saint1977

I don’t know if anyone has posted this but a further thread from the UI poster who broke the initial story about this takeover being approved by the PL on why Gao bought the club in the first place https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/forum/280692/given-gao-is-now-gone.../#15 Interesting comments on how the club has been run. We know the football side was rotten 2016-19 and only just emerging from that dreadful catalogue of mistakes with the scouting improving post Reed and Wilson. Semmens is impressive but it might be that this takeover gives him the clout to shake up some operational non football areas around the stadium/capital and ticketing functions for example to the standards he and the new owners would like, whereas the headroom might not have been there to do that before.

Probably different where born in Slough….but these two players are Swiss born https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44586587

I don’t think Ankersen, with his reputation, gives up Brentford and FCM without a bit more resource behind him. Not anywhere near what Everton did or Newcastle will do but resource to back up clear methods and a business plan. The academy is a bonus for him, it didn’t make sense at Brentford with Chelsea on the doorstep but with the facilities at Staplewood it brings the ability to develop a cohort of players across a group of clubs. Everton ran out of headroom with FFP quickly after the £500m splurge and are rebooting their strategy rapidly, buying now the sort of players (especially the two this window) that I think Saints will be back in the market for without having to sell JWP or Salisu, unless Newcastle offer £70m for the former as a ‘marquee signing’. Or even sell Targett to buy Che leaving us with one recognised left back, although £17m was a good sale to Villa actually. No leveraged debt is a big plus for me. Burnley fans would swap.

Although to be fair, although I didn’t want Gao to buy the club, at least under his regime, although not necessarily by him, the worst of Les and Ross’s catalogue of bloopers and waste has been curbed, including both of them. The lack of investment to repair the damage and then the exposure to so much risk through the pandemic has clearly forced a lower buying price. Only Forster’s contract left from Les’s wrecking spree and that is nearly up. Credit to Semmens, Crocker and RH for controlling what they could to prepare for this eg Sportsbet sponsorship after LD debacle, sorting out academy and U23s, younger first team which fresh investment can add to.

Who leaked this about Truss? Number 10 or Number 11? They are all puppets held by a few Brexit crazy billionaires strings. Populism my arse. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jan/02/liz-truss-hosted-3k-lunch-for-us-envoy-over-civil-service-objections

Stephen Gleeson? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Gleeson

I can only see activity this window if a higher priority target becomes available at a price that makes buying a first choice player for the next 3-4 seasons eg Johnstone, unless there is a change of ownership. The squad has more depth, CM is probably the one area where a couple of key injuries and/or suspensions could render the side uncompetitive again. Upgrading quality of course is a different story but that would be more of a summer activity with Forster’s huge wages gone etc. The 10s/wingers are up for replacing and if Broja doesn’t join on loan for a second season a first XI striker along with a keeper is most of any budget. Ideally a new first choice CB alongside Salisu on a new contract but that’s probably only happening with a decent takeover. Bednarek and Stephens aren’t bad, but both squad options as is Lyanco. If new owners were aiming higher, that’s an another area to upgrade.

Gap has built up between bottom 4 and the rest after Leeds beating Burnley. Leeds in trouble after Lowton hit by a drinks bottle on the full after Cornet scored. With the murderers about to embark on a spending spree I wouldn’t want to be Watford either. Aim to get at least 4 points from the two postponed home games this month and suspensions spent at Swansea. Added to Saints Christmas results, the other results have gone well. Key is to get a takeover completed now, selling JWP to fund debt in the summer not sustainable and would ruin this season’s hard work so far.

Whatever happens next, it seems certain that: - Silverwood has managed his last Test. Isolated for this one and no point being a lame duck for Hobart seeing most media outlets seem certain he is being sacked. - Gary Kirsten strong early favourite for Test role, Collingwood for white ball role. The all in one head coach/chair of selectors/all formats role has been a disaster. Ironically, Kirsten should have been appointed in 2019 but it seems the process was loaded in favour of Silverwood by Ashley Giles and Harrison https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/chris-silverwood-s-position-as-england-head-coach-untenable-after-ashes-drubbing-1294775 - Giles and Harrison are under severe pressure to go as well and their positions seem untenable, especially after the mishandling of the Yorkshire situation for the latter. - With those Les/Ross level poor performers gone, the domestic system will be getting the biggest reform in its history so young players learn the game in the best and most competitive situations possible. Atherton suggests in the Telegraph three divisions of six with England Test players only really from the top division, Pietersen extending the Hundred principle to red ball but all heading the same way. Thorpe observing that 4 day games played in April and September where both teams are out for under 200 twice finishing in two days abysmal preparation for top level cricket - https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/mens-ashes-2021-22-graham-thorpe-england-batters-given-wake-up-call-by-ashes-mauling-1294965

