edprice1984

Average afternoon to be honest

I am off to Paris next Wednesday. Beach Volleyball (Mens (Sweden v Italy) and Womens (Australia v Canada) and the first session of the Athletics. Looking forward to it. Then a couple of days at Disneyland, followed by a trek around Bavaria.

From my point of view I always struggled to get tickets to away games due to not having a season ticket and also ones I could get to (generally further North) clash with Gloucester Rugby matches. I will be totally honest and fully expected it to be much easier this season, but due to our incredible run of form I have only managed Coventry away so far. Bought a ticket for myself and for my Dad. Only been to Anfield once before, to watch Liverpool v Sunderland with a friend in 2009. Looking forward to it as an experience I don’t generally get to have, regardless of the somewhat diluted atmosphere. Obviously the league should be our priority but sometimes it’s good to dream!

They have lost four of their best players in the run up to the tournament and it looks like Walsh is out now too. A Semi-Final would be a great tournament in my opinion with the loss of talent the side has experienced.

Moron that I am, forgot to change address on the Saints account and it went to the old home address. Managed to sort picking up a replacement at Reading on Saturday.

Anyone had their tickets for Reading through yet?

I have seen Saints get hammered in pre-season and win comfortably in pre-season. You do get some cues and clues into how a season might go, but honestly after two games I really wouldn't be too concerned. We all know we need new CBs and preferably have someone who stick it in the back of the net. Half the battle this season is that we don't necessarily know if three or four of our best players will be here in two weeks time. The market does seem particularly quiet but all it takes is one or two players to move and the whole carousel begins.

Haha - as someone who is guilty of this 'trend' myself, I console myself by the fact I don't have player names on the back of the shirts anymore... But to answer your question, I am going XL

Absolutely loving the away kit. The detail of the sublimated 'Waves' on the kit really looks good. It's clear the theme for the kits has been the incorporation of the elements of the club badge. Rose for the Home shirt Waves for the away Trees/Forest/Oak for the Third shirt For all the criticism of Hummel (and there is certainly some foundation to that) I don't think you would be able to do this sort of stuff with Nike or Adidas. The sizing is a bit off (probably go up a size to be comfortable) but I do like that they and the club are trying to be interesting. Clearly some will simply want Red and White stripes a la 1976 for all eternity - and that's fine - but I do enjoy a bit of variety

Someone is not happy with Osborne. I wonder how much of this will end up in the press. A little harder to publish this stuff in National Newspapers...

I will be at the Reading game. £5 parking I think too.

Leicester will be losing all their best players, their squad depth is shite and they apparently have no money. Leeds very much depends on whether the new owners want to spend the cash; they appear to have some daft clauses in some of the current squads contracts which means a few of them will be walking away for very little Middlesbrough have a decent side, with an up and coming young manager - but you wonder will he be tempted away when a Premier League club comes calling next season (Around Christmas) If we can keep the spine of the team and add in a bit of quality up front (for the Championship) I am actually pretty confident. A good start and a few early wins will get the crowd onside and away we go! (Don't be too harsh, I am fed up with feeling negative)

I have some limited knowledge of the process of the design and implementation of kits etc after being involved a little with Gloucester Rugby. They use OXEN who also supply a number of Rugby League kits too. From conversations with the Marketing team and the CEO, the design for kits is normally decided pretty early on in the previous season if you want something bespoke, whereas if it is templated you can generally wait until nearer Christmas. Of course this is Rugby and the shirt sales are significantly different to football.

A shirt often will succeed or fail because of the performance of the team that plays in it. The Pony shirt from 1993-95 will always be remembered because of Le Tissier - but it was a horrible design. Equally the 2009/2010 and 2011 shirts are often looked backed favourably because we played good football, won a trophy and got promotions. The Sash kit was very different and with no sponsors became an instant classic. The Keegan shirt from 2018 was popular on here, but we were dog awful that season so I have mixed feelings about it. Personally I like the Denmark version, it looks good (although slightly ruined by the gambling sponsor). If the rumours about the Away and 3rd kits are true it could be an expensive couple of months for me (my daughter likes the 3rd kit)

Best mate is a Liverpool supporter and we were discussing the Mail 'article'. He agrees its just utter bullshit and pointless filler. We all know if someone comes in for JWP with a bid of £45-£50m he will go. No less than that unless he properly kicked up a fuss, and to be fair he doesn't seem the type. No one would begrudge a move, but if he stays and takes us back up - club legend status would be secured and I don't think he would ever leave.

