St Marco

Exactly, that is my point. Driscoll did very well that season, he got that team pretty high up the table. That is more of an achivement then finish 1 place outside the relegation zone imo.

Also about the whole money thing. If that was the case would players like Yakubu, Bellemy etc drop down to play in the championship? There are always going to be greedy players in it for the money. But there will also be players who want to win stuff. When Pardew came into the club he got Lallana and Davis to stay. I think the manager plays a far bigger role then some of you credit them for.

But it is awful..... The season they finished 20th Doncaster who you would have to say are a similar size club finished 12th...

No I don't mean that type of attract...... (Now that is out the way). Basically at work had a good convo with a fellow Saint and I think he raises an interesting point. Maybe the reason for the lack of arrivals and players wanting to move here has a little to do with Adkins? The guy has a great record in League One with both S****horpe and Saints. However beyond that he has a pretty awful record in The Championship. Two seasons there, one relegation and one 20th place finish. If you look back at his signings over the past year you have to say most were average at best. Chaplow is the only one who did well even though he had some poor spells too. In my opinion the reason Pardew could bring players in of the quality of Fonte/Lambert etc was in part down to his experience and reputation he gained. He went from us to Newcastle so that shows he is at least respected for his football experience. Adkins on the other hand is a guy who has to work his way up the ladder and obviously Saints is his best way of doing that. As my mate say's maybe these players don't think playing under Adkins is that big a deal? Especially when you consider the other managers in the league i.e. Sven, Big Sam,Mclaren,Holloway,Hughton,Jewell,Grayson,Mowbry etc who all have experience above what Adkins has. Now this isn't an "Adkins is the problem, Adkins out" type thread, don't be stupid. It is a thread asking if the manager’s name/reputation/experience plays a big role in attracting players to a club? The other threads suggest the problem is money or even Cortese and agents being the issue. But maybe it is just the players we are after want to play under a manager with more experience, maybe one who has managed in the top flight?

The thing is if Cork decided to move here and either Maynard or Sharp did people would still be *****ing. You would get the usual mongs rolling out the "how will they all play together" type threads. I dunno if it is just me but i am actually pretty glad we didn't get Nugent or CMS. The fact we didn't isn't something to cry about. We already have a good squad. A top 10 squad. Possibly the two best wingers in the league. One of the best strike forces which on their day can destroy most teams in the league. My only concern is the defence. jaidi will not be able to keep up with Championship level football as he did in league one. That in my opinion is the area we need to strengthen the most. The other thing is we know this team can play. Bringing in too many players can unsettle a side. Teams like Leicester and West Ham have bought a lot of players and they will have to make them gel pretty quickly.

£2.5m for a player who is 27 going on 28 and has only 1 season in the Championship under his belt is a bit much if you ask me. Especially when you think the championships top scorer last year moved to Swansea for around £3m recently. What he did last year was impressive but i think Brighton paid way over the going rate for a league one striker.

I think Haye can take a lot of pluses from it but Booth got it wrong, the tactics were amateur to be honest. His game plan from the 1st round was to get Wlad to throw the left and right then Haye to throw the right and hope it connects. Then rinse and repeat. But there was no back up for when it was going wrong. And that is what seperates the good from the great. Boxing isn't about hoping to land one punch, anyone can go in there and try that. Other then that the ref was a total joke.......i don't think he knew what the rules actually were. Such a huge fight you can't put a guy like that in there. But you got to give it to Wlad. He isn't exciting but he is good at what he does. His defence is so much better then it was against the likes of Sanders and Brewster and that has to be down to Manny. If Haye decides to keep on going he needs to try and go with either Roach or Steward imo. But i think he should retire, and so should Jim Watt......he seems to think only jabs are point scorers these days...

