St Marco

The thing is right if you went back to the start of last season i doubt many people would of said Norwich and Swansea would be going up. On paper i think our squad is better then Swansea's was at the end of the season.

The FA say this is the definition of "Home Grown" "The definition of home grown is trained for three years under the age of 21 by somebody in the English and Welsh professional system" So based on that Davis = HG Richardson = HG Seaborne = HG Dickson = HG Harding = HG Chamberlain = HG Hammond = HG Holmes = HG Cork = HG Morgan = HG Lallana = HG Barnard = HG Lambert = HG etc etc I'd guess the only ones who are not HG would be Fonte,Jaidi and Guly

Not heard the results as the EGm is today but they are also voting on increasing the number of home grown players in a match day squad to 6. I hope that goes through as we would obviously benefit from it.

Awesome. And i noticed on http://www.topcashback.co.uk/npower/ that if you move over to the footie deal they give you £75 cashback too!

Just noticed that Npower are doing deal where if you have electricity and gas with them you get a football league shirt for free http://www.npower.com/Campaigns/football45/index.htm

Let's be honest here if we don't make anymore signings and don't lose anybody most (me included) would be delighted with our squad. The bookies have made us 7th fav for a reason. Our strikers scored over 50 goals last year. One of the best set of strikers in the league. Our wingers scored 22 goals and 21 assists, One of the best set of wingers in the league. Central midfield we have two class youngsters in Cork and Morgan mixed with the experience of Hammond and Chaplow. One of the best midfields in the league. Defence we have Fonte who is in my opinion pl class, with Harding and Butterfield who are also pretty good defenders. A defence that only let in 38 goals for the entire season. Only one club in the whole of the football leagues had a better defensive record then us last year (QPR). It looks pretty good in my opinion. I am sure most teams in the league would kill to have our squad. The only position i think that needs a new signing is CB to play alongside Fonte. Jaidi at 35 won't be able to keep up with the pace of the championship every game. But for the start of the season he should be fine. The reality is we have a great squad already that does not need loads of signings. We need two players (CB/fast Striker) tops.

If true then it was the right thing to do. What annoys me is that it is obviously his dad creating the drama behind the scenes. He talks about how it would be best for his career if he moved to Arsenal etc but right now it wouldn't. He talks about how he is ready to play in the PL.....He would not be anywhere near the Arsenal 1st team for a year or two. Especially with all the pressure on Wenger this season. If anything it looks like his dad is destroying his career not helping it. A year ago he was a nobody. Had never played for a pro team. Pardew and the club didn't have to give him a chance last season but they did. If you think about it the whole reason Puncheon is in a strop is because of that. They put in a 17 year old kid ahead of one of the top assisters for the previous season. Someone who we spent a lot of cash on. Then Adkins kept him there the entire season. Basically saying to Puncheon your 2nd for that slot now. That was a big call in my book. It shows they believe in the kid and see him as an important part to the future of the club. There has been no respect at all from him and his family. They just want the pay day. Which is sad because i actually wonder if this kid really thinks like that or is it as rumoured his dad telling him what to say, arranging interviews and basically trying to orchestrate a way out for him via the media. The thing is as mentioned above we used to use our youth set up to sell players on to keep the club running. But that all stopped the day Markus walked in. Those days are gone and mean nothing now. Cortese is taking the right steps here because if you don't want to sell then why should you sell? If the player wants to leave then ask for a transfer request, go about it the right way, not in the press. I really do think players should be banned from making these kinda interviews. If they talk to the press in this kind of vein when a club does not want to sell there should be some kind of big fine from the league to the player. Sort of like when a manager get's fined for speaking out. Alex will be a great player no doubt about it. But he needs to learn some respect.

A guy at work bumped into him when he was at Sainsburys awhile back. My mate had his kid with him who is a huge Saints fan and pointed him out. The kid asked if he could go and ask for his autograph and my mate said something like he is doing his shopping he probably doesn't want to be disturbed etc. Adkins obviously overheard it and said "no it's alright" and had a quick chat with him and gave him an autograph. Huge respect to Adkins for that as i am sure he get's those kinda things wherever he goes. To a little 10 year old Saints fan obviously it would mean a lot. Top top bloke.

