saint1977

12th. Which would be a decent effort with the strongest NCP for years. Norwich had a real go last year and brought in top quality loans towards the end of the season because they could see Cardiff and Swansea faltering and they knew with West Ham coming down and Leicester unlikely to make the play offs last year but likely to spend big this summer this was their best chance for a few seasons. So it would be harsh to compare us or Brighton with last year's promoted sides. We'll be a threat going forward and should be good viewing. We look as strong as anyone in CM and good wide options too. Rickie will carry on scoring IMO but not sure if Barnard will be as regularly on the scoresheet but hope I'm wrong. If those two get injured, with Connolly it is a case of "when", we may struggle for goals. Left wingers will enjoy playing against us, Butterfield was a very good player in League 1 but will get murdered for pace next year. It'll be interesting to see if Richardson gets any better with a full pre-season behind him, he was very sluggish last season when he appeared. If Jack Stephens is right footed, he'll be in the first XI quite quickly as a result. Left back we're okay on, Harding has 100+ games at this level and Dickson will do better than people think. Season too far for Jaidi IMO, Martin needs a longer loan and Seaborne has potential but needs more L1 experience let alone NPC so need Jemal's work permit sorted soon. Fonte staying fit and in form will be pivatol.

We have to learn from 2005 and pick players that have the character to stand up for themsleves in what is going to be a very hostile atmosphere. Crouch, Antti, both centre halves and the entire midfield bar Quashie bottled it and refused to put their foot in or compete with skates baying for them, only Camara joined Quashie in turning up. Can't see Hammond or Chaplow being intimidated in the middle of the park although we might actually need to calm Morgan down a bit! Rickie can handle himself and Barnard might actually be inspired by the hostility and imagine the celebrations if he scores! Lallana is a much tougher cookie than the talented but lightweight lad of 2-3 years back. The only players that would worry me in that atmosphere are Morgan - but for the opposite reason of him getting too pumped up (if only the 2005 team had that issue...) and Ox-C. Given the latter probably won't be at the club by then anyway I'm feeling quite confident that whatever XI we put out, they won't be fazed by it and hopefully we can put some wrongs at that horrible old rust bowl right.

I was thinking wage bill rather than in general. Fonte is on good wages so everyone seems to think - he wouldn't have left Palace for less I would say - and Gorkss won't be on less than £10-15k you'd imagine. Seaborne and Martin are on less I should think but if both arrive I can't imagine we'd keep both AND Jaidi. Butterfield, Harding and Richardson also have a lot of NPC experience and must be on competitive deals that increased with going up, don't know about Dickson's wages but I do rate him as a player. Cork signed on wages that must have been up there with Rickie and Fonte and Lallana plus Barnie probably got a rise. De Ridder also joined from the Dutch top flight. We have and are signing players of a good quality.

I would have signed both if wages allow and given Jaidi a coaching role which I think he'd be excellent in. The main games Jaidi would feature in next year are those with a Darius Henderson type lump playing against us but from the sounds of Gorkss specialises in neutralising any threat from that type of opponent. I'd have Martin as rotation as our CBs are bound to get knocks and bans over a 46 game campaign, maybe recoup some of Seaborne's wages with a League One loan. If we can could a loan striker in from one of the PL big boys and we got Jemal and Gorkss - unlikely I admit - I really think we'd be genuine top 6 contenders. Couldn't see us leaking many that's for sure. We could probably afford it if AOC is off I guess?

Singha is a nice drop, will have to try the Saints Ale if I can get my wife to drive to the odd game next season although I'll probably drive to most of them.

Yes, Harry's reluctance to play some of the younger players didn't help but don't you remember Mills playing at LB before and after XMAS 2005? He gave one goal away to Shipperley for Sheff Utd's winner at SMS trying to get the ball back onto his right foot. I think Burley was in post by then and Harry had left although my memory may be failing me. To be fair to Burley, he hadn't been here long at the time and we had a few injuries but to me Mills would have been a better partner for Claus with Svensson still injured.

Probably would have stayed with us if Beerley hadn't wasted him at left back. Wigley had gone to Man City (after relegating us) and obviously recommended him to Stuart Pearce but if he'd been competing for a CB spot I think he'd have stayed.

