Badger

Not sure Downes is a similar profile to Lavia from the clips seen. Downes looks a neat and tidy passer of the ball - especially in a match against us when we were down to 10 men - but no real footage of tackles etc. In summary I thought he looked a ‘JWP lite’ version (without the free kicks!). Lavia looks more robust and appears to offer a bit more in the DM role in challenges and tackles. Just a view and perception of course. Could be totally wrong, after all we know how YouTube made De Ridder a six minute world beater.

If it’s so blindingly obvious to the likes of you and I you have to wonder how our Commercial Dept / Directors missed it. WBA also managed a stripe down the back to make it seem complete rather than the designer running out of time in completing the effort. That WBA design in r/w, whilst not being the ideal is much better than our piss poor effort.

Haven't seen or heard that, the only one I'm aware they might trot out again was the 'Danish pyjama' shirt, in red and what appears pink halves.

This is where the blame lies in my view.

With your user name I respectively suggest your eyesight may have been impaired by too much time under strobe lighting. (Only joking I realise it's a matter of taste, and the 'flame effect' from the 80's is much better than the new 'wave' pattern).

Have to agree with you on this. On attending away games we often kill a bit of time pre-match looking at a club's shop. I wouldn't compare us with the larger clubs where it is geared for tourists but by comparison with clubs of our status at the time of the match (Middlesbrough, WBA, Brighton) I've found them to be a bit more imaginative in the range available in particular retro shirts etc. Did think of you and wonder what you'd make of Brighton on our visit in April, where they has an area set aside for rainbow merchandise ! At leasT, with the exception of the shirt, we haven't gone down that route.

Was thinking the same. Hope he goes to Reading as he might be in with a chance of a coaching role when Ince is either found out, or has a fall out with the board, whichever comes first.

Possibly, although that doesn't have the same swirl effect to my eyes.

Hope they are wrong. The green/ army fatigues shirt is awful. The contrast stripes look as if its a tribute to the groundsman paying tribute to the 1976/7 Admiral stripes. The blue is hideous and puke ! Wonder what inspired that ffs: Is it designed on a 1960's psychedelic experience, or a Paisley wallpaper ? Or perhaps it's a puzzle book, just hope the players don't spend 90 minutes looking for something in the design.

Don't recall the booing although many fans became indifferent to him. I liked him when he arrived at the club and felt sorry for him how it turned out. He lived up to reputation as being a good hard running MF for a while but two broken legs seemed understandably to knock his confidence and he didn't seem to recover from that with us. Credit to him - and Pulis though - as he certainly recovered form at Stoke.

Decent tribute:

Ultimately responsibility rests with the dickhead at the club that makes the final selection, I'm pretty sure in a video released last season they said they gave the club a few designs to select from.

Generally, 'experience' would be closely related to age, and seasons played. You make a valid point though that age isn't the sole issue, and that a younger player can show leadership s on the pitch, certainly VVD did whilst with us when Fonte wasn't there to muster the defence. Bobby Moore and Will Carling captained their respective England teams in their early 20's, and were widely regarded as good organisers. Ray Wilkins captained Chelsea at 18, but they are clearly the exceptions.

Agree with you about Alan Ball, I remember an interview with Keegan who said the he could still learn things from Ball in training despite twice being European Footballer of the year. The part in bold in your last paragraph is the stand out point for me. Buy someone like Salisu for £12m and put him alongside a good CB partner who can help him and organise the defence and you're on the way to reaching the target of turning him into a £40+m player, let him struggle alongside some of the shit we've seen in recent years and he becomes a quivering wreck you can't give away.

Hasn't he already signed permanently for Lyon ?

Don't think anyone comes close to Case or Ball among the current squad as good as Romeu and JWP are on their day. Go back to Miltonaggro's post to see what Case had achieved and won, Ball a league title and a World Cup Winner before joining us. Both commanded respect from the rest of the team and brought their experiences with them.

For all his other criticisms, Rupert put this to the vote.

... both obviously a smokescreen for Caletta-Car.

That would be some player....

Seagar for another.

Unfortunately I have to agree with you. The gap between the 'big 6' and the rest continues to widen. As time goes on the prospect of them fucking off to play in their European or inter galactic league is more appealing.

Spurs becoming even more detestable with that signing. Trouble is though that Kane, Son, and Richarlison always seem to score against us, so the opening day for our team of youngsters becomes a more daunting task.

Thought I’d seen this bastard somewhere before:

Exactly. Could have been worse no doubt, but for me too much white, why the plain back that in itself seems unsaintslike. It isn't a classic enough design to be an Ajax shirt, but could pass for a PSG away strip. And then the spiderman graphics on the white. Did the kit designer allow his retarded 12 year old to import something onto his laptop from an 'etch-a-sketch' ?

Perhaps we're both sad anoraks remembering such detail, but trouble is the recollections of Saints from the 1960's/70's/80's is much more enjoyable than anything now.