spyinthesky

Agree with Turkish, our Harrogate Town correspondent. A lot of teams over here would give their eye teeth for such a stadium. Where did the money come from and how much did it cost? Our 32,000 stadium cost £32m in 2002, as a comparison. That was certainly an excellent way to open a new stadium. I recollect we did buggar all!!

I guess he (or his agent) is looking for a Prem side to take him on where he could demand higher wages as no transfer fee involved. I believe he is currently some distance away from the top earners at SMS and is likely to have a % reduction (40-50%?) when Saints are relegated. Real shame as he has been an excellent signing for us and seems a decent chap.

I have always thought that KWP could improve our midfield by playing in front of a right back and thought he did very well in that position. We will miss him when he moves on. Thought Fernandes was our best player by some distance and another who wont be with us next season

I know it is unlikely to happen but I really hope that Ross Stewart makes a full recovery and provides a decent option as a central striker. Meantime anyone know where he and Larios our 6th choice (ie behind KWP,(occasionally), Manning Taylor, Manning & Wellington stands in the recovery process?

Its all part of the Equality Act 2010 which prevents discrimination against people with disabilities or football injuries.

I lived between Leeds and Bradford for a while and occasionally used to drive into Bradford on a Sunday to have a look round and make me appreciate how fortunate I was to call Southampton home. I also went to Bradford for the 6th Rd FA Cup game in 1976 which we won 1-0 and just about managed to avoid the very hostile atmosphere in and around the city. We were sat in the main stand, the one which subsequently burned down, not far from Richard Dunne, who was British Heavyweight Champion at the time. He was consistently calling for one of the Bradford City players to 'fucking break Channon's legs'!! One of the facts I learned about Bradford was that the Odsal Stadium once had a crowd of 106,00 for a Rugby League Final replay in the mid 1950's.

Good job we didnt shell out for Broja this season. Looks like he might have another injury having been taken off on a stretcher at Goodison Park this evening

And Cardiff's Reserves at a time when they were really struggling. Only 2 late goals won the day and we very nearly conceded at 3-3.

Looks like this will be played in front of one of our lowest FA Cup 3rd Rd games in recent times. Expecting a crowd of around 8,500 including approx 600 hardy fans travelling up from Swansea. Pre-season size crowd but without the warmth and anticipation. I am not sure I will be feeling a tinge of pride for keeping up my support in the face of adversity or an overwhelming sense of gloom, doom and despondency for wasting £21.50 and having to suffer another dire performance when I could have stayed at home and watched in the warmth and comfort of my living room on the TV.

I guess you have seen O'Brien-Whitmarsh playing? Presume he is decent.

I truly believe if we went down to 10 men early on in a game against a team at the top end of the table the score could easily be double figures.

I share your pain my friend. There were some pretty dire days at the old Dell when Branfoot was in charge and Guy Askham was the Chairman. I remember on 1-1 draw with Notts County when the offical attendance was 11,000 but there were probably no more than 8,000 in the ground. To be fair the standard of the Premiership has moved on a lot since then and the largely honest toilers who turned out for Saints at the time would struggle in the same way as the current team in today's game. That said the team at the time may have struggled but they were no where near off the pace of the game as the current mob. The gap between the players who turned out on Saturday to play a mid table team who had played 3 days earlier and had not won away so far this season was immense and that has sucked the life out of many supporters.

I have a ticket and expect to sit in an almost empty stadium listening to a thousand or so Swansea fans taking the piss out of us and our association with our dear departed Manager. Perhaps Juric will pick a side likely to represent us in the Championship next season which is likely to result in a dispiriting 2-0 defeat against a team that was spanked 4-0 down the road recently and make our collective feeling of acute depression even worse and underline the challenges to be competitive next season. McCarthy Bree Taylor Downes Wood Bednerak Amo Ameyo Aribo (!!!) Manning Archer Armstrong

Can't disagree with your comment. His bloody wife is just as bad in her field....what ever that is!!! All that said, I wonder what our collective view would be if we had, as reported at the time, signed him (for approx £1m? when he was playing for Fleetwood. Whatever we all say about the git, you can't dispute his ability to score goals and if he had signed for us, VVD would not have got crocked.

I agree with Duncan re his comments on BBD. I have a mate who is a Blackburn Rovers season ticket holder. Like Duncan, my mate reckons BBD is a confidence player and certainly seems to have spells when he is a regular goal scorer and others when hie is frankly 'crap' as per his outings for Saints so far. The only glimmer of hope I have seen so far in his career at SMS was a very tidy goal in the game v Lazio pre season when he cut inside a curled a beauty into the net. Apart from that he has done buggar all and doesn't look fit. I whole heatedly agree with Duncan's opinion on Sports Republic. Off the field I believe they have done pretty well and credit to them (or the Commercial Dept perhaps?) for that. Overall though, the purchase of players, apart from one or two exceptions, has been dreadful and whoever is in charge of recruitment should be looking for alternative employment.

The sad fact of life I cant see the current Saints side scoring anything beyond 2 goals even on a good day, which is a bit embarrassing.

You're right Viktor Gyokeres did Ok at Coventry then went to Portugal and is now likely to be subject to a multi million £££ transfer at some stage.

Harika hikaye!!!

Looks like one of our old Corporation buses depicted in the supporters flag!! Allez Va!!

Does Ivan speak English?

What's the situation with Bella Kotcha? Is he actually training? Presume he still gets his £60k ish a week wages?

Fair play to Russell. He's invited Swansea fans to stay over at his gaff in Winchester on New Year's Eve before heading down to Fratton Park for the New Year's Day game v Pompey. He and Lucy will provide a hearty breakfast using part of his compo from his exit deal with Sports Republic.

Deadline dates 1st January to 3rd February so plenty of time to get rid of dross and bring in a load of new blood, at reasonable cost and ready for next year's assault on promotion!! I hope!!

I have to agree with your comments. KWP is one of my favourite players who consistently puts in good performances but he was not very good last night although I think he was often exposed along Spurs left flank. Downes was one of our top players last season but it is no real surprise why West Ham werent that worried to keep him and then negotiated a decent fee for him. Manning, who to my mind, is no more than an average Championship player, exceeded my assumptions last night and put in a very decent shift. Spot on with Aribo and Arma, the later in particular last night. Fernandes did OK and Dibling excelled going forward and is beginning to slowly improve on his against the ball play. Currently we are shipping vast amounts of goals but I reckon our back line is not as bad as the goal difference indicates although it was very porous last night. Midfield is nowhere near strong enough to offer protection and as far the forward line is concerned, what can I say apart from nondescript. I reckon most teams could play with a youth team player in goal as we never seem to threaten the important area between the opponents goal posts. The club seems to have gone for quantity over quality when the amount of players did not contribute anything last night ie Tall Pall, Taylor, Bella Kochap Bereton Diaz Lallana Fraser Bree Edwards Ugochukwu Loan Cornet " Stewart Injured (permanently?) Larios " " Smallbone Injured plus Sulemana who got hauled off after 15 mins and has contributed very little since his £20m+ transfer