John D

What a moment that was! The Ruddock stomp was born. Ended a run of 17 league games without a win!

Whether SR decide to sack Ralph will be data driven. When Ankerson was chairman of Midtjylland he resisted calls to sack the manager. Apparently he had evaluated the team performance and made an assessment of expected position. This showed they weren't as bad as the league table showed. So he created the 'table of justice ' to assess performance instead! The manager stayed and they won the league the following season. Whilst there are mixed views of the use of analytics in football on this site the reality is that those who make the decisions are big users of it. Be interesting to see where we are against the equivalent. Can't see how we could be any better than were we are though. And hopefully they will see it is time for Ralph to go.

Sometime it's difficult to stop yourself. I had corporate seats at Old Trafford when Austin scored in last minute. Had been well behaved all game but jumped up when he scored in an almost involuntarily reaction. Took a couple of blows to the back of the head but well worth it! Then another saints fan came up to me back in the bar after so we had our own private celebrations.

Some of the abuse is horrific. I've seen grown men swearing and threatening 14/15 year kids who are starting out as refs. This was at an U12 girls match. At a game last week a 12 year old swore and threatened the ref after he told the coach to remove them from play for a two footed lunge on another player. The FA needs to take firm action against the clubs and put it on them to enforce discipline. At grassroots level if one player / coach or supporter steps out of line then the entire club (all their teams) should be banned for next weeks matches.

There is 6 weeks in between the Liverpool game and the restart. We absolutely should be getting some friendlies played in Dec. Not convinced a trek to Miami is needed but could be a good chance to reset and plan with some decent weather.

If SR are starting to take a greater role then that is their right. Can't be a a power struggle as they own the club. If Semmens is being marginalised then I suspect he will follow Ralph out the door.

Sacking the head coach doesn't qualify as day to day in my view

Can't see it happening in premier League as clubs should be able to afford it. But I wouldn't be surprised to see it further down the pyramid especially at non league.

I've lost track. Have they actually purchased any other clubs?

Shows up premier League ok for me

That's the Michael Svensson song!! Remember singing that 20 years ago..

I'm really looking forward to it. Taking my 2 girls and they are very excited. Lets hope the Lionesses don't let us down like the men's team do.

Used to have the chant: Rory Delap, Rory Delap, Sometimes he's good, But mostly he's crap!

That approach will be impacted by the new rules on player loans - maximum of 8 allowed outward this season dropping to 6 by 2024. So the multi club model may be away around that if ownership is spread around the group of clubs.

There has been a massive increase in female participation at youth levels in the last 5 years or so. I coach U13s and the skill standard is comparable across both boys and girls at that age and below. Although physical side starts to have a bigger impact in older groups. I have noticed that girls teams are generally less focused on individuals and play as a team more. One of the challenges is the higher drop out rate of girls participating as they get older but the FA have launched some schemes to try and address this. Having the Euros will also create a lot more interest and increase participation. Be interesting to see how this impacts the women's game in the next 5-10 years and if it is sustained. With regard to the coverage on BBC etc, I tend to agree that it wouldn't be hard to add a distinguisher. Personally it is pretty obvious but if others need some help then why not.

Oh dear, what utter rubbish! Yes, the coverage may currently be disproportionate but to suggest that people only support women's football because they think they have to is pathetic.

More likely they were the only party in town. Gao had ultimate decision on who to sell to and not Siemmens

I'm sure a large majority of their fans will remember the 2008 final!

For me: It's possible one of the three will finish above us It's very unlikely two of the three will finish above us It's a once in a lifetime scenario for all three to finish above us

I had the misfortune of getting the train from Sheffield to London on Saturday which was rammed with Pompey fans after their game. There was some debate on the tables / seats next to us about Bazunu with the majority view being he is has the potential to be a quality keeper and has been fantastic for them this season. One dissenting view saying he will never make it at top level. Their conversation then turned to relationships with their mums and regretted time spent in jail. Most surprisingly the 2 tables next to us tidied up all the empty beer cans and rubbish and put it in the bin at the end of the journey.

Doesn't look like many tickets sold yet. Where are Saints fans planning to congregate? I read somewhere that blocks D-E had been suggested?

I'm going with my 2 daughters and I know of another 3 Northern Saints planning on going.

Whilst after year old end it is a sizeable enough transaction to be disclosed as a post year old event I would have thought.

xg is fine to support analysis but it won't always tell the full story and has to be taken with other factors. As you say Mount will score that may more times than xg suggests but stick me in that position and it would be a different outcome! World class players should always outperform xg so, over time, it is good for identifying players but less so for analysis of individual performances. It is like the old "head in the oven, feet in the freezer". My mean average temperature is fine though.

according to article on saints site existing season tickets can change seats in this window at same price as a renewal. How you do it is a different matter though!