saint1977

Good luck to Nigel and Andy and I hope this works out. I admire what he has done at that-club-the-swear-filter-doesn't-like but this is a big gamble by NC and Adkins will need a string of wins straight away if we to have any hope of automatic promotion. In Adkins' situation, I wouldn't have taken this job. Let's see if he can get us out of a hole. My concern is that Lallana, Fonte and others will be off in January feeling a lack of ambition.

I totally agree but I have a feeling it will be Adkins with Barnsley or Coventry's 5th choice striker joining on loan. Would love to be proven wrong though!

No, that would go for me as well. NC would make the extra that KK would cost over say the cheaper (although able) options of Adkins or Howe in gate income and the depression that was so evidently hanging around the ground on Saturday and that has been there since Markus passed away would be lifted. One of the lesser options would be so-so and they would be under pressure to put together a string of wins straight away. I can also see gates falling without a charismatic figure like KK.

+1. Adkins has potential but morale was so clearly shot away around the club on Saturday both on the pitch and in the stands that I can't see him or Howe providing the huge lift that is needed. Keegan's contacts would pull in the quality loans we urgently need, he'd inspire the attacking players and most importantly of all he'd get SMS full and stop the place being like the funeral it was on Saturday.

It rounds up the few whispers that are going around. Nigel Adkins features again - I like him and I admire the job he has done at you-know-who-that-the-filter-doesn't-like but after what I witnessed on Saturday I think a stronger character is required to instill discipline and also we need someone with the contacts in the game to get us 4 loan players of good quality fast so Rickie can have his surgery, Martin and Fonte have cover and we get some pace in the side so we can drop Hammond and co. I'm not saying Adkins isn't capable of that but I can imagine a Sturrock-type scenario as let's face it Saints players aren't well known for their respect for managers, let alone one that was a physio. He does seem like a great motivator and hopefully he'd get the seemingly heftier members of the squad (Lambert, Jaidi, Puncheon) doing extra training.

I'd be concerned if Reed was having that much influence but KK's name coming up is interesting as wasn't Reed part of his England set-up? If so Reed might not be a stumbling block. With KK it purely comes down to his level of motivation for the task ahead but we know Saints are genuinely special to him and it would help to heal the rifts with some of our club's famous faces which would aid Cortese. He also has the gravitas in the game to bring in 4 or 5 quality loans quickly which we need - a CM, maybe 2 if we go for one old head as leader to build around (someone like Nicky Butt, he can't be any slower or worse than Hammond!), 2 wide players with pace, a back-up CB to Martin and Fonte and a forward with physical presence as I think Rickie needs surgery. KK would also get the stadium full and give the club a huge lift which after all the recent events it so badly needs. My favourite would have been Sean O'Driscoll but after today the whole club badly needs a lift which a charismatic figure like KK would give it. A highly respected former player - Southgate for example - might also do this if KK couldn't be talked into it.

Whoops, forgot to add Ox-C, rated 8 and our best player. Him and Martin showed up the so-called senior players. Hope they feel as embarassed as were made to feel as fans today.

I hope Cortese and the Liebherr family get on well because he's going to need another big injection of funds for free transfer and loan signings. I totally agree with Shurlock on Hammond and Morgan, poor by Pardew to not bring another player in that position over the summer, Ryan Dickson is a good player but priorities!! I liked Pardew but I'm not sure he'd learned from Charlton where he also allegedly stockpiled certain positions leaving others short. Morgan did at least make one decent break today but Hammond needs transfer listing, he's just not Southampton quality and never will be. Give Fonte his armband. The only bright spots were the two youngsters, Ox-C and Martin who were excellent I thought. Why was Ox-C taken off FFS? My ratings: Davis - 5 No chance with the second goal but beaten too easily for the first Butterfield - 5 Good first half but bypassed too easily in the second Harding - 5 The extra competition has actually made one of our best players last season go backwards Fonte - 6 Not one of his best today but keeps talking to Martin and tried at least Martin 7.5 - Will make mistakes as he learns but reads the game, has pace and good in the air. What more do you want in a young centre half? Let's hope our coaching staff don't ruin another good prospect! Hammond - 3 Slow, Slow, Slow. Apart from clattering his opposite number, what does he add? Captain Cr@p Morgan 4 - Little better but an extra point for at least leaving the centre circle the odd time Puncheon 1 - Needs to grow a pair and show the Northam wrong. Awful second half miss, anyone on this site would have scored it. Can't cross, can't run and never gets his head up. This is Southampton, not Barnet. Go back to Barnet if you can't play in front of crowds. Lambert 2 - I think he is genuinely injured Connolly 1 - Big mistake not to limit him to pay as you play. Enjoyed last year's cameo but well over the hill. Mills - 4 Nothing against him but not a patch on Ox-C Guly 5 - Hard to come on in that situation. Still finding his feet but hard to draw conclusions playing with that load of donkeys Overall - We'll do well to finish in the top 6 without an urgent injection of a tough, disciplined and shrewd new manager, several players with pace in the CM (X2), wide p layers and 2 new strikers (better to get Lambert fixed than leave him half-fit). We need a leader as well.

