david in sweden

Regardless of the Cortese Connection ....I think it would be respectful to retain the Markus Liebherr Cup (didn't that use to be the Ted Bates trophy ?.......)

.....but only because there wasn't another Man.utd player available

" the evil than men do lives on, the good is often interred with their bones " ..or so thought Shakespeare anyway. Its true that Ceasar Rupert didn't make a lot of friends, and made a fair number of bad / unpopular decisions ...and had more than his fair share of critics (and probably not without cause). and in time a similar history will probably record... a plus and minus side.... to cover the period of Cortese's reign, ....but what did come out of the Lowe years was a new stadium (even if we were gifted the land by the council). I always asked myself ....How come no-one else was able to achieve that during the previous 30-odd years of wasted discussions , when almost everyone seemed to think that Stoneham was the Holy Grail that we had to seek after, and the only possible alternative site to The Dell?. Surely no-one can still claim that Lowe " created the Academy ", but he did modernise the antiquated Youth system that had been pushed from pillar-to-post and starved of funding for several decades. We pointed to the occasional youth player who made it to the first team as though it were some measure of great success. Sadly, we turned to an " improved " Academy very late in the day, and the " Double Dutch " experiment, though enlightened was clearly .. too little too late, (although many of those lads survived to make lower league careers....with some modest degree of success). The real success came... after Lowe....by getting the right personnel to run the system effectively, but without RL's iniative we might not have seen the exciting prospects that have come in the years since. On a personal level, he came over as somewhat arrogant public-school type and with a definite ego problem.. but nothing that could be compared to his eventual successor, who achieved much more for the club. Ce la vie.

OK we could say..... he was playing against lower league opposition, but they were still better than the U18 defenders he's been matched against up until now. Good that he had a longer run-out instead of the last 10 minute ritual appearance. Apparantly took his goal well, and might have had a second. Now let's give the lad a breather, and don't expect too much too soon. All our top strikers of the past; Channon, Shearer even MLT had a lengthy spell on the bench before they got a regular spot. Hopefully he may become our new " super-sub " ......a subject we've touched on before, meantime let's hope his luck holds and he can get some confidence and the occasional goal from a few more apps.

I see that some people are still on the Cork for sale theme. Even when fit there's no guarantee that ANY player will suddenly recover the form he had earlier, some never do. I must say that Clyne (whom I'm glad to see back) doesn't look a patch on his previous form - (thank goodness Chambers is able to cut it). Even when Victor is back ..don't expect him to be the dominant force he was early season and so I say again thank goodness we have Jack Cork - who for my money is playing as well now as he ever did before.

Mmm, now let me think ..Have I heard this " rumour " before ? this thread started in March LAST YEAR......Can there really be any truth in it ? .....or ....

this !

with Billy going back to Donnie and now Lee Barnard (thats all the Lee's gone now) it looks like the three Prodigals might return from whence they came. None became legends, but may be kindly remembered by Saints' fans as players who contributed (fairly postively) in the various League situations they were involved in. Some will find it difficult to forgive and forget Dani Osvaldo and (apart from remembering one of the most brilliant individual goals in the last decade).... recall that it was one very expensive deal we would like to forget.

amongst all that media hype, I think this was his agent feeding info. to the press to drum up interest. I seem to recall reading a later story (somwhere) that Cardiff hadn't actually bid for him...?

Ugh ?? the question was the last time we had 3 top CB's .AT THAT TIME, (around 10 years ago)...I think they qualify. The fact that Baird is the only one still playing and 10 years older is obvious.

.....and not forgetting Al's best mate Neil Maddison (a much under-rated player) ... I think they started together as Saints Juniors.

you're probably about right, but I'm of the generation that saw Saints suffer at the hands of Man.U on several occasions and when 1976 was the only " sunny spell " in a dismal history.

well... (all things considered).. I think " our expectant fans" will have to be a bit more patient and recall just where the club was ...before anyone had every heard the name LIEBHERR.

Claus Lunderkvam, Michael Svensson and Chris Baird...although they were never all fit at the same time.

Turnbull and Stephens are, of course, good prospects ......at their level, but neither of them has even had a full League game so it's a bit premature to suggest that - isn't it ? I'd like to see them getting a run-out sometime ..(v.Yeovil maybe) ...no points to lose there, but otherwise not a chance as a Prem regular YET.

