saints_is_the_south

UEFA's fair play ranking runs until 30 April before it starts again for next season, so we should know fairly soon whether or not England have secured a top 3 spot. If we did get in, then the draw for the first round of qualifying is made on 24 June, and is played on 4th and 11th July. Don't know why some are so concerned about this. The qualifying games can be treated as pre-season, with the bonus that they are actually competitive matches. There are 3 qualifying rounds and then the play off round to get into the group stage. The play off round commences after the Premier League has started, so you have 6 games before the season starts. Last summer, we played 6 pre season games plus the Markus Liebherr trophy. The only issue I see is it makes it more difficult to arrange pre-season, do you arrange no friendlies on the assumption you make it through the 3 qualifying rounds, or go ahead and plan friendly matches and then either have to cancel them, or play them as well. Guess you could always play the u21 and u18s in those. In 2005/2006 Middlesbrough managed a 14th place finish in the League, an FA Cup semi final and League Cup quarter final in addition to reaching the final of the UEFA Cup. In 2009/2010 Fulham finished 12th in the Premier League and reached the quarter finals of the FA Cup plus the final of the Europa League. And this season, Newcastle will probably finish somewhere between 13th-16th whilst making it to the quarter finals of the Europa League. So it can be done, without having too much of an effect on league performance and you can certainly survive in the Prem whilst having a Europa run. So if it does come to it and we do make it in there, as long as we suitably strengthen our squad in the summer I'm sure we could manage it just fine. Anybody who says they'd rather not qualify is mad IMO. Qualifying for Europe regardless of how it is achieved would raise the profile of the club, and potentially allow us to attract better players in the transfer market too. I'm all for it.

There you go.

Next weekend Fulham are away to Everton, Swansea away to Chelsea and West Ham away to Man City. With a win against West Brom, we will almost certainly move into the top half. The challenge over the remaining 3 games after that will be to stay there.

Don't recall it. The thought of being able to watch Redknapp's relegation live on national TV is a pleasing one.

West Brom are in poor form, should be able to pick up 3 points here. 3-1 Saints.

This is good! Skates can still finish bottom this way!

Just tweeted Italian football expert James Horncastle (one of the best football pundits in Europe) about him, this is what he had to say. @JamesHorncastle: @Lee_R1989 v.good player. Archetypal modern midfielder. All the big clubs in Italy want him, mind, particularly Inter.

Sorry, I meant this particular weekend in EPL.

Lower tier sold out online. Unlikely to make general sale, I'd say.

Predict the results of our final 5 games, and our finishing position and points total. Mine: Swansea City 2-2 Saints Saints 3-1 West Bromwich Albion Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Saints Sunderland 1-1 Saints Saints 2-0 Stoke City 10th place and 46 points.

I think he has improved a lot, in line with the entire defensive improvement we have seen. Thought he was magnificent against Liverpool, and other than the one slip against Chelsea he had Torres in his back pocket. Wins absolutely everything in the air too. Agreed that with our ambitions he is not at that level, but certainly proved he is a capable PL defender IMO and will be a decent squad player if we were to go out and bring in a top quality centre back.

Josip Iličić just scored again for Palermo. If they get relegated from Serie A he's a player I'd love to see us sign.

If you were a neutral and wanted to watch a game between 2 very good footballing teams, then you'd pick this one. I'd be happy with another point here, and I reckon that's what we'll get. 2-2 draw.

Why is the present location crap, exactly? SMS is exactly where it should be in close proximity to the city centre. I hate grounds that are located on the outskirts of town with nothing around for miles.

@SaintsfcCop: @Lee_R1989 3,200 is the full allocation for league games, each club can request up to this number, WHU only asked for 2,600 = more for homes. Strange they'd only request 2,600. Block 43 in the Northam home support tomorrow then.

Breakfast and beers around Liverpool Street, and then overground train to WHL. That's my plan.

Steady progression is the way forward. As has already been said, 11th - 14th this season would be a very good achievement, 10th would be absolutely brilliant. Next season my aim would be to replicate what Swansea have done this season, top 8/9 and a domestic cup run (and win, hopefully!). Then Europe after that.

Got a funny feeling we may come back down to earth with a bump Saturday. Same funny feeling I had that we'd beat Liverpool and Chelsea. A dour 0-1 defeat.

My 1st particular choice for a winger in the summer would be Tom Ince, but if Blackpool want silly money for him (his father was quoting £25m the other week!) then I'd be all over Townsend. Has been superb for QPR since going there Still only 21, would fit our profile for buying young English players perfectly. I'd take Remy on lower wages too...

Will get moved if Spurs progress to EL semis however. Was fairly confident they would, not so sure now!

Got mine online by 8 past 9. Unlike Arsenal it actually told you what position you were in the queue this time which was helpful.

Anybody not had their tickets through the post yet?

RB - Keiran Trippier (Burnley) LB - Maynor Figueroa (Wigan) CB - Davide Astori (Cagliari) DM - Lucas Biglia (Anderlecht) AM/Winger - Tom Ince (Blackpool) ST - Jeremain Lens (PSV Eindhoven) Sell/Release Danny Fox Guly Mayuka De Ridder Sharp Hammond Lee Seaborne Chaplow Butterfield Richardson Barnard Dickson Forte Martin Forecast

Ridiculous idea. Lock this thread now please mods.

In January Gaston did an interview with the OS. Said he'd just bought a house and had moved his family over here, was very happy here and enjoyed the relaxed life style. The people who make up these rumours obviously choose to ignore this, annoyingly.