david in sweden

Whatever his past history (before Saints) Shane seems to being applying himself well this season. He has genuine pace and more than a little guile when on the ball. He is a sprinter, not a marathon runner, and you can see that by the 80th minute, it has really taken a toll on his energy levels and he's almost on his knees. The rest of the time he is been a constant pain-in-the a** to opposing defenders who can't ignore him for a second. HDAJFU and is definitely worth his place in the start line-up. Long has turned in a real shift every game whilst Pelle has been out. Pelle hasn't shown up a lot since the Autumn, and didn't shine much v.WHam either. Whilst everyone is awaiting the Austin /Jay Rod partnership to flourish, Shane Long has become a vital part of the attack, and in the event of injury to the " non-scoring " Mane ..we have only the " non-scoring " Juanmi as any sort of back-up ..as Seager already out in loan. It's more and more likely we will lose Pelle AND Mane in the summer, but I'd be happy to see Long and Tadic as an addition to an Austin/JayRod strike force.

although we know and understand the meaning behind phrases like " a six-pointer "..or " a must-win game" - they are phrases I abhor (for some inexplicable reason) However. ...a good look at the table shows that a win for Saints would reduce the gap to only 2 points between the clubs, and if we are to continue our run of successes, we don't want to drop points on this one. Our performances against the " top sides " has improved this season...gaining points at Liverpool and Arsenal and of course, the wins at Man U and Chelsea but the disapointments come when we play below par and drop points / lose against the middling / lower placed clubs. Luck has a part in it , but losses at Norwich, WHam and Palace should have been prevented, and losing at home to Stoke and Tottenahm were down to poor play. from the points situaton....it hard to glory in an away win when we throw away points against lowly-placed teams. WHam are going through an indifferent period and so we must hope that we can get a convincing win and keep in the hunt for that last Euro spot.

Nice job - pretty complete assessment I'd say Redslo

Question?....does " home-grown " specifically mean SAINTS' youth scheme? I thought it meant they had grown up... with any club in the English League system?

.....and our 70's star Jimmy Gabriel became a legend as Seattle Sounders' coach......

....looking at all the " Big-name clubs " being bandied around with him....it makes you wonder just where the bidding will stop ?

Er?..How intelligent do you have to be to run a porn shop? I read today that his partner in WHam - David Gold - was offering an alternative explanation to Sullivan's earlier comment .... He said ...." Na! you got it all wrong, (or words to that effect) I've always thought Charlie Austin was a good player, it's just that we thought he was a bit of a chance for £12million with his injury record. (well they should know having bought Andy Carroll) ......if I knew he was available for £4 million - (he said) ...we'd have taken a gamble " Well David......it seems that Les Reed did ask the question ....so (as a Premier League Chairman)....why didn't you?

of course, players who don't make it as youngsters sometimes turn into late-developers...just look at Rickie Lambert, Charlie Austin ....and even Jamie Vardy (although he's not ours). It's fair to say that Antonio (sort of) did DAJFU when he was here, but at a time when Lambert and Lallana were our goalscoring heroes, he was a bit down the list. Should we have bought him and persisted in deveopling him?...maybe, but Nicola Cortese was more set on bringing in " Italian loans " like Papa Waigo and later Guly, so even the cursory sum that MA would have cost us, was topped by the eventual loan / transfer costs for those who came later. Now he has fought his way back up the the level of a Prem. club, only time will tell if he was " one that got away "...or... it was the right decision at the time.

......and a 25% sell-on clause.....must have the sell-on clause-right ?

Being " Top 10 club " sounds good, but to get into Europe we'd need to see " a Chelsea or a Liverpool " type club slump down every season, and then get some luck.

.....the extra revenue generated from another 8,000 seats would take quite a few years to recoup....even if we sold out every game. The majority of the stadium income.... (advertising aside).... is from just 19 games a season.....cup games and pop concerts are a bonus. London clubs in the Prem. sell out 90% every game, Arsenal and Spurs totally. Even with 60,000 seats there's no guarantee Spurs and WHam would sell out every game.

He is under contract until 2019..... he'll be about 30 by then.......may want to wait a bit on that one...

"Whinging Wenger ":mcinnes: ..........even without Forster's fantastic show, Arsenal still had enough chances to have won comfortably. If Wenger is looking for the real reason they " dropped " two points , maybe he should have them stand in front of a mirror this morning.

Whinging Wenger again !....he's always got something to complain about.....even without " fantastic Forster"... Arsenal had enough clear chances to have won comfortably. We squandered the few goal chances we did have, but this one point was well-deserved anyway. Great defensive back-line, JWP is really improving at last and Romeu looks worth his place, too.

That was in response to the interviewer asking ...if Austin "might" start? Ronald says " he might " which I read as meaning..." you don't think I'm stupid enough to tell Wenger my starting line-up 24 hours before the game - do you?"

