david in sweden

ooo

.........and where will they get the money to pay for that lot ? ....will they use Drachma instead ?

thanks MLG ..I stand corrected. Didn't recall seeing that one.

maybe .in preparation to follow manager PAUL Lambert to his new club when he leaves Norwich in the summer.

Well I thought Harding was (?)...and it was said that Jaidi will retire, and Seaborne, Richardson, Butterfield and Dickson are all OOC in 2013. with no guarantee of resigning any of them next season, I expect NA to sign ...at least one full back, and another CB and not just wait for them to play out their time.

At least we'll be able to double guess what positions NA wants to fill if ..for example, if we release three or four defenders...or a goalie. Bart is OOC I think.

I think this is a tactic that is much outdated, and watching football at the highest level, you rarely see keepers dashing out to collect centres all the time, when they have talented defenders around them who are meant to do THAT job. The main reason being that in the Prem / and/ Internationals ...strikers are much sharper, and can take half chances. Even when they miss, we say it was a good chance..if the goalie misses a cross /centre- it's invariably a goal, hence few come outside the 6 yard box unless it's to take a 50/50 ball, or a back pass. For my money, any goalie who has to come out to collect such balls all the time, either has 100% confidence that he can take it , or has little confidence in the defenders around him.

..but of course you just have, and several times more, too I note. . However, you're right of course. Threads like this read like ....the Greatest Saints XI ever, but they are pointless because they span large periods of time and some of the players weren't even at the club at the some time. Those listed on #1 cover more than a decade, and even the styles of play and League status at the time, were different . The one common factor is that most of our successful " nursery/ youth / Academy" sides (whatever you want to call them) over the last 50 years were talented youngsters coming into moderately successful sides at a good time and who were allowed time to play themselves into the first team squad. Very rarely have more than a couple of "young-ish" players come in and established themselves in the same era. The one generation that produced the most -though not all in the same period was Dave Merrington's youth squads from the mid 1980's for almost 10 years, and the list is well known to older fans; Le Tissier, Shearer, Maddison, Jeff Kenna, the three Wallace Brothers, George Lawrence, Graham Baker, Steve Baker, Maskell, Puckett, Benali , Banger, all impacted the first team to a greater or lesser degree, and many went on to make careers in other clubs. Exceptions were Ted Bates' sides in the early 60's.. and Lawries Mac's early 80 sides where the team included numerous Internationals, which made it easier for youngsters to play themselves in. The same is not true today. Few players who haven't debuted by the age of 20 ,have much chance of even being retained, let alone becoming a regular . It's interesting to have so many Academy lads currently mentioned in the same breath, but only time will tell which ones will make it ..especially in the Prem. NA will "experiment " a bit, particulary in Cup comps, I expect to see 4 or 5 getting a game once in a while, but very lucky to see even ONE get regular games.

BLACKPOOL - if for no other reason than I hate that East End brand of arrogance from WHam and their owners. IF Wham are as good as they keep telling everyone they are, then they'll be able to get promoted NEXT SEASON to prove it. Another season in the NPC may teach them a little humility. Having been a Saints fan through decades of being the underdog, in many situations it also means I'd go for Blackpool, even though Holloway (with his own particular brand of arrogance)... is not my favourite person, either.

Celtic must be kicking themselves after seeing what a great season Jos Hooiveld had with Saints, but things have got worse now that they have released Swedish international Daniel Majstorovic (who has returned to Stockholm side AIK) and their hunt for central defenders must start all over again. I do feel that Lennon seems to be in the wilderness when it comes to finding balanced side, although it must have helped them win the title to see Rangers having their 10 point deduction - so what's next? It may be a one horse race next sesosn. but he still has to build a good squad.

Interesting stats. Super Mikey, but I think we ought to say that there is a difference between being officially appointed "manager ", and holding the fort whilst serious candidates are being interviewed for the job, a process that can take several weeks. What used to be called " caretaker ". The likes of Bassett & Wise, Gorman, Wilkins and Wigley surely fall into that category. I don't think B & W were seriously considered as a likely replacement for Harry - were they ?..and Gorman was definitely a short term measure in a similar situation - " between managers ".. As I recall, the then Academy coach Steve Wigley was not qualified to become a Prem. manager because he hadn't completed his UEFA coaching courses (at that time) ALSO : if you wanted to say ..the last 25 years.; I think Chris Nicholl would show favourably in those stats.

actaully I don't know that the fee was a problem, but someone wrote Rupert Lowe didn't like Drogba - because he thought he had a bit of an attitude!

STOKE... .and even James Beattie at one time .

that's nice for the ladies, Sue....but some of the Japanese ladies I've met ...are about as tall as the average 9 year old.