I don't think there has been Hammond-hating John and for the first half of last season he was excellent, particularly the MK home game. Poor games started to creep in regularly though, particularly Brighton home and too many for a side pushing for promotion. I don't know late last season whether he was carrying injuries but he looked very tardy at times. He was excellent on Tuesday night and I think that is partly him shaking off a pre-season injury but more to the point because he now has competition. No offence to Wotton but I'm not sure he'd get in many other L1 squads.

I still wonder if Tyson is involved? Notts Forest have had a not-very-subtle pursuit of Whittingham and Prately. Bellamy's arrival at Cardiff might soften up their fans for Whittingham going, McCormack was off to to Leeds already the last I saw yesterday.

Normally I'd sceptical and a fast winger/forward is first priority but actually, if Butt is keen and the deal was right, I'd say yes. He'd be a great mentor for Morgan and the side badly lacks leadership, Hammond really has been Captain Cr@p during the end of last season and start of this. Butt would have issued some right rollockings on Saturday and got us through a difficult game with 3 points. The question mark would be geography - he's very much a lad of the North West. Having said that, if a coaching role was offered after this season, that might give him and his family security as we are well-run outfit these days.

I think we have to bear in mind that a number of key players had a limited or no pre-season with injuries - Lambert, Lallana, Puncheon, Hammond etc. I agree with those that are saying Hammond is only a squad player, he started well last year but has gotten slower and slower and at the end of last season was getting more bookings than the average restaurant table. Morgan will benefit from having the new signing alongside him and it will aid mobility in the rest of the team. Lambert and Puncheon need to play the full 90 v Bolton even if they cramp up a bit, they need to sweat out the rustiness and I think they'll be ok after that. Lallana is probably the nearest of that quartet to being fully sharp but it'll still take him 3-4 to be optimum. Jaidi is a concern, Seaborne or Martin must be thinking it is only a matter of time before they get a breakthrough. Harding is also on borrowed time with Dickson hovering. We still lack pace but I have a feeling that is about to be addressed. We need a good display V Bolton and more importantly to get key men sharper and after the first L1 win, things will feel better I'm sure.

Agree, Hammond will be our Wotton now to tie 2-0 leads up with 20 minutes to go which about right. Shame, as he started well but has lost his spark and the pre- season injuries to him and Puncheon have left them behind the other players (Rickie is getting there) in terms of fitness. If I were Pardew, I'd organise some behind doors games to get these lads up to full sharpness and losing those extra 2 or 3 lbs. This lad looks exactly what we need and might push Morgan on a bit as well. Need a wide player/forward with express pace now as well.

Best of luck to everyone today and hope you all gets the results that you want. Ignore the morons that pop up and say A Levels are easy and that everyone should have an A*. They are easy to pass yes, but a grade E means nothing and to get the better grades, candidates will have worked very hard. Of course, University, an apprenticeship or whatever you do next is just the start of your professional journey and it's what you do in the following years that really counts but enjoy today and savour your results after the hard work that you have put in.

I don't mena to pick an argument but how is that the case? The skates were still paying SOME of their VAT and PAYE but other clubs in financial trouble, including SFC, still paid all of their taxes. I'm disappointed with Cameron's advisers, I support many of the changes the Coalition are making, but someone should have told him that Green would be a tacky and unwise move, particularly when you consider the trouble that Ashcroft and Goldsmith have caused the party. Look at the example of Richard Harpin - David Cameron should be - of a highly successful entrepreneur who has probably paid more into society than Green yet he still wants to put more back in and has just set up an entrepreneurship charity as well. I'm sure he takes difficult decisions like any other top business person but that's neccessary. It isn't neccessary to cheat the public revenue. David Cameron should be wooing this sort of person and setting a good example.

