david in sweden

Laugh if you like but, I'd like to see SCW as CHAIRMAN. Staying away from the playing staff, but having good squad coaches. His ideas seems crazy to some people but one of my rugby acquainatances claimed he put an new meaning on the word " organisation". He had vision and an eye for detail and brought out talents / skills in others.

Agree Duncan, I think Dave Jones knew how to handle KD in the right way.

(I know Clive Woodward was disliked by many, but... he did like small details.) So do I ....and (as a langauge teacher) ...if I had bought a non-english speaking player for over £3 million, I'd have invested a few grand more to get the fellow upto scratch with the langauge....especially while he was recuperating from his knee-op for so long ! I've taught hundreds of different nationalities over the years and it wouldn't have taken a lifetime to get Delgado up to pace with basic " Football English " Strachan was continually complaining that Delgado couldn't understand tactics and instructions..maybe Delgado should have learnt Scottish instead ! I think Strachan didn't know how to handle " prima donnas" .

again another series of ..." we shouldn't have sold him " threads, as former Saints players make their mark in various games. Anders Svensson and Michael Nilsson worked their socks off (and snuffed Christiano Ronaldo out of the game) as Sweden came away from Portugal with a valuable 0-0 draw. Blackstock on loan to Forest, Brett Ormerod back to Blackpool in time for our recent game, Rory Delap terrifying defences with his long throws,etc, etc, The fact is that ALL players don't play well all the time, and some aren't given the chance. Others don't want to stay (Mills to Doncaster via Man. City) ..Kevin Phillips wanted away, as did Kevin Davies (to Bolton). There is a reason for moving on, sometimes they don't get a fair chance - can be said of Anders Svensson, bought by Stuart Gray (one of the few good things he did) but played wrongly by Strachan (one of the few wrong things he did). Blackstock was the worst of the young bunch, when he left. McGoldrick and Best were performing better at the time, and I was (pleasantly) surprised when we got a reported 500K for Dexter from QPR. Kevin Davies pi**ed Strachan off, turning up at Reserve training in his sports car and was useless in training (apparantly), and was glad to leave us. The thread on Brett covered most of his story, but the recent complaints about Rory Delap really take the cake. YES, he was expensive - at £4 million (sounds cheap now - doesn't it ?) - another Stuart Gray signing btw. Whatever position he was best at, no-one seems to know but like Michael Nilsson, he was used as a utility player (namely ; " if you want to play, son you'll play where I put you ".) Delap was injured a lot, (but not injury-prone IMHO) but someone who often got his body where his boot should have been and he paid the price with long lay-offs. I don't think successive managers got the best out of his ability and his long throws didn't bring many goals - namely I suggest that Saints (unlike Stoke) didn't have strikers good enough to put the ball in the back of the net often enough. Yes,we can regret that former players are successful with ANOTHER club, but we cannot expect to keep players "on ice " for years hoping that they may eventually make the headlines. Unfortunately, many just don't get their chance at the right time.

Lots of " IF's " of course, but if Saeijs stays, so too can Perry, ..and no-one has suggested that Svensson will not play again. Just because he's become a coach, it doesn't mean he's thrown away his boots - if he's fit by next season - what a back line that would be - in either league.!

Obviously DMG gets a lot of critics, but for those of us with longer memories the above is true of young strikers coming into the game take time to adjust. All our big names from the past had a long wait to get established. Channon who scored on his debut, wasn't a regular for another 18 months and even then not prolific in front of goal. Shearer; then 18 became legend because of his Dell hat trick v. Arsenal - couldn't get in the side for even half a season until TWO years later. It was only in his last season that he looked anything like the class act he later became at Blackburn / Newcastle. Beattie, Kenwyne Jones ..other examples of slow starters who took time to get in the goals regularly, and the most criticised player in modern times (after MLT) for his LAZY style - Greg Rasiak ..still managed 20 goals/season. So being ..young ..and lazy is a real curse! MLT had a greatstart as super sub, and got headlines when his cup goals v. Man Utd got Ron Atkinson sacked as manager the following week. Even then it took time for him (MLT) to get established. Stokes and Moran likewise, but had other senior players around them most of the time. Their scoring feats look good in the record books but like many after them, they looked world class - in the youth sides - but weren't exceptional at first team level when brought in. One exception was Martin Chivers, who debuted at 18, and waited two years for first team chance and then couldn't stop scoring between 1964-66 ..and later in the top flight.(then Div.1) McGoldrick is only par for the course. His first "real" season and he's top scorer - in a team in the bottom 3. Incidentally, most of you will have noted that DMG has started more games - and scored more goals than all our other " out-loaned " players put together. He'll improve - I just hope that he's still with us when he really hits top form.

Always thought you and I were geniuses Andrew, 'cos I'd worked that out as well, but I'd also considerd that IF (as mentioned in Daily Mirror article) that ANOTHER CCC team were to go into administration before the end of the season that Saints MIGHT stay up - and still " finish " in the last 3 ? ......or ?

I've said this before... it's all Rupert Lowe's fault ! IF he hadn't built the wonderful St.Mary's Stadium, we'd still be back at the lovely old draughty, invincible Dell stadium. Without that we'd have have no debt and all those fans who come now would all have their own seat - all 15,000 of them. Problem over...I mean, who else can we blame ? - except Lowe.

I don't doubt Edman's talent, (and he's had a lot of coverage in Sweden in the past,) but it's surely a matter of money and he's probably getting more than the rest of our team put together. Think he was previously at Spurs (?) and was on a good salary there I'll bet, and most likely didn't take a salary drop when he moved to Wigan, either.

