david in sweden

Just about what I had on my list, though Haven't seen any of the junior players in actiona nd can't guess which Prem.side they turn out for in say ...5 years time . Mind you ..haven't seen Antony Pulis play for us either.

I've said the same myself on many occasions. Anders is still playing well (now 34) and is captain of his Swedish Allsvenskan (Prem.) side.

Does than mean he plays alongside ...DAVID BECKHAM ?

sad ..then we almost had 36 managers in 3 years ...!

whilst I agree with your arguement to some extent, clubs who " want to succeed " rather than just survive will always bid high for the better players (watch Saints in the summer ) and in consequence will pay higher fees /salaries in order to get them .. (noted . suggestion that Rangers will bid £2.5 million for Puncheon.!!) OK for us if true but then they will be paying lots of £K for his three year salary ! Clubs like companies have to cover their wage bill and cover overheads, and no-one wants to pay more than they have to... Sadly the rich clubs get richer and the rest suffer.

He must have set aome sort of record ...the only Saints player to have a 3 year contract..or was it 4 ? ..and never featured in a league game for us.

another post says... he's 23 ..and already past it ! (can you believe some of these people ?)

Disappointed Chez?, he gives us yet another midfield option and with the possibilities to make the changes, we now have AOC, Lallana ....and any number of other combinations.

The only keeper who you could mention in the same breath as Peter Shilton (Saints most capped player BTW) but with 120+ caps for England - he was unique. Perhaps Shilton had better positioning skills as he always seemed to make everything seem easy, even if it wasn't but Antti Niemi was vey acrobatic and a first class showman (as seen) - some of his saves were out of this world. I never like to say " best " . These two played in different generations and were quite brilliant on their day. I'm just glad I had the opportunity to see them both play (for Saints).

Honestly speaking, I'm really not impressed with the " Euro-hype " surrounding the same " big " clubs every season. I'd let them go off and play in their own ocean, cream off the top four and let the rest of the country get on with some real football.

Considering the outrageous fee they got for Carroll...I'd think Newcastle can afford £2 million..plus a sell-on clause, of course.

I don't think we can have TOO many versatile midfielders, especially if they find the back of the net occasionally, (are you listening Morgan ?) ...Just when we worried about the injured Barnard and Guly and the return of Connolly (will he stay fit?) near seasons end.. we suddenly had 4 midfielders out at the same time... and that was without loss of form and suspensions. If the first choice midfielders stay fit, then it'll be hard on those who sit and wait, but for my money it's worth having more fit players raring to go, and who can come on and do a match-winning contribution (as "Jonno " did against MK Dons). If he didn't do anything else, Forte saw too it we got THAT 3 points and thankfully it's them in the play-off scramble and not us. More midfielders ..YES ..bring 'em on !

No!.... you were just reading Glasgow Saints thread...about the impending Armageddon.

Oh Really Saint Mikey, they should both be out the ..building! full stop.

Oh now don't go all serious on us Alpine, I was beginning to enjoy this topic as it's a cut above your average TV soap. Of course he'll stay, one way or another and if he does go ...it ought to be more than £10 million deal, too - that was last months price....I'm more interested in the " quality " that going to come, rather than that which will inevitably leave - in time.

Don't know how much salt you want to take this this one, but it says (roughly speaking); Jakob Friis-Hansen, a former Danish international has been appointed Director of European Development for Saints. He goes on to point out our glorius past and that the Liebherr family has wealth to spare and like the idea of becoming a top Prem.club and playing Euro football in the not too distant future. Time will tell if the guy is just hoping, bragging, or ... if he's the real thing. Sit tight and wait for an announcement from NC - if one is coming.

the comment about bringing in some youngsters was not mine but came from the Solent interview on "Promotion Day" from Les Reed ..(and he's closer to the action then any of us,) so they must have plans for some of them to get some games..

Holmes came on as sub.on 9 occasions this season and was more or less regular reserve since Adkins arrived until he was injured in the FA Cup game v. Cheltenham. Hardly his fault that he couldn't break into a side that lost only 2 games in a run of 14 matches around that time, besides having Barnard and Connolly on the bench alongside him in that same spell. Bad luck, maybe..but I do think that he deserves a run.

