The9

Linvoy's Afro would be an interesting choice, f'sure.

Doesn't mean they're right though does it?

This is ART-levels of delusion. Are you hiding your pills?

Incidentally, bit of a tangent and no kit stuff here, but this has a nice summary of the European club changes from the forthcoming season: https://www.sports.legal/2018/03/more-changes-to-the-uefa-champions-league-uefa-europa-league-and-uefa-super-cup/ Highlights are allowing players to play for 2 clubs in the same European competition, 23 players in match day squads, top 4 nations' teams into group stages of the CL and as a result only 6 qualifiers for the CL going forward from the knockout stages, and more clubs dropping into the Europa League, which is also frankly awful.

European Competition regulations are now on a 2018-2021 cycle: (see here, though it's a pdf https://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/Regulations/uefaorg/Regulations/02/55/82/82/2558282_DOWNLOAD.pdf), and that references the UEFA Kit/Equipment Regulations but according to UEFA's own online doc library the most up to date kit regs haven't changed since 2012: https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/documentlibrary/regulations/index.html

A plain red back home shirt and 3rd shirt makes no sense at all... Not sure which European regulations you're referring to either, we didn't have a third kit either season in Europe recently?

Didn't realise they'd been around that long!

Indeed, I just got into a "discussion" with a plastic scouser about this, totally in denial that Salah both caused it the arm locking AND kneed Ramos in the calf causing him to fall.

We won't sign a player we know to have attitude problems.

I wouldn't touch Joe Allen with a 50ft pole, tbh, might as well keep picking Steven Davis who went off a cliff about the same time. We need at least 1 CB of Champions League last 8 fringe first-team standard (I'd get shot of Hoedt too tbh but keep Yoshida), replacements for anyone who goes (which could be 2 LBs, a DM, 2 RBs, 1 AM, 2 wide midfielders and maybe 2 strikers). That's a lot of players who could be off, tbh. With that in mind 4 doesn't seem enough. I'd re-sign Pied, but I think it's too late for that, and flog Forster. To Cardiff. And sell Carrillo (covered in the numbers above, but I'm expecting a loan out). Sisto seems an obvious choice. Rather than Mawson or Gibson, CB is where the money needs to go on an established player. Looking in the Alderweireld pool, not the Gardos one. Also, even though he was dreadful for Swansea, Renato Sanches might flourish with Romeu to guide him and he's definitely got a potential upside and might at this point be available for not much. Gamble, but so was Bertrand at the time...

It's ART, it's probably his IRL interpretation of a sunflower in his garden.

Tbf Cedric's 3 foot tall, what's he meant to do about it?

Hopeful Hughes' appointment will lead to a change in our incredibly predictable tactics, but how his relationship with Reed plays out will be fairly evident from how many centre backs we play in the first Prem game of the season. I'm not holding my breath for any investment from Gao, but we're sustainable with the tv money and will almost certainly continue with the same "try and find value" options and sell successes on. Hughes will have as much input into the player recruitment as the other managers, which is an important one of many voices after the data flags up a shortlist, as far as I can tell. Can't see us changing that much, but we absolutely have to change the long-standing pattern of play, get in a defence-magnet to create space for the attackers and start passing the effing thing in behind defences occasionally rather than just crossing it.

Something that's just occurred to me - that red third kit has a plain back. I know the front is red and red stripes, but the back is a single colour. I'm assuming from that that the home shirt has a plain white back, and we might see red numbers to keep it more Saints looking. We don't really have to worry about all the other red/white stripey teams this season, none of them are in the Premier League.

Not sure if it's the same lot ("Foot Ball Thailand"), they had Doncaster, Newport County and Scun#horpe in 2017/18. Newport have had no end of crap with them - sent all the socks with the wrong club initials on (NCFC not NCAFC) so the club refused to take delivery and had to source their own socks for the whole season, and also failed to provide the academy kit until April despite the parents forking out the previous summer. Still stuck in the kit deal for at least one more season, though I did like the actual shirts a lot.

Good spot. A lot more difficult to illustrate in pics though!

They've already done the Megastore a while back, though I'm unconvinced the spacing between letters is right:

Yeah, I spotted various old letter shadows on the facade so I'm not surprised they've updated it. We've had various different logos on the red panel too, from Friends Provident and flybe to just a Saints logo.

Cheeky f-cker, there's ONE run-on sentence in there, half of that is deliberate and the second half is already broken with a dash! Pretend it's a full stop if you like. You may be right about the lack of perception - my hope is that no-one can preside over a sheeyitstorm like last season without questioning their methods. I don't think Hughes and Reed are necessarily compatible beyond the short term position we've already seen, and we'll soon know if any of the following happens: 1) Hughes doesn't sign 2) Hughes does sign but we go back to the same formation as we've had most of the time since Pochettino 3) Everything still looks exactly like it did for most of last season on the pitch

This was also my theory, though I haven't asked.

That player issued Olomola Europa League shirt is looking like a sound investment... is something I didn't say recently to my wife, who bought it.

Jake Thomson. Ex-Saints and Newport County, what a life. I had no idea he was a Skate until now (and ugh to think I really liked him as a player in 2007), but if his experience can teach anyone anything, it should be not to pose for pics like this, ever, under any circumstances:

I agree with this up until the last 4 words. What I want to see is something nearer the flexible system we had under Pochettino, and the ability for the manager to be able to make tactical changes like Koeman did without the backlash of "didn't reflect the club's ethos" and two seasons of yes men which result from the first team playing different tactics to all of the academy sides. And I think Reed is perceptive enough to realise our running on rails, creating poor quality chances from building up too slowly, predictable one-dimensional crossing to no-one game has been completely found out - and he either needs challenge from a "name" coach who'll stand and fall on his results, or he needs to change what the club does right the way through, because another season of the same stuff under a yes man can only go one way from here.

I'd just like to point out that I've missed the last two Les Reed polls and this annoys me a bit. Not that I'd have been able to pick from the three (crappy) options. I want "stay but review the whole structure and make the tactics more flexible".

What, when he just got one right?