Lighthouse

I doubt anyone was looking at the team I posted and thinking it really needs Rothwell, Fraser or Adams to make it better. Stu and KWP were decent, Brooks was here half a season and was in and out of the team. The point is that the team I posted would be reasonably competitive. We’d need half a dozen decent signings to be in the hunt for automatic promotion but we’re a lot closer to that than we are to plummeting down to League 1.

There isn’t one. He has clearly been mooted as a likely candidate and is therefore being discussed quite a lot but nobody is ‘obsessed’ with him.

I can’t see why anyone wouldn’t be happy with winning promotion at Wembley. The feeling didn’t last long when we started signing players but still, that was a good time to be a Saints fan. Before that, 3rd October 2009 (I don’t know why that date sticks in my mind) until summer 2016 was all pretty awesome.

Having checked, in his most recent three Championship seasons he has scored 16, 28 and 21 respectively. That’s an average of 22 a season, which I’ll take any day. If you can suggest some players who have consistently scored at a better rate, who would be affordable and willing to come here I’d be interested to hear their names. As for his mental state, he was our top scorer last time off the back of scoring twice in two consecutive PL seasons. That didn’t seem to affect his performance in the Championship and I see no reason why this time would be different. We all want to get back to the PL and stay there but we’ve got to get promoted first. By all means bin him off next summer if we do but next season I think it’d be foolish not to want him in the squad.

If that’s the case, we can look forward to some pretty decent fees, so happy days.

Let’s sack off a solid 20 goal a season Championship player because he hasn’t been great for a third of a season at West Brom. A bit weird from a bloke who raves about Dyche, despite an awful half season at Everton.

It’s interesting because yesterday I posted the team that basically, "got promoted in spite of Russell Martin," minus KWP and with BBD up top instead of Adams. The majority of people said I was taking the p*ss saying it was decent and that it’d be lucky to finish top half. I knew KWP was a good RB but I didn’t realise he was THE difference between a bottom half Championship team and one which couldn’t fail to be promoted.

Oh dear Virgil.

He was pretty crap in the PL two years ago too. Then we got relegated to the Championship and suddenly he wasn’t. Since he’s already got a contract here, I think I’d probably take a chance on that happening again.

We should get 60 goals out of Archer, BBD and Armstrong next season IF they all want to stay and play for us. None of them are getting a better offer so it’ll all come down to personal circumstances. Seems like a no-brainier to keep all three if we can, then focus our budget on midfield creativity and a couple of decent fullbacks.

I was at a motorway services not too long ago and they had an ‘inclusive restroom’ which included the transgender ⚧️ , wheelchair and baby change symbols and was also written underneath in braille. I had to chuckle at the idea of its creator, who thinks they’re being tolerant and inclusive, but is actually just saying that trans, disabled, blind and babies who’ve shat themselves all get grouped together under ‘miscellaneous people’ in a special toilet.

Our tail wagged to an extent but Surrey’s second innings has basically killed it off. They’re effectively 170-1 now, time to start doing a rain dance.

All of those players were regulars when we got promoted last year, it’s a decent Championship side and like I said, that’s before we make any signings, which we obviously will if we lose the majority of players who aren’t listed above. Given that we’ve only got about four players currently who are an improvement to that team, I’m even more bemused as to why Juric, Martin and Rusk get any kind of criticism. Apparently they’ve been trying to play PL football with a bottom half Championship squad, plus four okay PL players. I’m amazed we’ve scored any points at all.

I watched a compilation video of his goals in Belgium a while ago and it struck me just how similar all of his goals were. Pretty much all of his goals were first time shots or headers on the edge of the six yard box with very poor marking. He basically never scored when he had to take a couple of touches or dribble with the ball and set himself up. A proper Bambi on ice striker.

Based on a third of a season at West Brom, where things aren’t quite going his way? He’s the same age as Niemi, he’s still got years of being a decent Championship player left in him.

It’s almost exactly the same team that got promoted but without THB and with BBD in for Adams up front. I’ve no idea why people are pretending we don’t have good Championship players and are ignoring the fact that all the teams we play next year will be worse than all the teams we’ve played this season.

Bree - Bednarek - Stephens - Manning Charles - Downes - Smallbone Armstrong - BBD - Edozie Is a perfectly ‘decent’ Championship team, even after all the expected departures and without signing anyone (I’m not going into GKs again on another thread) We’d still have McC, Archer, Edwards, Aribo and a couple of others on the bench.

You don’t get an hour into a game against a team as good as Villa without conceding unless you’re putting a decent effort in. The players are trying, they’re just hopelessly outclassed and devoid of confidence.

People using the rotary swimsuit driers in changing rooms who won’t stop until their trunks have turned into dust. A bloke in my gym this morning was going at it for a solid minute.

Given his proven track record in the Championship, it’d be a very strange stance not to at least want him in the squad next year, even if you do think we’re going to find a better striker from somewhere. What was it, 25 goal involvements last season? Unless you’re telling me we’re going to get four other attacking players, all guaranteed to get at least 30, I’d want him around.

Good f**king gravy.

Can’t be arsed having this argument. I can only assume this kind of dramatic hyperbole is cathartic to some people because there’s no way you think the same thing about Leicester and Ipswich.

Next season will be a fresh start with a new manager, new signings and - most importantly - new, much worse opponents. There’s no reason not to think we’ll be solidly in playoff contention at the very least. We had all this hysteria about dropping straight through to League 1 two years ago, nothing of the sort happened.

You do know the Championship is a lot worse than the PL? No reason at all to think we can’t be fighting for promotion next season.

I’d love it if his exemptions became increasingly more specific as the week goes on. “Fake tan… blonde hair dye… errrr…. Golf clothing and equipment …. and errr… online pornography featuring Thai ladyboys.”