AND ....the much-criticised David McGoldrick has done better ..........than all of them put together !

It has to be Rupert Lowe's fault, I mean ...who else is there to blame ? If he hadn't built SMS in the first place ...we'd still have that invinceable fortress ..THE DELL and the 15,000 who currently attend home games would all have a seat of their own ...and we'd probably still be in the Premiership! What other explanation can there be ?

Agree 100% Robbie. Players often want away and afterwards they incur the anger of fans when we play their new side, and rightly so ; ( Kevin Phillips, example). but players like Brett (who apparantly didn't want to go in the first place) get a raw deal. He clearly wasn't Prem.quality a lot of the time, but his honest hard-working input and selfless service helped make James Beattie's career brighter than it might have been. Sometimes it's a case of the club making the decision on financial grounds but quite a lot of the players we've "dumped " in recent years would have been pleased to stay I'm sure had it not been that we needed to reduce the wage bill. Sadly, some (Saints) fans boo ANY former player regardless of their personal history. I think Brett deserved some better respect - even if he was playing for the other side !

Mmmm.....I've heard stranger suggestions - why not ?

Billy Lansdowne (ex-pundit). Bill was a popular guest during the 90's but lost favour to Stuart Baxter (whose Swedish accent is EVEN worse than Lansdownes - if that's possible). Baxter had a good spell managing AIK about 10 years ago, and then went on to manage national sides in one or two third world countries - at present he is still managing.....Finland, but he turns up on progs. when an English side in playing in Euro games. Billy seems to have dropped below the horizon in the last few years, and turned up on some obscure sTV port cable channel, commentating over .. (wait for it) greyhound racing ! Not a top sport in Sweden I can promise you.

I never rated Kalmar - until last year (captain sensible), especially when Billy Lansdowne (who ?) was on TV all the time reminding us of how good they were - when he was there in the 1980's. However, I think we've established your position on Kalmar. Lovely countryside - shame about the ex-family connection .

It's been tough for the Stockholm sides in the last two years. Much of the best football is on the west coast, and now Kalmar (in the south east) has meant that there are few bright moments. Most of the local sides are lucky to finish in the top half of the table. AIK are best of the bunch. Have to wait a bit to give you an update; there are lots of training games, trialists etc, so nothing is very clear yet.

..........a while back, someone said that we have the best U14 side ever. Apparantly they hadn't lost a game in over 2 years.! so ....why do we need an Academy for 16-19 year olds, eh ?

Well I could hardly do any worse than write some of the items appearing on the OS - now could I ?

Exactly krissyboy, I've posted several threads about this in the past and (as a teacher of languages) I recognise the " apparant errors / freudian slips " that sneak into some comments. He's seems like a tough nut (in that respect similar to Pearson) and doesn't waste time trying to call a spade ..a shovel ! The fact that MW s not working in his first language explains a lot of the mis-use of vocabulary. He's treading a tightrope too, especially in our present situation he's hardly likely to aggrevate any one on the Board whilst in front of a group of journalists - is he ? IF - heaven forbid - we do go down, I'd keep him on next season but that won't happen if he's openly critical of the clubs administration. He'd just become another casualty in the battle !

...unless the alternative is Jose Mourinho or Sven-Göran Eriksson - YES ! Wotte about it Rupert ?

Nice place (Kalmar) - shame about the fans! typical of Swedes, they find it hard to chant (unless it's ridiculing the opposition ) - instead the Swedish reaction to a goal being scored is usually - polite applause.

well.... aside from all the jokes......fellas (St). Patrick is a Swedish guy living in the west of the country. He has been a regular contributor to this (and previous sites) and even ran a Swedish language site reporting Saints' activities. I know that he's even taken time to visit the UK ...just so he could watch a game at SMS, so joking aside.... he's a real fan! Sorry that my 45 years as a fan has prompted such a spate of sarcasm, but my heart is still in So'ton and I still follow the team even from this distance. I know from previous contacts that there are quite a number of people who still follow the fortunes of our former Swedish players / teams - hence the original thread. David in Stockholm

didn't realise this would create so much interest.... to date 375 read this message ...and over 200 read the overseas site, and we've found 4 more Saints fans in Sweden! ..and I haven't heard from St.Patrick yet either....

I don't think Kalmar will be nearly as good this year though. They've already lost Victor Elm and Patrik Ingelsten to Heerenveen in the Netherlands and their second half of the season was already slightly worse then the first since that Brazilian guy (Santin?) left for Copenhagen in August. For me the big favourites for the title have to be Elfsborg and IFG Göteborg. They've managed to keep their squads together and they both had good run-ins towards the end of the season. I agree with you on several points, Martini...personally I was rooting for Elfsborg. But Kalmar's performances were outstanding throughout the season. They did go off the boil a bit in September, but Elfsborg failed to take advantage just at a time when only goal difference separted the teams. The three Elm brothers were certainly a strong influence on the Kalmar side, and the teams goal scoring feats were very impressive. Elfsborg had too many goal-less draws and lost points because of it . IF they'd had a stronger front line, they'd have had a easier run-in, but as you say the loss of Anders and Ishisaki....was the main difference.

¨¨ Thanks Pancake, that would obviously explain a lot. ! I didn't like the news feed very much though, perhaps it's the teacher in me ? MW makes the occasional mistake, his predecessor was really struggling sometimes.