Exactly. Obviously we are slightly biased being English and all but Wlad is a good fighter. He is a lot quicker then people give him credit for. What he does well is use his jab. Sure it is boring and not much to look at but it is a tried and tested move for him that works. He uses it to wear people down. They go to throw a punch and whack he has hit you with the jab. It makes you not want to throw your own punches as you don't want to keep getting hit. If Wlad get's into his groove then Haye is in deep ****. Haye's best chance is to take him out early. Soon as the bell rings jump all over him. He can't fight when he is on the back foot, for a big guy like Wlad it isn't natural for him. If Haye takes away the control of the fight from him then Haye has a really good chance. Booth is a good trainer and deserves a lot more respect then he get's. If Haye wins tonight then i think he will get it. Just watched a bit of sky sports news and they say it is raining there now and the stadium has no roof......on top of that they said Wlad's enterance alone takes 20mins! I can see that ****ing off Haye as he is waiting in the ring in the rain.

6 days on i still have no idea who to pick..... You could flip a coin and make a case for each side! Logically Wlad is the fav, he is bigger, stronger and far more experienced especially at this weight. But i honestly think David has got to him. Wlad's head doesn't seem in it, he seems more bothered with being his friend then fighting. If he comes to the ring to launch bombs from the go Haye will destroy him because he is super fast and will just dodge them and counter him to death. After watching the weigh in i think Wlad looked shocked at the level of support for David. In no other fight has Wlad had to deal with that on that level. He was booed out of the building pretty much! My heart says Haye will win but my head says Wlad will win. I just got a feeling this is too soon for David, he is still a young guy, Wlad is in his prime and his experience will count for a lot. He has one of the greatest trainers of all time in his corner. Whatever happens at least we have a heavyweight fight that is actually worth the ppv price for once! Someone is getting knocked out that is for sure!

30 going on 18! But isn't there a saying that goes "your only as old as the women you feel"? By that logic i am 23

Steam summer sales started yesterday so thought would give people a heads up! These are normally better then the xmas ones as they have a whole load of them each day. http://store.steampowered.com/ Got Elder Scrolls Oblivion game of the year edition for a fiver, not bad! The Valve pack of Team Fortress Classic, Team Fortress 2, Day of Defeat, Deathmatch Classic, Half-Life: Opposing Force, Ricochet, Half-Life, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Deleted Scenes, Half-Life: Blue Shift, Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source, Half-Life: Source, Day of Defeat: Source, Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, Half-Life 2: Lost Coast, Half-Life Deathmatch: Source, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal, Portal 2 Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, for £24.99 is pretty awesome too

Not really sure it is reliable but in The Sun they have a little sentance at the end of this article http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3670754/Arsenal-snatch-Gervinho-from-under-Tottenhams-noses.html saying "Arsenal last night started talks with Southampton over ALEX OXLADE-CHAMBERLAIN. Wenger is certain to sign the 17-year-old midfielder for £12m but the main sticking point is how the transfer will be broken up with the Gunners likely to cough up an initial £6m." If we only get £6m up front i'd say that was not a great deal personally.

Isn't the 1st of July seen as the start of the window because contracts expire on 30th of June? Or did i read that on some dodgy website like the daily mail?

Yes EA dropped Gray from comentating! http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/3669538/Andy-Gray-ditched-from-FIFA-12.html Interesting to see that you can chose which commentators to use out of either Tyler and Smith or Townsend and Tyldsley.

[video=youtube;XMIR-7LifIs]

To be fair Fifa is just the name they have little to do with the actual game. Maybe MLG can explain better but basically Ea buy the fifa pro license which means they can use all the official names and teams. The same licence which football manager uses. So really while it is called Fifa it really is just EA football. The money made from it goes to EA. So you can't link the two really.

Have to wait to see what our squad looks like just before kick off to have any form of expectation. Looks like West Ham and Leicester are spending big so they have to be considered favs. Forest,Leeds and Cardiff will also be strong. Right now i would put us in the next bracket of teams i.e Birmingham,Millwall,Reading and us. If we add some decent players then we could go from the third bracket into the second. I think we need to spend a lot to get into the first so that won't happen. If we start the season with our current squad, keeping hold of all the players then i would be pretty happy to be honest.

