John B

Perhaps they are not planning to get promoted this season If we did do you think we would have the players to stay there as we are selling our best players and I am not sure we will be getting in PL type players anytime soon

I do not want to ridicule but ask you why a top class international player would not want to play in possibly the best league in the World iin 50K stadia nstead of playing at places like Rotherham Blackburn and Middlesboro

I do not understand that many on here blamed our relegation on three different managers when it was clear that a significant number of the players were pretty substandard. Now a fourth has found that many are not that good against a Div 2 team. Our recruitment for the last few years has been awful but these players are still with the club we need of course to get rid of them but I doubt that will be easy. Building a promotion side is not easy so it may take some time to happen especially if we lose KWP and JWP but if they do go we should be able to get decent replacements We need to have a decent squad if we are to stay in the PL after promotion it is going to be an interesting time being a Saints supporter By the way did anybody play well last night who was in the starting eleven

We need to get promoted so losing today is fine by me

Football is just a job to them I do not blame them if they move to other clubs to get more money although what they get paid is another matter

I think we did well in beating Sheffield W but I still think we have a problem scoring goals apparently according to the BBC we had 20 shots and scored 2 goals With Adams and JWP two of our more reliable scorers likely to leave we need replacements for them sooner than later

So you say passing is meaningless what do you suggest just give it to the opposition who I expect will not give it back. Keeping the ball frustrates the opposition who tend eventually to make a mistake The great Liverpool teams managed by Paisley used to do it very well when I used to watch them down the Dell many many years ago

They did address the issue of a GK they bought in the Irish International Goalkeeper who had a stellar season in League 1. They thought he would be OK in the Premier League which was proved not to be the case as with A Armstrong Airibo Doussa and countless others not only at Southampton but at other PL clubs as well. I would have thought the Club realised that there was a problem not having a decent striker as they have all the stats but I do not think it is easy recruiting a 12 + goal a season striker who wants to play for Southampton at an acceptable cost. It has not been easy to get in a decent striker in the last ten years apart from Ings who had injury issues the only other one I can recall was Long who ran around a great deal and seldom scored. Also there is a lot of competition in the PL with clubs with more resources than us. I am not sure it is incompetence that we are not getting the right players in the PL we seem to get them alright when we are Billy Big Bollix in the other leagues That said how come Ivan Toney was snapped up by Brentford and how is the ex Celtic player Edourd? doing at Crystal Palace. There are no young strikers coming through either which is not helping either so lets hope Ballard does. We seem to be producing Championship and League 1 Strikers

Surely it is commonsense that a club buying Lavia would need to know what wages would be acceptable to the player before agreeing a transfer fee with us. It happens all the time surely there is no economic sense in buying the player without knowing how much you are paying him and the agent

I think he is probably worth more to Saints Fans than to West Ham otherwise he would probably be there now . I agree if the club want to get real money for him they need to sell him now. I will be interesting to see what happens

I agree but not sure Downes wants to come here

How much do you think JWP is really worth ? If he was younger he would probably worth more but I feel £30m is currently a reasonable offer. We have never bought a £30m player but if we did I am not sure whether it would be be a good idea if we bought someone like him. It is a longtime since we bought anybody in the PL with the WOW factor we have just gone for young players some of whom have become reasonable PL players like KWP but most have failed to become top players.

I agree as I just cannot see how a collection of players many of whom are inexperienced and have not played together will become a top Championship team

We have had loads of players of his standard playing for the Saints over the years but they have been in teams which had a few outstanding players to compensate for them. However I do think that our recruitment has been awful over the last five or six years apart from the youngsters in the last year only KWP and S Armstrong have made the team better. Ings was OK but too but not many will be remembered with much affection.

