Turkish

Yeah that's what I mean by it being an odd one. We'd signed Taylor the season before and he was a much better keeper IMO.

We did stumble over the finish line. We has a relatively straightforward run in and didn't win any of our last 6 and were not safe until the penultimate game. Let's not forget the brash claims of top half finishes from Many on here after out little purple patch in March. Anyone that said we still weren't safe and not to get carried away was called a troll and wanting saints to fail. Its easy to look back now sneering and say it was all part of a bigger plan that has come to fruition now but at the back end if last season when we were losing at home to QPR, being spanked by WBA, not winning or scoring and nervously looking over our shoulders it wasn't so obvious.

Scott Marshall was the one for me, he was even worse. I remember he was considered something of a coup when we got him from arsenal, a promising centre half who wasn't good enough for arsenal but would be great for us, a bit of a 90s Matthew Upson, he played twice, scored two own goals and I think we conceded 7 or 8 goals in those two games. hink he ended up at brentford.

That thread was fair enough at the time, results hadn't improved as was expected and we were still in relegation trouble. Obviously having had a preseason to stamp his mark on the team and bringing in three big money signings in key positions you can see he is a very good manager and also building a good squad.

Ahh fair enough, didn't realise that. Just didn't seem like one of his type of signings. Still none the wiser what Terry cooper did for us then.

I think Pahars was more down to Terry Cooper (I think that was his name) who was our European scout at the time. Dave Jones signings weren't great to be honest. Stuart Ripley, Mark Hughes, David Howells, Jon Beresford, Thirsty Hirsty, Luis Boa Morte, none of them really delivered for the reputations they had and wages they were on. As well as signing two of the worst players I've seen in a saints shirt, Scott Marshall and Lee Todd and a strange signing in Paul jones. Although to give his due he did bring Dean Richards, James Beattie, Chris Marsden and Hassan Kachloul to the club who were excellent signings for the money paid out. As for Antonio, I did say he was no better than a championship player when some were insisting we had to sign him and he was a potential world beater. He fits the pacey wideman some are obsessed by.

He does seem to have lost his way somewhat of late. Did a good job at wolves. Did okay with us at first but in truth he could well have been sacked for the results we were getting at the time those allegations came about. Had a lot of experienced players who would no doubt have been on big wages by our standards then and not many of them delivered much.

It was a lot more than that pal.

I was in Glasgow last night, had no idea and no sign at all what was going on only a couple of hundred yards away. Scary to think that could easily have been the place I was in. Very sad to hear.

Please say this isn't true.

I remember that mate, I was surprised at the time too as he looked happy in the pictures. I did a similar thing with Dean Richards when I revealed that Spuds (PMSL) were going to bid and he wanted to go. Loads of people said this wasn't true, even claiming to have asked him directly and he said he was staying and happy. we all know how that one ended up.

Looks like a bit of fake laugh to me, put on. His laughing much more than anyone so either a bit mental or faking it to appear convincing.

I remember last season West ham, Stoke and Norwich all had runs of winnable fixtures, west ham got the season off to a great start and were sitting pretty after 10 games. Norwich too had a very good run about this time last year when they won a few and went on a good run. Stoke had the best defence in Europe when we played them just before Xmas and were high up th tbable. When they played a few of the better sides again naturally those runs came to an end and they dropped a few places. I recall the shouting from the rooftops that West Ham were only were they were early last season due to their easy fixtures and they were now showing their true form. Norwich and Stoke were ridiculed as being terrible, sliding down the table and serious relegation candidates. I presume if we drop down to midtable after our run of, let's call them more challenging fixtures, the same rational would be used with us?

See I've been name checked 3 times on this thread despite not posting on it or indeed at all on here for 3 days.

So frank or whoever else, having looked into the company car option a little deeper, it seems that the sort of cars I can get give benefit it kind value of around £5.2k and a tax payable @40% of £2110. Am I correct in saying that this means that I would pay £2110 in a tax per year for having a company car?

"Put it this way - why aren't Liverpool, Arsenal, the Manc's, Chelsea, Spurs etc in for him?" They are http://sportsvibe.co.uk/news/football/manchester-united-to-bid-5m-for-scotland-under-21-striker-after-scholes-recommendation-12011/ Now people can claim if we sign him he picked us over Man United, like they did with Clyne.

Good. The team are losing, he's not been playing well. He's only showing that all important quality of PASSION that all players need to have. He probably wants us to get it into mixer a bit earlier rather than fannying about with it. I share his frustration.

You're two short pal.

I suggested him on the summer HCDAJFU thread the last 3 seasons. we had a couple of bids rejected for him when We were in the championship.

Could stick Moran in there to pick up Lambos flicks.

Two pacy widemen there pal, perfect for a 4-4-2.

Yes it has, but you could also argue that the soft, pampered players with their fancy boots and bowling green pitches of today wouldn't survive in the 60s, 70's and 80's. This is why it's virtually impossible to compare era with era so you have to take each player on their own merits and what they did at the time, rather than trying to be clever and say they wouldn't cut it today.

I had a great night downing Whiskey with him about 10 years ago, he's deaf in one ear so with me dribbling and mumbling communication was almost impossible past 10pm. *switches off Dubai Phil mode*

Yes he did. He was a great passer and also scored some cracking goals.