david in sweden

Oh ye of short memory, it wasn't SO long ago that we had FIVE injured central defenders (last season in Prem.?) Lundekvam & Co. I'm not advocating that we sign three more CBs but with suspensions, injuries and loss of form it's a hard postion to fill in an emergency.

that's a good point..Is he one of Adkins proposed signings this summer ?

...........and what a good job that we have the Academy that we do. Some of the "big-name clubs" in the Prem. are going to feel the pressure when that rule comes into play.

Uh ? ..those teams (and their highscoring players) being out of the way, perhaps there may be fewer teams with top grade strikers... to challenge for top spot. I'm not trying to pretend that no other teams will get goals, or that their strikers won't score. But... on the assumption that we can take up where we left off ..namely 13 goals in the last 5 games we'll (hopefully) get a good start for once ... instead of the type of fiasco we've had for the last decade or so. My rational is that I'm glad they (all) aren't still in our divison to boost the strike force for their teams, and that our lads will continue their good form. Pure conjecture, of course. But if we are mid-table and have only scored 6 goals by the end of September, I'll be wrong . won't I ?

who could ever forget that one ..! 0-3 down with 17 mins left to play ...what a comeback!

Absolutely correct ! Those clubs think nothing of spending £20M+. on foreign players....if Alex develops as well as everyone suggests ...he'll be a steal at £15M.

Sweden celebrated their National Day one day late when they comprehensively destroyed Finland by 5-0 in the Euro Qual. match against the "old enemy". So often disgraced by the Finns in Ice Hockey, the " new look " Swedish side under manager Erik Hamren took the game to the Finns and went 1-0 up when Kim Källströms 40 yard free kick eluded everyone in the penalty area and sneaked in at the far post, and the Swedes never looked back. Milan-based Zlatan Imbrahimovic started on the bench after trying to shake off an injury, came on after after 25 mins. when Toivanen was injured, and quickly scored twice in four minutes with two clinical finishes. HT 3-0 . Finland had no answer to the wide attacks from the " Premiership Swedes " Sebastian Larsson and Johan Elmander and went further behind when another long Källström freekick found Zlatan at the far post to nod past the luckless Finnish goalie for his hat-trick goal, and he might have had a couple more when his 35 yard freekick missed the far post by inches and he was denied a good penalty shout later on. 34 years young captain Anders Svensson equalled Roland Nilsson's 116 cap record and looked as fit as anyone on the pitch is once again a key player, after being written off by the media hacks after Sweden's fiasco World Cup 2010 in Germany. Anders looked quick and his pin-point passing opened up the Finnish defence time and time again, as he looked good enough to go on and attack former goalie Thomas Ravelli's all- time record of 143 internationals. The Swedes added insult to injury in the last 10 minutes when they scored their 5th goal, with lively midfielder Emil Bejrami running onto a left-wing pass from Zlatan and chipped the advancing keeper. A thoroughly entertaining end-to-end game in which Finland might have scored especially through the lively MIchael Forsell (former Prem.) with Brum. Sweden's 3 points and the 5 plus goals makes them favourites to qualify behind the unbeaten Dutch side who lead the group.

No disrespect to Nicola Cortese (who I rate as a top man) ...but as for best record as a chairman...(?) George Reader, (Chairman in the McMeneny era) saw over an FA Cup win 1976 and promotion (back) up to Div.1 (Prem) in 1977-78. Still it's early days yet.....well done NC.

next season. Glancing at last seasons top scorers in the Championship, I noted that with todays transfer of Graham from Watford to Swansea, we see another top striker leaving the CCC ...and maybe reducing the firepower of those top CCC clubs. Swansea (already promoted) already have Sinclair among their top goalscorers. QPRs Taarabat and Helgesson have also gone (up), along with Holt and Jackson from Norwich. ....of the top scoring CCC strikers only Long (Reading), Bothroyd (Cardiff) and the Leeds pair Becchio and Gradel remain in those strikers who scored over 12 goals . If Saints strike force can continue their late-season form, the other CCC clubs may well be pushed to find strikers capable of reaching those sort of goal figures. Noted also that Murray has already departed Brighton, and Machail-Smith seems certain to leave P'Boro.

OMG ..in which case they've got 12 months to earn themselves a new contract!..or else.....

.....but not enough in our own side. We need more patience with those up and coming Bales and Walcotts'.

He may well end up making the same mistake again....if he's not very careful. Remember the fitness levels in Prem. need to be considerably higher than those in CCC and especially L1. Without a FIT squad they'll be struggling, but too much strain and they'll have a poor start that they may never recover from. The real answer is to have squad players who ENJOY training and will keep continue to do light training - even during holidays. Those who just lay on the beach with a six pack and a new girlfriend may well return overweight and knackered.

There are 36 names ..if I'm right there are 11 who have NEVER played first team football, and another 4 out of contract NEXT year Bearing in mind we need 22 for a well-balanced squad, so where's the problem?. Personally... I think we need another 3-4 to make up for those who will walk next May, and to replace those who aren't Prem.standard - whether we go up or not next season.

yeah ..go ahead. As soon as they sell him... they'll be on the way back down to L1.

and you're complaining?. It took some work to create that insert. Patrik is a Saints fan living in a lost village in central Sweden, and still he supports us. He's a good guy...so don't pick up on such small errors - didn't you like the vid?

don't you mean North London yobbos...(one of RL's better quotes)

hopefully !!

hard luck 'Udders, but why did Lee Clark leave his best strikers on the bench?

Agreed. Peterboro have one of the worst defences in the league, but without CMS they will be very ordinary. Huddersfield would be a very strong challenger to our prmotion push 2011-12.

the entire season in a few minutes - GREAT !

of course there is but not as big as that between CCC and Prem. However, Connollly has played at CCC level most of his career (and even a season or do in Prem, I think). He is also a past international for N.I. (sorry or is it the Republic ?)... anyway, he has a certain guile about him and I hope to see him banging in the goals next season (injuries permitting).

yes that was a poor season, and we finished 14th . Our 58 league goals were better than some of the teams in the top 10 but conceding 69 gave us the second worse defence in the league. MLT got 19 goals (thank goodness)..but the budding Alan Shearer managed only 4 (!) from 34 starts. A year later he, and goalie Tim Flowers were on their way to Blackburn, and later Jeff Kenna, too. Rod Wallace was sold to Leeds for £1 million (a lot then), but the saddest move was Branfoot's sacking of Jimmy Case (then ONLY 37) ..mainly I suspect because Jim was the only sensible voice in the dressing room and made Branfoot look the idi*t he was.

There are quite a few people who thought that Kevin Phillips would disappear into the sunset when he left Saints, but he was still coming off the bench and knocking in goals for Brum - but despite their relegation - and he still looks sharp at 38. I don't expect DC to play till he's 38 but assuming he doesn't get any serious knocks he surely has a season or two left in him...?

Got out of bed the wrong side - did we...? Considering our club has a 125 year history, surely we are permitted to look back and dwell on some of it are we...? or shall we continue to celebrate the 3-1 win over Walsall ? Thee are a lot of fans around today who can't even remember Premiership football at SMS - even though their parents pipe on about Saints winning the FA Cup (1976) or having FIVE England captains in the side ...and those to whom Matthew Le Tissier is just a name... maybe we're not ...the LAST of the Summer Wine, but it's something to savour even if we are celebrating the new life in the Championship.

.......another player from Scunny.?. Irish goalie Joe Murphy and defender David Mirfin are OOC and leaving the club after refusing new contracts. Mmmm...Two former Adkins favourites.. Will we see one of them in the squad come August ..I wonder?