developing those into leaders?

Some very good and considered posts on here from Pap, BTF and Trousers in particular. My view being CIPD qualified originally before moving back into ops management later is that in my experience, that of colleagues and of a family friend who is a retired ET chair employees don't get a lot out of taking an employer to an ET. ET's have swung more back towards the employer over the last 3 years and contrary to the irrational ideological myths spouted by Liam Fox, the Telegraph (even the Mail won't support this) and the IoD, the maximum payout anyone usually gets is a year's salary and even then, that's only for the most blatant discrimination and where clear financial loss has been incurred. As we know, a year's salary doesn't pay the mortgage for long and there is a real problem with employees with an ET case on their CV being branded unemployable, particulary in the current market. Unfair maybe, but very true. Cable and the PM are also right to be concerned about the fear this would spread through the wider economy so at a time when the Euro crisis threatens banking liquidity again, the priority is to increase confidence, not destroy it further. Beecroft does also make some valid points to be fair but there is a dual problem for the PM. Firstly, he has set his stall out on promoting the family and policies that support families. The Conservatives have always made great play on this as a USP from Labour so if Cameron hadn't omitted the worst anti-family flexibility aspects of the report, he'd be sunk on this point electorally. Secondly, Beecroft lacks the intellectual and moral credibility to be the figurehead for this report having made his money it would appear as a loan shark. Wonga.com have had some awful publicity in the last 2 years. For me, this demonstrates that Cameron is far more fit to be Tory leader than Liam Fox ever will. It is straightforward to dismiss employees if you do it professionally, irrespective of the size of business.

I agree with some of this analysis but not all of it. Leeds have still got a bigger overall fanbase I would say and if Bates ever goes I can see their gates regularly exceeding 30k again. Derby have got a better history than us from 40 years ago but I'd say they are parallel to us. Forest - brilliant under Clough but if you take that away they are a club yo-yoing between the top 2 divisions. Like Derby, very similar to us and no bigger but no smaller. I'd put Saints, Derby and Forest in an identical bracket but Leeds are still bigger. Wednesday are similar to us, bigger ground, had a good 1990s but fickle fanbase, much more so than us, Forest or Derby. Harder to assess but would say similar size if they push for promotion next year. There's no evidence, certainly not a single League 1 promotion game at home, that suggests they are on a par with the likes of Newcastle. As for stadium expansion, I'm not sure about that until we have 2 seasons of PL football, sell outs and a lot of pent up demand.

I can see them bouncing around the bottom of League 2 like Plymouth and Bradford have been very soon. Their debts and situation is far worse than Plymouth's though and they went incredibly close to folding earlier this season before James Brent bought them. The Pompey fans are right in that they will be leaving L1 next season but only in one direction - down. Not even sure the points deduction will make that much difference. Let's see how many of the 'Best Fans in the World'tm show up when they are 5 adrift at the bottom v Crawley. The above scenario is the best case one too! All of the bitterness at our success just makes it all the sweeter. Went for a family meal on Sunday evening and had skate. I felt a bit like Chinny or one of the PFC creditors when I was picking the last bits of fish off the wing at the end!

Many thanks Doddisalegend for posting this, certainly a sharp reality check for those posting that we'd only sign 2-3 players etc and that Norwich and Swansea had only signed that many. I do agree with those posters though that I only want to see players coming in that fit with the existing culture/work ethic and no silly wages. I'd rather see players like Whittingham, Adomah and Rodrigiuez coming in over players on their way down, PL experience or not. Moreover, pace is a key asset we need to obtain to be competitive. Still, from Nigel's comments it sounds like the club have it well under control as you would expect and that it will be evolution rather than revolution.

