spyinthesky

It's as though these members of Trump's inner circle have had some form of indoctrination cell injected into them by Donald's Frenemy, dear old Elon. Absolutely no feeling of regret for the shooting, three times at close range, of a woman who appeared to be having a relatively civil conversation with the ICE team. Presumably Kristi Noem is a card carrying member of Donald's religious cabal. I wonder what Jesus would have made of her response.

Widdicombe and Dorries really useless ex Tory Ministers

I'm am going against the grain here as it is appreciated that I am very much in the minority in not so much sticking up for Sports Republic but wondering what the situation would be if the owners decided they had enough and either sold up to someone else (if they could find a buyer to meet their valuation) or decide to keep the wallet closed, sold off any player with value and bring in lower League replacements on much lower wages) I am sure that if we all had the time to cast our collective eyes around the Premiership, Championship and a few 'bigger' clubs in League one plus Celtic and Rangers in Scotland, quite a few clubs will have owners under pressure from their fans. For example Prem.... Man Utd, Wolves, West Ham (possibly undercurrents from Liverpool, Forest Chelsea and Newcastle) Championship...........Pompey, Blackburn, Leicester, WBA, Sheff Weds (now resolved to some extent), Norwich, Swansea, Hull (until their recent decent run of form). League One..............Cardiff, Plymouth, Reading Scotland...................Rangers (now less of an issue since Russ has departed) Celtic (who's fans have replaced Rangers as Scotland's most disaffected) btw , as an aside, I notice one of our old players Paul Tisdale has been sacked from a senior management position at Celtic. I am sure there are more. I think our major problem is threefold. 1. We have all suffered two ignominious relegations from the Premiership. 2. The club started off in the Championship with what seemed to be a decent squad buoyed by revenue from the sale of Dibling (hoorah as things have turned out) and Fernandes (a good player but hasnt set the world alight at the Govt funded stadium in East London) plus a decent parachute payment. The first few games provided little to cheer about then many of us received a surge of excitement when a decent amount of money was spent on a few new players. 3. The transfer window upped the level of anticipation and co-incided with a new Manager and a run of good results which promised a rosier future. Since then the balloon of optimism has been well and truly burst and a squad which stand on the club's books at over £150m has probably depreciated to around 25% of this. Of course Sports Republic cant avoid criticism as they are responsible for running the company and ensuring the right people are appointed both on and off the field. Bournemouth, Brighton, Brentford, Fulham, Palace, all teams we historically have considered 'below us' are all doing well from a lower base point. We dont seem to have recovered from the days of Koeman and the players the club were able to attract. The way things are going the club is headed for mid table Championship mediocrity and even if we did sneak into the Prem via the play offs, would the current set up be able to acquire the class of player to avoid yet another relegation? Whilst the successful recruitment of players and managers ultimately determines the success of owners (and Sports Republic have, by and large failed on this), I have to give credit to them off the field. The opportunity of having a standing end and moving the away supporters was looked upon as a positive by many supporters. As it happens it has not been a great success but no doubt due to the poor on field performance. The increase of bars and food outlets around the ground was a good move, in my opinion. The remodelling of the hospitality areas also seems to have gone OK. I am quite close to some of the The Saints Foundation charity events and these have done a great deal to help Communities around the city. These are not fully recognised by most fans, which is understandable but a lot of underprivileged people do benefit . My reflection on Sports Republic, as owners of the club I have supported for many, many years, through occasional Highs and quite a few more lows, takes me back to Markus Liebherr. He is rightly revered by all Saints fans for what he did for the club in parlous times. Unfortunately he wasnt able to continue his work but would he have been able to, without incurring complaints from supporters when things went wrong. I am aware that these are a few ramblings from an old fella who is cheesed off with the current situation but reflect back to my early days of watching Saints play in the old Third Division South, having to queue for an hour to get in to claim a favourite spot on an open terrace, with no expectation of ever seeing the team at Wembley or play in the top Division. As a consequence I am rather more pragmatic than many on here. That said, if I was a young lad, I would probably be joining planned protests as I would have been brought up to expect more.

Dont see Ramsdale and Lavia as wasted money. Understand we have received a decent loan fee for Ramsdale and the club should get his transfer fee back when he is sold at the end of the season. Lavia went for a good price when sold to Chelsea and the same with Livramento. The real disasters have been the money paid for failed (or injured) attackers and the absence of physicality in midfield and forward players.

Apparently the Macclesfield game may have to be replayed as one of the home team's players is a gas fitter by trade and not Corgi registered.

I must admit enjoying the game and realising how much away we are from ever being a decent Premiership team again. Why were Spurs playing with names on the back on their shirts, no club badge and the AIA Sponsorship seemingly not showing.?

I remember games against Weymouth and Walton & Hersham back in the Third Division days but I am an old!!

