The9

Ah but Burton have a sensibly-sized modern stadium and infrastructure which isn't a millstone. Portsmouth's best bet in the long term is just to level Fratton and rebuild. I wonder where they'd play in the interim? Reading? Oh hang on, they'd never do anything amounting to medium term planning, would they?

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/football/football-news/shake-up-southampton-after-sisu-switch-3104005 Lots of change at Saints when it came out - though I seem to recall the majority shareholders all agreed it was a bad idea because they wanted more for their shares - which is one of the reasons we needed to go into admin and have those shares become worthless to see any significant change. Interesting stuff about it in this Echo article too: http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/untoldstories/4358067.Board_discussions_on_the_SISU_takeover/

Not really, they only have 48% of the shares...

I heard he sold the Sandbanks place a while ago.

Bad League One left back, but a reasonably decent League Two striker nowadays though.

Juan Mata may disagree. Shaw IS a bit thick - coincidentally so was Micah Richards whose England career and eventually club career died off as successive managers discovered it. Whether that impacts on his football decision-making or not I'm not sure, but it can't help.

He also got hoofed by Otamendi just before the third goal and was hopping on one foot for a while, which was just before he was subbed off too.

Nope, I remember when SISU were interested and a lot of people were wary of a hedge fund takeover and Ray Ranson's previous, and plenty of people were glad when they took over Coventry first and felt we'd dodged a bullet.

He had one game (maybe Inter at home?) where he was terrible at everything but never stopped trying, but he was phased out after that for ages and is only getting a game now due to Romeu's suspension - he looks far less assured, loose with passes and not quick enough at closing down at the moment, but he still looks like he could turn it around with the right opportunities. He's been bypassed by Ward-Prowse for now, but how many games has he taken to start imposing himself?

I keep seeing people joining in with the "We are Southampton" bit at the end, they can't help themselves. It's just garbage. On the bright side, I've noticed we're playing 80s and 90s songs a lot more now. I remember wondering why they played 60s and early 70s songs when I went to football in the early 80s, but even that was only about 10-15 years afterwards - the late 80s stuff is now 30 years old.

I very loudly mentioned that he was an embarrassment when he walked past me on the weekend, I'm not a violent person, but I'm shocked no-one has outright punched him one just for existing. There's a lot of balls talked about "laughing stock" and "embarrassment" around football, buy that guy has got it sussed. He's ALWAYS on his own as well. He is sadness personified, not helped by the "RIP someone" message he has on the back of his shirt.

I thought the attempts of Newport at Plymouth to ensure the Skates don't get 2nd place on Monday were admirable. So, they've taken a year longer than what I assumed was the worst case scenario, and look like they're not even going to make the top 2 - far better than them getting a day out at Wembley. Also, have you seen the sides who'll be in L1 next season? Rotherham aren't the biggest, but two from Wigan, Blackburn, Forest and Birmingham going down, to be joined in L1 by at least one of Bolton, Bradford or Millwall and maybe all of them, and will also play MK Dons, and Charlton - they'll be in "not good enough for the Championship but a big club honest" heaven.

It was indeed showing as sold out on their website a month ago (unlike the Newport game and whoever else they've played at home since, both of which happened in between). I went on there to see how much they were charging for tickets as Newport's website hadn't even announced that six days before the game. It is both strange and a sign of their financial and Fratton problems that even in a sell-out there's a perfectly functioning chunk of crumbling terrace in front of the tv portakabin that they can't use and have to pretend they need for segregation. Oh, and to the person saying they'd like to see Saints score in front of the Fratton end, it's way more fun if they do it right in front of the away end (Newport have done that plenty of times in the past 4 years).

That's the article FourFourTwo are sharing on Facebook then. I only got as far as number 92 and saw West Brom were top. Newport's fan experience leaves a fair bit to be desired. They have the multiple wonders of a temporary away end (which Plymouth broke at Xmas just by being football supporters on it), a large space behind both goals, a truly terrible Archibald Leitch stand that you can't see anything from with zero legroom, an incredibly piecemeal looking stadium generally where only about 50% of the seats are even alongside the pitch, and a capacity that's at least twice and arguably 4 times larger than the crowds they actually get. Also, loads of their fans are proper thicko nobheads (present company excepted) who consistently sing about sheepsh agging and enjoy shadenfreude WAY too much, and it rains all the bloody time. Anyway, I'm going to see them against Yeovil on Friday. Meanwhile, the Skates will be trying to swipe 2nd from Plymouth (it's a sell-out, unlike their last two home games). As long as they don't win the division (they won't) or get to Wembley (probably missing the play-offs this time) I don't really care where they finish. Can't say the same about Newport, coming 22nd will be a ferking miracle this season and I'll be celebrating for weeks.

Yeah, we probably don't need three right backs... though I'd have thought that at the start of this season too.

Groins are a sod, they're always there, making you think you'll be ok and then going again. I've guessed at the Chelsea game before he's on the pitch and I'm sticking with it.

He's not really had time to prove he's any better than Cuco yet.

Decent enough right back cover, we could do worse than give him another couple of years unless they think Valery can do that job. Obvious link given Coleman's injury and Erwin's Cuco tendencies.

Confirmed on 31 March here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39458057 They seem to be waiting as long as possible for Man U and Arsenal to try and get into top 4 contention before deciding whether to televise one of the games. Also how Leicester do in their CL first leg in case they make the semi-final (on BT Sport) and it clashes with one of those matches, which will have an effect on the viewing figures.

1994/5. 12th.

This IS thin for them. They haven't come outside the top 4 since Bruce Rioch managed them in 1995/6.

Such as? Because I wouldn't have signed any of the CBs other Prem clubs signed in January. The Caceres situation is a little weird, but it makes all the sense in the world to sign someone as cover and give Stephens all the time he needs to develop - he's doing alright, as well - certainly making fewer mistakes overall already as he gets used to the pace of the Premier League. I'm no longer expecting us to sign Caceres on the cheap in the summer. I am expecting us to sign another CB though and possibly two, whether Van Dijk stays or not (and I think he will). Having said that, I'd laugh if Arsenal offered us Chambers money for Stephens in the summer...

Nice "you're not fit to wear the shirt" chant from the Arsenal fans there.

Why would we offer Koeman a salary he couldn't refuse when with the European schedule we had, he'd probably have us in the exact same place now as Puel has, except without a Cup Final and with no idea who McQueen and Sims are? FWIW I think the run of big clubs to play and the soon-to-resume fixture pile-up that we can't cope with as well as said big clubs, will lead to us finishing 9th. Puel has been astonishingly unlucky this season, thickness of a post putting us out of Europe and costing us the EFL Cup, and ridiculous schedule with 4 months of back to back to back midweek games followed by basically 2 months off and then back to back to back games again. And we've managed this despite selling our captain and with five of our best players currently injured or suspended. I'm expecting us to be in the top 6 and challenging for top 4 again next season without the European distractions - IF we can hold on to all of our players.

A "new" design for Sao Paulo... that's 2013/4's Spurs collar and the same print as currently on the match-worn Saints kits. Meanwhile their away shirt is basically this season's Spurs home collar and shoulder design, with some uuuuuuuuugly stripes.