SaintBobby

Groan.

I bought a Saints-Celtic scarf at the Claus testimonial. I'd buy one for any decent pre-season friendly (Ajax etc), but not one with another English league team on it.

If we go ahead at any time: "Are you gonna change your shirts? are you gonna change your shirts? are you gonna...are you gonna...etc etc"

Im not against this in principle actually, although I appreciate you are making a point. I dont really agree with anyone on this issue. I think our current squad is fine, and will probably win promotion. But, I do agree with Alpine that we should make signings. But I also think its true that weve made major offers, and that these offers have been rebuffed. This just goes to cost-benefit analysis. Assume we made 3 different bids to 3 different clubs for 3 different players. Assume these were at £1m each. For identified, top players who'd walk into our first team. But each time were told "nope, sorry...£2m please" and/or we think we can get the player at 6k a week, but his agent is demanding 12K a week and a big signing bonus. At some point, it isnt worth it. I think Saints have reached this point. Im happy to sign back-up squad players though. These come cheap. They wont change our season,but may end up being worth a point or three. I want a 4th string striker. It's a marginal call, but its def not a mad one.

Bloody ridiculous. He was offering to pay as well? Ex-players should be able to be flagged on the database. I dont believe in freebies. They all got paid a salary for playing for us. But, they cant be treated as random members of the public. I have 3 tickets, he can have them.

I'm sure the club are working on the basis that AOC isnt going. If he does and we get £5m+, Im sure that would change their transfer strategy.

You and I actually agree on the need for a cpl of signings. However, Im sympathetic to the club if it's a genuien question of price/wages being too high.

Face palm thingy....

If I was a big club, I might gamble £10m on it. If I was Saints, Id probably take £7m+ Hope and think he stays though!

I have no idea. Dont think so. Unless its a rehash of bids!

I'm bothered about it. Wouldn't mind losing. But, I'm taking some JCLs to the game. May convert them. Win. Win.

I have - on relatively good authority - the view that Saints will NOT be signing any "marquee" players in this window. I still hate the term "marquee" (it's just French for "tent", right?). I understand that 3 quite substantial offers have been made - including to Crystal Palace and to Doncaster Rovers - but these are unlikely to lead to signings because either the club has not accepted the bid, or the player could not agree terms/was not interested. Saints also seem to be operating an "informal" pay ceiling of £10K per week. It's possible - but I'm not sure of this - that we have a few players tied to "top pay" contracts on this basis. So, for example, signing a new player on £12K a week, would possibly also involve giving a pay increase to c. 4 present players from £10K to £12k -meaning the real cost of signing such a player would actually be £20K a week. The salary issue is speculation. The substantial (and thus far rebuffed) NA bids are, I think, fact.

mathematically, you may as well go for this saturday - it's about a 15% chance. No other saturday has such a high % just yet.

GdP: The Saints Web Forum have a taxi waiting for me???? Do I have to leave right now?

I'd be okay with that outcome. Will have really shored up the base and have prevented some real possible downsides (losing Lallana or AOC) Would be happier with a top quality CB and a back-up CF. Total cost? Maybe £1m - £1.5m.

Love the sash so much I want to keep it. Makes us unique. Attached to red and white stripes but very generic. No one else has the sash (except Peru, and I don't mind that)

How likely is it? Well, if we assume probabilities can be derived on bookies odds.... Brighton would have to lose to Peterborough. A Posh win is at 7/2 in most places. This implies a 22% probability. Additionally, Saints would have to win against Notts County. That's 1/2 in most bookies. This implies a probability of 67%. The chance of both happening is 22% x 67% = 14.8% (the Bournemouth result is irrelevant btw) Btw, in a major shift on the betting markets, you can now barely get evens on Saints winning the League come May. It's averaging 5/4. Saints to be promoted is running at about 2/5. Alpine and others may be tempted by the 500/1 you can get at bet365 on Saints being relegated ! :-) See oddschecker for more.... http://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/league-one/winner

Def prefer NPC to L1 (not to say I enjoyed our stay in NPC more than our stay in L1). Prem or NPC? Hmmm.....

You managed to average more than 70 mph? Good job.

I voted No. Sounds like a very mean-spirited thing to do, but I think a lasting tribute should be decided in talks with the family, not the fans. From what I've read, Markus was a very private, modest and quiet man. I'd really like the decision to be taken by Cortese and the Liebherrs. It would be rather awkward if the fans were loudly demanding a particular tribute that wasn't considered appropriate by the family. Although his time with us was tragically limited, it was much more than a footnote!

I assume for Saints. But - only counting league games - may be first time ever in English football ? (Obviously there are a few extreme c. 14-0 cup results). Can anyone find a counter example?

On the bus, but keeping our feet on the floow

It's very annoying. Especially as traffic doesn't seem to be enormously high. I don't begrudge my fiver, I get more than £5 value from the site a year, easily. But it is amazing that a paid for site would crash like this.

Who from the youth team? I don't think we have enough strikers if Connolly is permanently crocked. Doubly true if Puncheon goes, as he can play as a makeshift striker. I don't think it would disrupt team balance to bring in a 4th choice centre forward.

A pity if he is moving on. But maybe an unavoidable one. If he does go, I think we do need to sign another winner. One thing that annoys me - although I don't know how Saints can easily stop this - is that players who want to go not only leave, but also tend to lower the asking price. If I throw a strop at my place of work, it makes my life more difficult - it doesn't make it easier for me to get what I want. I wonder if the solution for football is similar to that in other high-level, personnel-dependent industries - namely, that gardening leave becomes a standard element of contracts. If there was a gardening leave clause for three months (or six months in the off-season), this would make it much harder for whingeing players to get their way. All that said, if he goes, good luck to him I guess. He hasn't been as bad at Saints as some seem to think, but he has been frustrating and has never really settled.