westofshannonsaint

I expect us to be beaten well on Sunday, and after yesterday I'm going to try to get Tevez into my fantasy team. 4 points for the opening 4 games would be a great return IMO & remember, Spurs lost 3-0 & 5-1 in their opening fixtures against Man U & Man C last season. Even the mighty Swansea lost 0-4 to Man C on the opening day last year. & IIrc they were the only newly promoted club to take points from city/utd last year (city @ home?). it's lucky for us there is 20 teams in the league. I don't expect us to come from Manchester with any points, but I have a feeling that there might be a loan signing on the bus. as said above Wigan is the real test & FYI the transfer window doesn't close until sept 30th.

here's a link to last year's thread? it's all a little bit of history repeating. I think our transfer activity has been sound over the last few seasons - quality over quantity/evolution not revolution. I suspect that we will bring in one or two top quality players on loan (again). Hopefully along with a couple of more permanent signings.

Ah good, I am already a part of this league, I haven't done too bad over the last couple of seasons - 17th last year & 3rd the year before

if I looked through your post history, would you have suggested this time last year that SRL would not good enough for the championship? How many of our players were in last years championship team of the year? Surely the best players in the championship cdaj in the prem? although, it might be a bit of a risk putting them all in one team. Also, How many of our squad came to us when offers from prem teams were on the table? & How many first teamers has NC sold (anyone other than OX)? ...Evolution, not Revolution...there are obvious gaps in the squad, but based on our recent history I believe these gaps will be plugged. what are the loan rules in the prem? does a loan window open after the transfer window closes? We've done well with loans (with option to buy) recently.

Do you really believe that a player who scored 10 goals in last years championship & can play in a few positions could not be used as a sub/back up in the prem? This is good news imho, but does it mean we will not strengthen the RM spot this transfer window?

Football (sport), religion & politics should never mix. & this is coming from an Irishman born in England who has never supported England in any sport(except, possibly boxing), except for this years Euro's when your expectations were lower... it was strange.

thanks all for trying to stay on topic (this board has been a bit of a bore lately with all the b!tching that goes on) I think some of us are getting hung up on "win the league - some day", or what ever the quote is. But, if we can go back to the challenge for Europe bit for a minute, I still think it is a realistic goal & stepping stone in the right direction. If we look at some of the teams that have played European football over the last 10 years, I see no reason why we cannot play European football (again). Ipswich Town (2002) Leeds Utd (02) Blackburn Rovers (02, 03, 06, 07) Fulham (02, 09, 11) Southampton (03) Newcastle Utd (03, 04, 06) Millwall (04) Middlesborough (04, 05) Everton (05, 06, 07, 08, 09) Bolton (05, 07) West Ham (06) Aston Villa (08, 09, 10) Cheats FC (09.) Birmingham City (11) Stoke City (11) source (wiki) Thing's change quickly in football, where were we this time 3 years ago? Where were Newcastle 2 years ago & now Alan Pardew has brought them European football once again. Is there any reason that we cant emulate that? Fulham got to the final of the Europa league. Again, I feel that European football over the next 2/3 years is a realistic target. It certainly deserves a paragraph in our new 5 year plan. It's the next step up the ladder & achievable without putting the club at huge financial risk (given our current situation). After that who knows what the future holds. What will the implications of the financial fair play rules who and will go bust? What does everyone think Saints short term goals (3 years) should be? Now we are back in the prem am I a fool to think we should aim to compete rather than aim to survive, and hope for the odd upset/cup run? Have the last 3 years spoiled me? have I been fooled into believing that Cortese is building something special? Other than OX has he sold any first team players?

