Brave Sir Robin

It's just how I felt. Oldham?... I'm, sorry, who the **** are they?!! And the fact we didn't do it all the time just reminded me how far we'd fallen!

If I'm totally honest I just couldn't enjoy L1 or the Championship, because I never accepted that we weren't a Premier league team. Every time we won a game I couldn't help think "I should bloody think so too!", and whenever we lost I can't describe my sense of humiliation and disgust! Frankly, I mostly endured rather than enjoyed being a Saints fan for the whole time from relegation in 2005 until the final whistle of our promotion game in 2012! Absolutely loved last season, though, and am absolutely buzzing now looking at our squad and the fixture list, more so than I ever would've if I hadn't been through those long, dark seasons plodding through the wilderness hoping and dreaming of what might be one day. I'd almost go as far as to say it was all worth it!

If they don't like it, they can always lend him back to us!

No way will they play for a draw! Have you seen their fixture list? This is an absolute must win for them. They'll view it like a cup final. Thing is, our lot are full of confidence and belief, are far more organised and will be desperate to win their first game of the season at home. Plus Osvaldo will be determined to score, as will Rickie. I'm going for 4-3 to us and plenty of cards for both sides!

I'll save you the bother: MP: "Very happy that he has agreed to help with the project. Increases options and will help take us to the next level". PDO:"Excited to play in the Premier League. MP is a great manager who gets the best out of everybody". Shirt no. 11. Replica shirts available in store now.

There is an absolute chasm between the Championship and Premiership in terms of quality. I think we spent the absolute minimum we needed to last summer in order to have a hope of staying up, then were lucky enough to have 2 successive managers good enough to ensure we over performed. West Ham already had a prem team so they didn't need to, Reading didn't spend big enough and suffered the consequences. This years new boys will probably struggle unless they spend as much as we did at the very least. I think we've just about got our squad up to prem standard now (i.e. unlikely to be relegated), so I'm less worried than I would be if we'd spent less. Comparisons with Pompey just don't stand up, as the income needed to stay competitive has shot up dince they were up here, and because they were basically conned whereas we're as assured as you can ever be that we have seriously rich owners who are happy to spend. Markus told us all himself we no longer need to worry about money. Cortese went out of his way at the end of last season to obtain confirmation from his daughter that this is still the case. Relax and enjoy the ride!

Just like Lovren and Wanyama you mean? Hmmm

Yes but any advantage they might gain by signing a decent player is immediately undone by handing them over to be "managed" by Di Canio! Of course we should write them off! Any suggestion that we might not beat them on Saturday is bordering on insulting!

So what if he's breaking with the old quaint English tradition of a manager wearing the club tie? I think it's abundantly clear by now that NC and MP don't particularly care about tradition and what went before. There's even a statement on the season ticket packaging basically saying we're doing things differently now with the intention of leading the way instead of following. It honestly wouldn't surprise me if next seasons kit was blue, if that's the predominant colour associated with our sponsors brand. If you were to say to Pochettino "why are you wearing Pompey's colours?" I've absolutely no doubt that he'd reply "who?!" As long as we continue to go from strength to strength as we are now, I'm more than happy to wave a fond farewell to petty traditions, and our manager can wear a tutu and fluffy bra for all I care!

Haven't seen any pictures of him wearing a nice new watch yet. We must've run out. No wonder it took so long to persuade him to sign!

I'll be suprised if Osvaldo starts. He needs time to get to know the rest of the team and learn the intricacies of the system. There's a lot more to being a competitive EPL team than just fielding a load of individually talented players and expecting them to gel straight away. That's why we've handled the transfer window the way we have, it's why this is the perfect time to play Blunderland, and it's the reason they'll be struggling for survival all season in the hope that a late surge in the spring once their players have finally settled will be enough to escape the drop. Anything other than an absolute hiding from us, with Osvaldo getting a nice 10 minute run out at the end, once we're safely 3 or 4 goals up, is unthinkable! COYR!

Glad to hear we've finally worked out plan b for these sort of teams. Really could've done with that sort of patience to grind out a result against QPR last season. Looking forward to the season now :-)

Gobsmacked! How is this possible?! Was convinced we were in for an absolute hiding! Roll on next Saturday!

Don't panic! Don't panic!

If only we could forfeit the game so that at least we wouldn't be risking any more injuries to key players! Please don't beat us by more than 3, West Brom! RUN AWAY!

Lol

Lol

Aw bless! Time to move on. Stripes are dead, the future's Red!

I think you may have misunderstood. I was saying Shaw may well be a better option for England than Cole or Baines (or any other English LB) by the summer, whereas all the other English Saints players face stiffer competition from English players who play in the same position as them at other clubs (with the exception of Rickie, who is clearly the best English striker right now, so really should be first choice).

New York, New York, so good they named it twice! Sorry 'bout the double post lads

I reckon Shaw might be good enough to be the best English LB by next summer. All the others have better players ahead of them, but ought to be considered if there's an injury crisis. On a slight side note, did you see big Sam reckons Carroll and Lambert will be competing to get in the squad? Frankly, I think that's insulting to Rickie! He's by far the most in form English striker, and has been for some time. It's Rooney who should be worried, not that cheating, diving donkey Carroll! Mind you, he's probably right cos Hodgson does seem somewhat inable to see the woods for the trees most of the time

I reckon Shaw might be good enough to be the best English LB by next summer. All the others have better players ahead of them, but ought to be considered if there's an injury crisis. On a slight side note, did you see big Sam reckons Carroll and Lambert will be competing to get in the squad? Frankly, I think that's insulting to Rickie! He's by far the most in form English striker, and has been for some time. It's Rooney who should be worried, not that cheating, diving donkey Carroll! Mind you, he's probably right cos Hodgson does seem somewhat inable to see the woods for the trees most of the time

Excited about the season generally, but apprehensive about West Brom away as the first game, and hoping a heavy defeat on the opening day doesn't affect the team too badly to be honest. As long as we win 1of the first 3 we'll be on track. Talk of a top 10 finish is just plain naive imo. We'll finish anywhere between 12th and 18th realistically. As long as we stay up I'll be happy, and we're bound to beat a top 4 team along the way at least once. That's what I'm looking forward to most. Having said that, I've got a gut feeling we'll do well in the cups this year, so I'm excited about the idea of another day out at Wembley too, and possibly even some silverware!

Following Rickie's England performance, and assuming he'll start the season playing as well or better than last, does anyone think there's any danger that Brendan Rodgers might swoop for him? I'm sure he wouldn't leave us to go anywhere else, but Liverpool would easily nick him for next to nothing as he'd be desperate to play for them if they showed any interest.

Absolutely spot on