So we can blame Trousers and Stanley if we doesn't get a work permit? Just clarifying....

Looks like a super signing and exactly what we needed - Bailey, if you are online at the moment, did you know about this? You were saying about how you'd really like to see a pacy winger added and we have one, a good one at that. I still think Forte is a better impact option off the bench than people give him credit for. Looks like Ox-C is going but I wondered if he'd go up front with Lambert if he hadn't and it could be Ox-C's departure triggers another striker going. Number 5 vacant suggests a centre half as well. Hope this gets more through the gate for tommorrow, exciting times.

Best post on this thread Bailey. Holmes delivers a beautiful cross but like some players we've had over the years - David Hughes for example - his body just isn't capable of any more than a dozen games a season. I'd like to see a CB (so would the club judging by the squad numbers), a quick striker and a winger but if Chamberlain goes - well, when - there might be a bit available for a second new winger as Lallana may want to move infield at some stage in his career.

Morgan is an interesting one. He made positive comments at the end of last season about doing a Norwich this season and I thought a new deal might follow but there were also rumours about him wanting to return to France. We still seem to be linked with CMs despite signing Cork who I would see as an automatic first XI pick so we'd hear something on Morgan's future soon I would think. Hammond I'd imagine would want to stay - not too far from Sussex, skipper, has won things in last 2 seasons.

Adkins has already said that there is likely to be a couple of new faces soon and the number 5 shirt is vacant. Ox-C hasn't signed a new deal yet so if he is sold there will probably be a couple more arrivals. To be honest, if those sales figures are true for Saturday we the fans have far more to be embarrassed about than Adkins or Cortese. Surely we can do better than that?

I agree with a number of these posters - we need two quick guys up front and at centre back. Teams often missed one-on-ones in League 1 or Kelvin had the opportunity to save, in the NPC more players will convert from those situations. Right back is a slight concern - Butterfield did very well last year but was being done for pace regularly 2 years ago at this level for Palace and Richardson struggled for Leeds at this level at times. Don't agree with the Dickson critics though - I think he will continue to improve and will take the step up well. Pleased with the signing of Cork but pacy striker and CB a must. Is Jack Stephens right or left footed? If he's right footed then it might be worth sticking with Butterfield and Richardson until he is ready. Richardson needs a particularly tough pre-season after missing it last year, hopefully that will eliminate the obvious rustiness in last year's cameos. If NA can get him through unscathed I have a feeling he might start V Leeds in August.

According to the ConservativeHome website this is who the majority of respondents wanted to succeed David Cameron! Cameron is less than halfway through his first term FFS. Cameron needs to clean this up, have a Militant Tendency/Kinnock type purge on all his Neocons and Thatcherites in the party (guess they'd join UKIP), that would reduce Murdoch's leverage for a start as his papers are already writing anti-Cameron articles and trying to unseat him. The reason Labour are keeping quiet is probably the alleged help Murdoch gave Blair and Brown pre and post Iraq.

He'll be no happier at Pompey IMO. He's one of those people that has a nosebleed if he goes outside of the M25 - Millwall and a swap for Henry with us paying a bit of an adjustment would be ideal. Palace have just signed someone from Fulham so not sure if they'd go for him or if wages would be an issue. The other place might be West Ham - Big Sam has always had a track record out of getting the best out of allegedly difficult players and if he liked JP sufficiently who knows? He got the best out of Diouf even!

As I posted yesterday, I think the strategy is to go for a smaller number (maybe 3) of higher quality players that if fit and not totally out of form will be near automatic first XI picks. These players are much coveted and often the selling club is more reluctant to part company and the agents play more games. So patience may be needed. Also, we may be playing a "Norwich" strategy - they did this in 2003/4 and last year when there was a pause between wealthy clubs coming down and possibly going back up - none of last year's relegated clubs were capable of mounting a challenge. You can't say that this year with Big Sam at West Ham, McClaren at Forest and most of all Sven at Leicester. Perhaps we are going to have a bit of a go this year - aim top 10 and maybe creep into top 6 - but build 95% of a team that is hardened to be champions next year when those clubs have gone and we push the boat out then for the players that really enhance our chances and that can step up with less problems?

