david in sweden

Yes I'd go with that, too Hopkins. He was AP's " jack-in-the-box " buy and had several good performances but rarely seemed to be consistant. Towards the end of last season and early this..he really appeared out of sorts. He was often the first to be substituted in almost every game, and didn't scored at all in 17 starts for Saints.(Aug-Dec) Pleased (for him) if he finds a new home, we'll get some cash back ...and it'll be likely more than expected if AP wants to add him to the squad at Newcastle.(as one journo suggested on a site)

Whilst many people are guessing the possible result, you've chosen a good starting side. I'd go with that. More muscle at the back and a few more toughies in midfield for a game NOT being played on SMS's velvet pitch. Nothing against Guly, but he's just recovering from the early season criticism from fans on this site. I'd rest him TODAY, and give Barney a chance to start. He's a natural goal poacher and should be able to convert the half-chances when they come. I'm guessing that we won't see much attacking wing play; but have to battle it out in midfield. I'd be happy with 1-0 (even if we have to hold our breath for 95 mins.)

You're right of course. I note that in Mc Menemy's "golden years " in the early 80's , we rarely got past 20K in home games. Even 1983-84 (when we finished 2nd in the league behind Liverpool), we only had 4 games in excess of 20K. The gates fell even more after he left , and hit an all time low (for Div.1 /Prem.games) during the Branfoot Era, when MLT was our only star. Brighton surely are more associated (by older fans) with the old Goldstone ground than their present "home ".

Thanks for the input, Tony. I haven't of course, and it sounds as if I haven't missed much. However the fact remains that IF promoted ...they will need more than just a new ground if their financing can sustain paying CCC salaries and drawing " better " players into the club.

Of course those Dell figures you quoted were forced on us by having to convert to an all seater stadium and took the gates down to a max. of 16,000. when SMS opened up we got well above 25K average. BUT Brighton's AVERAGE gate is only 7124. If they have such a big fan base?..why can't they fill a capacity 8850 ground - more regularly?

sounds like the FEAR FACTOR to see. First signs of real panic !

Mmmm..just the 3 goals today. Agreed, he's total rubbish ! maybe we should sell him ? ah ..who was the last Saints player to score a hat-trick ?

Yyyyeeesss!!!!!

Amazing really. Half of L1 have average gates below 6000 only 4 sides, Saints, S.Wed Charlton and Huddf'd above 14K. but our average is 21539 Saints already past 250K from 12 games, we will surely reach 500K by end of season. most surprising thing for me is that Brighton as league leaders have only av. 7124 in a capacity 8850. How will they ever survive in the Championship?

It's always difficult to get a new player to fit in the system and find his best role. With our drought of goals in those early games we needed to try something. If NA sees him in the midfield role playing " in the hole " behind the front man, that means 4-5-1 with two wide men and Lambert up front .. Surely Lallana should play further up - remembering his big goal tally last season.

my favourite was always the one concerning the fact that we gave a trial to Didier Drogba,and were going to sign him but RL didn't want him ........because he thought ....he had a bit of an attitude !!!! For goodness sake,Nigel.... get us someone else with the same attitude!

Nice to hear news - even a second hand message. Thanks Tim. As one who can recall the days when Ron was king, it's good to know he's still interested in SFC. I'm sure older fans would be glad to see him again at St.Mary's, How about organising him a quick visit for the last home game... before we take the title in May.?

you maybe right, but the average midfielder (excl.Schneiderlin ) can usually get 3-4 goals a season and with Hughes' former goal scoring record... I did expect much more. He may have come free/ almost free but I'm sure someone mentioned at the time that he had a BIG salary .......!

well at least the record book (In that Number) is correct " officially " but it's still a pretty poor show for someone who commanded such a big salary and produced such a poor return !

YES ..and we'll need a good squad to handle two games a week until the season is ended --in mid May.