OK that's all over and done with until the summer......but how do you think the team / squad will change by the time August comes around? My thoughts.. Kelvin Davis will get his testamonial (of course) and retire.... Replacement?...I'd sign Stekelenburg permanently. He wasn't responsible for all our defeats, and he's got experience and there are a lot worse out there. Gazzaniga HAS to have along loan-out somwhere before he becomes another Cody Cropper or Tommy Forecast Jose Fonte is still under contract until 2018 (and well-deserved) but if our new-look back line is to succeed, he needs to stay fit and in form. I certainly wouldn't look to replace him, but Koeman will want to have a top rate back-up - just in case, and Gardos is still an unknown quantity at this level. Expect to lose Wanyama....and promote Romeu to the central role. I really appreciate Steven Davis...(even if many others don't), but 30 is a dangerous age Cynthia oops! (sorry Ronald). If Clasie continues to improve, and JWP finally gets some consistancy that may solve that question, but I expect us to sign another of Koeman's " Dutch favourites" to make up the numbers in midfield. Mane will surely go ....to Chelsea or Man Utd ...or West Ham:lol: ...so RK will have to re-think that particular role . A lot depends on JayRod's recovery. If he gets back to a good Prem. level of fitness, he and Charlie Austin will be a formidable strike pair up front. I'd keep Shane Long (sorry about that Saint Charlie) but expect to see another good striker coming in. Juanmi isn't the only one disappointed about his lack of success. If he doesn't make a mark soon, then he 'll go back to Spain either permananetly or a long loan. There will be a thorough overall of the U21 lads. Loan outs like McCarthy, Turnbull, Stephens, Seager and Isgrove will need to prove something ...to someone. ....but I expect one of two of them to come into next season's squad. What are your thoughts?

I'm not arguing the point, but some of the better U18's that Dodd /Williams coached have moved up to the U21 side, and the new influx doesn't look to have settled yet. U21s have had serious injury problems in several positions...as well as loans outs.... and have used half-a-dozen of the current U18 lads already this season.

....shows that he has a pretty good agent ..and that Newcastle are pretty desperate.

I could believe that. Aside from being a legend in his own right, Doddsy was never one to tow the line and spoke his mind openly in a few interviews I've seen. For all his qualities, Martin Hunter does seem to demand " a type of respect " that some, perhaps in a younger generation can understand / accept.

Andros Townsend's career is less than glorious when you consider his passage to a £12 million transfer was based on a series of loan outs to L1 / Championship clubs, and a short series of first team games in an otherwise uninspiring Spurs outfit. Totalling 50 part-games and scoring just 3 goals He started with Spurs as an 8 year old, and by 18 had started on the first of 9 loan outs (101 games and 11 goals) ....that would spread out over a period of 4 years. When he eventually became part of their first team squad, he made a few appearances as sub. (in part due to the catastrophic fallout from many of the players bought with the " Gareth Bale inheritance "), and his occasional goal efforts made him look good, in what can only be described as a poor Spurs side who were finding it difficult to score goals. Following the "good half-season" that most players enjoy at sometime in their careers, he was picked for England (who were suffering the same goal drought that Spurs had) and scored with a few spectacular efforts (against admitted poor opposition) which advanced his career at record speed, whilst at the same time saving face for the England manager, who praised him to the heights. Late last year, he was demoted to playing with Spurs U21 side, after a reported arguement with a Spurs official, but this also went some way to preserving his high valuation (to Spurs benefit). I watched the Spurs v Saints U21 game in December, where a strong Spurs side seemed to have a single tactic....that .of passing to him on the right wing, where most of his efforts were rather poor, and he was well-contained by Matt Targett ...and was subsequently subbed off after 60 minutes. His move is the chance he needs to advance his career, as Newcastle are unlikely to leave him on the bench too often, but (as Beckenham Saint mentioned above).....this type of costly move does put the Shane Long transfer in a much better perspective. Time will tell.

..not to mention that the bookies :smug:are quick to quote odds on player who was never in the running anyway ..no-one seems to think that's criminal Would you bet on a horse ...who wasn't entered for the Grand National in the first place?

tbh....they couldn't get much worse, their recent form has been truly abysmal, just 2 wins in the last 9 games and those in games where the opposition was better.

typical ......halfway down the article they spell his name as "Reid " ...... and under the third pic. he is named " Targett ".....what sort of footballing person works for them?

back reading the OP....I recalled a few names who.....didn't quite make.....it to our first team, but today's item about Mike Williamson's move to Wolves hit a memory. Mike Willamson (along with Garry Monk, who was a bit older) were two promising young CB's on Saints books around 15 years ago, but Williamson's story is a warning to those who think the next step from youth football is the Premier League. Both named were unfortunate enough to be at the club at a time when we had a succession of great CB's (Dean Richards, Michael Svensson and Claus Lundekvam) and thus their chances of playing regularly were almost zero. Williamson was a success at Torquay (2001) and bought by Saints (rumoured @ £100K)...after he had played only a handful of games, and like Williamson, he was loaned back to Torquay for a while and then retuned to Saints before going on loan-outs with Doncaster and Wycombe, where manager Tony Adams (yes that one) signed him permanently and he played over 100 games for them, and finally left Saints without ever playing a first team game. Later moves to Watford and ...Pompey (who thankfully he never played for)... led to an eventual move to Newcastle in 2010. Mike clocked up 150 games for Newcastle before being loaned out to Wolves, a move that become permanent this week. Now at 32, he has the chance to help Wolves over the line and perhaps.... see them win a play-off place back up to the Prem. Garry Monk's story is not disimilar. Ironically he was also a youth product at Torquay when Saints had signed him in 1995, and like Williamson was loaned back to Torquay for a while. Back at Saints, his progress (or lack of it) saw him appear in only a dozen Prem. games between 1998-2004, in between loan outs to Stockport, Oxford, Sheff.Wed. and Barnsley and finally to Swansea in 2004, at which time he officially left Saints' playing staff. He arrived at Swansea at a time when they were struggling to stay in L2, but having survived Garry became the mainstay of the Swans defence for around 10 years, and he finally made it back to the Prem.and later became their manager. His recent sacking was a sad, but predictable outcome of a run of poor results. He must surely rank in the new generation of young managers who have fallen by the wayside when a Club's Board panic, but Garry will surely re-appear at some point in the future.