I met him in a pub at WHL - a group of supporters had brought him down for a day out and bought his ticket.

He was just standing there alone as someone was getting the drinks in so I went over shook his hand and chatted a while. He was quite excited that his bet might have come in (a little double).

Clealy not at all wealthy, totally down to earth. Seemed a very nice man though, even in that short conversation, it was pretty clear he was a Hearts man.

Reading the latest gossip - Naughton and Dembele have been told they can leave, as we stand a good chance of actually being able off-load them in January as Poch needs to free up cash if he wants to bring new players in.

A few others might be sent out on loan to off-set their wage bill as it is unlikely we will find clubs willing to buy them, unless we let them go at a substantially reduced fees.

Townsend, Rose and Lennon all on the injury list at present along with Bentaleb and Walker

This is pretty huge - BBC reporting that Paul Mitchell has handed in his notice at Southampton and is expected to join us at some point.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30082201

From what I read it will not affect Baldini's position. Mitchell's skill is apparently to do with ground breaking player assessment methodology which can be used for identifying new talent, as well as strategies that can be applied to develop the existing squad. So reading between the lines, he is the main man who is responsible for Southampton's recent player successes and the missing link for Poch.

I know the word was that he wasn't going to be reporting to Baldini, so that could certainly confirm that as well. It's a pretty big show of support for Poch though from Levy, especially considering the general malaise surrounding the club over recent weeks.

Could certainly also confirm the stories that Levy is fully behind him and that this season is seen as transitional (again....).

I'm hoping come January that we ship a couple out and bring a couple of players in good enough to lift the team's performances for the rest of the season. The question is how far will we sink in the table before we turn a corner? Many teams will fancy their chances against us at the moment.

I have a slightly uneasy feeling that things are going to get worse before they get better personally. If Mitchell does come in, i really don't think we're going to see any major benefit from his appointment until next summer's window, unless he's got his eye on a few players already that he feels we could bring in.

I think we're just going to have to muddle through and take whatever good results we can get and hope that we can find a bit of joy in the cups. Next season should - hopefully - be when we really see if Poch's ideas and philosophies will bear fruit.

I wonder how low in the table we would have to go for Poch's position to be in danger?

good question. I'd say bottom 3 or 4 and Levy's trigger finger would be getting especially itchy. and if we were in that position come February or March, premiership survival would probably trump any long-term rebuilding plans.

just got back from holiday where the only game of any description that I was able to catch was the Stoke game. meh...we're drab and listless for the most part this season, but I really can't be bothered to get that worked up about it anymore. I'm sure things will get better eventually, but until they do we'll just have to put up with more games like Stoke, Newcastle, WBA etc.

I don't think Pochettino is particularly pulling up any trees, but it's the players that are mainly to blame IMO. yes we've got a few that don't look up to scratch, but we've also got a few that can perform at a much better level than they they currently are, and have done so before. when you factor in that the manager has managed to produce far better performances from a far less talented group of players, it becomes clear that there's a wider problem at the club that everyone (and I also include the fans in that) shares a responsibility for.

I make Adebayor correct when he talks about the atmosphere at home games being absolutely awful, and the fact he's been utter cack so far this season doesn't in any way change that. it's been completely toxic from day 1 of AVB's tenure, and I can't see how anyone who goes to games and is honest can suggest otherwise. it's no coincidence that our home record has gotten worse whilst our overall record has remained fairly consistent. AVB said something similar, but of course he got shot down for it too. the fans take one look at who is talking, and start foaming at the mouth because they don't like them. I was like that to a certain extent with Sherwood, although he was (and remains) a self-serving **** who almost never had anything worthwhile to say.

I think in the long run Paul Mitchell will be a good appointment for Spurs.
But........It was Ronald Koeman ( not Paul Mitchell ) who identified Graziano Pelle, Dusan Tadic, Sadio Mane and Toby Alderweireld as the players he wanted to bring to Southampton as he had kept tabs on them during his coaching days at Feyenoord. The assessment methodology didn't always work for Southampton though. Gaston Ramirez (£12 million) and Dani Osvaldo (£15 million) being two of them.

Yes, Koeman deserves the vast majority of the credit for this season. No mean feat to have to quickly rebuild a team that has had its best players cherry picked and to get them organised and playing well enough to be up in the top 4.

S'oton are in a position where we would love to be at this moment in time. For us I'm afraid it's going to be another season or so and a turnover of a few players before we can really see Pochettino's worth.

Next Thursday is the start of the ridiculous schedule we have through November until January the 1st where we've got 11 games in 5 weeks - pretty much a game every 3 days.

I wonder if Poch will still persist with his training regime during that period and risk tiring the players out ?

We're away to Besiktas on Thursday the 11th of December, away to Swansea three days later on the 14th and home to Newcastle three days after that for the league cup quarter final.

I'd personally be inclined to play the bulk of the "B" team against Besiktas and Swansea so we can send out the strongest side possible against Newcastle.

It will all be worth it in the end.
Baldini brought in quantity not quality. Pochettino cannot be blamed for that. Maybe selling Lamela albeit for a small loss might be a gamble but it would give Pochettino funds to bring in players he believes he needs to make his philosophies work. Anyway I reckon another couple of transfer windows and Spurs under Pochettino will be a decent team to watch.

It might suit us better to have some continuity of games. We seem to go backward with the breaks this season. You never know, some players might start to show some form!

Yeah, there's that i suppose. My concern is that with this intense fitness regime that Poch uses, we'd be in danger of knackering the players out if they're training and playing so many matches.

And also there'll probably be a need for a fair amount of rotation again to keep players fresh so again we're not going to get any consistency in selection.

I'm probably worrying too much to be fair . Apart from Chelsea (twice) and United, the games through November to January are all games we're capable of winning so if we do hit a bit of form then who knows?

If Poch's fitness regime does not start to show benefits in our games then they should be questioning the approach because it seems more to our detriment.

Does anyone know what is happening with the Official Facebook page at the moment? Lots of posts - but until a couple today none in English? Is there some sort of event on for our non-english speaking fans?

Two results from earlier today:

Our u18s beat Southampton 2-1 at Hotspur Way, Shayon Harrison getting both goals.

Our u16s beat Southampton 4-1 also at Hotspur Way.

Now what was that about Southamton's Academy?

Well done our youngsters!

Yeah, two great results there.

More talk of a January "fire sale" here ..

http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/foot...s-9855847.html

this is around the time AVB started to get it going in his first season. no more crappy international breaks etc, just a good 2-3 month run of games coming thick and fast, and a great opportunity to build up some momentum.

I certainly hope the same thing happens here. I think if we can get a good consistency in selection and the players start getting used to each other then it could certainly start to fall in to place.

I still don't think we'll see the true nature of Poch's team until next season but if we can get things going sooner rather than later than i'll be quite happy.

With our home form pants, I'm almost looking forward to us playing away at Hull today. There will be changes to our back four with Naughton suspended and Rose injured, also I'm not so sure about persisting with Fazio at CB and would like to sees Vertonghen back in.

Interesting team ..

Lloris, Dier, Fazio, Vertonghen, Davies; Dembele, Mason, Eriksen, Lamela; Kane, Soldado.

Looks like Kane behind Soldado - I can't see us playing a 4-4-2

Davies gets a league start as well