RobM

Maynard would be a good bet for the right price - enough of a price to allow City to invest elsewhere in the team to secure their NPC place. I also think he will follow a similar path to Lambert for us, getting better and more confident all the time. I just can't see them letting him go for a price we would want to pay, they will do exactly what NC does and stick a high price on his head and a middle finger up to anybody who comes in lower.

Better than any effort Brighton have come up with so far.

As shocking as we feared. The Fonte penalty wasn't a penalty, but made up for the certain penalties he missed. The sending off was absolutely justified, even though I can appreciate how angry he must have been he should have known better, he should be setting an example!

I don't think that was a new prediction, but an 'I told you so' from his original prediction that we would be in the race for a top-10 spot in Jan. We're winning that race, thus proving him right, which is what he is trying to say in your quote, whelk.

I do have a soft spot for both Huddersfield and Southend now, so please don't take offence to that remark Southend fans were superb, absolutely great fans. Huddersfield pushed us all the way, you kept us very honest and you did it in a very respectful way, so I can't help but keep an eye out for your results - in fact, you're down to win on my accumulator this weekend, so do me a favour please! Good luck to you!

Yes! With a few rounds of 'You dirty racist bastard' for good measure.

If I moved to another country, learned a word or phrase that was offensive locally, I would make sure I didn't use it. If it was a word that was universally known but deemed offensive locally yet fine in my home country, I wouldn't use it. Why should it be any different to people coming into this country?

I thought GWC was one of the brighter contributors to this forum, but bumping that thread on their forum? Really?

Very true, we invented the idea of looking to young and promising managers and creating a forward-thinking plan. Nobody else thought of it before us. Nobody.

How on earth can you possibly know that is true? And how are these people blocking others? These super fans have seasons tickets, no? If they don't, how are they any 'better' than any other fan of our club who pay as they go? Tickets go on sale to all equally, if somebody gets in first perhaps it's because they want it more?

Who cares? This forum has just as many idiots as theirs, many of whom seem pretty keen on 'representing' Saints on other fans forums and giving it large. We have just as many idiots who don't make daft statements and rubbish things without any knowledge. It's what football forums are about it seems. Brighton are, at best, a local derby for two games a season. Away from those two games, they are just another football team, just another mid-table club.

If there is a chance to increase profit and increase our options for investing in the team, it would seem quite stupid not to. St. Marys is a flat-pack stadium that's hardly been around and loved by us all for decades, it started life with a sponsored name even has a name that some people didn't expect or in some cases want (i.e. those who wanted the Dell name to continue somehow). So why get upset if it changes?

It could be if no Mods are around to lock it and put the OP out of their misery.

Or used to have, in the case of Southampton...

The sad thing is we would need to spend a very large amount of money (in relative terms) to be able to match or better either of them.

The comments from NC about spending big in the Prem suggest that he at least is up for investing... lets just hope he can convince those with the cash in their pockets!

The two aren't mutually exclusive... buying players to ready ourselves for the Prem means bringing in Prem-ready players (duh, I know...), which should result in a stronger squad to help us gain promotion. I agree with the comments about our striking force at the moment. I do have faith in Guly and DC, but to suggest they would offer us the same chance of success as Rickie does really underestimates how much play goes through him. He brings more than goals, his link-up play cannot be matched by any of our other strikers.

I think Kelvin would do OK for us in the Prem, there are far worse keeps playing there already. I'd be happy to see him stay with Bart being given more and more chances to take over.

IMO, we're doing so well in the NPC because we brought in players early that were capable of playing in the league above. We did it in L1 with NPC ready players, which gave us time to build the team spirit and togetherness that not only won us promotion from L1, but seems to be working so well this season. So it stands to reason that to do well in the Prem, we should think now about bringing in players for next season... if we're serious and confident about promotion this season. If we don't, we risk losing this vital element of our success by needing to bring in too many players at the start of Prem life. Or, we risk not having a good enough squad to compete.

Although I've never thought of it before reading your post, QPR and Pompey are actually extremely similar. Both horrible little clubs, managed at their most successful point by a horrible little man, both spending far too much on distinctly average players with famous names (yes you, Barton), with the same risk of it all going very wrong should their Sugar Daddy get bored. The only difference is I actually respect Fernandes far more, he isn't just a crook like those who owned (in more than one sense) Pompey.

And have a decent manager to get the most out of the investment. So they are right. They are also wrong for saying it was the one and only reason.

22 points for me.

With a name like that, he deserves to be sent off. Cheerio freckles.

Their tactics seem to be it doesn't matter how many you concede so long as you score one more, so our defence will be more important than our attack IMO. We know we have goals in the team from all over the field, we have a squad of players who all have goals in them. But our defence, whilst overall pretty good, has been the weakest spot so far.

I think you're right. If we say Lambert starting is a given, that leaves us with DC, Doble, Barnard and Forte as our out-and-out strikers. Doble isn't ready yet, IMO. Barnard is injured. Forte isn't quite good enough to command a starting place. That leaves DC, who has an amazing footballing brain and an amazing touch, but can be hit-and-miss. I think we need a quality addition who will step straight into the starting lineup, leaving the others as competition and cover. In the mean time, I'd try De Ridder up-front.