Surely this article was around the time that we were sitting 3rd in the table, had 6 clean sheets in 9 games and the second best defence in Europe...but before Boruc broke his hand, and Wanyama got injured. Since when ....a " few other things " have happened. I don't think it was such a weird headline at that moment in time, but it may look a bit "silly " today. We won't be able to turn it around this season, but for my part...finishing above Man.U would make my season...without Europe or a Cup run.

well it might be respectful to wait a bit on that one, don't you think?

sorry to say it but over several decades many of our " big money " signings have just been " big trouble ". I don't know whose decision it was to sign Gaston Ramirez (?)....perhaps not Adkins', but unfortunately I have to say .. I'm less than impressed. Now we have Dani Osvaldo - another player with an " attitude " . MP seemed to think that he could handle this fiery maverick, and he must be glad that Cortese isn't around to rap him on the wrists, after this latest " incident" . YES.... I know he has skill, and I'd vote his goal v. Man.City for Goal of the Season...but if only he could score in games - in between his suspensions. He hasn't played for 6 matches (illness/suspensions) and is now likely to miss another ...three? He has become an expensive and troublesome luxury, and our adoring fans aren't likely to give him much rope when he does eventually return. It seems we have spawned our own Luis Svarez - but without all the same goal tally. IMHO - we should cut our losses on these two senores and ship them back to Italy ASAP. I'm sure there's some foreign wonder-boy out there who can improve our squad, but it 'aint them!

Billy Sharp joins that rather unusual group of one time wonders who became the Man of the Moment and helped turn the tide at a critical moment. There are more examples over several decades. Promotion in 1965-66 saw reserve striker Norman Dean put in a purple patch between Jan-March 1966 and netting 9 goals (including a hat-trick at Fratton Park - the only Saints player ever to do so). A great performance but Ted Bates (in his wisdom) judged that Norman probably wasn't class enough for the top flight and instead signed a little-known Welsh CF called Ron Davies (the rest is history). Ted MacDougall was only with us a couple of full seasons, but he managed 14 goals in 15 games in 1976-77.....which was the same season the memorable Tony Funnell became our own special super sub. In March 78, he came off the bench and scored twice at Notts Forest, and then scored 5 more in the last 10 matches, and we finally got the second promotion spot. Next season he was gone within a couple of months. Our best ever season 1983-84 saw Steve Moran score 9 times in the last 10 games (when we finished second behind Liverpool). At this point, we have to acknowledge that Matt Le Tissier's goal tallies saved us from relegation on more than a few occasions. Likewise the late season signing (and very short Saints' career) of Micky Evans saw him score 4 very vital goals in just 12 starts, at the end of season 1996-97 .. but he didn't survive very far into the following season. Marian Pahars became legend almost overnight with a handful of vital goals in the last few matches that kept us up in the " Great Escape " season (1998-99) ..and so to Billy. Never " Saints fit ", and perhaps a bit overweight but he was there when it mattered, and throughout one of the Ricky Lambert's longest "dry spells ", Billy chalked up 8 goals in the last 8 games to see us back in the Premier League. Perhaps he isn't really " Prem. quality", but we should be grateful for his input at that particular time - and like the others quoted above, his contribution was invaluable at the time. Good Luck Bill.

that's right. The quote I made was from RL and just went to underline the already existing situation where we had the Bath Centre. (Every so often a club (like City) comes up with this complaint....and it 's a bit like Argentina claiming the Falklands..over and over again.) Rulings were different back then and we had School(s) of Excellence all over the place. Didn't Steve Williams come through the London-based one?

the Channel Islands are technically British (in some legal form) and not English. I seem to recall reading that MLT and GLeS could just as easily have played for any of the other Home Countries on that basis.

yes but also a LOT of water too, and IOW doesn't have an established league (or even non-league club) in the vicinity ... .....AND part of the arrangement was that youngsters shouldn't have more than xx minutes/1 hour (?) travel time and so unless any prospects lived within a bus ride of the ferry that might be difficult.

this has been up for debate before. The FA rules stated that youth players for Prem.sides have to be within a certain radius of the home club (unsure of precise distance) but Saints (Rupert Lowe at the time, I think) argued that it meant that most of our " catchment area " was in the English Channel .......and so we were allowed to choose another location on the mainland area. Hence it was Bath.

of course Aaron Martin's record is purely based in our Championship season (when others were injured, 22 starts + 7 sub apps. AND 2 goals).. beginning when he was only 20). He's had a long injury period, but who knows he might have learned a lot technically in that time.......he doesn't seem an obvious selection, but at 23 he's still learning and Jos is almost 30 now. I can recall Chris Baird going through a similar period at the start of his career and despite injuries he had to wait 4 years to get a regular place.....and proved to be pretty worthwhile.