Channons Windmill

A client of mine in Bodo really rates Grønbæk, described him as by far their best player whilst he was there - part of that time I think included playing in Europe. He thinks he’ll do well with us..

Guaranteed to beat the traffic though…

My wife is Canadian and a relatively new convert to football (luckily for me she truly loves going to games) - we’ve been to see the Saints quite a few times and she has a 100% losing record. We somehow managed to even pick games last season (Bristol City and Cardiff away, Millwall at home) that we lost. Watching the Millwall game she really enjoyed the noise their fans made so, as we’re only five stops from South Bermondsey on the train, she’s now decided she’s a Millwall fan. Can’t really disagree with her, though the football is pretty poor so there’s zero expectation on the field and the people who sit around us are all very entertaining so another potential Saints lost..

Can we also have a Favourite XI? Not necessarily the best XI… Niemi Dennis. VVD. Wright. Holmes D.Wallace. MLT. Williams. Bale Channon. Keegan

I was in a conference today discussing the value of football clubs and it amazed me to see how valuable a PL club is - based on the data shown, both Fulham and Brighton were in the top 30 worldwide, with Boscombe not far behind. The cost of relegation from the PL gets bigger and bigger…. I would have thought SR would be a little more proactive in protecting their investment, especially if the cost of a redundancy payment is the issue (and surely these contracts are performance related?).

I’m (for the first time ever) ITK on this one - as it stands today, it won’t be Potter… he has his heart set on other bigger jobs

Though Potter is very keen to get back into management, he seems to be waiting for the MU job….

Can we agree in advance how to pronounce Bijlow? Consensus online is “bay-lo”….

I’m on a Telegram Group that promotes all this Truth nonsense - it’s actually part of my daily light reading but, blimey, they don’t half believe some nonsense…. I find ther beliefs utterly fascinating and, as my American wife points, it only has a few thousand followers which is not a particularly high percentage of the population…..

I was talking to a Brentford fan last night and he said exactly the same thing - said he played in every position and was a bit of a cult hero…

What, you mean it isn’t? The first time I saw the Saints was the game v Blackpool in the 4th round, and my first midweek’er was the WBA replay - as a seven year old sat on the crash barrier under the West Stand with my Dad clinging on desperately to me. I can still remember the awe of being amongst all those smoking and swearing men, just about able to see the action. Mick Channon will always be my hero after that evening, but the trip to Wembley was something else. My Dad got us season tickets when the Family Centre opened (78/79?) and we were lucky enough over the coming years to enjoy one of the best eras of football in Southampton ever which the cup run without doubt kicked off..

Even the BBC are using the word cancelled. It’s a POSTPONEMENT FFS…..

If they cancel the game won’t that be unfair that we only play 45 games when the others play 46? Surely postponing is more equitable?

Saw him play on many occasions though have two slightly unusual lasting memories of him, one being an own goal at Man City in the League Cup (78-79?) in an absolute monsoon, we were stood in the Family Centre and absolutely drenched. The other was meeting the players before a midweek game at Lawrie’s invitation - all the players were having steaks and CN stood out for having poached eggs on toast. Funny what you remember… great player and manager RIP

Well that was a fascinating game to watch - four things I really couldn’t understand. 1) why at times bring the game to an almost complete stand if you then haven’t got a plan for the next progression? Had we come for a nil-nil? 2) it’s many years since I’ve seen a player as one footed as Manning. Almost every time he got the ball on the inside he had to turn into the centre of the pitch. City’s right side defence couldn’t believe their luck. 3) Sulemama - came on looking manic. What was his purpose? 4) it was pretty obvious from the close of the first half how City were going to expose our weak spots, yet we didn’t change (apart from a brief period when the full backs swapped sides). As my partner pointed out, it was brains v brawn.. and brawn won

Everyone here knows there are three… City, Rovers and Manor Farm. Bristol football suffers from the tribalism in the city. The Somerset/Gloucs, City/Rovers, Taunton or Thatchers/Bulmers divides everything - it’s very much two cities divided by the river, or more a series of villages that have all joined together.

Rather looking forward to this one particularly - after watching the Saints since 1976, this is the first time I will have walked (around two miles) to see them…

I’m in Clifton, can see Portishead in the distance on my evening walks if that counts?

I can’t be the only one who covers his eyes watching us play pretty triangles to and fro across our own penalty area can I? The sort of thing that was coached out of most players by the time they’re ten…. Also, I watched the highlights of an old game at The Dell recently (Liverpool, the one where Channon finished off a great team move) and it struck me how Joe Aribo runs in exactly the same way as that great striker of ours, Keith Cassells….

We’re going to see plenty more games like that this season, especially if voluntarily go down to ten men in the first half. The tactic against us is clearly to sit a bank of four in front of a back five to make us play continuous pretty triangles. Wait for us to lose possession and hit us on the break - thinking of Bazunu’s excellent one on one stop when he suddenly appeared twenty feet wide and Downes incredible track back near the end after Manning’s woeful pass. If we can’t get through a tightly compressed back nine then we’re really going to struggle to score….and always be under pressure from quick counters.

Can we sign out of contract players in between transfer windows? If so, the line-up I’d go with would Shilton-Golac-Dennis-Wright-Nicholl-Williams-Holmes….

Don’t forget that Everton have their FFP hearing from 25th October - apparently if they lose we that then Saints (plus Leeds, Leicester and Burnley) will be taking legal action against them. I can’t see, under those circumstances, that there would any situation where we would cut Everton a deal especially as there is the very real possibility they could go into administration…

Or Rees-Mogg in his top hat, give us some height..?

I surprised myself by how much I’ve enjoyed the last couple of England games but do wonder if we could find a goalkeeper taller than 5’8”? She was clearly beaten for height for the goals conceded against Colombia and Australia….

I always thought Shilton was a little overrated but, blimey, he was good at shouting and keeping his defence in position. And blaming them for every goal conceded…