spyinthesky

Nail on the head as ever. The truth hurts every time I read one of your otherwise enjoyable match reports It seems we all turn up for a home game these days with very little expectation of a decent result and leave with the voices of opposing supporters celebrating yet another away win. I wonder if the club could advance time at the ground and ensure the game is played over 60 minutes to reduce the 'torture' time.

Whilst understanding your frustration, what's the option. I dont think Sports Republic have been shy in putting money into the club, its just been the way it has been spent on crap players.

Burnley may not be promoted and with a full side they will be better than our weakened side next season. Looking at Birmingham tonight v Newcastle they have comparatively more to offer especially if they strengthen. Even Pompey did better against Swansea and Burnley this season. This tells a tale.

I agree with your comment on fitness. Burnley were at it at a much higher pace than we were. We have no movement up front and I am afraid Tall Paul is nowhere near the answer and there is no one else in the squad who can provide an option as a central striker. I am dreading next week when there is every chance that Bournemouth will tear us apart.

Shame there was no action shots of the Saints 9 Wolves 3 game back in the 1960's

Looks like 5.736 seats not sold and with Burnley probably bringing around 1,200 and the Kingsland closed, probably a crowd of around 15,000. so expect a crap atmosphere and after giving Burnley their 50% net share after Vat, just enough to cover most of the pitch invasion fine after the West Brom game. Our friends from Burnley will also be bringing down a blast of cold air from Oop North, to make the experience even chillier🥶

So if I read the room correctly Devilish Donald is intending to annexe Panama (or at least the Canal), Canada, Greenland and Gaza in his first few months in charge. Possibly move on to Mexico and then look to a deal with his mate Nige when Reform win the next UK election, to grant devolution to Scotland so he can build more amazing golf clubs around the newly independent country. As Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia etc etc dont want to take refugees from Gaza, perhaps Dazzling Don can divert the planes which have dropped off unregistered immigrants from the US back to collect Gaza residents bombed out from their homeland over to the USA for temporary accommodation whilst Jared Kushner develops the Gaza Strip into the Miami of the Middle East.

Slightly off topic but did Dancin' Don ever submit his extremely complicated tax returns?

Having watched the goals on the Saints Official Website there seems to be a bit of talent there particularly Baylee Dipepa, who we got from Port Vale, and Jay Robinson who impresses me every time I see him play. Hopefully there will be a few from the team who progress to the senior ranks, provided they dont follow the path of SAA, Megohma and others

I think the performances of Edwards, Charles and many of our players last season really shows up the increasingly wide standards of the Prem versus the Championship.

I wonder what odds the Bookies would have been offering in the 89th minute of the FA Cup 3rd round that year when little old 2nd Division Saints were losing 1-0 at home to 1st Division Aston Villa for Saints to go on beat 'mighty' Man Utd in the Cup Final, four months later?

Howden is OK but think they only sell to the trade so you need to get the kitchen planned and an installer to buy the units direct from Howdens.

There were conflicting reports about the fee ranging from £10m to £20m. However it shows that Birmingham (and Wrexham) could be in the mix for another promotion next year with wealthy backers behind them

Sounds a bit like Salisu!!

What concerns me about the win at Ipswich after the initial euphoria wore off is, by common consent, we were rather lucky to get the three points against a team who are the second worst in the Prem. We deserve to be where we are and the challenge for Juric and the management team is to create a system of play that suits a relatively mediocre group of players. I do wish him all the best in this difficult task.

I am just happy that a Trump clone was not US President during either WW1 or WW2. I could imagine the Trump clone being quite impressed with Hitler and the 'strong man' leadership of Germany especially as his grandparents were German The idea of being able to develop hotels along the north German coast would appeal to the Donnie philosophy and the UK would likely have ended up as toast.

I must admit at being disappointed in this although there may be a financial benefit to the club which may translate into spending on another player. I have seen SAA in U21 games and he generally lloks a cut above most of the players on there and he was able to bulk up a little could turn into a similar player to Sako. Whatever the outcome, good luck to the lad.

