ant

Ohhh, the holy goalie! Ohhh, the holy goalie! Ohhh, the holy goalie! Artur Boruc - Saint for life? Cracking news. Feels pretty good to be a Saints fan right now.

I'll see if I get a bit of time at lunch...

Was a fan of the current kit from the day it was announced and it's only grown on me more as I've watched us play in it. The photo of Lambert's celebration after scoring at The Etihad has become quite iconic, if we'd held them at bay it'd rank as an all-time classic.

Didn't think it was possible to feel much better today but this'll do it. Forever in our shadow.

After P*mpey's FA Cup win I was sat on a train to Fratton because my girlfriend was at P*rtsmouth uni and lived in Southsea. Saints had just had a rather undignified season in Championship, staying up by the skin of our teeth in that match against Sheffield United. It was one that I'll never forget, but not because it filled us with hope. All of the warning signs suggested that we were heading for ruin. I had to sit in a carriage full of joyous blue-clad inbreds and squirm. Stupidly we went shopping the next day and got stuck behind the open top bus and a sea of skates. Funny how they seem to have rather less fans than that now. It hurt. Why them? How had they been able to get to that level? Well now we know. Some may say that we should remember where we were a few short years ago and take a more pragmatic approach in how we react to P*mpey's latest relegation. NEVER. Our administration situation was different; our debts were paid for a start! A friend called me out this morning for celebrating P*mpey's demise, saying that we'd be nowhere without the Liebherr money. As a matter of a fact from the time of our takeover to promotion to the PL, by balancing departures against purchases we made a £2.57m profit on players. Any sales were assets at the time of admin or academy players, nothing to do with the Liebherr money. P*mpey did not learn their lesson and at no time have they cut their cloth to fit. They point to the 'crooks' that mismanaged and ransacked the club, yet at no point has their philosophy changed: 'punch above our weight to sign players, we'll deal with the fallout later.' Well now is the time to deal with it. You can cry to the Football League and the PFA and the Court of Human Rights for all I care. You have reaped what you have sewn and I for one am ecstatic.

Can't get much more in depth than that blog post - the statistics in isolation don't tell the whole story and the final paragraph is especially poignant. All in all it's a very good website, been tracking it all season. Is it run by anybody on here?

I doubt the effect is as dramatic as you may initially expect. I'm sure a decent percentage of season ticket holders ensure their seat is used even if they're absent, if you catch my drift.

A rare bit of empathy from the crowd and very welcome, or at least so I thought. A transfer fee can become a millstone. Don't really see why he needs to justify the full fee in his first season.

Just a photoshoot with Rodriguez for the next programme...

EPL Index is a class act when it comes to stats analysis. Bit like seeing your 'secret sauce' recipe released to the world though!

So work towards tackling this so-called underclass and stop using these tragic deaths to drive an agenda that indicts the entire welfare state and those supported by it. Less than 1% of the welfare budget is lost to fraud, yet the cost to the state of tax evasion/avoidance is likely to run to more than £100bn. The poor are being pitted against the poorer; who gains from that?

Tempted (and did register on their site before my last post), but having sat with away fans before I find it bloody difficult and am pretty keen to get in with our lot. There are some spares going around, it's just finding them before they get sold on...

Annoyingly now find myself able to attend - of course it's long since sold out. Only need a single ticket, please give me a shout if anybody has one to flog in our end.

Muse - Citizen Erased. The title's quite annoying, my choice has nothing to do with that. Basically it's my favourite song - although their last two albums have been so ****e that I may have to reconsider any association. Hopefully got a few years yet to choose!

For me: That's only really as my girlfriend and I have just bought our first home though. Without that it looks like I'd have been in the 'Emergent service workers' category.

There was a video doing the rounds a while back of Gazzaniga practising his distribution - his ability to consistently and accurately hit a target from long range was never really in doubt. If he can continue to develop the rest of his game, he'll be an asset and a half. Adkins' decision to throw Paulo in at the deep end was certainly questionable...

Oh arse, looks like I forgot I was supposed to be going to a wedding on the 27th. Wrangling it so that I get to see us play West Brom is going to be difficult enough, looks like I'll have to count myself out of the fans match

Excellent analysis. Not just because it's positive - Neville's insight and reading of proceedings is second to none. He's wasted on England, I'd rather see him coaching in club football.

Do you have a higher quality version of that by any chance?

The biggest take-home from that article, for me, is that most people's opinions have been formed on Mayuka based on just 166 minutes of football.

I meant Southampton residents' resentment. Having first hand heard racist abuse directed at Guly, I certainly wouldn't rule out the possibility. I say this without casting any aspersions, nor presuming the guilt of the crowd members that gave it the big one towards Boruc. Certainly an interesting point.

Repressed resentment of the large Polish population of Southampton? Just one potential reason. Obviously Bart was Polish too, but he rarely featured in the first team. I dare say some would have had choice words for him after his performance against Blackpool last year anyway. I'm pretty liberal (forum liberal? odd turn of phrase) and said as much a few posts above yours, #67. So yes.

My French is a little rusty, but I'm fairly sure that's not what he said! Oh, Google Translate.

Well this all got a bit microanalytical. Isn't the broader point that a Southampton FC player received an undue amount of abuse from so-called fans, culminating in a disproportionate amount of outrage and hand-wringing after the player responded? An entirely avoidable debacle that hurt the club in the long run. I've had people comment to me on Twitter that they didn't hear anything, but I'd be amazed if anyone could hear every utterance in the stand they're situated. Boruc is playing well now and there's a degree of harmony apparent in the squad - if he was lying about there being racial abuse it would be an odd decision to rake it up again and put the spotlight back upon the incident and himself.

I think many on here have underestimated just how difficult it is to get up to speed when jumping straight into the middle of the season. Not only that but then attempting to break into a side when you have little matchday sharpness. In terms of building understanding with your team mates there's no substitute for competitive fixtures so he and the management are stuck in a bit of a Catch 22 at the moment. If MP plays him, it's a risk. If Forren doesn't get game time, he's less likely to be ready. In terms of the January transfer window all of this should have been taken into account and that's what made Forren a poor transfer, not any perceived lack of ability. Have a bit of faith, I reckon this one will come good next season.