Lighthouse

I was still in school last time we were in the Prem and never got to go to any away days. I've been to Reading and Norwich in the last few years and I've done Man City and Stoke following Dynamo Kiev in the Europa League, but that's about it. Definitely want to do the Emirates. Probably want to do OT just to tick it off, even if it is miles away and cost £50 a ticket to watch us getting battered 5-0. Newcastle is another I wouldn't mind doing. Really not that fussed for Wigan, doesn't look any more exciting than Burnley or Bolton.

We wont be signing anybody like that. To me a squad player implies just another body in the squad who wisn't actually good enough for the first 11 but would provide cover. We need to improve the squad, not expand it. IMO we need to be signing players who are better or different to what we have now. Players like Whitbread and Yakuba just aren't.

I agree. 'Squad player' seems to be the diplomatic was of describing a player who isn't actually good enough to be in the first team... but we still want to buy them anyway for some reason. Lowe/Sturrock/Wigley built a squad of 40 odd "squad players", hardly any of them were up to the job.

Last time I went from Southampton to LGW I used the train. I only went one way but it was £10, no changes and I avoided the M25 etc. Much cheaper and easier. Bit late for that now I guess.

I know what you said and I'm not making up a point. Three problems with a pay as you play deal: 1) He will want some form of basic wage, there's no way he'd take a deal whereby he is payed nothing for 4 or 5 months whilst he's injured. 2) If he is payed so little basic money, what do you think his match fee will be? £100k per match? He will want his money one way or another. 3) We're going to need another player just to cover him for the 9/10 games he's injured anyway, so we'll just end up paying someone else.

No, at worst you will have a permanetly injured and disintered football who isn't really bothered about Saints, knows his number is pretty much up and wants a half decent pay cheque before he is forced to retire. It is far from guaranteed he will actually be good when he played. Michael Owen has only managed 8 goals in his last 2 years at Man Utd, coming mostly in the cups against teams like Leeds, Saints and Scunny. Fowler and Hasselbaink went to Cardiff and achieved nothing. Even when fit he will not even come close to the Owen Hargreaves at the World Cup 6 years ago. The rare games he does play, I very much doubt he will be an improvement on Cork, Morgan or any of the others who might be available. To me offering Hargreaves a contract and hoping he gets fit would be like offering Forecast a new contract in the hope that he suddenly develops some tallent. It's not going to happen, move on.

What's the point? Why have a player like Hargreaves in the squad when he's only ever going to be fit for half an hour every couple of months. If Cork, Morgan, Lallana et al. have been playing together in the Prem and know each other well, etc. are we actually going to gain anything from chucking Owen Hargreaves on for half an hour? He may have been a better player in his prime, but I doubt he's been anywhere close to that in the very brief interludes between trips to the physio room. Besides that, we'd just need another player to cover him for the 9/10 games when he's still injured. It's a waste of a player in the 25 man squad and a waste of wages. It's like this season where we've got 5 centre halves and Jaidi and Seaborne have played about 5 games between the pair of them. I know it's not their fault and nobody could have predicted Seaborne's injury etc. etc. but we still have to pay them. I am astonished by the number of people who are quite willing to pay the likes of OH, Connolly etc. to sit in the physio room out of what is essentially their own pockets. Even if Hargreaves does agree to a 'pay as you play' he wont come cheap and will want a big fee for the appearances he does make. That's our £3 booking fees down the drain right there.

Of course they're going to want £8m. If they demand that someone will eventually pay them the £5m they are really after. If they ask for £5m they will probably end up with £3m. It's no different to any Arabian market stall.

Jos staring right at me and screaming with joy at Millwall. I couldn't figure out why as he'd just stuck a header over the bar, then I saw the ref had given a (the 2nd) penalty. Went nuts when Lambert converted it, that was the 'MK Dons moment' of this season.

I'd expect our 25 man senior squad to look a bit like: Davis, Bart, New GK Richardson, Butters, Martin, Fonte, Hooiveld, Seaborne, Fox, New CB and LB Chaplow, Lallana, Cork, Hammond, Morgan, De Ridder, New winger, New CM Lambert, Sharp, Guly, Lee, New striker Not what I'd do personally, but it's roughly what I'd expect. I can see us trying to offload the rest, even if only on loan.

Lambert at Fratton Lee against Derby Sharp's 2nd against Pompey I went nuts for all 3 of them.

There's a fair few anniversaries crammed into these couple of days. 28th April - Saints promoted 30th April - Hitler dies 1st May - Senna dies, Saints win FA Cup 2nd May - Saints promoted, Bin Laden dies, Belgrano sunk. Can't beat that for useless trivia.

Just cleaning out my old bedroom at my parents house and found a signed photo of Andreas Jackobsson.

Kamil Kosowski looked half decent under Redknapp but then got a couple of injuries, lost his form and Burley didn't rate him. Not a great player but could never compete with some of the gash we've had since then. Also I don't care if Pekhart is keeping David Villa on the bench, he was sh*te when he played for us.

Is it just me or are there a lot more people wearing the latest replica kits these days. Watching the Coventry game on TV there was a very large percentage of people wearing this seasons kit. I noticed it last season too, most people seemed to be wearing the 125 anniversary shirt. In the past there always seemed to be a more varied blend of kits from other seasons. Not complaining, it looks good IMO.

I can't remember Folly playing for us much in the Championship, so I left him out. My two memories of him are of getting dragged off at half time on the opening day of the relegation season (already 2-0 down at Villa) and coming on as a sub at Chelsea only to get dragged off half an hour later. Having checked Soccerbase, his only other league appearance that season was the 5-1 battering we took at Spuds. Why Aberdeen took him on I'll never know, he must have a sh*t hot agent.

Everton are the only team out of that lot who you'd say were definitely a better bet than Saints. The rest are just as likely to end up fighting relegation one day as we are.

None of them could hold a candle to Aledine Yahia.

He's had a distinctly average season for Brighton. Played almost every game and scored 10 goals. That's David McGoldrick territory and Brighton would want at least the £3.5m they paid back.

I think it's a bit harsh giving rating to players like Barnard, Jaidi, Shaw, JWP and Bart who've barely made it onto the pitch this season.

Billy Sharp did it in an equally poor Donny side and he only cost £1.8m. Not saying I don't rate Hooper and he wont come cheap, but £7m is an awful lot. Scoring a couple against Rennes and Udinese isn't that amazing.

Can we just have a sticky "Transfer Rumours" thread for stuff like this? Would save having 10 threads every day for the next 3 months about players linked with us by random twitter accounts, retards on 606 and "some bloke on the Burnley forum who reckons..." Would be a great signing though.

We won't actually know the real figures as Saints never release details of their transfers. I hope we don't spend £7m on Hooper though. That's a lot of money for a player who has only ever done it in Scotland. I'd be pretty cheesed off if we'd spent that much on McCann or Skacel.

Hargreaves? People seriously think it's worth signing a player with that injury record. He's played 9 games in the last 4 years and he's 31. Saying "if he stays fit" is a complete fantasy. He isn't, he wasn't and he won't be.

I don't think Lambert and Lallana will be considered big enough Charlies to play for England. Maybe if they move to Chelsea for £70k a week, sit on the bench, punch a team mate in a drunken bar fight, **** their team mates girlfriends and some prostitutes and shout racists abuse at some Asian exchange students they might get a look in. Fox and Lee are probably the most likely as their NTs aren't that good. Jos and Fonte I don't think are good enough to get into theirs but with a stormer of a season they could get a call up for a friendly.