jonjapan

Good point. Weird that we only need to win four games and Cortese has his European football... Is that correct? Would playing our best team each time in this contest really doom us to likely relegation...?

This please! Quite do-able? LAST SIXTEEN: Sunderland v Middlesbrough Swindon v Aston Villa Wigan v Bradford Leeds v Southampton Norwich v Tottenham Liverpool v Swansea Chelsea v Manchester United Reading v Arsenal QUARTER FINAL: Sunderland v Aston Villa Wigan v Southampton Tottenham vLiverpool Manchester United v Arsenal SEMI-FINAL: Sunderland v Southampton Tottenham v Arsenal FINAL: Southampton 3 Arsenal 2

Are you over here now btw?

Yep - even the footballers here have had enough... Southampton's Japanese inbound immigration rate set to double?

Anyone gonna join me Sun Sep 2nd 23:54 at Footnik in Ebisu for Premiership LIVE!! Southampton v Man Utd? http://www.footnik.net/english/locations/

Wanna start watching some games together in Tokyo? I'm jon@tigermusic.jp btw

Yes you should be able to see the Man U game in any british pub or sports bar - though it will be late on a Sunday night so not every bar will stay open. SUN 2 SEP Man Utd Barclays Premier League 16:00 H Japan is plus 8 hours - so a 24:00 start... I just checked a few websites and saw they don't promise individual games... Have someone call for you to ask if they'll stay open is best... http://www.whynotjapan.com/guide/sportsbar-en.htm

As above... Great biography of Adkins here suggests he'll be a relentlessly positive plus for us, and has got here the hard way compared to Mancini... http://www.thenational.ae/sport/football/the-hardest-job-is-done-for-southampton-manager Predicts it'll be 'impossible' for Saints to stay in the top two from start to finish again, however...

Yep - a 'reverse Blackpool' would be nice - slowly get better - and then lower Prem survival at the end will seem like a hard fought win... So many web pundits are predicting us to go down right now... 90% of them on this article put us at 18-20th: http://hereisthecity.com/2012/08/10/revealed-where-southampton-will-finish-next-season/ Hot signings soon though please!

Just read this on the often-interesting bleacher report. Suggests not only did Dan get a famous team, but we may be a up to a mill better off, wages etc included over a year... Transfers Out Southampton lost one player of note in the offseason. Dan Harding, who was the second-choice left back behind Danny Fox, left Saints for Nottingham Forest in a deal worth 500 thousand pounds. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1290238-southampton-a-look-back-at-saints-preseason-preparations-and-transfer-moves

Fair enough, but just saw in Daily Mail 2011 that EPL wages are five times Championship wages: Average Premier League wages have reached £22,353 a week - before lucrative bonuses - or £1.16million a year. Average Championship earnings are £4,059 a week (£211,068 a year), less than a fifth of players one division above. So perhaps we'd save £200,000-500,000 a year for every little-used squad player we cut. Add possible £300,000 sale income, and it looks smart to keep the squad lean. Forest seem happy to have Dan so all looks good for him anyway.

How much could Saints expect to get from selling a player like Dan? Is it mostly just about reducing our wage bill?

Great blog - thanks! Voted on FB... 2nd right now...

Hi HK_Phoey Great stuff. Wish I'd seen your post back in March - managed to watch our final game with a neutral anyway... I'm jon@tigermusic.jp Or find me at http://www.facebook.com/SaintsInJapan

Somehow that kind of defensive formation looks great to me for taking on the top teams. So we play on the break, and as mulletsaint said, confuse them by flexibly making runs and swapping positions. Fox and Richardson would need to practice running back faster and shielding the back three more proactively though, right?

What a positive attitude! Thanks to his Serie A time in Italy etc is Guly our player with the most top major league experience?

1 Arsenal 2 Manchester United 3 Manchester City 4 Liverpool 5 Tottenham Hotspur 6 Chelsea 7 Newcastle United 8 Sunderland 9 Everton 10 Southampton 11 West Bromwich Albion 12 Fulham 13 Stoke City 14 Swansea City 15 Norwich City 16 Reading 17 Aston Villa 18 Wigan Athletic 19 Queens Park Rangers 20 West Ham Just think it'll be very hard to beat the top nine there, either because of their squad or manager... but the others, maybe. So hope we sign some big overseas players, as Pardew just did, plus some top Championship players, and squeak into the top half of the table. Great to get a cup run too...

OK just tried to calculate that, and it seems "waste of money" -- Skybet: Southampton 1/3, Draw 7/2, Coventry 7/1 Scenario bet win total (win minus 300 total bet) A: Saints win 100 133 -167 B: Draw 100 350 50 C: Coventry win 100 700 400 Oh well. Go Leicester!

(reply to KK the 2nd: "you can always back Cov at 7/1 with Skybet ... waste of money though! " ) Yep, I don't know much about betting, but a poster on another thread was talking about 'consolation money' which got me thinking that I'm surprised they don't push that more as a psychological service for fans that think that way. If you put money on it both ways for every outcome: on Saints win or draw AND on a Coventry win, how much would you really be risking, and how much consolation money could you get? (Southampton 1/3, Draw 7/2, Coventry 7/1) Gutted today but think we will still go up. Just wondering...

I started translating Chung's blog site on this Saints in Japan page... Seems like he's really going to try give it everything... http://www.facebook.com/SaintsInJapan

Here's Chung's yesterday's blog entry: 3/11 Its a year since the North Japan earthquake. It made me think strongly about solidarity, and bonds of affection. And I resolved to be someone that takes responsibility and action. I've now experienced two months of life overseas, and its made me appreciate the many good things about Japan - something that will not change whether I'm away a short or a long time. From now each of us needs to show solidarity with each other, and help Japan become an even better place. Within the sport of soccer, I want to try harder to become a player who exhibits bravery, passion and hope.

Great idea thanks. I see on this blog http://ameblo.jp/lee-tadanari he's reflecting about it being the one year anniversary of Japan's big quake. I'll list it on Facebook and may post some translations of his football related comments then...

Hi The9 - could I possibly include your Chung fans photo on this new Facebook page I'm making for Japanese fans? http://www.facebook.com/SaintsInJapan ? (Not sure how much they need it, or how they'll find out about it, but I'd like to tell them about Saints sites and news in the UK) Is Chung the Japanese player playing at the highest level in the UK at this moment? If we get in the Prem next year with him, we could really move some shirts. Hope he gets another goal soon. Although in Japanese teamwork culture, an assist is probably rated more highly than a selfish shoot, goals do look better on prime-time TV news...

Just made this Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/SaintsInJapan Please come and join and leave a comment - Thanks!! Let's try put some photos and news up on it...

Yeah, brilliant, thanks!! So happy about Saints getting big in the East...