Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd

In the words of the mighty, Half Man Half Biscuit... Supercalifragilistic Borussia Mönchengladbach.

I'll be really ****ed off if we sell Targett. Particularly as we need cover at RB/RWB. ...Sadly I think he's gone. :-(

We could wear the yellow kit at Fulham, Spurs and Newcastle. The home shirt could easily be worn at Watford and Huddersfield. Somebody, somewhere has been paid a fortune to come up with a third kit that's primarily the same colour as the home shirt. I just don't get it. Why not make something that's completely different? There's plenty of other colours out there!

It was always going to happen. Ah well, let's hope it continues so that we can command a decent fee for him.

Mine arrived in Dublin today. Can't grumble at that. The new shirt including delivery to Dublin for under £30.00. :-)

This.

I'd send him out on loan for another season. If he returns having scored 15+ goals then keep him. Less than that then sell him next year.

The issue wasn't with their pre-season. The problems started when they lost some key players through injury. Most Stoke fans i've spoken to have said that the problems weren't Hughes' fault and that he should have been given more time. I've not spoken to one who thinks they would have gone down had he stayed.

Funny how people are slating Stephens. It's a far cry from the praise that was heaped on him following a impressive performance against Liverpool. The Telegraph said "The centre of Southampton's defence has been decimated with Jose Fonte sold and Van Dijk going, but Stephens has been a revelation and was part of an impressive collective defensive display against Liverpool." ESPN said, "If Hansen watched his beloved Liverpool being dumped out of the EFL Cup by Southampton on Wednesday night -- robbing Jurgen Klopp of the chance to win his first trophy in English football -- his words "You can't win anything with kids" would have come back to haunt him again. For Southampton's 1-0 victory, securing a 2-0 aggregate scoreline, was built on a rock solid defence, with academy graduate Jack Stephens very much at the heart of it. This time last year it is unlikely anyone outside of Hampshire would have heard of Stephens, who is now looking forward to a big Wembley final before even making his full Premier League debut. In fact, when the team sheets were released a little over an hour before kick-off with injured captain and star player Virgil van Dijk absent, Liverpool fans were buoyant at their chances of overturning a first leg deficit to set up a likely capital showdown with Manchester United." Then there's the winner he scored against Watford in the FA Cup and the equaliser he bagged against Brighton. Some fans have a very short memory. He's not a league 2 defender, FFS.

Just received shipping notification for my order.

Until I saw this thread I had completely forgotten about him. It didn't even register that he wasn't in the French squad.

I remember seeing us score 8 in a pre-season friendly in Sweden when Paul Sturrock was in charge.

For £20m you'd want Ings and Sturridge. Even then you'd only get half a season from the pair of them.

I know Ben. He's my neighbour in Chester. Looks like he'll be going out on loan for the season. Stoke are very interested.

I think you'll find he's referring to James Maddison who has just moved from Norwich to Leicester for £20m.

Read a very interesting piece about Bertrand's exclusion from the WC squad. Southgate and Holland said their decision not to take him had nothing to do with his playing ability, it was based on his mental state and his frame of mind following a difficult season at Saints. They wanted everybody onboard with the right attitude and didn't feel his head was in the right place.

Certainly feel more positive than I did this time last year.

Shame they didn't go with the yellow / blue sponsorship as in the mock-up. This looks much nicer and is far more subtle than the red logo. Ahh well, nothing we can do about it.

I don't understand why people can't look at this in a positive manner. He's cost £7m, which in today's market is not bad business at all. Just because Maddison had a great season at Norwich and went to Leicester for over £20m it doesn't guarantee anything. He could have a nightmare season, he could set the Premier league on fire, although I doubt the latter with Puel running things. In fact, they've taken a much bigger gamble than we have. As other have said, we need a Davis replacement and I would assume that's what Armstrong is. If Tadic goes for £15m then I wouldn't be overly concerned. We'll make a small profit and let's be honest, he hasn't exactly been consistent for us. It looks to me that we're setting up to play a different way so I have no issue with changes being made to accommodate that. Sell Tadic and Boufal and replace with one decent player and I'd be more than happy with that. I've always felt that with Tadic, Boufal and Redmond we had too many similar, inconsistent players. Losing 2 of those 3 would be no bad thing at all.

They do if they've got a black and white TV.

Absolutely. They've also axed extra time in the League Cup. I can remember when there could be a couple of replays if cup games were undecided.

Can't see him coming given the list of other clubs that are interested.

I can't help but feel that Puel left one hell of a mess behind and MP just wasn't the right man to put things straight.

Probably a 2. If I look back over my 40 years as a Saints fan it's had the occasional high point but has mostly been a series of disappointments. Runners up in the league in '84 was great but nobody remembers runners up. Lost the 2003 FA Cup final. Lost the 2017 League Cup final. Beaten in numerous semi-finals. Even when we were promoted from League One and the Championship it wasn't as Champions. It's a sorry state of affairs when the highlight of your Saints supporting life was seeing the club win the 2010 JPT over Carlisle Utd. Would I change any of it? Of course I would, but life as a Saints fan is never straight forward and in a strange way that holds more appeal than following a club like Man Utd, Liverpool or Arsenal.

I'd be inclined to let Bertrand go and keep Targett and McQueen. Assuming somebody actually wants Bertrand. I certainly don't see a top 6 club coming in for him but could see a move to someone who is prepared to pay silly wages... Like WHU.