saint1977

Best of luck to him. He's doing well for a 23 year old so the club must see potential in him. It'll be higher pressure at Saints but he's probably at the age when it's less of an issue putting in the extra hours in a more demanding environment.

Cork and Danns would improve us as quality additions straight into the first XI as we are well sorted for squad cover generally but St Ledger has been awful when I've seen him play against us and that was against some of the poorest Saints teams in living memory. One of those three new players definately needs to be a pacy striker, make that two obviously if Barnard is lining up for HMP Winchester (hopefully not). The other needs to be a centre half to partner Fonte, as much as we love Jaidi he won't be playing 46 league games next year. I'd like to see a couple of the academy players - possibly Isgrove as a winger - start to get some sub appearances as impact players next season as well so that makes it all the more important to have a club policy of only signing quality players with pace that are almost automatic first XI picks.

I forgot to mention the return of the installment plan - that does show that the club have listened. Yes, there is the 5% charge but as someone else pointed out, that is less than a number of other businesses I deal with.

I can see some people's frustrations at some of the rises but we're having to compete with very different clubs - West Ham, Brum, Leeds, Leicester - than we have in League One. Making the Chapel better value will establish that as the new family stand effectively in my view. I couldn't keep an ST since moving to Devon, the petrol costs did hit me hard in the second half of last season but I'll still be at 12 or more home league games (can't do midweek games in the way I could when I worked in London) plus hopefully 4-5 selected away games. The centre stands will be a different audience I would imagine that are more attracted to pay a £32 walk up price for Leeds or West Ham than with respect Hartlepool or Dagenham. I hope though that the price increases do lead to a smaller but high quality cohort of new players to justify them - Jack Cork would be very welcome for example but the days of collecting average/poor players are gone with Lowe and Askham.

I'm sure he will - it is difficult to attract really decent players to L1 let alone keep ones like Fonte and Lallana which we also did. There's no agenda from my perspective - if we sign only average players I'll join in any criticism because that's how Lowe got us into a mess by signing huge numbers of average/poor players and we ended up with a vast squad costing us a huge overhead. We only need 3-4 signings but they need to be the right age, pacy (no point signing any player without pace as bar Ox-C and Forte there isn't much) and have the right attitude to fit with Adkins's and Cortese's positive, can-do outlook. Therefore, they'll probably be on a parity with Lambert, Lallana and Fonte wage-wise but that's probably okay as we get more income in this league than the last to offset it plus we are quite well equipped for most positions in terms of squad cover already.

Would be an excellent signing and good intent by NC and NA. I've got a feeling he'll go to Burnley though if he's settled there, unless he wants to stay in easy reach of London. Did anyone see the Blackburn fan's comment below that he'd emailed us and Blackpool about Jay Rodriguez - made me laugh.

No offence Glasgow, but this is some kind of joke? Puncheon did not want to play for SFC by all accounts, if Tactics is right on the other thread and QPR want him and we can get £1m, great all round and Puncheon can stay in London where we wants to live. Stephens was a loan and I didn't think he looked that bad plus we played him out of position somewhat (he's not really a holding player). David Moyes likes him and how many signings has he got wrong over the last 10 years? We haven't signed Stephens yet either. Forte - wouldn't have gone up without those MK goals and his pace will cause tiring defences trouble as an impact sub. N'Guessan - good debut at Exeter, not much afterwards but took the pressure off of other places. Bignall - highly rated at Reading, didn't quite work here but won't have cost much and the competition woke Lambert and Barnard out of their slumber a bit. Chaplow - high energy player, did well last season, wasn't settled at Preston and didn't see eye to eye with Fergie Jnr. Won't sustain that over a 46 game season but that's why he'll rotate with other CMs. I can't see much net outlay there. Adkins has only window and he got us up without spending much, Stephens for example took the pressure off of a clearly tiring Chaplow who hadn't had the prior games at PNE at a key stage and it was chance to try-before-we-buy on a player at 21 years of age with a growing reputation. Oldham fans didn't want him to go.

The worst stretch of cameras in the UK is surely the old A4 going through Slough and onto towards Farnham Common and Marlow. There must about 15-20 speed and traffic light cameras in under 2 miles of road! Mind you, Slough is an utter toilet.

I didn't hear a lot wrong in that interview, I thought Puncheon was brilliant for us Jan-May 2010 and totally wretched for us Aug-Oct 2010 but clearly he doesn't fit in with the management's direction of travel and ethos for whatever reason so its best that he is allowed to move on and we'll use that money towards a new centre half or forward. I don't wish the guy ill and as long as he doesn't score against us I wish him all the best wherever he goes, probably to a fellow NPC club.

