Brussels Saint

There is no doubt he is top class. When the rumour was first posted on this board, I really hoped it would happen, the exact type of player we now go for. Worth every penny of the rumoured 20k+ per week he's on.

This works well. http://strongvpn.com I watch iPlayer/4OD etc using this on my iPad. Cost is $55 year. It should also work for the Sky Player too if your "friend" gives your Dad the log in! I would also use it for Sky Player, but unfortunately you can only sign up to Sky with a British address and credit card.

Yup, definitely works, I was watching Saints Player on my iPad last night. 2.99 for the full version. Bargain!

Thanks for this, I have been trying for ages to figure out how to get Saints Player working on the iPad. Result!

Wallace. If nothing more, it was the first ever goal I remember seeing from Saints on the TV.

Ali Dear.........

This tactic is straight out of the Jose Mourinho Inter Milan coaching manual (not seen yet if he still employs it at Madrid). If this is the standard of coach NA is looking up to and stealing ideas from, we might as well accept relegation now. (do I need to do the smiley winky thing?)

See Hypo, if you posted more sensible stuff like this, you would avoid the abuse you get. Good post. Personally I quite like the comedy element of the photo and its clearly "tongue in cheek", although perhaps when it was decided to put this photo up, it was known how much he had negotiated for AOC. I'm guessing the fans this type of thing most winds up, are the more traditional, not easily impressed, fan on the board types. Cortese is now developing a bit of a cult following and many will love this because it builds upon that. The rest of us just had a bit of a laugh at it. No big issue.

I love the way he says "we" whenever discussing Southampton, despite supposedly being there to comment on the football in general. Hardly any of the other clubs former player commentators do this, referring to each team by their name instead. Shows how much he still considers himself to be one of us.

Quite a lot for me to be honest. Bizarrely this tends to manifest itself in how likely the missus is to get some action. Saints win, I jump on her, Saints lose, its like I've just swallowed a couple of Bromide tablets. Saints win 3-0, crack open the vaseline!!

I think we will finish between 7th & 9th which is a pretty good season. Anything below 12th a disappointment. 6th or above a pleasant surprise. To be honest I dont consider there to be that much difference between us last year and a mid table Championship side. Adding Cork and De Ridder pushes us a little higher. A decent CB and we could well be set for the play-offs. As such not that much apprehension. Guess a lot depends on expectations and most Saints fans have these set traditionally low based on, well, its the Saints and its what we expect. I'm betting NC is expecting playoffs however, as he perhaps has a different view on what we should be able to achieve, not having lived through all the previous years soul crushing average-ness (is that a word?)

I fully agree a huge part of a successful defence is what happens in front of them, however I think you are mistaken about Morgan. Morgan is a defensive midfielder period, out of the two of them Cork is more likely to play further upfield, but actually overall they make an excellent pairing as both understand the importance of protecting the back 4. I've always wondered a bit why people see Morgan as a primarily attacking player, maybe because he is technically very good. I guess I've seen him play about 15 times and each time he sits deep in midfield looking to collect the ball from the back and use his passing to initiate attacks. He's almost never in the opposition box (as Cork was against WB when he scored). Admittedly when he was really young he was a bit lightweight and breaking attacks up was not his strength, but in the last 2 years he's really added this to his game.

Haha...........this beats all! Brilliant.

Being stood just behind the players and NC watching everyone down on the pitch, last game of the season. Was quite emotional and a perfect day. For sheer mental celebration though, Chaplows goal was up there. As sussexsaint already said, back where we belong.

Good to hear my Ajax Supporting Dutch workmates were not winding me up about De Ridder being pretty decent. Encouraging start it seems.

I checked on this with them too. True they may have been mixed up about his time as a kid, but they were clear it's Steve De Ridder from De Graafschap that they were giving their views on. 3 of them are season ticket holders at Ajax and they genuinely thought he was going there this summer and would have been pretty pleased about it. Seems way may have had more financial clout at the crux.

Am in Amsterdam today and obviously the first thing I did, was ask the guys who work for me here what they know about Steve De Ridder. These guys know Dutch football really well (they told me Poortvliet & Wotte would be crap and get us relegated), so I trust their judgement. Seems De Ridder was part of the Ajax academy as a kid, but did not quite make the grade. Once he left however he really developed and showed what he could do and was probably De Graafschap's best player last year. There was lots of talk in Holland that Ajax would re-sign him this summer as they had him penciled in for one of their winger positions. Seems though not to have worked out due to cash (Not sure if its De Graafschaps valuation or wages)? He's strong, fast and direct so according to them will suit the English league. One Ajax season ticket holder said he is probably first team big 3 (Ajax, PSV, Tweente etc.) Dutch league standard. All pretty positive to be honest and good to hear. My feeling is that he probably was not originally part of the new 2-3 player plan, but perhaps the OXC situation forced us to act and bring a quality right winger in.

God help us if Dalek picks up on this thread.............

Mike, you have been a master. Thank you.

I love how its assumed Cortese makes every minor detailed decision at the club. I imagine he spent many a long hour deciding if to make this reserved seating or not..........can't take too long however, as he then needs to decide if its the smoked salmon or foie gras starter in the Markus Liebherr Suite before the game. FFS if he goes for the smoked salmon he really has no idea.

As a small child in the early 80's, I was given a scrap book with the England World Cup 82 Team on the back. Kevin Keegan was a superstar and I knew he played for Southampton, so naturally assumed the rest of the players also all played for Southampton. I'm guessing it was at least 6 months before I learnt that the England team was not the same as the Saints, but by that stage my life long love for this club was already ingrained. Thank god KK had not still been at Hamburg at the time eh?

So if I'm right anyone who had a season ticket last year and wants the same again, must have already done it by now, or they need to pay full price. So all those on the phones and queuing now are essentially new ST customers? I take the point that perhaps its everyone rushing to do it at once, but still it must be a good sign for overall ST numbers, no?

Exactly. Just remember also whilst on hold to keep randomly saying things like ........... "thats the way forward".........."I'm right on top of it"..............etc.

True, but at the moment there are maybe 3 or 4 of our own on the verge of the squad. They all need to get their chance, so I think NA will want to see what develops. If we bring some premier league kid in on a short term loan, it maybe blocks the chance of finding out if one of our own can hack it. My feeling is that's what NC/NA plan for the academy. The risk is of course, that you never really know if they are good enough until they get their chance. I think Mellis was our last loan of a youngster and that must have been almost 2 years ago. If I had to bet, I would say no loans of this kind any time soon.

Is it not the plan to give first team opportunities to our own academy prospects rather than other clubs? I'm pretty sure that's why saints don't look at this. How can we bring talent through from our own academy if we are doing it for Uniteds or Arsenals. I think we will see more of Reeves, Doble, Dean et al in our match day squads next season.