david in sweden

Despite the snow on the ground..it couldn't have been cold enough for John McGrath..he still had rolled up shirt sleeves !

ah now, don't go taking the joy out of it, Steve. After all 7-0 is good - even if it was against Hythe U12 girls team. You spoil all the glamour of it.

thanksja willwill ..but I did know that. Perhaps my " late night humour " was a bit too much for you.

.....SEVEN-NIL ? ..!!!!!!! .....How on earth did we let them get.. NIL ?

and I agree with Norm....plus maybe Cliff Huxford or David Walker. Did no-one say Jimmy Case? *** I wouldn't say Jimmy Gabriel could be classed with " toughies " like Mc Grath and Ruddock. Jimmy G. was very skilful and extremely versatile..mind you I wouldn't liked to have had to tackle him too often. He'd remember who you were.

I don't know - are they? There may be a lot of music to choose from .." nowadays " but the quality of much of it is "musically -speaking " very poor. Enough of the... " wrong sort of hype / advertising " can sell anything - as indeed it did years ago. I enjoyed listening to as much radio music as possible.. including people like Johnny Walker and Dave Lee Travis on Radio 1..the I made my own choices about taste. more ...Dusty Springfield, " a lot of " the Woodstock Generation, the Byrds, Hendrix, the Who... Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, Carole King...and more...

I have believed in promotion from day one. Although.. I'm firmly expecting some expenditure in January and three or four new players to steady up the squad against injuries and poss. suspensions during the Spring. After last season, we're on the up , I'm not sure if this squad can secure a third season as it is now. Promotion to the Prem. will mean a LOT of new faces. Many of our present squad started off as L1 players, not may of those will be able to sustain life in the Prem.

I don't know what generation you were born into Turkish, but every era has it's own favourites. I grew up with Rock'n'roll.. the Hollies, Beach Boys, Moody Blues, Curved Air, YES, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple.... and I also like Billy Joel ! ...along with some Italian Opera, Russian Classics, Bach, Vivaldi and Mozart and Frank Sinatra.....I'll stop there, but can you really expect a generation like Lallanas' and Co. to listen to /or appreciate anything other than the dross that's pumped out on every pop station by the hour. It's probably all they know. I enjoy most music, but for my part you can keep the ©rap music of today, thankfully I've got a lot more to choose from. Perhaps they haven't.

I'm sure that it was a good squad - in Eriksson's mind, at least - the problem was he wasn't given enough time to convince them that they were ..a team. At least half of our present side is the "Pardew inheritance " (most of whom are still here in the big squad) and have now been supplemented by Adkins' buy-ins. Nigel & his Coaching staff have succeeded, where Eriksson wasn't allowed time to work on their mindset in the same way. That.... is the main reason why we are at the top of the League, and Leicester are where they are .....

Think it's a bit unfair to make sweeping judgements about SDR. He has come on quite a few times - in different situations and taken different roles. Sometimes when we are leading and it gives some extra bite to the attack, others when we are struggling a bit and he gives us another dimension. He has come off the bench no less than ..18 times already this season, and often as 2nd or 3rd change...and yet he's scored 4 times. He has subbed for Connolly 6 times, Lallana and Guly 4 times each, Hammond twice and Chaplow and Cork once each. Pretty versatile, eh ? For someone who doesn't have a clearly defined role from the start every week and has replaced 6 different players, I think it's hard for us to offer any type of criticism when he's thrown in, often for a very short period and expect him to shine. Three of his goals have come quite late on; the consolation goal at Cardiff was in injury time, his conversion of that wonderful Guly flick-on won us a point at Reading, and he scored the last goal at Coventry (to make it 4-2). I think he's got a lot of potential, but until / or if ...he gets a regular spot, will we really be able to judge his true worth. At present it feels like he's fallen into the same category as two past players who always made a good contribution to the side, without ever tying down a spot of their own. I refer to Jo Tessem and Rory Delap. Willing to stand up and fill the breach in any position they were asked to play, but never became a fan's favourite because of it.

OK ...but if so, it's best demonstrated in a League Game, and not just in training (as per NA comments). He looked nervous from the first minute....Does SMS make him claustrophobic when it's got a crowd in place ?

I'd go along with that Colin. I wouldn't want to put up names, as I haven't seen many of them play, but for me it would be TWO strikers . We're too dependant on RL ...and neither Connolly of Barnard seem to be properly fit yet. Another CH - Certainly. Jaidi will retire and Seaborne seems to be a long way from returning..and he hardly looked like Prem.quality from the start. However, not to be too critical... but Bart's bloomer on Saturday confirms that neither he or KD really look to be Prem.quality either, and thats a problem. IF... we are (seriously) considering promotion - please note that many Prem.sides have at least TWO international keepers !

Agreed..in which case let's not forget Norman Dean. Reserve CF in the 1965-66 promotion side who came in and scored 11 goals in 18 League starts (!)... which included a hat-trick v.Pompey AWAY. (we won 5-2) I belive he is the only Saints player ever to score a hat-trick at Fratton Park. Deserves a special medal for that I think. However, Norman wasn't included in Ted Bates' new Div.1 line-up, because Bates bought in a new striker in the summer ..a welsh lad called Ron Davies !

sounds a fun idea Norm, but your list ..misses one of my early favourites - George O'Brien - (1959-1965) 180 goals in 281 starts is a phenomenol average 0,6 per game - I think only bettered by Charlie Wayman.

