david in sweden

I don't disagree with most of those thoughts Aussie Dog.....what tremendous vision we have from such great distances, when there are no trees in the way.

" ...you should understand ..it's ain't nuffink personal ....it's jus' bizniss..."

¨ nice to have some options, but do you think the ref. will notice if we have 14 players on the pitch at the same time ?

sounds like a really great signing.. ..but can he play at CB?

there you are Eric ..nothing to worry about. Lee and Billy got their goal(s) Puncheon proving he can score from distance and that Reeves fellow popped up again. Luke Shaw, Gazza made debuts... and even Chambers and Moore got a kick before the end. Maybe not affect Sunday's selection too much but good to see even the "second string" got an outing.

what makes you think we aren't taking it seriously, Eric? I really didn't expect such negativity from you (!) At least 8 of the start side played in Championship games last season..and tonight we are playing an L1 side..... At least 6 of them have something to prove and everyone will want to be in consideration for the game on Sunday .... If we lose big time ..then we know they aren't up to it, if we win well ....then NA will be reassured he can call on them if /when required.

when you have a lot to recall....I' m a 50 year fan btw, there can be a lot of players to remember. It does seem that some people like to gloat /or complain about someone we transferred, gave away or ditched..only for them to get success later on. There are several categories here. The youth players who don't make it...(and there have been lots of those), those who are " late-developers " and we lose patience with / or can't afford to keep, and those who we lose " due to circumstances beyond our control ". As examples: I will quote a few. Terry Spinner. One of the most outstanding schoolboy talent the Saints ever had. Played CF and in one season scored 150 goals at schoolboy level. Later England U16 side and scored a hat-trick in a game... IN Germany.... before a crowd of 80,000 people. Signed as apprentice for Saints in 1969. Scored more than 50 goals for Reserves and had his " one-chance " when he made his debut in 1973 (aged 20) .when our strike force was normally Paine, Channon, Davies, Stokes or Gilchrist. Needless to say he had little future at SFC. Moving to a poor Walsall side he dropped out of pro-football after a year and was never heard of again. When the manager is 6' 6" tall... ( as was Lawrie McMenemy).. everyone must look short.....but for diminutive Dennis Wise ...and Kevin Phillips their apprentice careers were cut short because they were deemed TOO short. Mmm ..wonder what ever happened to them !! (don't talk about them Lawrie). Others just "drift away ...like Andy Townsend. A promising talent who we signed (aged 21) from Weymouth. A slightly better than average midfielder who played 80 odd games 1985-88 , but was unfortunate enough to have his Saints career fall between the time of Lawrie Mac .and Chris Nicholl ..and broke his leg in the meantime. By the time he was back fit, there were other more regular players and so AL was sold to Norwich for a handsome fee of 300K in 1988. In retrospect not the best deal we ever made. He was very successful at Norwich ..who later sold him for £1 million to Chelsea, where his career blossomed even more, and he played for Republic of Ireland more than 50 times (!) ouch ! I don't need to highlight further the career of the former Newcastle schoolboy goalie, who was sacked and joined Saints as an apprentice ..and 5 years later was sold to Blackburn for over £3 million! A good deal, that one. Only of you don't recall that he later moved back to his home city ( Newcastle ) for £16 million....in addition to gaining a huge number of caps as England CF. (Alan Shearer) One who did stay ..and took 5 years to make his debut was Chris Baird. Signed as 16 y.o. apprentice, he was (fortunate enough) to be injured when we began a managerial carousel in 2000 .and was still on the books when Gordon Strachan picked him to play in the 2003 Cup final side, where he was one of the best Saints players. It still took a couple more years in the Reserves, and another manager and an injury crisis for him to finally get a regular place in the later Prem. sides 2004/5. He later moved to Fulham (for a surprising £3 million) but where he has been a regular ever since and a stalwart defender in the N.I. side for many years. Hey ho ...you can't win em all.

I'm looking at this " 75% thing " every time. Surely it has to be taken in context. Not every country plays a lot of games every year.....but 75% might mean, maybe only 2 games. We understand the principle is that players with " lesser talent " don't come into the game in the place of home players, but it doesn't work well. top Swedish clubs sign dozens of foreign talents every season , often African players but never seem to encounter this problem. If a " major " player was to transfer to another country ; say Owen, Gerrard or Terry ..and they'd been injured for a couple of games - they wouldn't meet this criteria, likewise a new talent who'd just come into the national side - he wouldn't qualify either. Likewise , a player moving overseas who was "understudy to a major star " would never get a game either and also fall foul of this.

