Saint Fan CaM

Might be worth a shot then?

Do I care? Vaguely I suppose. Wanted him to succeed when he was here, because I want all managers to succeed here obviously. Otherwise, he was a part of a flawed and pretty dire part of our history that I did not really enjoy. So for that reason I'm out of the Jan love-in.

The entire day out to Wembley. Didn't matter what the cup was - it was silverware and we won 4-1 - magic. And there was an almost tangible feeling that this was just a very small taste of some really great adventures to come for all us Saints under the ownership of Markus. The crowning glory to a REALLY enjoyable season.

Yeah do it - no really I mean it. That way you'll get banned and we'll have one less stupid twerp among our ranks. Just how old are you anyway? My guess would be about 7-8 years old, but even that might be offensive to some 5 year olds. LOL.

Sorry if covered somewhere else - couldn't see it. http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11700_6134536,00.html Worth a punt on this guy? Seems to be worthy based on his performances last season, but before that?

Really like the idea of Sam Vokes - always thought we should have signed him.

Not harsh and very valid point. I would add that at this stage we could well have been on our third appointment after recruiting the fitness coach as 1st team Manager failed.

110% agreed. If NC is as serious about pushing for the Prem as he makes out then we should be focussed on the club's progress, not answering a shoddy journalists story. When we sign 3-4 top new players in the summer, see the training ground improvements and refurbish the Stadium, then perhaps we might permit The Mail et al to comment on the great things happening at Saints.

Are you for real Alpine?! The only thing you should be asking of NC is to maintain stability of the squad and club when we're on the brink of a period of sustained growth and success with one of the best managers in Britain. I recognise you may need this kind of 'excitement' to sustain your interest in the club given you cannot attend many games, but really...do you really believe this guff?!? The story is I suspect a complete fabrication. Why would AP be interviewed on Radio Solent this morning talking about the clubs ambition to sign 3-4 new players in the summer if he was in anyway in danger of losing his job and/or having a poor relationship with NC? If it turns out to be true it will severely dent my belief in NC's intentions for the club.

IMO we don't need another striker to replace Lambert as we've got strikers here already in Barnard, Connolly and Waigo (assuming he stays - although that's not a foregone conclusion). What we need is better midfield options that will get the ball to the strikers feet so we don't have to rely on the 'hoof to Lamberts head' tactics. Problem is when Rickie doesn't play, we don't have a viable game plan which would be sorted out by having one or two top attacking (or box to box) midfielders.

I would agree with the idea of bringing in Ringwood bitter - good pint that. Always wondered why footie clubs don't offer grub franchises to the likes of Burger King or McD's and KFC. Not saying I would buy the stuff they serve up, but it would be a win-win situation. It would also offer them a chance to expand their range of grub with a BK-Pie or McBalti-Pie!

Don't know Chris Baird personally, but I know someone who does and it's true Chris does like the club alot. Cannot for one minute see him dropping from Europa league to L1 though can you?!

What are you talking about?!? AP will not be involved in a decision on transfer fee - that will be NC's call. Some people will do all they can to bash our manager.

I think we can ignore the £1m - they owe us money that they do not have, so will offer a player plus cash to offset. Watch out for the 'undisclosed sum'. Mullins is one of their lesser players who they can do without - we need a Hammond replacement if injured. Might be true. If he wants to put on a Saints shirt and give his all for AP then that's OK for me as long as he's not a lazy bugger. We would still need a CM playmaker as cover for Schneiderlin though.

No way. Injury prone - not quick enough. There are much better options.

Pulis followed closely by Rickie Lambert. Err, or was it the other way round....?

We could probably afford Brown and he would be a good addition, however I am less sure we could afford enought detergent to cleanse him of the stench he has accumulated while playing at Farton Park.

Spot on the money with this observation. However, there is another failing tactic and that is that the team pass it around SO much that they run out of ideas, there's not enough movement off the ball and then we lose possession when someone is caught napping or the final pass is poor. It's great trying to compare us to top Prem teams, but the simple fact is that the players we have just are not skilled enough to do this all the time. League One dictates that we hoof to Lambo's head and hope for knock-downs. Not saying it's good or that it always works, it's just the way of lower league football. Let's face it, the youngsters played some lovely football under the Dutch regime, but won very few games.

Yes, I too completely agree with the sentiment and words of the OP. This summer is I think going to be extremely interesting in terms of club and squad development. In fact I'm finding I have to check myself back a little, as I'm looking forward to the summer developments more than the last two games of the season! It is a great time to be a Saints fan now the club is in the ascendency and it feels so good to see the faith of all fans (but particularly ST holders) being repaid by Markus and Nicola. I truly believe that we will hardly recognise our club in 8-10 years time such will be the level of success - on a par with the likes of Spurs and Aston Villa at the moment and pushing for European action once again. And this time, it will be for real and not on a 'PLC style shoestring budget' where we need to sell our best players to stay afloat.

The problem is that many of our fringe players are not good enough having been left over from the old losing mentality side. AP has made it quite clear that there will be a clean out this summer and new players coming in. It is his first real big opportunity to put the final touches to a side that will dominate league one and be very strong in the Championship. I for one cannot wait - this summer and next season is going to be awesome. The climb back to the Prem really is going to be SO enjoyable to behold - stability, continuity of manager, winning mentality in the team, goal scorers all across the team, proper new training facilities, a rejuvenated stadium, new better players to get used to etc etc. Bloody fantastic and I defy anyone not to be just a little excited about whats happening at our club!!!

He did kinda OK, but IMO he was far too slow at releasing the ball and did not look for a forward pass - nearly always having his back to goal and our forwards - which meant he got caught out. IMO he will have to improve very significantly to be anywhere near CCC standard which has to be the benchmark for prospective first team players now. I think it will be sometime before we see him on the bench again.

Team had a good day today, although the first half was a bit dire. Don't like to be negative, however I would like to point out three players that for me are not looking good. 1. Seaborne - he gifted BOTH of their goals today. His positioning is suspect and his character leads to some dreadful and unnecessary challenges. 2. Papa Waigo - his latter 2nd half performance was petulant and lazy. He gave up and looked as if he was in strop because he was not put into the middle when Lambert come off. When Antonio scored his 2nd he ran to the ball and smacked it into the Chapel crowd which could have hurt someone - it was just not necessary. It was a side to him I had not seen before and now I am not so sure his departure would be a bad thing - there are other more suitable players out there IMO. 3. Puncheon - for me he had another poor game, however I think the main observation is that he is not a CM player and it emphasises the need to sort this out.

Frankly, I thought he was better than Puncheon, Lallana and (again) Waigo today. We really should be signing the lad as priority, as it seems we missed his urgency in the mid-week game and looked so much more stronger in attack today.

Oh dear, another own goal there Alpine...you're starting to be found out.

Oh yeah - for some reason (something to do with a late night after bottle of very nice red wine I think!) I got the two mixed up. Doh. Still be pretty incredible if we beat 'em again. And Stockport play their best game of the season and beat Huddersfield 3-0.