wadesmith

Yorkshire probably feel they need to win this game..will the declare at 300 and give us about 70 overs to get them? Not that we would have a chance od scoring that!

I agree with the above. I actually think it's time for Vince to go. Still a fantastic player, very capable of still being one of England's best, but it's a bit like Tremlett, it almost feels like he's gone stale here, and it's time to move on. I could see him going to Essex and being a real success

I'm hearing a rumour of Vince to Essex if we go down, anyone else heard this?

I think that Essex will eventuallymake sure, he's happy. There's no other reason to let you're top run scorer go in a **** season when your facing relegation other than something has gone very wrong behind the scenes I think it's an enormous shame, I think he's got the potential to be our best batsmen, we aint going to see him play for Hampshire again that's my guess.

Yeah, can't argue with any of that, but Walcott, Chambers, Ox?.....they could have turned into great players if they stayed with us for a couple more years.. we had them for about half an hour. We even kept Shearer for 4 years. I guess it's the realisation that something I loved about football/Saints appears to have kind of gone forever.

I'm not either, you could argue the last two years have been two of the most succesfull in our period, but seriously when our we going to be more successful than Man U, Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham for a sustained period? I guess what I was getting at is that if you are a lover of your team, part of the attraction is having heroes/folk heroes whatever you want to call them. If I'm chatting sown the pub about Saints, Benali's name is probably more likely to be mentioned than Keegans despite the fact that Keegan probably edges it as a player!. I suppose it's just sad that the idea of a long term player/hero has passed forever for Saints.

I think the fact that all our departures follow an almost exact pattern . Sign up , stay 2 years/ 3 years leave, suggest that the club almost agree to this possibility with the player at the point of signing. I feel this is all part of the Southampton plan. It's a shame, but it's something we are going to have to get used to. My concern is the fans will eventually become disillusioned. Part of football being a supporter is having heroes be it Channon, Davies, Le Tissier, Dodd or even Benali. I fear those days are over.

Is that a 'farewell' or a "i'm staying' on Facebook? It's a bit ambiguous

Yeah obviously, I'm not there!

Cheeky Bugger.

I've been to The Ageas Bowl twice int he last three weeks. I've watched us bowl 160 overs, take 6 wickets and concede 650 runs. I think this might be the root of the problem. Surrey are going to win their game so the trap door is wide open now! Does anyone care? Probably not.

Hants screwed that up.

Dawson is rapidly turning himself into one of the most desirable players in county cricket. A match winning all-rounder who probably won't be called up for Test cricket therefore won't miss too many games. My concern is if we go down ill he won't to leave, he must still have Test ambitions.

Cheers for that Weston. Yeah my feelings were get this season out of the way and focus on the youngsters and build around Vince, Dawson, Ervine and Carbs...obviously the horrible events around Carbs have slightly changed that. I suppose my one concern if we go down is that Dawson may look to leave? He appears to be developing into a top class all-rounder, and if he could take 50 wickets in Div 1 he may consider himself an outside bet for the test team due to England's paucity of spin options All-in-all a season to forget, but I'm strangely optimistic for next season, and good luck Carbs, he always seems such a lovely bloke.

We posted nearly the same thing at the same time!

So disappointed with Vince. Gets dropped playing his normal loose drive....and then 15 minutes later plays the same shot and gets caught. Just don't think he has the mental application for this level.

I can't see it mate, he'll be 36?,Plus recovering from a broken leg! God knows, But as I said, I think we'll be in Division 2, but with a pretty strong set of players, there may be a couple of others in the 2nd eleven I don't know about. The bowling is a worry though.

Blimey Weston, I normally look at you as a ray of optimism in an otherwise pessimistic world..but I agree with you. I'm actually optimistic for next season Alsop, Crane, McManus, Topley are all young and look class acts. I would definitely keep Ervine, I would have said keep Carbs, but obviously it's heartbreaking what he is going through, Dawson seems to be developing into a superb allrounder, I could see Wheater hitting 1200 runs in a season Don't know if we will see much of Vince, add a decent international and you've got........ well about 8 players! ....but it's a pretty decent bunch of young players....and Ervine.

Just to put our bowling woes into perspective, we have used 13 bowlers this year and they have so far taken 98 wickets in 10 games. In 1982 Malcolm Marshall took 134 wickets by himself in a 22 game season! On average he would already have taken 61 wickets at this point of the season on his own!.Actually I think this says more about the genius of Mashall than our current plight.

Yeah, I thought the same.

Err, I didn't apologise mate. There's nothing to accept! I think it's just kind of disappoints me when someone types a good news story about an ex player, who on the basis of what I've heard about him, is a pretty decent chap. Then you guys rock-up, and doubt his sincerity. A lot of us probably know someone who's lost a kid, and then been thrilled when they've finally had a child. I just felt some of the comments were unnecessary. I don't really understand what would drive a person to be so negative on a thread like this...and believe me i'm as flawed an individual as they come.

Oh Hypo, at least Ohio Saint seemed to have a moment of self realisation in post 22 when he says, "I don't need to put an opinion all over the internet just because I have one" ..Yep I feel we may have a real breakthrough moment here...'I don't need to put an opinion all over the internet just because I have one' Maybe scribble that in crayon, stick it on the fridge door & let in sink in. Good session fellah!

I know mate. You must have been having a funny five minutes. It happens.

I was there today. Had to leave at 3.00. It was like water torture. As I speak Surrey are still batting which seems a bit of an odd decision. I once watched Geoff Boycott bat all day in 1985 at Southampton to make 75 not out. This was worse.

You're probably right mate. thanks to the first post we all know Steve MUFC twitter account. Maybe as you've told us you doubt Luke's response is heartfelt, you should go onto his twitter and advise him of the same. You may take some flak, but you sound confident, so surely the burden of proof is on them to prove you wrong! Off you go!