revolution saint

Yep, Football (albeit a meaningless friendly) is far more exciting than that past time called cricket. I watched what i could but it's always Saints first for me.

Murty was Number 2 I think? As a friendly though I don't think the squad numbers were used? To be honest I only used the numbers when referring to the hearts players - incidentally their numbers 9, 10 and 7 all looked quality.

Mills, Harding and Holmes have the left side pretty much sorted. Certainly Mills and Harding were solid and not without invention today and it's not an area I'd be much concerned about this season. As long as we have two of those three fit then we should be OK. Right side is more of a problem. I think Murty may have done enough today to get the RB slot. He still looks fat and unfit but his cross for our goal was great. We've missed that quality. Maybe James can fill in in front of him and defensively that would be OK - I'd wonder if it had enough creativity though. Still leaves where to fit in Lallana though. He's definitely quality and especially in this league. He can create chances and deserves to be in the mix but frankly at the moment I'd take a good team performance over his sporadic glimpses of talent. As he progresses we may need to accommodate him but he's not there yet.

Saints every single day of the week and twice on Sundays. I love England and all that but not with the same passion as Saints. I've only ever been to one England game (Keegan's first as manager) and I found the crowd was packed with a fair number number of right wing nutters who just wanted to boo the opposition anthem. To be fair that was a minority but still a fairly large minority. The real clincher though was when we scored. When Saints score it's an instinctive leap out of the seat and celebration but that's not the case when England score - I'm happy but not in the same way. Perhaps I'm just not jingoistic enough. Whoever said that England are more important because it would have been with English players presupposes we have a connection with people just because they happened to have been born in the same country. Sure it's there to an extent but the attraction is probably more to do with a shared interest within the country and everyone getting excited about it rather than the players themselves - I don't feel any more connection with rich over paid players that exist in a different world to me than I would, for example, with Marians Pahars. The Ashes are a good example of this - I don't particularly like cricket that much but the hype and interest around the country are what makes it interesting and good to watch.

Euell always seemed very average to me. Granted I didn't see every game he played but I saw quite a few. He may have done well compared to the rest of the team on occasions but that wasn't really saying much. I can live with his departure but good luck to him.

I'd agree that we need someone to really stamp their authority on a game as captain. Personally I don't think it should be anyone already at the club though. Hopefully Pardew can bring someone in to do the kind of role Wotton was brought in for. No ideas really but off the top of my head maybe someone like Matty Holland?

Probably been posted before:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nRE1vC4ijM He talks a good game anyway and it seems like he didn't want to come back to just any club. TBH I'm just happy that we're back to a proper manager and no more experiments.

No, I'd prefer to talk about Hoddle. Much like you really.

Are you too a Hoddle fan? Oh thank god to find someone else just like me! Maybe we could meet up for a drink sometime? You're not disabled though are you?

Sorry lads, I made it up. To be honest I could have let it run and run but it's not really fair.

Boothroyd in the crowd apparently.

I say this every time but no manager can guarantee success. Bally should have been rubbish for us - he was for everyone else. Burley should have been great and he wasn't. There's really no way of judging whether Tisdale would be that good or bad but I think the ex saint thing has been overplayed. The club may have had a big impact upon him but as a player he didn't have a big impact upon us. I know injuries etc and he was with us for 6 years but even so his appearance record barely merit the title "ex-saint". Oh and didn't he wear a cravat during one of Exeter's play off games? I'm not sure people who wear cravats make good managers though i suppose it would sort out the last away game theme.

Well not much gets leaked from the new owners but I'd have thought they already had someone in mind when they took over. If they had no one then the sensible thing to do would have been to keep Wotte. With that in mind and with Pearson's links to both the club and Oldknow I'd probably guess that Pearson is front runner. He fits the already stated criteria (well stated by the Echo anyway). It's not an appointment that leaves me awestruck but it might be the most sensible. Personally I'd have Boothroyd, or Dennis Wise. Neither are popular choices either but would probably do a decent job.

We've never replaced Jimmy Case.

He's probably been interviewed as an assistant to Dennis Wise.

Fine if they are subservient to the manager, in other words just an assistant. However a sporting director sits on the board and has the capability to assist in decisions that can be imposed upon a manager.

Wasn't he just a member of the board?

I hate institutions not people, for example, I hate the Monarchy. I've never met Liz Windsor or her offspring so can't really hate them although sometimes they make it easy for me to dislike them. Oh, I forgot I do hate the Finchley *****. Sorry but I do, and I'll dance on her grave when she pops her clogs.

It's never worked over here.

I like to pride myself on the fact that I know every saints fan. I asked all of them if they wanted Hoddle and they all said No. HTH.

Except of course that Coppell is a manager. He may come across as introverted but I doubt he is, you don't get success as a manager by being introverted. This DoF/Sporting Director role almost seems like an assistant to the manager and yet in continental terms the sporting director is superior to the head coach. If, for example, we appointed Tisdale there would be nothing wrong with him getting in an experienced assistant but Tisdale would still be the main man. Whoever we get in I want them to have sole responsibility - they call the shots, take the glory when it goes well and the flak when it doesn't.

Winning games is determined by scoring more goals than the opposition. Corners and set pieces provide an excellent opportunity to score goals, and to practise goal scoring opportunities in training. I think scoring more goals from corners and set pieces is an excellent idea - I'm very suprised no on else has thought of it. As an aside can we practise passing to team mates as well?

I'm sure I saw in an interview an intention to appoint a sporting director. I guess this would be along the lines of a director of football role? Can't say I'm a massive fan of that model as I'd prefer a manager to run the show but it's the owners call. Anyway, if this is the case then wouldn't it make sense to appoint the sporting director before looking for a manager?

The way I see it both Tony Adams and Strachan are in the running. I think a crate of Toblerone may seal Adams exclusivity as they haggle over contracts but two weeks and no progress added to media speculation about Adams still living at his parents house will scupper that deal. Strachan will then step forward and take the job after a couple of days of will he/won't he speculation.