TijuanaTim

Great observation mush, I'll agree with that.

You know, get behind the team, embrace a positive start, be proud and enjoy being Southampton is it that bad a thing to do? What is the worst case scenario - we encourage the team and they don't get a result...guess what, they ain't getting too many presently. I say give it a go motivate the team with great support, sing and chant encouragement for the players, enjoy being Southampton...we have 4 games in twelve days, worse comes to worse and we get nothing then those that want can go back to their 'I told you so' negativity, whinging etc Hey and if we do well we can focus on whining about the quality of our kit, how we ever let Kenwyne go without a sell-on, why we can't have Soul Cellar threads on whatever. 12 days...that is not too much to ask for everyone to 'unite'

Fantastic start...without just using a schitload of typical first day cliches he really said some stuff we wanted to hear...'young and experienced'...'Dutch and English' sort of stuff + I hope everyone noticed he mentioned the Prem a few times but not League One. Good start Mark - you've got my support for now, very positive and encouraging!!

This kid is a wonderful player, he dominates midfield with class, fantastic technique. He has good size, excellent speed and muppetty hair ;-) I have watched him since he was a teenager (coming from the same town) and at the (LA) Chivas. Claudio Suarez who played 178 times for Mexico and captained them for most of those is Sacha's teammate and rates him as one of the best players he has played with. When I first recommended Klejstan he was a development player earning 12,900 bucks a YEAR!! However we were to busy paying more than that a week for class like Indigo - Rudi and Euell FFS Have sent a detailed dossier of prospects here to Jan - I guess that was liking p!ssing in the wind huh. That same potential and earnings info will be sent to Mark Wotte today. If he throws it away or ignores it...wtf, at least we're trying.

Sorry mate - would less than 800 sovs a week be more specific?

Perfect combo...trouble is most don't know what a star big Chiv was here, so they'll go for a newer name - so it's worth considering Moran as he was the architypal modern striker and tbf did so much more than than the injured Latvian (as much as we all love Pahars). Chiv for the little/large combo...if you have no clue about Martin Chivers then just remember Moran was our top scorer when we were runners-up and broke the skates hearts at fartton as well!!

What are those rolly eye thingies? A sign of your maturity and therefore the value of your opinion. Oh It is Then allow us to ignore your opinion on this one then.

'gonna' 'no-brainer' and 'suss' are but a few of your recent "yanky" classics, so maybe you should be a bit less prejudice, open your eyes and...well, let's face practice what you preech ;-) Peace out Bro'

Yeah against Sweden...er when was the last time an English played scored three against them? For that matter has one ever..come to think Deano name an English midfield player that has knocked in three against them in three games...it may have happened but probably not. Eagerly awaiting a response...

By a player I've touting for two years on here...fire away with all your flack, but the facts remain that he is eligible due to age-international status and earns about 40 grand (wheich even we could afford) + he is desperate to play in England Can't remember the last player to score a triple against any Sweden team, let alone a deep lying midfielder. I actually went to the game and even without the three goals he completely dominated the whole game. We could still get him but if you believe the strong rumours then he'll be with WGS wearing those ugly green and white hoops pretty soon. Sacha Klejstan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_H-ddMDAsA

Thanks mate, in that case instead of going for the consummate modern 'small' forward Moran, I will plump for Martin Chivers to have a class big fellow to partner Keggy...

who is the right forward?

Best of luck mate, maybe this one didn't the way we all wanted it to, but your heart is in the right place.

Told Ron that I really admired the technique that he used to plant his boot in the @ss of the centre back while completely out-jumping to head yet another goal...he said "What the hell are you on about?"...so I sent him three pictures from the front of the matchday progams between 1968-9 where he has his toe firmly planted in the opponents ring, he responded "Oh that technique!!" I'll dig the pictures up and see if we can post them...

Know this may sound a little lame, but that goal at Derby this year was a fantastic experience. There with my nipper TTjr, best mates, several of you lot, some of the 'Soul Cellar' types etc. We played beautiful, with a bunch of kids I've never hardly seen. Every manjack on and off the field was committed and yet the goal took what seemed like an eternity to come. The explosion of joy and (a shde false dawn) belief in the new Southampton...well you had to be there I guess Fantastic!!

That is a terrific sentiment, an angle that I work with Ron a lot. These are the major hurdles (if anyone has any suggestions). a) Ron has to recover sufficiently (post-op). b) He has no capital or expendable money to speak of. c) No transport in UK, which puts him at the beck'n'call of others. d) Nowhere to stay. e) Most importantly, where Ron goes he takes Chris, which effectively doubles the cost. The only place that he would consider going to is Southampton. He truly loves and respects the fans, he cannot believe we still hold him so dear. The fact that we got him to such a leading surgeon has caused Ron to get quite a bit more notoriety as they like the fact that Ron is an iconic ex-soccer player. Even though he is not paying for his ops the doc likes working on him because if nothing else it's good publicity. Recently Ron has been interviewed by a Guardian corespondent living out West and has been approached by other Western media as well being offered positions to be chief scout for University soccer programs out here (college sport is massive here). Ron loves his life, he kinda wants people other than his 'Saints family' to leave him alone...he gives the press and college people my number and tells them 'Tim will deal with it'. In most cases he is reluctant to blow his own trumpet and me, well I can't speak highly enough of him both as a terrace idol and as a bloke. The weird thing is he will talk to me (as well as most Saints fans I guess) all day about how it actually was and he has a very sharp recollection...but he does not seem interested in glorifying himself in the media. Everyone always asks him about shafting Man U that time, so I avoid it and we talk about his playing partners - the end of season diving header - the four he knocked in at Chelsea or the four .v. Villa!! The time he humbled Ron 'Chopper' Harris etc, most of the time we talk golf - family and bullschit. Most of us would love to see Ron either watching us safely retain CCC status at home to Burnley (which maybe a little early for him) or kicking off a positive CCC campaign next August at home to pompee. Your thought??

