S-Clarke

Good article though IMO...but would you agree that losing Reid was key in your decline in the 2nd half of that season? I still believe you'd have been promoted if he had stayed. Did you reinvest any of the fee?

Good writeup there, enjoyed the read. IMO the main reason for their poor 2nd half of the season in their first year in the championship, was down to the sale of Andy Reid. He was sold in the evening of deadline day in January - that's their main player, the player everything went through. What situation does that leave pard's in? Pretty hopeless IMO, no time to replace and no money to reinvest - no wonder they struggled for a blend in the 2nd half of the season. His failure was down to a combination of a few mistakes by himself (in terms of signings) but also a lack of ambition and support from the charlton board half way through his tenure. Once the board starts selling and doesn't let you replace, you're only going one way. The situation here is totally different for him though - and by the way he's started, mistakes have been learnt. Let's just get that win on Saturday and wipe the smiles of those smug ''addicts''.

Great news! for me...he'll replace Perry.

Mills instead of Mellis, push both wide men right up top - and you're spot on.

The rumour is that he questioned Lowes methods - about just kids and the need for experienced players, so lowe kicked him out. Also webster the same, as he questioned the signing of forecast as he didn't rate him as a goalkeeper - he was let go too. As i say, they're just rumours - but i wouldn't be surprised if they're that far from the real truth.

Sorry to break the news - but believe it or not, Thomas cost £1.2m. That's quite the ''panic'' signing. IMO we'd be lucky to get 150k for him now. Questions have to be asked as to why GB was allowed to spend that kind of fee on 1 player? but nm...it's in the past now.

Won't happen... ''The loan extends until the transfer window opens at the start of January and with North End unable to recall the player, Trotman is likely to get a good run of games under his belt.''

If he keeps this level of consistency going all year, then i see no reason why he should not win player of the season IMO. Has looked brilliant in every game for us, defensively untroubled and in the last few games he's been getting much better in an attacking sense too.... Still surprised we managed to sign him! Reading fans wanted to keep him...

It's true. -10 points or not -10 points...we should be well clear at the end of the season. (IMO) If we do just survive then it'll just have been another season regularly loosing and failing to win football matches. How is that supposed to aid us in really going forward next year? We need to build momentum this season and then take that through to next year. ''Just'' avoiding relegation, IMO, just continues this unambitious losing rot we have at this club.

Coppell has been seen at St Mary's twice in the last few months though, recently at home v brentford iirc.

I think they work if there is an amicable agreement between all parties (at the start) - and seeing as Pard's and Coppell have both worked together before, it's better than other options. IMO DOF roles fail when an unknown foreigner comes in and starts signing players from his country....ala QPR in a sense, that hasn't worked too well. Nicky Hammond was influential in readings rise through the leagues, working alongside coppell. So in that sense i believe that Coppell will understand what Pard's will expect from him and also have a good view of what to expect from Pards. I think it will work - it's less of a gamble than say, a swiss ''football'' man coming in.

Pardew would have been made aware of this during his recruitment process. Cortese made it quite clear when they first took over the club that they wanted a DoF - this was before Pard's was appointed. I'm sure that Coppell is someone Pard's would have recommended also - at the end of the day, they're both going to be working closely together, so it makes sense if Pard's was consulted on the appointment. Nothing to worry about IMO - just another sign of intent by the new guys. To me, it seems as if we're putting together a team of winners at all levels. - now it's just for the first team to click.

FT 6-1 Scorers - OG...Molly, White, Wotton, Olly Lancashire, Mills worrying bit in the middle of the write up though... Concern was raised on 64 minutes when Mills went down on half way which left the youngster needing treatment. The left sided player was able to return to the action but was later (as in 2 mins later) replaced by Academy prospect Garyn Preen. http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/ReservesNews/0,,10280~1790386,00.html

Yep. ''The 2004/5 campaign started slowly for Lallana however as he required surgery to correct an irregular heart-beat - a condition discovered during the medical examination that followed a first call-up for the England Under 17 squad.''

One thing alot of people seem to forget about Lallana, is that he was diaganosed with a heart condition at about 16/17 - i think he still has to have checkups. He was close to actually quitting the game because of it...so cut him a bit of slack. But he's not been too bad this season at all IMO - he's put in 100% pretty much every-game, but when we play like we did on Saturday (HOOF) then he's just played out of the game and becomes ineffective (not his fault at all) When we grow as a team and develop a pattern to our play, he will be integral in it.

I think Henderson will now focus on the acadamy and reserves full time. It seems as if Downes / Wilkins / Murdoch have come in as just first team coaches...leaving the likes of henderson to retreat back to the academy. Hopefully we can recruit some more people in that area too - we've never replaced Prost and i don't think we've really got a proper youth development manager. I know Matt Crocker is part of that...but im not sure if he's full time anymore.

Maybe because we had to work pretty hard to get him, and put up alot of $$$$$$$ - i don't think he'll come cheap after playing top level serie A football. I must admit i'm nervous about the hype of someone we've not seen yet...but i'm slightly more at ease after the comments from Italian based fans/Senegalese fans.

It's as good a setup as we've had for a long time. That's why im so pleased we made a clean slate from last season, although they gave their all for us in the end - Killer / Wotte and Gore do not compete with the likes of Pards / Wilkins / Downes/ Murdoch for their knowledge of this level. Much better, a win should be coming our way soon - followed by a stretch of them once these guys make their mark. If people like Wally Downes cannot get these players responding and performing then we're a lost cause to be frank.

another one there too didn't know he'd scored against Juve twice!

Let me tell you - this is an awesome appointment. ''Wally'' was one of the pivotal figures in readings record breaking season. the reading lads loved him, he was part of the amazing team spirit they had together - he was part of their celebrations when they scored quite a lot of the time. Think of him as a character similar to Glynn Snodin, who i also thought was a huge loss for us. (i can assure you that he has had a big impact in leeds current form...) He's an extremely infectious character and specialises in the defensive side of the game - another reason why reading have been so tight in defense (even when they were in the premiership). This is a huge signing for us IMO - another top appointment by Pards.

Pards did say in one of his interviews after lambert arrived. (something like this -) ''we could have signed a young striker for a similar kind of fee, but we felt this was the better option''

I think you can? kind of like a gentlemans agreement between the clubs. Not sure if its changed, but Wolves did this sort of deal for Kightly a few years back. 3 month loan with an option to buy in jan iirc.

ITK ? this is how wolves got kightly fwiw

I probably didn't illustrate it perfectly, but what that formation will bring is the wingers and adam all into the attack, getting into the box from Lambos flicks. If it's played right, and players are disciplined in their positions - then lambert wouldn't be isolated IMO.

We shouldn't be, but if we don't get that win soon we could find oruselves 15/16 points adrift! we're all a little twitchy at the moment...it's not a great situation. Please saints...just get winning again and let us all sleep easy for once!