stevegrant

I'd just explain that you applied for the other position because of X, Y and Z, and that you don't think the position they've offered you matches your career ambitions. Goes without saying really, but just don't say anything that may be construed as being a bit ****ty.

The book could have been closed with us hammering the final nail into his coffin at the end of the month, so I'm disappointed they've taken this decision so soon. By the sound of it, Jürgen Klopp will get the job, which could be equally as wildly inconsistent as life under Rodgers was. Ancelotti would have been a much safer pair of hands in their situation, I think.

2-0, Saints academy graduate Aaron Davies with the goal

Pretty sure they sung it before us, when they relegated Charlton from the Championship, having been relegated at Charlton in 2005. In terms of the game, Watford will struggle to score goals for as long as they get so few players in the opposing penalty area. Troy Deeney played half of that game as a central midfielder, he needs to be much higher up the pitch.

Same as Romeu then. What's your point?

Never in doubt

8 down

Our part of the bargain fulfilled, all eyes on Yorkshire.

Intrigued that Sussex have decided that Chris Jordan is now an opening batsman... 2 down now

Worth noting the outstanding contributions of our new bowling recruits this summer: Fidel Edwards, 45 wickets in 8 CC games - if he'd been fit and available for every game and kept that record up, he'd finish the season with 90 wickets, which would have been comfortably the best in the country, and we almost certainly wouldn't be in a final-day shootout to stay up. Gareth Berg, 42 wickets in 16 games, plus 5 fifties with the bat - 672 runs in total. Some weird performances with the bat this year, Carberry has scored 1000 runs without a single century (9 fifties), and what's particularly noticeable among the whole squad is the high strike rate, which suggests that perhaps our one-day game has influenced the longer form a bit too much in relation to the standard we're up against - it's alright to go at that pace against Division Two attacks, but against the much better top-flight bowlers, it doesn't work so well. Of the 12 players whose overall batting records are decent enough to be classed as a batsman (or all-rounder), only 4 had strike rates below 50 this year - surprisingly, one of those is Carberry!

Fortunately we don't have somebody unilaterally making signings on behalf of the club anymore, so the likelihood of those sort of signings slipping through the net are significantly reduced.

Teams through this evening: Aston Villa, Stoke, Hull, Leicester, Middlesbrough, Man City, Everton, Bournemouth.

Never understood the point of the nigh****chman - which batsman is most likely to be able to see out the rest of the day, a tailender or the specialist batsman?

:lol: :lol:

Ultimately, they were champions with three games to spare for a reason. We batted pretty well, but the weather has forced our hand here.

Solent suggesting there might be a contrived result today with Yorkshire declaring first thing - presumably would mean us forfeiting our second innings rather than enforcing the follow-on, leaving a chase of 304 in a day.

One hell of an effort in the last 15 overs or so, got to 400 with nearly 2 overs to spare! Maximum batting bonus points, I think for the first time this season. Very timely as well considering Sussex also got maximum points - is there an argument for wanting a Sussex win in their game against Somerset so we've got one target in reach rather than two slightly further away going into the final game? If Somerset were bowled out below 200 and lost, they'd be on 149 points, while 3 bowling points for us and a draw would leave us one point adrift of them. Not over yet, by any means...

I find it interesting how there is always so much whinging about the lack of singing, and yet if all of the people doing the whinging were at the game, why didn't you do anything about it? Nobody has exclusivity on being allowed to start songs. People seem to want to complain about other fans more than they want to support the team themselves at times. Perfect example in Denmark, handful of ****ed-up lads next to me, spent the ENTIRE 90 minutes slagging off everyone else, singing "our support is ****ing ****", and yet if they'd started a single proper song everyone would have joined in. As it was, all they (rightly, IMO) got was a volley of abuse.

If only we could have put that second innings batting performance on in the first innings, the bonus points we could have got (and limited Somerset's bowling points) might prove to be the difference between staying up and going down. I see the Yorkshire game is on TV this week...

Yes, hopefully, but a lot depends on when the fixtures are. There are only 6 other current PL teams with fans teams: Man City, Man United, Stoke, Watford, West Brom, West Ham. West Ham have already said they'll come down for the game in February, TV pending, and I'm sure West Brom will return this weekend's fixture in January. Watford will probably come down at the end of the season, as the home game against them is midweek, and they're at Bournemouth the day we're at Chelsea so can't play it that day instead. Man United tend not to travel outside of the north-west so frankly I can't be arsed organising a game at their place if they're not going to make the effort to come to us in return - they claim they struggle to get enough tickets for everyone, but there's always ways and means to do it. Stoke and Man City, no idea whether they'll travel or not.

It would be the perfect venue, if nobody had paid the £50 in the first place and the away end was completely empty, but people won't make that sacrifice (and I include myself in that). As it is, the message is "we'd like cheaper tickets, but we'll carry on paying your ridiculous prices anyway", unfortunately.

Nope.

Playing for a 0-0 then

Still looking for a few more players to play on Saturday morning in Smethwick against West Brom's fans team, 10:30 kick off at Hadley Stadium in Smethwick (B66 4ND). Please get in touch if you fancy a game.