Polaroid Saint

Now we are getting to the nitty gritty and important stuff. Yes, he did, but (as was widely reported at the time), the world reached 'peak beard' in mid April - around the same time Saints' campaign began to stagnant. Coincidence? I think not. We need to be ahead of the times here - I'm not saying forget training and the sports science - but come on Saints, sort it out; there must be a decent Turkish Barbers in Southampton somewhere?

Everything! Are you mad? Facial Hair is everything. For starters; the Lallana 'Under Beard' should be banned from the training camp immediately. I saw one or two youngsters wearing it last night. To give Jos his dues, I think he has sported the beard longer than most - but this may point to its origin. I agree; off with the beards! Saints Squad should be clean living clean shaven nice young men, not yobbos with hipster beards and intricately shaved stubble designs, YMCA n all that. (Moustaches are, of course, fine and to be encouraged).

It is well known that the Manchester Evening News have the best 5-a-side team in the national Journo league, the cheating båstards!

Some very eloquent and quite rightly indignant posts regarding the EPL and what it has done to our sport. I am not trying to counter any of those, but the question was specifically about middling success. It could be argued that it would be much more than a mild success if Saints retained 8th next season (regardless of summer activity). In fact it would be a massive success for any club of our size/recent history. If the ceiling for a club like Saints really is 6th, then, maybe, we'd rather compete for that position with other 'mildly successful' clubs than enter the murky world of becoming a Yo-Yo Club? Even the excitement of a 'winning season' in the Champ'ship soon fades against the frustrations of a season being the whipping boys in the EPL. So, yes. If 'Mildly Successful' means Southampton FC battle between 6th and 17th each season, I think it is worth it.

Lol

I cant work this out! It's either absolute genius, or a crying shame, "shame on you lady, shame."

To be fair I didn't click the link at all. Just liked Killers Knee's calm and rational look at our current squad, the player movement so far and what, in his opinion, was the more important areas for us to improve. I have long given up trying to find 'factual information' about football finances online: some are surely more accurate than others, but even the 'authoritive' sites are, at best, educated guesses cobbled together from other sources.

Will people stop posting erudite and sensible opinions? I'll forget which forum I am on! V.good post sir.

Aha. So Morgan followed Spurs on twitter. Got it now. As I say, Simon Jones showing his superb 'insider' knowledge!

Oh. Did I miss something? What did Morgan say on twitter then?

Not a single quote in that 'article' from Morgan. Just Simon 'Lazy Bones' Jones earning his corn with aplomb as usual, flinging any old sh;t in the hope some sticks.

Nothing. But I haven't made an announcement at my work to say I will be in tomorrow. (However, I did say to my boss on Friday that I wouldn't be in if I won the lottery this weekend -I just hope he isn't sat at home panicking!) It's about attitude as a fanatic supporter; pessimism is all well and good when you are three nil up against Norwich and they score two in a minute, but a waste of time this early in the off-season. All the attributed statements were from a while back. A week is a long time in football, or something!

Very good point; I think I sort of knew that somewhere in the back of my mind! I guess I am trying to say that when figures for transfers are bandied about in the media they often vary, and when an amount is quoted we (the public/fans) can never be 100% certain how that is made up (fees, add-ons, part-payments, sell-ons etc). £20m (for example) could be the total value of the transfer incl all the above, or the net figure the club receive. Despite it being pored over on here; I still can't work out exactly how much was paid/we received for either Lallana or Shaw!

The most sensible thing said on this forum for a couple of weeks at least!

Though the logic is sound; that having a former CB as a manager would mean we are likely to have good CBs... ...it could be argued that Saints had their worst set of Goalkeepers (and trouble signing GKs) when we had a former keeper as a manager! (Okay, different class but still, it was a blind spot!)

Lols Trying to work in a gag about brining in players from the consonant, or something.

I'm the Vlaar thread started, twisted Vlaar thread starter. (Honestly, how many do we need?)

Why the need for another thread though? Although I admit it was mildly funny, I am not sure where you are coming from? Are you defending RK or 'exposing' him? Or defending BR and exposing the hypocrisy of TSW? I am a little confused! Do you honestly consider the quote, in context, as "tapping up"? Was it not a genuine reply to a direct question about Vlaar? What was RK meant to say; "Oh yeah, I know Ron really well, but he is crap and slow, I would never sign him"? Sorry CB; just trying to see who or what you were trying to catch (other than pap) with this net!?!?

Well put. People also seem to be acutely aware of football 'agents' but forget how they, ahem, earn their money. A quick and imperfect analogy; if I sell my house for £300,000 I will only have (tops) £291,750 left to buy another house. The tax (read; agent fees) mean I cannot replace like for like purely with the money from the sale. Edited for accuracy!

If I were EPL manager interested in signing a player and I was asked a direct question about ANOTHER player I was NOT interested in signing; I would have no problem agreeing with the question and saying publicly 'yes, he is a good player, but a bit expensive'. Does not mean I am actively perusing that player at all. In fact it would help keep prying noses away from my actual transfer interests. Journo: would Suarez solve your striker issue? Manager: yes, Suarez is a great player and would be brilliant at my club, but he is a bit too expensive.

...

NOTHING like? Really? Not even a little bit? Really really? Okay, just for sh'ts and giggles... RedKrapp (got spurs highest finish in a million years, left 'because of issues with the board') MoPo (for Saints highest finish since WGS and left 'because if issues with the board') Modric (playmaker, 'best' player) Lallana (ditto) Ledley (legend, retired early) Lambert (Legend, retired early) Shaw (fan favourite) Van den Vaart (fan favourite) ...and, yeah, that's it so far for Saints. But I guess you could match Krancjar with Morgan if this thread comes to the worst. I am NOT saying it is EXACTLY the same, but it is something like it, is it not? And to claim it is unprecedented to lose that many important players and a manager over one summer is just plain wrong. There are plenty of other examples from around the world of top flight football too.

Although I quite agree, high quality signings are absolutely necessary to, at a minimum, replace like for like, or - ideally - improve.

Corluka Van den Vaart Ledley King Modric Krancjar Bassong Pienaar And yep, Redkrapp was pushed before he could jump, all that England job thing and Daniel Levy being Daniel Levy. But I think it is enough to counter your suggestion that such a situation is 'unprecedented in top flight football'.

Tottenham Hot Spur. Summer 2012?