david in sweden

I think the NOTW had his name on a short list, but didn't have confirmation of the phone records to prove it !

YOU'RE RIGHT ..that we had the best strike force last season and I'd agree with that and a lot of logical arguments make sense - on paper, BUT ....... (a) do we know for certain that the above mentioned will be injury free for the whole season? (b) are we certain that one or more (ditto) won't have a dramatic loss of form...? © are we sure that none of the (ditto) won't be subject to a long suspension at some point or (in Barnard's case ...) that we know the outcome of his unfinished business with the judiciary...? If your crystal ball gives you a positive answer to that, then tell Nicola Cortese and we can save ourselves £3 million... on the other hand, I'm concerned in case one or more of a, b or c might happen and we'll be " in the penalty box without a striker " or " really in the s*it " - if you prefer that ... for my part ..I'd like to see the £3 million paid out on some " insurance " in the strike force, in the form of a tough, proven striker! Whilst I agree that we gave away a few silly goals last season, we still ended up with one of the best defensive records in L1.

well not quite. The Swedes have a manner of making some words in to slang ...by adding the suffix ..."is " A daghem ..(nursery school) becomes " dagis " My Swedish niece Linnea is known as Linnis ... ....and so Sven became " Svennis ".

Depends on the time period you're looking at, but other peoples "rejects" often come good at Saints; George O'Brien, Stuart Williams, Jimmy Gabriel, Alan Ball, Jimmy Case, James Beattie..first impressions are often deceptive. Wait for NA to buy an experienced, former Prem. International player whose over 30 and wait for the early season criticism...

Kevin Phillips..he did nothing with Sunderland for almost a season and then joined us for (hold my breath)..was it £3.25 million ! I really didn't think we'd get our money's worth but he did score some good goals..but then he left abruptly after we got relegated from the Prem....(don't know that I blame him for that)... but I think we scre*ed ourselves on that one.

Agreed ..that thread is so long now it must be taking up a lot of space...and whose going to go back and read entry no.1037 anyway? Some of the contributions are rather old.. and exactly when is Rudi Skacel going to sign. SUGGESTION: (Mods) IF ... a contribution is "current " and accurate then it ought to come to pass within weeks . So why not dump the thread the last day of every month and start again from zero. What's written in the new month will be accurate and more upto-date.

It would be unfair to expect him to play -or even get a regular bench spot..BUT a 6 month loan to an L1 side would give him some experience, even if he doesn't score a lot of goals at a lower level. If he's getting games then he'll get goals in a decent (Saints ) side later on.

THX Duncan, I stand corrected, (actually the BBC site said he was 23 ) but I still maintain that Pearce has to produce more teenage Micah Richards type "finds", and as far as the England U21s are concerned... Jack is past his "best before " date. He (Pearce) has to develop new "younger " talent. At (Saints) club level, Cork is a great signing..just look at our midfield line-up now..who do you leave out ?

I don't think anyone is disputing that, but at times he is more like a one-man attack force and, as predecessors (Ron Davies a good example) a lot of " extra attention" from defenders. Guly strikes me as an unpredicatble, and somewhat inspirational player. I don't see Guly as a 20 goal-a-season striker, but VERY useful in emergencies.

He is the type of "impact "player we need as back-up / on the bench ..who can come on and change a game (like Connolly). He hasn't had an extended run, but it does seem like he knows his stuff and comes good when needed.

Of course... there might be a "personality clash " with Cortese..but more likely as Head of Sales and Marketing ..he simply didn't deliver the goods. There's a lot of difference between giving a good interview ...and actually seeing the result when you look at the bottom line. Cortese sees the Saints as a (potential) Premiership side again and if Scott didn't deliver, then like any member of the staff, his days were surely numbered.

When I moved to Sweden (over 25 years ago).."Svennis " (as he is known here) was one of those " exiled Swedes " (then managing in Italy) who were so admired by the Swedish media /public. His reputation hit the top when he got the England job and I was even more impressed with his style. Whilst he wasn't the "tub-thumping" type of Lawrie Mac. manager, he was /is very respected but somehow people tend to underate him because of his "cautious " style. I had the unusual experience of meeting him some years ago and he struck me as being HIGHLY professional and very dedicated. He is one of those " melancholic " personalities who pays enormous attention to detail and doesn't feel he has to raise his voice to be heard. I know I never heard so many English players openly stating how much they respected him and I fully expect to see him " recruiting " some of his former E. stars... when /if ....Leicester get back to the Prem.