I agree it was unforgivable but to be fair there were also Pompey fans who were disgusted and made their feelings quite clear, including sending back their ST in one case. The discourse between the two sets of supporters has deteriorated in the last 20 years even if the actual trouble is less. I do remember that the Flavahon silence was immaculately observed at the opening game at SMS. I know a lot of Pompey who are realistic and ashamed at what has gone on and would get rid of that Cup win in an instant. Granted, there are also a lot of Pompey that don't get that cheating on £17m+ of your taxes (allegedly) and local charities/SMEs is wrong and have resisted the neccessary medicine. There are also those that attack the Liebherr equity conversion in another form of denial when we know this includes purchase costs and substantial capital investment. The stadium alone cost £32m to build don't forget. If they survive this, they've got to forget about the 'Scum' and competing with us and to an extent the Gentleman Jim era. They can still enjoy that in the record books, as Preston, Blackpool and Huddersfield, but minus any modern expectation or resonance. They've got a League 1 fanbase with League 2 facilities and no training ground, that's not rivalry, that's the truth. That's without the debt millstone around their neck. Their best bet is to rebuild in League 2 - because I'd imagine they've got a big points deduction coming their way - and find their feet as a sustainable club. Bradford and Plymouth, two similar-sized clubs to Pompey, haven't found this easy. In that quest, I wish them well and if they can rebuild successfully, fair play as it will boost football in the area. But they have got to have some realism if they are going to bring people, including investors, on the journey.

That's awful, and to think that our fans moaned about Rupert Lowe being in the pre-season team photo during the Strachan era! Rupert had his faults, and he is certainly isn't in the same calibre as running the club now, but I don't think he'd have sunk that low and at least had a focus on infrastructure before the SCW saga took him badly off course. Really hope we can get one or two songs going in solidarity with the Coventry fans if we are winning comfortably in the 2nd half, so lucky that they didn't take us over, as desperate as people were to oust Guy Askham's old circle. If you can get SISU out, probably via administration, and have a couple of rebuilding seasons, I think you'll arrest the stagnation and be making a promotion push at the Ricoh in front of the 20k+ fans that you can easily attract with some forward momentum.

Hi Moff (and any other Cov fans that happen to be reading the site) Thanks for posting and certainly Coventry are a club that our fans have always felt an affinity with, rather like Norwich as well. I used to enjoy trips to watch Saints at the old Highfield Rd in the 90s and also had the pleasure of spending some time with some top Cov lads on the England West Indies cricket tour in 2004. Mind you, one of the Cov lads didn't entirely heed the local warnings about the strength of the local rum punch on the infamous Jolly Roger boat in Barbados and after an unplanned excursion trip overboard it took 4 locals to get him back on ship! Hopefully Coventry will back and SISU-free just as quickly. Is Ken What's-his-name still involved at Coventry? The one that used to be on our board during the grim George Burley era?

This. Ditto Swansea as well. Might be 4 perm signings and 2 or 3 loans I reckon, especially at CB where there might be one full signing to compete with Fonte and Jos and then a loan coming in (like Swansea have done with Caulker) to give Martin and Seaborne a year's loan in the NPC to see if they can build on their experience and challenge. There were a lot of rumours of Nigel moving for a keeper in January, not least the guy in the Dutch leagues, so wouldn't be at all surprised if we bought a keeper. Fox will start IMO but right back I'd be happier with Frazer as back-up. The lack of pace and stamina in RM and CM worry me more than our defence though.

Is anyone surprised? Never known a profession refuse to reflect on its unprofessionalism and ineptitude as football officials. These people are on a lot of money and are paid to make key decisions and there was no excuse for that blunder, no-one obscures his view and there was no uncertainty. Even old refs are starting to criticise the performance of current officials which is unheard of and speaks volumes. Agree with Toomer but look at Stoke, the atmosphere for officials there is intimidating and Stoke get very few decisions against them. We can help as fans by making next weekend a hostile environment for the officials and Coventry and if go up, carry that on into next season. Not Millwall hostile where it spills over into trouble but high volume and appealing for all the ref's decisions in our favour.

