saint-crinny

Is the buying the beer story not a gesture from Cortese to try and help out PLymouth as well? Him paying for one beer per Saints supporter is a nice touch to say thanks to Saints fans and celebrate promotion, but also guarantees Plymouth that money. Not much i know, but a nice gesture all the same, considering the financial problems they were having.

Know someone who went tonight - had a quick chat with him and he had enjoyed himself. Said biggest thing that came across was NC's single minded approach - his business, does it his way. A few interesting things, which i'll get more details on after a proper 'de-brief' on Saturday, but i do like his ultimate aim - to win the PL with 8 homegrown players. Also that we are 'statistically the second best passing team in Europe, after Barca' - hilarious interpretation of statistics in anyone's book!

Years of supporting Saints told me we were going to lose that one 3-2 the moment they pulled one back - forgot for a moment that this Saints team is the business!!! Great win - get in there!!!!

Newspapers have some very strict guidelines on what they can publish in an ongoing trial - remebering from my journo days (no longer before i'm taken to the cleaners!) there is a list of only ten points that can be covered, of which age and address are two of them, which is why these nearly always get published. There's not that much else to say, and if you do overstep the mark, the paper can be held in contempt of court - although some of the larger nationals do push the boundaries at times.

I love football. Quick mention for Jack Cork today - he was top drawer again. Such a brilliant signing.

Probably. but why not just enjoy the ride?!!

Nutty

Such a bizarre thread. If you think the England team are overpaid and arrogant - yes they are. But with some exceptions, that is a trait that can be levelled at pretty much every player in the top two divisions, and the majority of L1 and L2 players as well. Having worked at a non-league club, i can tell you there are some impressively arrogant players there too. That is the current state of English football - too much money for some of the stuppidest people in the country is a recipe for disaster, as we regularly see in the press. Does the OP think its a problem exclusive to England? Are there many more overpaid, hateable players out there than Bellamy, for example. And do we honestly think that if you saw Bale (great that he is a Saints product and i enjoy seeing him doing well) on a night out, he wouldnt come across as arrogant too? I just accept that footballers have too much money, are arrogant and easy to dislike, and then get on with loving football, dspite the 'state' of the game. I was in SA last year, spent a lot of money to go there only to have the likes of Rooney mouthing-off about the England fans booing as they were held to a 0-0 againts a bunch of part-timers. I was absolutely furious, as pretty much every football fan in the country was i'm sure. But, England is still my country, and i'm a football fan, so i back them against anyone. I'm not a fan of stupid, overblown patriotism either, but when it comes to England playing, if you're English, why would you want them to lose? Won't happen, but if England win the Euros next year, I wont be sat at home sulking while the majority of the country celebrates, just because i dont want to be Wayne Rooney's best mate. Oh, and losing to Wales, Bale-inspired or othewise, would literally be unbearable, especially from my Welsh mate.

Regardless of what he was 'allegedly' doing inside the club, what happened outside is disgraceful and whoever is responsible should be punished accordingly. Wider debate about footballers hitting the town is probably not for now, but my personal view is they should be more selective about where they go out. If i was on footballers money, i wouldnt be going to places like Junk, or the White House. Apologies if i missed it but i wonder if any other Saints players were with him?

He is funny though...

Think the main issue here would be that Beckford wouldnt want to come, rather than would we want him (I'm sure NA would after working with him at Scunny). Beckford is a player who has worked himself up from non-league to PL - which deserves great credit - and he is not likely to give PL football up after just one season, having battled so hard to get there, particularly as he did pretty well last year and with Everton's strikers, or lack of them, he will surely be involved plenty this year too.

Wilshere? Walcott is effectively a regular

Problem for us will now be the inflated prices that clubs will demand if we bid for any of their players - they will be well aware that we have at least £5m extra to play with, if not more

Dont see why he wouldnt be motivated? Decent club, good facilities, decent wage, point to prove after being binned off by QPR despite playing great last season. He's a footballer at the end of the day and will want to play for a team that's doing well, which will hopefully be us

Why do we need a winger to replace Oxo if he goes - surely De Ridder will be the perfect man to cover this? And if Oxo stays then we have great options.

The Saints comments were ridiculous - implying that there was something dodgy going on when in fact, the tiniest bit of research would have shown there was nothing. Makes you question much of the documentary really, if that was the best example of something 'dodgy' going on in the Football Club. (as does the bizarre Barnsley Town comment) Having said that, the whole sorry gang, including Robson, have come out of that really badly and there isn't much doubt that they are all as slippery as they come. No doubt there are plenty of others who are trying to get in and out at English clubs in the same way, and probably some who have, as the process seemed straightforward enough and the FL chairman admitted that there was probably little they could do to prevent it.

13 pages of debate, but i think the long and short of it is basically that the club has raised ticket prices following promotion - to be expected even if you think it's too steep an increase... ...If you are happy to pay more then do, if you're not, then don't

Don't think that's how it works? Even if Barney had been there to put the plea in himself it wouldn't have meant anything being resolved quicker than his lawyer doing it for him. They still wouldnt have set a date for the trial

Think it is a sound argument to say that clubs in a financially tighter situation than we are (all speculation aside!!!) are likely to rely heavily on ST sales, after a summer of relatively little income/activity. This is certainly my experience from working at a football club, albeit non-league. A club more financially stable can afford to play the longer game, not needing the initial hit from large ST sales at the start of the season, and hope to earn more in the long-run by on the day sales, particularly if the team is performing well, which NC would expect us to be doing. Also, with or without marketing, it is pretty safe to say that we will still receive a substantial amount of income from ST sales this year - at the very least i would expect almost everyone to renew, and at a slightly increased cost.

Add Danns on a free transfer to that trio of Oxo, Morgan and Lallana and i dont think anyone in the Championship could offer anything better in midfield

Get in there!!! Party time at SMS on Saturday!!!

Puncheon's agent?

Just do it right tonight. Even though a win tonight all but guarantees promotion, don't invade the pitch: 1) Plymouth will have just been relegated 2) Technically we aren't even promoted (a formality I know, but this is Saints after all) It's no wonder we get all the arrogant chat, so let's just be a bit classy about things if we get the win and save the invasion for SMS

He could never do this in reality. Yes he wanted to keep Oxo, and comments at the end of the window suggested that he always wanted to. But, halfway through the window, how could he know if a club was going to meet his demands? He clearly had a deal in mind that he would ultimately sell Oxo for. No-one met it, so he stayed. If he had announced at a press conference that Oxo was going nowhere and then a week later a big team meets the demands, Oxo goes and Nc looks like an absolute moron, loses all credibility and the trust of the fans.

hammer blow whichever way you try and spin it