david in sweden

Agree 100% Vectis. I think that Spelling's rantings on air made it far worse, and I would hate to think that ...anyone ..put him up to it ! I also agree with your comments about LM, although there were some pretty angry responses to his sudden move to Sunderland, and as I recall ... quite a few people who still remember it with some bitterness to this day. It's water under the bridge and we should move on and put petty arguments aside.

in retrospect, I wonder just how long the " Administrator " was prepared to wait before " Pinnacle" got their act together and come up with money?.It seemd to me that they couldn't get enough money together to even make a real bid, and only the fact that MLT was persuaded to front their bid, made it look in any way viable, or desireable. I also seem to recall that the Liebherr " cash on the table " bid was made at the end of May ..in which case , if it had been correctly handled we would never had to have sold Surman ..or even Dyer for the paltry sum we were forced to accept from Swansea. I'm sure we all know where MLTs heart lies, but I can't help feeling that he was " conned " into fronting an offer that was never really viable but back to the retrospective bit ....IF Pinnacle has succeeded..would there have been the same volume of funding available to devlop the club further ..and who would have been manager? Certainly not Pardew ..or Adkins either. Which would fairly certainly not have been guaranteed the JPT Final ..or even last season's promotion. I think too, that some unsavoury comments about having " foreigners " (Liebherr) taking over the club, when some of the fan-base/ MLT /LM wanted an English / British owner fuelled the fires of discontent with Cortese, who was annoyed that the Liebherr bid was ignored for nearly two months, and only reluctantly accepted when it became obvious that Pinnacles bid was only " hot air ". I recall that no-one seem to mind the idea of Paul Allen (?) taking over Saints at an earlier juncture. Now is time to move on....The glorious memories of the past are indeed glorious to those of us who can remember them, but they are ..PAST. Lawrie's sudden and much scorned departure to Sunderland was his mistake ..and our loss. But he has ..apparantly been forgiven..and rightly so. MLTs contribution to SFC is UNIQUE ! No-one denies that, but even that legend will become tarnished if this " nonsense " debate issue continues. Let bygones be bygones. Personally, I want to see Saints go on to new successes and back to the Prem. Other issues are not important.

except that we do it at a lower level. If Arsenals scouts were really hot they'd have got them before us. ..and anyway, it's be nice to see the lad play a few games on our way to promotion...

I agree with that totally. Our club..any club with the best players, or the best manager still rely on a club with sound organisation and good financial control. Our recent problems when dicing with administration until the eleventh hour have proved that, and we are not the only club to have suffered in that way. To have a chairman, a former bankman who understand money and knows how (or how not) to handle a clubs finances correctly surely makes Cortese almost unique in the football world. Though it sounds hard for some to criticise the "freebies" comment ...I'm sure that MLT didn't walk away from the game either broke, or unemployed and I'm sure that Lawrie Mac invested his earnings in the right way. If the club Chairman pays for his own ticket on a regular basis, then the other two gents ought to be able to as well. I feel sorry for those " real fans " who don't have the fonances to buy there own ticket because of unemployment or debt. As for the arguement, I think all fans would like to see all three gents sit down together and have a friendly evening together. Jeff Spelling ..ought to mind hid own business especailly as he rarely has anything good to say about Saints - except to placate MLT when he is on the show.

'' Have to say that was the bit that impressed me, too. Do a deal in one hour or get lost ! RESULT : £12 million on the bank.

well " the kids " are grown up now, and all have gone through Gymnasium. I've been to a couple of games at SMS with the eldest, and so they are all aware and supportive, though it was more apparant a few years back when we had Swedish players at the club.... When one of them visits So'ton... I get a Saints gift of some sort; cup, book etc when they come back, and when we watch internationals on TV they cheer for England ..even did so when we played against Sweden. Guess I'm satisfied with that. If you want to get your boy interested, get a DVD with some games on .. maybe last seasons matches... or that great MLT DVD . That'll get him hooked if anything does, but awareness in a 6 year old isn't what you think it is. They do not always comprehend the difference between cartoon characters and real people, and football with all its rules and regulations are impossible to understand...my wife has a very good educational background but still doesn't understand the offside rule..or always comprehend which way we are kicking ..(but then again we've have defenders in the past who had the same problem). If you watch a game on TV / DVD with him, cheer loudly when your team scores.. thats enough!

