saint1977

That's half of Nick H's news proved right, Surman next then. DMG had a good end to last season after a rather uneven season and may do better in his home environment at Forest. Certainly Davies will get him a lot fitter as the fitness levels at SFC last season were appalling and this summer will only have made them worse.

That puzzled me Chez, Mills looked very good for one so young last season, no accident that we loan him to S****horpe and they go up. I don't know if he has signed a new deal but hope he does. What was going through JP's/Wotte's/Lowe's head at the time I will never be able to fathom.

CL football every season and getting at least to the QFs and SFs is what keeps those two clubs out of trouble. One poor season and they would be right in it up their necks although Man U are such a global brand they'd probably get another buyer. Liverpool are a huge club but not quite as global as Man U and the politics are lot more complex. Look at how Newcastle have struggled once CL football stopped. Arsenal were very fearful of being pipped by Villa as the debt on the Emirates is immense.

Just ignore Rattlehead, he regularly posts tripe in the Muppet show (quite appropriate really). He has quite an appropriate name as there isn't much to rattle around in his head really. My third one to put on ignore alongside Sundance and Le Tissier's Feet.

If only. I think the FL probably would go for this as well. Bad news is that EC will never allow it and the PL as a seperate entity would never follow suit as the big 4 would then claim they couldn't compete with Madrid and would probably break away (which probably would be a good thing).

I had quite a bit of empathy with your first post but that is plain dumb. This is a Saints forum and not a Brian Mawhinney love-in. He was an effing useless Cabinet minister in a useless Government to boot.

Mawhinney was a tit when in Government and even more so now and yes, he would happily kill a club to save face. As for Jackson, he is a fruitcake - just ask any Bournemouth fan.

God I hope you are right. Perhaps that should be "Le God".

SMS was never a good ground for Smith, I'm fairly sure he got another red card for Leeds there and missed some sitters. He then went one better and got sent off for England there as well. Striker that never scores, rich man's Paul Dickov.

Fashanu was an animal and a sneaky one at that, what he did to Mabbutt was disgusting. Anybody who nailed Fashanu during that period deserves praise but Franny did it in some style. Best sendings off I've ever seen/enjoyed; - Widdrington at Port Vale, a waist high brute - Franny on Barmby at Spurs in that infamous 4-2 defeat - another one that cut Barmby in half almost - Franny's elbow on Ruel Fox, was standing near front of Milton and heard the sound of elbow on jaw - Kamara the skate's 2 handballs - Russell Osman and Gary Bannister (V QPR) Osman chased him and kicked him up the backside - Alan Smith - you could see it coming as Smith's frustrations boiled over as Saints were 3-0 up and it should have been 10. Anders' goal was one of the best ever seen at SMS - My all-time favourite was a neutral game. Went to Tranmere V Norwich to keep a mate company on his birthday (Norwich) and Mike Milligan, already on a yellow for a nasty foul, decided that he'd had enough of the game and caught a Tranmere player right in front of their fan full pelt and head-high in front of the Tranmere fans. Everyone in the Norwich section gasped and I've never seen a set of fans so incensed at one tackle as Tranmere were, the stewards and cops had to work overtime to stop a huge brawl! It was an appalling assualt and probably a bad rap if you'd done it on the street, the Norwich fans reckon he'd done it to drive back to Norwich early and start drinking.

Yes because the new owners will have saved the club. I think he may take a short-term post with the club in another capacity before being offered something overseas. The guy has conducted himself fairly well in an awful time but I don't think he'll be offered a new deal as first team boss.

Wolves would mean we got a better price for him hopefully. Drew has quality on the ball and a super shot on him but McCarthy is a good manager for him. He'll beef Drew up on his upper half and work on Drew's stamina which is where he has struggled with the poor coaching since Snodin left (Pearson was only here for a short time) the club. He could do well for Wolves and certainly won't be as kitten weak by Christmas.

Seconded

I'd put money at the moment on our takeover going through and theirs going pear-shaped. They have held off appointing Hart and it will leave their preperations in tatters. Of course it could go through but another risky one.

Durham have a seriously tasty attack though - Onions, Harmison, Plunkett and co. Add in the conditions and the pace those three bowl at and I don't think many county sides, and a lot international ones, would make many runs. Hants have generally started well but need Tremlett fit to hit those sort of pitches with the venom Durham will. Griffiths is skiddy and 84-86mph but still learning, Tomlinson adds variation but the other quicks are wicket-to-wicket and better suited to early season.

Gill has joined Norwich which is where he is originally from. Exeter are looking done already next year having lost Moxey as well. Tisdale would really fancy this job I suspect. I'd like to see us pick Danny Graham on a free. Proven at this level but needs good management. Better athlete than McGoldrick though.

Totally agree, for this level the standout attributes are muscle, stamina and/or pace. For Centre-Backs, height is a must and pace a bonus.

Crab Lungs's middle one would be my selection.

Solent Uni - what a joke. They were calling themselves that in the 90s when they were really Southampton Institute and were caught out in Greece by another UK University telling porkies. Waste of student loans and taxpayers money when Southampton, Portsmouth, Surrey, Brighton and Sussex Universities are nearby. Merge it or close it, employers don't rate the end product.

To add to Mark Hughes (well done TDD) Sir Alex Ferguson

Sad but true, it seemed a lot at the time. That said, if Thomas is willing to do a deal on his wages and the new owners are willing to retain him, he would be a good asset at L1 level. Please spare us Lancashire at any odds, loan him to Nick Holmes for a season and see if he can make a player of him or perhaps Eastleigh. Gillett should do well at L1 level in CM and if you added Thomas and Perry with Davis behind them and then recruited Danny Graham on a free (would love to sign Webber but think a CCC club may nab him), that would be a quality spine of a team for L1. Need to add some pace to the side around that core.

Indeed, I'm fairly sure Burnley had some new investors joining their board about 18 months ago to increase the development of both the first team and in Turf Moor. Even so, I do see what Arizona is saying, Burley should have done better with the resources he had although the play-offs are very random. Some good frees available this summer - Danny Graham, Danny Webber (so not the end of the world if Forest buy McG) and the amount of available players will become a surplus as clubs trim their squad sizes which may push wages down outside of the PL and CCC parachute teams.

Now that is a good call. Knows how to get a side going at L1 level after a points deduction (Leeds) and look what happened when left for Spurs, well before Wise went to Newcastle. Great contacts, articulate and understands the English game.

That's the reason I've seen given as well. FP games you can take booze in. Try getting into an international game with booze though - ICC rules are 10 times worse than ECB and it isn't restricted to alcohol. Let's just say ICC is loyal to it's sponsors, every bit as much as it has been to Robert Mugabe.

I'd agree on some of this and Drew is certainly very able on the ball but apply your comments on Holmes to Drew as well and that would be the issue. Drew lacks upper body strength for the top two divisions yet none of the club's last few coaches have felt able to tell him this or perhaps Drew hasn't taken it on board. If Blackwell buys him I'd tell Drew "in the gym and on the weights". I'd also give Drew a much longer pre-season, as I would with any outgoing Saints player at a new club, to get his fitness and stamina up to that of his colleagues.