What people are forgetting is that Adkins and NC seem to be after players that will only go into the first team as likely automatic first XI picks unless injured or badly out of form. Therefore, these players are in a higher price bracket that we've been bidding for - in fact, probably higher than since 2002/3! They attract a number of clubs from NCP and PL and people are going to have to be patient as NC and NA do a sales job on them to get them to join. Sharp is a dead deal I'd imagine as he seems to get a nosebleed if he leaves Yorkshire but we are the only ones with a bid accepted for Cork so we know funds ARE available. There's the usual rubbish in the press about Ox-C but if we needed the money we'd have sold him in January surely? The press don't have a clue, the news headlines in the last few days should tell everyone that. I wouldn't wipe my backside with the Sun, Mail, even the Telegraph etc. The alternative is to go back to the bloated squads of mid-last decade - Kenton, Van Damme, Nilsson, Jakobsson etc. Think of how much money we wasted on all of those "squad" players who made little or no positive contribution. If we did get promoted, we'd then have to pay squad players off or loan them out part-subsidised.

My employer lured me here by matching what I was on in Central London. By negotiating hard I got an extra £4k. No disrespect intended, but I've been doing what I've been doing successfully for 8 years and have made my previous and current employers a lot of money so unless that trend stops (and I've no intention of allowing that to happen) there aren't many candidates with similar track-record for that type of job. People should value themselves more, not in an over-inflated Hedge Fund type way, but in ensuring that their employment relationship is giving them enough of what they need. If it isn't, skill up and move on. Good employers, and mine is good, will always pay the going rate, if not better, for someone who consistently performs over and above objectives. If you don't value yourself Tristan, is your employer likely to?

Yep, I also think the Stain had it spot on. I'm not public sector but have worked in it in at the start of my career and just like the private sector there are some very good bright people working in and also some deadwood. Some people (in all sectors but particularly the private) should have been asking a hell of a lot more questions about what was happening to their investments - HBOS and HSBC lost almost 2bn to Bernie Madoff alone allegedly I'm told from contacts I have in the City. I've been saving for retirement - which is about 35 years away at present estimates - because free market capitalism failed in a Neo Conservative context in 2007-10 in the same way that Socialism terminally failed internationally in 1989/90 and I think the financial services industry is rotten to the core and I'm not alone, it's just our media that don't get the public skepticism. Free market capitalism is DEAD - we need to move to a more mutual and sustainable model of capitalism that our economy and planet can effectively support. Oligarchies - which Thatcher, Major, Blair and Brown were dazzled and ultimately corrupted by - need lancing. Some of these oligarchies turned out to be v.toxic and are now state "assets" - lucky us! We all need to demand a better model of capitalism - together. Never should the likes of Fred the Shred ever have more power than so-called elected officials. The state - us - had to pick up the tab when free market economics failed and generations to come will pay for all of the corrupt hedge funds and investment banks. Parts of the public sector do need reform - I've seen that from the outside looking in - but they are not part of the real problem. Moreover, the severity of the cuts hit the privat sector and the pension pots even harder - look at the high street brands going pop in the last 2 weeks. If I still worked in the public sector, I wouldn't be forking out for new widgets from the High St or a newer car, I'd wait until the full impact of the cuts on an uncertain future was known - millions of people are now unfortunately in this position and it's killing the private sector as well and not helping the recovery. All employees in all sectors, me included, should be asking for more from their employers - factor pension savings into your salary negotiations and if you have an existing contributory scheme, ask questions - who is really running it (Hants CC had investments with Madoff too), what levels of risk are you exposed to? Remember, AIG was supposed to be AAA rated and its investments as an insurer ended up almost sinking them in over 40bn of toxic debt where the core mission had been hopelessly lost by a corrupt CEO. Again, the shareholders did not ask nearly enough questions and ditto Madoff investors. The stock markets are glorified bookies, you can win and lose big, if 10% annual returns for 20 years + sound too good to be true then they probably are!