What news ! ....the end of a perfect week......

....aren't there just a few memories of the best of MLT about Lallana? He seems to make chances out of nothing can change pace while other people take breath and can score with either foot or his head. His goal " celebrations " or sometimes.." lack of..." are also very MLT-ish. A sort of very laid-back ...it's only a goal " gestures. I have to ask myself. If Alex O-C was worth £12 million ..what price Adam ? (not that I would EVER want to sell him).

It's a point well-made that the " age-factor " doesn't really apply to keepers in the same way as outfielders. A striker / midfielder who passes 30 ..starts to get called " very experienced ", and by the time he reaches 33 / 34 is awaiting the tag " veteran " to be attached to his name. A lot of keepers reaching that age, may be asking themselves..am I ever going to get a permanent spot now that that young guy has come in. Kev is immensly experienced, having played in other clubs he has started to feel that he has begun a " new career " I'm sure. He seems to be playing as well as he ever did. I recall legendary goalies like Lev Yashin, Dino Zoff and Peter Shilton still playing at the top of their game when they had passed 40, and the recently retired Edwin van der Sar, left Fulham at age 35.. and then had his best ever years with Man.U. If Kev continues his excellent form, and can still have a tight defence in front of him, it may be quite a few years before Bart can expect to become the regular choice keeper.

*** I was making the point about TALL strikers (like Ron) as against those of a lesser stature who can still score as well as big men. Several of the taller (former) Academy types failed to make the cut and moved on to less-greener pastures. Height isn't always a key factor, unless your name is Peter Crouch.

is almost over.You notice that as soon as the first Ice Hockey games start up, and barring a disasterous finish for Helsingborg ...they will take the title this year. Until a week ago, Helsingborg had only lost 1 game from 23 starts, they looked impregnable and were comfortably ahead of (Anders Svensson's) Elfsborg and third place Stockholm side AIK. When AIK beat Elfsborg last week it looked all over, and Helsingborg had bought the silver polish to brighten up the League trophy. However, a sell-out game in Borås at the weekend saw Elfsborg beat the league leaders 3-2 in a great revival(Anders scored their second goal) and pegged back the West Coast side's lead at the top..but with barely 4 games left, it looks like too little..too late...for Elfsborg to make up the 7 point gap and overtake Helsingborg. At the other end of the table, Michael Svensson's Halmstad are already doomed having won only 3 games and are firmly fixed at the bottom. A dramatic experiment that went terribly wrong was Halmstad's Springtime decision to bring in an unknown Spanish coach ..and six of his countrymen... who just didn't measure up to the task. By Midsummer they had all gone, and 36 year old former coach Michael Svensson was drafted back into the defence in a desperate attempt to stem the goal flood, but to no avail. A sad fate for what.. had been ..a very consistant club side for more than a decade. Stockholmers are holding their breath as they wait to see if Djurgården (once known as the Pride of Stockholm) can avoid relegation after one of their worst ever seasons. If Djurgården go down there will only be ONE Stockholm side in the Premier League (Allsvenskan). Whilst down in Div.2 ..football isn't much fun these days especially as last season's relegated Stockholm duo (Brommapojkarna and Hammarby) both suffered the inevitable problems of a relegated side. BP may survive but Hammarby are dangerously close to the drop zone and may have to be in play-off games to avoid yet another relegation. (Saints fans remember what that's like !) Now only four weeks left ...keep in touch. The info. above about Helsingborg is now purely academic. They won their Sunday game v. GAIS 3-1 whilst AIK could only draw. Helsingborg are now so far ahead on points they cannot be caught. Champions for the first time since 1999.