Worst ones for me are Spurs, Everton and Newcastle with their deluded fans and in Newcastle’s case autocratic, extremely violent and repugnant owners. Liverpool fans and Klopp themselves are OK, it’s the ex player hangers on and sycophantic press I dislike. City’s petrodollars have made the PL even more uneven but don’t find them offensive per se apart from that. West Ham and Villa fans have their deluded moments but not in Spurs, Everton and Newcastle League for deluded.

Wondered what Jason Puncheon was up to these days

Could have responded to either you or LD because you both see the essence of the issue. The ECB is basically bankrupt as a governing body and is trying to spread the resources too thinly across 18 counties in all 3 formats which is unsustainable. Hence the Hundred and T20 Blast trying to prop them all up and 4 day cricket shunted to April, May and September when the wickets won’t last barely 2 days and the club robbers have a seaming ball with your name on it so you might as well play a few loose shots anyway. Make the Blast and 50 overs April and May and roll the shit out of the wicket. You’ll lose a few games to rain but if counties need it they have to compromise. 4 day season June and July for the best conditions and Hundred in August and early Sept for holidays and families. County final in Sept to crown it off. New governing organisation needed as well as new national coach and skipper - they have made dreadful errors over last 18 months even given the above. The ECB seems to be run by Finance, Marketing and HR. When those three functions run your organisation to game is up and time to fold. You lose your core products chasing the pound coin to keep a bottom heavy structure afloat which underpin everything because those functions don’t have the brains to understand them, in this instance Test cricket. Most of the Aussie Test team just won the T20 WC because they play in better conditions to learn technique for all formats. The beat domestic youngsters need an extension of the central contracts system through scholarships to ensure they play 4 day premium cricket in Australia, SA, NZ and India. Don’t mind them playing say BBL whilst they are there. There’s plenty of has beens in English cricket eg Hales to go around for the other various global T20 tournaments. Need a Rod Marsh figure to oversee the new system, someone Southern Hemisphere who will face the counties down. The counties themselves will need to assess how many of them are viable post pandemic for all 3 formats. 4 day cricket probably better with maximum 12 counties.

Villa fans concur https://www.villatalk.com/topic/22074-danny-ings/page/123/ He will get a few more goals for them when fully fit but his playing history suggests plenty of absences and nearly 30 now. SFC got the best of Danny, Villa get the huge wage and risky playing time. Vestergaard is a mystery all round - what Les and Ross ever saw at struggling Bremen - and what Rodgers was doing in the summer seeing how awful a PL player he is. Also a thread on Targett on Villa forum - £17m was a decent sale too.

Joelinton knackered but ASM put them 1-0 up with a brilliant goal. Man U shockingly bad. Long way to go.

Not many, but it’s more that the 4 day matches are never played in the summer. They are either played before leaves are on trees or when they are starting to fall off. Hence very low scores on damp slow pitches where local club level medium pacers at 70mph who wouldn’t get a game in the Australian grade system take 9-40 etc. Not ideal for younger players with some talent and potential to play higher learning horrendous habits. Doesn’t get spinners into the games at all either. It’s about as far from international cricket standards and conditions as you can get. The better conditions more representative of those international cricket is played in are taken up by a packed schedule of 50 overs/T20/Hundred. Silverwood is useless but he doesn’t design the poxy schedule, that’s the ECB. Fletcher and Baylis saw the system for what it is - production line for England players in the three formats - without a good England team it’s all null and void. They neutered the counties power and brought national success, but the counties hated them and plotted in the media. With Silverwood there they have regained the steering wheel although the Hundred might be a springboard to get first class counties down to 8-12 or so. So the replacement has to be someone the counties would despise.

