London calling

For what it's worth, here are my Premier league predictions!

Champions - Chelsea (defence will win it) 

2nd - Man City

3rd - Arsenal

4th- United.

Spurs - 7th

Saints - 10th

Relegated (all will change Managers at crucial ill thought out times)

Villa

Palace (see above!)

WBA

Everything Changes but You

So it is two days before the start of the new Premier league season. It's fair to say that preseason at St Mary's has been anything but quiet!

The Saints have sold Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw, Callum Chambers, Dejan Lovren and Dani Osvaldo has gone to Inter Milan on a Season long loan. Or other words we've lost our main striker, main playmaker, three of our starting back four and a lunatic who we were happy to see the back of. That three of those players have gone to Liverpool is also unusual and of course our first game is away to Liverpool!  But it has to be said that Liverpool have paid well over th odds for both Lovren and Lallana. In addition the money that Arsenal played for Callum Chambers was also ridiculous.

At one point it looked like it was going to be worse as Tottenham wanted to buy both Morgan Schneiderlin and Jay Rodriguez, but the club drew a line over that deal and said that they would not be sold. (Schneiderlin was deeply unhappy about that decision and it still remains to be seen, with two weeks of the transfer window left to go, whether he will still leave the club.)

To replace these players the club have used the knowledge of new manager Ronald Koeman and bought in Graziano Pelle and Dusan Tadic from Dutch football as replacements for Lambert and Lallana. From preseason matches both look like adequate replacements. We've also bought Shane Long from Hull City to play off Pelle and hopefully they will quickly form a free scoring striking partnership. 

In defence we bought new goalkeeper Fraser Forster from Celtic. At six foot seven and an England international he appears to be a good buy. We've also taken Ryan Bertrand on a season loan from Chelsea and today have bought Florin Gardos from Steaua Bucharest who is an international centre back. Finally as part of the deal that took Osvaldo to Milan we've taken a defensive midfielder Saphir Taider on loan to St Mary's. Both of the loan deals mentioned are believed to have clauses which allow us to make the loans permanent transfers at the end of the season.

So on paper we seem to have replaced all the players that left with equivalent replacements. We also have more players coming through from our wonderful Academy, so the season ahead, which could have been a complete disaster, at least now looks like it will be ok.

Where do I think we will finish? Somewhere between 10th and 13th. If Koeman gets the team playing as a team sooner rather than later we could even match last years eighth. But equally if the team doesn't gel quickly enough then below 13th could be the alternative. These may be famous last words but I don't see us being in the relegation battle. That's especially true after Crystal Palace let Tony Pulis leave today! 

A good start would be three points at Anfield!

Heaven and hell

I first got into listening to the music of the progressive rock band "Yes", when my friend Nigel played me Yessongs (probably while we were playing "Risk"!).

Since then their music has seen me through good times and bad & given me some of the most exhilarating musical experiences of my life. When they're on form there are not many other bands who can touch them. I've seen them live four times, all were really good concerts.

To most Yes fans the classic lineup (Anderson, Howe, Wakeman, Squire and White) is the one that  most of us wish was still talking to each other and therefore still touring together. Sadly it appears those days are past, with Anderson touring on his own and Wakeman putting on lavish productions of his previous solo albums. Indeed Anderson & Wakeman will probably work together in the future.

The current live incarnation of Yes incorporates Howe, Squire and White, with Geoff Downes who played in an earlier version of the band (when Anderson and Wakelman left previously- but subsequently returned) and Jon Davidson, who like his predecessor was in a tribute version of the band.

This version has been touring extensively, the last tour  incorporating the playing of Close to the Edge, the Yes album and Going for the One in their entirety. As Yes fans will know the key feature of the live performance was Jon Anderson's vocals, he sings in a distinct falsetto. Jon Davidson has a similar voice and the live versions of these albums were to most Yes fans an authentic rendering of the original material.

Now they have gone into the studio to record their new album "Heaven and Earth", this being the first one with Davidson on vocals. Snippets of tracks have been released via Facebook and SoundCloud and in a mixup with iTunes if you preordered the album you got a two tracks free but in fact you seemed to be able to just buy the two tracks without pre-ordering the album! This campaign I think did the band a disservice. I remarked to one of my friends recently that I didn't think I was going to buy the album as what I had heard sounded awful.

