spyinthesky

Good post

I had hoped that we might have been interested in signing Maguire from Hull and play him alongside VVD or as a replacement when Virgil shoots off elsewhere. Of course it is difficult to make direct comparisons after last nights game but I do suggest that Maguire didn't look at all bad value at circa £25m (or was it less?) versus VVD at around £60-£70m Our Black Box definitely needs a reboot!!

I have no complaints about the team that was sent out to play However every outfield player was inept Only 6/10 performance could be given to Bertrand and many armchair fans will be surprised that, in my opinion, Forster was our best player. Leicester won at an absolute canter You cant blame the Manager for the individual's performance but he does have to take responsibility for the shape and enthusiasm of his players, both sadly lacking. If we do escape relegation this year some major surgery needs to be done to the team as well as an in depth review as to how the club is being run I bet the new owner is a happy chappie!!!

CB I agree with you in most respects. The only things that would have been of benefit at Stoneham would have been proximity to Parkway Station and the fact that an impressive stadium would have been seen my millions of motorists a year passing by on the M27

I think you are not far off the mark re the Toys R Us site as I assume the Pirelli factory was still in situ in the late 70's However I am pretty certain that the expected capacity was 25,000 Would be good to get a definitive answer

Also looked at a number of alternative sites in/around the city Main options were the current West Quay site (25,000 capacity just after the 76 Cup win) and the site off Stoneham Lane (also 25k capacity)

Agree with the 'decent price' comment Reportedly £33m Ok pretty basic in design but brought us into the modern era at a cost which would probably be at least double now

Spot on comment That shot was unstoppable

According to a piece in yesterday's Programme, we appear to have opened our 12th Pre-Academy programme, this time in Portsmouth ...'as we look to increase opportunities for all young players in the region'..... Feel sure this initiative will be accepted in the normal welcoming way in the area!!!

I can understand the negative feelings with regard to Pellegrino My default position is to keep faith with the Manager PROVIDED he has the support of the players and the Board. I have no idea how Pellegrino stands in this respect. My view is somewhat coloured by the decision to keep McMenemy in post after he presided over us being relegated in his first season in charge However as a balance to this, getting rid of Branfoot was entirely the right decision and if younger supporters think things are bad now, the Branfoot days at the Dell were a particularly bad period in our history.

I think we all agree that unless things run round quickly we will end up near the Relegation zone this year and, if we continue to be abysmal in front of goal there is a reasonable chance of us going down. This begs the question how many players would be here to 'enjoy' the challenge of competing in the Championship next season. As Philip Neville said on MOTD a few weeks back, individually we have players who will be coveted by other clubs, and I reckonthe value of our 'saleable' players must be around the £200m mark, although may be decreasing as our performances continue to slide. ie Foster Cedric Bertrand Romeu Lemina Ward Prowse Hojberg VVD Hoecht Redmond Tadic Boufal Gabbiadini Yoshida Davis plus freebies for Piet, Gardos and possibly Claisie Perhaps our new owner would look at a wholesale fire sale and recoup most/all of his investment leaving us in a 'Sunderland' type situation based on the remaining squad of players ie McCarthy Targett Mc Queen Stevens Bedanak Sims Reed Gallagher Austin (if he will accept reduction in wages) Long ( Ditto) Seager Hesketh Plus any youngsters who Les and the coaching staff think worthy of promotion. Otherwise it is likely to need a £50m+ investment to ensure we can challenge for an instant return. I would hate for us to go down but perhaps there are advantages about being in the Championship, I suppose eg seeing a goal or two and actually winning some games. Also there is the possibility of returning to proper derby games if Pompey come up through the League 1 play offs!!!

I agree with this comment On paper we had a relatively successful season under Puel but most of us recognised this only papered over the cracks. Goalscoring was a problem so we sold one forward (right decision in my view) and expected Gabbiadini/Long and Austin to fulfil the role(s) of striker. This was taking quite a risk as Long and Austin are no more than Championship level and Gabbiadini is not really I suitable main striker for the Premiership, although, to be fair, he started off OK last season - before falling away. During the summer we held onto VVD and Bertrand (which fans appreciated) and bought Bedanak (why ?- another Gardos clone?) and Lemina (v good so far) and Hoecht (OK so far) However the lack of a robust striker who can actually cause problems to opposition defences either in the air or with pace has been a major mistake. We now have a club with (another) defensively minded coach, players with ability not playing as a team, lack of effort, no real options in crucial areas (eg in goal and upfront), no young talent coming through as evidenced by poor results from the U21's and youth teams And finally, uncertainty with the motives/involvement of our new majority owners!!