It's not the just left, and I am a capitalist, that end up angry reading nonsense like this. People like the rest of us that pay our taxes so that the schools can educate our children, people can recieve decent universal health care and community groups that do a lot of their work unpaid can recieve at least some capital investment to progress. I got very angry at some of the waste and cronyism of Blair/Brown and would never vote Labour but I do want a decent society where enterprise and educated risk (not City of London gambling with "Sub-Prime") is rightly rewarded but where future generations also have those opportunities. This is what drives people that I admire such as Sir Richard Branson. Branson is 1000000 times a better businessman and human being than Green, not least because he shows you can accumulate large amounts of wealth - which is fine with me - and still make your proper contribution to society and yes, for the clarification of the Thatcherites on this forum society does exist. Stop living in the 1980s, One Nation policies are the future. Green is as bad as the tax-dodging Blue Few down the road.

I totally agree Nick, there are so many better and responsible business figures that Cameron could have picked. It was bad enough seeing the scum that Tony Blair (and Brown - Fred the Shred for example) surrounded himself with without the new Government at it as well. I don't respect anything that the likes of Green or Lord Ashcroft say until they contribute properly to the staff that have made them wealthy. Oh, and I'm sorry Tony Blair but your grubby £4m won't bring our servicemen back! Don't blame the British Legion for accepting as like any charity they have been battered by our moron investment bankers but doesn't get Blair off of the hook for me.

Beer makes a good stock as well but cook it through properly to neutralise the alcohol, esp a brown or darker ale like Hobgoblin. You could always in corporate a French touch if you don't fancy dumplings and make large croutons from a French stick. Spread one side with Dijon Mustard and then put on top of your cooked stew and lightly grill to make the croutons crisp up and brown (but not burnt). Thyme - but not too much of it - can add refreshing lift to a stew.

Am I going senile or did Matt Oakley score this type of free kick V Hull in our first season in the CCC? Kevin Ellison scored an equally spectacular equaliser for Hull after coming on as a sub if I'm thinking of the same game. Two wonderful moments in a shocking game.

Oops, typo. What I meant to say is that some mates of mine are Pompey STs and want there to be a rivalry but for both clubs to do well. Most of the Popmey fans I know are decent folk, yes there are some idiotsd but then we have those as well. The Bates incident was awful but so many Pompey fans I know were very ashamed of that. Ignore the brain dead but be gracious to the genuine fan.

Yes and POL is full of idiots. Pompey Chimes is run by proper fans. I

Markus, we will always be grateful for saving the club and giving us our dignity back as fans. We will always associate you with that happy day at Wembley where you looked so delighted and proud. I now hope that the team will be inspired to win League 1 in your honour and that as supporters we will fill SMS for the Orient game to mark the passing of one of our heroes of which you are certainly one. Hopefully everyone can pull together as per the website statement to ensure Markus's vision comes true. Yesterday was a particularly sad day for English football with the passing of Adam Stansfield as well, by all accounts another enthusiastic and caring family man who loved football. God bless both of you.

I totally agree with this Derry, Hammond is fine for a squad player but we need a CM with more of an engine and more pace to get box-to-box alongside Morgan. Wotton being on the bench is particularly scary. It inhibits our lively forward players such as Puncheon, Barnard and when fully fit again, Lallana. Lallana is such a key player, God knows how we'll break teams down if he or Lambert are out for any length of time. That different option of pace that Waigo and Antonio gave us last season would have helped on Saturday and it is essential that we bring in a player like that before MK, whether they are on Pardew's A or B list. Having said that, if Hammond has stuck away one of those first hlaf chances, which he should have done, the game would have opened up. I like Hammond as a player but I've never been convinced that he and Morgan are the right long-term CM pairing. We need a CM that drives at teams and makes angles and room for the more creative players to undo teams.

God this is so boring. I'm off to the Pompey Takeover Thread...

Point 3 is the key one for me, if the Judge decides that AA hasn't gone through the proper appeal process on HMRC's Assessment (which can take at the very least months if not years) and it would appear that he hasn't, Pompey could have a big problem. What would stop every business in the land owing PAYE or VAT arrears doing exactly the same? Could the CVA be suspended and a fast-track appeal put in by AA? It wouldn't be resolved for quite some time even so. Where does any investigation into the alleged wrongdoings and trading whilst insolvent fit into this? If I was the judge (forgetting the fact I'm a Saints fan), I'd be looking at Pompey's long, long history of defaulting and financial mismanagement notwithstanding the other charges raised against former PFC employees and be seriously thinking about whether even with the CVA in place, this was a viable concern. This is a very pertinent point when you consider that they are trying to sign PL players like Sonko on loan when they should be playing kids to meet the CVA schedule. Scudamore disgusts me. Not surprised at all but I bet there are 17 very cross PL Chairs out there waiting to extract their revenge at the next opportunity.