Sunglasses Ron

Maybe a better way to look at this is to consider the points tallies of the relegated teams in the previous few seasons: > 2019/20 - 35 points required for guaranteed safety (we got 52 and came 11th); > 2020/21 - 29 points required for guaranteed safety (we got 43 and came 15th); and > 2021/22 - 36 points required for guaranteed safety (we got 40 and came 15th). When you look at that information, we haven't really come close to relegation at all as we've either collected far more points than required and/or had several teams between us and positions 18-20. The worrying thing is that our points total has reduced three years on the trot. If we lose another 3-5 points from last season's total then we'll be bang in trouble, no doubt. Thankfully, early signs are that our new signings have improved us and we've obviously (hopefully) kept our best talent too. I know we're down 2 points on the equivalent fixtures last season, but I don't think we should see too much into that. I'm hopeful of a mid-table finish, but it's definitely not clear-cut at this time I'd say.

Great to see some character back in the team, it’s been a while!

Sometimes the threads are far more entertaining than the games!

That’s literally what he’s done by picking Moi 😃

Ahhh yes, he was on VAR, whereas Mariner was the actual ref.

Was it done willingly though? With no wrong decision to overturn, he may have been instructed to fess up?

I think that was Andre Marriner. Mike Dean was the VAR ref in that infamous 1-0 defeat at home to Villa a few days before his leading role on the pitch in the 9-0 at Old Trafford.

A truly dreadful ref and a lot of the blame for that 9-0 at Man United rests with him and his total incompetence. I was happy to hear that both him and Garth Crooks had 'retired' last season, only to see both come back like a bad smell in reduced roles.

Yup, sometimes less is more 👍🏻

The Scarab/Blue Coral Matchday Away and Third Shirt (whatever that means) is quite cool...

The green shirt is the away one, but not sure why it isn't available at the store right now...

Wilfried Bony had a pretty spectacular career nose-dive after he moved from Swansea to Manchester City. I may be mistaken but I thought I saw him operating one of those catering trolleys on a South West Trains service the other day.

If he meant that then it was absolutely brilliant. Thought he got lucky there personally but he’s clearly very decent!

Not far off a sell-out I’d say. Very few empty seats that I could see, at least not in any notable areas.

I thought they managed to squeak their way out of liquidation at the last minute?

Their first FA Cup win was in the 1930's? Not sure if it means much, but both clubs have won exactly the same silverware in the last 70 years or so. Sadly, our sole win is progressively becoming something most Saints fans weren't able to personally experience. Such a shame we lost the 2017 League Cup final, would have been brilliant to have won it.

Sounds nasty, I'm not a sun worshiper so hoping my position at the back of the Kingsland will be one of the better places to be. I guess there's no reason why the game can't go-ahead fine with suitable measures in place for fans and players. Hopefully the club are on the ball.

Here's hoping! Never thought I'd see the day where games here might be under threat due to the heat!

Now that an Amber Extreme Heat Weather Warning has been issued by the Met Office, I wonder if the game is under threat?

Yes, I really do think it is. I guess what he calls pragmatism, we call stupidity, so he has to live or die with the consequences.

I'm proper deflated after the opening game BUT I'm prepared to give Ralph until the end of the month before I go nuclear on him. What I need to understand is whether the text highlighted in bold might have been addressed through the new signings / signings yet to come. I admit it's probably unlikely, and that they were probably signed without Ralph actually identifying them, but what's to say that Bazunu, Bella-Kotchap, Lavia, Aribo and Mara aren't all amazing and transform the spine of our team over the coming weeks? What would really help is if he kept things simple and actually played the best people in the right positions!

Taking my little one for her first Saints game, will be a good lesson to her that life is tough and often full of disappointment!

They are desperate, not insane! 😃

Abysmal as expected. I've been really enjoying my weekends recently, here's to another 9 months of misery...

Fucking hell, bottom of the league to boot now!