redkeith

Barca are fantastic, maybe an equal to the great AC Milan sides of the 80's and 90's. But could the have coped with Branfoots' Bruisers ?? Imagine Terry Hurlock steaming into Xavi, while Steve Wood hoofs the ball up front to Moody and Dowie ....... ..... Saints down to 9 men after half an hour, 15 nil to Barca. I do hope that the poster on here that don't like Barca because they don't move the ball forward quickly were being ironic. Xavi reminded me so much of Alan Ball when I was a nipper. outstanding.

So they have added £700K to their list of debts. Thats 1,500 sesaon tickets just to pay of the back pay owed to Ben Haim. That doesn't sound like the behaviour of a club that can fund it's way through the summer. I would imagine that this will run on until the next parachute payment arrives. Then there is the £1M dispute with Spurs to consider. The is such a soap opera, whenever it gets dull, another debt or legal dispute appears, like a long lost member of the Mitchell family.

My first Season Ticket, on the West Stand terraces cost me £26 in 1978, the same as it would cost for one match in the Kingsland in 2011. Went to watch Bordeaux last season, the season after they one the title. Myt ticket cost €18 for a seat behind the goal. You could have paid a lot more for a seat on the sides if you wanted to. English football is very overpriced by comparisson.

How many players from the squad that was mismanaged, by popular opinion, into the Championship play offs would get into the current squad ? For me,the obvious choices are Bale and Kenwyne Jones. I thonk that our centre-Halfs are much stronger, while Butterfeild is much better than Ostlund/Wright, and Chris Baird played out of position all season in the middle. Surnam might be a good foil for Morgan in the middle of the park, but Oxo and Lallana are far better than Viafara and Skacel. Up front, Rasiaks goals might be handy, but I honestly think that only Bale. Jones and perhaps Surnam would be first team starters in our current line up. What do you reckon ?

I think that Rangel would be a good improvement at RB, not that I think our existing ones are that bad, better than Tjaito, Ostlund and Wright. Nathan Clyne is not a bad shout either, but I think he will be off to a Premiership Club.

92 points - two points a game across the whole season - incredible form when you consider the start we had .

Oxo Tower wa great, fantastic service, as it was obvious to the staff that we were the only people in there not on expenses

Pipo Inzaghi , off side more than Wiago.

I hope it is a pre-season tour to Bordeaux. so I can go.

Jonathan Greening doesn't get picked at Fulham this season. Not in the Jimmy Case class. but would be class in the Championship.

Just a thought. Bart and Kelvin fall down the steps on a night out at Polish Vodka bar, Tommy Forecast in for the last game, Saints 1 Wallsal 20.

I think the first promotion was acheived with Beckford up front, on loan from Dirty Leeds. He went back to Leeds, so scunny goal threat went with him. 2nd promotion they had Hooper and Hayes, they stayed on for the first season,but left this season and Scunny went down again. No opinion on NA until the next 3 rollercoaster rides are over .

Great result. They were there for the taking, but it looked like we had shot ourselves in the foot once again. 45 Minutes from Llallana, Chaplow back to his best and Connolly being a super sub again. Another nervous afternoon on monday, but I its so good to astill be second tonight. A bientot

All you Tory boys, I am a bit suprised that you are not up in arms about the influence of the credit ratings from these unelected Private International organisations. Sounds like interference in the running of a Sovereign State to me. Imagine the uproar in the Mail if the credit ratings were delivered from Brussels or Stasbourg ..... ' EU orders hospital closure .....' It's all about perspective I supose .

I went to the replay. Survived the ninety minutes OK, and the wait in pitch black behind one of the stands while we waited for the coaches to be brought round. Got dropped off at Waterloo to get a train back to Bracknell. I was sat in a carrage on my own when five Millwall fans sat next to me. I quckly shoved my program deep into my coat pocket so they couldn't see, and spent the journey pretending I hadn't been to the game. They all from Bracknell, and lived on the same estate as me, so when we got back to Bracknell I spalshed out on a taxi, as I didn't fancy walking across town with them, in case the sussed me out. Got home safely, only to find the front door kicked in and the house had been burgled!

The wage bill for the 9 remaining players comes to about £7M a year. I can't see a massive queue of clubs lining up to sign Ben Haim, let alone pay him £38 K per week. I think the CVA terms give them a £10M a year total wage bill. Doesn't give them a lot of room for the 11 or so signings that they need .

Even if the Russians do take them over, I think that there will be severe restrictions on inbound transfers until the CVA is paid off. Until this time, the FL should restrict them to free transfers and loans, although they may well be able to get players in exchange for Ward and Lawrence, in the same way that they did with Wilson. That is what happened with Swindon and Bournemouth, but the same laws don't seem to apply to the skates. I don't think the league has the power to stop them offering outrageous sigining on fees to the likes of David Norris, so that is probably their best hope of raising a team next year. Off course, the Russians do have to pass the FPP test yet. Looking at some of the allegations against them, it may be difficult.

I had four pairs of Grey Gap pants , which were my lucky pants. However, not all of the pants were lucky and, as they we're all identical, it was pot luck as to wether I got a lucky pair or not. Since xmas, two pairs had to be chucked, as they were getting a bit holey. Since then our form has greatly improved. Coincidence ??

That boat seems to be cursed. First it runs aground, now this. Should have been called HMS Albatros. Still, at least it's not full of radiactive material. .... D'oh !

Forte ...... starts with an 'F' .... just like Funnell. Could this be and omen. Lets hope so. Don't know about the players, but I'm exhausted.

Since we first got relegated Richard Wright Saejs Cranie Mills Higginbottom Antonio Folly Oakley Griffit Blackstock Wiago All of the above seem to have been let go without much of a fight. The biggest waste though was the way Rednkapp and Burley didn't give the younger players a chance.

Mark Hughes and Stuart Ripley. I have an old copy of football manager 2000, and every now and then I start up a new game just so I can sell the pair of them. Useless mercanaries.

Also in the News today, it said that the Skates were more hopeful of a resoloution in the dispute over KPB and Muntari, with monies still owed from Italy. In the case on Muntari, they are chasing payment of the last part of the transfer fee for the sale to Inter, but they still owe money to Udinese fir the original purchase of the player. However , this is not a fottball debt according to FA/PL rules and so is part of the CVA. Can you imagine the reaction in the English press if ,say, Fiorentina had gome bust owing money for a player they had bought from an English club, who they had subsequently sold onto another English club for a profit, and then refused to cough up what they owed in the first place. The tabloids would have a field day. I think that the Italian FA should get Inter to pay off Udinese, and the Skates get any small change that is left over. I am not just saying that because it is the Skates, but if the same thing happened to an Englsih club, I would want the FA to step in.

So the transfer window has now closed, and Brown, Hughes and Ben Haim are still at the club ( how is the sispute with West Ham going ? ) . That means that they have to pay all three of them until July 1st, when the first two are out of contract, and the transfer windows opens for all of the clubs waiting to pay Ben Haim £38K per week. Their combined wage is £100K per week, for another 14 weeks. That comes to £1.4 Million, or to put it another way 2,800 full priced season tickets just to pay for the deadwood. Doesn't leave a lot for rebuilding the team, or paying the C.V.A .

On a more positive note in Saints' History , it was about this time of the 77-78 season that Tony Sealy got injured, opening up a place in the team for Tony Funnell. Funnell went on to score 7 goals in the run in, including the equaliser at Orient which sealed promotion ( barring a 5 0 defeat in the last game). If AOC or AL is out for a while, maybe there is another Funnell waiting in the wings ?