mikee

me too The irony is that that these people think they are the life and soul of the forum as they have nothing better to do than post on here all day when in reality 90% of what they post is drivel and they stop most other people on here from posting at all as we can't be bothered to argue the toss with a bunch of c**ts. They are slowly but surely killing this forum. That is my opinion - but how many others share it?

unfortunately there are far too many of those on here.

Be very careful what you wish for - without Cortese and his financial backers we wouldn't be any where near the Premier League and comparing him to Lowe is ridiculous. Cortese makes these decisons to achieve his ambitions for the club whereas Lowe only looked after his own interests. I personally loved Adkins but every manager knows the risk of being a football manager and if Cortese thinks we are better off with this guy I am prepared to give him a chance. The OP is a typical over-reaction by fans on this forum - and they are normally proved to be both premature and wrong. I expect this may be the case again. I am not prepared to let Adkins departure de-rail our support for the team as that will become a self fulfilling prophecy - although I know some would be happy with this.

The only way we will be able to achieve these ambitions is by having our future teams made up of academy graduates - even then we won't be able to keep them all - so part of our strategy must include being a "selling club" as this will raise additional revenues and provide a home for our second tier graduates. The problem if we do manage to break into the higher echelons of the Premiership is keeping our best academy prospects patient enough to wait a bit longer for their chance. At present we can blood the best of them at 16 or 17 but this will naturally change if we continue to get better. At the moment, offering a chance to play must be a big part of the attraction of SFC. The good news in all of this - regardless of what happens - is that we will be able to attract the best young players to the academy as they know their chances of making it are better than at other academies. This is probably the biggest short term benefit, academy recruitment, and if that happens the rest may well follow- in time.

totally agree and the Guly haters really wind me up at games. Some seem to think it is acceptable to take their frustration of their sad and pathetic lifes out on Saints players they are supposed to be supporting. I certainly think the atmosphere would improve if we got shot of the whingers - probably only a few hundred in total.

We know from last season that Jos is better than Fonte - it is a shame that he didn't get the chance to adapt to the PL that Jose and Yoshida have. People are far too quick to write players off after a couple of bad performances.

you were saying the same about Adkins recently but seem to have switched to Gazza now. think you will be proved to be equally off the mark with your latest victim.

alan Shearer was possibly the worst offender! even on his debut - he scored a hat trick and I remember thinking that he didn't once thank Colin Clarke who had literally laid each goal on a plate for him. funny the things that get to you as a fan.

put me down for a c) 21 - 30 million ramirez £15m (including Penarol fee) Yoshida £2m CB/LB £4m LB/CB £6m Total £27m

I would be very surprised if Ramirez is not played centrally in the typical no. 10 role. Forward line of Lallana, Lambert, Phillips (or similar) with Guly and Puncheon providing squad depth and Rodrigues competing with Rickie. Also think Lee could play wide of a forward 3 so plenty of options if Ramirez and Phillips sign.

and who could forget your absolutely hilarious post in a mock italian accent!! I would have commented sooner but I have only just stopped laughing - haven't laughed that much since the classic sitcom series "mind your language" was on. It really was like stepping back in time. Thanks

It is really easy - if you think the thread is pointless and you don't believe it will happen, just stay off the thread then! Perhaps it will become less pointless that way. none of us know what is really going on but we do know that we are being ambitious and we know we have money to spend so whatever happens it is likely to be exciting. I am sure we will get a hint as to when it is happening, if it does happen, as Ramirez will need to come over for a medical and I can't imagine he will be able to leave the country without someone noticing so we should have some news about 3 to 4 hours before he actually signs. In the meantime, try to relax and enjoy the ride and don't bother posting on threads you think are pointless - this is not just aimed at you Alpine there are plenty of others doing the same.

So just because this site is dominated by a small number of loonies who like to argue all day for fun and have generated 60 pages of twaddle - the club need to make a comment! you were right about fiasco but it is not the transfer that is a fiasco, rather the rumours and bull**** around it.

Monkou for 5-4 away at Norwich Matty's chip of Flowers at Blackburn Moran at Fratton Park Bobby Stokes in 76 Beattie winners v Man U at home, West Ham away and Free kick in 4-2 NY day win at Stamford Bridge Anders for 4-0 v Spurs in FA Cup Countless winners at the Dell in relegation battles from either Rod Wallace, Matty or Pahrs Danny Wallace v Liverpool evening game loads more over the years

The pictorial proof we needed!! Look at his T - shirt, clearly says "I OFF"

I think we all know that this side needs re-inforcements to be able to compete in the Premier League, but somehow yesterday we managed to without them. I think that is why it feels more like a victory than a defeat. It is also quite obvious that we are likely to have better players available to us for the Wigan game so there is even more reason to be optimistic about that one. for now, we all deserve the opportunity to bask in the glory of yesterday's result - lets worry about Wigan later in the week, by which time we may have Ramirez, Phillips and a CB to boost our confidence.

Lallana wide left and Lambert in the hole would have been much better. Lallana is going to move there anyway if ramirez joins

agree but I would still play Lambert in the hole and push Lallana out wide

I would do the same and also not convinced about Lallana in the hole or JRod on the left. Only difference is I would swap Lambert and JRod around - that way we have more pace up top to support breaks and SRL is great at holding up the ball and playing others in. Personally I feel this may be Rickies best position long term as he can dictate play and score goals without exposing his lack of pace.

reading this reminded me of that QPR documentary with that Italian guy who was looking after rangers on behalf of Briatore - he came across as a right nutter who flys off the handles with each goal conceded. somehow though this doesn't ring true with the impression you get from Cortese when he speaks (albeit rarely) about his plans and ambitions for SFC where he seems very determined and calculated rather than emotional and reactionary. I wonder if there isn't some italian stereotyping going on here. Cortese comes across as too professional and stubborn to fire one minute and then kiss and make up the next.

But wouldn't you incur the match day surcharge of £2. I presume the rules are different for league games as I bought 8 tickets for the Ajax game and was only charged £1.50 in total booking fees?

lots of great goals there but one on my favourites was the one away at Liverpool. rarely do you see the home fans applaud a goal against them but you can see it clearly in the clip as Matty scores at the Kop end. we lost the game but it was worth the trip for that goal alone. It is hard to explain to my sons that Matty was so good that he was virtually every football fans favourite player - regardless of which club they supported. Can you imagine a player achieving that kind of status in the current game?

Of course it can include things that we have always done - that makes sense. The only thing that is new....is branding it the Southampton Way!

It's a marketing strapline used for branding and differentiation from our competitors. Generally these things tend to be organic in that their meaning can change and evolve over time to suit the needs of the brand. This is a particularly good approach for things that are aspirational rather than absolute, which I think a lot of what Cortese and others refer to as the Southampton Way is. Whatever it is, it is unique to Saints. I would like to think it includes a more ethical business model for top class football, where glory rather than money are the key motivators. We can already start to see this I think with the Academy development and future plans to half of our team come through the Academy.