Sensible perspective and nearer the truth I suspect. To get the likes of Jack Cork and Nicky Maynard to join us - assuming they are NA and NC targets - isn't an instant thing with a number of NPC clubs who can match our financial muscle. The club don't want any more short term fixes and with all the squad players we have retained on one year deals we only want players who will pretty much be first team starters and those are probably desirable players in the £2-5m bracket who could also attract Premier League sides. The only available player so far I think we missed a trick on was Will Buckley to Brighton from Watford, £1.5m was a bargain. Some of the posters on here also shouldn't forget that Puncheon is still our player despite allegedly being for sale for £1m and being linked to several different NPC and PL clubs. He clearly won't be at Saints in August but it shows you that even a player out in the cold and wanted by other clubs still doesn't equate to an instant transfer.

This is all so true - I don't doubt Weston that Rod does care about the fortunes of the 4 day side but Rod is a seriously stupid mug for letting Giles White stay in charge, its worse than when Wigley was allowed to waste all those home games in 04/05 by Lowe. Myburgh was a really odd signing and Ali has done nowt bar leak 5 an over and be injured since 2010. With talented but young batters such as Vince, what we needed was a solid head in the top order that averaged a steady 37-40. De Wet's injury record suggested he'd be Ali Mk II and as for loaning out Jones.... Get rid of White now before the Sussex games and we might just get enough momentum with a new coach on the horizon from the southern hemisphere to kick some arse to save the season, just about.

Maynard would be fantastic but £4m+ is steep and there are many PL clubs that couldn't match what Leicester are looking to spend on fees, let alone wages. We haven't had a really major new signing since Jose Fonte - apart from Guly really, Lallana's new deal was fantastic news but doesn't quite count - so the next one should give us a clue as to realistic expectations for 2011/12. NC has got it right so far so I trust him.

HPA is beautiful, I've had it in its native Herefordshire but also Dart's Farm in Topsham down in deepest Devon where I live these days does it bottle conditioned. In terms of lager, Heineken is okay and Skinners Cornish Lager is actually very nice, as is St Austell Korev. Brooklyn and Boston Lagers are lovely but no chance of seeing them at SMS. Carling - well, Weston mentioned Pedigree and its alleged that Carling originated from the leftover bits of the great Burton ales including Bass which used to be the nation's number one ale. Marstons have 'Fastcask' technology for such largescale sales of quality beer but I don't know if the unit cost vs profit would be as good as the low costs of the UK 'lagers'.

Buckley is quality and better than Bennett who has a lot of raw talent but will I suspect be used as an impact sub by Norwich in the PL. Hoskins will do better this time around. Murray looked quality at SMS a couple of seasons ago but hasn't played at this level yet so Palace will hope Freedman gets the best out of him. Brighton will be top 10 I think, not quite top 6 but they've got Palace, Skates, us to visit their new ground and a bigger budget than they've ever enjoyed before. I thought a minority of their fans were idiots last season but then so are some of ours and I wouldn't want to be tarred with the same brush either. After what Archer and Bellotti did to them in the mid-90s, they deserve a bit of success.

Ditto. My views are either on the left of the Tory Party, the right of Labour -which probably makes me a Lib Dem. I've actually been pleased with some of Cameron's recent actions - I'm glad he's taking pause for thought on Lansley's loony NHS plans. Why do we always see politicians responding to feedback as weak leadership? Surely it's good leadership - Thatcher screwed up big time after 1987 and wouldn't even listen to her own party or cabinet on the Poll Tax or Care in the Community and look how it crippled the Major administrations that followed. If Cameron now sacks Fox, May and Gove in the next re-shuffle I'd be even happier, get some more One Nation Tories in cabinet posts. Don't know the Mail and the other right wing tabloids can't face the facts - we need a new type of conservatism and capitalism, free market economics is as discredited and dead as Marxism was in 1990. To maintain a proper free market, you actually need a lot of artificial intervention. If Cameron can see this, good on him. Miliband certainly doesn't seem to have any answers. Perhaps people will give the Lib Dems some credit. If the Neo Cons in the Tory party don't like it, join UKIP.