You are so correct on your last paragraph, Askham would have found a way to ensure that his band of leeches sucked every last drop of blood out of the body. Administration was the only way out and I'll give Lowe credit for one thing, at least he kept pace with the taxman and we had decent fixed assets (Askham takes no credit for this, he was so incapable he even ran up a £3m overdraft whilst spending nowt on players which Secure had to clear for him!). 2009 was painless compared with 2005 although we were effectively relegated in August in both seasons - the Dutch Duo and various future non-league players scraped out of the bottom of the academy barrel mixed with Kelvin, Lallana, Wotton, Surman and McG and the later addition of JPS and return of Saga. This time 2 years ago I just wanted the club to survive, to get Markus was a huge slice of luck. 2005 was won and lost in the autumn where we wasted home games against Brum, a v.different Man City and WBA, plus away games at Norwich etc. I'm not a Harry fan but the games left were much harder and we'd wasted millions on Van Damme, Nilsson, Jakobsson etc instead of buying real footballers.

Nicholl did well overall but had the hard task of following LM who had created our best years prior to that and also the immediate seasons after Heysel really hurt both Saints and English football. Astonishing to think that Souness hoovered up half the England squad for Rangers and also for a club like us the carrot of European football not being there removed much of our focus. Gates fell all around the country including Saints. When the good times came back round again, there had been an appalling lack of vision and drive at the boardroom level and we were stuck in a decaying Dell with Askham and assorted idiots. The place needed investment which it has only recently has with Markus and NC. Branfoot was a disaster - think of the ageing players we paid up contracts on - Dixon, Speedie, Hurlock etc. Monkou was his only decent buy in 3 years. That ZDS Final was a good day out but I wish we hadn't had it as it kept Branfoot in the job much longer. Thank God Bally and Lawrie came back and lifted the place 100%.

I'm not a fan of Harry but this was definately Burley's doing. Mills was shunted out to left back where he was clearly uncomfortable and I remember him giving Shipperley an easy winner for Sheff Utd in a XMAS fixture at SMS where was trying to get the ball back on his right foot. Burley also messed up with Blackstock, letting him go to QPR for too little. I hear Burley is on the shortlist for the Swindon job - bet the pubs of Swindon want him to get the job. Nathan Dyer has proabably done a bit a growing up at Swansea, further away from his pals in London.

Nice one - it probably would! Booing never put the likes of Phillips or Shearer off scoring against us (former deserved booing IMO but not the latter) but it did put some players off, notably Anderton or Berkovic, whose performances against us after he left were very ineffective. Mind you, he could probably barely see straight after John Hartson volleyed him in the head.

Can't wait for Puncheon to return with Barnsley or Doncaster etc and get regular choruses of "Southampton Reject" and "That's why we let you go" every time he skies a shot (so we'll be singing it plenty). Boo his every touch as well. On a related note, delighted to see Kenwyne Jones mess up the biggest moment of his career on Saturday, another player with a shocking attitude, Players move and I can't understand why our fans have booed some ex-players who have served us well or we've made a profit on but Puncheon or Jones deserve what they get.

The best way to finish FIFA and Blatter is for all the major nations to make the Russia World Cup the last ever FIFA one in 2018, walk out after that and set up a UEFA World Cup and invite the major S American nations, US, Oceania, Asian & African nations. FIFA can enjoy Qatar with a Qatar Vs Cambodia "World Cup Final" or something.

Tamarind in Bosham was lush, sad to hear that's gone bust since we moved to Devon. Will have to try Shapla next time I'm up to watch Saints. Best in the UK is Sarque in Newcastle, brilliant flavours both times I've been in there. Locally, the Gurkha Chef in Winchester was always excellent but not been in there for 4 years or so. What are the worst ones people have had?

Connolly - yes but pay as you play mixed in with coaching duties Jaidi - Heart says yes but head no, great at this level but imagine him taking on Bellamy next season? Harding - would be v surprised if he didn't get another two year deal Butterfield - based on his performances yes but Richardson is on a 3 year deal Gobern - yes, two year deal but loan out to someone like Greg Abbott at Carlisle who has a good track record with his type of player for the season. Martin - yes and ditto

Spot on, was in the Soul Cellar Sat night and along with Alexandra & Platform are the few Soton pubs I would venture in these days. Hopefully the football club's re-emergence and the new museum will lead to a wholesale rebuild of the City Centre with all the post-war concrete coming down and restoration of the parks. Horrible environments - and Soton City Centre is as bad as the Commercial St area of Skateland and I would rate both cities in the UK top 10 along with Plymouth if there is a third edition of the Cr*p Towns book - attract horrible people. There might actually be some skilled jobs if that happens as well. We are so lucky Markus invested in the club and there is an opportunity for the City to piggyback on the momentum.