....and I don't really agree that he's got "ability "...at least not the sort we'll need in the Premiership !

Well I videoed that game, and you're right that he didn't look overawed..'cos he had little to do apart from picking the ball out of the net a couple of times. He had some fairly good cover from the defence, and as you recall we gave United agame of it ..at least for the first hour. ...but he looked very poor going for crosses and a couple of corners...he seemed to be moving in slow-motion sometimes and didn't impress me at all.

Everything you say is more of less correct (saint in winchester), BUT the truth is that we can't afford to " experimen t" with Bart's confidence just now. I'm sorry we didn't win, but sitting at the top of the table we have a v.g. chance of promotion and a repeat of yesterday's disaster could blow it all away, especially if such a situation arises again... like next weekend !....or say when we are four weeks away from the end of the season and hanging onto an automatic spot, please don't anyone say we'll be OK to get a play-off position. This is still the the Championship and much as I admire KD, we'll need a keeper (as good as /better than him)... if we are to get upto and gain a foothold in the Premiership. I don't know what our defenders felt but I was terrified watching him (on TV)..and close-ups of his face did nothing more to convince me that he was just having a bad day. Sorry..if we were midtable and wanted to give him a few games OK ..but we have to nail this promotion down NOW - this season, and performances like that are totally unacceptable.

I'm really disappointed..I'm not anti - Bart but he's no longer the teenage kid who came to us and tried to fill in. He ought to have learned something since then, but today's "miss " really was as schoolboy error. Surely the first rule for a keeper is to get your whole body behind the ball and not try to pick up a ball with your legs wide apart!. Although Blackpool are not a TOP team (at present) they were Prem. last year and I think I took the game more seriously than Adkins did. With Kelvin injured- it was an ideal time for Bart to show his mettle. Sub-goalies are supposed to come in and play a blinder- at least they always do from others teams who we come up against. Of course it's not fair to "kick a man when he 's down " but today really was a low-water mark. Watching Bart today was ...(sorry) a bit embarassing. He didn't take a clean catch and seemed to be in a bad state even before that classic bloomer of a miss. It was clear that our defenders were more panicked by the thought of him getting the ball... than they were of Blackpool forwards. I really hope that it was just a bad day ...because after that mistake which effectively cost us another win, ..if he has to play next weekend as well -and we don't win then...I'm afraid that a section of our fan base will forever be against him. Despite the fact that he hads been with us for ...4 years ?. On none of the occasions he has been called upon... can I say that he has played even a good game. Yes it's tough for to sit on the bench month after month but unless NA can turn him around ..I can see little future for him as a no.2 goalie in the CC ..let alone a potential Prem. player.

I beg to differ... BUT we need TWO keepers. ..and I don't mean Forecast either. I'm quite satisfied with KDs performances, but as was seen today (and with Lambert's absence over the last 2 weeeks,).. the team is not the same without him.(KD) If we are talking Premiership...? then a quick look at the Prem. squads will show that many sides have TWO international keepers. albeit from lower grade countries but still.. we're lucky that Kelv. has been so consistant, but today's sorry show is just one of the problems that we are likely to face next season. We need a GOOD no.2 keeper ...and Bart... 'aint it. (maybe better than Forecast but that's not saying much). He looked nervous.. like a rabbit in the headlights. that goal he conceded was pure schoolboy error stuff (Rule .1 - get your whole body behind the ball )! No-one better to judge the situation than Adkins (a former keeper himself)..but let's see the back of Bart and Forecast ASAP and get some reliable back-up for Kelvin (assuming he's fit soon).

well then, the law of averages..or Sod's law, or Murphy's Law says ..he'll score tomorrow ..eh?

On one point I agree with you Adrians..I thought Phillips was a good buy ..even at £3.25 mill...and I was sorry to see him go ..especially after only 2 seasons. BUT unfortunately his goal-scoring record wasn't nearly as good as you suggest - even if his approach play and assist were great to watch. Sunderland got a great deal when they bought him for 600K and he had 6 good seasons at Sunderland and left with a record of 113 goals from 208 games. This is better then 0.5 goals per game average, and that's mighty good in any league. In his two years with us.. he managed only 22 goals in 64 starts (over slightly over 0.3 g/p/g) ..a really quite ordinary return for any front line striker. Of course, as you argue we had a poor side without any real "stand-out " players in that time, and were struggling to avoid relegation in that last season. His move to Villa (for £1 million) was a substantial loss for SFC and although he had an indifferent spell with Villa, his move to WBA saw him revive his old self and he scored 38 goals in 71 starts. Again, better than that magical 0.5 goal stat. His eventual moves to Birmingham and later Blackpool showed how good management of an older player works and time and again he came on as sub.in the last quarter and scored valuable goals (for both sides). He's certainly one of the fittest strikers still around .. and was 38 in July. Barring injuries we'll still be seeing him on the scoring lists when he's past 40. I only hope that Ollie doesn't have him on the bench on Saturday ! - bad vibes! HOWEVER, IF YOU RECALL ..this thread is about Jason Puncheon, and few people on here seem to be sure whether he should get a reprieve or not !

someone else with an Irish grandmother....but nevertheless looks to be a good bet...maybe?

Are you confusing him with Alan Blayney (who played a few games in our relegation season?)