Looks like Jayden Mehgoma has gone on loan to Preston from Brentford.

Just wonder if any of my fellow old stagers on here remember us beating Ipswich 7-0 in an FA Cup game back in the 1960's? Think we were 6-0 up at Half time.

It was dispiriting to watch the Senate meeting on the Robert Kennedy Jnr hearing We have many challenges in this country and a bit of a divide of political views but, fortunately, nothing as wide as our friends in the USA.

I thought this may be of interest as I had nothing much to do this evening. Herewith a list of current players, their age, length of contract and cost to the club in transfer fees. All information provided by the best intel I can find. Most contracts expire on 30th June each year Of the 38 players mentioned below, two are included as loans (in), seven are loans out (as underlined), two are more or less permanently injured and three are regulars in the U21's. I would expect all of the 2025 list will go at the end of the season (possibly with the exception of Lumley) with Harwood Bellis, Ramsdale and definitely Fernandes expected to attract decent bids from Premiership side with the club, as a necessity, needing to get cash in to address the big fall in revenue. Dibling is likely to attract a good deal of interest but there may be the possibility of keeping him here on loan if he does go. The futures of Bella Kotchap, Onuachu and Sulemana are unlikely to be at St Marys if the club can get a reasonable return on their £50m transfer cost. That would leave the high scoring trio of Armstrong, Archer and BBD to spear head our challenge for Championship glory, although BBD may be off to Sheff Utd if they go up. Its sobering to think that all the 'talent' shown below cost the club between £240-£250m+ Signing On fees, Agent fees, Wages etc etc. Out of Contract 2025 2027 2029 Gronback 23 Loan Dibling 19 - Fernandes 20 £13m Ugochukwu 21 Loan Armstrong 27 £15m Kay Sanda 19 £4m KWP 28 £10m Bazanu 23 £12m Stephens 31 £500k Sulemana 22 £22m ????????? Lallana 36 Free Bednerak 29 £5m Taboaka Lumley 30 Free Larios 21 £6m Juan 2026 Manning 28 Free Matsuki Onuachu 30 £18m Robinson 17 - Aribo 28 £8m Edioze 22 £10m Stewart 28 £10m 2008 Fraser 30 Free Harwood Bellis 23 £19m Taylor 31 Free Ramsdale 26 £18m Bree 27 Free Downes 26 £15m McCarthy 35 £1m Archer 23 £15m Amo-Ameyaw 18 - Sugawara 24 £6m Smallbone 24 - Wood 23 £3m Bella Kotchap 23 £10m Edwards 21 £3m Charles 21 £10m Brereton Diaz 25 £7m Welington 23 £3m

Just a refection on the Newcastle game. Obviously with the money at their disposal they had better quality players but this was not only evident when they had the ball but off it too, Newcastle moved the ball quickly and their forward players were consistently making runs into space either to receive the ball or to make space for team mates. In comparison most of the time our defenders had to ball moving the ball forward into the opposition's half was slow. Not as slow as with Russball but still slow enough to allow Newcastle players to get into shape. Also when our players had the ball around the Newcastle penalty area and lost possession this caused us all sorts of problems as Newcastle were able to break at pace. Perhaps Juric can adjust tactics to assist with this.

We were in the Southern League, along with Spurs and a few others of a similar standing from around our founding date ie 1885 and did pretty well winning the title on a few occasions and reaching a couple of Cup Finals. Along with a number of 'Non League' teams we then entered the Football League via the Third Division South in 1921. This is all from memory so please excuse me if I have not remembered dates correctly.

I think we will find out against Burnley although they may ring the changes as they will see promotion as their main objective this year.

Agree with you particularly with the comment about Ross Stewart as an individual. I am sure he is as pissed off about the situation as are all those associated with the club both on and off the pitch. As I recollect the club gambled on decent players like David Hurst, Charlie George, Perry Groves, Kerry Dixon in the past, all of whom were decent players who suffered injuries which curtailed their playing careers. However none of them suffered as badly as Roscoe.