Badger

Brown envelopes at the ready...

I hope he makes a recovery. I'm sure he means something to someone;perhaps he begat another generation of thoroughly detestable curly headed scouse f^ckers in blue le coq sportif hafnia shirts. Don't easily forgive the c^nt for Blackburn 1977 or being part of Everton 1984 though. Oh, good to hear Andy Gray has gone 'Cliff Richard' on us and is leading prayer for the day.

More importantly, best alliteration as a GK since Kasey Keller. Who by coincidence was also a Yank. Small world.

Isn't Targett meant to be the more attack minded of the two ? In which case he might be the LM option. As for where will Lallana go ? On the right perhaps.

Has Matt Targett (or Taggart) signed as yet ? another rated youngster, who I read was a left sided player,( a month younger than Shaw but described as his "successor" ?)

John Mortimore. Assistant to both Ted & Lawrie during their best seasons. Unlucky not to be manager of Saints in his own right. Had Lawrie declared his intentions to leave before he did after 1985, the I suspect Mortimore might have got the nod.

Oh, and throwing the names of either Tommy Forecast , and Ali Diah into an otherwise serious thread are well worth a chuckle to lighten the mood.

Any debate on the goalkeeping position, and who the best candidate is, must include reference to Tommy Forecast. And Dexter Blackstock.

An identification by earlobe, or a strategically/carelessly misplaced millionaires yacht clearly mean a takeover is immininent. And months of speculation follow.

And some Eastern European migrants to offer a car cleaning sevice for a £1 whilst paying the car parking charges at St Mary's.

We once had a manager called Atkins. Despite two promotions and guiding the team away from the bottom three after a wretched start to the season, we have learnt two weeks after he left that he was not as good as we thought, training was stale and players were no longer motivted ( despite coming back from 2-0 down at Chelsea). Then a previously unknown bloke from Argentina is rebranded Mo Po , or something silly, and he's a world beater who can take us to the next level (whatever that is). And we can live happily ever after.

What cut of horsemeat is it making it into the foodchain though ? Is it a lean cut of thoroughbred, or is it donkey dobber ? I think we should be told.

Championship Manager or another computer game is the bestest index to judge a players worth before signing.

Len Fairclough MK II

Thought he often played right back for us.

That is a good choice. Some similarities with Sharp in that he scored the goals to take us up but was never given the chance to prove himself at the top level. Many a rumour that his 'exclusion' once we were promoted had nothing to do with ability etc, but a training ground fracas. Shame. But I think Fisher was a bit of a hero, albeit often an unsung one. He was also the target for 'critics' at the time though. Disagree with this choice as Peach was definitely a hero for a few seasons. Very unlucky not to play for England. One of my favourite left backs in Saints history, only Mark Dennis was better (although Shaw has the potential to eclipse both but that's another matter).

Might be unfair to put him in here, but Paul Gilchrist springs to mind. Bought as a young centre forward to take over from Big Ron as I recall, he never came close to fulfilling that, but Lawrie converted him to a midfield player, and two momentous contibutions spring to mind. A goal of individual brilliance v WBA in a cup replay, and then of course the first goal in the semi-final.

Never mind the youth and experience, "old heads, and young legs" whatever you wish to call it, I think we need to determine who are the "violinists" and who are "the dustbin men" as Lawrie once categorised the perfect squad.

The concern now is whether we can hold onto them, Morgan in particular.

Alf Garnett would turn in his grave at such a suggestion.

Remember to post the link on here.

Probably worth avoiding in truth. Qualifying matches in July,early August. Then a ridiculous amount of matches to congest next season with, in front of paltry attendances on a THursday night. We don't have, and are unlikely to have by next season, a squad big enough to deal with this without it severely impacting on our league form.

Good one ! is that correct / 2nd March falls on Wave a BROWN ENVELOPE DAY ?, I'll have to check my diary. Anyone else aware of this ?

And did he stress the "camp"ness of all this ? Allegedly.

Yeh, I preferwooden f^cker Andy Tw^tsend on ITV pretending we did not exist, and did not play a part in bringing him from non-league obscurity to srtart his career.