Big_Bald_Si

lol - I assumed it wasn't right, assume they missed out a particular scoreline ahead of the 28/1

First and foremost - LOVE the new screens in St Marys. They had live odds scrolling along the bottom, did anyone else notice that apparently you could get 28/1 on a Southampton win today? My old man and I noticed, wonder if we could hold them to it at the bookies..... Anyone else notice?

Well fat! lol!

This is my point re: Long. To assess whether someone's a quality player or not, you need a lot more than just statistics. A couple of Forest fans I know seemed quite pleased with the McGoldrick signing, but having watched him for 30 odd games that season, my opinion differed markedly. Shane Long is not worth anywhere near £7 million, imo.

The clubs hold the cards - there's now limited demand for players due to the capping of squads, thus players will have to make themselves more attractive to prospective employers. I'd be taking a wage cut if there were limited jobs in my profession......

I'd agree with this analogy

In fact - another brilliant example was when Reading signed Rasiak. All my Reading supporting mates were winding me up as to how they'd snapped up our best striker. How I laughed when I told them they'd be mortified within a few games as to just what they had signed.....

This. I live in Reading, and go to the odd game here and there. Not once have I been particularly impressed by Long. Yes, he scored goals last season, but Reading don't have an awful lot up front and he's the best of a bad bunch. I expect a lot of posters on here haven't seen him play as much as I have, and have instead decided to look up how many goals he scored last season and from that very statistic, decide he's a good player. It was much like David McGoldrick when he was here in the season we got relegated. I thought he was overrated too - ended up our top scorer that season, primarily due to our lack of decent strikers. He missed far, far more than he scored, seemed completely inept to pick out a simple pass when presented with the opportunity, and I was over the moon when someone actually paid £1 million for him (especially so given we were in administration). You should check out the Reading forum - I imagine any comment on Long will be either divided, or negative. Most of my mates are Reading fans and would be over the moon with £7 million for him.

I wouldn't be happy if we signed Long at all - strikes me as incredibly overrated

about 6 years ago I was on a guided tour of the San Siro. They showed us the player changing rooms, before leading us off. I made the point of staying behind to have a slash in the player's urinal, which was really basically a hole in the ground. anyway, finished my business, and sped up to join the rest of the group. As I was doing so, another chap emerged from the away changing rooms, in a Saints shirt. As I found out, he'd been doing much the same as I. Legend!

That BBC article states that fewer than 25% of players whose contract expired in the summer have found themselves a new club - quite a strartling statistic really. Could this be the start of a revolution in player wages?

Along with a whole host of decent players. Upson, Hitzlespurger, JLloyd Samuel but to name a few. Huge wages demands and the "25 man squad" rule have stopped many players getting a club.

Many thanks Thought it offered something "a little different"

Hmm - perhaps that's a potential new thread, possibly with a poll to rate your experience.....

As it says on the tin. I did during our 6-3 against Man Utd. (sorry, bored at work, and thought this might be a nice alternative to speculating about players )

The bid in itself suggests that we're not in for this Jemal chap, or that "deal" is a no-go.

But we've no idea how much we signed De Ridder for........ I suspect this could have been upwards of £2 million

What are their screen names so we can ask them?

Really depends on the manner of the win/loss. For example, I pretty much creamed my pants after we over-turned a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 at home to MK Dons, but wasn't too bothered about our 3-2 over Hartlepool at home the season before. Recall the game when we got relegated from the Premier League. My old man and I didn't say a word to each other for a good 4/5 hours afterwards.

Yes. It's a great British tradition, don't you know

The 3-2 against Sheff Utd was probably the wildest swings in emotion I've had during a game there, thankfully it ended with jubilation, and me grabbing Stern John in a headlock. Excellent question though - been some great games there. Think the best game I've seen at St Marys was probably the 3-3 with Newcastle when Alan Blayney made that incredible save,

Think we should snap him up then?

I think we should sign him up. Really.

Anthony Pulis. you heard it here first

This. "Give it to Wotton!" Clap, clap, clap, clap