I don't think the picture does it justice really. Looks much better in the video. I didn't really like the sash at 1st but it grew on you. Eventually i imagine this one will to. Will be waiting to see the away one before i buy it though.

Mate no offence but you obviously have not seen Beattie play for a long long time. These are some comments from the Blackpool forum on Beattie at the end of the season "what happens with flop James Beattie?" "i hope we never sign Beati he has been awful. " "Beattie is awful, looks like he's coming back to us (Gers), don't want him though will have to pay out to get shot of him." "blackpool fans wanted Beattie out of the club months ago . Beattie was there highest paid player yet refussed to train , he caused chaos in the training camp even to the point of refussing to warm up before coming on as a sub. Beattie had no respect for the club or its fans and from what the bloke has told me he had absolutely no respect among the players" - That is from a poster with connections to the club "Turning point of the season i feel was letting Marlon Harewood go out on loan and getting him in" "dont tell me Beattie is coming back to Ibrox ive seen milk turn quicker!" "his record 18 months without a goal? Just the sort of player we needed for a relegation scrap....." Some other fans comments "Beattie's now 33, doesn't have long left in the game. Will hopefully be released in the summer . Another horrific signing." "he will be released and probably retire!" "I knew at the time he would be crap, but admit getting a little carried away in the excitement of us signing our first player for two years. Should always follow your gut instinct, he has been totally mince!! " "Shocking player At least he won't trigger the clause in his contract that means he gets another year." "The kind of signing that has helped land us in the financial ****ter. A guy approaching retirement, hadn't kicked his arse in a couple of years, and us mugs rock up with a cheque for 1.5 mill and good wages....incredible" "Fat Beattie, a sheer waste of money. No wonder we're in debt" "bad, bad signing " "He's a bit of a shoe-in for all those " Name your worst Rangers X1" threads." "He looked like he was picked out of a pub 5 mins before kick off. I knew from then that he was going to be mince." "I must admit, i thought he would score goals up here but after seeing him in the flesh i realised he was way past it" etc etc. seriously there are hundreds of bad messages. I don't think i saw a single poster on Rangers,Blackpool forum say a nice thing about his ability. And that is what it is about, his ability. If you think he still has it Saint Fan Cam then it is you who is deluded.

Sorry but I struggle to see the sense with this..... It isn't dissing him it is stating the obvious that he is no longer the player he was. He is almost 34 years old. People say he "did a job for Rangers and Blackpool" but how did he do a job for them? He hardly played and didn't score any goals. How did he do a job for Rangers? He joined them in august, played 5 games and was then loaned out to Blackpool in January where he played 9 games. What job would he do here for us? Score goals? He has not scored a goal in over a year for one of the top teams in Scotland and a team that only scored 5 less then Man City in the PL last year, why would he start being prolific for us? Who would he replace? Lambert,Barnard,Guly or Connolly? Add to that he is rumoured to have a really bad attitude in the dressing room (was the reason Stoke got rid of him) how do you think he would be able to handle being potentially the 5th choice striker? Is it worth rocking the happy boat to accommodate him? What would he actually bring to the club that we don't already have? He is not the player he was and to think he is i would say was more delusional. We have the veteran striker already in Connolly who scores more goals and creates more goals too. Rather then bringing in another journeyman looking to pick up his last paycheque how about giving it to one of the youngsters? That benefits the club far more imo.

Was a great player for us but come on now, that was 6 years ago. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then. He is 33 and will be 34 in feb. He has not scored in over a year. We need to be looking at players who will be apart of the future not those who have not played much and have 1 year left in them. To use a saying from some song "leave the memories alone".

Bookies have us 7th fav to get promoted. Seems they have more belief in our club then a lot of our fans do!

He is an alright player, has a decent scoring record. But he isn't worth £3.25m......Graham who was the top scorer in the league went for about that and he scored 9 more league goals then him. The same goes for Maynard. he was injured for most of last season.

That is great news mate. Well done for all your efforts. Hope the other flag raises some cash for the charity.