Even by the Silverwood era performances, that was pathetic. What was the point of keeping him on with all of the talk of him issuing bollockings and clear the air talks? It worked about as well as one of Ralph’s half time specials and cleared the air about as much as a bedroom after a Christmas Day dinner laden with sprouts. ECB has to be under existential threat as well. Scrap T20 Blast, don’t need that and the Hundred, and with the counties agent Silverwood gone a new non English coach won’t mind if half a dozen of the counties are either forced part time or 50 overs only with them joining Minor Counties for 4 day stuff. T20 Blast is keeping too big a first class domestic structure propped up but it’s killing the national team by spreading the actual talent far too thinly.

The natural pessimist in me for SFC says Da Grosa and co but the reason it might not be is that if completion is basically there with an announcement before the transfer window opens, is that I couldn’t imagine it not being all over the media in primary colours by now if he was involved. I’ll cling onto Red Ball and Scudamore and that prospect for now as it’s Christmas 🎄

Yet more evidence that anti vaxxers are smarter than the average bear…https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/dec/23/anti-vaccine-protesters-alan-shearer-booster-jab-wrong-address

You are onto something there. The England Lions tours are a joke these days, it’s not like the 1990s and 2000s where they played decent first class sides, with the rise of franchise cricket it’s only experience of the conditions they receive, but against average club opponents. Take Ollie Pope, has shown enough technique for Tests but mentally lacking. Would like to see him sign a 2 year deal with one of the Australian State sides to finish off his development in the Sheffield Shield. Other nations used to send their best prospects to English counties to complete their development. Would like to see other youngsters playing in SA, NZ and India 4 day competitions not just the franchise T20s. Hoggard really benefited from playing for Orange Free State and opening the bowling. I’d respect and prefer that experience playing tough, competitive cricket with better coaches than England Lions soft cricket, which is no better than the Premier League u23 shambles we all deride on the main board.

Just as big a chameleon and bluffer as Boris. She has been cuddling into the ERG populism but Frost has left a toxic hand behind on Brexit negotiations and trade and could sink without trace and not be heard from again. Here’s hoping. Boris is because he knows that brief will keep her from (allegedly) stirring in the press further. Rishi Sunak is a bigger headache for him as a new CoE is not what’s needed currently, polls suggesting he has the best MP support whereas the swivels (or blue few) in the shires prefer Liz’s brand of Farage lite.

Then compare it with the oaf Silverwood’s comments https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/59739472 Fucking clueless. Agree with Ponting’s comments about Root as well - if he was frustrating at the bowling lengths, what has he done about that on the pitch? Woakes shouldn’t be in the side in those conditions, I agree with Maxwell on that. He is merely a bonus at 8 if the batters bar Malan and Root show some backbone against the newer ball. We all know the deal there, you see off the Kookaburra for 25 overs. Ponting might not be a bad interim choice to put fireworks up a few backsides for the last 3 Tests if Gillespie stays with the BBL. His status in the game might help Root with squad discipline. Not the traditional boozing variety, but following better plans set out by someone who understands local conditions and international cricket more broadly. It’s three more hefty defeats if Silverwood the ECB corporate boy stays on. Then again, that weak chinned CEO Harrison was hardly going to be decisive after Adelaide was he?

It’s both an issue of vaccine hesitancy with diverse communities, white populism and having reliable information https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthinequalities/bulletins/coronavirusandvaccinationratesinpeopleaged70yearsandoverbysociodemographiccharacteristicengland/8december2020to12april2021 https://theconversation.com/financial-insecurity-and-right-wing-beliefs-drive-covid-19-vaccine-hesitancy-among-albertans-170162 The latter example is Alberta in Canada as the US is too polarised an example to draw but people well to the right politically (UKIP etc, and far right of Conservative party, not the mainstream or One Nation eg Baker, Redwood, Bridgen, Frost) are far more vulnerable to misinformation. For a UK example https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/covid-vaccine-hesitancy-linked-brexit-voting-patterns-886803 and more on populism here https://www.qmul.ac.uk/hub/global-health-hub/populism-and-vaccines/ Some of the most diverse seats and wards are Labour, some Tory ex-Red Wall which ties in with the article below. Some historical stuff there, some of it true, some distorted but again, online agitation driving it. There are some practical adaptions happening with NHS at present around oxygen monitors etc and adjusting reading of cells which hopefully will increase trust. The departure from mainstream more prosperous Tory areas and vaccine take up can be seen here, which is starkly different to the US https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/tory-constituencies-have-higher-vaccination-rates-irrespective/ The other and very significant less vaccinated group are pregnant women https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/29/pregnant-women-vaccinated-covid-mother-child The issue here has been poor health communication aggregated by misinformation. Now that belatedly pregnant women are in the priority groups this should start to bring up numbers. Reassurance for those considering starting a family in the near to medium future https://nottsccg.nhs.uk/covid-19/covid-19-vaccinations/groups-being-vaccinated/vaccination-and-pregnancy/

