James Mills

The day Kevin Keegan walked out at the Potter’s Heron hotel near Romsey is stuff of #SaintsFC folklore… In a time before ‘here we go’ and the social media rumour mill, journalists gathered for Lawrie McMenemy’s surprise announcement… they weren’t disappointed! Saints had signed the best player in Europe. A tribute… #Keegan #KevinKeegan @BBCSouthNews @BBCSport

Where do I possibly begin? First of all congratulations to Ryan Fox. An incredible way to finish and so happy for you, Anneke and the family and team. This week has given me and my family moments and memories that will last forever. I am forever grateful for the support everyone has given me and the love that you all showed and I’m so proud of my hometown for @theopen that you delivered! What an honour and a privilege to have played in that atmosphere in front of you all, thank you! I hope we get to do it again!

A lot have asked what you do about the altitude if your England...Finally, a soccer question in my area of expertise! Here's what I'd do if I were England. First, the impact at 7k feet is real and significant. You can see it in the soccer data, total distance covered and high speed running drop significantly. 3-9% for the former, 10-15% for later. The higher the altitude, the bigger the effect. The less acclimated, the bigger the effect. At 7k feet VO2max would drop about 10-13%. We saw this in track performances at the 1968 Olympics. And performance drops about 5-6% depending on race distance. Jim Ryun ran lights out in the 1500, but ended up second to Kenya's Keino because he was better at altitude. So what do we do? 1. Acclimate...if you had more time this would be the key. You train at altitude, maybe even use altitude tents, etc. But it takes time... About a 3 week acclimatization cuts the VO2max/performance drop in half as your physiology adapts. One study on track athletes showed it took 19 days to fully acclimate. England doesn't have that time. 2. Arrival time The research points to two different approaches: compete as soon as possible (within ~24 hours) after arrival. Why? You compete before poor sleep and plasma-volume loss sets in. Generally, plasma shifts starts right after arrival but reach the level that impairs endurance capacity by about 24 hours and increase from there before leveling off. Or you arrive 5+ days before and hope to acclimate. While it varies for each individual, generally 1-3 days after arrival, performance sucks as your body is adapting to the drastic change. But...fly in/out is also risky as it involves travel, sleep disturbance, etc. close to the match. So in their situation, it's all about tradeoffs. Altitude is a massive stressor. Everything from blood to respiration is put under stress to adapt. So you've got this dip before adaptation. You can lessen that dip being acclimated. But who knows what England did. Honestly, depending on travel, I would have flown straight from the last game to altitude. Buy yourself as close to 5 days as possible. And if possible maybe even somewhere like 5k feet within driving distance. No idea on planning, but if I didn't acclimate. That's what I'd likely do. I'd avoid the coming in 2 days before. Worst tradeoff. So what do you do now? 1. Hydration and plasma volume. Altitude drives respiratory water loss and diuresis, and plasma volume decreases acutely. Hydration strategies can blunt this. Folks have even tried manipulating high sodium intake to help sh9ift plasma volume 2. Fuel with carbohydrate. We generally will burn more carbs at higher altitude. Make sure you are fueled up. AND use fueling strategies mid-game more like an elite endurance athlete. Something like maurten's gels would work well. 3. Bicarb it up. Altitude is going to harm aerobic abilities. All those sprints and high speed running will build up more fatigue. The new sodicum bicarbonate is a must here. I'd load up if I were England. Plus, altitude tends to lower blood bicarb. Also,, it tends to help more for folks who aren't fully acclimated. 4. Protect sleep. Disrupted sleep is a major part of it. So do everything you can to help get a good nights sleep. Limits screen time, blue light blockers, all the stuff. 5. Tactics and pacing. You've got to adjust. Mexico will be adapted. You won't. Learning how to pace better and time your runs will be key. If you try to do the same thing as always, you will be screwed. 6. Beet Root juice. It can boost endurance performance. Works better on non-elite endurance athletes. Which would honestly be a lot of these soccer guys. And altitude can impair the natural turning of nitrite into nitric oxide, so theoretically beet root juice would help even more at altitude. Though, you'd hoped to test it, or else you could be peeing red stuff that might scare folks, ha. 7. Caffeine. Not altitude specific, but boosts endurance performance. A well timed dose to peak in the 2nd half would be helpful. 8. Heat adaptation. Where England may have benefited from playing in the US is that heat addaptation (and its boost in plasma volume) can help with altitude. So even if they aren't altitude adapted, the heat wave in the US may have helped them. There you go. The science of altitude adaptation for performing. Hopefully, England is prepared! And if not, maybe they see this post and start downing the bicarb, maurten, beet root, and caffeine. Ha -Steve

