Badger

Thanks. I wondered whether to post this or not, as many are probably only interested in the here and now. Reading your post I’m glad I did, and pleased it’s helped you piece together some family history. ( I did some digging on mine, and ended up in contact with someone in Canada who was able to fill in some gaps from the late 19th Century… quite satisfying to add some pieces into the jigsaw so I know how you feel).

Banks was shit with the ball at his feet. Wouldn’t last five minutes in the game today. Good job our scouts can see proper talent when looking for GKs

Was highly rated at one point, with press reports of Chelsea and Arsenal wanting to take him from us when he was about 16/17.

Yes imagine some of it: Bates has taken them as far as he can, needs to go … No Plan B if the cross to Big Ron doesn’t work Paine, good servant, but his legs have gone … Channon’s missed chance : Chivers would have got that … But would be interesting reading which pubs the Alehouse team were seen it, and at what time, especially the night before a game

Didn’t Adkins once make reference to his time as a physio, and players asking him to ‘write them off’ ahead of some games at one point ?

Yes. And his agent and team of advisers. And at our level probably more cautious on playing as the transfer window gets closer.

Two sides certainly, but leaves me asking who is reporting to whom in these cases. In a traditional set up you’d expect the info to be passed to the manager (or head coach) to make the decision . Do the medics report directly to the DoF and they tell the manager who is available to him for selection ? If the manager looks to select someone the medics have concerns on do they go running to the DoF “ look Enzo/Tonda wants to play Ross Stewart or whoever …,”. Certainly grounds for internal friction if not all on board with it. Manager wants his best team, club want to protect asset value. Perhaps things are different at SFC. Downs brings a note from his Mum asking if he can be left out of training or games as he has a ‘poorly tummy’.

Wasn’t that Augustin Delgado’s greatest contribution in his time with us ?

Just looked the date of the match up, 3rd January 1976. Fiftieth anniversary of the game and Hugh Fisher’s goal tomorrow.

In what way has Edozie been messed around ? It seems he had the chance to go to Belgium but chose not to. We’ll never know if he was told “fuck off , you’ll not play for us again” or if he chose to stay and sit on his arse. Seems like his choice to me.

Definitely. He played CB, MF, and from time to time was a stand in centre forward when Ron Davies was injured. I think it was the following season to the one shown v Palace, 1970/71 when he spent a few weeks up front. Scored the winner v Man Utd at The Dell. A player I noticed in the Palace match highlights was Hugh Fisher. A lot of our play seemed to go through him. ( Unusual and good bit of skill from him at one point in the first half). Never the same player again after his injury.

Stumbled across this today, the Big Match from 30/11/1969. Black & White tv, of the game at The Dell. Good nostalgia for us old bastards, with Paine, Sydenham, Davies, Channon, Fisher, Gabriel etc. Hoping it takes minds off of Sports Republic for a few minutes. Always worth seeing - long lost age, adverts for Watneys Red Barrel, coppers walking around the pitch. The state of the pitches are remarkable. Good to see goal celebrations without fucking obligatory knee slides as well. Commentary very understated in those days, bloke not trying to be the centre of attention. Jimmy Hill talks through our goal a bit after. I didn't bother watching any of the rest. I saw a comment on the Youtube page after the game, that Eric Martin looked to be playing in pyjamas.

So why aren't these questions being asked externally ? Rhetorical question, as we know Alfie House and Adam go into interviews - when the club permit them - bowing and scraping, kissing arses so as not to offend. Perhaps Adam should invite Rasmus and Dragan onto a phone in, for questions that have not been previously vetted.

Exactly. If Dragan is a magnet for buffoons ,and taking their advice in his business career, as he has as a football club owner, he'd have been bankrupt years ago.

Yes, but who is going to get the message across to Dragan so that is understood ? Alternatively, how many million is he prepared to lose before he learns it for himself?

Has it ever been established if Parsons is still at the club ? Rumours of a parting a few weeks ago, but nothing heard since.

Quite damning really. I know some say Rasmus is the easy target, but in the absence of any other explanation or someone putting themselves forward as the brains and driving force behind the club, all roads seem to lead to him. Dragan had a bit of goodwill last season, talking of a reset and so on, but if Rasmus is still in his ear then both deserve all the critiscism they get.

It all seems very disjointed.

This is it for me as well. Appoint a manager to build the club, although the flaw in that in the modern world is that he won’t want to stay around longer than two seasons (three at the outside) to see it through. Would such a job appeal to a manager ? Nowadays the strategy seems to be a Director of Sport signs the players, and a coach is appointed to oversee it, not necessarily deciding on tactics and team selection. Was it Lowe who commented that the manager was just another employee ? If so he was perhaps ahead of the game in publicly stating it.

Is that a Forecast reference for the (relativity recent) ‘older ones’ , or a Frank Saul for the even older ‘older ones’ ? (Such as me).

Good luck to him and perhaps he’ll show the form that Bayern saw in him originally. Hope that as an Israeli international his time with Saints isn’t seen as reasons for others to make Palestine protests etc (might seem far fetched but you wouldn’t put it past some cretins ).

Perhaps an end of window review might be in order

I was surprised he wasn’t put straight in. Strangely I think he’d have been a less popular choice than Tonda.

Fair point. But that would be the same for any new appointment, had Carrick come in and lost the first four would that have been the case ? Had it been Gary O’Neil it might have been cranked up a bit more as well. How many games did we go without a win after Burley arrived ?

I think this is reasonably plausible about O’Neil. The only other name linked from someone was Rodgers, but if he did speak with Saints then a) he probably wanted a Kings Ransome of a salary, b)he wouldn’t accept any interference from above, c) his and Rasmus’ egos would never both fit into Staplewood