spyinthesky

One of them is to limit the pay of a company's top earner to 10 times the salary of the lowest. Will cause quite a problem for most companies and begs the question that if a cleaner at SMS is on £15k a year how are our superstars going to be able to manage on an annual salary that is the equivalent of a couple of weeks of their current wedge??

Well beaten by Monaco 0-3 Men against boys!! Separately understand Josh Sims back from loan period in the USA

They are a bit of a roll at the moment. FA Cup 3rd round pretty much nailed on and a placed in the play offs on the cards. Could be more derbies to come this season and possibly next!!

They are a bit of a roll at the moment. FA Cup 3rd round pretty much nailed on and a placed in the play offs on the cards. Could be more derbies to come this season and possibly next!!

A mate of mine has consistently been bigging up Jarred Bowen at Hull City He scored another cracker today at Boro taking his total up to 12 so far from midfield this season and he was Hull's top scorer last term. Should have bought him last season when his price would have been lower.

Lemina/Hoedt/Carillo/Forster/Elyounoussi all out on loan, combined transfer cost approx £75m. Current value possibly £10m tops.

I have been watching football a lot longer than most on here so this possibly helps provide a more balanced view. Everything is, of course, subjective but I would definitely say that Ray Wilson was the best left back I have ever seen. I only ever saw Duncan Edwards play once when Man Utd beat our own decent (at the time) Youth team in the SF (1st Leg) of the Youth Cup but by all accounts he was looked upon as the best English player of his generation until his untimely death post the Munich Air Crash. Bobby Charlton reckoned he was a 'colossus', tall and very strong, power in both feet, quite quick and at home in every position on the field. He was only 21 at the time of his death so would undoubtedly have improved with age. So he would be a given along with Bobby Moore, Tom Finney (who Bill Shankley rated as the best player he ever saw), Bobby Charlton and possibly Beckham and Gascoigne from more recent times. Difficult to decide between Banks and Shilton but probably, by a hairs breath, go for Banks.

Would anyone know if players contracts include a reduction next season when we are in the Championship. I heard from a good mate of Jack Stephens a year or so back when Saints were, once again, facing relegation that his contract allowed for a 50% reduction on relegation. Even on an average £25k I reckon our wage bill would still be on the high side in the Championship

Actually we tried to kick toward the Chapel end against Leicester That went well and conceded 5 at the Northam end v 4 at the Chapel!!

Someone sat near me was speculating what will come first Brexit or a Saints home win? On that cheerful note I had a look at our home record since Koeman left us (in 5th position - and above Liverpool) and Puel took over at the start of 2016/17 and our home form has been as follows. P63.....W15....D22.....L26......F69......A98....Pts 67 Av.......................................1.1.......1.6.....1.06 What wonderful value for money the price of a ticket at St Marys has been!!!!!!!!! In comparison, our away form, which generally is **** poor hasnt been too bad, in comparison. P63....W15......D17.....L28.....F65......A100...Pts 62 It would be interesting to work out how many (late) goals have been scored at the Northam end as to my mind we always seem to concede goals that end and we leave the ground to the chorus of celebrating away fans.

I was concerned at the start of the season for the following reasons. 1. No cover at left back after Targett sold (for a decent fee I have to say) 2. Problems at central defence, which everyone knew about, but hoped Danso would step in to fill the gap (no sign of that now) 3. Lack of mobility in midfield once it was apparent that Lemina was off and also lack of cover if Hodjberg and/or Romeu were out of the side. 4. No natural attacking left footer once we lost Tadic. 5. No aerial presence up front. Any ball in the air pumped forward is immediately returned as none of our forward players are any good in the air. In addition this year our pressing style of play seems none existent and other teams (with more quality) are doing it better than we can. Throw ins - we still cant use them to our advantage. Free kicks/Corners - oh for some variety a la Eddie Howe's Bournemouth who seem to practice such variety in training.

I have been concerned for a while that this squad would be incapable of getting us in the frame for promotion from the Championship. Take away the players that will have to be sold for revenue or to reduce the wage bill, add in the Black Box's complete failure to spot suitable players at a reasonable price and League One looks a reasonable scenario. Meantime my Players rating for today McCarthy 6... Couldnt be blamed for the goals Armstrong 5... Played out of position Cedric 5... Ditto Bednerak 5... Below average. Vestergaard 5... Ditto Stephens 5... Ditto Romeu 4.... Worse game I have seen him play fro some time Ward Prowse 4 ... Was going to be 3 but he had a decent free kick well saved Redmond 4... Hardly in the game but to be fair the service to the front players was poor Ings 5.5.. Another isolated player trying to deal with high balls against taller and more powerful players Djenepo 5.5....Reminds me of a skinny and more skilful George Lawrence. Should never be asked to play left back Boufal 6.... As we know tends to play himself into blind alleys but at least gave us a few things to cheer about especially making the goal Ched Evans 3.... A couple of runs when he came on Obefemi 1....Dis he actually touch the ball?

