SaintBobby

Genuine question on Birch. The bloke's no fool and no crook. So, why keep the club going if the bill is on him? Are there various big payouts that kick in at verious times which make it worth surviving until a certain date but not beyond? (e.g. parachute payments, prize money for league position etc?) If not, he surely would have liquidated by now. If so, when's the last tranche of cash that he needs to keep the corpse twitching to get in?

Coventry have only won 1 of 22 away league games. Keogh, their player of the season, is suspended. They won't give a toss. Southend all over again.

Agree on starting with de Ridder not Guly.

Think I'm okay, just. But yep, if we blow it on Saturday, the irrational bile that will pour forth from my mouth will be pretty intense. Readily concede I will be like a psycho with Tourettes if we don't get 2nd....

You don't seriously mean this, do you?

Count on it. I travelled from London to Southampton on Saturday just to watch the game in a pub in the city. Ok, not as heroic as going to Boro but still pretty emotionally committed... What's happened has happened and I'm sure we'll beat Coventry with ease and I'll be there screaming on the lads even if the going gets tough.

Aye. Am with you there. I'd take anything and anyway to get 2nd - including a flukey Hull equaliser at West Ham in the 90th minute. Too late to care about the route now, I just want the destination even if we crawl there. And you're right, back-to-back promotions would be a truly stunning achievement.

I guess you're right. But storming from, say, 14th at Xmas to 2nd on the last day surely feels better than being top for 45 games and dropping to 2nd in the final match? It's the same outcome, but a different ride...

I'm choked. I really wanted to win the league and we had a great chance until blowing it vs Reading, Skates and Boro. But 2nd is all that's on offer now. So there we are. All in all, that'd be a great achievement. You seem very confused as to whether I'm milking primary school maths or have the number crunching of a top android...

I'm not entirely sure your thread managed even nursery school maths. It was just "look at me, look at me, please, please look at me" And some of the other closed threads had folk asking what happens if there's a complete tie etc. Everything you need to know - which isn't PhD maths, agreed - is in the 1st post here. HTH.

Right, so you're in the "if we draw and West Ham lose, I won't celebrate" camp? Who knows what might happen, we may play brilliantly but fail to win. If we end up ahead of West Ham, we deserve to go up. That even includes us losing 5-0 on Saturday.

Sure. But that's consistent with having a keeper on the bench. Our chances of losing wld go up big time if we had no professional goalkeeper for any measurable amount of time.

Apart from the likelihood of a coronary if we make it by drawing? ;-)

I may seriously shove a grand on that.

Ok, I have no clue what you were suggesting then? "Saints should win and I hope they do"?

One totally obvious decision is to start with Bart on the bench. This is probably "must draw" not a "must win" so we don't want any chance of Kelvin being replaced by an outfield player because he tweaks a hamstring after ten mins.

Yep. This one is looking the most popular by far. Hardly surprising given the very useful information you've shared and your usual reticence in starting new threads even when you have something incisive and original to say. Christ, what a narcissistic, attention-seeking arse.

As already posted, we go up in the event of an absolute tie in the table on 4 points to 1 v West Ham.

Yep. I shoved it all up on a separate thread called "the maths for Saturday". Didn't ask a question e.g. "what if one game is cancelled owing to an electrical storm?"

Or maybe at least have an "infraction free/say what you want" thread?

No, it isn't that simple. Sure, win and we go up. But are you seriously saying that if Lambert scores an 89th minute equaliser that gets us promoted, you'll sit there with a sullen look saying we didn't deserve it?

So, you'd say in such in a scenario, we should pile forward and really go for it? Shove Kelvin up for corners in the last couple of minutes?

Saints win = promoted Saints lose = promoted if West Ham fail to beat Hull, otherwise 3rd. Saints draw = promoted unless West Ham win by 3 clear goals AND score 3 goals more than Saints (e.g. West Ham 4-1 Hull; Saints 1-1 Coventry 1 means West Ham promoted, but West Ham 3-0 Hull; Saints 1-1 Coventry means Saints promoted). If, say, with ten mins to go, we're 0-0 vs Cov and West Ham are winning 1-0, god knows what that implies for our strategy for the last part of the game. Just get an early goal, Saints, FFS!

Tonight, please. I don't think it would detract from the last day vs. Coventry at all. (the Walsall game last year was a great party, even though the result was technically an irrelevance....well, we had to avoid losing 12-0 or something).

Boro have to win. If it stays level, they will gamble everything in the last few mins (and maybe before), so I hope there's a Plan B to counter attack. But I'm not sure what it is....