Saints Stuff

#justgiving @boufal 6 games start of next season then we will know for certs which way it’ll go.

 

Saints ladies bt Barton 8.0 to win title

 

He’s our best midfielder, if he decides to be.

 

17 games, 17 wins. Not bad!

 

Well done to them, but we are playing below our standard. Saints tried to get in higher up the pyramid but were turned down as we are a new side.

 

The difference in pace/athleticism was stark, just from those goals.
As much as I don’t think it would be fair for saints to have a leg up through the system, the resources and likely additional training time our ladies receive make it hard for the other teams to complete.
I’m sure they’ve enjoyed the challenge, but won’t be sorry to see the back of them.

 

Unlike Manchester United women's team…..

I don't know enough about the structure to know how much of a step up the net league will be, does anyone here know?

 

@PompeyLapras might.

 

Saints ladies have been promoted from Southern Region Premier Division to FA Women's National League Division One South West.
So....no idea.

 

From extensive research (aka googling it ) Saints have been promoted to the National League which is regional. Next steps are the Championship, followed by the professional Super League. There are criteria for promotion to the Championship and Super Leagues.....which presumably we can meet, but winds up Pompey Lapras….as it can mean that good teams can be kept down.

 

Love Jos...he'd score on a Tuesday.

 

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/charlie-austin-told-must-leave-14447033

Recently Ralph said he'd understand if Austin wanted to leave to get more game time...but now the Mirror quotes him as being a bit more forthright than that. Virtually saying that he has no future here and should as a footballer want to go where he will play. Also mentions that Charlie turned down a move to a Championship side in January.

 

Yep he turned Villa down over wages etc............and we turned the transfer down anyway over Villas offer of £7m because we wanted £10m.

 

Also says Stephens will be out, amongst others we already expected. If Stephens were to leave we would need to bring in a couple of new CBs at least

 

Yes well Man U gotta start in the second division because they're Man U and only other teams should have to work their way there.

Thanks for thinking of me. Tbh, I've never watched a match in the National League Division 1... Only the division about (the Southern Division).... However, from what I've seen, there are some teams that yo-yo between Southampton's new division and the division above, and when they're in the division above they tend to do pretty badly. QPR being a prime example. There have been some teams that have been promoted from Southampton's new division to the Southern Division and have done reasonably well, like Chichester... Therefore from that I guess it may be quite a competitive league but quite a bit lower than the division above... However, the gulf of quality between divisions is so high in women's football due to the lack of strength in depth, that it probably would be quite a step up.

Tbf, the criteria doesn't annoy me that much as it does kind of make sense and most teams (including the losing teams in the Hunger Games/play-offs seem to have already fulfilled them (apparently we had when we were in the play-offs), but what annoys me is the constant promotion and relegation being decided by committee, especially when it's a case of replacing a less glamorous team (e.g. Doncaster) with a more 'glamorous' team (e.g. Man £ity) with on field success (or failure) not being the decider for promotion (or relegation).That's why I have more respect for Spurs and Brighton than Leicester or West Ham, at least they've earned their promotions.

Also, I hate the play-offs because both the Northern and Southern winners should both get promoted and the consequences for the losing team can be pretty catastrophic as many of the losing team players will end up being signed (for no compensation) for WSL teams so the team will be a lot weaker next year, and end up being mid-table or fighting relegation, except in the case of Blackburn who seem to consistently be up there, but I feel like one day not making the final leap will come back to haunt them. Take Portsmouth, we won the League in 2014, lost in the play-offs and now we're a shadow of our former selves, we've lost so many players to the WSL and are nowhere near title contenders... Yet had we won a single match in 2014, we'd have gotten into the WSL, we'd have more money, more media coverage, we'd have kept a lot more players, we wouldn't be playing a Wessex league stadium probably... Who knows where we'd be now... That's why I hate the play-offs, there's so much on the line. It's why I call it the Hunger Games, relative riches and glory awaits the winners, a slow demise awaits the losers.

And it's nothing to do with being bitter about Portsmouth missing out, otherwise I wouldn't care about the play-offs today as they don't affect us and affect other teams, but despite that I still hate them and I'd change the system if I could even though it wouldn't benefit us, but at least other clubs wouldn't have to suffer the systematic dismantling of the club as a result of a single match.

 

£10m???? That’s two and a half Charlie Austins and they’d only get one.

 

Some would say half a one....