saint1977

Good, well done DSM. A lot of the more moderate posters that want to talk about football and topics related to football (such as where to get a good beer before the match) have been deterred from doing so by the extremist postings and aggressive responses of a minority of people. I am in no way advocating halting free speech and informed debate, those attributes have a place on a forum such as this but a number of lines have clearly been crossed recently. The Lounge is useful at times and General Sports is good for discussing cricket but primarily I come on here as a Saints fan. My hope is that once the season gets underway on Saturday some of nonsense may stop of it's own accord.

Believe you me Corsacar, this is mild compared with some of the bile and vitriol that gets posted on other parts of the forum by a relatively small number of posters. I've been much less active on here recently and that will continue until the moderators sort it out. I'm not ITK but I do think it is hypocracy for certain posters to accuse NC of being a despot and then abusing, quite personally in some cases, those that give a opinion differing from theirs. Differences of opinion are fine and I've got short, wrongly, with one or two posters when I shouldn't have done but it's because of the unpleasantness that has seeped into this site and I've no idea why as this should be a season to really enjoy. I'm just going to look on here for new signings, buy the new fanzine and go to the games (hopefully a few more away games this year as well).

Marston's would be a good option as they have created Fastcask - which means that real ale can be delivered bright and stable so that it can go to events and be ready to serve in decent nick. The aim is that outlets that traditionally haven't been able to serve and store real ale can. NC has to honour the Carlsberg contract for this year but Marston's in my edition of What's Brewing (CAMRA newspaper) suggested that they might offer the technology to other brewers, probably micros rather than Fuller's or Greene King, on licence so by 2011, it could be a real option.

Exactly BTF and that works BOTH ways. I'm lucky in that if - God forbid - this situation ever occured between me and my wife - we wouldn't resort to some of the evil tactics that some of the posters here have been on the end of. In fact, if anything, my wife has been too generous and accommodating with her ex (although no kids involved there). Yes, both parties do have a duty to the child but that doesn't extend to ruining the other parent, which is only to the child's detriment in terms of the relationship between the biological parents, and isn't justifiable. The CSA should be disbanded as part of the spending cuts and replaced with a body that focuses on parents who are determined not to pay AT ALL and Government is right to pursue those individuals. It should stay out of cases where parents are negotiating and means testing should be compulsory. Whilst I am not advocating that new partners be made directly responsible for their partner's kids from a previous marriage, we should look very carefully down the last penny at what the mother is spending in relation to earning. She should have to make the same sacrifices as the ex-husband in terms of curtailing her lifestyle. After all, the new partner knows what they are taking on by getting involved with her.

The most sensible post on this thread although St Landrew makes some decent points below as well. I'm not a fan of cameras outside of schools, hospitals or proven accident blackspots where there is a clear moral and statistical need for them. The mobile cameras in particular are stupid - I saw one in June on the M74 nearing the English border on a bridge when there must have been about three cars on both sides of the carriageway and also one earlier this month on a steep hill hidden in the undergrowth by the side of the A35 just over the Dorset border. The hill was so steep that there is no way they were going to catch anyone, you would have to cane your engine to break the limit on that incline. It did make me cross with regard to the needless overtime being paid out. However, it does show you not to believe everything you read in the Daily Mail & Express (the latter a family values paper owned by a porn magnet) and that those papers do publish nonsense sometimes. I'm sure that we all remember the right wing tabloid argument about speed cameras being cash cows etc? Well, if they are being cut to save money it obviously ain't so! Many of the cameras in my view are misguided and I'm not sorry to see the back of them but it would help if we all drove a little more responsibly. Granted, there is the odd camera (Victoria TFL one) that is highly sneaky and makes lots of money but that is the work of civil servants, not any one political party.

They have effectively missed out on a pre-season and you saw what it did for us last season in a weaker league and their squad is in an ever bigger mess and state of uncertainty than ours was. Points deduction or no points deduction, they are going down again. Teams in the NPC won't be the most gifted but they will all be fit and raring to go. The likes of Boro, Bristol City, Norwich and Forest with fit players driven by motivated managers will make mincemeat of under-prepared teams. Hoofroyd will have Pompey bombarded at the Ricoh opening day and judging by their last defensive display, I can see them shipping loads.