Referee was disgraceful, clearest second yellow you'll ever see and yet another example of why we should import referees from other leagues until we can bring the English ones up to standard. About time the professional bodies recognised it and started making officials self-evaluate their performance far more. Yes, it's a difficult job but it's very well paid and high profile and for such a crucial game fans from all clubs shouldn't subject to a buffoon like that. Saints didn't help themselves but we certainly wouldn't have lost against 10 men although the desire wasn't there to break Boro down so probably a draw. Sharp and Lallana played well although Billy missed a sittter second half, Chaplow good too before going off. Lambert wasteful and Cork got bullied by Bailey a bit. Hammond tried his best but he's League 1 and it was foolish giving him a long-term deal last year. Full backs need changing next week - might keep Fox but Frazer has to play. Jos had good overall game but Jose is a concern and Martin might neutralise Platt's heading ability and we'll need to defend second balls far better if Platt wins in the air. Thankfully Nimely is struggling with his hamstring. Kelvin's placement for the free kick was suspect. As with the Reading game, Guly coming on unbalanced us and we lost momentum, poor decision by Nigel, Morgan should have come on and pushed Cork to the right where he wouldn't have been so bullied and Morgan would have mixed it with the odious Bailey. We'll still beat Coventry and it might shatter any illusions Nigel had of sticking with the squad if we go up. We need to be ruthless like Norwich have been, keep the ones who can hack it and bring in the 6-8 new faces over the summer like they and Swansea did, hungry players like Bennett, Pilkington, Caulker, Worm and Routledge who want to improve. Adomah, Rodriguez, Curtis Davies would be this summer's equivalents. How some posters can watch that and say we only need 2-3 new faces is crazy. Oh, and we need to sign someone with leadership to wear the armband.

I've got quite a few Pompey mates that are sensible but yes, they do seem to have more than their fair share that are completely deluded about the potential they have. League One, if their points penalty isn't too severe, is more of a natural level for them with other clubs such as Huddersfield and Preston that have also had pre and post war glory periods but have now got relatively settled attendances in the early teens. Those two clubs have way better infrastructure though and I feel a bit sorry for Dean Hoyle at Huddersfield that they've had ex-Prem clubs like Norwich, Leeds, Saints, Charlton and Sheff Wed/Blades all clogging up League One. They'd have been solidly mid-table in the NPC this year, maybe better. They could do okay if they can survive the summer ans stay up next year but they need to be realistic about where they are for the next decade - a 'basic football club' as Birch put it which means League One at best for a while, maybe League Two - and forget about Saints altogether until they are ready to have another go at the second tier when the debts have moved down and the club stabilises. Forget all this rubbish about 'we'll always be the most important club on the South Coast even if we are in League 2', no-one north of Guildford or Basingstoke cares. If they couldn't awake a 'sleeping giant' with a Cup win and 7 years of top flight football, they never will. As Claridge put it, the club 'hasn't changed a bit' during that time.

I agree with you and Gemmel that they don't need to be household names and the last thing we want is players with poor attitudes on huge wages. Having said that, to think that we would be at all competitive in the PL with only 2-3 front line signings is utter madness and I'm pretty sure Adkins and Cortese know that as well. Look closely at how many new faces Norwich and Swansea have brought in on contracts but also loans. Gk - Bart's nerves would never take the strain of the PL, keep him as emergency that we loan out. Kelvin has been brilliant in the last 4 seasons but thinking of his UEFA badges now and lots of speculation in January linking us to keepers so expect competition DR - Richardson might hold his own but Butterfield would get destroyed. Depends how ready Jack Stephens might be DL - Less of a worry with Fox, Harding might do OK with limited number of starts. The key is making sure whoever plays wide left, and we assume that's Lallana, tracks back to help Fox cope with the extra pace coming at him DC - Two new players minimum here if we are being realistic. One could be a loan signing like Caulker at Swansea. Jaidi will retire, Seaborne needs a season-long NPC loan subject to medical prognosis as does Martin. Would be cruel to throw them in the deep end should Fonte or Jos be missing. MC - Clearly we need pace and power in here. Morgan is nailed on to start and should thrive. Cork and Chaplow will do a good job but Hammond has struggled at times this season so might be a squad player taking short loans to the NPC to keep fresh MR - Clearly going to be a signing here, no-one has made this spot their own. I'd like to see Adomah, he's a bit raw still and had a poor second half to the season but exactly the sort of pace and power than NA and staff can improve into a quality player ML - Lallana owns this spot and Fox/Chaplow can play here too. Lower priority Strikers - People are forgetting Lee has a nasty injury and may not be fully fit until Xmas but NA and NC haven't. So would expect 2 arrivals here - one perm and one loan, probably J Rod/Hooper to rotate with Lambert as Norwich have been so astute with Morison and Holt, it has kept them both fresh and firing and then a pace option on loan. So I'd reckon 6-7 players at least coming in which is normal for newly promoted clubs. We didn't have to buy many last summer because we already had a good NPC side in League One with a wage bill to match. Don't forget that we have a lot of players that will be going or retiring too to free up space.