Would be awesome if he was made captain as could then try and parody the lonley islands Jack Sparrow chorus From the day he was born he yearned to play for Southampton old captain Jack giving them what for. He's the lord of the green turf the reason your be a loser In his locker he's got plenty more Or something like that "The orgional lyrics were FROM THE DAY HE WAS BORN, HE YEARNED FOR ADVENTURE OLD CAPTAIN JACK GIVING THEM WHAT FOR. HE'S THE PAUPER OF THE SURF THE JESTER OF TORTUGA BUT IS DAVY JONES' LOCKER WHAT LIES IN STORE?" Could always change the last line to something about Dave Jones locker but that could be bad

Indeed. Puncheon played 16 but yet somehow we are not welcoming him back with open arms My point is if Cork and Burnley were in the PL and we got him then that would be a big drop for him. But on paper you have to say the drop from Burnley to Southampton today is not that big a drop. We are pretty close in terms of quality level. Fonte went from mid table championship side to near the bottom league one side. Obviously we were not going to stay in that position for long but in football you never know, it was a gamble for him. One that paid off eventually. With Cork i don't think it is the same gamble. The rebuilding job to get us back here is done. Fonte was a huge factor in that. Cork is part of the building to get us up another league.

We did but he never played for them. He played 50 games for Burnley. You could say that is the level he has come from. The drop down for Fonte was further then the drop down for Cork imo.

But by that logic how is Cork an amazing signing considering he was in a mid-table championship team and is now in a recently promoted league one side with us being the only team who put in a bid for him? Can't have it both ways.

Who said it was an Adkins bashing thread? Stop trying to be confrontational with your posts....

Lambert or Fonte by far. Huge signings for us that filled a gaping void. You could say that without the Lambert signing we would not even be in the championship now and thus Cork probably would not of signed. It is a big signing for the club and hopefully means others with PL potential will follow to the club too!

£750k is a bargain for this lad. He is young and has massive talent. If he continues to progress at the rate he has i have no doubt he will get an England cap oneday. Hopefully that will be from playing with us in the PL! Lallana/Morgan/Cork and Chambo is a mouth watering midfield. Has to be amongst the best in the league? Can hear Howes tears from here! Welcome aboard Cork!.....again.....

Oh do give over..... Nobody is calling for Adkins to be sacked so don't try and make it into that.... I am one of the positive ones, far more so then you. I am not fretting about signings or anything like that. It is a simple question that in it's simplist form is this "Can a manager influence where a player decides to play?". And if you read Nolans remarks about Sam then obviously they do. It seems on here we have a bunch of people who can't handle debate. If it is something negative they must have an agenda. If they talk and say something bad about the manager they must want him out. If they mention something the chairman did that was wrong then they must be ungrateful. And all the rest of that ********. I am not fretting that we have not had signings. Read my post in the ambition thread. I said pretty clearly most people me included would be happy to start the season with our current squad. I even said that i actually am glad we didn't sign CMS or Nugent. Hardly negative.... Me and a mate were talking about why Cork and possibly Sharp/Maynard did not want to move here. Maybe the manager and his lack of experience at the highest level play's some part even if just a tiny % in that. Based on what some people on here are suggesting signings go like this Player - How much are you offering me? Club - 1k a week Player -10k a week and we got a deal Club - done Which is just silly. There are far more things involved then just money. Because if it was about money why have these guy's not signed? We had bids accepted for them? To wonder and speculate why is the whole point of having a forum isn't it? By the looks of it some people think the point is to come on giving it the large and have some kind of **** waving contest....that is what is sad. That you can't even have discussion on here without the usual knobs invading it and turning it into something it isn't...

A bit of rounding going on there Matt If you go back to that season you see that S****horpe had an average of 6464 and Doncaster had one of 10992. Both were at the 70% mark of their capacity. But Sheff Weds who got relegated that year had an average of 23k. Blackpool had 8k can they got promoted to the pl. Which shows that attendances are not an indicator of how well a club will do. But i guess we can agree to disagree then. I don't think finishing 20th is good at all.