MarkSFC

maybe the EUROPEAN appearance doesnt count domestically.

good to hear he is beginning his career again and i hope he has a good rest of his career........with another club.

i think or guessing that nc is keen to protect our future financial position whilst also upping the quality of the team, squad and club. You can do it 3 ways in my eyes, steadily and sensibly but missing out on a few targets....the man city way, buy now as quickly as possible and worry about the credit card bill when it arrives.....or the skate way, buy now, and NEVER pay later. I know which i prefer. I do hope that we pull off one 'major' signing soon though!!

i see your point but we have no idea the figures involved. If we are offering upto 25 now and say 40 in the prem i would say that is fair and very reasonable. If player X is asking for 40 now and 80 in the prem then i would say that is not fair or reasonable....for any of the 'linked' players. If its messi thats a good deal!

top post!

no answer is absolutely fair. My suggestion is fairest on the basis that expunging every game v them is not as fair as only the second because everyone will have had one chance to beat them. The fact that its birmingham who havent played them yet is typical! Do they play them by 20 feb? I think the home and away element is less important tgan losing both games results particularly in west hams case having won both.

the fairest way would be to expunge the 2nd game versus them if already been played at the time of their deserved liquidation.

oh how it must be so good to think you may have predicted failure.. You doom and gloom merchants are pathetic, i just hope you dont have kids because with your negative approach to life i doubt they get any encouragement or SUPPORT from you and more than likely should they ever make a mistake or underperforn in something you will likely just ghve up on them..... If you approach that you wrap up as 'realistic' is the only viewpoint within the club then why do they bother. Elite individuals and coaches will be able to see all angles,* the positives, the negatives, the reality position, the options available, the utopia position, the inhibitors, and the energy required to achieve the goals neccessary to achieve sustained success. Thankfully Im certain NA and NC work within that type of framework sn i have no doubt that they will achieve their aims this year you self proclaimed realist of failure merchants do not deserve to have the association of success. I bet you only turn up for the best or worst bits and either say i told you so or we wont go up next season. I hope your lives are full of a million set-back because that will make you so happy.

at tyro level played for ac delco alongside keith grainger. chris wilkinson, tennis player also played in theteam for a while.

if we had either player we would expect upwards of 6 or 7 million for selling so people need to get realistic. IF we really do want to become a top 10 prem team over the coming seasons we will need to make some purchases of this level. Im not advocating we start making 10 to 15 million pound signings left right and centre but we will never stay in the prem by signing 2 and 3 mill players. Thats what was a big part of the failing last time. It has tn be sensible but realistic. By potentially spending 6mill plus on hooper or rhodes now we will almost certainly get far better value in the long term as opposed to buying in the summer.

interesting!

nathaniel clyne

exactly.time for a look at the big picture. Would we have taken this 20 games ago.....of course we would am slightly concerned that one or two individuals arent at the top of their game just now, for whatever reason, and it is now even more obvious that we probably only have 11 or 12 quality players who make us top 2. If 3 or 4 of these are out or off form then the cummulative effect means we are average at best. We need 3 or 4 players equal or better than the first XI in jan if we want to stay top 2.

Our away form certainly is a little better than average but if we only averaged one point a game away from home, we would need to average 3 points at home in order to achieve the generally perceived requirement of 2 points per game average. Of course thats spot on right now....BUT sport tells us that things can change quickly and winning all 23 games at home is unheard of. If we continue averaging 1.33 points away from home we will get 31 points (rounded up). To achieve 92 points for the season we need to claim 61 points at home. We already have 30 and there are 13 games to go. 31 points from 13 games is a 2.38 ppg average or something like 9 wins and 4 draws or 10 wins, 1 draws and two losses. Playing safe and assuming 2 home losses and 3 home draw would mean a tally of 27 points up the next 13 games and 57 points overall. That means 35 points are required away from home. We already have 12 from 9 so need 23 from 14 games at an average of 1.64 ish. This is better than we are currently at. So playing safe-ish, 7 wins, 2 draws, and 5 defeats away would suffice.....or 6 wins, 5 draws, and 3 defeats. So overall we need 14 or 15 WINS..no more than 8 DRAWS...and can AFFORD UPTO 7 DEFEATS!!!! We are in a very strong position to say the least. Lets chlk off one of those wins today.......!!!

This "debate2 on whether we need/want/could fill/justify a bigger stadium is interesting to say the least. We all have different attitudes to it generally based on our typical outlook on life in general. Some people are more optimistic, some more pesimistic, some more practical, and some more realistic. Some people are reluctant to change, some like it, and some like it for the sake of it. What this means is that the fan-base (and certainly this opinionated site) cannot and will not ever agree or come to a consensus. luckily the only person who will make the final decision is a very shrewd, intelligent, and experienced business man who has access to a lot of funding. If it happens it will be for all the right reasons an the back of masses of research and reasoning. If not it will be for all the right reasons on the back of of masses of research and reasoning. If its the latter option I just hope that St Mary's as it is is improved in terms of comfort, facilities, operation efficiency and service as well as turned into a 365 days a year business for the long term prospects of our club.

Very sad indeed.

assuming we sign jos I think we will sign players who are young and still not at their peak but in the opinion of NA et all wil develop quickly into top players. The names i would love to see us sign are Sordell or Rodriguez, Clyne and a CB. These players would put suitable pressure on the team without obvious disquption and be important over the next few years.

its all great what is happening in the academy and what has gone before. The thing that matters is that if we are going to continue to create good and excellent players we need to have the incentives in place to keep them here. This is the main thing lowe got completelx wrong. The first team needs to be accesible but more importantly being succesful in the upper echelons of the prem and over tge long term. At our height under lowe in summer 2003 wd didnt invest and the slide began. I doubt cortese will fail in thbt regard. importantly being succesful in the upper echelons of the prem and over tge long term. At our height under lowe in summer 2003 wd didnt invest and the slide began. I doubt cortese will fail in thbt regard.

not yet. The team(s) of the early 80s by a country mile. Smaller squad size, only 1 sub.

I think there are two reasons for developing St Marys or even building a brand new arena The obvious one is to generate more revenue through higher attendances and increased hospitality capacity. I think there is a definite case for this over the coming years, probably around 40-42k. The other reason is for want of a better phrase is 'future proofing' the stadium. What I mean by tha is that within the next decade I think st marys will look/start to look out-dated, and too much like a flat-pack stadium. It may also be that a new stadium (who knows where!) would be able to produce far greater day to day revenue. Either way I'm sure NC is already planning! And of course the friendly debate will continue on here!

brilliant.....

i think this window is going to be very interesting. I hope we sign jos permanantly but also another cb as we only have martin as back up and he has not proved yet that he is ready to play every week. Also jose seems to have dipped slightly and so adding real competition is needed. It is vital in my mind that we need a striker. Either someone like sharp or maynard but my choice would be sordell. It would also be great if we went for nathaniel clyne. Butters wont be good enough for the prem even assuming we do go up this year. Whoeveq we do sign im sure na will carry out due dilligence on their character to ensure minimum disruption to the squad.

the worst chant...,someone please explain the need to sing about asking your mother who to support? Nonsense and embarassing on so many levels. I only join in at 'we hate pompey'. the worst chant...,someone please explain the need to sing about asking your mother who to support? Nonsense and embarassing on so many levels. I only join in at 'we hate pompey'.

didnt manure achieve 19 before city smashed them?

yeah it will be Hughton