I think it is a massive fight and will tell us more about Wlad then it will about Haye. To even get the fight Haye had to agree to quite a lot of demands from Wlad. Wlad got to choose the country, the venue which means there will be 40,000 Wlad fans vs 10,000 Haye fans, Wlad really is on homesoil. He demanded that he be seen as the main man when doing the tv work/advertising. He demanded to come to the ring 2nd, chose the corners, chose the hotels, chose the gloves, chose the date of the fight, chose the referee and insisted on having his own personal doctor as the fight doctor (in other words the doc won't be calling it off even if he has his eye hanging out), and wanted a 50-50 split even though he brings little cash to the table due to the ppv laws in Germany, meaning he is getting his cash off of the back of Hayes popularity in UK and US. And so on. If Haye demanded those things the fight would not happen. So i got big respect for Haye for agreeing to those demands as quite frankly they seem designed to make sure the fight does not happen. But because it is it means everything is set up for Wlad to win. If he loses he will be shown to be a fraud. All the talk about the brothers picking bums so they can keep the belts and pick up easy pay cheques will be true. The heavy weight division is in a poor state and Wlad and Vitali are a large part to blame for that. If you go back a few years you had people like Lennox and Tyson who fought the best out there. If Wlad is as good as he makes out then he should have no problems with Haye. He is a cruiserweight not a heavyweight. It really is a hard fight to call and can go in so many different way's. If Haye can keep cool and not let the crowd and the occasion get to him then he has a great chance. But he has to do what others have done and put him under pressure early on. When Wlad get's hit hard he goes into panic mode. His hands and arms are all over the place. if Haye get's him with one of those bombs then it is game over. But the longer the fight goes on the more it will drain Haye. Wlad is a big guy and he put's his weight onto people a lot to try and tire them out. If haye get's caught up in to many "jab, jab, grab"s then he will get knackered. You take away Haye's stamina and you take away his speed and power and then he becomes a sitting duck. I really hope Haye wins not because of the whole British thing but because he has brought some excitement to a division that has become so boring. The fans deserve something better then what the Klitchskos have been giving. If the proper Haye turns up and is not phased by anything then i can see him knocking Wlad out in the 8th or 9th round. If a nervous Haye turns up then i can see him getting knocked out early.

I saw this video showing off the gameplay and thought some of you would like it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HrD6JvAp18&feature=player_embedded It looks pretty cool! Especially the planes and air strikes

The guy has basically distanced himself from the remark. You seem to always defend these negative remarks but yet again it turns out to pretty much be rubbish. Maybe most people have learnt their lesson with these types of stories and realise they are actually pretty tarded if you think about it? How many players have we signed since Cortese has been here? Around 20 players, or pretty much the entire squad. That is a lot of agents wanting to deal with us wouldn't you think?

As a nipper i got a chance to sit in his Lotus f1 car (the camel one) at the British GP i think in 87. Obviously was just a replica but for a little kid it was totally awesome. Became a huge fan of his after that. Even to the point where i wanted him to win over people like Mansell! So i can't wait to see this film. A true legend.

Wife is with her friends talking about what they have planned for Valentines, getting all excited Wife- So what are we doing for Valentines then? Saints fan - I am off to the footie with my mates, you can do what you like *****! Anyone who actually has a mrs knows that isn't going to end well.... That said Valentines is just a comercial con! Take her with you and then just go for a meal in London. Get the best of both worlds and don't get a sex ban which you would most definatly get if you "Manned up"...

Claus/Killer/Pahars Those three pretty much

Agree it ****es me off too. But only because i know a few people with families who worked in the public sector and got sacked because they were told they could not afford to pay them anymore. To then see this on top of the money we give to Pakistan (£1bn or something?) so they can make a school. Normally i would not have a issue with that but then you see how much they spend on their defence. They bought four submarines in january for £2bn. And what have they used those subs for? http://sunkey.co.in/2011/05/2-pakistani-submarines-searching-for-osamas-underwater-body-collide/ two of them crashed into each other looking for Osama's body...... I think we need to start taking care of our own before we can try to take care of those abroad. When you give out basically £2bn in aid but then have to sack lot's of people to pay for it seems wrong to me.