KelvinsRightGlove

I agree with the Gaston point. Reminds me of City/Chelsea the first season they came into money. Signed some 'marquee' players, not all worked out, but it was a starter for getting players the following year. Think Pochettinno helped too, especially in the case of Osvaldo.

Few too many cameos in this for my liking though.

Few more new tracks. Can hear James Murphy all over this, also clear they have been hanging out with Bowie. It's quite dancey still, and there's even hints of Reggae in there. Love it.

Agree with this. They also have a pretty hefty mortgage on the Reebok I seem to recall.

I hated how it was done. I still do. I over-reacted, I've said so on here since that I was a bit embarrassed about it. But I do wish it was handled a lot better. As I said above, there are things in football we don't like. This is in my mind is absolutely one of them.

Who is saying that? You're arguing with yourself again. No-one likes how it was done. Far from the proudest in the clubs history. But there is also an acceptance that this is the nature of the beast. There's lots of things we as fans love about, and stuff we don't. This is one of the harsher, darker sides of the game. But, as I said, for anyone in football - coaching a top division team in one of the worlds better leagues is pretty much the pinnacle (clearly there is still higher to reach). It's a job millions would kill for, and they get paid very well to do it. Adkins, like every other manager will have been fully aware these things happen. We are not the first club to have done it, and won't be the last either.

They appointed Sam, simple. He'll keep them out of danger, most likely (though they do look blunt up top at the moment without Carroll I think, be interesting to see how that pans out). But that will be the limit to it. He did well at Bolton, but let's not overstate it. He was far from that good at Newcastle, Blackburn or even West Ham so far. People question our transfers, here is a club that spunked £15m on the perma-injured Carroll and have no adequate back-up, and now are scrambling around to bring back a player they obviously didn't feel was good enough in the first place (C Cole). Imagine the uproar if that was the situation down at Saints.

Yeah sorry, check the edit. told you I get carried away

I was a big fan of Adkins. After a shaky start I think he had got things back on track. I'm not sure about some of the claims you made reference too, and can't really remember them too well. That's not to say some may have made those comments. I do think he is a decent manager, and I think we would have stayed up with him in charge. He's still at a decent age for a manager, so see know reason why he can't do well for himself - he's hardly done bad thus far to be fair to the bloke. Prior to last season, his recent record must have been as good as any outside the top division, or at least a strong argument can be made for that. What was it, 4 promotions in 6 years? Plus he kept Scunny up, which is no mean feat. Not saying he was great, the next Fergie or England manager, just thought he had potential. He always seemed like a dignified, likeable man. I would have liked to see the parting done I a better way - he deserved it I think. I'm also a fan of Pochettinno, and do think he is doing a god job, and taking us in the right direction. I don't really see how anyone can see the start of this season as anything other than positive - black and white we are fifth and are disappointed by some performances and results, hardly a bad position to build a season upon in my opinion. Hopefully all parties can draw a blue line under this and move on now. Just my two pennies, fwiw. Got a bit carried away, soz. EDIT: forgot my initial point, I can be such a plank. Rightly or wrongly, it is kind of par for the course as football is concerned. They know what they are getting themselves into. The contracts don't offer the security they are meant too. That said, they have pretty great jobs, and are paid pretty handsomely to do said jobs. Pros and cons innit.

Before I start, I should declare my interest in this. I have openly said on here I work for a games company that makes free games, with optional in app purchases. Clearly there are two sides to this. I absolutely agree that some companies really lack any ethics around this. I have seen games designed for children offer bundles of game currency for up to £84.99. I think it was a playmobil game. There are also games that use pretty immoral language, such as "if you don't buy this, you're pet will die". We is pretty disgusting. I do also think parents need to take some responsibility too. We have been hammered in the press, Daily Mail, a few times over it. But in the example of this game, all items purchasable are displayed in £ not virtual currency - so the mothers claims she did not know she was spending money, for her child to keep playing, didn't really wash for me. I also would question anyone that simply keeps tapping away their password without thinking. We also are very careful that we do not advertise our games to children in anyway! although as we have started running tv ads, it can't be guaranteed kids won't see them. My advice is mostly common sense. Keep an eye on what your kid is doing with the iPad. Do not let them see your password. Turn off in-app purchases in your settings. Also look at the games they want to download. In the App Store it tells you if a game has in app purchases available. There is also a guide on the App Store for parents on best practice on how to avoid kids running up big bills. It should be said apple are surely pretty decent at giving parents their money back or settling when these issues do occur. I really disagree with the 'freemium' business model for kids games. It's great for adults, but it's just asking for trouble where children are involved. I also think the use of virtual currencies in kids games is a little bit shady too. There's some really great apps for kids out there, both entertains and educational. And iPads are great pieces of kit for the whole family. I just think people need to remember that they usually have their credit cards just a few clicks away - so like credit cards or anything to do with your money you should take care. Sorry, rant over.

The club are going backwards FFS. Don't you know this?

I want us to come 5th-8th just to witness this.

