mikee

Unfortunately this is another americanism that has infiltrated our sports. Even happens at Twickenham now where the national anthem is sung superbly by the crowd.

Used to make the hairs stand up on the back of my neck but now the crowd is just drowned out by these professional singers who just kill the emotion of it.

It works in America as the crowd tend to stand with their hand on their hearts rather than sing but it shouldn't be allowed over here!

Won't make a great deal of difference.

 

The only impact it has is on the amortisation figure for players we've paid a fee for.

 

For example, we signed Lambert for £1m on a 5-year contract, which means the accounts show a £200k charge each year in amortisation/depreciation. However, having "paid" £800k of that over 4 years, we've since given him a new 3-year contract so the remaining £200k will be split over those three years, reducing his annual contribution to the amortisation bill by £133k a year.

 

Our wage bill is too low to be affected by the "maximum £4m increase" rules that come into play next season. The threshold is £52m, I expect ours will be around the £35m mark.

So this suggests we will benefit from the new rules as we have lots of headroom to increase the wage bill whereas most of our (top half) competitors may only be able to increase theirs by £4m.

Is that right?

This guy would be a terrific addition to our project. Great engine, aggressive, all action player.

 

Shows you the depth of talent that Belgium have currently - can pick from Mousa Dembele, Eden Hazard, Axel Witsel, Stephen Defour, Marouane Fellaini, Dries Mertens, Timmy Simons and Kevin De Bruyne. With two monsters in Benteke and Lukaku up front, Kevin Mirallas is a tidy player too. May be worth a few quid on them doing well at the next World Cup.

And not forgetting Steve De Ridder!

let's give him another season ..... and I míght agree.

 

AN really was something special. Niemi and Shilton were our best two keepers in my time as a fan.

Agreed, then Timmy Flowers so Boruc still has a bit of work to do yet but Boruc is probably the biggest character of them all.

Even better than Niemi IMHO.

Did you see Niemi at his best?

At times the goal mouth had a force field blocking any goals - he was that good.

I only hope that by the time Boruc leaves he is seen in the same class as Niemi - that would be great and he has the ability and character to achieve it.

He is suffering from the fact that a lot of our fans are small time and think 12 million should buy you a world beater.

Agree with this along with the knee jerkers tendency to write people off just before they came good.

Gaston had no say in the fee and you can't judge quality purely on price - this place is free but i am still not sure it is worth it.

IMO, the minimum we need to sign is:

 

Boruc, or another top class 'keeper

An outstanding, top notch, CB

A good ball playing DM to rotate with Morgan and Cork (plus allow Cork to be used as cover for RB, which could also allow Clyne to be the cover at LB)

A good, fast, attacking player able to play on either flank (would love Lens, as then he could also be used as a central attacking option/cover)

Agree with this but would add 1 or 2 top strikers as I feel we will need 4 good strikers to be successful over a whole season and we only really have 2 at the moment.

We could then have 2 strikers on the pitch and 2 on the bench for impact.

True, but don't fancy Gaston putting in a performance with Nolan et al booting him every 5 minutes. Think we'll start with the same team as Sat if everyone is fit. Only change I could imagine is Lallana for Gaston.

I don't know where people get this idea that Gaston can't handle the physical side of the game?

He was brought up in Uruguay which has some of the toughest (dirtiest) football going and has on many occassions in a Saints shirt used his strength to win possession back or create space for a pass.

Another simple one for Morgan:

Allez Morgan

Allez Morgan

As in the Allez Le Bleu chant the French use.

Another simple one for Morgan:

Allez Morgan

Allez Morgan

As in the Allez Le Bleu chant the French use.

I remember this game well.

I remember Colin Clarke laying on at least 2 if not all 3 of them.

I remember Alan rushing off to celebrate in his now famous style without thanking Colin.

I remember thinking:

1. this guy is a natural finisher

2. what a selfish c**t

appreciated him as a striker but never really liked him after that.

Seems that first impressions do count!

Sometimes it's a balance of learning and developing at Saints from the good coaches and playing with the group of lads he knows to gaining that first team experience. Timing is key as you don't want to do it too early to negate the development he's had. They shouldn't be rushed, Shaw is an exception but still needs to be developed in the right manner.

The exception for Shaw was that he only had danny Fox in front of him.

If we had a better left back i am not sure that Shaw would be in the team now. It just shows that despite all of the talent you still need a break and then to be able to take it!

The best opportunities in the team at the moment are at CB or wide midfield so perhaps this is where the next breakthrough will come.

Ha ha it had me for all of about 10 seconds....it's my birthday today so used to this.

 

Maybe its a warning to RH to select him for England or else!!!

Mine too! Happy Birthday to all fools.

My daughters favourite prank is to tell me that she is pregnant! - how we laughed......

The QPR performance wasn't awful, Saints dominated the game and had over 3x as many chances as QPR (17 to 5). Poor finishing let us down, like it also did in the Norwich game.

