UpweySaint

Spot on. Good to see him getting recognition.

Out of form and half fit could describe a few other players in the squad ...

Seconded, good post (didnt want to repaste the whole thing in my reply). JRod could be but i'd be uncomfortable knowing behind him and lambert was only mayuka! Tripper I fancy would be more expensive and close the the five mil mark, Burnley seem to be a sensibly run outfit so wont be rushed to sell. He can cover lb as well apparently as well as playing further forward. He or Gamez should offer good versatility. The only addition i'd make to the list of Phillips at blackpool. Pace, power and eager to prove himself at a higher level. Expect Blackpool to be forced to negotiate after his form was patchy when they rejected our approach last time around.

Oh you old joker you ...

Worth a shout at least as a part of a friendly squad should he be fit but would not be surprised to see Roy look elsewhere. Incidently the timing of the friendly has produced more withdrawals then normal. I understand friendlies have their purpose but, at some point, it almost seems more logical Hodgson simply having a week with the squad at the s****y new facility. Can run drills, talk tactics, have a first hand look at a few players and give the core a chance to bond. Also he'd not be limited by numbers and could have a look at a few of the options on the fringes, a couple of ours could be included in that bracket. All opinion of course either way I imagine i'l happily find myself watching the friendly all the same

Sidenote, have a bet with my spurs supporting housemate, he believes they will finish third next season above both manchester sides, I bet they would finish below both. Anybody think otherwise even if Moyes has a shaky first season?

1)Utd 2)City 3)Chelsea 4)Arsenal 5)Spurs 6)Liverpool 7)Everton 8)Newcastle 9)WBA 10)Saints 11)Swansea 12)Villa 13)Wham 14)Norwich 15)Stoke 16)Cardiff 17)Fulham 18)Sunderland 19)Hull 20)Play off winner ..

Respect your opinion but disagree. There is a reason so many clubs are in debt or struggling to survive. Premiership revenue helps and, now we've secured that, its not unreasonable to suggest we could try to balance our books from here on out. Swansea and WBA have both recruited v well and, if we can do similar, no reason to think we couldnt carry on without significant investment. A bit more backing, 40k ish seats, wise money in marketing to promote our brand (feel dirty saying that but thats the way of the world), a few additions to the squad and a continued excellence from our academy with a top notch recruiting team we could do just nicely! Im just a realist and think we could do with more money in the short term for long term established success

Wow ... do you think Honda would accelerate the progress of our team? Ahem, I'l leave now ...

That we cant be Swansea or WBA overnight. They both needed investment to get to where they are. I was agreeing with you that the way they run the show is desirable however I dont think we would be able to be anything like as self sustaining in our current state and will continue to rely on external investment for some time. Apologies for not being clear and concise, exam season, hopefully that was a little clearer.

Oh come on I said most. Swansea i'l give you but they are surely an exception to the rule? While WBA have recieved investment from Pearce and co albeit not to the tune of the usual oil millions chucked around I concede. If Pearce or Jenkins or a saints supporting equivalent felt they could run the club sustainably while managing to keep us making progress by all means i'd be ok with that. I think we need to remember exactly where we came from and how much of the investment has gone into infrastructure to help push us towards being "sustainable". One day I hope, and honestly believe, there is nothing to say we couldn't go down the route of WBA and Swansea however we still have ground to make up for sure.

Most clubs in the premier league rely on external investment of one form or another or benefit from massive global appeal to flog merchandise abroad. Did not say anything spending shed loads but a club run self sufficiently that can actually not run at an operating loss is a damned rare thing. It may be possible there is an alternative but, until it's forthcoming, im happy to stick with NC.

Yeah im sure he watched them in training, didnt just go on a hunch Boruc no doubt the more talented proven keeper but, at the time, there were solid reasons for giving Gazzaniga - a player with strong potential who showed some flashes of quality - a chance, he didnt take it, Adkins moved on. By the time NA was our Boruc was our established number one.

I suppose for me it comes down to what the alternatives are. If we could run the club in a different way without plummeting back down the leagues then it'd be great to do things "the right way" and maybe have a fans trust instead of NC and external investment however to survive, and compete, in english football at a decent level this does not seem possible. Cortese will stick to the principles of investment in the academy and this has been evidenced by the staplewood development and the appt of a manager with a rep for developing young players while hopefully he'l push us towards being "sustainable" (though how realistic that is alongside aiming for european football is iffy!). It's sort of better the devil you know with NC for me, as much as I think he's made mistakes he's no Rupert!

I suppose there is no question Honda is a talented player and I think it is likely he has the strength for the premiership but that leaves us with A) Would he come to us for a reasonable wage? B) Where would he fit into our existing tactic? C) Who else might beat us to the punch? We offer plenty as a club but i'd be surprised if we could beat off international competition for the lad ... then again I, and others, were shocked we were able to attract Ramirez ...

When Boruc came in he was not match fit, was not in form and had that unfortunate incident. Hindsight is twenty twenty and it may have been better to stick with him earlier on but who'd have known at the time?

In fairness to Gardner hes a cm whos been stuck at rb for a part of the season and that may explain, at least, some of his poor mistakes.

Two? Generous, even I lost track of my trail of thought Be interesting to see the values and code of conduct system come into place either way! Either way back to HCDAJU ... I'l throw in the usual one that comes up, Buckley at Brighton. I know he's signed a contract long term and some on here have suggested we wont look at the championship too much but, with all the chaos going on a Brighton recently, he may yet be an acheivable target and, imo, could do a job in a few different positions for us.

Ahah he was one of the ones I was thinking of. My point, I suppose I have one somewhere, is that behaviour is subjective and a football club will struggle to define what it considers bad behaviour and how it deals with it. For example a club policy would be difficult to apply to star names should the manager also disagree with any punishment.

Mm fair point we do seem to do our homework on the sort of characters we bring into the club, something im proud of as a fan. Do wonder how much of it is talk though, often footballing talent seems to rule over a players behaviour. How many footballers have ever recieved more then a ticking off from their clubs for assault/drink driving charges that seem to stalk the game?

Quality debatable but he can be an effective weapon. Just think back to the euros with england, basically carried the side at points with him being our only outball and held up the ball well to bring others inot the game.

Just on weekends or is this a twenty four seven routine?

You didn't need to edit in the picture, I didnt think you were making things up pal Im just playing devils advocate and suggesting its not unreasonable to think he may not start another premiership game for saints

Moving into a coaching role and being a third choice keeper, you never know, might have been sentiment that got him a game

A sceptic may suggest it was a farewall to KD, cant see him getting a look in next year, much as he's been a big part of our club last few seasons!