We still haven’t been to a pub yet, not planning to either as alcohol and common sense don’t mix very well. We have a social bubble of 3 couples and have been taking turns to go to each other’s house.....cheaper, better food and company.
Well, happy to admit I was wrong about project restart. It has been a success. Obviously it was pushed through because of the millions in the slush fund, but at least no players have been compromised by the virus because of a lack of procedures. Not finishing the season would have left a nasty anomaly on the history records, and made a mess of the next couple of campaigns as well. So, lets all enjoy the climax tomorrow, stay safe, and start chatting **** for the commencing of the new one on the 12th of September. And hopefully all of our stragglers reappear in good health and spirits. Up The Saints & the fans.
**** project restart. **** the Premier league. **** Gao. **** VAR. Up the ****ing Saints I might have had a few drinks
I'm glad that we had both of them here however briefly and I only care about what they did at Saints. Those 3 and half years saw the best football i've witnessed since Lawrie Mac, 1989/90 and 2011/12 notwithstanding. I'm not crediting Ron with all of the recruitment but Mane, VVD, Toby, Pelle, Tadic, Betrand, Long and Romeu came in under him.
If I was less drunk I'd be bang up for having this argument with ya... my favourite poster that I like but love arguing with
I'm really dubious that Ron set the Academy back all that much. The two managers to follow used the Academy even less than Ron had. We kinda let the Academy atrophy there for several years.
Cant say that Puel used the academy less. It was one of his good points. Pellegrino and Hughes ... certainly
Genuinely though, if Ralph was poached tomorrow by Spurs - which of the two would you take back first. Ron, or Poch? (If you say Ron, by the way, you’re insane).
Never really understood the “use the academy” argument. If they’re good enough then they will get played. Personally couldn’t care less if they came through our academy or somewhere else
Koeman had such a bad relationship with the Academy that parents were taking their kids away in disgust. And don’t forget the common factor between Ron, Puel, Pellegrino and Hughes was our esteemed former director of football, Mr Leslie Arnold Reed.
We definitely agree on Mr. Les Reed. I tend to think that he was the bigger factor there; we didn't have an overabundance of young talent bubbling up. Stephens are Targett are the only two with high-level professional careers from that era, and he did play Targett a fair bit (Stephens was on loan because, well, there weren't a lot of minutes at CB available those days).