If you have BBC Late Kick Off and are in the right catchment area, you will get Les Reed on the show after MOTD. I won't be able to see it but will try to find out what is said. That said, if anyone on here feels like watching it and letting us know - please do!
I will probably watch it, and can post anything of note on here. I'm sure it will just be the usual, "we want to keep this talented group of players together, and add to the quality we have", "Mauricio and I have had discussions and are comfortable of the situation. We'll talk after Man United". But you never know.
Bristol Rovers' fan said that relegation was like a death in the family. Would seem daft to anyone who wasn't a football fan, but we all know what he meant. All your body knows is that you've had a massive loss and behaves accordingly. The main difference is that as long as a team survives the fans will be back again in August. Just shown an Andy Awford message to the team...no one unable to use an apostrophe correctly should be allowed to manage a football side (apart from Argentinians, of course .)
For anyone outside the area, you'll be able to watch the programme on iPlayer in a day or two. If you don't know how to access the correct region, just double click on the BBC 1 channel from the list, once inside iPlayer. That will take you to the regions and you can choose South, the day and time.
Reed says they have agreed to sit down and talk about MP and finish talks they have already started. Also says nothing has happened with any of the players.
Reed says "absolutely nothing" has been discussed with anyone over player transfers. Says they may happen, but nothing yet. Also says, once again, that Mauricio and him will sit down and talk after the United game.
Talking about Saints continuing to support the Bath satellite academy at a time other teams closed them down. Also said he hopes that they can develop a relationship with league clubs which will mutually beneficial. I think he means that some players who haven't quite made it with us can be fed to these clubs.
interesting that they are consciously trying to create exit paths to other clubs in the area for the kids who don't make it with us. still not sure if stephens at swindon is at last chance saloon or is already gone.
Think an important point was that he mentioned that they would continue discussions they had already started with Mauricio...I know a few fans (especially on the Saintsweb) were getting concerned that Saints hadn't even bothered to mention a new contract with Mauricio...they strangely seemed to think that the subject had never come up in the daily meetings between MP and the board.
Tony "Skate" Husband - "How do you cope with opening the papers every morning and reading about one of your players leaving and it's a done deal?" Les Reed - "Very well, because I know it's all nonsense" The Skate - "Nothing may have been discussed formally, but have there been informal discussions?" Reed - "No" Not word perfect, but you get the point
I'd be very positive if I was dirty skate. He has his feet on the ground and was not making any ridiculous promises and targets. They need someone to build the club up again slowly, get the foundations in place for a couple of seasons and a club of their size could easily get back to where they belong in the championship.
Not sure Tony Husband is a Skate, but whenever he used to do Radio Solent's football commentaries, before the days of Adam Blackmore and Kris Temple, he used to be so unbiased that it seemed, if anything, that he was more excited when the opposition scored against Saints. This when BBC local radio was making it known that their commentators would show a local bias. One only had to listen to any other local radio commentry to realise how biased other regions could be. When Kris Temple replaced Husband as the main commentator, it was a revelation. Blackmore has since carried on the good work, and with Whispering Dave alongside him, it couldn't really get much more Saints biased.
Whilst things do change and they may be trying something new with some players, we don't favour loans for our young players...in fact, Les Reed mentioned recently that we prefer to keep our players with us as we feel they learn more from our system of training alongside our first team. My best guess is that anyone on loan is on their way out.
Funny to label Tony Husband as a "skate". I have met him and he came across as a decent bloke. He was certainly very complimentary about Saints style of play, but mostly I got the impression that he was an enthusiast for sport, just not in a narrow tribal way. Blimey, I sometimes wonder if a paramedic had a Pompey badge on their shirt, some on here would more concerned with their football associations than what they did for a living.
I'm absolutely certain that some people would sooner die than be resuscitated by such a person (not my own view btw, should I ever collapse in a PO postcode). At the very least, he or she should be asked to remove the offending badge from their uniform before attending to an injury, lest the shock of being saved by a skate should send a recovering Saints fan into shock.
I work with a Skate who happens to be a company 1st aider and he has assured me that if I need mouth to mouth resuscitation he will suck rather than blow. Bastard.