Yes, I noticed that as well but Evra had the same trouble when he first joined Man U and adapted so no reason why Clyne couldn't do the same. Clyne would certainly be on my shortlist. Adomah is a good shout, he's not been as good in the second half of the seadon but that lowers the price and he such a raw talent Adkins could really develop him into a Premier League regular. Snodgrass is an excellent player but probably too similar to Lallana and Adam has the edge on Snodgrass. Curtis Davies from Brum would also be good although we'll need at least 2 new CBs if we do go up as Martin will need an NPC loan for experience, Jaidi into a coaching role and Seaborne also on loan in the NPC if . Whittingham has quality delivery certainly but does he have the pace we badly need in wide areas? Craig Conway however... Although he's not an NPC player, if we want a tough tackling CM with pace, Frimpong on loan from Arsenal is just the ticket. Look how Wolves have struggled to get a foothold in games since he got injured. Apart from Fedirici, I've not seen another keeper in this league other than Kelvin that I'd want. So can see us going overseas for competition for Kelvin. Jay Rodriguez looked good up there in terms of one of two new strikers to rotate with Rickie and Billy (as Norwich have done so effectively with Holt and Morison) although Jordan Rhodes is bound to be sought after if Hudds fail to go up.

Adkins is right - we have to move on although it was a diabolical performance at times today and we need to be 1000% better to stay in the top 2. Midfield is a real problem area, particularly if Morgan is out. Cork played decently today but Hammond needs to step up, skates midfielders were dominating him and can't see him making an impact at this level next season for us if we do collapse and miss out on promotion. If Chaplow was in better touch, I'd play him CM so Cork can sit and Chaplow could give us the energy sorely lacking today. Puncheon HAS to start on the right, Guly is a busted flush this season. People are saying Lambert played poorly but he had the beating of Pearce in the air and Sharp caused Rocha all kinds of problems. If our full backs had even had a 4/10 game with their crossing we'd have scored more than 2 goals. Fox in particular was poor today. Falque should get on the bench as well, freshen things up a bit. The diamond formation and the current selections need a change.

Too true. Lee provided that in some key away games including Watford and if those reports are true about his long-term absence it is certainly a blow. People are having a go at Sharp but he and Guly got very little service at all. Our midfield was atrocious but Morgan has been so consistent since Xmas I think we can forgive a poor game. Chaplow is more of a concern, should probably have loaned him out last month before the deadline to get him fit for our run in, ditto Barnard as well. Exeter have been desperate for a goalscorer down here and a short loan would have helped us, them and Barnie in getting sharp (no pun intended!). We definately need more penalty practice other than Lambert though. Would have thought Guly might be a better reserve penalty taker with his ability. The back 4 have generally been very solid but I'd rather we played Jack Stephens than Butterfield when Frazer is not fit. I thought Danny was only 33 or so but perhaps my memory has gone up the spout, he played like a 40 year old that hadn't come out of the pub for many years.

Getting his preparation in for demolishing Pompey next weekend! Actually, when we've finished with it we should lend it to Chinny ready to raze Fratton rust sheds for that supermarket Ho is always telling us about on the Pompey Takeover Thread.