derry

Waste of time. only says, hopes it will happen, have to wait and see.

Absolutely nothing, he earns too much at Reading. He has just moved into a new house at Bartley with his girl friend who comes from Totton. He shares transport with Raziak and commutes daily.

It would be well for those criticising Harding to reflect that he has coped on the left side on his own, without any player tracking the full back and has often had to cope with two attackers. Because we are so lop sided we have always had a right midfielder in front of James. He has never had to cope with two attackers on his own.

James is a short term answer to an immediate problem. Because of his lack of pace he will never be the long term right back. It is only a matter of time, as new players are brought in, before he becomes a regular substitute, then eventually moves on.

Brian Howard has moved into a new house at Bartley and is commuting to Reading with Gregor Raziak. I believe he is no longer on loan and has signed a three year contract on very good terms. I think Pardew has talked to him but he is too expensive for us at the moment and he isn't interested in playing in div 1. He would like to finish his career at St Mary's and would be interested if we were promoted, also has a get out clause if Reading are relegated.

I get the feeling Bill he is treading on toes that are still coming to terms with a different way of doing things and he doesn't suffer fools. I think change was needed and as you well know it is sometimes difficult to change the old guard. I wouldn't hold a ruthless streak against him as it is certainly something I can see is sometimes necessary.

I do know he treated Oldknow's PA well after Oldknow left. She was essentially working partly for him but worked primarily for Oldknow as she was his PA last time he was here. Cortese recruited his own PA before Oldknow went and she was being trained by her. Oldknow going left her out on a limb, but Cortese gave her a choice in what she could do and essentially created an new opening for her, in the particular part of the company she was interested in.

Both deals?

Fryatt?

I'm not saying don't sign him, I am saying don't pay silly over the top money. £300,000 tops for a six month contract, his wages won't be small.

We would be daft to pay that sort of money for a player out of contract in July. He would be daft not to wait and let his contract run out then be able to negotiate a better signing on fee etc.

That was Saturday so it could have been altered.

I looked at wikipedia, I should have known better.

Thanks, that's better.

Unless I've missed something, Elliott Ward is reported be be 5' 9" tall, that would make it imperative that he played alongside a big centre back. Hardly likely that him and Perry could play together.

We need a central midfielder that breaks forward beyond the strikers and has an eye for goal. Mellis wasn't that player, every time he broke forward instead of going for goal he checked out and looked for someone to pass to, that is not what we need. Hammond and Schneiderlin both tend play deep, whilst Hammond breaks up play he isn't a decisive attacker or penetrating passer, Schneiderlin is the better passer and is beginning to challenge for the ball, but barn doors and banjos come to mind with his shooting. I think only one of these can play at a time unless one or both change the way they play in attack. Lallana, when he has played as a proper wide left midfielder coming in on the blindside and scoring regularly has been good, but stuck in a narrow left position is neutered. He could play as an attacking central midfielder and would go for goal.

So did the Echo.

I'm pretty sure that after 31st Dec it requires 10 bookings.

I'm really advocating going all out attack and the attacking midfielder being balanced by the other midfielder doing more defending. It would mean a proper right back, two decent centre backs and two wide midfielders tracking back to make it work. I would like to see the whole team keep the ball and overwhelm the opposition with movement and pace.

Exactly what we need, a quick hard running attacker out of central midfield.

Because Pardew is putting square pegs in round holes we are lop sided and unbalanced. The team except for Waigo lacks real pace, and whilst Antonio is quickish his control and end product let him down. Waigo at left midfield was wasted especially as Antonio was really poor on his natural side. It is a myth that the best eleven players make the best team. It is the blend and balance that is important and we lack that. It was crying out yesterday and really all season for a natural left midfielder, it was also an opportunity to give Holmes a game with Waigo on his natural side. The two central midfielders are basically mismatched as they both like to sit deep and lack the drive needed to attack. We badly need an attacking midfielder and could do worse than let Lallana have a free attacking role alongside Hammond or Schneiderlin. Right back is still a problem and James isn't the answer. The shotstopping element of our goalkeeping is good but the dealing with crosses and distribution is poor. If we are going to be a decent team we have to address these issues and start playing from the back. At the moment we give the ball away far too easily and lack the balance and movement except during isolated moves to be a league winning team, which by August we are going to have to be.

I think you have to ask the club that question as SLH Ltd was liquidated whilst SFC Ltd was bought I believe as one of the assets of SLH and was the recipient of the donations. The Saints Aid money was held by the club and some was paid to the Saints Trust eventully to settle bills, which was how I ended up eventually being repaid.

I did the same thing, both goals were similar, I think the first was offside.

Alan Ervine had a row with the directors, as they had instructed him to sell players to raise money in January. Sean St Ledger was supposed to sign in January for a further £2m but Strachan sent him back. It sounds like Preston need money and would either sell Trotman or use him if they sell other centre backs. I think we can do better than Trotman, he wasn't great in the last few matches. We need a quick, left sided centre back, good enough to be a top CCC performer.

Another thing that comes to mind, asset stripping, a firesale of the saleable assets to try and pay off Gaydamak and the £15m reportedly borrowed from HK. Out of that the FA/League who receive the funds will take out the football debt.