Of course that is true but I have been following Football from since 1954 so in that time Liverpool and Manchester United have been the stand out teams with great results I started following Saints in about 1960 and starting watching them regularly since 1962 when my family returned to Southampton. I left Southampton in 1968 but continually have watched and followed them since. 1 May 1976 when we won the cup was the best day of my life and following them in the winter of 1978 when I was in SE Asia and Australia and convinced we would return to Div 1 was challenging without the Internet but Libraries of the British Council in Cities like Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta helped as I could find newspapers with the results. I returned to England and watched us win at Leyton Orient and draw at home to Spurs to gain a second promotion to Div 1 after being at Leyton Orient in 1966 to see them virtually assure of promotion as long as we did not lose 6 0 to Man City in our last game. During the last sixty years Saints have been mostly in the Top 20 clubs in the country and at the moment we have no real top class players compared with those I have seen since 1962. I do get depressed with all the negative vibes on this forum at the moment but following Saints has been great despite mostly mediocre results and looking forward to the coming season although I have little idea how we will perform and who will actually be playing. I think the first thirty years or so before the PL where success is dependent on money was a great deal better than the last thirty years I buy and sell football books and read some of them and quite by chance have this one Local: A Club and its City: Liverpool's Social History Paperback by Daniel Fieldsend (Author) Paperback THE TELEGRAPH SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 SHORTLIST. "On the banks of the River Mersey is a city with a radical character, shaped by its geography and the achievements of its community - in music, culture and politics. Liverpool is now defined mostly by its appetite for football and the continental successes of its most renowned club. What then does it mean to be a local 'Red' - sculpted by the city's social history - in an age of global expansion? Former players, dedicated fans and civic leaders explain the relationship between the club they support and the city of their birth, exploring the events and moments in time that moulded their unique identity. This is the story of Liverpool, a club and its city." Which is why I responded to the original Bollix about Liverpool I always think a City that boycotts the Sun Newspaper should be commended as well

I know it is unlikely that you would be interested in broadening your knowledge and understanding of Liverpool but this is an interesting book Local: A Club and its City: Liverpool's Social History Paperback by Daniel Fieldsend (Author) Paperback THE TELEGRAPH SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 SHORTLIST. "On the banks of the River Mersey is a city with a radical character, shaped by its geography and the achievements of its community - in music, culture and politics. Liverpool is now defined mostly by its appetite for football and the continental successes of its most renowned club. What then does it mean to be a local 'Red' - sculpted by the city's social history - in an age of global expansion? Former players, dedicated fans and civic leaders explain the relationship between the club they support and the city of their birth, exploring the events and moments in time that moulded their unique identity. This is the story of Liverpool, a club and its city." You could receive it for me for £2.50 plus postage as I have finished with it I always think a City that boycotts the Sun Newspaper should be commended

A load of old Pony a great city with great people

I think their attitude is based on Liverpool being one of the two top English teams of the last 60 years First Division/Premier League 1963–64, 1965–66, 1972–73, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1989–90, 2019–20 Second Division 1961–62 FA Cup 1964–65, 1973–74, 1985–86, 1988–89, 1991–92, 2000–01, 2005–06, 2021–22 Football League Cup/EFL Cup 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1994–95, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2011–12, 2021–22 FA Charity Shield/FA Community Shield 1964*, 1965*, 1966, 1974, 1976, 1977*, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1986*, 1988, 1989, 1990*, 2001, 2006, 2022 (* shared) Football League Super Cup 1985-86 ContinentalEuropean Cup/UEFA Champions League 1976–77, 1977–78, 1980–81, 1983–84, 2004–05, 2018–19 UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League 1972–73, 1975–76, 2000–01 UEFA Super Cup 1977, 2001, 2005, 2019 WorldwideFIFA Club World Cup12019

Strangely I am a Saints Supporter of over sixty years and am fed up of ill informed posters like you always making negative comments about the players If do not want to get behind the players piss off to the Pompey forum. Being a supporter means supporting the team not continually emphasizing the players errors . All the players starting today are fucking good otherwise they would not have been playing in a PL team and earning massive wages. Sometimes they play well sometimes they do not that is football just give them a chance like Smallbone an Irish International who seems to be doing OK today. Last years squad was probably the worst I have seen whilst the Saints have been in the top flight but competition in the PL is intense and I accept that we can not buy the real top class players I have seen play for the club over my sixty years. Players Like Terry Paine Martin Chivers Alan Ball MLT Mane and VVD have helped other team members will less ability to perform better but currently we have no one of that ability in the squad currently .

I wish posters like you would just piss off Smallbone is a young player who needs to be supported not continually being the subject of negative abuse

I doubt KWP, Salisu, Lavia Tino and Sulemana will be ecstatic if they are still our players in September.

Stephens is one of the top English CBs around so why do you think he is shit

Many times in the past 50 years I have expected we would beat Sheff Wednesday but unfortunately we did not so I would be happy with a draw

I remember seeing the County Champions pennant flying in 1962 at Northlands Road a number of times when I was 16 years old Does that Flag or a similar one after the addition of Durham still exist?