I think that NC was already decided to replace AP before we landed in the L1 drop zone, the fact that the axe fell after a 4-0 away win was a fluke of timing. As Chairman, you have to consider what might happen if ....we are bottom of the table after 7 games ... or, the manager gets knocked down by a bus in the City Centre... or gets accused of some criminal offence ? etc, For a Chairman, to be unaware of who is a likely replacement as coach / manager in emergency situations is a bit like saying - you didn't know that there was a striker named Wayne Rooney. I'm sure every manager has a wish list of players he'd love to (but likely never will) be able to sign, and likewise the " behind the scenes people" (like Les Reed) sometimes DOF's ...are there to advise his Chairman ....on good coaches, players ..and I'd assume... managers, too. I'd don't belive that NC wants to replace NA at all, but he'd be stupid to ignore other possible candidates - if such a situation ever occured.

¨ I've mentioned him a number of times in the past. The Swedish press don't miss a chance to publicise his name every game he scores for Feyenoord, and its been 20 goals this season so far. Looks impressive.

I chuckled myself when I saw that. We have one oriental Lee already (who likes to be called Chung)... so what about signing another ..with the same name?

He was Harry's favourite (when a teenager at Wham)..went on loan to B'mouth and broke all their goal-scoring records...then had a spell at Pompey when HR went there, and then onto Spu*s... but now ...it would be a smart deal for Spurs to be off with someone 29 years old, and an uncertain future for a goodly sum. Sorry lad, but business is business....

point taken eric, but the name was too long to remember, it was ...Forbes Phillipson-Masters, as I recall

This thread seem to have grown out of all proportion and turned into a dialogue between several people on the size of the stadium...! and whether there is any benefit to extending the size of SMS. I looked back at #1 from Cheam Saints which was about the next five years. A 5 year plan is about a time frame for a target. NC said we had a 5 year plan to reach the Prem. We did it in 3 ..so we can scrap that plan. unless.. the qual. to CL is still part of the plan ..so have we got 2 years left.? ...or is there a new 5 year plan?. Ask Nicola Cortese.! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As for the discussion about potential crowd size, and catchment areas is also hard to quantify. Something I wrote about on a recent thread. - it's an expensive exercise trying to double guess the Saints fan base who might attend every game /season even given good league position and attractive opposition. Costs of extending SMS (that I've seen published on here) estimated the cost to be around £1 million per extra seat (all things considered). Even extending SMS to 38-42 capacity would be an investment that would never yield a profit for many years to come, especially in view of the fact that with only 19 home games in the Prem. even match day sell out games would bring in less supporters than this past season - when we had 23 home games. Looking back at the previous period (before ground restrictions) at The Dell, shows that - even in our better seasons the average gates didn't come anywhere near the (then) ground capacity. Pre 1966 crowds averaged 16-18K and rose to around 25K - after 1966 promotion. Despite low league positions we still drew av. 23K in the worst seasons. The old Dell ground record 31,044 in 1969 (a game that I actually attended) was in part due only because we had beaten MU 4-1 at Old Trafford two months earlier, whereas we averaged less than 23K during that season. The subsequent reduction of ground size to all-seater stadium reduced the Dell to 16K, the site at Stoneham (often mentioned) was owned by SFC, but the rumour was that the Councils concerned ...couldn't agree on building plans and it didn't get approval. I think the truth was that the members of the old Board had run the club like a family business for decades and often dipped into their own pockets when we had to buy a player, and didn't have the wherewithal for such a big project....until the Chairmanship changed hands and SMS was built and the attendances went back upto around 30K. In this - Lowe & Co. saw the possibilities, and rightly guessed that there was still a good-sized fan base out there waiting to buy tickets. I previously quoted season 2002-03. A good league position and FA Cup Final gave us a crowd average around 30k almost every game....but the question still remains ...is there another 10K regular fans out there - willing to come nearly every match - (even to see the Fulhams / Swanseas) - and make the investment worthwhile.? The gate money from League games is barely 30% of season income for many Prem. clubs. One might argue ..if an extra 10K seats will cost say... £15 million..it's drop in the ocean when we an get £50-60 million a year from TV money and provided we don't have to pay our top players 50 K / week. every season? Unlike some other clubs, Nicola Cortese has shown that he doesn't rush out and give the story to the media every time he has a new idea, (but waits until deals are signed and sealed) - its not his style. I'd expect no difference if we were ...(say)... *** to sign an English international this summer, or start to extend SMS (to whatever size). (*** NO! ..I don't expect that to happen either).

Interesting.... that the two "reports" from Reading and Wham folk (rival promotion clubs) have set up this thread in the first place. I'm not doubting that saint lard is relating a first-hand conversation, but it could be that Pearce " was winding him up " and that it was only dis-information to upset the fan base / manager-chairman relationship. If so - it's predictable of cynical humour. IF TRUE, ..I'd be very disappointed (regardless of who would come in instead of NA) who I greatly admire, as manager and personality.