Clifford Nelson

It's delightful to see another appreciative thread about Mr G. I wish it could put a stop to the infernal loud sighs behind me in the Kingsland every time something doesn't come off. Lambert and Lallana doesn't get those when a pass goes astray. I'm glad to see him having come into his own although I'm unlikely to get a medal for thinking that I saw his capability when so many where pulling their hair out and shouting for taxis. I wonder what NA could have done with Papa Waigo?

I remember a period of very dour football. I also remember us going down throw perpetual mismanagement by the chairman and the board, more managerial changes than I care to remember (although I can) and no money to change what had become an uncompetitive squad. If anybody thinks that the only missing ingredience was Dave Jones.........

We've obviously been watching different games.

I think Window Cleaner got this one right. Whatever it was didn't want us to keep the negotiation going. Anybody who comes to Saints and asks for guarantees to play hasn't got the confidence to come here and prove himself. That tells us a lot about Sharpe's character. He might have walked away from the table first, but only shortly before he was told that we had lost interest. Remember how quickly Puncheon received his marching orders.

With Guly you will get somebody who genuinely plays in the hole and who keeps everybody constantly involved with one-touches and through balls. You don't get that when he plays on the right, when his natural game, with plenty of involvement on the ball, is stifled. But with him partnering RL, you don't get two strikers up front. There is a choice to be made regarding type of play, and NA seems to prefer two genuine out-and-out strikers. You can't compare him with either Connolly or Barnard, who are both playing a completely different, and in some ways a much simpler, game.

But you must admit it somewhat peculiar that he had a long international and successful carer after he left us. If he was that utterly useless, how come there was nobody better in Sweden to do his job? How come he was an international before he arrived here, and again after he left. Somehow we must have had a role in it. My point was to point out a peculiar time in this club's history, which I am grateful is now firmly in the past. My comparison was with how NA nurses the new players into their roles and their appreciation of the team around them. I didn't post to big up a player that I haven't got any particular interest in.

He came to Saints during a period when we quite often bought players without quite knowing what to do with them. Several of them were Swedish. Remember, for instance Mikael Nilsson, whose confidence we were all too ready to torpedo by not knowing what we wanted him to do, resulting in him being considered as useless by the fans. Both players have had a long and successful career both before and after they left us. Those indecisive and confusing days are happily behind us.

Some people did a year or so ago when he appeared as a free transfer. So isn't it nice that such desperate people aren't in charge of the club!?

I don't believe in going back to the past and therefore was very sceptical, Dave. It was the thought that we haven't got any cover for RL that gave me a small temptation. I'm glad to hear that NC says "no". He is obviously convinced that Saints today is a different Saints, and he doesn't want any questions about that appearing. Since Beatts hasn't done anything in football for several years, and is in his mid thirties,he is bound to be in poor shape, and underneath the bravado with poor self confidence to boot. Sitting on the bench waiting for RL to be injured isn't going to improve his form, fitness or confidence. Interesting idea, but "no" seems a very good answer.

If you're kicking your goal kicks long the opposition will merely withdraw to their defensive third, so not only is there a 50/50 chance of losing possession, but the ball ends up in an area crowded by opposition players. If you play out from the back you will draw the opposition to a longer and less compact shape, which will create space for our creative players. That is the main reason we're doing it.

That is something which I am eternally grateful for. An undercurrent of complacency was following this club for years. It seems finally to have been abolished

The recent revelations about the News of the World were not signs of the free press, but of people who after years of feeding the British people what Carl Bernstein recently called "poison" had lost all morality so they repeatedly broke the law in pursuit of more poison. Totalitarianism doesn't start with a big bang, but with small erosions of freedoms, so that people, with no hankering after dictators become accepting of them. This disagreement between the club and the press is unlikely to lead to totalitarianism, but I can't see a good reason to support it, and plenty of reasons not to.

The club fell out with the Echo over the embargo of the plans to develop Staplewood. They agreed to the embargo until after the press conference. However, the news broke in all other news media, so the Echo printed it against their agreement with reference to that the news was "already in the public domain". NC took fire and refused the Echo access to the club, and the Editor refused to apologize. In my view this could have been handled better by both parties, but I have some difficulty with the idea that a newspaper, albeit small and local, shouldn't be allowed to print news which people already know about. Official channels such as the OS will always serve it's masters, and there is nothing wrong with that. But it also will make it bland and uncritical in it's wish to print what the master wants us to read. No different to most of us really, or how many have told their bosses what they really thought of them and still hung on to their jobs? You might not like what you read in the Echo, but remember what a free press means to this country. Also give a thought to newsmedia in totalitarian states such as Pravda and Izvestiya in the Soviet Union. And before you even think about it: I have not compared NC with Leonid Breznhev.

