RobM

Guly's got a tramp stamp.

Deciding to target a club current playing CL football, or at the top of their league, I get that. But ambition? Can we really be marked down for that? We're aiming at players like this, we're aiming for European football, we're building a superb academy and actually using the products of it in our first team and so far, not only have we achieved everything we said we wanted to, we've done it ahead of schedule and spent decent sums of money to get there. If that's not ambition, what is?

Joy - Promotion from League 1, the first promotion as a Saints fan I'd witnessed, the start of great things to come and a genuine feeling of positivity. Sadness - The Alan Ball tributes during the first game after his sad passing. Something I'll never forget is being part of a stadium full of fans - home and away - slow-chanting his name. I had a genuine lump in my throat. Amusement - 'Wotsit, wotsit, give us a wave'. Stupid thing, just sticks in my mind.

I'm still at laughter, humour and enjoyment. I don't see it changing any time soon

Are you suggesting it's not accurate, not scientific and might be based on opinion and guesswork? Surely not!?

I'd be happy with 9th. It's an improvement on last season, it's a very respectable finish and continues our steady climb upwards.

I agree entirely. The market just above is harder to deal with, more complicated and therefore takes longer. You're typically buying players who people really don't want to sell, from leagues that can compete with the Prem in quality, from Chairmen who want every last million. Just look at Bale to Real Madrid, Fàbregas to Man Utd etc. No doubt the SaintsWeb experts think these clubs are also badly managing their transfers as the deals haven't been done yet.

Was their squad as good as ours beforehand? Surely you should judge them as a whole, rather than on three individual players. As a squad we're doing well, we're certainly stronger than Norwich IMO. That's what counts. They needed two strikers of this quality, we need just one to compliment our existing strikers and there is almost a month left before we can judge the success of this window.

Be careful Hutch, as iLivid is known to install some nasty Malware on your PC that can be a ***** to get rid of.

But yet Hooper, who I rate as an equal to Sharp, gets the nod for a Premiership team. I rate the SPL the same as the NPC and both Sharp and Hooper have scored consistently in their respective leagues.

Striker, IMO. I don't think pace is the priority though, I'd rather have wide players with pace alongside an intelligent striker, regardless of the strikers pace. What we need is a striker who can make chances for himself and others, with excellent finishing ability. Our defence record towards the end of last season wasn't terrible, we didn't concede enough to think it's the priority that's for sure, but we've strengthened regardless so should be in a very good place.

Agreed. The first option is two top quality players moving to the best league in the world, to a team investing heavily in talent and the future, who seem to pay good wages. The second option is a Premiership player and fans favourite dropping down a level in every possible regard.

If they had innocent families that will suffer from the loss of income, the workers should have been professional and respected the fact they have a family to support. Instead, they acted unprofessionally and, potentially, put their careers and family at risk. I think everyone can take a joke and see the funny side - even moreso if it was the other way around I'm sure - but when somebody acts unprofessionally they deserve to be disciplined. In this case they did so, bragged by showing it off on YouTube, put the companys good name at risk and suffered the consequences. What part of that should we be feeling sorry for? If I did something to put my family at risk I wouldn't expect your sympathy.

They'll be debating the merits of prudent financial management and looking after local businesses next!

Funny really, this rumour. If it's true, Celtic will sign somebody we consider not good enough, while at the same time saying we're not good enough or big enough to sign Wanyama.

That squad list highlights what we already know - we're strong in midfield, look decent at CB and GK, need to add depth at RB and LB and need another out-and-out striker. There is enough in the team to push for top-10, but relies on the starting lineup playing every game. Just one injury or bad patch in a weaker position and we're in trouble.

They've nothing to lose. If they remain stubborn they either keep him, at least for another year, or get the money they want.

My guess is the one year contract is there to answer this question. If he makes good enough progress in the next year and shows he is ready for this level, I'm sure a longer deal will follow. If not, he's young enough to move on without harm to his career and we're not stuck with a long contract. Everyones a winner.

Both Fonte and Jos put in some good shifts last season, just not as consistently as we need for them to be regular starters. As backups, for cup games etc, I think they'll do a job. Yoshida needs a solid defender next to him to perform at his best, somebody like Lovren would appear to be. I do think they'll be our first choice CB pair but I can't say I'm 100% comfortable. I can't help but fear that Yoshida has a few too many mistakes in him. Hopefully with Lovren the pressure will be off him and he will be more reliable. I'm more worried about cover for LB and RB. We can't go an entire season without strength in depth and a capable player ready to step into both positions.

If we don't add any further signings, we should expect high end of the bottom half. We will be a better 'team' and we will be stronger defensively, hopefully without the horrendous start that cost us points. 11th - 13th. However, if the three main names we're looking at do sign for us, I would expect that to improve to 9th - 11th. We're not suddenly going to be pushing for Euro places, we won't suddenly get the very, very best out of every player, especially those in their first season with us. We must also remember that we're not the only club spending money, so while we're improving, so are those around us. To move further up the table, we need to improve more than other teams are improving.

Kinda irrelevant if Cardiff can't afford the asking price and nobody else but us is bidding for him! They aren't even in the running until they find a bit more cash down the back of their sofa.

We've signed a chain of pubs?

Perhaps I'm in the minority (on this forum, at least) but I couldn't give a **** about the specific design of the shirt (it changes every year, some will be good, some bad), I don't care for the sponsor (unless its inappropriate) and I don't care about stadium naming (it's a flat-pack stadium, it's no Dell). I support the football club, not the business. I am acutely aware of how strongly the two are linked and how important they are to each other, but I don't turn up to support businessmen and businesses, I turn up to support my home football team. If 'selling out' to **** shirt designs and crap naming rights means my football team is stronger for it, why aren't we doing that? Getting upset over such material things is akin to refusing to support Southampton after moving out of the Dell. As modern and excellent as St Marys is, it was a business decision to move not an emotional one, much like sponsorship and to a lesser extent, shirt designs.

If you do get in touch, I'd love to hear how you get on. I've got a sizeable collection of old programmes, memorabilia, pictures, even the original 'Saints Magazines' with various signatures in! If somebody out there buys or collects them it would be interesting to get in touch.

Sadly you're right, but equally and perhaps more importantly, if everyone takes that attitude and accepts it as the norm, football will suffer greatly as a result. If agents can demand £500k comfortably, they'll ask for £1m. When that becomes the norm, they'll ask for £2m...