Many people seem to lose the perspective of age / experience and timing. Many teenage players just don't make the grade. There have been loads of players who were TREMENDOUS - when they were in our U16/U18 sides....Walcott and Bale are two prime examples. Likewise..so too were Martin Crainie and Ollie Lancashire ..nuff said. They were criticised horribly whenever their names appeared on the team sheet ..let alone played. They moved on ..as did many others, who didn't make it at the right time, namely at 18 ..someone (Academy Coach / Reserve trainer - when we had one) has to make a judgement and has been told .. you can keep ..say 5 youngsters..the rest fall by the wayside. Purely financially speaking you can't keep 3 teams (thats 33 players) in the hope that you can find 11 fit, on form who can win matches every week. For all his successes with players, Lawrie mac was the man in charge when we let two youngsters named ..Dennis Wise and Kevin Phillips go from the youth squad, (ironically both returned in their twilight days) Players mature at different times. Chris Baird came from N.I. aged 16 (1998) and was totally anonymous until his 2002 Cup Final app. then totally ignored again by successive managers until he appeared as a saviour in our defence ...at the age of 23 ...in the season before moving to Fulham, where he has been a regular ever since !. ( That was a financial decision not a playing one ). The list of "rejected " young players is endless, but because someone goes elsewhere and becomes a success is not always a reflection on bad judgement. As a young boy, Terry Paine was rejected by Arsenal ...as too was David Beckham...(you can't win them all). I've never seen McLaggon play but I hope he gets a chance to make a career but it clearly won't be with Saints. If ..in the years to come Anthony Pulis gets to play in the Premiership ..or to play at International level.. there will be NO-ONE on this site willing to stand up and criticise the decision ..should we let him go in the near future ..OR .........?

*** Yes the windfactor must play a big part in Skåne, too. ***NOTE; for UK readers SKÅNE (Scania) is the most southerly county in Sweden with a lot of coastline and FLAT as a pancake ! The wind blows off the water worse than it does in Millbrook Road !

....and let's not forget Mark Hughes ...that bargain buy in 1998 (ONLY 650K)... who managed only TWO goals in 57 games. What a great signing he was ! ..but he did set a club record with an average of one booking a game for the first half of a season !

well it almost feels like it . I'm just as frustrated as other fans without regular games, but it occured to me that the enforced winter break, may have some startling effects on the form of some teams when the fixtures starts to get going again. I read that burst pipes at Hillsborough have forced Wednesday to cancel their next two fixtures, and one wonders if Brighton can retain that runaway form after such a long break. Many teams get lots of confidence and enthusiasm from a good run of results but with the hard winter weather likely to be with us for some time yet, many teams will be without competitive games almost as long as they were in the close season. Let's hope that Saints can finally put some results together as they did after tthe New Year 2010...that might see us in a strong position in the top six. **Note: Swedens season is from March to November..which is just as well as we had minus 20 deg C in Stockholm yesterday, and the more northern parts had temps up around -30 degrees. Brrrrrrrrrr!!

Historically, we can see that VERY few strikers have been so regular that they score all the time. Exceptions were people like Derek Reeves, George O'Brien and Ron Davies in the 1960's who scored quite regularly all season. In promotion season 1965-66 Martin Chivers got to 30 goals by the end of February and didn't score again in the remaining 12 fixtures he played in. ..AND of course later there were those purple patches when MLT was king in the early 1990's. Last year Rickie had a field day but looking back at old records we see that in James Beattie best season (2002-03) he went 10 games before scoring but still ended up with 23 Premier League goals. Rickie will come good and I'm sure he'll be back on the goal sheet soon.

good summary Marlborough, At least we've almost through the December "hoodoo" period, when successive teams in successive seasons with un-successful managers go into the New Year empty-handed. Hopefully the enforced "winter break " I've always favoured will give players a chance to have a mid season (instead of a pre-season) renew energy levels, and for the " walking wounded " to get fit. I really thought Lee Holmes was going to come good in that midfield role but now he's out for the rest of the season. With Puncheon (likely) going, we really need another tough midfielder, as I don't expect to see Wotton returning and for all his excellent passing I'd really like to see Schneiderlin with 3 or 4 goals to his credit. There's no room for injuries (or suspensions) so we really need so power in the middle. I was an advocate of another big striker being signed in the summer, but it didn't happen and did anyone really expect Rickie to come with another 30 goal season ? ... I don't think so. I really like Barnard but we are too reliant on him, and (sadly) Connolly still has the inevitable injury problems. Let's hope we see some transfer moves to improve the squad and back up some of the excellent rhetoric we've heard from NA and NC in recent weeks.

IF he goes and we get the fee..it's no longer our problem, but we should get a sell-on clause (ala RL).

around this time last season, I reminded some people that a winter-break is quite normal in other Euro countries. France, Germany, Spain and Italy have varying breaks anything from 7-18 days after Boxing day - in full expectation that the weather will make any reasonable football game - an impossibility. Now guess what ? With this weather looking like it's here to stay (for a while at least) ..is this season just a one-off ..or is it a sensible idea to avoid; player injuries, travelling problems and transport delays etc, and give serious consideration to planning for a shorter winter break in the UK, too ? Yes, I'd get withdrawal symtoms as well - without games to follow every week but ..is there a better alterantive.?