I don't think I want to rate good / exciting signings but I was encouraged when I read about it (was away on holiday), when I thought of possible midfield line-up. Chamberlain, Schneiderlin, Lallana, Chaplow, Hammond..and now Cork ! (talk about a selection problem Nigel.)

agree with most of that Duncan, but I think the reason behind Pearce's "supposed" exclusion may have been that Cork is ..23 ? and SP is up against it to find good U21 players (his main task) and using an "overage player " doesn't solve his problems. I think U21s are generally regarded (for the very best) ...the last step before a selection to the full squad. Obviously JC is too old for the U21s and isn't in consideration for anything " higher " than that. However, as far as Saints are concerned, I think he is a VG signing. Also says something for Chelseas youth policy when a 10 year junior / youth star and Reserve team captain can't even get on their bench !

Yes, Donny accepted our bid, but the player wants to see if a Prem.club will come in for him..(maybe his agent is doing the thinking for him ..?) but if nothing happens and Saints go back and offer him an extra 2K week on his terms, he'll likly jump at it ..that's if we haven't signed anyone else in the meantime.

may not sound so daft, but sadly there is a section of our fanbase who love to rubbish any player who's played for " both teams " ... even Peter Crouch (who had Pompey on his CV when he came ), had a hard time convincing some that he was an OK buy, that was of course before he played for England.

well, most of them maybe, but there was Dean Richards and Hassan Katchloul, of course.

Agree with that Pilchards. Those Academy lads who are the biggest success may move on, and those who don't make the cut will go automatically - the rest will, hopefully, become part of the new first team squads of the future.

For the record; Kirby joined in Sept.1962 and played v.Swansea twice that season. In 63-64, he played in the home game in Sept. (later moved to Coventry in March 64.) He failed to score in any of those 3 games, but had a good tally of defenders and a caution - before yellow cards.! Wolves didn't appear in Div.2 until 1965-66 long after Kirby'd left. We beat them 9-3 at The Dell and drew 1-1 at Molyneaux, and later got promoted to Div.1 (that's nothing to do with Kirby but I did enjoy writing the 9-3 scoreline.) Leyton Orient were in Div.2 (from season 63-64), and Kirby played against them twice and scored in the 3-0 in January. Thanks to.. In that Number for the results info. and WIKIPEDIA for the following; Right winger NORMAN DEELEY played for Wolves 1951-1962 206 games - 66 goals and later moved to Leyton Orient 1962-64 73 games - 9 goals. He played twice for England in 1959. You also overestimated his height. WP states he was only 5'3" (brave man to face up to George.) Norman Deeley died in 2007.

....except I did see a text somewhere when the P'boro chairman said that (before Chrismas) Nicola Cortese made a " ridiculous bid " which he said was so low, that he dare not repeat it ! *** maybe we had already established our valuation of CMS THEN, regardless of his (then) good form. Now D.Ferguson will need to replace CMS and also get a new defence, as 'Boros defensive record was almost as bad as those teams in the relegation zone.

WELL..thats a logical thought, but although Jaidi has a 1 year contract extension, we really need to bring in someone else regularly before May 2012. Seabourne or Martin seems a natural choice, because if we get a unlucky injury, or a longer suspension we can't start looking for short term replacements. It wasn't so long ago ..last season in Prem.(?) ...that we had SIX defenders on the injured list at the same time. If the squad looks big now, think about 46+ games ahead - anything could happen, better to be safe than sorry. Crisis in the Spring in midfield with Schneiderlin, AOC, Lallana, loan-Stephens (and also Harding )..all out at the same time. As luck would have it, Forte and Guly filled the gaps AND scored a couple of goals each. We didn't have any real alternatives if that hadn't worked. I'm just glad that Connolly was fit again when Barnard got injured - with 5 games left. I don't think you can have TOO big a squad, if they are all capable of performing and resigned to sitting on the bench regularly, and getting the occasional 15/20 mins. sub app. If Cortese is happy to employ them - I'm content with that.

-or maybe play him as next CB ...instead of Seabourne. I don't think there's much difference between them ..