SaintBobby

Obviously, the Sun is getting most of the attention on here - but there's also a link showing that the Telegraph are no longer using imagery from Southampton. And the Sports Journalists Association have condemned the decision. As others have pointed out, Plymouth Argyle and the local Plymouth paper are unhappy too. No doubt the same will apply to other clubs and local papers too. The old adage that all publicity is good publicity is just wrong. Ian Huntely and Raul Moat attract a lot of publicity. none of it good. Ok, NC is being portrayed as "crazed" and "cretinous", not as a mass murderer - but this isn't the publicity we want at all. Despite our opening day defeat, there's a good story to tell about Southampton Football Club, our new owners and the rebuilding of the club from the brink of oblivion. Getting these stories reported contributes to a feel good atmosphere and encourages the "marginal" fan to turn up and buy a ticket. Today's sort of coverage is emphatically NOT what the club needs.

The ban is utterly ludicrous - and possibly a breach of our responsibilities within the Football League. I think The Echo is a separate matter - there's been some falling out there and there might eb a good business acse for tryign to make the OS the first point of call for SFC news, not the local paper. But we want substantial publicity in national newspapers. Football clubs a rare entity whereby media publicity dwarves any paid-for publicity/direct marketing in terms of it's value or AVE as it's known (advertising value equivalent) - political parties and pop stars are other examples. This is a truly idiotic decision by the club. And probably an unsustainable one, in my view.

The board members who presided over two relegations? Or the board members who brought the club to the brink of financial collapse? Or does someone need to tick both boxes before they are called in to act as an adviser on how to run Southampton Football Club?

What is this about booing at the end of a match being a disgrace? I can just about understand labelling any booing during the match as disgraceful, but once the final whistle has gone? And why does it matter that it was the first match? Or is the received wisdom that you can boo, but only after 4 or 5 consecutive defeats?

As far as I recall, each match in the league is worth the same. So it doesn't matter which c.30 of the 46 games you win. Hope this helps

I booed them at the end. Cheered them on to the final whistle, apart from a few screams of "what the f&ck was that?" Make no apologies for booing at the end at all

Exactly. Maybe 0 0 or 1 1 would have been a fair result, but with just one or two shots on target, we were never going to win easily. Plymouth did defend doggedly, but we can expect that all season. Most worrying thing is we did not look fit in the second half.

Fine as in not relegated or fine as in league 1 champions?

Me too. We need to play much better than that to get near the play offs

That was a totally dreadful second half performance. I think Cortese will lose patience with Pardew before long. Not saying he should, but he will. An utterly embarrassing 2nd half effort against a truly uninspired and limp Argyle team.

Good first half display. Not enough height up front though. Puncheon doesn't look totally fit to me, so we aren't really showing bags of pace either. 6.5 out of 10 so far

Good first half display. Not enough height up front though. Puncheon doesn't look totally fit to me, so we aren't really showing bags of pace either. 6.5 out of 10 so far

How many do you think the club should have ordered? And in which sizes? A few points here: 1. I understand it is a "complex" shirt, because of the sash. Am not totally clear on the production process, but in essence, the "printing presses" can run off 5,000 Stoke shirts, 3,000 Sunderland shirts, 2,000 Exeter shirts and, if you want to run off another 1500 (old) Saints shirts, they could add this to the end of the run. 2. The sash requires a separate run-off and callibration 3. Initial early sales were not great. If you pre-ordered the shirt - in any size - you got it. No problem. Sales then surged and an additional order has been placed....but Umbro arent about to stop running off Milan/Barca/Santos (or whatever)etc etc shirts for a League 1 team unless you are willing to pay a HUGE premium for them to do so. 4. The club should be restocked by early-mid September. And will not take a major revenue hit for being out of the stock for the first few weeks of the season, however annoying it may be for us fans.

Ohhhh pleasse.... Has anyone clarified yet whether this is a problem with Nick Illingsworth's credit limit on his Mastercard rather than the onset of the holocaust?

This is a great product. Im London-based and take the train from Clapham Junction to Southampton Central. I'd rather read the programme on my iPhone on the train down than buy a hard copy at SMS at 2.55pm. Sure, theres not a hell of a lot in it of massive interest - but at £29, it's about the price of a Saturday newspaper. Im signing up (if it works!)

The claims are clearly libellous. On cross-examination, the bold initial claims turned into something much less dramatic. But probably still untrue. Abysmal behaviour.

Possibly a slight exaggeration....

I think it's an accepted (i.e. accurate) generalisation that older folk tend to purchase a disproportionately high number of newspapers and visit a disporportionately low number of websites.

The banning of the Echo may be petty. And/or it may be a sound business decision. Local papers everywhere are in serious decline. Local sports news/gossip is vital to them. However, this means football clubs are owners of a crucial news source and they may wish to control it themselves. A website can't replace a local newspaper - especially for older readers - but if the club want to develop the OS as the "go to" point for official and breaking news, that's fine by me. Of course, it may turn out to be the right decision made for the wrong reasons.

I didn't know that...wish him well.

Quite probably. If we play well, get a bit unlucky, but still secure say W 1 D 2 L 1 and then sign 3-4 really good players on August 30th (example: Vassell, Stock, Danns, Antonio), then I reckon I would feel the same way. Yes. FWIW, in reality, I reckon: a. Our record in August will be better than this b. Our signings will arrive earlier than this c. Our signings wont be as good as the 4 I listed

Not me. I expect us to win the league (or at least come second) even if we play badly against Plymouth and lose 3-0. Norwich lost their first game 7-1 at home last season and stormed the league. It's hard to see what could realistically happen until about game 7 or 8 at the earliest for most people to change their initial position. Basically, I think the evidence I have to base my prediction on now isn't going to be out-trumped by 90 minutes of football next week.

I think we can be sure that AP is going to deepen the squad. He has said so in an interview this evening, I believe - that we need 2 or 3 more players. He is addressing the central midfield problem - witness the trial for Carter. Ok, he hasn't solved it necessarily, but he is clearly addressing it. Also, while it would be ideal to sign players earlier, let's not throw a hissy fit about it. If the new players all arrive on the last day of August, that's not ideal from a footballing point of view, but it's not a disaster either. The deadine for new signings - or judging whether and how many new signings we will make - is empahtically NOT August 7th.

Gees. If you're predicting play-offs, we probably are nailed on to win the division. Mind you, no team has ever entered the play-offs and been odds on to win them, so that should mean you think we'll still be in League One for the 2011-2012 season. I dont. I'm confident of promotion - probably as champions, but maybe as runners-up.

What's your prediction for our finishing position this season? Would it be reasonable to assume we will end up about ten places higher than this, given your prediction for last season was about ten places too low?