Saint Fan CaM

Bit like Hammond then?

Good luck to the chap...he has become a part of our future.

Oh no. We've got no ambition. (;

Looks like Nicola has really 'splashed out' with this break away. (L; http://www.champneys.com/Springs "Everything is designed specifically to help you de-stress and unwind"

Ticket prices pretty good I think for a friendly against Prem opposition and players getting near to match fitness. Will be interesting to see if we can cope with the extra pace that they will inevitable present us with. Today I purchased 5 seats in block 30 BTW.

This.

Too early to tell at the moment. If we've not spent some money to bring in 2-3 really decent players in key positions before August then yes, lack of ambition might be levelled at Cortese (the guy with the purse strings). Until that time, I think the evidence could possibly be weighted slightly in favour of the club, as we have not only not lost our best players, we're busy extending contract terms for some. So far the last two seasons have been great and I cannot see that position changing any time soon.

This.

Frankly I couldn't give a flying fig about CMS. Sure, he's a good acquisition for Brighton, however in many attacks he made last season many of them were based on the hoof and chase style of football. That might be highly effective at L1 level, but I think he'll be found out in the NPC. A case of watch this space methinks.

I agree that we have some real quality in the squad, however there are generic weaknesses that still need to be addressed to compete let alone push for promotion. For a start we need both pace and grit in central midfield. We need more pace in attack. Then there's the specifics. We need to find a real replacement for Jaidi and I think our full-backs could get exposed if they're too busy attacking (although this might be more a tactical issue rather than specific player competence). We have one player (Forte) who has not really been given a good run in the side to show us what he's about (although I do think he will be a real asset this season). We have Barnie possibly not being able to play for an unknown amount of time. These are not negatives as such - just issues that need to be addressed before the season starts.

Irrelevent as this thread is (given Lowe is history and bad history at that), I would have to say NC wins hands down.

I understand what you're trying to say SL - Adkins will be tested this season. But then so will the entire squad (inc. coaches) surely as they - as a team - have not performed at NPC level before? Your arguement also does not take into account some of the positives we take from last season - look at the number of games won/lost over the last 10 games of the season...look at the fact that team spirit will be as high as a kite just from actually winning promotion...Adkins got a lesser Scunny side into the NPC and kept them there. What exactly are your expectations for this season? What would constitute a good season for Adkins? For me - worst case, a mid-table finish would not be a complete disaster and not necessarily a reflection on Adkins ability for example...more a case of not a strong enough squad.

All of this is rehash from his OS interview and on Saintsplayer.

I don't think it has anything to do with not wanting to play for us exactly. It's more a case of NC ensuring that wage costs do not spiral beyond our means and there are probably players and agents out there... (a) not realising there's a recession on (why would they - they don't live in the real world) and (b) thinking Saints have a bottomless pit of money to spend. I think NA is doing a good job explaining the situation and whether we like that or not, it's a sensible position in the larger scheme of things. We'll get new players I feel sure - whether the final squad is good enough to compete for a push to the Prem is debatable, but that's what makes football such a great sport and why we're here discussing it. As NA and Lambert also have said, it would seem there's a great team spirit in the camp now and that's something money cannot buy.

You're not wrong there...but then there's some that just blubber as a wind-up, which is kinda clever in it's own way, so long as there's no abuse involved.

Good - very good. lol

Not true IMO. I don't think anyone has a problem if somebody else criticises an opinion. But that's not what we're talking about here. As an example, the difference would be me telling you I disagree with your POV (as above) or just dismissing your opinion and calling you a mong (or some other equally offensive name). Frankly I couldn't give a monkeys d1ck what an internet warrior calls me, but the point of me being here is to have an adult discusssion about a Saints related topic - not get abused for the sake of it. Anyone who abuses another poster deserves to be banned completely from the main board IMO. That doesn't happen frequently enough - as I've said already the reasons probably have something to do with off-line friendships. Or perhaps the MODs are scared there'll be nobody left to post?! Who knows, perhaps the variety of posters might increase if the abuse rule was actually invoked fully (but fairly)?

Have I missed someting? Adkins recently said on 'Saintsplayer' that no approach has been made for Riise - has something happened to change that position in the last day or so?

Just to bring the thread back to it's roots, I completely agree with the OP. It's close season, there's not much happening Saints-wise and therefore this place will be somewhat quiet, but I cannot for the life of me understand the 'moderation' on this occasion. And yes, it does appear as if a few on here (non-moderators) are intent on spoiling it for many others. The evidence is in the number of really interesting ex-posters who do not bother now because of the insults and infantile thread hijacking. Not sure how much longer I'll bother with the membership to be honest - £5 or not, I come on here to engage with like-minded Saints fans, even if we don't see eye to eye. There are quite a few now who watch but don't post - probably because there's a controlling 'clique' of posters who are just dismissive of others opinions and on many occasions very offensive. I suspect they're known to the moderators here - perhaps mates off-line...who knows. Perhaps sooner or later it will be a case of "who cares"?

Fixed. (;

Nothing to see here people - move along.

Unless the FA start to take stock of the English game and have a root and branch clear-out of all the old book characters, we will see the England football team suffer a similar fate to English tennis - mediocrity at best. Just look at make-up of the England senior 1st team - still loaded with the same players that have lost time and time again. Players that play alongside a mish-mash of foreign players in the Prem - except Spanish players, because by contrast most of the best Spanish players play in the Spanish leagues. So when the England team comes together the overall level of competency drops significantly. Sort it!

Can't believe the narrow-mindedness of some on here. The way I see it is that no-one is suggesting 30k+ average crowds next season or indeed for some time. The simple position is this - Cortese wants to take this club to a place it has NEVER experienced before in terms of success (i.e. top of Prem/CL etc), so comparing what we have achieved in the past with what we potential CAN achieve is nuts. We know for certain that when clubs do well their attendances go up - that's natural - but we cannot tell accurately how much. We can only estimate and one way might be to look at the number of tickets that were readily sold for the JPT final - a 50k sell-out and more could have been sold. That might indicate that the audience is there - Cortese just has to find a way to capture their imagination to come to SMS regularly. Success in the form of winning more games than losing, press coverage, TV exposure, big player names, competing with top class opponents, Saints players making it into the England squad etc. etc. will do that. Nothing is certain in this world, however all the signs from the past since Cortese has been in the building indicate that the future looks very rosy indeed. It's going to take at least another 10 years before we see Saints perform consistently at the top of the Prem and so any thoughts of ground expansion should be aligned with that timescale at least I would suggest. We don't know for sure - but why not contemplate on what might be?

There will be a flood of plastic supporters + new ones when we return to the Prem and start winning significant competitions. That's not being deluded. More chance of it happening than your lottery numbers coming in actually, but that doesn't stop you buying them (or your Mum buying them if you're too young). lol

Wind your neck in - you've got no vision of what COULD be, so does that make you small minded?