Lighthouse

It’s fine if you’re Derby. What about Coventry, Bradford, Charlton, Pompey, Sunderland, Bolton, Blackburn or Blackpool? Would a couple of relegations, administration and being bought out by SISU in the bottom half of League 1 be worth it for a Cup win at Wembley? Don’t get me wrong, I’d love a cup win. I’d be over the moon for about a week.

A season or two in the Championship. Yeah, we said that last time too.

I don’t actually care about the PL either but we all said similar things last time we were relegated. ‘It’ll be great to be winning loads of games, blood some promising youngsters, etc.etc.’ .... then we ended up with Chris bloody Makin. It’s not the relegation that bothers me, it’s the fact that all our half decent players will leave, we’ll see minimal reinvestment and are as likely to go down to League 1 as come straight back up. Les will probably stick with MoPe because he doesn’t want to make any ‘rash decisions’. Each to their own but IMO a trophy isn’t worth years of dogsh*t football.

I'd cross check that with a few Wigan, Pompey and Birmingham fans.

Never been annoyed at any of the players being sold. They're all mercenaries as far as I'm concerned, if they want to p*ss off and earn more money elsewhere I couldn't care less. It's the Lowe-esq cheapskate replacements that really p*ssed me off. How did we go from Virgil and Fonte to this...

Well... a) I'm not talking about today, I'm talking about the last year and a half. b) This thread is titled, 'Boufal'.

He get's paid some £80k odd a week, he's given up and you don't blame him?! He gets forgotten about because he scores an absolute worldly, then does f**k all for months.

21st century version of, "this guy in a pub told me..."

Scored 3 League goals in his first 4 months here, everyone decided he was a flop. Boufal has 3 in a year and a half. Still, it's not just about goals. Pointless tricks, showing off and giving the ball away are just as important traits for a footballer.

He was doing just fine at Watford before the whole Everton thing and Hull had a far, far, far inferior squad to the one we have. I'm not saying he is the answer but it's almost at the point of having nothing to lose. We could be about to see one of the most talented and expensive squads ever to be relegated.

Couldn't be arsed watching, went paintballing instead. House mate who's a Bolton fan said it looked like we were trying to play counter attacking football with static players. Also Hoot was sh*t.

I don't see why older people should have any sort of weighting against them, as it's a vote on who runs the country for the next four years. So what you're basically saying is they wont live that long. There are plenty of old people much more capable of making an informed decision than many other members of society. Should people with a criminal record be allowed to vote? How about people with a low IQ? People who are mentally ill? Autistic? Have suffered from concussion or other brain injuries?

Each to their own really. I enjoy football, rugby, F1 and sometimes cricket but I can't be doing with tennis, darts, snooker or golf.

No, it really doesn't. Yes, there are times in the heat of the moment when you feel absolutely gutted but if you genuinely thought it was the worst thing in the world after you'd calmed down, you've lead a sheltered existence.

Why? It's not like we're doing it as a favour to them, or that we turned down bigger offers from other clubs.

No it doesn’t, why does somebody always come out with this daft cliché whenever someone dies. Nobody has ever thought that Saints, Les, MoPe or any other football matters were worse than a 36 year old dying of cancer. I read a BBC article only a couple of weeks back about a blood test for some of the biggest cancer killers. If trials are successful, it can’t come soon enough. R.I.P. Liam and all the others taken far too soon.

If we go back to 10 ball retainers and Long, it will just give them absolutely nothing to worry about. They will be able to attack at will and probably have an easy win like they did at Anfield. I'd play Guido, with Tadic, Gabbi and JWP in behind.

I did. He was limited, even in the Championship. Burnley fans were saying when he signed that he wasn't all that, decent delivery but suspect defensively. I still think Hooiveld would have done a decent enough job as a back up CB in this league but Fox didn't half leave him exposed. The highlight for me was Newcastle away when Fox gave away a penalty, then smacked the ball at Jos for an o.g.

Forren, I think I read on here, had some personal issues and wanted to go back to Norway. Gardos was a decent enough signing and a pretty reasonable price for our 3rd/4th choice CB. Did a job when needed, just that knee injury which did for him. Bednarek I thought was one for the future but without replacing Virgil he's going to be in the squad a lot. Clasie was a Koeman signing and we will probably get some of our money back. Osvaldo was a Cortese/Poch ego trip and doomed from day 1. Ridiculous signing. Ramirez wasn't great but did score 5/6 goals I think, which arguably helped keep us up (would probably make him this season's top scorer). Mayuka was cheap and worth a punt. He was quick and direct, could have been another Mane. Worth a try.

I quite like having Xmas and NY fixtures. If it was up to me, I'd have everyone play Boxing Day and NYD, then the transfer window opens at midnight on the 2nd and closes on the 31st, then everyone plays first Saturday/Sunday in February. Having the Xmas period off would make sod all difference anyway.

I'd say there were already enough chances for Saints and other PL fans to support smaller local teams, given the number of games moved for TV. Plus there are plenty of Eastleigh home games when Saints are playing away for people to go to. Plus the reasons for having a winter break apply to all leagues equally. Fatigue, injuries, pitches, better weather for fans.

I was assuming/suggesting it would be applied accross all leagues.

I like it as an idea, although how often does a small club really take a big club to a replay? I don't just mean a Notts Co vs. Swansea scenario, I mean more of a Newport vs. Spurs scenario; maybe once every season or two. Would be easier just to scrap replays IMO. For a start a smaller team would have a better chance of winning a shootout than they would a replay. The whole point IMO would be to play the games later on, in May and early June. That way the players get a rest (should the club choose it, which is up to them) and with games played in warmer weather we'd have fewer frozen pitches, fewer muscle injuries and a better fans experience. 1. It's still the same number of games, it would just be a month less of 'twiddling' in May/June. 2. It wont eliminate frozen/waterlogged pitches but there would still be one month fewer of them. When did we last have a frozen pitch in May? 3. Why would the TV companies really care? Again, they have the same number of games to show so... 4. If watching football on TV in June upsets you that much, fine, cancel your subscription and do your jigsaws.

I'd scrap FA Cup replays and ET, go straight to penalties. Who really wants to see 3.5 hours of Watford against Bristol City? I'd also give one Champs League place to the FA Cup, so that teams take it seriously. I'd be for a months break, especially if it makes the summer break a month shorter. I'd much rather be going to games in June than January. It would help a lot of lower league clubs where games are called off for frozen or waterlogged pitches. If the big teams want to **** off an play in Asia, USA or wherever then so be it. At least they will never be able to complain about their busy fixtures again. Does my head in listening to Jose moaning about being forced to play his £25m 'reserve' players because of injuries and fatigue. That's like saying 'how does half time benefit teams, they still have to play a 90 minute game?'

Oh.