True but we all know that for some fans a win = great and a loss = sh*t irrespective of the performance, particularly those that don't go to games and just react to the scoreline.

You only need to look at the post match reaction threads to see who they are.

The priority for me would be:

3 attacking players - one to play left, one right and one central.

Main attributes should be Clinical finishing, technical ability and pace. I would budget for £8m to £20m each to try to get potentially better than we already have.

I would also look for another CB who is technically gifted and fast and possibly a left and right back to take some of the pressure off Shaw and Clyne and to give us Premiership quality back up / competition.

I think that Ward-Prowse and Davis are sufficient cover for central midfield and Morgan and Cork are as good as we need to progress although Cork maybe needs to contribute some goals as well.

Possibly a new keeper if we don't keep Boruc - although I hope we do.

I can see us spending about £45m in the summer to get the above.

Really liked Adkins but prefer Pochettino.

He has the confidence that his style of football can beat anyone and is not afraid to try to win every game.

That really makes me proud of my team. We have a history of beating big clubs but with Pochettino we seem to be able to win by outplaying them at football - I don't think we have really done that since the 80's - with the odd exception.

Can't wait for this season to be over and safe and really excited about next season.

We're going to win 8 out of next 9 games just like MP did at Espanyol. MP sought devine intervention, last time is was a pilgrimage this week we have a new pope! History will repeat itself and Saints will finish 10th.

A new pope who just happens to be........

Argentinian

tis a sign....

I'll sort him no worries, a cup o tea and a sarnie, maybe a beer or two, I always look after me guests.

your post made me smile as I had a mental image of a cross between the Royle family and Great Expectations with you sat expectantly around a dusty table in the 'Pool with mouldy sandwiches and cob-webbed covered beers waiting for your guests to arrive - with just the ever so occasional glance at the clock on the wall.

thanks for that.

He's just one of the many wums that now run this site. I'd say just ignore them, but it's getting harder as there are so many now.

 

Struggle to have decent debates here these days. Full of sly/sarcastic comments aimed to catch posters out for ''bites''.

It has gotten worse as all of the trolls and WUM's now realise they can't survive on their own so have started backing each other up to stop real posters from making a sensible contribution to the forum.

They forget that most of us have more to do in our lives than big ourselves up on an internet forum which is why many of us refuse to be drawn into a pointless argument - another reason why they have started teaming up so they can have someone to talk to in their clearly empty lives.

I suspect I am not alone in not being bothered anymore as it is no fun reading 99 posts of garbage to get to the 1 decent and genuine post.

I will leave the asylum to the lunatics as visiting this forum now diminishes my enjoyment of Saints instead of enhancing it.

Good luck to the rest of you.

The rule is the same as it has always been, "deliberately handling the ball". There are no references in the Laws of the Game to "ball to hand" or "hand to ball" or any of the other cock that some of the commentators/pundits come up with.

agree - and there was no way that was deliberate. The problem is the refs are playing by a different rule when it comes to handball and we have become so used to it we seem to accept it. Shocking decision in my eyes but far from the only one he made yesterday.

I think the ref was the difference between a 2-2 draw and a defeat.

My top 3 - in order of importance:

Lambert

Morgan

Cork

Hoping to add Ramirez to that list over the next couple of seasons.

I dont want to be a doom merchant (lord knows, we have enough of those already) but another thing Moyes mentioned which I completely agreed with was that much of our improvement was already evident under NA. So I dont share your shock at what MP has been able to achieve, fantastic though the City win was. It was one win. The 2-2 at Chelsea was almost as impressive given the 2-0 half time deficit, away from home. We defended badly in the Wigan game and we gave away a very poor goal v City, so there is more improvement to come. Dont get me wrong, Saturday was brilliant and I am sure we will keep improving but its not quite the quantum leap you make out just yet

I agree that our results and performances had improved under Adkins but what we saw against City - and in parts against ManU and Wigan is in a different league entirely. We now seem to be able to dominate the ball and possession so I think there has been a marked improvement from just about every player.

I loved Adkins but I am so glad we have got MP.

it is not just the pressing that has impressed me but also the organisation and shape of those not pressing in the Man City game.

i am absolutely shocked at how much improvement MP has been able to achieve in such a short space of time and very excited about where this team could go.

Dont know why people are suggesting villa or wigan, as far as im concerned their fans will expect too much from him when the championship is so competitive. Leeds are the team, big support new owners so he'l be their man, money to spend and a big team too. Cant see him getting a PL job without getting the team promoted

totally agree and i am expecting him to turn up there either at the end of the season or even earlier if Leeds results don't pick up quickly.

Would be a great job for Nigel and I am certain he would get them promoted.

If the echo article is accurate then it is probably a good thing that the meeting has been cancelled as it seemed that Matty was more interested in getting Cortese to explain his "disgusting" behaviour rather than clearing the air for the good of the club - and that was never going to end well.

Matty will always be a god to me as a footballer but in his personal and business dealings he has shown himself to be both naive and a poor judge of character - which is why this spat started in the first place!