He left looking for first team football, and I don't think that looks more likely for him now then it did then. If I read the runes right this was our problem with Billy Sharpe, i.e. he wanted a guaranteed start and nobody is getting that at Saints anymore. They will all have to muck in, help the team and compete for places. That is the kind of squad NA wants, and he isn't going to take any risks with those who think that they are first amongst quals. This makes it a bit more difficult to sign the better known (stars?) players. They'd better arrive with solid confidence to feel certain that if they're on their game they will get picked. I think that is the kind of player NA wants.

Since all measures were taken at the Leeds game I would have thought that Millwall fans ought to have been rated up there with the Leeds fans, and Pompey at least as far as the derby is concerned. To blame some Saints fan is a bit pathetic. I knew, and I expect most others do as well, that trigger happy opponents will be provoked by some of our lot. If it hadn't been this one, it would have been somebody else, and if not one of ours they would have gone for it themselves. It doesn't feel that the issue is really addressed.

Fox is indeed cuptied, and what have we really got up front apart from RL and DC? Barnard probably isn't fit, since he hasn't appeared on the bench, and Doble is at Bournemouth. Guly with RL and de Ridder on the right? When you start turning the possibilities over it looks obvious that we need another choice.

Remember "Together as One", which is another way of saying "being on the bus". If you don't want to be part of what is going on at this football club, then you have no role to play at all. Bringing everybody together with good attitudes and common goals is what NA is especially good at, so let's not dream about sticking a wrongun in, whether they've played in the PL or not. It is highly unlikely that we will be able to compete with the top clubs on money, so we need to try other avenues.

We moved on too far since he was here to consider him again. It took me a long while to understand why on earth Pardew borrowed him, since he looke totally hopeless to start with. Things got better and I enjoyed especially two things about him: Firstly, not wanting to fall over but trying desperately to stay up, and secondly, two or three screaming goals.

I probably misunderstood you there. Negotiations are going on all the time, with no respect for office hours. Whether the player will still play for his club on the Saturday probably has more to do with how close to a deal they are and what alternative players the club has got available. In the case of Rovers: None.

Is that so. I was certain that the transfer had to be confirmed by the Football League by the close of business on the Friday, which is probably 5.00pm, and that they then open up again 9.00am on Monday morning. Am I wrong about that?

Fox appears to be not our fourth, but our fifth LB, counting Reeves. I have no personal opinion either way about him. I don't think I've ever seen him, but NA wouldn't do this without having a plan, which I think is something to do with Dickson, who originally was bought as competition for Harding, who saw him off quickly. I'm sure all the jigsaw pieces will be revealed in a couple of weeks. With No 5 and 19 left to be filled we are definitely looking for a CB and a striker as well.

A bit of an unanimous opinion it seems, Dave. As a team performance I was impressed. Martin had premier (not league) nerves, he seemed more sure of himself in the glimpses in L1. It's a sign that NA started him rather than Seaborn, unless he is injured as well. At this time we probably need to find out whether he is one for the future or not. LM is not Guly's position, although he did OK. He needs to be much more involved in the middle of the park, but for as long as we are pursuing the 4-4-2 it's a bit of a difficulty for NA, especially with Connolly's current form. I was longing for Lambert to score, it would have gotten him off on the right foot. Nevertheless, it was great to go home with a win against Leeds. More to come

The first news about Cork came from Chelsea. They had received and accepted two bids of £750K. I'm not sure who the other club was, but after that it was only a matter of convincing the player. We don't have to guess, that was the price.

I am quite surprised about many who seems to think that our chairman would be content to sit and hope and pray that Jemal may sign with risk he may sign for somebody else, etc. Hoping and praying isn't something that NC is known for. If we are waiting for a work permit for Jemal, he will have been properly signed up subject to the permit, and under those circumstances he can't go anywhere else. Nobody will snap him up and away from us if we don't want it. The contract will work the other way as well, and we can't say goodbye to Jemal because we are now looking at Gorkss. Unless the whole thing is a big rumour without foundation, Jemal will come here provided he gets his work permit. More interesting is how we would handle both him and Gorkss if there is truth in the rumour that Saints has accepted the offer for Puncheon. I can't see us retaining 6 CBs. Martin could go on loan, but that is hardly satisfying for Seaborn, and what is the actual situation for Jaidi? He has hardly played in preseason, so is he in our plans and is he at all fit? If not, why did we give him another contract?

I can't imagine that NC contacted the printers personally, and if the informations had spread around St Mary's, from the chap who was asked to make the phone call, the rumour would now be available from better sources than a neighbour whose work we know nothing about. Lambert not on the away kit photo could, of course, simply be that he was on the massage table for his back spasm when the photo shoot went ahead. Sometimes this forum feels a lot like the old kremlologists who were watching people coming and going into Kreml in the old Soviet Union, and trying to make some sense of it. It mostly ended up with wild guesses, which I think this is likely to be.