Barkley is a massive no. Clearly no drive left and will want a chunk of wages. Gyokeres will end up at Wolves. I have a mate who is a Season Ticket holder and he is convinced they are in for him.

Could be worse - see Leeds United owner using Elland Road as security allowing him to buy Sampdoria!

That will be go down well with our fan base... Re the earlier point by Tauro on Adkins, you have to remember that at the time Nigel was actually joining us from a Championship club! Remarkable when you see where Scunthorpe are now (Conference North!) and had been promoted from League One on several occasions. It was the first time he had any real budget - however it must be remembered we already had the core of our squad in place - Kelvin in goal with Jose Fonte, Dean Hammond, Adam Lallana, Morgan Schneiderlin, Dan Harding and Ricky Lambert already in place. RM potentially starts with a very strong squad for the Championship with plenty of exciting young players, particularly with athleticism and pace and a number of former Championship players who are arguably better suited to the division. He will clearly lose some very good players and recruitment in defence is going to be crucial, but the fans need to be open minded and at least give him a chance.

I can't get a Season ticket as I am already committed to Gloucester Rugby (it's just as painful as supporting the Saints, it's just we have Red and White hoops rather than Stripes). The season ticket will look brilliant value if we have a good season and get promoted or end up in the playoffs as demand for one of tickets will increase as the Season goes on. However initially don't expect to see many sell outs or crowds over 27k very often. I am happy that I get to watch more local away games. Bristol City, Birmingham City, West Brom, possibly Coventry, Swansea, Cardiff, maybe Stoke - rather they were all in the Premier League, but we are shite so...

I went to Uni in Swansea, loved the place and have a real soft spot for them as a football club. I was at the famous Hull City Survival match (Can't believe that it was 20 years ago) and it was the greatest football atmosphere I have ever experienced. Hoping that the stars align and I can get down to the Away game next season as it's been 10 years since I was last there and I have heard its changed a bit!

Well surely we should be getting Hassan Khalifa based on the stats alone....😉

Unless I am very much mistaken (to be honest I have never really paid much attention before) Sportsbet.io aren't appearing as a Sponsor at the footer of the Website pages... Does anyone remember when the current sponsorship deal was due to run out?

A couple of things since my post last week re RM, whether we could 'do better', what that might look like and the style of football. Firstly, to cover off whether we could 'do better than RM'. Can you name me realistic options out there at the moment who would be looking to join a newly relegated football club with a despondent fan base, a dressing room which clearly needs a lot of work, a mixture of players who are not good enough, in horrible form or who need to leave and an ownership who have so far made every bad decision possible? They aren't likely to be household names, or if they are there is probably a very good reason why they are now available! Re the style of football. We may have played a number of games where we had the majority of possession, but this is because most teams (outside of the top 6) now try to play counter attacking, transitional football with a high press. Once you have had your initial press bypassed, the safest thing to do is to fall back into a system and wait for the opponent with possession to make a mistake. We are exactly the same. The difference between us and others is that we have had very average forward line who couldn't hit a cows arse with a banjo. Personally I find possession football without an attacking intent - see Claude Puel - incredibly boring and most teams now know how to combat this. Be compact and aggressive around the box, forcing play out wide as much as possible. I can't get too excited about who the next manager is because the bulk of the squad aren't suited to the Championship anyway. Ironically the two signings made in January (Tall Paul and Kamaldeen) are actually the most suited in my opinion. (Although I am clearly going to be proven wrong when they are dreadful next season too).

JWP, KWP fair enough. The former should be given an opportunity just because he was pretty much the only one who seemed to care in the last few weeks. He could go to Newcastle or Utd beat Beckham's record and in about four matches next season with the opportunities he would get. Lavia and Alcaraz, I would personally hope that we set out very early that offers need to be significant in value. If we keep them, we could build a side that would allow us to bounce back. Without them and I reckon we are mid-table, missing out on the playoffs by 3 points. ABK - I'm not sure. He's been in and out of the side and is an International. Great if we keep him, not a huge loss if he goes as we would likely recoup and more on our outlay.

He's not the worst option out there (see Gerrard or Lampard etc), but equally I would prefer Potter who IMHO would be the perfect fit. However, Potter can with some justification point to the basket case that is Chelsea and realistically get another job in the Premier League. We have to be realistic and remember how utterly shite we currently are and that the first job for any Manager is to restore clarity, calm and a sense of purpose. RM at least has convictions in how he wants to play but isn't a lunatic like Jones. If he wins a few games early on I think the fanbase will warm to him.