kwsaint

Agreed. I think that we will have him for at least one more season. It will depend how next season goes. Get the key signings in the summer right (CB, striker, RB cover) and continue to clear out the deadwood, then we could well be back in the top half again next season. At which point it is anyone's guess and summer 2020 could be interesting. All I can say is that I am enjoying going to SMS again and long may it last.

Suppose it would make Sunderland feel better if we beat Newcastle by 10 not 8 and it's away.

not bad

30 runs in 20 overs. not a high rr for 5 bonus points. good opening

couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke

I was sat in the West stand centre at the Dell for the Port Vale game. Witnessed the directors being harangued by irate supporters. Lawrie had just come back as Director of Football, and Branfoot was gone by the Tuesday. I was driving round the M25 in pouring rain when I heard. I had also heard that Branfoot was a pleasant guy, just a terrible manager. Gates were plummeting and the football was hoofball. He didnt know what to do with MLT as he didnt really fit in a 4-4-2. He simply didnt listen to anyone else and was convinced that he was right, when all around him disagreed. Wonder who that reminds you of?

Remember the second leg was nearly postponed because of the weather, so we all got let in late. Great fun queueing outside the West stand terrace turnstiles in Archers Road as Leeds fan charged up and down the road. Terry Curran got the early goal and we just about hung on

Was it true that in the scottish cup they used to warm the Celtic and Rangers balls before the draw so that they could prevent them playing each other?

This. RH has wanted to get a group of players who would play his way, and play for the team. Those who left in January either couldn't (Davis, Gabbi) or wouldn't (Hoedt, Cedric) do this. The group of players are clearly much more together, as was shown by the reactions after Wednesday's game. For those who say that he shouldn't have let Gabbi go, my understanding is that he wanted to go -just didn't make a big fuss about it. Unlike Hoedt and Cedric who we are well rid of.

Park the ****ing bus

Recorded MOTD and watched the Saints highlights earlier today. One of the replays of Saint's second was from behind the goal. It showed the shot from Redmond, but in picture you could see JWP busting a gut to get into the six yard box just in case. Which led to the goal. It's the sort of thing that James Beattie in his prime used to do very well. JWP has clearly been coached well by RH, and is taking it on board. Plus he seems to have finally learnt how to tackle.

Never saw a problem with the half time relay. Kids got a chance to run on the pitch with a full crowd present and everyone had else could have a laugh when they fell over.

Sad to hear this morning that Gordon Banks has died. Not really Saints-related, but worthy of a place on the main forum Simply the best English keeper ever. Saw him play for Stoke against Saints at the Dell in my very first game in 1971

Three of our next four games are Arsenal and Man U away, Tottenham at home. The Fulham game at the end of the month is really a must win and hope we scrape a point from one of the other games. The table could look pretty bad come mid March. But the run in is not too bad, and the last game is home to Huddersfield. Fulham and Huddersfield look gone, and it is one from six. Think that we will survive, but only just.

It's a really tricky one. Saints want to do the right thing by FF but at the same time they are running a business. If FF is not well enough to either play or be transferred, then he could be deemed to be in breach of contract if it went on long enough and Saints could terminate it. In these cases coming to a mutual agreement is always better

Slight digression, but a significant factor in the BEA Trident crash was that the pilot was an autocrat with an underlying heart problem that affected his performance. My understanding was that although the Trident had the potential to stall, the lack of teamwork on the flight desk made the situation catastrophic when it did. It will be interesting to see what the root cause of the Sala crash was, and whether only having one less experienced pilot was a significant factor. Assuming that it is possible to work this out. I have always thought that having two pilots working together as a team gives better outcomes when facing potential accidents.

At last a few sensible posts compared to the nonsense on the thread yesterday. It is going to take RH time to sort out the mess left by the three previous managers. But at least he has started. We should have enough to stay up, and then the process carries on in the summer. There are still players to shift who don't have a long term future (Forster, Austin etc), but we have made a good start. Getting the wage bill down will start to free up funds for the summer. Just a pity that we have wasted much of the Van Dijk money on poor players who are now moving on.

Expect lots of activity in the summer. Hopefully some of the loanees (Hoedt, Cedric, Carillo etc) will turn into permanent transfers which will raise cash for incoming transfers, and RH will get a couple of players he wants in. Given how bloated the squad had become and the poor quality signings of the past couple of years its going to take a while to sort it all out. Just getting players who don't want to be here away from the club has to be positive. Would be nice for it to happen quickly, but we have already blown the Van Dijk money on mediocrity so have to sell players to raise the cash.

Saw Slattery play at Derby. Looked OK. May develop. Obafemi is very raw but looks like he may have something. Like Valery's attitude. Think that he could do well. Not afraid to get stuck in. Agree with the comments about some of the others. Especially the comment about the key development years of some of them coinciding with poor management. Especially Reed. Really rated him when he first played, but it looks a bit late for him now. Although he is clearly going to have a career in Championship/League 1.

The weird thing about the Brighton game was that there were two stonewall penalties that weren't given, and two dodgy ones that were. Lambert went down fairly easily for the second one that was given, having previously been wrestled to the ground by a defender and getting nothing. Brighton were a horrible niggly Gus Poyet side at the time and the ref never really had control of the game. We also got two penalties at Millwall the same season, the second of which was a handball by a very young Harry Kane. Wondered if that ref ever went back to the Den.

The fact that Cedric has worked with RH for a few weeks and still wants to leave says that he is not on the bus. Let him go. Valery is playing ahead of him, which is a good indication of this. It is going to take time to sort the squad out and correct the mistakes of the last couple of years. We still have a lot of players out on loan that we really want rid of. Much of this will happen in the summer. Think that we have more than enough now see out this season and to comfortably avoid relegation. But think that the Summer will be busy.

Completely agree. The thing that I like about him is that he is not afraid to get stuck in and be physical with the opposition, something that Cedric simply cannot do. Looks like he has a football brain on him, and with good coaching from RH will only get better.

Nah. 1.5 then the mods shut it down.

Anyone reckon we should play Mo?

he's a ****ing useless ****e