benjii

As the squad stands, I'm pretty sure it will be this: -----------------KD---------------- Frazer------Jaidi---Fonte------Dickson Puncheon--Hammond--MS----Lalalalalalalalana ----------Lambert------Barnard/Connolly Obviously we might sign another midfielder who plays instead of the second striker or replaces an existing player. I can't see that we signed Dickson to play on the left wing. If we'd wanted to sign a left winger we would have signed a left winger, not a full-back.

I've seen a stripped on a London stag get gash out, stick it in people's faces and beg people to take pictures. So I guess it's horses for courses.

"gutter business ethics" You've been reading too many tabloids Dune.

"gutter business ethics" You've been reading too many tabloids Dune.

Do you really think we're not now though? It is a small minority of Saints fans who are genuinely upset at the minor things which have happened recently. I bet most do not care about: parking, the pre-season tour, a booking fee, the Ted Bates trophy, the name of a room. Did people stop going because of Lowe's "train-gate" - no, IMO. If people stopped going it was because the team was dross. ST numbers will be the proof in the pudding as to how unhappy the ST-holding fan-base is. I appreciate the whole installment plan thing is very annoying for some but come the season I bet most have found a way round it and assuming we do establish ourselves at the top of the league no one will give a hoot about a few PR ****-ups/communication issues.

If you want to queue for half an hour and risk missing the start of a match to save £1 then there's no helping you. I imagine most people who book match tickets in advance over the net/phone buy more than one per match. They like to sit with a mate, or two. Let's say just one mate. So that's a fee of £1.50 per ticket. Cheaper than on the day already. Let's say they agree, with that mate, to go to two games which are on sale. So that's a fee of 75p per ticket. It's even more of a saving, as they would have paid £8, rather than £3, had they bought all tickets on the day. I really think this is a non-issue, no? Can't wait for the footy to start so people can moan endlessly about that instead.

It's nonsense to say that you can't compare the two because Lowe didn't have the same money as Cortese has at his disposal. Lowe might indeed not have had the backing of a billionaire but what he did have (before he helped get us relegated) was 20+ years of top flight football, a 30,000+ crowd, no decent local competition and large scope to become easily the biggest football club south of Birmingham and outside London. The reason it all went downhill was that, in this position, he decided to appoint: Gray, Wigley, Sturrock, Redknapp (decent manager but never going to be able to work with Lowe) and made a host of other poor footballing decisions. Now, do people think the wage Pardew is on is a wage that we couldn't have afforded in the Premier League? And yet we have recruited a manager far better than the list above (other than Redknapp). Lowe fundamentally did an awful job because of his appointments of Sturrock, Wigley and Redknapp. That season was a disaster and it was a completely avoidable disaster caused solely by the actions of the executive management. (And just to head-off the Hoddle lunatic - yes, fans were against Hoddle but other managers were also available). None of the decisions made that season were ones where Lowe's hand was forced by a lack of money. He then came back and tipped us right over the edge after Pearson had shown signs of being able to sort us out. When Cortese starts making decisions as bad as these then there might be a valid comparison between the two but at the moment there is none.

Charlton will be gash. Play-offs at best.

You don't think the private sector is criticised much? Banks? BP? McDonald's? Microsoft? CocaCola? What planet are you on. Typical defensive resort-to-stereotype nonsense. And posting purely to get a reaction.... wtf? Ok then. Hitler, he was a nice bloke.

Sack the Rumour Control Police.... too slow!

I think that was a specific reference to the car parking operation. This post was brought to you by the Rumour Control Police.

Loads of people will. Like you are now. What's your point?

Isn't the point of the match that is a prestige game which befits Ted's memory? There is no point in us playing against prestige opposition so I can understand the decision. When we are in the PL, or maybe Championship, we can bring it back. I'm not sure why the club haven't made an announcement though. I imagine there is still an awful lot of flux and transition going on behind the scenes; this is the first opportunity the new management has had to use the close-season break to get things done. They seem to have overlooked their PR slightly but I reckon that will probably settle down as the club continues its progress towards one that looks the way they want it to look from top to bottom.

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/Membership/0,,10280,00.html It says anyone who has held a ST or membership since 2001 should be able to use the online system. EDIT: that is aimed at last season though so maybe the drawbridge has been pulled up a bit. On which point... there should be an announcement about this year's membership pdq given that tickets are now on sale for the matches.

You do wonder what the selection criteria is at the BBC. Mark Bright FFS (or is he ITV?).

Which is what 90% of us do. Unfortunately there is a very annoying minority on here who don't have this basic discipline/patience/intelligence.

If Lowe and Poortvliet were in charge of signings I would be dismayed. As it's Pardew and Cortese, a team that has proved itself capable of signing the best available players at our level, I am not remotely concerned.

Truly tragic. Look, if you're a business with a finite resource of something and demand is outstripping what you are able to supply you would be mad not to charge for it.

Sometimes this place reminds me of the worst excesses of the Spanish Inquisition.

FWIW my teachers were a mixed bag.

It would be nice to know the reasoning but, as Hopkins implies, playing a warm-up against Ajax or Lazio or someone similar is quite ridiculous as a footballing exercise when you are a third division team. We could call the Reading friendly the trophy match but, frankly, it's Reading FFS. No problem with the decision but, as with a few things, perhaps a bit more info would be welcome.

I think if we don't make signings in time there can be justified criticism. As pre-season hasn't started yet any criticism is premature and completely irrational. And lol@ your last line.

No, I'm saying that the target market for people who buy corporate hospitality for top end sports events (which we aspire to host) have no idea who Terry Paine is and couldn't give a **** and would rather sit in something called The Executive Handjob Lounge than the Terry Paine suite which sounds like something out of Phoenix Nights.

Yes, definitely. Rubbish world cup but some decent reffing. My tuppence worth on England red cards: Becks v Argentina - harsh, was not violent conduct. Just a tap. Rooney v Portugal - stamp, definite red.

Yeah, this too!