shurlock

I've more time for Stephens as a long-term prospect but agree re. his performances. Its also clear that NA didn't quite trust him for the big away games after his performance at Rochdale. Yes he started against Plymouth though that was arguably out of necessity not choice (Guly's injury at Brentford forced Chaplow to play RM, freeing up a CM spot). By contrast, he was practically ignored for the massive Brighton and Brentford games.

How many of those have standout, occasionally team-of-the-week NPC experience? True Fonte -or was it Speroni - always stood out. Frazer was a regular in a team that made the playoff finals; but hasn't reproduced that form with us as yet. Lallana looked excellent in his breakthrough season (though his finishing was woeful). Morgan has bulked up since his debut season but he's still an unknown quantity. Other than that, most of the aforementioned players would make reliable NPC journeymen but its hard to see how they would push us on.

Midfield is still an issue - the players are too 'samey' and inconsistent. I thought Chaplow would come in and shake things up but it hasn't quite worked out that way. Even NA who initially favoured a Hammond-Chaplow pairing, ended up started Morgan again (and a weakness of Pardew's team was that Morgan and Hammond were too static). Of course, if Stephens does sign, its hard to see what future there is for Gobern at the club.

Finally, the Fris Hansen appointment? Reckon its something with prose, quotes, photos - something requiring work to be put together as JS implies. Same could be said about the new kit or Stephens signing...But im plumping for the announcement of a new Director of European Football. By the same (loose) logic, publishing a retained list or new ST prices would wouldn't require much work.

No reason why we can't expand and attract new fans across the south - unlike london, the midlands and north which are congested and cluttered with successful clubs, there is a massive vacuum in the south. Of course, that requires us first to spend real money and challenge for things and second be willing to tolerate hordes of gloryhunters; but the potential is there to climb very high.

F**k me-did he eat paul williams?

Discussed here http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?30123-it-cant-be-said-now-that-SMS-does-not-create-a-great-atmosphere Question is whether the better atmosphere justifies the extra costs - worth remembering that Blocks 1-3 were open for the first three seasons we were in the championship -seasons where attendances were often lower than ours last season in L1.

Leeds - Millwall, Cardiff - Leeds and any other combo involving West Ham, Bristol C etc Our game with Bristol City is always pretty tasty

Agree he's got a dignity about how he does things - one reason I'm v.happy hodgson turned things around at WBA and would like to see Brian McDermott take Reading up. Don't think martinez will ever be more than an upper championship manager, however.

Got alot of time for Avram, and not the f**king snakes that have sought to undermine him everywhere he's gone. Couldn't think of a nicer bunch of people than gold, sullivan and brady to get relegated and lose a personal fortune. My heart weeps for the ****s. Like others have pointed out, Brum and their dull, no-nonsense football will be a greater threat than West Ham.

Not MK Dons or P'boro's most high-profile players but both lee tomlin and daniel powell have been v.impressive this season. Less sure about Baldock.

Isn't it Big Dave, a London Saint? Originally from Ohio.

Do football clubs invest revenues in the markets - in safe assets such as government bonds? No reason why they couldn't or shouldn't.

Everton had a good season - and have done very little since. Most Everton fans are pessimistic about the future because of the financial constraints they are operating under. If its unnecessary to do a City, how much do you think will need to be spent on players and infrastructure to enable us to knock at the door of the top 4? At the very least, £80-100m at least in transfer fees? £25-40m in wages? Whatever sum you come up with will no doubt require a pretty fundamental change in our business model. There are lots of teams - Aston Villa, Sunderland - that have invested big and sensibly but are way off the pace. If you asked teams in the top half of the table (outside the top four) what the main goal was at the start of the season, most would have responded survival. If anything, teams are having to spend more and more to avoid relegation - forget actually challenging.

I understand that Jake Sinclair is rated more highly than his brother - if true, that's saying something.

Infrequently is an understatement! he started one game at left-back and came on as sub in the 89th min in another!

Is Frankie going to Hollywood?

Agree - v.good player.

And Huddersfield have got the playoffs first thing saturday

Good question, though Barnard was already featuring while Connolly was injured, so was the most obvious stand-in when Guly got injured. Either way, Barny seized his chance and made discussions of who's the better player - Barnard or Connolly - irrelevant. Nobody's going to drop an in-form player. Odder is why NA opted for Forte over Connolly for a period - apart from his brace vs. MK Dons and a decent half vs. Rochdale, Forte has done v.little. I genuinely think NA got that decision wrong - thankfully he was big enough to change things during the BHA game and has not looked back since.

Depending on the other midfielders, its not inconceivable that Lambert could play at the tip of a diamond with two strikers in front of him. Lambert remains an AM and that gives you more optioons than someone like Barnard. Because of the style of play of the championship with teams willing to give you more possession and the importance of pace, I wouldn't be surprised if Lambert drops deeper than he has this season.

More immediate and important question is what you would do with Martin, Gobern and Doble - youngsters who are closer and more ready for first team action.

Guly and Lambert can also play in different positions (also true with Forte who you've left off but arguably strengthens your point about freeing up room). Of course, the biggest extravagence would be to pay £3m or so for CMS and accompanying wages- that's the elephant in the room.

With Gobern, people are struck by his athleticism and assume there's something to work with - that's been the english mindset. But technically, he's always looked tentative in possession. I had high hopes for him - still remember his role in our fightback at Preston a few seasons ago (where he played left-midfield). However he hasn't hit the same heights since. With midfield a recurring problem and notwithstanding a bad hip injury, Gobern has had opportunities to impress; but at each turn, hes been overlooked and instead new faces -Hammond, Chaplow, Stephens etc- have come in pushing him further down the line. Even James started ahead of Gobern in CM while he was at the club. Its a tough call - I was quite happy to see James leave since I had two seasons to watch him develop (or not). That's not the case with Gobern. Either way he needs greater match time, especially as there are decent youngsters coming up behind, so if a decent loan can't be lined up, I would look to move him on.

Riding a white horse at the end of the battle?!?! I wouldn't characterise his goals against Brighton and Brentford like that. Have you seen him play? How many games would you expect from Connolly to make a new contract good value for money? And what makes you so sure that Connolly will be injured again? He's fit now and he didn't suddenly appear out of nowhere when he appeared 'on his white horse'. Apparently, he he had been ready for a while.