Charlie Wayman

A very crappy analogy indeed. Nigel "Hug-a-star" Adkins is the one of two very sensible and sober reasons why the Oxy situation is so totally different, the other one being Nicola "My Way or No-Way" Cortese. Again, I'd advise all to disregard the Arsenal link cited by the Mail. If we can afford to run without a shirt sponsor for a whole season in League 1 ask yourself why we'd be remotely interested i discussing £5m for the "best young prospect in English football" £25m + may prove to be less resistible... but Gooners don't have that sort of money and sure as hell we are not here to subsidise those perennial poseurs. Mr Wenger may be a very nice man at times but he gets awfully angry and *****y sometimes whereas Adders seems venom-less.

There is no reason for him to leave or for us to believe he will leave; the rest is up to us, get promoted twice and why would he want to leave? After that we can do anything Spurs have been able to do and let's face it they only did it by taking our best player away from us, as mancini said today bale is 60% of Spurs! - Of course Bale, baled us out but it wasn't that long ago we beat Spurs 4-0 in the FA Cup and 1-0 in the PL all within a week.

Did anybody manage to book their tickets on-line? Effed if I can make it work despite being a ST and my seat is allegedly reserved for me. Can't get through on the effing blower either so looks like standing in the rain tomorrow morning at SMS. Time they sorted this kind of mess out.

This is not the time to get carried away and make extravagant claims for our team, we can do that after we win this league and the FA Cup in May

Oldham are a very good side and the best by miles to visit us this season as our hard won 2-1 victory attests. They have matched us all the way and in fact have a better record having lost only 5. They are my tip for the Title. I am not suggesting they are unstoppable but at home to a Saints side that doesn't travel all that well? I don't think they'll be troubled overmuch tonight and will win 2-0. I hope and pray to be wrong but can't see it frankly. Sorry lads but we are not yet unbeatable as we seemed to be at times late last year.

Let's hope if we get turned over by Man U that the defeat doesn't derail our bid to win this league. It's the worst draw we could have had at this stage of the season, a heavy defeat will do our morale no good at all as it will serve as a reality check for one or two of our budding young stars who may think secretly that they are already Premier League class... down to earth with a JOLT! is not what they or we need right now. This is what worries me most.

I was at a social gathering last evening and guess how many new friends I had wanting to talk about Saints and "their terrific win over Blackpool" and "the wonderful draw against Man U" and hint, hint access to tickets? The biggest surprise in life is that there are no surprises! Trust yourself and nobody else for the next few weeks. Ask, would they do the same for you? Would they ********! Where am I coming from on tickets? I guess £30/35 will be the level set whatever we might wish to the contrary. Also we ST's ought to be offered our own seats first, not everyone is on the internet or able to walk up to the ticket office, there are plenty of ST's who are ordinary working blokes or pensioners on very modest incomes. I know a few older ST's who've already got squeezed out in the earlier rounds as they couldn't take up their tickets quickly enough. I don't like the 'Fastest Finger First' principle when it comes to football, as the weakest and poorest always lose out and corruption is always a oily smielling presence.

At the end of the day its about winning a game of football. We've got a good group of players and today they did just that with a good spirit which is important and yes we made a few changes with games coming up but its all about the squad and keeping a good squad together and in the dressing room and going out there with a good spirit and winning a game of football and they did that today and I'm proud of the way they played despite we changed our shape and we also won the game of football with this shape... Morgan, Morgan signir un contrat de cinq ans s'il vous plait!

I still back Oldham to win this league, they are by far the best side we've seen at SMS this season, let's just hope we can stay second.

Holloway in a foul mood? Maybe if he could have kept his trap shut on fielding his second team then the FA would not have been on his back with threats of fines and censure - this is the competition that really matters to the FA so you don't get away with telling 'em to FO. However it also possible that Holloway has tried to sucker us on team selection and will indeed field his best eleven but why would we fall for that hoary old gambit (Adders?) when we don't even know who their first team is anyway - "Who R any of U?" comes to mind as the song of the day. I hope we don't play silly buggers with our team selection as well, let's get the maxi boys out there Adders and run 'em off the park.

Time to sniff the seaweed guys, any old tosser could have scored three goals against West Ham last night. Best couldn't get out of the way. Next game... Leon who? Wasn't it Pardew that turfed him out of St Mary's. How ironic is that.