Looking back over several decades, you can see that the "youth players " (I'll avoid the word Academy here,) have come into settled (if not always successful sides) and occasionally fitted into an established team set-up. Mick Channon in the mid 60's. Bobby Stokes, Nick Holmes in the 70's ...then later Steve Williams followed by Steve Moran, Trevor Hebberd, Malcolm Waldron, Jason Dodd, Frannie Benali, Neil Maddison - all made a memorable dent in th record books and none of them cost a penny to sign. Then came the mid-80's " Merrington " Youth players (perhaps the best generation we've had until now); The 3 Wallace brothers, Alan Shearer, and MLT of course. The late 90's with Wayne Bridge and then the present " Lowe " Academy set up after 2000..came Surman, Walcott, Bale etc. NOW is a good time to bring youngsters into a moderatley successful side and give them space to grow alongside established players. especially as there are very few in the " regular " Saints line-up who've played less than 100 league games.

I'm sure he realises that he has a better chance of getting on our bench than he does on Arsenal's....!

....that goes along with my thoughts, too Vectis. except that I'd persist with Holmes, at least one more season. He really has been unlucky with several totally unrelated injuries that have kept him out of the reckoning. I'm reminded of players like Matt Oakley, who was out for a whole year with ligament problems and was slow to regain form when he did return over a year later. We offerred him a sh*t contarct and his move elsewhere only went to prove that he was good enough to play at a higher level..but sadly it wasn't with us.

I think you overlook the fact that outside forces, such as legal matters / court cases, injuries (short or prolonged), suspensions and loss of form are all factors that cannot be avoided in any club. I was one of those who was hoping for a striker to be signed in January, not because I was disatisfied with Barnard / Lambert duo, but because - as we saw- Barnard was victim of a serious injury(which hopefully may be short-lived) but I only hope his court case can be resolved in an equally short time, but I doubt it. Fortunately...David Connolly recovered and played 4 games , got two goals ..just at the time that Guly was injured. NOT TO MENTION ..the horror of having FOUR midfielders injured at the same time in March/ April. Fortunately thier replacements didn't let us down. IF he did nothing else Jonathan Forte's "super-sub". performance v. MK Dons won that game for us and perhaps saved us the suspense of a play-off series for 3rd spot. SORRY, but ...faced with those sort of situations...A good-sized squad is essential if we are to impact CCC which is also 46 games and considerably better opposition that we have had to play against this season. (22 players "good" or even passable ") isn't going to be enough to be sure.

Absolutely correct ! ..and it was very painful if you happened to be leaning on a bar in the first place.

I think his original point was following Winchester City , who are non- league, and if I read correctly ... the guy lives In /near Winchester...so why not? As a matter of interest, I usually get around to looking at the Aldershot results..and indeed Farnborough who were in a play-off place in their league, but I read the original thread as the "local connection, in which case Eastleigh and Totton are literally bordering on Southamptons municipal borders, whereas I've only been through Aldershot on a bus on my way to So'ton.

we are looking at this in a very simple fashion, assuming that we can find " better " replacements who will fit in. If you end up with "another " Puncheon (assuming this one will go ) ...or another Forecast ..or Pulis then the whole balance of the squad , and the dynamics in the dressing room is lost. The key issue is not finding 11 players who can play 46 games of 100 minutes a match, but getting cover for eventual injuries, suspensions or loss of form. Whilst some of us were looking for another striker to be signed in the January window, what we got was an almost legendary performance by sub. Jonathan Forte who came off the bench (in MK Dons game ) and scored twice in a couple of minutes and "perhaps" won a match that helped get us promoted instead of looking at play-offs. then our " new signing" appeared in the form of the almost forgotten, now fit David Connolly who scored a couple of very valuable goals. INSTEAD : our real problem suddenly became ; MIDFIELD. In the space of a few games, we lost Schneiderlin, Chamberlain, Lallana... then replacement Stephens ..and then Barnard. Fortunately the likes of Chaplow and Guly were good enough to fill the void for a few games, whereas we might have lost 9-12 points had we been forced to use untried Academy lads... We need depth in the squad - at least for one more season, and those we know can fill the breach in an emergency. If we are promoted next season , or not ..we will def. need new faces to push on / and stay up / in the Prem.