It’s awards season, The BAFTA’s, The BRIT Awards and Crufts all take place in the space of a few short weeks. One award however, eclipses them all. Next month the 86th academy awards will take place at The Dolby Theatre, on Hollywood Boulevard. Some of the worlds most well known faces, will gather for all of 200 minutes, of red carpet interviews, dodgy acceptance speeches and that really awkward moment when the losers applaud the winners.

Here at “OhWhenTheSaints.org” however we felt that that we’d do something for those who were more of the footballing persuasion rather than the film buff persuasion. So here come the 3^rd “Soscar” awards. We have 5 awards to present tonight, for best original score (best goal), Best foreign language (Player), (Player) in leading role and Best Short (Performance.)

Firstly however here comes Robbie Savage to present the first award of the night. (Player with) Best Haircut and Makeup.

The nominee’s for tonight’s award are:

Virgil Van Dijk

Graziano Pellè

Oriol Romeu (Controversially)

And the Soscar goes too…Graziano Pelle! There was only every going to be one winner here. We all know that feeling of invincibility after leaving the barbers with a fresh trim, but no one will ever come close to matching Graziano Pelle’s barnet. Now for the award, for Best Original Score (/Goal), please welcome Hassan Kachoul.

The Nominees are:

James Ward Prowse (Vs WBA)

Graziano Pelle (Vs Chelsea)

Cuco Martina (Vs Arsenal)

And the Soscar goes too…Cuco Martina! The fullback’s swerving strike, to give Saints the lead against Arsenal, was a real thunderbolt strike and one that’ll live in the memory of many. Now for the award for Best Foreign Language (Saint) here’s 2014’s winner Mauricio Pochettino to present the award.

The Nominee’s are:

Sadio Manè

Maya Yoshida

Victor Wanyama

And the Soscar goes too…Sadio Manè! The Senegalese speedster is arguably the best player in the Saints camp at the moment, if he could finish properly, he’d be a £50m player. Rather glad he can’t though, because it means he’ll probably stay here a bit longer. Next up is the penultimate award of the evening. It’s (Player) in a leading role award, here’s Vegard Forren to present it.

The Nominee’s are:

Sadio Mane

Morgan Schniderlin

Jose Fonte

And the Soscar goes too…Jose Fonte! Reliable, Consistent, Loyal: Three characteristics you look for in a captain and Fonte fits the role perfectly, in the last 4 years his regular CB pair has changed each season, but Fonte gets on with it consistently producing good performances. Southampton have conceded less goals than anyone else in the last 3 years and he’s why. Now Ladies and Gentleman, for our final award of the evening. It’s Best Short (Performance). The nominees are.

Charlie Austin

Dusan Tadic

James Ward Prowse

And the Soscar goes too… Charlie Austin! How couldn’t I? The new signing comes on at Old Trafford with 10 minutes to go and wins the game for us at the death. Magical stuff.

So, that concludes the third annual Soscar’s. We’ve had a great time! Have you? Like, subscribe and show all your friends! TB

At Southampton we are all to used to the controversy and media attention that surround our players and their contracts and this season is no different. With stories currently flying about the contracts of, Victor Wanyama, Graziano Pellè, Sadio Mane and Ronald Koeman, why not treat yourself and  instead consider the contractual situations of different players at different clubs, who Southampton could/have show(n) interest in.

5. Rolando Aarons

The Kingston born speedster broke through into the first team at Newcastle early last season, following an impressive pre-season. However after he made his intentions not to sign a new deal with the magpies clear, the player was banished to the reserves. Aarons operates on the outside of midfield or as a winger, usually on the left side. He is left-footed and known for his fleet of foot and technical ability. He has been compared to Manchester City winger Raheem Sterling due to his exciting playing style. Although Aarons is far from the finished article, he looks like he has potential and for free you’d be mad to turn your nose up at the prospect.

4. Adam Johnson

With Sunderland’s Premier League status coming into question, again, this season and Johnson one of the top earners on Wearside, you can see why both parties are hesitant to extend Johnson’s deal further, but the bottom line is that this boy can play. He may currently find an enormous grey cloud looming over his personal life, but with twice as many assists as any other player so far in 2016, for free the winger would represent a real bargain.

3. Nick Powell

Powell was signed back in 2012 from Crewe Alexandra and was tipped to be that old cliché ‘the next big thing’. But so far has made little of an impression. He spent a successful loan spell in The Championship with Wigan last season, playing in Europe with the Latics following there famous FA Cup win, but upon his return, he was simply served another loan move, this time to Leicester, However this was cut short after he failed to impress Nigel Pearson.

Although Powell was a shock inclusion in United’s Champions League squad, he’s played just 6 minutes of Football this season and has found himself at a cross roads with it looking unlikely that United will renew his current deal, should Saints take a gamble on the talented teen, who just seems to have fallen into the same category as Scott Sinclair and Jack Rodwell, who seemed to have exciting careers ahead of them before they sold they’re soul for endorsements and more money, at big clubs forcing them to rebuild they’re slowly dying careers with Premier League strugglers. For free it’s definitely worth it.