Bullard's knee will break down again and we've had enough injury-prone players on big wages in the last few years. Marcus Evans can foot his wages, we can do better for the Liebherr's than that. I think Stephens will be signed and how long does Morgan have left on his deal? Would have thought he'd sign an extension (which is likely as seems to be the happiest he's been at the club judging by his joy at full-time on Monday). So CM including Dean and Chaplow looks tidy. Clyne from Palace is a great shout but then Butterfield will probably get an extension and Richardson has 2 years left I think. Don't think Kamara will join us as he turned us down in 2005 and that was with Harry in charge. Danns possibly but was more of a Pardew target. Bothroyd and Pratley are PL bound even if their current clubs aren't, ditto Moussi at Forest.

Agree with those very much but would also add 4-1 at home to Huddersfield which i) is the last time Hudds lost in the league so it was a key 3 points that day ii) a game like the Exeter one on New Year's Day where we played some superb football. I hope Chaplow's goal v Hudds makes the club's goal of the season shortlist because it crowned a lovely move. I'd also add Exeter away - Lambert's last gasp winner - which showed we COULD grind out a win away from home midweek on a ropey pitch.

Glen Murray is a good player as those of us at our 3-1 defeat last season will testify when he ripped Jaidi and Trotman a new one. Unlike many of the posters on here I think he WILL do well in the NPC, getting 16-17 goals but he's less likely to be moving to us or any other southern club as he is from Cumbria originally and wants I'm told by friends who are Carlisle fans that he wants to move back to the North West. Burnley are a possible destination although they have a similar player in Austin, Wigan if they go down and Blackpool. Further afield, on a free I can see him being attractive to Hudds if they win the play offs (Alan Lee is too old now for NPC) or maybe Leeds as he's a far better player than Billy Paynter.

Brian Howard if Reading don't go up and Chris Martin on loan from Norwich assuming they go for CMS. We need a lively winger - Dale Jennings please - and a new centre back. One thought that springs to mind now we are going up is Wayne Bridge on a season-long loan? Local lad, supports the club and City probably won't even give him a registration in their squad if West Ham don't stay up and sign him. He's made a lot of money and no England place to worry about - if Bellamy went to Cardiff why not? Centre mid is well sorted if Stephens joins full time. Puncheon is on his way I presume, don't know about Ox-C, depends what the big boys offer I guess but would like a loan back for his sake as well as ours.

Must admit I thought the going down song was needless and a bit nasty from a few of our brainless morons but then a section of the Lyndhurst stand were keen to bait us which they are forgetting. 40-50 of their idiots also sang Adam Stansfield songs at Exeter on Saturday. I hope Plymouth survive to start afresh next season and had sympathy with their plight today but I've heard too much of this "Southampton fans visit your town and are evil" recently and Plymouth fans have an equally nasty element - just ask the Exeter fans they battered in the JPT and I remember them gobbing off in numbers before a 0-0 draw at SMS "How the mighty have fallen" etc.

Well done to Adkins, what really impresses me is the mental toughness he has installed under massive pressure from the fans, club and an excellent Huddersfield. Rochdale was the last weak performance and to hit peak form at exactly the right time with the injuries we've had is a measure of Adkins's motivational powers. I also like the fact that he's prepared to change things if a plan isn't working. Feel sorry for Scunny, think they might have overhauled Palace with him still there.

Compare Poyet's behaviour with Lee Clark at Huddersfield - an impressive, articulate and gracious young manager. Look at how his staff - McDermott - behave as well. It's a shame we are battling Hudds for second and if we do make second I hope Hudds win the play offs. There's been some banter between us and Hudds but I've got a million times more respect now for Hudds than Brighton. Shame, as I've always wished Brighton well after what Archer and Bellotti did to them but I think the excitement of winning League One has fried their brains. It's about getting promotion - we've underachieved a bit this year yet ironically we are showing our best character and determination with lots of key players injured which gives me hope for these last 4 games. Norwich won't remember winning League 1 that much in 5 years time and go up again this year and re-establish themselves as a top flight club (if Paul Lambert stays there that is more than possible).