No mods, please don't lock it. It could turn out to be an interesting conversation, perhaps you could start deleting off topic/irrelevant posts? Fair enough, we are not going to win the premier league this year or next, but never say never and all that. In the meantime European football should be the next target. It is the logical next step if we want to continue to improve. There 8 European places available through League Position, Cup winners (or runner up's) & fair play. And no reason why we should not aim to get one of them. This time last year there were many saying the team were just about good enough to stay in the championship. I thought we would be mid table, I'm glad the club had greater ambitions than my own. the future is bright...

last post of the day & I thought i'd use it to suggest a young Keeper.... 18 year old Joe Coll is leaving Man Utd as he is too far down the pecking order, although is tipped to be a future Irish Keeper. See here & here - when he signed for utd for more. chdajfu?

on the SSN ticker now that Buttner has signed

I'm sure every club has it's internet nutcases. it's a bit sad & sometimes I wonder what is lacking in peoples lives.

From April... http://www.goal.com/en-ie/news/3908/main/2012/04/10/3025765/long-road-to-recovery-awaits-tadanari-lee-after-surgery ...I thought I read somewhere that he was due to be out until Sept/Oct, and that this return trip to the hospital was to be expected. I cant remember where/maybe I dreamt it.

here's a link to the mirror saying the same thing. here's a link to some rangers fans thoughts (seem fairly resigned to the fact they are going to loose their best players for pittance. I wonder what kind of wage he's looking for & what it would take to become our top earner?

Has anyone suggested Ciarán Clark? From his wiki... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciaran_Clark We need defenders, He's out of contract(?) & according to an Irish pundit "he's versatile & can Play anywhere across the back 4". He has played in 34 prem games in the last 2 years, scoring 4 goals. As an under 18/19 England player he probably has played with/knows some of our current squad (he's 22) & He seems to be held in high regard by Villa fans. ......& now that DC has left, there are no Paddies in the squad CHDAJFU?

Oh & it would be good for our young prospect to have 2 experienced keepers to learn from.

& what happens if Kelvin breaks a finger? Would you be happy with our (new) untried prospect facing Man City? agreed... I've never heard anyone that knows anything about football say "Competition for places is a bad thing". Green offers instant competition, He's available for free & a realistic option. IMHO NC/NA would be foolish not to talk to him & I think if his wage demands were excessive/break our wage structure, Cortese would decide against.

oh & Who was the first country to beat England in England? That's my 3 free posts used up, watch something happen in the next 24 hours - Mods, any chance or giving registered users?

Sorry, just re watching the naming issue is the start of ep2. Another pub quiz question, What colour did Ireland originally play in? - the answer is at the start(ish) of ep1.

If anyone is really interested do a search for Green Is The Colour on the RTE player. It's an interesting documentary about the history of football in Ireland. Interestingly the splitting of North and South happened prior to the birth of the Free State. The end of episode 1 deals with this and the naming issue from about 50 minutes.

This is an interesting article about last years promoted teams spending. He continues it here. Out of interest, what are the estimates of our spending for each transfer window since NC arrived?

lol, very true.

WHAT HE SAID!!!! I've been skimming through this thread looking for some reasonable posts, thanks. I can't understand why people bother to post when they have nothing to add to a topic & I thought this thread was about the future of SFC. Markus Liebherr will forever be in our debt & I hope that this is the only debt Saints ever have. The only thing I ask of the Liebherr family/Cortese is that they leave us in good hands when the time is right (hopefully that is a long way off). We are in a great position well run, debt free, back in the prem & with great facilities. Growth should be organic. Gifts/"investment", would always be welcome, but they cannot be expected & I would rather we didn't re mortgage the stadium to sign Messi. In 5 years time, I would be happy with being an established mid table prem team & delighted if we were offering European football. If we were to yo-yo I would not be that disappointed - now that I know that the lower leagues are not that bad.

"I just got a bonus, I just got a bonus, La La La..."

agreed and many are glossing over the darkest of years. Where would we be if Lowe managed to keep us solvent? We would not have Nicola, we might have Nigel/Lambert, but they would have been brought up from the lower leagues and clearly not good enough when I think "what if Saints had stability", I look at Stoke (players, colours, song). The thing is I don't think I like stoke, I'm not sure why?.

Great read & Thanks, the only thing I would add is a paragraphe about the Woodward/Harry situation.