Top post by Hopkins and I also agree with Trousers - Lallana could have been a late target for the newly promoted PL sides and the injury may act as a deterrent. It also puts more urgency into finding wide player/s with pace that most on this site have correctly identified the need for. It looks highly likely that a bid has been lodged for Tyson but we've all seen how AP and NC do business, it is highly likely that they have bid on multiple targets. Clubs do know we have funds but also we don't want to go back to panic buying or stocking the squad up with numbers for the sake of it. We did enough of that in the Askham and Lowe eras. We will bring in at least one wide pacey player and a CM as well as I'm sure AP is as horrified as we are at the thought of Morgan or Dean getting injured and Wotton having to start in 30 games.

One player we won't be signing is Joe Garner who has gone to Hudds. V.good player, not for us as too similar to Lallana who is even more gifted than Garner (he can also play the withdrawn forward role like Garner) and whose finishing really came on a ton last year but I'd have to make Hudds joint favourites with us. I'm pleased in a way as it reinforces Saints' desire to bring in only players of that calibre or better to keep us ahead of them. If we do bring in 2-3 more quality players, I think Weds are looking at the play offs although it depends on how Morrison fires.

Happy with those comments and I'm certain AP has a box-to-box midfielder CM in mind as well but doesn't want to get ripped off on the price. Can't wait for this season to start.

Totally agree with the OP. We do have excellent forward players - Lambert, Barnard, Connolly (if fit) and Puncheon and Lallana will contribute regularly from wide. However, cast your mind back to games like Stockport and MK Dons where the pace of Waigo/Antonio stretched teams and gave us the ability to get in behind them. If those players with pace hadn't have come on, there's no way we'd have scored in those games. Pardew also knows this and have been thwarted on Antonio and allegedly Adomah, he'll be hunting for that player/s, possibly on loan again.

Don't you mean toolbox?

Totally agree and a draw Vs Plymouth would be a disappointment although Peter Reid will have Plymouth a lot more fired up than last season. I'd like to see an aggressive 2 or 3-0 win that sets down a marker for the rest of the season. The club has been too self-effacing in the past and needs to adopt the approach that we expect to win every league game next season. We probably won't but Pards will have instilled in the players since last Jan when Fonte, Barnard etc came in what is expected of them and they are going to need to thrive under the pressure of being favourites and shine. If we can bring in those extra players to give our first XI a push - that elusive fast wide forward that is must for us to break teams down, a CM and a tall striking back-up, we can and should finish top.

Totally agree although I think Butterfield, Richardson (when fit again) and Dickson will prove excellent buys. We need that raw pace that Antonio/Waigo gave us and I'm sure Pards is on the case. I'd agree withy those on this thread that would like to see another ball-winning CM and a back up to Rickie. Those three if Bart stays should be ample.

Actually, there are some very good points being made here. Trousers and myself have disagreed sometimes on the Lounge - and I'm sorry Trousers that I went too far on one post that I felt strongly about - but the public sector doesn't realise how important it's buying power and R&D potential is and in my experience (I've worked across different sectors, sometimes in the same job) gets tied into preferential contracts that are only preferantial for the supplier from a procurement perspective. I think it boils down to a lack of commercial awareness on the part of the oldest style public sector managers who need to be swept away to bring a more dynamic culture through. The construction industry is an example - I have many friends and contacts in that sector and the reduced schools' building programme is going to hit them hard. Yet one wonders if previous projects could have been more cost effective and efficient so that these reductions were not so painful.

