eelpie

He's no good at penalties.

England's tactics were all wrong. I know that Hodgson had to hastily put together a squad without much preparation, however the players were not good at passing and running with the ball - which are Saints attributes. Probably Lallana could do well in an England shirt, but not with the tactics employed. One player who dominated the match was of course Pirio. He would excel in the Saints team. Sign him up Nigel, Nicola. You know it makes sense!

especially if he 'revealed all' on camera shocker!.

It's the West Ham supporters corral.

If Hull have a smaller deficit than Saints then they are bigger than SFC. Doncaster are much bigger than ManU by the same measurement. Who said that?

Might be best to try several different captains according to the team line up during pre-season. Not sure that it should be a new signing though, might upset the squad if a new boy starts bossing them about. Fonts or Jos are probably the best candidates but the captain should be someone in midfield imo. Perhaps Cork if Hammond is not on the pitch. Meanwhile if Hammond plays I don't see why it shouldn't still be him.

You would make an excellent tv pundit with expressions like that.

This is the crux of how Murdoch still controls Britain - and us. He has merrily described his Sky sports contracts as his battering ram to media power (and consequently political influence). This is his strategic reply to recent setbacks to purchase Sky outright. He will not give up. Football (and other sports) fans have long since been pawns in his power game. Result for Saints? Even higher player wages next year, and higher match costs. Fewer longstanding loyal fans able to afford to go to matches. And those without Sky subscriptions are fooked.

NC announces that the site for our new expanded stadium will be in Colchester

I did like the yellow shirt and the strong, positive blue of the shorts in last year's away kit, however. But NEVER a blue shirt of whatever shade.

The last time we wore blue in the Prem we were relegated. It was a dreary blue and the omens for wearing blue are BAD. No, no, no.

The world is waiting to see our red and white stripes on the Premiership pitches again. That is all that matters. No need for anything fancy or retro. We are the future now. So just a bold red and white statement is all that is necessary.

I have to say that the video on here showcasing JayRod's skills is very, very impressive, and I have no doubt of his worth to the team. The bottom line in valuing him is how much we will benefit with JR playing for us against teams that we can realistically expect to beat such as the likes of Norwich, Swansea etc, or if he signed for one of them how much he would strengthen those clubs playing against Saints. Because if he doesn't sign for us he will sign for another Prem club. I know the answer. And so does (almost) everyone. In a way it's like a six-pointer which halves our costs. The price is a sound investment. So let's get it done and then concentrate on strengthening the defence and midfield.

I know why Arse want to play us though - to wave dosh in front of more of our talent.

JayRod would be a pretty good signing, however Ince could be better value, leaving that extra to substantially upgrade our defence with someone of the qualities of a young Jaidi, if that person exists. But defence is the priority. Our current attack as it is is Prem quality, but our defence is not.

I have it on good authority that half my ST fee is paying for him.

So will clubs in the EPL. I'm sure Nicola can persuade him that we will be one of them in 03/14 with him in the team. Well, why not - isn't that is in the plan?

Sounds like he wants Champions League football as well as the Premier League. So perhaps it might be that if we can't sign him now we sign him in January after Celtic have inevitably been knocked out

Does anyone know when the EPL releases it's 2012/13 fixtures programme? Also, are midweek matches at St Mary's more likely to be on Tuesday or Wednesday evenings? Quite crucial for me as to which evenings I have to shortly sign a work contract for next year.

I'm gutted at the enormous hike in prices for the coming season. Yes, times are harder (as for us all) with increased fuel, heating costs, employment etc. but as things stand it does not look like I will be able to afford to renew my ST for the first time in years at the new prices. The ST increase by an additional 67% from £415 to £695 (an increase of £280) really is exorbitant, notwithstanding that we will be playing top clubs and the club is ambitious. It is the core, loyal fans that have been the foundation of the cub's success; students, pensioners and other concessionaries who are now being priced out of seeing their team live. Like others, I have attended regularly during the relegation years when attendances were down to 10,000 and times were grim. It is not just the high cost of watching Saints that is unfair. When match dates and times are altered for live televising it is not always possible to make the rearranged dates due to previous commitments (and while sometimes these can be sorted, not all can). Travelling from London can make some rearranged midweek matches difficult. Last year I had to miss out on 5 games for this, and I factor in a few, but it galls that the club is making money twice over on my seat, on TV revenues (which is good) and on my rearranged ST seat when I cannot be present through no fault of my own (which is bad). Other entertainments offer to reimburse if they have to rearrange dates which the purchaser cannot attend, but not SFC. True, there are cheaper seats in the narrow wings (though not many, so these are sure to be oversubscibed) but why should loyal supporters have to be moved from sitting with friends? I really enjoy watching the games with companions that I have been sitting with over the seasons, which is part of the match day experience and bonding with the club. It is us loyal supporters who are being denied the opportunity to watch the team that we have supported all our lives. Without the core fan base Markus and Nicola might not have been so interested in puchasing Saints. And it is the affluent 'fair weather' supporters who are supplanting us. Shame on you, Mr Cortese Anyone else going to miss out due to the high price hike?

Hahnemann was massive when he played in Reading's previous promotion team, but isn't he too old now? Schmeichel K for me.

Aren't keepers meant to punch the ball, not the nose?

It seems odd that West Ham win a cup for coming third in The Championship via the play-off final, while Saints don't for coming second. Did we get anything to put in the cabinet? What actually were our rewards (other than future money from The Prem)? What was the prize money? Just wondering.

An interesting thread. My squad list below of possibly the best players from the past who came through Saints youth systems (whether from schoolboys or as apprentices or the Academy) over many years show how few quality defenders we have produced. (And I wouldn't really include Poke who has not yet proved himself at first team level, so we really haven't ever produced a keeper). We have though been awash with top quality forwards and midfielders, many great legends. So it's no surprise we are well known over the years for producing players who play attractive, attacking football -the Southampton Style - yet we have not generally been strong defensively. The point about showing a list from a long period of time is to show how few really good players emerge from the ranks each season. And although there are impressive names here, we should not delude ourselves. Over 50 years we have produced about 24 very decent players on my reckoning. On average just under two a year. How many prospects are there now in the pipeline and ready to move up to Premiership level? A big ask. It's almost certain that despite a lot of promising academy and development squad performances we have not yet enough up and coming youths to eventually sustain a Premiership squad without strengthening from outside. It takes some years to reach their full potential, and yet we must not be impatient. I do reckon most of our current team are good enough to do well - probably Kelvin, Chaps, Jack Cork, Frazer, Guly, Jose, Dan Seaborne, Danny Fox, Jos, Adam, Rickie, Tad, Morgan and Billy. Also from the development squad, Luke and JWP are good enough to be given opportunities. Mostly on the bench I reckon will be Deano, Aaron, Dan Harding, Steve, Dan and Lee Barnard who deserve the chance to prove themselves, but will all have to work hard to make the grade. But there are weaknesses. We simply do not have strength in depth at the back, and we have not been successful in producing enough good defenders. As we all know, here is where we must bring in experienced top level players that are better than we already have, because it will be a while before the younger players will be ready for the Prem. We can't take chances in this first season when we must consolidate our place at the top. Past top 24 alumni: . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . (Poke - were there no other keepers?). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Baird .. Andrewszewski .. M Cranie .. Benali .. Waldron .. Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lallana .. Paine .. AOC .. MLT .. S Williams .. Oakley .. G Baker .. Surman .. N Holmes .. Sydenham .. Bale . . . . . . . . . .Chivers .. Channon .. D Wallace .. R Wallace .. Shearer .. L Best .. Walcott. . . . . . . . . . . .