SaintBobby

Bullish

so impressed am I with STH sales to date...and so wrong was I in believing we were heading for a car smash in sales...that I am delighted to announce the reintroduction of the season ticket installment plan. If you wish to purchase a season ticket by installments, I will pay the full cost for you now and expect you to pay it back over 6 monthly installments (from September) at a 5% uplift on the actual ticket price. I think I lose a small amount of money on this deal at 5%, but I want to make sure no genuine Saints fan loses out just because of cash flow problems. You will obviously need to prove your bona fides, but this really is a very genuine offer. And if you are interested in taking it up, please PM me. I am confident I have the liquidity to provide this deal to at least 300 people, as long as they pay me back on these terms. COYR

Can I just ask....are we all utterly certain that Pulis is rubbish? I am not sure I've ever seen him play. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the joking on here, but are we sure he should be taken to the knackers yard? Please dont just reply "yes" !

Last night, I met the guy who takes care of the club's football finances. I'm even more confident now than I was before.

How do you account for Saints very short odds at the bookies? Have you put money down against Saints if you think the odds are too short?

Must be utter tosh, surely? I still like rumours linking us with top (ish) players though, it kind of feeds through into a general zeitgeist of ambition - even if the particular rumour is baloney.

Sales of 13,000+ at this stage is an amazing achievement. With three weeks to go, I'd imagine a lot more canb be sold too. I was one of the people who was concerned about the tickets going on sale late, with limited publicicty and marketing etc. It seems my worries were unfounded. Ok, maybe a decent marketing drive could have yielded even more sales, but this seems to be yet more evidence that the new regime know what they're doing and some on here (myself definitely included in this instance) basically don't.

Do you distinguish between complacency and confidence? I am confident that we have the best team - and will have the best squad by Aug 7th - in the division. I expect Saints to win the League and probably by a clear margin of 8-10 points. Our performances since the January transfer window reinforce my confidence here. The fact that we will be adding to a squad that performed so well means we should perform better still. We are also helped enormously by Norwich, Leeds and Milwall being out of the division. This isn't complacency. It isn't the far fetched dreams of a dyed-in-the-wool Saints fan. The markets share my view. Saints are the very clear favourites to win the division at 5/2 or 9/4 with most bookies. Sheff Weds are available at 5/1 or 6/1 and Huddersfield at 8/1. Southampton are the only team in the whole of the Football League to be odds on to secure promotion. Now, not a single ball has been kicked. I'm not advocating that we only need to perform at 60% of our potential to walk the league. That would be complacent. But there is every reason to be very confident that we will win promotion and quite probably win the division - and those who put their money where their mouth is agree.

Agree, what a difference a year makes. That said, the starting line-up vs. Milwall last year isn't that bad (and should have won before the tenth league game of the season!) Big difference should be the preparation we had this time. Its really depth more than quality that Im worried about this time.

The squad is now pretty much in place. We do need a CM...ideally one who makes it straight into the first team. If we were to get Antonio and/or Waigo (or someone similar), we're basically there. If we get just a winger, we need an additional CF. A marquee signing would be great, but not necessary and I'm not holding my breath. Would love to see the squad strengthened enormously more, of course, but am very, very happy with progress in the transfer market so far.

Sam Argent = quality right back when I saw him play last season. Tafazolli = tall, strong CB who can take pens Reeves = very good prospect at left back.

cool, just down the road for me.

Revolutionary new coaching set up, anyone?

We need a starting XI CM. That's about it for top signings, I'd think. We need cover at centre back (e.g. someone not as good as Fonte, Jaidi or Seabourne) We need cover at right back (e.g. I'm not sure Harding can be 2nd choice) We may need another winger (depending on a reasonable - but not excessive - bid for Antonio or Papa, we're sorted) Otherwise, I think we need to sign promising reserves on about £500-£1000 a week. No more. If we can get a top signing, that's great. But I'm not holding my breath and don't think I need to. Look at our team.... GK: Kelvin (awesome at this level) + Bart (amazing cover if he stays) LB: Harding (top drawer at L1) or the new bloke from Brentford (also rated as top drawer), plus Mills still here? RB: Richardson, L1 player of the season in this position, plus Harding seems okay at it (but we do need 3rd grade cover) CB: Fonte (class), Jaidi (still pretty class), Seabourne (TBD, but not bad), Martin (TBD) - we need 1 CB on Seaborne's level LM: Lallana or Puncheon or Dickson or Mills (plus Papa?) RM: Lallana or Puncheon or Oxlade (plus Antonio or Papa? or equivalent?) CM: Hammond + Schneiderlin (Wotton is not great as back-up...so either coverage here or someone able to beat DH or MS to starting line up) CF: Lambert, Connolly, Barnard (deep cover may be needed, and hard to replace RL...but any 2 from these 3 if best front line in L1) Although - sadly - we're at a different level to 2003, I remember then going to a fans forum and WGS saying it was damned hard to work out who he could buy (at say, 2-4m) who was obviously better than who he had already. I think we're in an equivalent (albeit lowlier) position. If we're fishing in the 500k-1m pool, these guys are going to want to be in the starting line up. If we're aiming higher, we're looking at a player to knock out one of our starting line-up. We probably need to aim lower and get a bunch of players with promise but are happy to start as reserves.

Brilliant. Who is the designer on this year's kits? Top drawer!

I'm so pleased about this. This guy is priceless entertainment.

This. A very, very good starting XI in the third division. The bench is a bit thin, so we do need depth. But I think it's going to be hard for us to sign any player who is obviously better in that starting line-up. I'd like to get Papa and Antonio to give options off the bench or for injuries. I definitely want better cover in CM than Wotton - because there's no way Hammond and Morgan are going to play 55 games from start to finish. But I do think it's cover we're looking for, and that these two are likely to be our best CMs (if we keep Spiderman) I prefer Connolly to Barnard up front (just). But would like more cover here too - which underscores my wish to sign Papa and/or Antonio. But overall, I don't think we need any super signings, just solid back-up.

Never met him. But I'm sure he was one of many Saints fans who I'd recognise. RIP and my condolences to family and friends.

Totally agree. I'm now staked for just over 5K on Saints being promoted - at about evens (overall at 1.98). Last year, I had 2K Lambert to be top scorer (placed in November at 2/1 -or 3.00 in new money), for a tidy 4K profit. The odds on Saints going up are amazingly attractive - and easier to lay off than the 11/4 about us winning the League if things get wobbly.

some ups and downs. And one or two iffy patches. But overall, well get about 100 points and win the league by about a dozen points.

Just depends if u think were better than 55% to be promoted. I do.

He probably thinks its about as bad as the holocuast, Hiroshima and the black death all rolled into one. Or at leats bears a resemblance to the worst excesses of these things.

I think the 11/4 on us winning the league is not a great bet. But the 10/11 on promotion is an excellent punt. I think our chances of promotion are at least 70%. If you think the chances are better than 55%, you should put money on at these odds.

That is seriously, seriously mental. Some people on a web forum saying we should back the current management and not criticise them for a lack of signings yet is "reminiscent of the WORST extremes of communism"...i.e. the moral equivalent of slaughtering millions of people in gulags. To be honest, its hard to be offended by that simply because the individual saying it has obviously and tragically lost all grip on reality.

It's you. AND Pardew has been quiet for the last few weeks. It's the off season. Dear God, it's OPs like this that really do make me believe that the internet is turning adults into morons. Pitiful.