Yeah, I'd go with that summary but would add one crucial element - a forward player with express pace (Dickson and Puncheon can provide good changes of pace from wide positions) which I'm fairly sure is why we were in the hunt for Jackson. I'm sure this search is ongoing although I suspect that this player and the mythical CM to compete with Dean and Morgan will be loan players as it would be difficult to attract say a £750k player at this level if they were not an automatic pick in the first XI. I think we do need a CM as Wotton wouldn't get in the Eastleigh side. Oxlade-Chamberlain might be the impact player that stretches teams after an hour has gone in games. Plus Weston has a point, Hudds and Weds have been signing frees which is a lot quicker as a process than if you are buying players under contract elsewhere that the seller really wishes to retain and knows the buyer has cash available. Simon Francis would be a free signing that we should be making, he can cover RB and right-sided CB, that means we can ease Martin into professional football and Seaborne covers left-sided CB. I still think we'll win the league but it will be close as it stands between us, Hudds and Weds. Hudds have invested a lot more than I had thought they would but I think we'll beat Weds on quality if we avoid major injuries - they have signed some very good frees but also dross like Ostemobor. The likes of Lallana got a lot of goals from midfield last year don't forget and God knows what he'd cost if Weds or Hudds had to buy him.

The reviews of him put him in that bracket, would be interesting to see him play. Is he the guy that is on trial from Spurs? The lad on trial from Bishop Stortford has also been recieving positive reviews from those that have been to the "U21" local friendlies. Gillingham did well to get Cody McDonald as part of the Jackson deal, not suggesting that McDonald is neccessarily a good buy for us but is quick and direct and good enough for L1, Holt and Martin were on fire last season which restricted his starts. He'll get 25+ goals in L2. Weston Saint posted last night that we are looking for a wide player fitting this pace description which was pleasing to hear. Kitson was the other Stoke player left at home, Bristol City and Coppell look a likely destination there on a season's loan. Pulis got done there at £5m, Reading saw him coming. Beattie could go to Boro if WGS feels he wouldn't be too disruptive and can get him fit. I'd imagine Stoke would pay some of the wages.

I don't think Beattie should return. He was a tremendous player for us and a real icon for a largely happy time for the club when WGS was here but too expensive and Lambert was brilliant last year. Better to develop someone younger in the Rickie mould that can learn from Rickie himself. The squad looks very good as it stands but at the moment I'd have to agree with those that say we lack express pace. Without it, I can see a some repeats of the Stockport home game where until Waigo came on and got in behind them with express pace, we would never have scored if he hadn't have come on and were not a threat. The likes of Morgan suddenly got more room to play as well. Look at how Antonio coming on stretched MK Dons and brought our better players into the game more. Puncheon and Dickson (based on his appearances V us last season) can produce sharp changes of pace so we're not as sluggish as the start of last season but we do need a wide player than can create space. Oxlade-Chamberlain might do it in the medium-term but we don't want to overload a promising 16 year old. Bring in a quick wide/forward player, a CM and Simon Francis and that's us sorted and probably promoted in the top 2 (unless Bart goes in which case we'd need to replace him).

As you well know Wes, I wasn't specifically referring to that particular case but a number of spiteful, one-eyed and inaccurate articles that have appeared in those two rags recently. I actually think that the laws are daft and that a £400 p/wk cap should be put in place as the coalition govt are now proposing. Where the right (far right in the case of the Mail) are out of order is by mixing up the issue of immigration with the issue of the abuse of the housing system which does need urgent reform. The Evening Standard last night highlighted many cases that went well beyond people that didn't begin life in the UK, Sharon and Dave from Peckham living in a 5 bed house in Kensington with their hareem of brats on our taxes. Is that wrong? Yes, it is. Families on benefits should be entitled to bigger accomodation only up to the second child and then after that they are going to have to be a bit more careful with contraception or work and pay mortgage or rent like the rest of us. If they want a nice area, again they should work for that. The only way to cut child poverty is to cut the number of children born into poverty. So actually no, it isn't acceptable but if you read my original post, I am having a pop at those two papers for stirring up the country and mobilising the Tory Right against not only the public service workes of the UK but also the coalition government because they can't accept that the British public don't want to return to neo-conservatism. Do these people realise that people in the construction industry are going to be hit hard by the cancellation of many public capital projects? No they don't, they are too busy salivating and gloating at the cuts because they live in a daft neo-con ideological disneyland as bad as the equally facile left wing version that Benn and Foot lived in the early 80s. I am hardly a raving leftie, ideologically I am either Lib Dem/One Nation Tory. As for the public sector cuts, the senior management layers need slashing that obstruct the most dynamic of our public servants and make dealing with these organisations so irritating for the rest of us with their paper empires. Give the dynamic and deserving in ALL sectors good pay and pensions but remove the leeches that are friends with all parties although they did very well under Blair. Many work for Tory local authorities so let's see Cameron be fair.

