Weston Saint

I see Lowe is getting the blame again and I can see why but remember this club could only hope to survive at that time on young players on low wages and Forecast fitted that bill. Lowe was badly advised despite goalkeeping coach severe reservations. In the same summer Lowe was made aware of a young midfield Frenchman called Morgan Schneiderlin but it would cost us €1m, money we did not have. Lowe went to the bank and they agreed to fund on his recommendation and reports. We all know that the bank did next!! Luckily we held on to Morgan as his skills had not developed enough to sell to recover the money. How do I know? Let's just say I had a friend in the board room at that time.

Dimi will be going home to Aussie at the end of the season and likely to seek some form of non playing cricket appointment out there.

Good win today. Club are looking to bring in a loan to cover for Carberry, Vince & Briggs for Lancs game. Watch this space as I am not permitted to say who but he is an experienced Englishman with a good 40 over record who is playing for a county who will not be qualifying for CB40 semi's. Early days yet and it may not happen!

Is it possible that the premium promised to Aviva when we reached the premier was funded by the reported loan charged against the assets and that the share capital transfer to the profit and loss account was to pay that off?

No one on the horizon. Very worrying as our present lot, other than Tomlinson, are struggling in the championship.

Tomlinson was rested as his wife is due to have a baby any day

I upgraded to BT Infinity with a new BT hub. Engineer did it all for me and I found out yesterday that I had the same Sky message. Went to my connection and found the filter not connected. That is definitely your problem. You should have a white filter with a wire that Sky put in. that filter fits into your telephone socket on the wall and your telephone is plugged into the filter You must have been using it before!

http://www.ageasbowl.com/news/The-Ageas-Bowl-Family-Festival-Returns Last year was free and "sold out" in 48 hours but then 3,000 who had tickets did not turn up so they are trying for just £5. s at Friday they had sold 2,000 in addition to members.

Let me say straight away that Adam has been saying these things privately since Pochettino arrived so not news to me.

Agree completely. On T20 front, Hampshire have not only qualified for QF with 2 games to go but are also guaranteed a home draw. The lowest they can finish is 2nd in the group. Top of each group plus best second get home draw against one of the other two seconds and best 2 3rds. Lowest we can finish is best 2nd.

When Keegan made that comment it was probably correct but times and money have changed in football. OK, Sky money is given to all Premier clubs so not too much of an imbalance there. The big issue now is money invested by billionaire owners (not much of that around in Kegan’s era), vast sums from European cup runs (nowhere near the same scale in Keegan’s era) and corporate exposure worldwide (much more now than in Keegan’s era) Can Southampton win the league (or even compete for the top 4) in the next few years? The answer is sadly no. We have a good investment stream but we cannot yet compete with clubs willing to pay £30m plus on players that will make a difference. We cannot yet compete with clubs willing to pay their top stars £80,000 to £120,000 per week. We do not have the income from European ventures. We are still finding our way around corporate exposure in the world. We are looking to buy better players but we appear to be having difficulty persuading them to sign. We have yet to earn the right to do so. We must earn respect. That takes time and money. It may come so to say never is unadvisable. But for now we should concentrate on making steady progress year on year.

Shame, I want to beat their best team, not give them excuses when they lose.

You do not really know him do you! At Hampshire game a member went to the Steward to say his son and his friend wanted Warne's signature as they were great fans of his bowling. The steward asked Warne who said he had to do something first to do with the team but would come back. 15 minutes later Warne was sat between the two kids chatting and it absolutely made their day. This is one of many stories I can tell about Warne and other players and officials Warne was one of the greatest players of all time.

I did not go into detail with him, first because I was called into a discussion with someone else part way through and secondly at dinner we had other thinks to discuss. However. I do not think he was meaning kit. He loved the away kit but was reserving judgement on the home one. He did not think there would be a mass change in players, just few good additions but a big season for many of the first team squad. I think it was more our profile, playing style (we started that last season) and "overall set up". I have no more knowledge on SMS developments but we all know Cortese's views on that. We know how Staplewood is developing. I think the changes will be driven by these sorts of thing as well as the massive ambition which again has been widely reported.

The whole set up, he said.

Everyone at the club very excited and positive about the new season. Working very hard in training which is exhausting them but getting them ready. Plenty of ball work. They cannot wait to get started. Still no info on players coming in. If a player does not buy into the tactics, training and vision he will not be signed or if he is already part of the squad he will find himself having to move on. My contact says Southampton Football club will be unrecognisable at all levels in the next 3 years. There is a real excitement and ambition within the club.

Latest is that there is no knowledge of any player coming in at present. There has been no strange or interesting appearances at SMS or Staplewood. Trust me, on the evidence I have heard today the players are unaware of any potential signings at present.

I should also add that a highly motivated, focussed and talented team should not need a captain on the pitch for the 90 minutes.

It is not just being a captain on the pitch. Adam does an lot behind the scenes that most of you would not believe and I am not going to breach confidences by saying any more!

Forget the "cover for players"....we will only buy players that are good enough to compete in the first team. We are looking for players that will make those who are regulars have strong reason to up their game. All players have been told not to expect automatic selection....ALL PLAYERS. We are looking upwards, not sidewards or cover!!

Simply do not understand some of the comments on here. Both teams wanted a win with one day wiped out by rain. Gloucester batted for 3 and half sessions on a wicket that was drying out nicely. They scored over 400. This was effectively a second day wicket and you would have expected Hampshire to score 400 on it. They have done so this season on more than one occasion. There was no pressure on Hampshire. They had more than enough time. They just batted poorly although Gloucestershire bowled better than we did! So what was the alternative! Hampshire bat to get 250 to get a couple of batting points and avoid the follow on target...then declare(that would likely to be the end of the day 150 behind then let Gloucester score 150 in one and half sessions and set us 300 in about 50 overs!!!! That then depended if they thought they could bowl us out in 50 overs. The decision by Adams was good for the game in play, gave us the best chance we might have and was supported by most I spoke to at the ground. This was not a 4th day wicket, this was the second day and we have every right to think Hampshire could get there with their batting line up. They just played it badly with Adams convinced he did not get a touch. This guy is our top scorer this season.

Cough.......... MONEY!!!!!!!

Utter embarrassment. Our bowling was pathetic and our batting is equally as bad. Think I will call it a day!

Here is how the conversation went......Adams came to the boundary just as Gloucester were reaching 400. there was a conversation and pointing and then what looked like an agreement. Gloucester then reached 400 in the last over where points available Dawson bowled his next over very quick and it was blocked. Seemed strange but I then looked at the score board and our over rate was -3. Became clear Adams wanted that down to 0 to avoid points penalty but he did not want to chase much over 400. As soon as it was back to 0 declaration came.

Adams made the decision and it is a good one. Gloucester supporters are not happy. Supporters of Hampshire are happy. Makes interesting cricket. I back Hampshire to win this!