Lighthouse

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.

Can you grab me a couple of penguins? I'll pay you £500 for a pair of them.

A tad harsh on white who was a kid chucked in at the deep end and nowhere near ready. Otsemobor and Wotton were very limited but I felt did alright at the time. The worst I can come up with is: Forecast James Lancashire Powell (captain) Molyneux Thomson Pulis Gasmi R. Smith Pericard Pekhart Subs: Poke, O'Halloran, Sarmiento, Tejera, Robertson I think Mettomo was only here training, so he could get fit for the ACON but he somehow ended up on the bench one time because we were that bad. Bit harsh to include him. Honorouble mentions to those who didn't make the matchday 16 because they weren't quite bad enough: DMG, Euell, McCann, Jermaine Wright, Kenton (I actually laugh every time I remember one of these players and how bad they were).

Murphy is ancient. Still quality but he'd only really be in it for one last pay cheque even if he did stay fit. Kalou would demand large wages and probably wouldn't be hungry enough to prove himself. Hall is the wrong side of 30 now and is a bit of a journeyman. Never really done much decent. No thanks. Hoilett would be a good shout though.

Pearce played one game for us. It was my first ever away game at S****horpe under Pearson. Luckily Scunny weren't very good because they were being managed by some random physio.

I thought Licka, Pele and Madsen did alright out of that lot.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - Davis Richardson - - - Saeijs - - - - - Hooiveld - - - - Bale Chamberlain - - - Pele - - - - Morgan - - - - Lallana - - - - - - - - - Lambert - - - - Saganowski Subs: R. Wright, Lundekvam, Guthrie, Skacel, Surman, Walcott, Jones

Would you have said the same about Peter Crouch in 2005?

Why, what's going on down there?

Which teams do you reckon we have the best chance of finishing above? The 3 who avoid relegation this season and the other 2 promoted teams have to be our first targets. Norwich and Swansea may well find their second year a lot tougher, now that they have been sussed out. SSN are reporting than Roy Hodgson has been permission to talk to the FA about the England job, which would weaken WBA if it all goes through. Sunderland and Fulham are both hit and miss but have decent managers and will be difficult to beat. Stoke could be a realistic target. That only leaves the current top 8 as teams I don't realistically think we can finish ahead of.

Exactly, Deppo... sorry I mean 'the girls' are probably a bunch of fat slappers, off their tits on cheap Lambrini throwing themselves at him. The sort who drive a pink Nissan Micra with a "Babe on Board" sticker in the rear window and walk around in leggings so you have to look at their fat sweaty vag all day.

If West Ham really are the next best team in the League, they will win the playoffs comfortably and get promoted. Blackpool got promoted 2 years ago beating 2 teams who were apparently better than them, ergo they earned it. Wham may have earned more points thus far, but that's how the playoff system works. Without it teams like Boro, Leeds, Brighton, Leicester, Hull etc. Would have had nothing to play for for the last 2 months of the season. The playoffs give some of the smaller teams with smaller budgets a shot at promotion. Without them the Football League would be sh*t.

You guys do realise this is a wind up? Pink scarf is Deppo, who's latest hobby is apparently pretending to be a small group of women on the internet. Anyway, what negative threads? Most people on hear seem to be over the moon

I thought we'd blown the Norwich myth up about 20 times? They signed 7 players when they got promoted, so they didn't leave the squad alone. The difference was that QPR went way OTT replacing pretty much everyone, even players who had been crucial in their promotion (Gorkss). Even Saints team spirit and keeping the same nucleus of players philosophy has involved the signing of De Ridder, Cork, Hooiveld, Sharp, Lee and Fox just to compete in NpC. The Prem is a much bigger step up. We will need another 5-10 decent players in to avoid a very long painful struggle.

Of the 15 players I suggested should leave or I'm not sure about only 2 have been first team regulars, Guly and Hammond. Guly only gets on the pitch because we don't have a decent RM and Chaplow, Lee and Barnard have all had long injuries. Hammond has his limitations and I think the Prem would be a step up to far. It's not the first team that needs replacing, but we have a lot of players on the wage bill who aren't doing anything and wont be up to Premier League standard next season. I'd be perfectly happy if 8 of the 11 players who started yesterday lined up for our first game of next season. It's only Hammond, Butters and Guly I'd have doubts about.

Everton at home. They don't seem to get back off their holidays until November most seasons. Failing that, Villa are prone to the odd stinker of an opening game. Would be a great early relief if we could start with a decent win against someone, then get a couple of the tough away trips out the way early on. Everton (h) Villa (a) Man Utd (a) Chelsea (h) Would be a decent opening 4 fixtures for me. A good mix of winnable games and tough fixtures out the way.

Pic #20 on the OS gallery has got to be worth a caption comp. The one with Guly goose stepping into the net with his eyes closed. http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/Gallery/0,,10280~2753320,00.html

14th for me too. Don't know why, I can feel it in me waters.

It's strange to think about how closely match we were with the likes of Brighton, Posh, Udders and even Bompey for large parts of last season, but after we were promoted we eventually beat them be quite some distance. The Premier League is obviously a completely different bag of spanners, but you can't help but wonder which of the promoted team will take to it best. As it stands I'd fancy Saints and Reading to beat the likes of Norwich, Swansea and perhaps even Villa next season.

Seems quite a big squad list IMO. I'm of the '2 players in each possition' camp, by which I mean 2 senior, experienced players who can be relied on to do a job. There's no point having back up if they spend half the season in the physio room. My perfect squad would be: GK: Davis, NEW, Bart (loan out) RB: Clyne, Richardson CB: Hooiveld, C. Davies, Fonte, Martin LB: Fox, NEW RM: Adomah/Jarvis, De Ridder, Chaplow CM: Cork, Morgan, Kranjcar, NEW LM: Lallana, Yarmolenko ST: Lambert, Lee, Sharp, Rodriguez I make that 24 players and I think the 25th would probably be Barnard or Guly. Obviously the midfield is quite a fluid area with many of the able to play a variety of possitions. As I said, that's what I'd do. Nigel knows his squad far, far better and no doubt there will be a fair few differences between this squad and the one we go to the Emirates with in August.

And he's stood right behind Tommy Forecast. I wonder how he can resist the temptation... I'd be more worried about what's in Jaidi's hand personally, and I'm not talking about his mobile.