25 years + over here..Is this a record ?.. Many great memories of the Paine, Sydenham, Ron Davies period, and lots of exciting games after the first promotion 1966, and later right through the McMenemy era. Had lots of fun and light-hearted banter with a great bunch of fellas for several decades as we stood under the West Stand I first visited Sweden in the early 1980's ....and then eventually moved here to marry Eva. Three children later I'm still here. Was born in So'ton ... grew up in Shirley, and later lived in Millbrook till I moved to Stockholm.

Fairly obviously it's good to have your CAPTAIN on a good contract, too. Hammond has had some mixed reactions and really wasn't on top form for a lot of last season, but seems to have found the right form at the right time and is a good role model as captain.

I think this depends on your definition of .... a striker.? If we think of the traditional, broad-shouldered six-footer rugged type, then there maybe not so many around, but strikers don't need to TALL either. Ron Davies, Mick Channon, Beattie and MLT all passed the " magical 6 foot barrier " that we somehow expect, but very many of our most successful strikers in the past hardly passed the 5' 9" mark. George O'Brien, Terry Paine, Steve Moran, Kevin Keegan, Marian Pahars and Kevin Phillips are amongst the first that come to mind. Football isn't necessarily played with high balls all the time, and skill on the ground plays an equally important role, as we see with classy finishing from David Connolly and Adam Lallana - who themselves don't rate as giants in stature, but certainly by reputation. As far as Academy products..players develop physically a lot in late teens /early twenties and that skinny lad we saw at 17 or 18 may end up as a six- footer by the time he makes the bench. The sad story, repeated many times in the past decades is that super -strikers at 16/17 years old -just don't make it as the senior level by the time they reach 20.. The most recent crop we released and are presently all playing in L2 / Conference / Local league sides. Sadly we, can't keep them all until they are 22, and hope they develop. Some football experts say, ..if they 'ain't got it by the time they are 18 ..it 'aint gonna happen. Not always true, but historically quite accurate.

..even on the bench?. I know ..never change a winning side, and I go along with that,too. But more than a few people have noted the excellence of Lee Holmes recent play and his accurate crossing. Sadly, quite a lot of people had (rather prematurely) written-off Holmes after his unfortunate run of injuries.. (as some did about David Connolly - before he got a few games under his belt and started scoring regularly). Now it seems we are seeing the best of Holmes - albeit rather belatedly. Q- Should Holmes be a regular sub.on the bench in favour of someone else- if so who ? It seems that Nigel Adkins' biggest problem is not picking the first team, but who he puts on the bench...with the hope of 30 mins. run-out as a deserved reward.

** well they 've still got their facts wrong. Denmark and Norway share a common alphabet, and understand each other easier in conversation. Norway used to be a part of the Kingdom of Sweden until 100 years ago and their spoken language is very similar. All three countries share a common heritage, whereas Finland has a totally different history and their language is more like Hungarian than any of the others. It's not a discriminartory thing either, they are just different. Most of the countries are lumped together and described as Nordic rather than the geographical term Scandinavia. Rather like the old arguement about UK, Great Britain , the British Isles. The actual geographical proximity to each other means nothing more. You wouldn't say that the English were like the French ..just because they are seperated by a stretch of water !

I noticed him in the recent Euro match Sweden v. Hungary. He looked quite useful and nothing like I remembered...Hungary won 2-0 and the Swedes were really down.