I went to a couple of the last four games up there....Wow, it's a long way huh, even longer on the way home if things turn out bad on the pitch. That is why I still say GO!! But enjoy the day with friends - the trip - the scenery. Yes, the central event of the day is the game, but if you make everything revolve round it, it may not be as much fun. There again if you go for a day out, fun with like minded friends etc and Southampton win anyway it'll be awesome. You will have memories and an experience either way. God Bless you travelling Saints...at the moment, you're my heroes!!

Favourite or best...Fave Stevie at fartton in '84. Best Big Ron's diving header .v. Wolves or was it Cov at the end of the season. Mustard innit!!

Very assute mate, yes Ron does have great recovery powers..been through a few ops as a player and retains his athlete's desire to recover from them. This surgeon is as good as they get, we didn't want our Big Ron with just any old butcher. Lastly, the New Mexico climate is indeed excellent for post-op recovery. Quite a lot of top pro athletes go there for that.

Morning Fellow Saints, Well it transpires that Ron has more than sufficiently recovered from his pneumonia and is know able to have his second hip replacement procedure. Ron will enter hospital and have leading orthopedic surgeon Dr Racca do his left hip on February 5th. Ron has made me a challenge to play golf with him in the summer, so needless to say he is positive about the op, especially after the success of the first. Ron is currently in a lot of discomfort though he rarely mentions it, so this op could have come quick enough. It is great that we got the doc and he staff to do it so promptly after his illness.

Well...I mused all the varients of way this could occur. a) Steward had no clue who Bald Eagle was b) Some corporate jolly who knows squat about Saints asked for freeloaders outside his party to be 'asked to leave' c) An ongoing issue about ex-players needing to 'give' respect as well as demanding it by doing the appropriate registering prior to entering what are basically independent events. But after all that it seems to be just another unneccessary and damaging, poor and definitely avoidable occurence. This unfortunate happening is surely a worthwhile fix (if anyone at the club is reading or cares). Horrible PR faux pas but repairable!! Oh and as an after thought and from a big Armstrong fan as a player and as a bloke "Punters" - "Punters" FFS...use your language more descretely David, very patronizing and condescending to go on record calling the same people you want to support you "Punters"....still think this was totally wrong.

It all depends on position and believe it or not on sex. Women players mature and hit their playing prime about 30-32. Males generally are at the peak at 27-29. However it changes position-wise. Goalie's prime is about 31-36 Full backs and midfielders about 27-29 Wingers and strikers (as a generalization) younger - say 20-25. Prime examples Owen and even Shearer. Michael Owen frightens the whole World, but not England. It is because of what he has done. Now, however he has lost a few tenths of a second sprinting speed and has not compensated for it in other ways, so therefore is a good prem striker rather than a global threat. I think the same will happen with Rooney (who I feel will be best suited to midfield because of his passing and vision as he matures) Ronaldo, Agbondalhor and several others. These are massive generalizations...but still generally correct. In other words look at the best players and I bet most of them fall near those criteria. Oh...and if I was lucky enough to coach Owen, I would send him to a speed coach...

You could well be right about that (the meds I mean)..can't go through life hating too much and reflecting on the really bad stuff when so much is going on. I would say 'our club' but it is not 'our club' at the present...So - 'the club' is in a horrible state currently, the team is admirable and learning and yet have a very long way to go, the board (right, wrong or indifferent - that is another debate) is at polar opposites to most of our ways of thinking. Worst of all the thing I love about the Saints i.e. our fans are desperately suffering, so I will follow your educated diagnosis and take my meds, meanwhile trying hard to muster some positivety, happiness and thought of the future or enjoying our past rather than constantly suffering in the present. I am working on more good stuff than you can imagine and where there is a will there is a way, no matter how long-a-shot it is. Keep y'chin up!!

Classic stuff Dunc...like to make an analogy with Jan's strategy and Walter 'such a stupid git' Raleigh's discovery that nobody believed baccy would take off...but, hell, just not happening. BTW, respect your thoughts on my train of thought on Kade's old classmate Nick Holmes and just as a quick defence - I feel we just cannot afford a qualified or relevant replacement if and when Jan goes...so I'm desperately thinking of all the possible combos that may improve us. A lot of peeps on here want MLT, it ain't happening folks. The US of A needed the cavalry to come riding to the rescue after Jimmy Carter...mainly in the guise of John Wayne that normally headed up the good guys coming to the rescue, but as he was not available they settled for Ronnie the RayGun (a bit of plagurising going on here). Hey and according to the masses here it worked out. Sorry - very diverse visions going on here.

No Martin Luther King Junior...