A few weeks ago when we really looked like a team on the rise, I was fairly confident of a decent result at Fratton Park. However our recent form has been abysmal and defensively we are poor. Pompey really deserved to win at SMS earlier in the season and to be honest they are really no better than Oxford or Blackburn against whom we deservedly lost recently. Worrying times.

My heartfelt commiserations my friend. I have a season ticket in Block 10 Itchen and have lost three of the group of us who made the transition from the The Dell, East Stand. My thoughts are often with them as your thoughts will always be there with your Dad as mine are with my Dad who first took me to watch Saints in the Third Division.

Livramento?

Just to think Macclesfield only just snuck past Totton in the last round, if I remember correctly.

Hope he is OK I saw him out for lunch with a few familiar faces last year. He looked looked rather frail but I guess that is not unusual in view of his age. My best wishes to him for a full and speedy recovery.

D Ballard is doing well for Orient but not a player above 5'8" we need

Wonder what Infantino thinks of the matter and possible conflict with other FIFA members such as Denmark, Columbia, Canada and Cuba? Will he demand the return of Trump's Peace Prize medal?

I was stood on the lower Chocolate Box at the time and thought the ball was out for a throw in against us before Big Chiv crossed the ball for TP to score. I wonder how our history would have changed if the lino had given a throw in against us??

I played for Southampton Schoolboys a year or so behind Martin Chivers. As I recollect he played as outside right and Malcolm Renyard was preferred as the main striker. Whilst Malcolm (and his son in later life) went on to have decent careers in local football, Big Chiv hit the big time. Shame he didnt stay longer at Saints but a really decent player whilst he was here. This on the day when news comes through re Kevin Keegan's cancer diagnosis.

And probably one of the top three playing budgets in the Championship If you look at the cost of our current squad, it probably stands at around £160+m plus another £40m outlay on players who are out on loan. So, say, around £200m of player transfer costs on the books against a current 'value' of £50m (??) most of that wrapped up in the selling price of Ramsdale, Charles (if and when fit) and Scienza. Worrying times both on and off the field.

Notice that Calum Slattery was in the Motherwell midfield that beat Celtic recently. Apparently he is on approx £2,500 per week, probably less than some of our U21's

My thoughts, for what they are worth from todays game: 1. Bazunu 8 Faultless and his save in the second half probably saved us from defeat. 2. Jelert 7 Thought he did well, Short in stature but used the ball well. Better option than Roerslev (when he is fit) 3. Manning 5 Not the greatest defender and his main action on the ball is to pass it backwards. Give Welligton another go? 4. Stephens 6 Average. No more no less. 5. Harwood Bellis 6.5 Best of the three central defenders and could have been a last minute hero. 6. Wood 5.5 Defended reasonably well but not much good with the ball. 7. Masuki 5.5 Did reasonably well in his first start of the season He is a tryer. 8. Bragg 6.5 A composed performance from the lad. Dont think he played a bad pass. Hopefully one for the future. 9. Archer 5 I hate to say this but, as far as I am concerned, he has contributed the square root of F**k all since the club spent £15m (??) on him (apart from the goal at St Andrews!!) 10. Downes 6 A reasonable performance but expect more from an expensive signing. 11. Sceinza 6.5 Not sure why he was subbed but he seems to contribute less when asked to play in the middle of the park. Overall defensively we were generally OK but if it wasnt for Baz's brilliant save then we could we easily have lost and that was from a Millwall move that started from our own throw in!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Once again, we have struggled to despatch opponents that have spent far, far less on transfers and salaries than us and overall a draw was a fair result. We desperately need a decent target man. With such a signing I am sure our form would significantly improve.

I have played between the sticks at a decent level in my youth and have been a (very) long term Saints fan. In my humble opinion, Bazunu and Macarthy are unfairly maligned and I have seen far worse (and of course better 'keepers eg Shilton, Niemi, Flowers etc) in my time. One example was Dave Maclaren, who let in nine goals against us whilst playing for Wolves and then dear old Ted Bates signed him on. I could add quite a few other names in the worst 'keepers categories but it does annoy me a little that our current keepers are vilified unfairly. Just my opinion, of course.

Its the way of the world. We could have kept Dibling and not have the money to spend on Scienza who has contributed much more than Tyler would have done this year. It would be interesting to learn what the 'experts' on here think Leo is worth in the transfer market? Wouldnt it be great to find a proper centre forward type centre forward for a similar fee as our Brazilian hero (a Pelle type clone), with the same impact.

Overtly critical

Donnie has also said that he has reduces the cost of medical products in the USA by up to 600%. I question the ability of maths teachers at the Whartons Business School where, apparently, he was an outstanding student!!

I dont think there is a poster on here, or a Saints fan in general, that doesnt believe we need a big centre forward who can cause problems in the air in and around the penalty area> Ross Stewart could have done that, if fit, but he will be gone at the end of the season with just the Sheff Utd 3 points to show. No idea why the club spent a load of money on Archer who is basically a low rent Arma. I guess they thought Downs might fill the bill but he has proved to be yet another crap striker signing.