Rebel

We can smell you over here! We can smell you over here!

Money! Money! Money! In the Saints fans world! We've got lots! You've got none!

My Pompey brother in-law wont answer the phone! lets hope the crowd at St Mary's really get to Pompey's foreign mercenaries if there are any of them left to play! and they won't be used to playing in front of a full stadium either!!

Holmes provided very little cover in front off Mills, failed to track his runners and seemed unwillingly to lay the ball back to Mills to cross it when he had nowhere to go himself and Mills was in space Holmes also lacks the stature and pace to play at this level Left midfield was a real weak spot yesterday

Not sure he was worth the money and Paterson in the long run. He doesn't have the pace we so desperately need either. Still in the short term he can play tomorrow (I think) - and he will be an alternative to playing Lambert every game.

I think it was a mistake to let Paterson go. Lets hope it was just on loan to get some first team experience. He has the potential to be a good striker - just needs the playing time and to develop - and the coaching. Overall I think will regret letting him leave in the long run. And he really wanted to play for Saints!

Paterson, Thomson and White all need to go on loan for the rest of this season to League 2 clubs Boyle, Molyneux, and Martin as well probably - but maybe conference clubs they all need competitive playing time - and the level our reserves play at is pathetic Bournemouth would be a good club for some of them - if they didn't have a transfer embargo - or maybe Aldershot - meaning they could live down here and still train with Saints one or two days a week Pulis probably needs to go on a free transfer Thomson, Paterson and White have all shown in flashes that they've got the potential to make the grade - they just need the time and opportunity to develop their games Wade Elliott, Brian Howard, Brian Stock, Arron Davies and Scot MacDonald are all players we've released or given up on far to soon in past years I bet we'd all like them in our match day squad now though!

I think the MK Dons game last night proved we need an old head in Midfield to put his foot on the ball, pass it and keep posession. When we went down to 10 men we just reverted to the long ball - hoofing forward - inviting MK Dons on to us - and keeping up the pressure on ourselves Wotton is great as a defensive midfielder but he's not a great passer of the ball - Wotton and Mills were both very guilty of just punting the ball forward Wotton was best in a 3 man midfield - sitting in front of the back 4 winning the ball and then giving it short and simply to Morgan, Hammond, Melis or Lallana to make the play Oakley would be a good fit for this role - and I can see him joining us for a swansong next season if we are still in League 1

we went into Administration because Lowe tried to call the banks bluff on the overdraft limit and it didn't work we got relegated anyway thanks to Lowe's Double Dutch policy and his 'youth policy' the reason we got into financial trouble in the first place was down to Jim Hone spending the £7 million Wild promised and never delivered - even when he knew it was never going to turn up - in the vain hope that someone would buy the club if Hone, Hoos and Oldknow had run the club within its means we would never have gone into administration but then if Wild had delivered the £7 million investment he'd promised.... and if Lowe had left Crouch to run the club with Pearson as manager we'd never have gone into administration over a breached overdraft or got relegated on the pitch! but you could argue that if Wild had left Lowe in control in the first place we'd have been run within our means and probably still be a mid table CCC club the massive gap between our revenue and the money spent on players and wages over the 10 years Lowe was in charge has never been explained it wasn't used to build a state of the art training ground and it wasn't used to pay-off the stadium mortgage so where did it go? we could have taken the step forward after the cup final - but we didn't because the money went elsewhere - dividends, exec and non-exec director bonuses and expenses - and lots of other through lots of other completely legal routes into Lowe and his cronies pockets! its no coincidence one of the companies used to do maintenance work on the stadium and training ground was owned by Lowe and his father how many other similar things went on? how many directorships of companies connected to Saints did Lowe hold? St Mary's Catering? Saints FM? I imagine Ray Ransom and SISU are doing something very similar at Coventry right now! Portsmouth are in real trouble because they bought players with money they didn't have and they paid players massive salaries with money they didn't have - funded by loans taken out by Gaydamak how come PFC now owe Gaydamak £28 million when he didn't actually put any real money into the club it looks as though it was all done deliberately - winning the FA Cup was just an unwanted diversion - either for a property deal or for something dogdier got to laugh though! the FA and the Premier League need to take a long hard look at themselves though - as well as the PFA!