Hang it in the Louvre.. 🤣🤣

🚨🎙️Thierry Henry on Southampton expelled for spying drama against Middlesbrough: “I have to be honest, this is a difficult one. Spying on another team’s training is wrong. Full stop. It crosses a line, it undermines the trust that should exist between clubs, and I understand why Middlesbrough are furious and why the EFL felt they had to act strongly. Integrity matters in this game. At the same time, I find myself questioning whether expulsion from the play-offs is the right punishment. It feels… heavy. Almost like using a sledgehammer when a precise scalpel was needed. Let’s be clear: this wasn’t match-fixing or doping. It was analysts pushing boundaries for tactical information, something that, sadly, has happened in different forms across the game for years. Marcelo Bielsa did it openly at Derby and Leeds, admitted it, and people called him a genius, not a criminal. Drones, analysts in trees, whatever, in the modern game with data and marginal gains everywhere, clubs push boundaries. Southampton admitted it, yes, and they deserve punishment. A heavy fine, points deduction, maybe even a ban for the staff involved. But kicking the entire club out after they earned their place on the pitch? That punishes players, coaches, and fans who had nothing to do with one or two analysts doing something stupid. What troubles me most is the collateral damage. The players who battled through a tough Championship season after relegation, who went to extra time and scored that late goal to beat Middlesbrough on the pitch, they earned their place in the final through merit. Now that achievement is being erased because of actions taken by a small number of staff members. That feels disproportionate to me. A significant fine, a points deduction for next season, and sanctions against the individuals responsible, those would be strong, meaningful punishments that address the breach without nullifying an entire season’s competitive work. Sport has to balance two things: protecting fairness and recognising that human error and ambition sometimes lead people astray. If every rules breach in high-stakes moments leads to rewriting results, we risk turning the disciplinary process into something more powerful than the football itself. I’ve sat in dressing rooms where we prepared meticulously for opponents. Everyone does. The difference is getting caught. I hope Southampton appeal and that the final decision finds a better equilibrium. Middlesbrough deserve respect, they were wronged but the players of Southampton also deserve not to have their legitimate efforts wiped away. Football is emotional, passionate, and imperfect. The response to this should reflect wisdom as much as outrage. We need clearer rules going forward so incidents like this become rare, but we must be careful not to let one mistake destroy what was built legitimately on the grass.

Kuryu Matsuki on Instagram. #SaintsFC

Southampton midfielder Leo Scienza has taken to Instagram to express his feelings on the club being thrown out of the play-offs after the Saints admitted to spying on three clubs during the Championship season.

If the people at the very top of #saintsfc are sincere about rebuilding trust, they need to start by clearing the decks of the unscrupulous, arrogant ******s who trashed our club's future and reputation. Anything less is an insult to the fans. Words mean nothing. Get them out.

@NTT20Pod 😂

#OUFC had just sacked their manager. No-one knew what funky tactics Craig Short was bringing to the table.

@TronCarterNLU @BigRandyNLU Some accountability to be had this evening @TronCarterNLU

cc:@BigRandyNLU

@SebC__ 🤫

@SebC__ Just your narrative is boring

@JamesjMills What's shocking, the bush part or the unpaid intern part

@SebC__ Grow up

YELLOWS 🎶 Our allocation for the #EmiratesFACup semi-final has now sold out 👏

What a seriously top guy Leo Scienza is. 👏 #SaintsFC

How bad analytics built a Tottenham team that might get relegated - This is a very well done article by Ryan O’Hanlon espn.com/soccer/story/_…

We've gone up to fifth, beaten Arsenal and moved 17 unbeaten since you left 🚀

I've spent the last 4 years building analytics tools for PGA Tour pros. Course strategy. Dispersion profiles. Practice plans. Today I'm launching the same engine for competitive amateurs. TourIQ iOS app is live in the App Store. Here's what it does 🧵

A thunderous penalty from Ross Stewart gives Southampton the lead against Fulham in the 90th minute 💥 📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK