BlakeySFC

I'm not ashamed to say I was one of the ones questioning Ron on that run back in late 2015/early 2016, if it had gone on any longer than it did I would've been expecting him to be sacked, but luckily he turned it around.

Moyes, Pellegrini (he managed Villarreal who are a similar-sized club to Saints I'd say) and De Boer would be the favourites for me if/when Koeman does go.

The Virgin Media Stadium....

Could be an E-Cigarette company, possibly E-Lites.

http://imgur.com

Vegas.

What a strange article, sounds like its been written by Factless Allen.

Couldn't of put it better myself.

Garmin are the most logical choice, they're our 'official Fitness provider' right now, and they previously sponsored Middlesbrough in the Prem way back. Other than them I don't really have a clue, Betfair sponsor us as well, but we've tended to shy away from putting Betting firms on our shirts, so I don't think it'll be them.

I'm going. First game I'll have been to live since United at home in 2014

Saint Armstrong said it was a 5-year-deal worth £8m a season (£40m total) before the deal was announced. Now we know it's over 7 years, I don't know whether those figures are still accurate or not, £40m over 7 years is £5.71m a year.

Hope not, boring as sin.

Wow £40m over an initial 5 seasons, £8m a year is some great business by Les, Ralph & co. As for the shirt sponsor, I would've thought Garmin are the logical choice, big Worldwide company, UK HQ near Southampton, ticks all the boxes to me.

Oooo, very interesting, cheers for the info.

Get him on the bus/boat/dinghy/plane/motorbike and side-car/pedal bike/aircraft carrier.

Ahh the Daily Fail starting early this year.

I actually quite liked the new Qualifying format for Q1, for Q2 and Q3 it didn't work, but it actually made Q1 exciting for me for the first time in ages, usually I just skip straight to Q2 on the recording when I watch the Qualifying back. As for the race itself, really enjoyed the first half, the second half was more a procession really and reminded me of some of the races last year. Pleasing that Ferrari seem to have caught up with the Mercs on race-pace a bit at least.

I remember Trevor Kettle back in the Championship/League 1 days being very good to us. As soon as I saw him announced as our ref for that weekend's particular game I had a feeling we'd win and most of the time we did, don't actually remember a time he reffed us and we lost but I'm sure there was the odd occasion.

I like both of them too, probably pick up the Home one if it's cheap in Sports Direct.

Really don't want to see Leicester win it, never liked them ever since our coaches got bricked at an FA Cup game up there in 2006, don't really want to see Spurs win it either as Poch will be so damn smug if they do. So yeah, City to win it would be my favourite scenario (looking unlikely at the minute) with Spurs 2nd and Leicester 3rd. Got nothing against any of the teams in the Relegation zone really, don't want to see any of them go down in an ideal world, probably Sunderland if I had to pick though as we've lost to them quite a few times in the past when we probably shouldn't of done and they've got that skate c_unt Defoe playing for them.

Good news, we always knew it would be overturned, Lee Mason needs to pop on down to Specsavers over the weekend.

It's difficult to explain, so I'll keep things simple. Did I feel more ambition in the club and more forward momentum when Cortese was at the helm? Yes, 2 Promotions, finishing (a then) record high of 9th in the PL, with all the tremendous players we had in the Summer of 2014, I felt back then it was achievable to reach the UCL, that we were on the cusp of greatness, and I just don't feel that way right now. You may believe what Les and co. are saying, I like Les, I like Kat, I'm not going to slag them off, but I just don't inherently believe them and believe the words coming out their mouths in regards to our European ambitions as much as I did when Cortese was in charge. By 'steadying the ship' I was referring to the fantastic recruitment job done by Les & co. to replace the players we lost so efficiently and quickly in the Summer of 2014. I don't dislike the fact that we got far closer to the UCL under current management, but I do dislike we haven't pushed on this season. Only since Mark Hughes took charge have Stoke been more ambitious, even with him in charge they didn't strike me as a particularly ambitious club until this Season when finally they've shown some drive to aim for more. I understand what you and the club are getting at in regards to the CL spots, and it makes sense. I know it's Football, but I just haven't seen the club push on like I thought we would this season, 7th is great at the moment sure, but we came 7th last year, 6th is the absolute minimum we should be aiming for this season, that's progress. If Players get sold again this Summer UCL football is going to look further and further away for us, it's a huge Summer. Also, I managed to cope well enough when we were in League 1 and the Championship before, so should that ever happen again in the future (god forbid) I'll be fine, don't you worry sunshine

I just thought it was a tongue-in-cheek joke to be honest.

Again, you're getting fixated on Cortese which wasn't my intention in any of these posts, I'm not a pro-Cortese guy, I'm just saying for me personally, I felt and could see the ambition in the club when he was around and since he left I've felt its waned a bit, Les and co. have done a fantastic job in steadying the ship, replacing players and keeping the club ticking over since Cortese left, the players we've bought post-Cortese have probably been better than during his reign, but I feel that's come at a price and that price is no UCL football yet. I don't want Kat to go out and splash the cash to Barcelona, Real Madrid and City levels, and I've never played Football Manager, I want us to buy even more shrewdly than we have bought in the past, buy the next Schneiderlin, the next Luke Shaw that other clubs haven't discovered yet, spending a load of cash on a player only when feasible, sustainable and appropriate. Yes this is a fantasy, it's what I would like to see happen rather than will happen or even what I think will happen in the future, I know multi-million pound Football Club's aren't run on the whims, hopes or dreams of their fans, it's just what in an ideal World I'd like to see. It's my dream to see Saints in the UCL and I can't tangibly believe or hope we're going to get there any time soon, the last thing I want is for us to become Stoke or West Brom, just happy that they've stayed up season after season after season. So, getting this thread back on Topic, it is, I feel, a HUGE Summer for Saints, do we continue building, spending and scouting to enable us to push for the UCL within the next 3 seasons and tell our best players they aren't going anywhere or do we sit back, see some of our better players sold again and hope that their replacements work out once again next season? It'll be interesting to find out.

You like giving out Hints don't you Mr. Fry I'm no Cortese apologist or worshipper, the man had plenty of faults that's for sure, but since he left the ambition does seem to of drained out the proverbial plug-hole, you see Koeman and the players saying on Social Media sometimes about getting into Europe or how they want to get up to that UEL place and it just seems like hollow words to me, the club are happy to be 7th/8th/9th/10th every season whatever it may be, and if we don't get Europe it's 'oh well, maybe next year' instead of putting an infrastructure and pathway into place to get into the UCL. It saddens me that our club once pulsating with ambition is now one that's happy to shrug their shoulders if they don't get a Europa League place and try again next season, with seemingly no other goal to aim for (apart from vague hopes of a decent cup run each season), it's just not enough for me for Saints to simply make up the numbers in the PL anymore. I'll always love the club, and will watch and support the team regardless, but I just hope in 5 years time if we're still in the PL that we aren't still talking about 'hopefully getting a Europa League place' as the club will be in limbo with no real want or desire to escape it.