Someone else has already corrected the part about Scandinavian / Nordic ..Finland is NOT classed as Scandinavia, if you'd lived here you'd understand why, but if you added Baltic , you could include Marian Pahars..but seriously I don't like the questions about " best ". You can't compare players who were in different generations, and players who didn't play the same role as each other. I would never compare Michael Svensson with Claus Lundekvam as they had different defensive roles, and were at their best when playing alongside each other. They never "competed " for the same shirt number. Östenstad was really a better player than even if record suggests and Ekelund sadly ought to have been playing for Saints for 10 years instead of only a handful of games. Matt Le Tissier is quoted as saying that he ( Ekelund ) was one of the best players he played alongside. IF you talikng Finland, I'd rate Niemi a very good keeper,considering that I also recall Peter Shilton spending FIVE seasons with Saints in the mid 1980's. Almost no-one recalled Norwegian Jo Tessem, who took upon himself every role asked of him by successive managers, and never disgraced the side but drew criticism from a small group of disgruntled fans who never thought him worthy of a "real first team place " especially when he didn't live up to expectations when forced (by other injuries ) to cover for the in-form James Beattie !

here I am agreeing with you AGAIN, Alpine. Realism is one thing but surely everyone must see that Nigel Adkins is devoted to " this football club" .... our club. What more could he ask?. We're creating new records every week. He has formed a really tight squad, and almost anyone could hop in for anyone else. There's money in the bank, if he wants to spend it, and a Chairman who chose him and who has confidence in him. Some of these posts sound like they come from someone who is waiting to be hit by a truck, or struck by lightning.. Aside from which few managers have created teams that top the table and hammer in goals every match...why would he want to leave?

It's a long time ago, but I was just thinking the same thing myself recently...! George O'Brien was one of those easy-going types who always seemed " a bit lazy " (ala MLT) but always seemed capable of putting in shots from almost anywhere...long range, tap-in's with either foot and a pretty good record of penalties as well. He was certainly about the same height!

absolutely nothing against KD, but looking back at Prem.sides last season most of them had AT LEAST one international keeper on their books, some of them TWO. Whilst it's true that KD is good,and maybe OK in Prem. I wonder if Bart is really right for the No.2 spot after we go up ?

Oh really, Glasgow... is there anything that you can celebrate and be glad about ?

..'think you're in for a bit on stick on this one Alps! ...for a start the odd £60 million that comes with being a Prem.side will not only please Cortese, but the players who are presently on contracts worthy only of L1/CCC players. If we are to buy " better / more experienced / higher level " players , as we surely must when we go up, then our present transfer record £4 million for Rory Delap (more than 10 years ago) will soon just become a interesting statistic in the clubs long history). If we are to become a " top Prem. side " (or however you want to phrase it) ..do you see Saints spending say, £10 million on a new player ? ..( that's about the cost of an " average " top Prem. player, (not to metion their £3 million a year salary....) and there are only a handful of Prem. sides who haven't spent that much on at least ONE player. Indeed that sort of figure hardly dents the budget of the top six Premmers. I agree that it's nice to break records (in CCC) and score lots of goals, and play attractive football (at this level), but anyone who has reached the top of CCC must surely have the ambition to play at the highest level..otherwise they shouldn't be in the club. Having seen Saints spend 27 consecutive seasons " up there " I do feel that just playing teams like Chelsea, Liverpool and the Manchester sides is a thrill in itself, win or not. I recal l the first promotion to Div 1 (as was) in 1966. It was fantastic. Nail-biting at the end of each season on occasions, but very entertaining nevertheless. So ..are you really advocating another 5 years of " attractive football " down in CCC....or, do you not want to go higher and see our ultimate capacity?

[quote=Professor;1146907... when can we start to believe ..that we can do a back-to -back promotion ? QUOTE] Honestly speaking - I did ..around the time we beat Brighton last season. If they were supposed to be the best in the league at that time, I honestly wasn't that impressed. Sure they (Brighton) won games and ground out results but our flowing football was more suited to a higher level, and we are beginning to see that now. I thought us capable of automatic promotion, as many of the other sides seemed to have lost it this season, (especially sides like Burnley and Reading) ..along with the enforced selling of their best players. The BIG question is .. in getting promotion how will we fare in the Premiership..? I am certain thay Nigel is the right manager to take (and keep us) there, but what will the squad look like given that survival is of the upmost importance and any finish in the top half would be the greatest achievement in the last 30 years.