norwaysaint

Anyone got a link?

I don't think we can count players who were released as schoolboys as mistakes. There are so many promising kids at that age, of course a few of the many released will make it, but it's not a terrible failure of judgement letting them go, just a prediction that has to be made. Ings was only at saints as a schoolboy as well wasn't he? I think it's more the ones who come properly through the academy and to the fringes, before we release them without giving them a chance, they are the ones we can feel got away.

Was Southgate at saints? That seems to be a new one to pop up in these discussions, which generally come around every couple of years. Have his Southampton years only just come to light?

Marsden's was more funny and unlikely than actually skillful, apart from the first move he basically just runs in a fairly straight line and then side foots it in, the defending is terrible. Davies took the ball a long way and beat players and skipped tackles with a bit of skill.

Yes, I'm for real. I think including Portsmouth in this builds up their relevance rather than leaves it in the past where it belongs. It looks insecure, like comparing yourself constantly to your girlfriend's ex, even though she dumped him years ago.

Why have you listed Portsmouth's? Try not to obsess over them too much, they are three divisions below us. It lends them so much more credibility than they actually have to act like we still need to get one over on them. The biggest insult you can give them, if that's your thing, is to treat them as being as irrelevant to us as they currently are. If you start comparing it to other clubs, 36 is good, but West Ham will have more. I daresay West Brom have more.

I was going to write a post reacting to some of the stuff above, but remembered trying to discuss political opinions on the internet is the ultimate lost cause. I'd just remind everyone that if you are British, you will have grown up with a very clear image of the British being the good guys and the IRA being a shady bunch of murderers. That's how it works and it's how I grew up too. Naturally, it really isn't that simple. Teaching aspects of history in English speaking countries to students with no national bias, you start to learn quite a bit and see the other perspective. The British really don't come across as the good guys or the Irish as the bad guys. It's a bit more complicated than that, but I was never really told about that, growing up. I never understood what we had done or were doing to them, or what was being done in the name of my country. I just knew that we were all scared of being bombed by the nasty Irish people. I'm glad that he, like so many others, managed to put the hatred to one side and join the struggle for a very difficult peace process. I know nobody's opinion on here will change from this thread though.

Have we had two welsh players called Ron Davies?

Looking at the player stats, why does history only start in the 2012-13 season? It says Fonte has only played 159 matches for us, fewer than Davis. Does football only count if it's in the PL?

Bleidelis managed 106 matches for his country, while during three years in the middle of that he only played two competitive club matches. Cleber Chala was only signed to hold Delgado's hand and never kicked a ball competitively for saints. He was a million pound signing, back when that was a significant fee, but I think you just have to count that as part of the fee for Delgado. It is odd how many players were signed despite clearly never being part of the manager's plans for the first team though. It does seem relevant when you see how many people are profiting from the moving around of people and cash in football.

He was no Imants Bleidelis.

I can't find an English equivalent of this story, but the list is pretty clear to see. It's the joint fourth fastest that may raise a few eyebrows... http://www.vg.no/sport/fotball/premier-league/denne-mannen-har-hoeyest-toppfart-i-premier-league/a/23787047/ Five of the top ten have played for saints. Yes, I know it's early in the season for stats.

I wonder if there's ever been a build up thread where somebody hasn't said that this is a really big/important game.

So many things to make you feel old. I was playing Second Toughest in the Infants by Underworld in the car yesterday, thinking of it as fairly modern. It's exactly 20 years old. So when I played it to my eleven year old child, it was like my parents playing me something from 1961.

I thought Palace was the best one. It had both the enthusiasm and the professionalism. Ours was a little too corporate, but still one of the better ones.

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?42442-quot-Saints-considering-Mauricio-Pochettino-quot-Daily-Mirror&p=1587573#post1587573

Quite fascinating to read back: http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?42442-quot-Saints-considering-Mauricio-Pochettino-quot-Daily-Mirror#.V2ciKbt97IV

I like Long, but I would love to see Everton fans' reactions if Koeman's first signing was Shane Long for about 15m.

I grew up with Lawrie, but drifted away from football for a couple of years and although I remember Lawrie leaving, really can't remember any reaction to Nicholl coming in. So my first will have to be Branfoot. I was disappointed to see the end of Nicholl and his amazing attacking line up. Branfoot never really inspired anyone. It was pretty underwhelming and my QPR supporting housemate took the **** constantly at how tinpot we were.

Yep, losing Gaston and Juanmi has left a gaping hole in our squad from last season.

It makes it sound like his time there didn't last long because of us, but when was the last time we had a manager for two and a half years? Branfoot? Jones was with us that long, but part of it he was already replaced by Hoddle, so doesn't really count.

You could buy six Adam Lallanas with that.

I thought the old series was starting to get quite tired and dull and was quite happily missing it regularly, so this idea of keeping the exact same format with new presenters doesn't exactly do much for me. Evans is trying to be too similar to Clarkson, but his squeakier voice doesn't really sound right in that role. I keep hearing about Leblanc being a success, but is it only me who thinks he sounds just like a really bad actor reading his lines all of the time? He's terribly wooden and unconvincing. What's missing is the way the old presenters, as annoying as they were, used to be able to chat to the camera while they were driving and make it feel like they were confiding in you about what they really thought about the cars. There's also a lack, so far, of personal involvement in the tasks. The old presenters would have been fixing up those Reliants in their own style and doing repairs, (I know it was all fake and they weren't really that hands on involved, but the program is semi fictional anyway). It's a weaker version of a show that was already fading.

Shows pretty clearly that our best PL striker by some distance has been...Peter Crouch.

I haven't been keeping up to date and can't read through 68 pages. Can someone give me a link to whatever the source is that makes everyone know he's definitely going?