Aha!....you like things done the old-fashioned way .....sorry, there's no news in a straight-forward signing these days.

sensible response Geneva....but who would buy a Porsche....and then leave it at home all the time? - (especially if they were out on a date)

I guess I ate breakfast too early. Am I to become your target for the day, Turkish ?

and the contributors on here who can't spell either....

I actually meant it to be about David Button (poor sod) ....Tommy was just the "Saints connection " i.e EX Spurs .

well that may sort out the midfield selection problem in the near future...

We are all aware of Tommy's " non-career " with Saints, but it seems that he's not the only one to have been frozen out at Spurs. according to a small article I read today, David Button (now 23) has at last been transferred to ..Charlton (fee 500K) ...after playing for Spurs only 8 minutes in the last 7 years. In that time, Button has been loaned out ....13 times (is this a record ?)... Can he really be as bad as " our Tommy?" Time will tell, but as Tommy continues to warm the Gills ' bench.... Button is likely to get first team action at Charlton... We can monitor future score lines with interest. if nothing else it will provide the hacks with a few headlines in the future. I can see: Charlton sew up Button in new deal...might be a good starter.

Ah I remember them well..... Norman Dean was one of a number of good Reserves that season, and it wasn't only the first team that had "hot shots ". Making his debut at 19 (in 1963) Norman had banged in over 60 Reserve team goals by the time " his number came up " in the winter 65/66. He hit a purple patch in February and scored 7 goals in 5 games, which included a fantastic hat-trick v. Pompey at Fratton Park. To this day he is the only Saints player ever to score 3 goals at Fratton Park. Sadly, his performances made him a "one season wonder" and after we won promotion in May, Ted saw that Norman wasn't really Div.1 material ....and bought a little known centre forward from Norwich City named ....Ron Davies. The rest as they say ....is history . the "second " promotion side 1978 - saw the showing of our first " super - sub " Tony Funnell, whose whirlwind career on the left wing was both short and dynamic. Beginning in Feb.1978, Funnell came on as an early sub in a home game (.v.Terry Venables Crystal Palace side) and scored both goals, and earned himself a first team spot two weeks later. He proceeded to score a further 5 times in the next 7 starts including a point-saving goal in the last away game v.Orient, which helped us over the line to promotion. However, he lost his place to the newly-signed Terry Curran in the summer signings and fell out with Mc Menemy and the coaching staff and subsequently moved on in the Autumn, trying his luck in the USA, before returning to lower league clubs in England. Like Norman Dean before him (prev.story).Tony was the man of the moment, scoring several vital goals in the promotion run-in, but never " class enough " for a regular First Division place in the team.

He looks quicker than Jonno Quick!

Yes I saw that game, too. At 17, he played 3 games that season.. .and only 1 the season after, but didn't became a regular until 1968, after Martin Chivers was transferred to Tottenham - for a (then) English club record of £125K------ah those were the days

well ..sort of. It's a question that has come up several times before, and I first looked up the facts some years ago. Alan Shearer actually got on the pitch (as sub.) - 2 weeks prior to that famous game - in an away match v. Chelsea (we won 1-0) It was around the Easter period and he was also a sub. in the away game at Oxford Utd (0-0) However, the memorable game to which everyone refers was his HOME debut at The Dell v. Arsenal on 9th April 1988. We finally won 4-2. It was the first time he had been selected from the start ......and scored in the 5th, 33rd and 49th mins. At that time Shearer was 17 yr. and 240 days. Shearer was ...(probably still is); the youngest player to score hat-trick in a game in the highest division, (then called Div.One) breaking a record set by the legendary Jimmy Greaves 30 years earlier. Note; Shearer made 2 more apps. that season without further goals. He wasn't an immediate success either. He failed to score in 8 starts the following season and didn't score again until October 1989. He first became a regular choice in season 1990-91 scoring only 4 times but then netted 13 times in 41 starts in 1991-92... prior to his record move to Blackburn.

....and he obviously hopes that no-one has noticed Butland's performances since then .........

WOW ..Ted Bates did do a good deal didn't he ?

Nah....they don't get hassled for writing on this site, when they know their boss is watching porno on line !

..know what you mean after 5000 - odd posts. It's become a bit boring. Maybe it should have been a sort of secret meeting....Potters Heron....comeback from lunch and find out we've signed Kevin Keegan - type of deal... well it's only Monday ....there is still time..... er...Michael Owen anyone ?

Ron Davies ....(in his prime ).......not for sale. ...even for .....£40 mill. for interest sake . How much is 55K.. in 1966 worth in today's money ...anyone ?

you mean they haven't printed anything about the Ramirez deal yet. ? Strange......... it's all over this site, and had over 5000 contributions, almost makes you think there's something they're not telling us.