2. Nicolas Nkoulou

The talented Marseille CB has been on the radar of many PL clubs for a while as Marseille look set to lose another key player for free, as Nkoulou follows in the footsteps of both Andre Ayew and Andre-Pierre Gignac, who ran they’re contracts down and left for free when they’re contracts expired. The Cameroonian came through the same academy that produced arguably Africa’s greatest ever footballer: Samuel Eto’o and with Jose Fonte now 32 is it now time to look to the future and replace him with a young exciting Centre Back, like Nkoulou

1. Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Now we can all dream can’t we? With Zlatan out of contract at the end of the season with PSG and uncertainty surrounding the futures of Pelle and Long, is it time for Zlatan to make up for the biggest missed opportunity of his career to date and join up with the Saints? Some of you will probably be in the dark about this but back in 2002 when Ibra was at Ajax, he was given the opportunity to join the Saints, but in his 2012 book “I AM ZLATAN” when told by his agent of interest from the club, he reacted by saying: ” What the f*ck is Southampton! Southampton! Is that my level!? F*cking Southampton!? Still Le Tissier, Pahars and Ibrahimovic would have been quite a strike force.

This weekend Southampton announced the signing of striker Charlie Austin, from QPR. It’s no secret that Austin sent shockwaves, across the Premier League last season after scoring 18 goals, proving what a good player he is, whilst earning himself an England call up at the same time. Austin epitomises the phrase “Goalscorer” whilst he record speaks for itself, it must be recognised that Austin has been playing in a team that’s struggled in recent years, and has still found ways of consistently sticking the ball in the back of the net.

Many have compared the Austin signing to the signing of Rickie Lambert, due to the similar Non-League backgrounds theyshare, the fact they both started fairly late in terms of their footballing careers, as well as there humble second jobs, with  Austin working as a bricklayer and Lambert famously working in a beetroot factory.

In a deal that seemed to suit all parties involved, can Austin be the catalyst that helps ignite Southampton’s, so-far, underwhelming season? We sat down with Jack  from QPR fansite “The Blue and The White”  to discuss Southampton’s signing of Charlie Austin.

OWTS: It’s no secret that Hull City rejected Austin after failing a medical ahead of a proposed move to the club. How’s his injury record been with QPR and in particular have there been issues with the right knee. Should that be a worry for Saints fans?

TBATW: Not in terms of the knee he failed his medical for. Charlie had 3 months out with a shoulder problem in his first season but that’s been it. Gets the odd muscular injury but no more often than normal.

OWTS: Austin has a built up a reputation as a “goalscorer” with the clubs he’s been at, but is there more to his game?

TBATW: He’s a hard working player on and off the ball. I’ve never seen his head drop whilst at QPR. His build up play has massively improved since he joined and he’s become an all round striker rather than just a finisher since he signed.

OWTS: Did he particularly stand out in the QPR team in the three seasons he was there? Was he too good for QPR?

TBATW: Charlie Austin has carried the team in every season. We would never have got promoted without him in 2014 and would have been relegated by Christmas last year without him. He’s honestly the best player we’ve seen at QPR since Les Ferdinand.

OWTS: He’s already spoken about looking to rekindle the partnership with Jay Rodriguez the pair built up during the single season they shared together at Burnley, scoring 38 goals between them, but is he better up top on his own or with a partner?

TBATW: it’s a hard call. Austin scores goals whatever formation you play but he worked really well with Zamora in the past few seasons. Plays better when someone is there to hold the ball up for him, which is unusual because you would think of Austin as the hold up player himself i’d imagine he’d work well with Graziano Pelle.

OWTS: What’s his biggest strength and his biggest weakness?

TBATW: In my opinion, his biggest strength is his positioning. He always manages to be in the right place right time. His ability to do that makes it so much easier for him to finish chances. in terms of his biggest weakness, it’s probably his weak foot, he definitely isn’t a two footed player.

OWTS:Obviously there’s been a lot of speculation surrounding Austin, did it come as a surprise to see him join Saints in January though?

TBATW: There was always speculation, but I reckoned it would be Saints or Palace that signed him. He wants to start games and wants consistent PL football which narrows it down to around 5/6 teams. His family are all based in Bournemouth as well. But I thought he would see out his contact until summer to be honest.

OWTS: Were you disappointed, that he didn’t stay until his contract was up in the summer?

TBATW:  I’m surprised he didn’t, but no QPR  fan would blame him for leaving us because we’re all aware of how badly QPR is run and the lack of direction it has. Every QPR fan adored Charlie so it did feel heartbreaking seeing him leave – we always knew he was far too good for us though.

OWTS: Finally, how as a QPR fan do you view Southampton, as a football club, at the moment?

TBATW: In the past few years nothing but jealousy of how your club’s been run to be honest. We’re run by a group of clueless directors and owners throwing money at anything and never having any long term plan whilst your a club that produces youth talent, buys sensibly, has a stable position in the PL and subsequently a bright future.