Thank you for posting some actual initial findings and areas for further research from people who are actually qualified to comment sensibly. Unlike the passports thread in the main forum which looks like The Sun’s letters page on a bad day, full of opinions and bold assertions with no scientific basis.

I’m not surprised how the series is turning out, I thought Stokes might make some of the margins of defeat lesser but he’s so rusty he hasn’t got up to speed yet. Ultimately, in 2011/12, whilst our bowlers did a great job you could rely on the top 3 - Strauss, Cook and Trott - to make runs and the middle and lower order could attack when the ball went soft. It’s many years since I had any faith in the batting. People say it’s because there’s too much T20 but who just won the WC last month with a lot of the Ashes squad? The issue in England is that 4 day cricket is either played when the leaves are either yet to come out on the trees or falling off them. People aren’t learning the basics of technique on half decent surfaces and spinners don’t get a chance on shit, slow, seaming pitches where club bowlers take stacks of wickets. Old Trafford and the Oval should be the benchmarks. So for me a choice between T20 Blast and The Hundred in future summers so there’s some 4 day action in decent conditions. As for this series, covid rules mean that a new coach such as Kallis can’t be flown in. I would ask Jason Gillespie if he wants to take charge for the next 3 and go from there. He knows Root well and Australian conditions. Silverwood has been as out of his depth in the last 12 months as Pellegrino was at Saints. Not picking Broad on a bouncy green seamer and preferring Leach was such a bad decision - and people were saying it 30 minutes before the start, not with hindsight - that even Les Reed would have thought it bizarre. Then Leach gets flogged when we needed him for a dry pitch at Adelaide. I’d sack him now and get the pain over with. His ideas were good - build big totals, bat longer and build a genuinely quick attack like 2005. Sadly, the weird selections, rotation and over bowling of Archer put paid to that. Other key players such as Moeen didn’t know where they stood and retired. Root and Malan are the only players who can bat at this level, Stokes when match fit. Buttler fought harder today but seems stuck in mindset. Even when the top order briefly fired last summer, he still got out for nowt so the argument that he wasn’t being given platforms to express himself fell flat. Lions players have had no cricket so not many easy fixes. I’d like to see Mahmood come in though - at 90mph the nicks carry properly. Saw him for Lancs v York’s and had them 21/6 on a flat pitch with pace and bounce. Garton as well - left arm quick with variety. Batter options are trickier - not sure say Alex Lees would do a lot better than the failing openers even with some games behind him. Biggest disappointment has been Pope - does have the technique but looked like a 13 year old boy playing men’s cricket in Adelaide. Root is a great batsman but poor skipper. No options to succeed him though.

Well, let’s hope they are minor then. My position is that I’ve lost people and seen others taking more than a year to recover from COVID - some yet to - pre vaccines - and yet to encounter serious illness since vaccines. Not saying there aren’t isolated instances of vaccine reactions, S Clarke on here had one, but the figures globally demonstrate you are better off with them (yes, I know you have had them as well). The key point is that the vaccines don’t stop transmission, especially without the booster (75% reduction in early trials) but reduce hospitalisation so that cancer and heart patients get the treatment they need when they need it. Many posters on this thread seem to equate vaccination and getting covid with lack of vaccine efficacy. Not true and myth that needs clearing up. Adrian - 100% guarantee eh? Show us your virology credentials. Vaccines do not stop COVID transmission but REDUCE the risk of serious illness that stops the NHS functioning for all types of emergencies. Your agenda was clear yesterday when you were talking about people ‘loving the restrictions’. Don’t be so silly, I’ve had to miss the funerals of family and close friends through the lockdowns. Many others on here are the same. I long for going to a beer beer festival without LFTs and QR codes for example but that is where we are at present. Turkish - have used my posts up but yes, I would like to see hospitalisations more prominent in the data given to the wider public. Thank you Whelk for sharing the link.