They are rightly being attacked because they are twisting stories so horrifically to the point where the truth is going out of the window. The public have a right to know this and I'm well aware that other papers do it as well but every other story in the Telegraph is like it at present. The Mail I would always expect this from. To give you an example, Eric Pickles recently commented on the need to reduce senior management and chief exec posts in local government which formed 98% of his comments and he just mentioned cultural information officers (or equivalent) as an example of one role he respected but we could reduce slightly. So what happens? Telegraph attacks viciously the junior role that in my experience in working with the public sector has been valuable, the people are often low paid or on fixed-term deals and ignores the vast majority of Pickles' reasonable comments because those senior managers Pickles rightly wants rid of that obstruct reform are likely Telegraph readers, many working for Tory Local Authorities. I'm supporting many of the coalitions' changes but I would respect them even more if they ripped out all of these senior managers from Tory Local Authorities and took the lead, not to mention the savinfs in money and service improvements that it could bring.

I'd like both Jackson for pace and Lines to compete with Morgan and Dean and also Simon Francis as back-up to FR and our centre-backs. If we signed all three, I don't think within reason that the squad could get much better than that for L1 and indeed it would be better than most in the NPC.

I'd echo those who are advocating Simon Francis - he is ideal as can cover Frazer R but also provide the extra CB cover that we lack after Perry's retirement (I know Martin is promising but let's not rush him). Tyson would be a brilliant signing but if he's played 40 games for a NPC club that finished in the play offs would he really drop a level? The only reason I can see is if he has a girlfriend/wife or family connections in the South East and needs to leave Nottingham. Even so, Reading would clear favourites if they were keen. Mind you, it might free up Antonio coming to us!

Welcome to the forum, should be some interesting banter over the season between the 3-4 clubs that will be promotion favourites (Saints, Weds, Hudds, Swindon) with P'boro and one or two others having a say. I'd echo the comments on Jon that have been made here - bags of pace and can deliver a decent ball but positionally iffy and does lose concentration (Millwall away for example) at vital times. He was better than Norwich friends had predicted he'd be and I think with Dodd and Pardew at the club Saints thought that they could specifically help him. It didn't work out, maybe Irvine can turn his career around? Just out of interest, a good friend of mine is a Carlisle fan and said that they'd signed Simek. In the light of your comments, could Simek get back to near his old post-injury level with a run of games and the right conditioning or do Carlisle just accept that he'll be a tidy L1 full back but not the much better player he used to be?

I'm delighted that he bought us and I enjoyed last season a lot, culminating in Wembley. From watching the worst season in the club's history in 2008/9 with a bunch of kids that with two or three exceptions are now either free agents, have dropped lower or out of the game altogether, we get to enjoy watching Harding, Fonte, Puncheon, Hammond, Lambert, Connolly and Barnard. Davis, Lallana and Morgan would have been gone that summer as well. So thank you ML and NC and hopefully we can keep on moving forward as a club

People are also forgetting Dickson here - people remember the set-up of Taylor's equaliser at SMS but at Griffin Park he gave Semi twisted blood in the second half as Brentford swamped us. The lad has pace. Puncheon is not a slouch either. I do agree that we need another quick front or wide player, Adomah was rumoured to be an AP target but NPC and working for Coppell is a strong pull. I still think that we will sign such a player along with another CM and perhaps a RB/Right-sided CB as cover.

Excellent signing. Feel a bit sorry for Charlton fans as we know what this is like all too well. Perhaps some of the worst moaners on this site will put their faith in Pards and Cortese now? The level of hate towards Pardew hasn't cooled much though judging by their forum, definately Charlton's answer to Lowe/Askham! Still, it strikes me that Pards actually wouldn't be that bothered by it or the abuse from Brighton fans who seem to detest him almost as much. Mind you, November's game is a feast of hate for them - Pards, Fonte, Hammond and esp Harding. They will be drinking their Hater-ade by the pint-load before that one.