Debate and discussion is the point. However these both need reason, and some ability to empathise with another's stand or point of view. It has to be two sided. Certain posters are not interested in either of these things, and fall into one of several categories. I have no idea what alps is. For a 50+ father, I simply cannot understand how a man can be so petulant and knee-jerk.if it was a one-off, people may be more forgiving. But really, starting to write a player off after 3 and a half games? That isn't remotely reasonable, and let's be frank, there is form for this. Blindly making the same boring comments over and over again is not discussion nor debate. Something which goes on a lot around here. You hardly encourage discussion or debate yourself. Appointing yourself the arbiter of all things Saintsweb. Telling us what the entire forum think (usually based on one post) and how ridiculous it is and how stupid we all are. It's ever so easy to be the perpetual contrarian that simply tells other people they are silly, whilst being smug at the same time. Which is odd, as you clearly know your football, and make decent points, and interesting arguments when you want to. Then there are those like Glasgow and Barry, who are just baffling. Does anyone know what Glasgow is on about half the time? Or whether or not he is being serious? You cannot discuss or debate with that. But again, he knows he's stuff, and when he wants to can make some good points. Barry is simply not possible to debate with, as again, it is just the same few lines over and over and over. Debate and discus on is great, but let's not forget it has to be two way. Threads like this are not designed for either of these things, and when it is repeated so often, it can annoy people that are her for that.

Are you surprised? Last season he said we should have gone more like QPR, because at least they went for it.

I find fat Sam a truly baffling paradox. In so many ways he was a real innovator, and a thoroughly modern coach. Taking to sports science, sports psychology and placing real emphasis on the importance of recovery after a game, not just a quick warm down and a couple of post-game pints. In that respect he was brilliantly forward thinking, and did a great job in getting the most out of his players, and in some cases prolonged the careers of some players that had looked to be on the decline. That said, in terms of on the pitch, my word is he old hat. Horrible, cynical and truly uninspiring. Fair play to him it works, and yeah it will grind out points for a while. But it is truly horrid to watch. Imagine watching that for 40+ games a season. He is also an absolute knobber. Sadly, he is too similar to too many English coaches, that have a win by any means mentality. It's no wonder there are a lack of technically minded English players, when this is how we are taught to play. Granted, Fat Sam isn't really to blame for this, as players are more the finished article by the time they reach him, he hardly has a great track record of bringing kids through. I guess it's the old debate of whether you see it as sport or art(/entertainment). Personally, for me, the sooner the Fat Sams and Tony Pulis' of the game have died out, the better.

I was joking above, clearly. But see no reason why we can't have a good season, as said probably somewhere 8-12th I'd imagine. That said, Strachan had us 4th at Xmas 10 years ago, in my opinion we have a better team at present. Let's just enjoy the ride eh? I reckon we'll have a few more Anfield days, upsetting some of the big boys, and obviously a few horror shows along the way too. We'll probably get done at home by Hull or someone. Not the end of the world really, surely this is why we watch football, because it is unpredictable. It's going to be hard for those that seem to revel in misery this year I think. Bless 'em. A thought occurred to me last week when I was at the Emirates (a really nice stadium) that for all the claims of you have to spend mega-money to have success, up until very recently, Arsenals record signing was Arshavin for £15m. Relatively little really. Especially who you consider the players they have had, and the sums they have been sold for. To clarify, I am not saying we are going to get a CL spot or seriously challenge for the League title - but it does show what can be achieved when a club is well run, which Arsenal certainly are - granted more so when David Dein was there.

We're gonna win the league!!

What a berk.

Yo gok, are Clarks cool now? I spotted a pair I liked recently - but was unsure if they were acceptable attire?

Is this a bit like the Drogba, nah we got Beattie so we don't need him thing?

FFS lazy Bear. Sort it out.

Do you really think anyone thought after one weekend of people wearing rainbow laces people are going to start coming out in their droves? That wasn't even remotely the point. It is to raise awareness of the inherit problem of homosexuality in a macho environment, and in doing so start a discussion about it. From there, conditions can be improved - which will hopefully lead to footballers feeling comfortable to come out, if they so wish.

You are so far from the point it is unreal. No-one actually expected dozens of footballers to suddenly come out the next week.

Kinda agree with eurosaint. For a team that is going to be midtable/tophalf the 6th & 7th games of the season aren't likely to be 'defining'. EDIT: Haven't really explained myself. Yeah, we should be beating Palace at home. No matter what our seasons ambitions are, avoiding relegation, midtable, europe, title push etc. That is one you look at as being 3 points. No disrespect to Palace, not saying it will be a case of simply turning up, that's just how it is. Anything less is a bad result in my opinion, but also isn't the end of the world. Teams have bad games, and sometimes lose points. Despite the outpouring of bile and general wailing that goes on on here after a bad result, they do happen fairly regularly, to all teams (look at Liverpool last week - yes we played well, but it is a bad result for them). It's a set back, but with 30+ games still to play at the end of this game it is still far from over. Swansea, well again, if we are wanting top half, it is probably one we should be winning. That said, Swansea are a good team, so I'm not going to go into meltdown over a loss or draw if that happens. Still, at close of play, there will 31 league games left to play - 93 points. So whatever the result - it will not have defined our season.

Right, I have been having quite a debate with a few of my friends. Granted, I'm not the biggest Hip-Hop fan. But, on occasion I have been known to dabble, and indulge in a bit. My biggest bug bear is the repeated use of the n-bomb, constant "put my d**k in yo' mouth" comments and just general egotistical nonsense ala "I am a god, hurry up with my damn massage". Plus he is just an awful, awful person. Completely lacking a sense of humour, and a massively inflated sense of his own importance and abilities. My friends are adamant I just don't get it, with one claiming he is in fact "Kanye is the single most creative influence in Hip-Hop." So, do other people like him? Are they right that I just don't 'get' him? Or is anyone else wholly uninspired by him, musically, lyrically and as a human being.