Spot on comment

It seems rather doubtful at the moment that dear old Ron will be in post when Everton move to their planned new stadium at Bramley Moore Dock in 2020 As an aside, much as I liked Goodison Park as a proper old ground (albeit with crap sight lines etc), I have never seen Saints win there in all the various times I have ventured north with the Saints.

Re Henry Redknapp, presumably the Pompey News and their intrepid band of readers, various local councillors and odd MP (and I mean 'odd') have given up their campaign to get a knighthood for their one time Manager?

I am sure I read somewhere that PSG have already sold 170,000 Neymar shirts At say £50 a pop that's £8.5m gross revenue (probably pays Neymar's wages for a week!!)

Apparently there is a story in today's Birmingham Mail which puts into question the financing of West Midlands clubs (Vilia/Birmingham/WBA and Wolves) who are all owned by Chinese interests being able to get finance out of China where the Govt is becoming increasing strict in allowing funds to exit the country. Presumably our new owners will be similarly affected

Well done for turning up One of the recorded 48 away fans!!

I try not to join in with criticism of Fraser However I think he should have done better with the second goal I reckon he thought the game was over at this stage and went in half hearted with his challenge using his legs not his body to smother the ball Poor effort in an overall extremely disappointing team performance (Yoshi and Romeu excepted)

In case anyone from the club monitors this site, I think we are due to play Liverpool at home on 10th February and not Sunderland!!! Recollect there was a problem with correct score last year. Just being pedantic as otherwise the programme is OK

I agree with this To my mind Forster has been harshly treated by some posters on here. Keepers are always prone to mistakes. Lloris at Spurs has been consistently good but was criticised for Chelsea's second goal yesterday and I am sure Forster would also have been taken to task by some on here for letting in Chelsea's first if he had been on the pitch. Forster is by no means perfect, his distribution is sometime wayward and he doesn't command his box too well (but there again which keepers do in the modern game?) and he is not quick on his feet. However I would rather spend money on strengthening our defence and midfield than splash the cash on a replacement keeper I have seen many Saints keepers in my time (going back to the 50's) and Forster, in my opinion, rates in the top 5 only behind the likes of Shilton, Niemi and Flowers and possibly Jones Collectively we have form as Saints supporters criticising keepers. Boruc and Kelvin Davis in recent years spring to mind and there have been others in years past.

Anyone feel a little bit sorry for him? My feelings are neutral about him now. The positives which were built up after his sterling service from League 1 days up until his departure last season were obliterated by his behaviour when he engineered a move away. However his performance yesterday and the obvious poor opinion about his worth as a player by West Ham fans makes me feel a small amount of pity for him. That said I am sure he can reflect on his winners medal with Portugal and a decent 2.5 years deal at West Ham (plus a tidy signing on fee) to compensate. Shame really, with a bit more class about his departure he could have remained a Saints icon.

Any one read the Times article on Spurs wage policy today? Dele Alli - £50,000 per week (presume basic before bonuses?) Tammy Abraham - £50k Jonjo Shelvey - £70k james Morrison at WBA - £65k James Milner - £120k!!!!!!!! Christain Benteke - £120k Javier Hernandez - £140k Harry Kane - £100k Christian Erikssen - £75k Andre Gray - £72k Eric Dier - £65k Jesse Lingard - £75k (rising to £100k) Danny Rose - £65k Ben Davies (paid less than Bryan Oviedo at Sunderland) Toby Alderweireld paid considerably less than Harry Maguire, Jonny Evans and Micheal Keane so wonder what he was on at Saints? Shame he would now attract a massive transfer fee as presumably our wage structure may now be better than Spurs Based on these wages perhaps Wimmer would be happy to come here as I guess he isnt on a massive salary at Spurs based on these reported first teamers wages

At some stage in my dark and distant past, I remember there used to be a waiting list for season tickets at the Dell. At that stage the Dell had a capacity of 30,000 but only about 5-6,000 seats, and the main standing areas behind the goals were uncovered so you got wet in the rain. Standing under the East & West Stands provided some protection from the elements (unless you were at the front) whereas at the back of the terracing there was a restricted view due to the overhang of the stands. The Dell was great for memories on the pitch but the facilities were crap.

We paid £6.00 for our Cup Final tickets which seemed extortionate at the time but the seats were up by the Royal Box so hate to think the comparative price nowadays