In fact that wasn't correct. It's not a great album, but it has its moments (Subway Walls is a good addition to the Yes catalogue) most of it is ok and there is only one track that really makes me cringe. As ever with Yes albums, Steve Howe's guitar playing is exemplary and takes some mediocre tracks into okay status just by his playing alone. Davidson's vocals are again okay though his lower register is a little bit iffy in places. The rest of the band do what the rest of the band do to an acceptable standard although I could have done with a bit more keyboards on some tracks, or at least with what was there being a bit higher in the mix.

The album is produced by Roy Thomas Baker, best known for his work with Queen. To be honest I expected more from the production than is on display here. It doesn't jump out of the speakers at you, which is what you normally get from his productions. 

The album was recorded and produced fairly quickly, and I have to say it does sound a bit like that too. It was recorded between gaps in tours and that's never a good basis for a new album.

Am I glad they recorded it, not really! Will I play it again and again… probably not. Should they stop making music? No, they should probably just take more time and pay more attention when they sit down to record the next one. They remain fine musicians, the live tours prove that. It's just a shame that what could've been a really good album ended up just okay and that's being a bit generous!

57 channels and nothing on....

Sky have just announced that they're going to add sky sports 5 to their sports package from the start of next season. It's only going to show European football, including the champions league games. It's free to existing subscribers and they can also get two years free sky broadband. That looks like a good deal.

But Sky only have the rights to show the champions league for next season. After that they switch to BT sports. At present to get BTSport free you need to be a BT broadband subscriber. So this time next season you might want to switch broadband to BT from Sky so that you can watch the champions league for free that way, or at least with the discount as a BT broadband user.

But those clever chaps the Sky have tied you in for two years. So now you'll probably have to pay full price  for BTSport to watch the champions league. So you might not bother. Well that's what Sky are hoping anyway.

Breaking my heart again

So it's true! Mauricio Pochettino has resigned from being Saints manager to be the new manager at Spurs and taken all the coaching team with him. (The fate of the translator/interpreter is less clear!!)

And with that news all the hope and dreams that our club might be really really on the edge of greatness evaporates, All we need now is for Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw and a couple of other key players to leave and all the good work of the 5 years may be for nought. Tonight feels pretty bleak.

What really annoys me is that he's gone to Spurs. They finished 6th in the Premier league only two places above Saints (albeit by 13 points). But if we are to progress above the best finish we've ever had, then you don't let your manager go to one of the teams stopping you get higher? We are now in that "second tier" of the league below the Champions league places but battling for Europa league spots and Spurs are also in the tier.

Now they have ambitions of a top four finish, indeed MP's stay at Spurs will depend on his achieving that. Is he mad?? The season just finished was the chance Spurs had to break into the top four but they blew it and big time. As three of the top four clubs from the previous season changed managers then there was a real chance that a gap might appear, as it did by United faltering, but that space was taken by the newly reinvigorated  Liverpool.

So next season the existing top four will only get stronger (Chelsea and City have unlimited funds, Liverpool have European income to spend and Arsenal always have a healthy bank balance).  United have a new manager who will sort them out and they will be real contenders again. Add to that Everton who if they add to their squad sensibly will continue to be an outside bet for a top four finish and you have 6 teams already well ahead of Spurs for a top 4 finish.

That's a tough job for a team with a settled squad which needs a couple more quality players to mount a challenge (like Everton) but Spurs are a long long way from that position. They only scored 55 goals and they let in 51. That's a lot less scored than the top 5 and more conceded than the top 5 too. (To be fair Liverpool only let in one less goal but as they scored 101 so that didn't matter!!)  So both the defence and the attack need major surgery. Spurs sold Gareth Bale last summer and they then spent c£90m on new players so they have a full squad already, which needs to be trimmed to then grow (or they could  fall foul of the Financial fair play rules). So that's not a quick fix, that's a long transition. Spurs seem to have understood that as they have given MP a five year deal, but and it's a big but they don't have a track record of giving any of the last 10 managers long enough to deliver that golden chalice of a Champions league place. (It's not helped by Arsenal doing it year after year, but they have stuck with their manager!!!) MP will have some time develop his team but if Spurs are not in the top 6 at Christmas then the clock will be ticking and it will get louder and louder if they remain no better than they are now.

