Weston Saint

Occasionally (more so of late) silly posts appear on serious threads. If they were ignored they would stand out as what they were, sill posts. To respond not only gives "credibility" to the post but usually causes the serious thread to decend into farce. Just a passing thought!

You are right, I am reading between the line. That is why I said "appears" Until the full details are known it will only be an opinion. Agree with you on the Mali Group. Much rather it be in the hands of the family who will likely respect Marcus's wishes than a hard nosed business.

I am pleased the club have issued a statement to clear up the uncertainty which followed Marcus Liebherr’s sad passing. However, things can never be the same in my opinion. Marcus & Nicola had a special relationship and Nicola was trusted implicitly by Marcus. Whilst it is clear from the statement that the family wish to continue that relationship in regard Nicola Cortese and Southampton Football Club it will by nature be a little more fragile than before. The very same strength of passion for the club will not be there although I am happy from the statement that, in the short term, the family will wish to continue the legacy. Whilst Marcus & Nicola discussed in detail the future blueprint of the club it appears Marcus did not place money in trust to make sure his dream could be fulfilled. At least that is what the statement suggests. When Sir Jack Walker passed away he left £30m in trust for the sole use of Blackburn Rovers FC. Of course we, as supporters, can have no influence on matters other than to turn up every home match and give our support to the team. The club is likely to be more dependent on income streams than ever before since Administration. One thing is for sure, before Marcus & Nicola rescued us our future looked very bleak. That is not the picture today. Long may Nicola and the Liebherr family keep Southampton Football Club in their hearts and make this club great again and a leader and envy of the football world in general

http://plasticsaints.myfreeforum.org/Today_at_St_Mary_s_Church_Herbie_about9325.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/sport-obituaries/7950756/Markus-Liebherr.html

Despite what i was told by a club official Steve I think you are right.

Neil McKenzie has been offered a new contract for next season. If he accepts, and the signs are good as he and his wife love it here, then I suspect Benham will be released. He has not really taken the opportunities given him. He is a good player and I am sure a move to one of the more unfashionable clubs and an extended chance to prove himself will see him successful. Spoke to Corky and let him know what we all feel. He thanked us. Benni Howell has been in the seconds for the last 3 years. He had his development contract extended for this season and have been making runs in the 2nds. Good to see him getting a chance. Spoke to him late last night. He is not travelling up to Scotland for the weekend as Ervine comes back into the side. Good to see Abdul Razzaq at the ground last night. His T20 contract is over but he came along anyway. Christain speaking as he went back to the Airport and back to Aussie said he was not nervous whilst he waited for for the last ball and all that went before. He was calm and in control. But when the ball hit the pad and the appeals went up he just thought, I need to run to the other end. He fully understood how, in the heat of the moment Somerset forgot the rules! For those who are not sure, when you use a runner you have to remain in your crease. If you do not you risk being stumped, not run out as some in other area's have suggested.

And neither were promoted

I disagreed with Alpine Saint on that point before the season started but having seen our play against Plymouth and Bournemouth I have changed my mind and agree with the statement highlighted in bold.

I will pass on all the good wishes if I get chance to speak to him this evening.

Alpine Saint makes some good points. I too am worried about the lack of a "box to box" midfielder gereral, a "winger" to give competition to Lallana & Puncheon, particularly the latter and a cover "centre forward" Without I suspect we will struggle to get out of this division. Loan players are not the preferred option as has been shown in the past. Either they are not good enough or they are not available after their loan period. There was rumour that Pardew did not get on with Waigo (probably a communication issue) but Pardew is not the only one making decisions on transfers so either Waigo did not want to come or the club felt he was not the answer. Having said the above, we are not likely to throw money at a player (and nor should we) We do not want overpaid mercenaries. We want players who want to play for the club for what it is and what, with their help, it can become. If we cannot get the right players on permanent deals then loans may be the short term answer. That will not likely happen until after the transfer window closes. Getting promotion this season is the priority. We must keep up the interest of our "new" benifactors. They must be made to feel that continuing the late Marcus's dream will result in fulfilment.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10993473 Good news but it leaves those with private land with a problem. How to stop illegal parking? One way will be to invest in collapsible posts or fence off with barriers. Wheel clamping was never fair.

Has been offered a 1 year contract with Hampshire for next season.

Did not come with him and in a different part of the ground although thay may have come together at one point in the day. Terry is Pompey through and through. Not even his loss of money has curbed his enthusiasm for them. Terry knows I am a Saints season ticket holder. We tend to take the P out of each other but always light hearted. I know many other good Pompey season ticket holders. We enjoy the banter.

Confirmed later in the evening by Terry Clarke "Terry the Builder"

Chanria is sorting out the purchase contract and intends to sell on as soon as possible. There is a potential buyer but Chanria has just upped the purchase price substantially according to Peter Storrie when I spoke to him last night. Long way to run in this saga yet

It goes back to scores after the power play (6 overs) Hants were in front on that as well. We and the team knew that the 1 run was enough although Christian looked like he did not

What a great day. A thank you from Sir David Frost, a chat with Peter Storrie followed by a chat with Terry the builder, and a cuddle from Rod Bransgrove at the end. Who said Cricket was dull!!

Let us not get too excited. Saints were poor in the first half and only marginally better in the second until we scored. Great goal from Lallana. Wotton offers nothing. Every time he got the ball all he wanted to do was get rid of it backwards as quickly as possible. If he is our midfield cover we are in trouble! Dickson had a poor first half. Harding as his replacement was much better. Davis just kicks the ball forward and rarely does a Saints player get first or second ball. He needs to distribute so we can build from the back. Bournemouth keeper was not much better. Seaborne was ok. Fonte was his usual polished self. Barnard had a poor game Oxy-Chamberlain was poor and no where near ready for the first team. Good goal and I was pleased for him but watched his positioning, lack of movement etc. Still he is only 16 and time for him to improve. 2-0 was about right but we are far from being a promotion challenging side on this performance.

Put out the strongest team available. No need to rest anyone (unless carrying an injury). This is only the 2nd competative match of the season and there is plenty of time to recover for Saturday. We are not prioritising this competition according to Pardew on Solent. Saints are prioritising cup competitions they can win, JPT I assume. However, the loss on Saturday has left him with a delemma. I suspect he will use this to condition the strongest first team.

It is beginning to be the norm. I went on the Warwickshire CCC site to book a ticket for Warwick v Hants T20 QF a few weeks back. Cost of ticket in advance £15 - £20 on the day. Booked a ticket and found £1 booking charge. Only two alternatives for delivery - ETicket or post to home. Fee to sent me an email with Eticket for me to print £2 or £2.50 to post it. Thought cheaper than on the day only to find they changed their policy on the day and were selling for £15. It is not just Saints. It is the leisure industry in general.

Not heard of any more other than Adam Rouse WicketKeeper who has taken Bates place in England Under 19's. Tahir will be back as our oversea's player. Whilst that may restrict Briggs appearances Tahir is a match winner and you need those in the side if you are to win anything. McKenzie has been a big plus and at the moment it looks like he might be back next year but nothing concrete yet.

Good professional win. Never really looked in doubt. On to Somerset tomorrow with Ervine back in the side. I expect the same side that finished against Durham in the Championship game. Durham are off to Old Trafford. Thorp is definately out for them. Harmison twisted his ankle. Likely to be fit for them if he feels like it.

Disappointing result. We started bright, the pace of the game was good and we created chances from wide. Unfortunately they fell to the head of Hammond who realy should know how to head a goal but always seems to mess it up. A couple of free kick positions would have also been ideal for Lambert and it does worry me that we are going to have to rely on him so much. Apart from Lallana on the bench (and he had not kicked a ball in anger since Southend game last season) there was nothing there that could change the game for us like last season. Another worrying factor. We were better than Plymouth over the whole 90 minutes but conceded a silly goal. More worrying, we did not look like we would score, again unlike last season. We are only one match in and the transfer window is still open but at the moment I cannot see us being more than a top 8 side, not top 2 as we all hoped. I hope I am wrong but we need a good replacement for Hammond (Hammond is only a cover player imo) cover for Lambert, an impact player to bring on to change the game and a pacy wide player.

Let me first confirm this was a cracker of a wicket. 4 centuries and a 99 is proof of that. Mustard declaring last night when he did was a very positive decision to gain a result. They, like us, are in the relegation group. They are below us although they do have a game in hand. Now the problem for Hampshire....How many runs should they score and how many overs should they leave? One important consideration was not losing wickets early on this morning and passing the initiative to Durham. It had to be a slow and steady start building momentum as the moning went on. Forget the weather predictions, that could not come into the equasion. One of the difficulties was that on the first day in the mid session Hampshire scored 199-0 at well over 6 runs an over. On the third day Durham scored 174-2 in the same session again over 6 runs an over. On that basis Hampshire had to set a target of over 6 an over. That would mean circa 300 in about 45 overs. With the wicket not having deteriorated they were long odds on a win. Durham might have smashed it around and won. It they lost early wickets they could block out as the wicket was doing nothing. Hampshire could not really win and Mustard knew that at the declaration. As it turned out the weather won but don't think the players were unaware of their responsibilities to the fans who turned out. They want to win for the supporters as much as we want them to but that will have to be another day. Today was not about negativity but reality. As for the wicket! Well done to the groundsman. The umpires were very complimentary. As good as anything they have stood on this season.