Fitzhugh Fella

Mitchell may well have saved Bournemouth, put his own money in etc etc but his PR skills are appalling. I heard him speak on the Solent phone in and it was excruciating. I would suspect all most Bournemouth fans want is some sort of rationale but on the forum Mitchell went straight into attack dog mode in response to some very well put and polite questioning. He came across as an absolute arse to be frank.

I don't know - I assume it had

I have the whole game on 8mm film. Time to get it on to a DVD I guess

Yes thats as far as I got - keep your ears open for me

Good informative article and well researched too. Amazing no one from the Ipswich squad "made" it big time. Thanks for sharing it. As you seem to be hot on research how about trying to find Lee Powell (little Welsh winger from the 1990s) for me - I have looked everywhere.

A big disappointment for me. His defending is average at best but the biggest minus is his woeful distribution/crossing. How he got into the League One team of the season is - on what we have seen in a red and white shirt - a mystery.

You lost the plot the day you first put your hand in your pocket to buy the Daily Mail, Trousers.

Sorry, I had to smile at this - after Buccotim's ironic contribution it cheered me up

Steady you are getting confrontational and have, I note, put one foot in the positivity camp. And yes it was you who drove me there and back to Walsall and it was the worst away game i have been to thanks to a dearth of drinking partners.

My first thoughts are with Dan Seaborne and I sincerely hope he makes a full recovery. My 2nd thought are why, after the Barnard incident, players insist on frequenting night-clubs in city centres. I think in this day and age with wages what they are, any aspiring professional should keep well away and the club should enforce that bann and it should be in their contract. My 3rd thought was the Echo were incredibly insensitive with their reporting on this.

Why Canada Saint should find "negative" posts offensive is beyond me. That Walsall match was a kick in the nuts and I can't ever remember feeling so down as I drove along the M40 that night. But a truly miraculous run which no one could really have predicted delivered us and I dare say all those people CS found offensive were cheering with everyone else when we clinched promotion. Only posts that involve predictions should be dragged up to prove a point - this one was just stirring it imo. People cope with the fluctuations of being a Saints fan in a myriad of different ways and as such should be allowed to express themselves on here without the positivity police (and to a much lesser extent the negativity police) giving them a hard time. I enjoy reading Alpine and Hypo's contributuions as much as anyone elses because at least they offer an alternative and minority view. They should be allowed to be heard without ridicule.

Lambert has no pace but he is a brilliant target man. Swindon proved we need cover for him and JB on loan would be a good shout.

Just back, We were very slick in the 1st half despite not really having an out and out forward in the team and looked to be cantering to a big score but in the 2nd we were woeful. Lots of intricate passing that went continually backwards where either Seaborne, Martin or Harding would lose it, sometimes in a dangerous position. We let Swindon come at us and hardly put them under any pressure. It was only when Lambert came on that we regained any composure and he ended the nerves with a classy finish. Lots of niggles and the Swindon player who fouled Schneiderlin just before HT should have been sent off but the ref bottled it. I must admit I have always rated Martin but his distribution was awful tonight and he ended up getting booked when he got caught out trying to be clever. Schneiderlin also booked for showing studs. Holmes looked tidy in the first half and hit some good crosses but faded. Cork very good in 1st H but hardly saw him in the 2nd. Harding awful. Strange there was not Butterfield, no Dickson and no Chaplow. All 3 need games but were not even on the bench. Anyway job done but typically we made it harder than it needed to be.

Chin Strain to be fair you were making accusations about me on the previous page ie having an axe to grind against NC and accusing me having having a swipe at him etc etc, which was based on the simple fact that I posted a direct quote by Neil Warnock that was in the Echo. Your response is almost as if you took it personally. That I can't fathom. However you seem a reasonable sort of guy. Yes you are right, I have my views and I hear things from people I respect. A lot I would not want to repeat on here. I find a lot of Saints fans incredibly blinkered when it comes to seeing or reading criticism about their club and on here these days you simply cannot be seen to say anything negative about the way our club is run. Why? I don't really know, it is almost sacrilege but it is not very healthy. There is nothing wrong with good honest criticism and for that to take place both sides of the story needs to be told. We don't often hear the club's side because they choose not to reveal it but I was merely presenting Warnock's view. Like I said he is an arse but it is his side of things and as such has a modicum of interest, imo.

Chin Strain - perhaps you will elaborate on my axe to grind - you obviously know me better than I do? For the record I have never met NC, I have no axe to grind but as I have always done in my Saints supporting life going back to he days of Ted Bates, I reserve the right to criticise (or praise). I have been very critical over the years of Ted Bates, yes the Milton called for his sacking on more than one occasion. Lawrie McMenemy, no one liked him at first. I wrote to Ian Branfoot to complain about his tactics, I had a bust up with Guy Askham about the way the club shop was run (it went bankrupt owing me lots of money). I had as you know a serious difference with Ruper Lowe. I am critical of my club full stop when I see the need but I also praise when neccesary. Can someone tell me is there suddenly a rule now that we can't be critical and if you do you have an agenda. If so I have been running my agenda since 1963.

Saint Ash what a tacky little post. And just in case you are still wondering, I get now exactly what I have always got for services rendered. A free season ticket and, for the record, sales of my books in the club shop have netted the club £50,000 plus over the last decade so they get their monies' worth I reckon if you are up for doing the maths.

I think there is good and not so good in NC's approach. Good that he is not the sort to get held to ransom and deal in brown envelopes but not so good that due to his inexperience with the way football works when compared say to Swiss banking procedures, he is inexperienced in the rough and tumble of the transfer market. Gorkss's comments alarmed me a little as it did sound if we couldn't make up our mind and I think that boat may have sailed and we should have been on it.

Butterfield is a better full-back than Richardson - for me he is our biggest weak link right now.

In tonight’s (Friday) Echo Neil Warnock is critical of Saints attempts to sign Gorkss which he describes as “messy”. He says “we had Southampton messing about for 3 weeks and to be honest I’d had enough of that. Brian McDermott was magnificent when he spoke to me. Then within 5 minutes he was talking to the player, within 2 hours was having a meal with him and then he signed him. That’s the way to do business. At Southampton we had a chairman who was talking to us for weeks and weeks and I am delighted Kaspars has now gone to Reading. It’s a good club”. Just letting people know what is being said in the Echo. Don’t shoot the messenger and yes I know Warnock is an utter arse.

Some interesting, sensible thought provoking and welcome posts on this thread. One thing I know..... There has been more intrigue, skullduggery, cock ups and mayhem at SFC in the 21st C, than the who previous century put together and that is saying something. And the trouble is no one knows the full 100%.

Yes no point whatsoever in being critical until we have seen him play half a season, but just as many eulogise about a signing having never seen the person play. The fan's reaction from the departing club is always a good yardstick for me and the reviews from Bristol do seem a bit mixed. Richardson was the last player who got a mixed send off and I am no fan of his. Still think our pressing need is another burly forward.

I thought we had a policy of signing players that improve what we already have?

this is a bit of a worry

What worries me is Fontaine had an ankle operation in March and in this season's first game was subsituted after problems with the same ankle. Personally speaking I feel the Latvian to have a better pedigree having played for a promotion winning side in QPR.

Hmmm, I got a lot of stick for being critical of the SCW set-up at the time but this sort of bears me out. No wonder Harry got hacked off.