Foxstone

Everybody who bidded failed with Maynard - He was over-priced We failed with Rodriguez because he wanted to stay at his home club - Nothing wrong with that at all. Matty did not want to move away from us after all... We were outbid for Beckford.. So why we "failed" as you say with striker bids there were good reasons why we did fail - Nothing to do with any incompetence as you are perhaps suggesting.

He is still young and has plenty of time to improve. I do think he has the ability to step up to another level, but not perhaps yet. nevertheless, we should continue to embrace and develop him within the club.

Jaidi left him on his arse the entire game without fouling him once - I thought he was lightweight despite his supposed star billing!

Was the proposal a straight swap or Gorkss + cash for Puncheon ?

Not really.. On another thread there was suggestion that QPR while interested in Puncheon were only prepared to take him on loan. Now whether that had any bearing in the deal for Gorkss is speculative, but one might suggest that the length of time talking around this deal might have included discussions on both Puncheon and Gorkss. Whatever Warnocks ramblings are usually akin to a petulant child anyway, and of course £900,000 is a lot of money for a defender wanting a 3 year deal who has twice been regarded not good enough for the Prem.

When compared to the ramblings of Colin W*nker - I certainly do !

Quite why not is a bit of a mystery as they have many very, very good players currently. Vermaelen as mentioned but better than that is Kompany, Fellaini, Dembele, Lukaku, Van Buyten, Hazard - Even perhaps Boyata and the Ajax centre back whose name escapes me... And for many years during the 70's and 80's they were a world top 10 side. A pedigree not to be sniffed at, and De Ridder has given plenty of indication that he is a damn good player who will get better still. Also Chaplow looked very good when he came on against Leeds and lets not forget that Stephens and N'Guessan were sent back to their original clubs after NA had the opportunity to look and sign if he wanted - He did'nt. Lets not get too concerned right now.

Quite happy with the clubs decision on this one.. There is no point in spending £1 million on a player who cannot prove his fitness, and although we are clearly looking for a left sided CB, why go desperate and buy a potential "sick note".. I'm sure NA has identified others and NC is working on them.

Much depends on Puncheon and how much he wants to "fit in and behave".. If he can and NA is persuaded by him then of course there is a way back, but if not then he will remain avaialble to others if they want him.

I miss them as I usually found myself with a couple of hours to spare in those days to read them;) - They were quite a laugh actually especially when he fell out with some other posters who did not agree with him, gave them his mobile number and then disappeared in a huff !

I thought that was the "Chorley Model"

Disagree - He is not quick enough for the type of game we are evolving

They have to get the ball first

I think he is - Talented lad with pace and an eye for goal. If Fat Sam is giving him the once over I think that tells us all we need to know about his CCC ( and above) potential

Our game is being built around pass and move and including players that are comfortable on the ball. Fontaine seems to fit this requirement well. Fonte is decent in the air so I really do not see this as a problem - There are not so many big lump centre forwards in this league ( Carlton Cole aside).

He won't go down.. First offence and has demonstrated suitable ( and genuine) contrition for the incident.

Absolutely agree with you. As a rugby man, Woodward was a first class manager/coach who moulded a squad of strong personalities and ego's ( albeit with great talent) into world beaters ! That achievement stands him in the pantheon of "Greatest English Managers"! I agree there was much in his locker that could have tranferred across sports and benefitted Saints - We had no winning mentality at the time for one, and that is something he was particularly adept at engendering into his rugby sides. What was crackers though was Rupert trying to complete a jigsaw puzzle using all the wrong pieces ! SCW and Twitch were a match made in hell, and add to that this Clifford bloke !! There was no real coherent strategy or terms of reference and the whole think imploded!!

Great post above The9... I am a great admirer of SCW - Certainly in his field of rugby he is the best England have had and did of course mastermind a world cup win in a major sport, away from home no less. I like many others beleived he could bring some good to Saints when he arrived, especially in terms of methods, preparation and a winning mentality - But quite whether it was the time to do this both from an economic perspective and indeed a strategic perspective at the time was in hindsight wrong. I'm afraid it was Rupert's own vanity where he was convinced he could knock square pegs into round holes that caused as Um Pahars quite eloquently descrbed it - A clusterfeck of a strategy that served us very badly at the time.

He's one more injury short of being turned into glue.. Stay well clear!

Still think he will come good - The signs are there he just needs to step up and nail a place for himself.

One of the nicest blokes you could ever meet - Not sure if he was a skipper for us though

You are not the only one by any stretch.. No idea how he plays or whether he has the promise as his supposed price tag indicates. However, I trust NA's judgement on this.

Sorry Chappers, but it was a "red"...

Very pleased for the lad that he put in a good performance. I mentioned on another thread that I would like to see him stay here and challenge for the starting position - And this might well be the start of good things to come.

Rather he was training with us and pushing for a place here ! I still think the guy has potential to be a good CC standard.