a1ex2001

I remember being well pleased with that bit of business, Prutton was Under 21 skipper and Higginbotham was just off the back of a brilliant spell at Derby and they were gutted to loose him. The club had a really positive feel around it in those days little did we know how soon it would all fall apart!

I think this season is viewed as one of consolidation and building with a bigger focus on promotion next season not saying that they wouldn't take it this year and I would expect if we are still knocking on the door come January we will see the cheque book opened a little. I'm not sure promotion this season would be ideal anyway as we would be looking at alot of new faces to stand any chance in the PL so I would expect an instant return to this level, with another season in the NPC we should have a team of players mostly ready and capable of playing in the PL.

Why we needed to rest Conolly and Chesterfield would much rather he arrive with some match fitness in his legs

Every time I read something like this I havea flash back to Sheffield Wednesday a few seasons ago when they hammered us about 5-0 half of which were Kelvins fault the crowd got on his back and he ended up giving us a 'nice salute' this place was baying for his blood after that. He's performed an amazing turn around!

The money could be much better spent elsewhere, obviously there is the slim possibility he will move to the championship and be a massive success by recent evidence from players making similar moves suggests not. We would be better off buying a proven league on striker or sticking with the ones we have as the quality level doesn't seem to be that different!

I imagine it will be a bit pricey for the average 'I'll have a pint of what ever is cheapest' football fan!

I remember when Strachan signed him there were a few grumbles but he came in and fixed our defensive issues in an instant he was a proper old fashioned rock at the back. Him and Telfer were inspired signings.

I would much rather we slowly built towards success than gambled vast sums of money and risked another spectacular and costly failure. Nolan would never have joined us he's only gone to West Ham besause Big Sam has some weird hold over him!

Neimi Dodd Svensson Richards Bridge Fernandes Le Tissier Oakley Bale Beattie Pahars Odd that that was practically our starting line up for a while, certainly the best side in recent times.

Our team in both seasons was good enough for promotion, we just made some terrible cockups, we ditched Redknapp and replaced him with Burley a decision that took us from just outside the play offs to the brink of a relegation fight and then in the following season Burley effectively dropped the leagues leading goal scorer from the side in January in all my time as a saints fan I've never been so baffled as I was by the sight of Rasiac warming the bench for half a season. Following that the wheels came off financially so we were basically screwed.

Would love to see him get a full season under his belt to finally show the club what he's capable of, he looked so gutted when he broke down again this season. Sadly I just can't see it happening I think his body is shot.

If thats not a very very happy boss then I don't know what is, if he looked slightly ****ed at the prospect of a pitch invasion it was probably only becuase he knows how much it costs to maintain probably the best pitch outside the top flight.

The Chamionship is full of big lumps playing upfront, just about every side has one be it Hiedur Helgusson or Jay Bothroyd last time we were in the champ the most common complaint on here was that we didn't have a massive out house of a centre back capable of dealing with all the big lumps we cam up against. I think Rickie will be pretty effective in the Championship especially against some of the lower ability teams.

Playing at his full potential Howard was one of the best players the NPC has seen in recent years if Adkins reckons he can get him playing close to that level again I'd be happy for us to take a punt on him. Plenty of experience, plenty of quality and believes he has something to prove to saints still.

Strange how his amazing throws didn't seem to be so effective last time he was here?

Everyone is just warming up for next season when the stripes return, if we hadn't sung it for a season most fans would have forgotten the words or doubled the pace or something.

I'd be very tempted!

Would certainly swap them for 3 points not sure about two, all I know is that there is still along way to go and while things are looking good this morning I expect there to be days ahead when they don't look so good as that is the roller coaster ride that is football. Still think we will finish second and go up which will be job done for the season.

He wouldn't have been the player and captain he was without those traits, I don't think you could have one without the other. Never liked the bloke but have total respect for him, incredible batsman brilliant captain and lucky enough to be around at the same time as a tryuly golden generation. Hope he carries on long enough to go out on a high with the bat, he shouldn't be remembered for his recent failures.

I think you'll find he already has, long term he is going to have serious issues come back or not. Total respect for him, he was a rock for us and clearly loves the game so much he doesn't know what else to do. Always gave 100% for the club even when he wasn't fit if the same could be said of every player we'd still be in the prem, Good luck to him.

So finally you admit that you missed the point of the thread completely? The subject is how many points will we NEED for promotion not home many points will GUARANTEE promotion. So now we've cleared that up, how many points do you actually think will be enough as you can't be serious saying that 27-28 will be required?

He's not being pedantic though is he, surely he's just being realistic like all those that think a low to mid 20's total will be enough? All that he's doing is pointing out that a total of 27 points would pretty much guarentee us promotion but the chances of us actually need that are slim to none, Do you honestly think Posh, Huddersfiled or Saints will win every game they have left this season? All three sides have demonstrated consistently this season that they will not go on runs like that and with the pressure really cranking up there will be twists and turns, I can say confidently (Not certainly) that based on form over the whole season and historic tables that the team that finishes second will have less than 90 points. If you so certain that a 90 point plus total will be required get down the bookies you'll get brilliant odds on posh winning every game left in the regular season so then when saints miss out a least you'll be rich.

Heres one for the stato's amongst us, how many pleayers have we had on loan since relegation from the prem?

Yesterday you said we should give up on automatic promotion and accept the play offs maybe the club has taken your advice and decided to go with what we have and accept the lottery!

yes 28 points would pretty much guarentee us promotion but for it to be needed your assuming Posh and Huddersfield will not loose another game this season which is totally unrealistic given that both of them average about 1.76 points per game and not the three they would average if they were invincible as you claim. We avergae about 1.8 points per game this season so basically if all three sides maintain preious form to the end of the season it will be stupidly tight with us finishing second with 82 points and a better goal difference. To say that we cannot afford to loose a single game bettween now and the end of the season if we want to go up automatically is simply not realistic if you look at the form of the teams around us, we will all drop points and the stats say we will drop less and thus be promoted. STOP BEING A NEGATIVE DRAMA QUEEN sit back look at the FACTS and come to an EDUCATED SENSIBLE OPINION!