Anyone know if the club still own the land?

Great Saints away support, almost 2% of the crowd ie seven out of 375!!! Must have cost Coventry a fair bit to stage the game at St Andrews!! Apparently Coventry's team included younger players than our U 21's

Two relegations in one season??

I dont think any of us at grass roots level, whether Remainers or Brexiteers, or any of those supposedly 'In the Know' understood the various complexities of Brexit. I such a scenario there should be a second vote on Brexit but I am afraid we are too far down the line for this and, as a country, we have to face the consequences. The vast majority of people I speak to in business are extremely concerned about the effects of Brexit and our Govts ability (of whatever colour) to keep us on the straight and narrow. Meantime a long but prophetic view of the consequences of Brexit was written before the vote by AA Gill if anyone can locate it.

And with no disrespect to Sam, who is a local lad, his injury was quite serious and until then he was hardly setting the Championship alight.

GM - dont necessarily disagree with what you say but most franchises are based on 7-10 year terms, albeit with the prospect of break clauses. However there may be the possibility of legal challenges so with these prospects in mind returning the railway system to public ownership is likely to take time as you admit. There is also the complication of compensation payouts to acquire rolling stock from the TOC's although I guess a deal may be possible with the leasing companies who generally own the hardware. Nonetheless there would be a cost.

GM You are well informed man but I must query your statement on Railway ownership. Network Rail is operated as an arms length public body of the Dept of Transport. However the 20+ Train Operating Companies are more or less all privately owned and there would be a significant cost to the public purse to re-nationalise them.

A few random notes: 1. We were 2nd in the Prem at this time 5 yrs ago under Koeman and a more suitable way of scouting players. 2. I dont believe the players were not trying. However they were totally inept and the Manager got his tactics wrong. 3. If Leicester had been reduced to 10 men I reckon they would still have won at they were superior to us in every way. 4. Did we win the toss and decide to defend the Northam end, as I recollect Leicester kicked off the first half? If so, that went well!!! 5. Credit to those of us who suffered the full 90 mins especially those who got behind the team. 6. Our midfield is poor (but not as poor as the back line). That said, what back up do we have if Romeu and Hojborg are out? 7. Around £95m of 'talent' (discounting injured players) were not involved in the game on Friday and I reckon the club would do well to recoup £20m of this outlay in the open market. 8. I have had to apologise to my lad for encouraging him to support Saints!!!

I cant blame Gunn for all bar one of the goals He stood one side of the goal for Maddisons free kick and it was inevitable that the free kick was directed to the open area of the goal

One thing I have noticed this season is the opponents left back is left free to forage forward and whoever plays right back is often faced with 2 or 3 attackers as our formation doesnt seem able to deal with this Also, although mentioned many times before the following players played no part in yesterdays game Forster £10m Lemina £15m Hoedt £15m Carillo £19m Boufal £15m Long £12m Adams £14m Approx £100m of 'talent' not considered good enough to turn out last night and possibly currently 'worth' a combined £20m in today's market

Talking to a mate of mine who is a Blackburn fan. He reckons Sam Gallagher has only scored once in the League in 600 days!! I have no beef with Sam and really thought he was worth a run in the team primarily on the basis of his wonder goal (ironically) against Blackburn a few years back in the Youth Cup. But to get £5m for him and a similar amount for Charlie Austin, who doesnt seem to be tearing up the Championship with his goal scoring exploits seems to have been reasonable business.

Big article today on Sadio Mane but not one word about his time with Saints. Just another example of discounting all teams apart from the top six. I guess Mane (and VVD) are worth a bundle more than when they left here but both transfer fees seem to reflect the players worth at the time. There was another piece in the S Times which described the efforts Man Utd put in to scout players. Not very successfully perhaps nowadays but just goes to show that our famed(!!!) 'Black Box' does not have the resources available to Man Utd and perhaps indicates that even chucking loads of money at the scouting system doesnt always work.