SaintBobby

It really doesn't. Unless we have a semantic argument over the definition of "compete". By "compete", I mean making a fair fist of things and very probably avoiding relegation (on a stricter, narrow definition, I suppose "competing" includes playing 38 games and losing them all). I don't think many - if any - teams get promoted from the NPC with a squad likely to survive in the Premiership. Major spending and huge star name acquisitions need to take place AFTER we've been promoted from the NPC. The enhanced revenues mean you can afford to increase your spending on transfers and wages by tens of millions. The idea that we will create a squad this Summer capable of being around 12th-15th in the Premiership is rather fanciful. Would be very happy to be proved wrong though!

I just to think this, but am not sure I do now. Last year, with tickets on sale late, zilch marketing and no installment plan, sales were really impressive. And they could have been even better if they hadn't refused Nick Illingsworth's payment :-)

No offence intended, but this sounds insane to me. Few players who are clearly good enough for the the Premiership are going to sign for a Championship side. It seems unlikely to me that players who are amongst the best at, say, QPR are going to leave Loftus Road for St. Mary's. We need to build, over the next couple of seasons, a squad good enough to get promoted from the NPC. That doesn't mean having a team that's good enough to compete in the top flight being created this Summer.

At risk of breaking the "never go back" rule, wld love to sign him. Hadn't appreciated Adkins and Jack Cork have some (positive) history. Think Cork would be a fantastic signing - despite, again, the "never go back" rule. Completely agree that "inside info" from stewards can be 100% disregarded.

That's unlikely, actually. The 10/1 might drift for other reasons, but the fact that three teams are coming down from the Premiership is already factored into the price. It's not as if Skbet are suddenly going to say "oh hell, we were offering 10/1 on Saints, but totally forgot to consider that West Ham/Wolves/Wigan will also be in the NPC, better put them out to 16/1 now we've realised this..."

Oh dear. Resorting to personal abuse in the first sentence. Very often the sign of a person who has made a fool of themselves. As it happened, we needed 22 points. Huddersfield performed on the very high end of expectations. A last gasp equaliser against Posh and that final minute winner at Brighton, making the hurdle just a tiny bit higher. Of course, we actually got 27 points, which proved more than adequate. I think it's fair to say those "loons" who said 20 points would probably be enough were pretty close to being right. Just a tiny smidgen on the optimistic side. Anyone who said 27 or 28 points was way, way out. Almost to the point of innumeracy. This should have been obvious at the time given the spread betting markets. It would have entailed Hudders ending on 92 points which would have been a massive "buy" on the markets. Virtually no money at all was going on this outcome at any stage.

Great stuff. Had to repost mine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU9ODHC-hoQ

Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU9ODHC-hoQ

We have 3 season tickets in Kingsland, but all three of us are going corporate for this game (had to select a league game to shell out for corporate in order to get corporate tickets for the Man Utd game) I'm unclear whether this means my season ticket seats will be empty or whether the club will have sold them on. If the former, I have 2 adult and one senior citizen seat in Kingsland going spare, which I'd be willing to pass on - probably for a donation to charity.

The "law" argument is pretty absurd. I'm sure it's against the law in order to deter a single individual runnign onto the pitch in anger etc. Some discretion needs to be exercised here. Too many harmless thinsga re against the law these days. And a mass pitch invasion at the final whistle v Walsall if things go well is essentially harmless. I hope the club don't go through all the nonsense of saying "don't invade the pitch" over and over again on the tannoy, when they must know there's a 99.9% chance of it happening if we're promoted at the final whistle. If the club are really serious about stopping a pitch invasion, they need to make that plain now - with leaflets, programme notes and the website promising serious repercussions for anyone going on the pitch. Serious effort to collect CCTV footage and enforce season-long/liftetime bans etc. I hope they don't go down such a heavy-handed route, but anythign else is just pointless. Also, the threat that the players won't do the lap of honour won't be taken seriously this year as it was made very earnestly last year and then not follwoed through.

I was told - or think I read somewhere - that we've scored over 70% of our goals in the second half...is this right? (sorry, if this was covered above or in one of the links and I didn't see it). Big upsides for me: 1. The team has a fitness level that's impressive (at least relative to other League one teams). I don't remember this since the heights of the Strachan era. Some people say that Lambert looks knackered towarsd the end of matches - but perhaps he stands out so much because he's the only player who looks tired. 2. Whatever Adkins is doign in the half time team talk is working 3. The steelinees, grit and will to win is there. And the team doesn't panic. It's not as if, with 20 minutes to go, we start firing in wild shots from 30 yards out. We stick to the gameplan. Big downside: It would be nice to have more games effectively "put to bed" by the 60 minute mark, simply for our nerves/sanity/heart conditions.

The most likely points total now is probably 21...of which we have acquired 18. Of course, as little as 18 could still be enough in the unlikely event that Huddersfield lose both remaining games. And we know for sure that 24 points will be enough, whatever Huddersfield do (barring any mad results like a 14-0 win for them) So, the range now is from a minimum of 18 to a maximum of 24 - and most likely somewhere in the middle of this. This hardly seems to justify describing those who said 20 at the outset as "loons". Such people may yet be bang on, and are only going to be out by an absolute maximum of 4 points. In contrast, anyone who predicted 28 points is going to be out by an absolute minimum of 4 points - and could conceivably be out by ten points. So the best you can hope for - in terms of the credibility of your own prediction - is that the eventual outcome is exactly halfway between what you predicted and what the "loons" predicted. More likely by far, is that the "loons" will be closer. And quite probably much closer.

Half serious question: Why not start with AL and DC and try and win the game in the first 30-45 minutes? Then take them off if need be? Rather than risk getting to 0-1 after 65 mins and throwing them both on from the bench? (I'm saying all this without knowing the detailed medical condition of either player)

The wisest thing to assume now is that Huddersfield will push us to the wire. But it could, just could, be a lot easier than that. Presumably, Peterborough and MK Dons are now preparing for the play offs. They will now rest players who have a knock or niggle, one would think. I think if we can open daylight between us and Huddersfield, they may start to do the same.

Agreed. I'm not sure if Connolly can actually play for more than 30 minutes, but I'd like to find out... Lallana has, I hope, now recovered enough to be expected to start the last 4 games.

I'm a huge fan of Connolly....but his time is now. Sadly, I'm not sure he's part of an NPC campaign as/when/if we're promoted.

Route one, yes. But great to see Kelvin get an assist for the Fonte winner!

Who cares about Brighton? They've won the league. Fair play. They'll now yo-yo between NPC lower reaches and League One.

No chance. Could you imagine us throwing a game against, say, Leyton Orient to stuff up Bournemouth? Just won't happen. If Huddersfield win, they'll have to do it fair and square.

More like 5 months...

This is a good read... http://downatthemac.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=56280&page=6

He also implied Poyet refused to shake hands.

Adkins on Solent now. "You have to be gracious in defeat and shake hands....if you don't do that...well, I'll leave it there...." Did Poyet refuse a handshake?

Connolly is phenomenal. I reckon he still has a major role play to play for us.

Never. In. Doubt. :-)