I'd have Prutton back as he would give us some bite in midfield, is a box-to-box midfielder and does actually provide a goal threat - he can also play on the right or in the middle. Bit like Hammond really! What we are lacking is a defensive/holding midfielder player who can pass the ball as well! That would allow Hammond and/or Morgan to get forward and into the box - hopefully scoring some goals. Morgan is a playmaker but he's not yet quite up to playing the defensive midfielder role - give him time though

Prutton? He's only got 6 months left on his contract at Leeds Racon or Bailey from Charlton - supposedly they need the money Danns or stock? Arron Davies - been released by Forest - to play on the right.

I'd rather take Pitman from Bournemouth and Tyson from Forest. Pitman would be a great back-up to Lambert as they are similar sort of players - both big second strikers - and I think he would be happy being a back-up in League 1 and opposed to playing in League 2. Also think like Lambert we could improve him a lot as a player. Plus he supposedly wants to join Saints. I's also like us to sign Nathan Tyson from Forest to give us that pace upfront we are badly lacking. He's proven at this level - and would work well with Lambert/Pitman or Connolly. Jackson and Beckford will both end up playing in the Championship or Premier League by the end of January! Vokes on loan would be the icing on the cake - would give us another option upfront - a proper old fashioned centre forward - he wants to play for us or so we are told - he's young and will get better - and he can play with Pitman as proven at Bournemouth!

I would guess the transfer fees are being funded by Liebherr and the club itself is paying the wages with a 20,000 average gate, no mortgage on the stadium, and most of the big earners from the last season gone I would imagine there is room on the wage bill for a couple more players on average League 1/CCC wages Saganowski and Thomas are probably the only players left at the club who are on big wages now and I have a feeling both will be leaving on loan or free transfers this January plus a couple more of the fringe players will be going out on loan - Mills, Lancashire, Gobern, McClaggon, Pulis, Holmes, Forecast, Paterson possibly even if we doubled Lamberts wages when he joined us I don't expect he's on anywhere near £10K a week - and a step up from £3K a week to £6K is still quite a jump for anyone! the clubs turnover is probably something like £15 million - so a £10 million player wage bill is quite do-able.

well if they do - there's a Japaneses college in Winchester - so there loads of Japanese girls to be found there its attached to the University in some way - it used to be called Shoei College or something like that - but I think its just part of the Uni now I used to live just up the road from the halls of Residence in Chilbolton Avenue.

I hope its not Steve Wigley - I'd welcome him back in the youth set up though - maybe as U16s or U18s coach - but I don't think he'd make a good DoF role Huw Jennings would be on my short list for the role of DoF - I see the role as more of a strategic and administrator role rather than a coaching or hands on football role if the role if defined properly and you get the right person in for it I think it would improve the long term management of SFC as I see it the DoF should be responsible for the all things on the football side of the club - the scouting, the academy, the first team, the sports science etc. However the Football Manager should have ultimate responsibility for the first team the Technical Director as I would prefer to call the role would be responsible for the football budget, the players wage bill, the transfer budget, negotiating players conftracts, etc the Head of the Academy, the Head of Sports Science, Chief Scout, Head of youth recruitment, Football Manager would all report to him his primary objective being to manage the football resources of the club with a long term goal and vision - to balance the football managers short term vision in staying up or getting promoted the DoF should be responsible for signing the players the FM needs for the first team, making sure we stay in budget, as well as making sure we have a succession plan and continuity when it comes to managers, coaches and players he should be tasked with making sure there are always players coming through from the academy and reserves in every position capable of pushing for a first team place. he needs to understand football - particularly the business and contract side - and be a good judge of players - but not be a football manager or coach

What about another striker? Vokes on loan?

