stevegrant

Saints score is always first. Important to note for cup games that may go to extra time and/or penalties, the score is the score at the end of playing time, either 90 minutes or 120 minutes where applicable. For example, the Norwich and Torquay JPT games last season would go down as 2-2, not any sort of Saints win.

The full deal, as confirmed by the Brentford OS - http://www.brentfordfc.co.uk/page/LatestNews/0,,10421~2108883,00.html £125k up front. Further £25k payments upon the following milestones being achieved: 10 first-team appearances 20 first-team appearances 30 first-team appearances 40 first-team appearances Saints winning promotion There is also a 20% sell-on clause.

I'd certainly hope so, especially as Lallana's not going to be fit.

Rather interesting considering his best performance I've seen him put in for us has been in midfield. I've been fairly disappointed with how he's done in the three games I've seen him play at left-back, to be honest.

Confirmation: the Daily Echo were not banned from the ground on Saturday. I think this can be closed now. Should also add that it's understandable that the lack of photos from the game would lead people to that conclusion, but I'm informed that there's a new system in place for photography at the club this season and there were some teething problems.

And then he got slated by a number of people (many of whom still post on here but have other targets these days) for doing so... you genuinely can't win with some people.

If you've not already seen it and joined up, the SaintsWeb Prediction League will be running again this season. The idea is simple, predict the score for every Saints game and gain points depending on how accurate your predictions are. You get 10 points for each perfect prediction (i.e. the score and the result), or 5 if you get the right result (e.g. win, lose or draw) but not the right score. If you've not got the full 10 points, you can also get a bonus point for correctly predicting either team's score. Examples: Saints v Southend last season, finished 3-1 to Saints. User 1 predicts 3-1 Saints win - scores 10 points User 2 predicts 3-0 Saints win - scores 6 points, 5 for the correct result, 1 for predicting Saints scoring 3 User 3 predicts 2-0 Saints win - scores 5 points User 4 predicts 1-1 draw - scores 1 point for predicting Southend scoring 1 User 5 predicts 2-0 Southend win - scores 0 points You can find the Prediction League by clicking the menu option at the top of the page (next to the highlighted "Forum" option), then go to "My Predictions" to start entering your scores. You can amend your predictions right up until kickoff in each game. When predicting, the Saints score is always first!

Almost certainly a ban on photos, not sure on reporters, haven't spoken to anyone since Saturday who would know either way. IIRC their match reports from the two games in Switzerland were as if they were there when they weren't, so I wouldn't like to jump to conclusions there without checking it out first. They got photos from the Thun game from a freelancer they employed (the club couldn't do anything about it as it was an away game), but that freelancer was refused entry to the Sochaux game (Saints hired the venue, so they had full control).

Last season during the Echo ban, the club were only giving access to photographers who agreed to sign an agreement stating they wouldn't sell their photos to the Echo. This was stated by the Press Association in a circular to all news outlets in the buildup to the Pompey game - I think the circular was copied on here at some point, they refused to sign the agreement, so there were no PA photographers at that game.

I reckon it'll end up at about £300k up front, another £100k if we get promoted, another £100k if he plays 100 games and then a 20% sell-on clause.

It would be a very strange day when you make sensible comments

That was something that was put in place on the old off-topic forum, which migrated into two separate forums, one for sensible discussion (the Lounge) and one where pretty much anything goes (the Muppet Show). Threads on the main board should always remain "on-topic", although it's natural that many will go off on a reasonable tangent every now and then.

I'll copy what I've posted in another thread: I don't think the situation we find ourselves in is particularly new, it's just a relatively new subject that is proving rather divisive. The main problem as I see it is that those who are entrenched in one camp or the other automatically assume that anything posted by the other side has some sort of barbed meaning, when in actual fact if people took posts at face value rather than looking at who composed it, the discussion would be much better.

It's all very subjective, though - one person's "good point" is another's "wind-up", depending on which side of the fence you sit. I liken it to a decent referee (if such a thing exists), who would much rather let things flow rather than penalise everything, regardless how small and insignificant. The best thing I can suggest is that you add anybody who you feel is particular tiresome to your ignore list. You'll still see that they've posted on a thread, but unless you specifically want to read that individual post, you won't have to. Also, if anyone is clearly breaking the forum rules, whether it be by "e-stalking" (God I hate that phrase ), hurling insults, or any of the other rules for that matter, please use the "Report Post" feature (it's this button: ) and let the moderators and admins deal with it. Trust me, we're doing our best to keep things on-track, but it's always been the case that we try not to disrupt conversations mid-flow as constantly locking threads and deleting posts only serves to annoy people, which ultimately becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Where was Cortese mentioned in the OP? The subject is the Daily Echo. Rather amusing how some people constantly whinge how "every thread turns into a NC bashing thread", and yet it's actually them that are doing so. Try reading the actual words written in the OP rather than putting your own words in there.

Care to tell us how the Echo has been "taking the ****"?

If you're not bothered, why are you posting about it?

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/announcement.php?f=5

Are you genuinely suggesting that we were a defensive (the near-perfect translation of "pragmatic" in football-speak) team last season?!

I'm not too fussed about the trophy itself for those same reasons, but I would add the following caveats: 1. It gives the game a pseudo-competitive edge a week or two before the season starts, which helps the players, and also the fact that they're playing for a trophy will add a bit onto the attendance; 2. Assuming the TBT game is played against prestigious opposition (West Ham aside), it also serves as a good test for the team, and from my own perspective, I like to see us playing against the best players. Watching Luis Suarez tear us a new one in the second half was fantastic viewing, even though we ended up getting beaten. Prestigious opposition will always bring bigger crowds as well If they're going to scrap it, that's up to them, but they could at least communicate that fact, if only to save them the questioning on the subject as a result of their silence. The timing this year in particular was somewhat "unfortunate", coming only a matter of weeks after the death of Ted's widow.

What, a bit like a handling fee levied on tickets bought via the most common and convenient methods?

I wouldn't bother questioning it, apparently you'd have an agenda...

Just got back after spending an hour or so up there - unsurprisingly, Lancashire barely played any attacking shots in the time I was there, the one exception being when Smith tried to sweep Briggs but top-edged to Adams for 128.

That photo is brilliant

Agreed, but we won't be bringing 5 or 6 teenagers off the bench to replace our first-teamers in any competitive game, so I'm not too concerned by the last 20 minutes or so yesterday. I was actually pleasantly surprised by how well we coped without Lambert in particular, but also Lallana, Puncheon and Schneiderlin, as I think all four would be in the starting lineup if everyone was fit.