All of which will be a crying shame as MP is a good bloke who has developed a team at St Mary's into probably the best team we have ever had and with a couple of good signings could have been on the edge of true greatness.

Maybe he should have read Glen Hoddle's CV before jumping across to Spurs??

Lord of the dance

I've watch the BBC sitcom "Rev" since it first started in June 2010. It stars Tom Hollander as the Rev Adam Smallbone a parish priest at St Saviour in the Marshes in Hackney East London. It's now in its third series and last nights episode was probably the best one yet.

Without giving away plot spoilers they managed to include most of the key points of holy week. That a comedy can include denial with reference to a cock crowing, the significant washing of hands, betrayal from a kiss and a cross being carried through the streets of London with abuse being hurled at the person carrying it was incredible. The cross was carried while Pie Jesu from Fuarė's Requiem played in the background, which made it surprisingly moving. The comedy was still there, but this series has dealt more with the challenges facing a parish priest than knockabout laughs.

The acting as ever was first rate and was added to by the cast including  Liam Neeson as God/Jesus and Ralph Fiennes as the Bishop!

It was also very moving and the end of the episode effectively dealt with the temple being pulled to the ground.

Let's hope next week's final episode deals with resurrection!

Come back and stay

So long time no blog, but that's what twitter does for you!!

On the football front, things at St Mary's have been quietly going well. Premier league stability, good squad, good manager and a style of play that has made others look up and take notice/copy us.

So this week I didn't expect a national paper to have the head line "Model club in meltdown" and it refer to the Saints. But that is exactly what happened.

So what would have prompted such a disaster?? Had HMRC found a huge unpaid tax bill?? No. Had the club been sold to a Pompey fan who wanted to change the home kit to blue?? No. Had The manager resigned? No. Had the club accepted a £20m offer for Guly and Danny Fox?? Sadly nope.

What had happened was that the Chief Executive, Nicola Cortese, had resigned. Yes that's right a senior employee had resigned. But he the man who is largely acknowledged for single handily turning a bottom of League One club in to a team who were in one win away from topping Premier League at the end of November. (It's gone a bit wrong since then, we're now 9th, but you get the picture!).

He's done that by being appearing to be ruthless. He has sacked two managers, Alan Pardew and Nigel Adkins, who had both done well at the club. Pardew, winning the Football league trophy at a Wembley Final and Adkins had achieved back to back promotions to take the team back to the Premier League. He has overseen all aspects of the club and the transformation has been amazing, but there have been those in and around the club that have alluded to a less than approachable person who expects complete allegiance to "the Southampton Way" as it is known.

I have only heard him speak once, at a Q&A after a League One game and he seemed genial, humorous but there was steel there too that all successful business people would say that you need. Success needs tough decisions and that need tough people.

Well this week he resigned. Why he did that, no one knows as he has stayed silent. So it's all rumour. Rumour that the owner, Katharina Liebherr, wants to sell the club and she and Cortese fell out over it. but she has said that she "he has done a wonderful job and we very much wanted him to stay". Rumour that A C Milan want him to do for them what he has done for Saints, but working with the Berlusconi family would be a lot less easy than the Liebherr family.

The logical reason is actually much more straight forward.. If the Liebherr's do want to sell then Cortese has said in the past that he knows people who would want to buy it to keep the stability going. But you can't negotiate to buy the club if you're paid to negotiate the sale!! Therefore I suspect that Cortese will be back with new owners to buy the club and reinstall him back to his old job! Sunseeker the luxury boat builder, based in Poole, for example, which is owned by the Chinese conglomerate, Wanda Group, is already a club sponsor.

If however that gap could be long enough for a kit with red and white stripes to be ordered for next season then that would be good!!