itchen

This is an entirely sensible way to run a football club.

There was a time when small clubs stood a chance of signing the current European Footballer of the Year.

I'm not joining the bandwagon of "he was crap we're better off without him". I'd rather he stayed but, if he chose not to sign a new contract, the club has done well to get a good price for him (as with Ings). He had some good moments last season, particularly with his passing, but he was still liable to be caught out of position and too slow to recover. I hope we can sign a suitable, experienced replacement but I wouldn't despair if we relied on Stephens - he gets a lot of unfair stick on here but is probably as good as (and certainly more vocal than) Vestergard.

Still waiting. But they have sent me an email offering membership, which is nice.

My only objection is that it doesn't seem to be available to buy.

The Bertrand of three years ago, maybe. Anyone who shows some interest can match the Bertrand of last season.

It's the Saints Web way. I'm waiting until he fails to score in his first game until I write him off.

Really can't get excited over this. Good player, certainly. But we have got a great deal for an injury-prone, aging player in the last year of his contract. Just spend the money wisely.

It will continue for as long as the players, particularly those from ethnic minorities, still feel it is an effective way of drawing attention to the racism in our society. I think it will, sadly, be for a long time.

Has anyone heard about paying the balance? I haven't heard anything since paying the deposit.

Unless the situation changes drastically (for example, a variant resistant to the vaccine) I'll be there.

I think you'll find that's Leicester City.

Not a penalty. But who cares?

So buying poor players is down to our scouting and manager but buying good players is entirely down to luck. Sounds fair.

And, according to the Guardian, Pochettino is in talks to return to Spurs. Honestly, in any other business, Daniel Levy would be out of a job.

And all three of those clubs seem to have And all three of those clubs seem to have more money than we do both to offer the manager in wages and, more importantly, in funds to being in new players. For much of the last part of the season we had key players out injured and insufficient squad depth to field replacements that were good enough. Players have taken longer to come back from injury because of COVID restrictions on treatment facilities. None of this is Ralph's fault. Yes, another manager may have done better with the hand he was dealt and may do better in future. But do we know who this person might be? Are they available? Would they come and operate under the constraints that a small, provincial, self-sustaining club has to? It seems to me that, unless we have positive answers to all those questions, we should stick with a manager who has brought us some good, exciting football (and also some dreadful performances) and who actually seems to care about the club. It was only a few months back that many on here were worried that we would lose Ralph whenever a bigger club had a managerial vacancy. We've all seen where changing managers every season left us. Let's stick with one for a while. Lauwrie McMenemy took us down in his first season and took another five years to get us up again. It there had been an Internet whinge site then, I'm sure there would have been calls for him to go. Let's try patience.

Same weekend as Frankie Howard. Coincidence?* * Yes, entirely.

I like Ralph but I recognise that, obviously, something has gone wrong and the usual footballing answer is to blame the guy in charge. But suppose we all agree that our slump in the last half of the season is down to Ralph. What then? We sack him and have to pay compensation for the remainder of his contract (which hardly anybody objected to renewing) and thus reduce our meagre budget still further. We then have to get in a new manager who would work for the relatively low wages and budget that Saints can offer. We may get lucky and get a young, upcoming, ambitious manager who can make the best of our limited squad and any likely low-budget additions to it. I've no idea who that may be. The ones often touted (Graham Potter, Eddie Howe) have both finished lower than us in the last couple of seasons. But we may get unlucky and bring in someone like Pellegrino or Hughes who not only get dreadful results but play dreadful, boring football. At least Ralph gives us entertainment when it goes right. So I think, in out current straitened circumstances, we have to stick with Ralph and hope that we can eventually build a squad who can deliver results in the way Ralph wants to play which, when it works, is great to watch.

I think this is good news. He still has a lot of skill and speed but, most importantly, wants to be here. We see so much moaning about mercenary players just looking for the biggest pay cheque, off at the first opportunity to a bigger club (and, yes, I know Theo did exactly that). But now he wants to be here for whatever reason (probably family) when he could still very likely get as much money or prestige elsewhere. He clearly likes Ralph's way of playing and I think he'll score or create a few important goals for us. Welcome Theo.

I remember the Leeds chant after our third goal went it "We're gonna win 4-3." How amusing, we thought.

I thought Minamino was having quite a good game but apparently he's not. I don't know why I bother reading this forum sometimes. Redmond is crap, Minamino is crap, Stephens is crap, McCarthy is crap, Adams isn't a Premier League striker. It's fortunate Bednarek's not playing or he'd be crap as well

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22Weird_Al%22_Yankovic&ved=2ahUKEwjusde85MvwAhV8XhUIHbc_DrkQFjAbegQIPRAC&usg=AOvVaw3qDR-XDHM_yafpynbnPIZv

How are the rest of the team going to get the extended breathers they get whenever Bertrand takes a throw in? They'll all be knackered.

It's odd isn't it? A few years back, most of our attacks went up the left wing with Bertrand and Redmond overlapping effectively. Then it all seemed to stop and, since KWP came, we now do most of our build up down the left. If only, we could manage both.

Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the wee donkey, we've found H/the fourth man.