Any signings need to made immediately, we need them now, there's no sense in a secret cat-and-mouse poker game delaying our bid until 31/01 just so others can' t come in and offer more. Get the details tied up secretly and then announce he's here fait accompli, whoever he / they may be. We can't afford to lose a month of his / their services.

Nicola Cortese has emphasised that we are no longer a selling club. If Chamberlain or Lallana are sold it would be a serious breach of trust between we fans and the ownership, confirming that all the rhetoric and hyperbole about returning to our rightful place in the Premier League within (now) 3 1/2 years was nothing but brazen barefaced bull**** from the start. This would be one hell of a gamble on the part of the ownership as nobody would ever believe another word they spoke. It just wouldn't do to say "we had no choice as the player wanted to go... " I once vowed that if Lowe returned I would not set foot in the ground again whilst he remained involved - I was true to my word. If these two players are sold, I will be gone for good and there will be plenty more like me.

We should not forget that this is Pardew's team, they may well play better under Adkins but it was Pardew that signed them all. Thanks Al.

Watch Out! Whilst we are all looking at Lallana, Chamberlain and Shneiderlin hoping they won't get snatched, just watch out for some bugger to come in and nip Adkins from under our noses whilst we're not looking. Maybe it's him the Scousers have been scouting?

or Beckham?

I though the reporter's style was a little more subtle than yours Tokyo. Nigel obviously liked him so gave him a feed... mischievous bugger, now either he or Nicola are over a barrel - ouch, but it was good!

Best of all for me was Nigel Adkins post-match piece on Solent. Loved his upbeat anything is possible style, obviously a guy full of all fired up and thinking only positive thoughts... now, I am beginning to war to him, so long as he delivers the PL title in 2014. Also, cancel that friggin' cab. Guly, Guly sign those forms!

Because Crystal Palace play at Croydon just up the A23 from Brighton, their nearest league rivals.

I'll have 3kg of that variety please!

Morgan Schneiderlin played for Saints... savour those words and that thought! Today in the second half we lucky 22000 witnessed the coming of age of a new world star. One day we'll look back in fond remembrance of today and say "I was there!" "How good was he Dad?" you young 'uns will be asked... "Oh! Son, I cannot begin to explain"

I'd like to think 7-1 is possible but we certainly won't lose by 7.

You must be kidding! You need to be looking elsewhere for a make-weight for Chaplow. Schneiderlin was immense on Tuesday - if only he could resist the odd feet-up through-the-back sliding tackle and his prone-ness to red cards! Hammond is now the weakest link on ability alone, yes he's got a great engine and yes he's built like a brick sh*thouse but he's very one dimensional in his thinking, more like a guard dog than a creative midfielder who can change games. Chaplow may well be better than Hammond but even then the jury is still out. As for Chaplow v Schneiderlin, come off it it's like comparing Tesco's house red to a Grand Cru Montrachet...

Eff Me! Chaplow must think all his Christmasses have come on the same day if he really has landed a 2 1/2 year contract. Not even his mother wants him back home! I'll bet he's chuffed being valued at £50k even Eastleigh could afford that, where he'll likely end up on loan.

As I understand the situation, Chamberlayne Senior insisted on AOC doing his apprenticeship at Saints because of the reputation built by our academy over the years as being one of the best if not THE best training situation for bringing on young talent. If true then it is unlikely that WE found AOC as a prospect for the future, so we would have few rights as such and probably loyalty to Saints is not an issue. We may have to accept that he was placed here in much the same way as a really bright kid gets placed at Oxford. Then the only question to consider is "When is his apprenticeship over?" It could be one season or two to really turn his learning skills into practical realisation. When does a trainee pilot get his wings - of course he has to fly solo more than once? When that time is up - 'we used to call it standing by Nellie' - and the boy is indeed a man, then he'll have no compunction about leaving his alma mater in much the same way as when most people graduating from Uni. never look back, only a very few dullards stay on etc. Then the whole question of loyalty and fee is tested because in such a scenario why would we expect any fee at all except that to cover the cost of training him - so £250K is about all we could hope to get for that? In short. He ain't a Saint and is not ours to sell! People need to understand the independent nature of the Academy and its role and the fact that it will be only the boys that WE discover for whom we could expect to extract a decent transfer fee. I think AOC will stay for one more season after this and then be off if his progress is maintained but even then it will not be for a big fee if he has not signed a big money contract. My guess is his present contract is along the lines of two years further education plus an agreed release fee at the end, reflecting as I said before the cost of being trained by us.