Newcastle fans watching Saints v Newcastle from high up in the trees behind (and over) the Archers End! It was kind of funny - as well as dangerous - particularly when one of them nearly fell out of his tree! we should have donated that statue to Portsmouth so they could commemorate Mandaric as its the spitting image of him signing Ricardo Fuller for £90,000 was another funny/tragic moment as was appointing 'Arry Redknapp - wrong time, wrong place, wrong man! the whole Ali Dia sub on, no ability whatsoever, sob off fiasco was also very funny! when they found out I was Saints fan at work in London it was Ali Dia and that Statue that came up again and again as p*ss take moments!

I think AP's biggest concern with Gillett is his lack of height and bulk - thinking he's too small and lightweight for this league. Personally I thought he was a good holding midfielder, lots of energy and tackling and not a bad passer of the ball - good technique for the most part as well his biggest problem is he never really had a long run in the team to prove himself - and his lack of height!

on one of the transfer sites it says we've made a double bid of £2 million plus for Elliott Ward and Freddie Eastwood!! fess up - who was it?? who made it up? saying that I do think there will be some strange transfers this January as players move from clubs in financial distress to clubs with no debts and money to spend like us Coventry, Derby, Portsmuff, Boro, Celtic, Rangers, West Ham, Palace, Watford and Notts County are all in a bit of financial bother whereas teams like us, Huddersfield, Birmingham and Forest all have money to spend thanks to wealthy owners

Here's a quick list of local born and bred players: Brian Stock Sam Vokes - Lymington? Brian Howard - Winchester Wade Elliott Adam Lallana Mathew Paterson Andrew Surman Aaron Davies Lukas Jukietwitz you could add Lloyd James, Baird, Matt Mills, Cranie, Best, Bale, Walcott, Bridge, Blackstock and McGoldrick to that list as players brought through by Saints there are also rumours that Brett Pitman, Ben Thatcher and is it Robert Friend at Wolves are all Saints fans! And I can't see any reason why Saints don't have stronger links with Southampton Schoolboys like they used to in the old days My dad played for Southampton Schoolboys in the 50s which at the time had a close link with SFC - several of his team mates ended up playing for Saints - and he was offered an apprenticeship by SFC but my Grandad made him get a proper job on leaving school at 16 to help support his 8 siblings! how times have changed! he ended becoming an accountant instead! weirdly he didn't play football at school as he went to King Edwards on a direct grant having passed the 11 plus - which at the time was a rugby only school! he did play for Old Edwardians later though - and later still the Army during his national service (where he shattered his kneecap playing against the Navy) there is also no reason why a Saints B team or something like that couldn't play in the Hampshire League giving local youngsters another chance at making the grade

It's a p**s take you idiots! Besides what he's actually suggesting is a takeover and putting down of Portsmuff FC! Which I quite like as an idea! In reality the Skates are already bust and in any other business would probably be wound up anyway! The premier league should let them go to the wall as s lesson to other clubs!

One bad pass or missed shot and he will become the boo boy just like Fuller if we do sign him it's probably Pardews first big mistake it will be a bad move both for the player and the club I was hoping for Pitman or maybe someone like Healy on loan

Leeds will be weaker by the end of January - probably losing Beckford and Snodgrass and maybe one or two others hopefully we will be stronger with another forward, a left winger, another midfielder, another centreback and maybe two more full backs Leeds have strength in depth that we don't yet'

We need another striker - one with some real pace and power to lead the line and play in front of Connolly or Lambert we also need a first choice right back and reserve left back and probably another first choice centreback a left winger would be good as well

We didn't play well today and still won 3-1! Started with the long ball and the actually started to play football after about 15 mins. When we passed the ball we were the much better team. Took our foot off the gas though and let Exeter score. Waigo should have come on much earlier - as should Wotton. Lallana and Connolly were the real stars today and along with Waigo stood out as being too good for this division. Lambert was disappointing again!