St Landrew

Pompey took another step towards administration today when their application to have a winding up order removed was rejected. They're pretty much going to be relegated so, from their point of view, they might as well go into administration earlier, rather than later.

The true voice of Rugby Union, for 50 years, has gone for good. I started watching Rugby purely because Bill made the game interesting to me. He'd always been there on Grandstand, commentating on the matches, and his voice was so distinctive, I couldn't help but listen, and in the end I learned the game. When he stopped commentating, I stopped watching. It was like turning off a light. Bill was 86, when he died this morning, in hospital, in his hometown of Hawick. We'll never hear that someone does a Garry Owen, ever again.

What ever happened to the word... did..? :confused:

The most ridiculous thing about the whole Cadbury takeover, was that they were perfectly capable of taking over other companies themselves, including Kraft. But like a true British company they keeled over and waited for the inevitable. A good British company, in all other aspects, will now turn into part of a company that makes downgrade cheese and chocolate products. It won't make any difference to me, as I don't eat enough chocolate nowadays to bother with the mainstream stuff. But it's a bloody shame all the same.

BBC South in ITV region takeover shocker..!

No, he couldn't. But if he'd looked further than the image that came up first, he would have found a samller version. Just a little thought is all that is required.

I was also going to suggest Simon Grayson, but I suspect he'll stay at Leeds until they sack him. Which could be next mid-season, or it could be after many successful seasons in the Championship/Premiership.

That's true, it was £60K plus he got a bonus of £10K if he kept Saints in the Premier League. The average, at the time was £225K. After Bally kept us up, Askham offered him £72K, but Franny Lee came along from Man City and offered £288K plus bonuses. Not exactly the hardest decision you're ever going to make. He wrote in his biography that if he had felt wanted [Askham was very iffy with him], he'd have stayed even for £72K. As Lawrie was there too, Bally thought Askham was splitting Branfoot's wages between them.

One of the most sensible posts I've seen on here for a long time. At the outset, the aim of the owners was to build up the club, ready for promotion at the end of next season, or so it was said. There was always an outside chance that things would go very well this season, and the playoffs might be possible. They still might, and that is why the goals have been shifted. There is absolutely no reason to limit the team on its ambitions, because if they achieve, it will be ahead of schedule. So my preseason thoughts of being mid-table, to just outisde the playoffs may come to pass. Anything less would be a disappointment. Anything more would be a tremendous bonus.

A radio adaptation of J B Priestley's, An Inspector Calls. And very good it was too.

Radio 7: Listen Again - A few Sherlock Holmes episodes from 1964. They're much lighter than the ones from recent years.

Yes, very impressive. I was actually referring to the particular sound they were making, not the volume. It was just a single note they were holding for a few minutes. I'm sure it didn't impress anyone, in terms of supporting their team, but it impressed me, in the type of sound they were making. As far as football support went, indeed throughout the game, the Saints fans drowned out the Millwall supporters. I was very pleased with that.

Some might say justice has been done. Listen to this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8464392.stm

Have to admit, that sounded amazing and totally unique. I have never heard a football crowd sound like that before.

Nope. I did celebrate for a couple of seconds, but then realised how close we were to the end of the game, so I was thinking, don't go to sleep Saints, there are only seconds left. Just as I was about to type something like that into the 2nd half thread, Millwall scored. So I typed: 1-1 Defence went to sleep. Looking back at the thread I see one or two people we're still typing, get in, goal, 1-0, etc... even after I put 1-1. I can almost begin to forgive the players for taking their eyes off the ball. Almost, but not quite.

To be honest, I would have just been happy to have won the game. Winning it convincingly wouldn't have been necessary. It can't always be 3-1 or 2-0. In his interview with Radio Solent, it was clear Pardew sounded disappointed. But he was pleased with the debut players, and Lee Holmes. Personally, I thought he was taking quite a risk, and we nearly got away with it. It's clear, with our fixture congestion over the next weeks, that some players have got to step in, and I suppose they have to do that at the tough matches too. Even when we think they shouldn't One beef I do have. If Connolly isn't fit, and is actually off form, and AP was reluctant to play him, why was he on the bench..? Surely that would be enough excuse to pop Saganowski there..? After all, it couldn't have hurt, and he is still getting paid.

Looks like it's Bernie Ecclestone size.

Yeah, it looks low and long. Actually, it looks plain little..! I mean, Stoner and Hayden aren't the tallest/biggest of blokes, so with them crouching down they're going to be quite short/small, and yet the bike isn't towering over them either. Perhaps it's the camera lens. Think I'll have to find another photo.

Oh well, in that case, thread closed.

Well thing is 4-4-2 is usually effective for a lot of successful teams. Even though I'm not one to jump on a bandwagon, and I hate overly defensive football, I was amongst a few who didn't want us to go to 4-4-2 for away matches, preferring 4-5-1 instead. This meant that the midfield battle should be won on most occasions, and we'd build from there. Besides, we seem to be fairly rich in midfielders who have an eye for goal. Only Schneiderlin and Wotton seem to be short in that department, and one tends to replace the other anyway, although not today, due to Hammond's injury. As it happens, at the beginning of the season, I didn't expect us to be doing anything more than struggling, and we are doing a lot better than that. Playoffs are a real possibility, and I never thought we had the remotest chance back in August. Today's result I am disappointed with, a bit. I can't help it. We are in a strange position of winning loads of matches, yet still being unable to have a hiccup during the season, due to the 10 point penalty. MK Dons had a bad one before Xmas, but have come back strongly. I just hope we can maintain getting wins and draws when we are not at our best. Peculiarly, if we had gone behind and rescued the point I may feel better about it. Not that I care, but I doubt if Millwall fans feel that brilliant either.

Nope. The first one wasn't that funny that it deserved a sequel.

Yes, I think you're right again. However, I believe Pardew is an astute enough manager to know what is effective in which particular league he is managing in. League One, in a sense, is a huff and puff work rate league, with a smattering of very good skill. The CCC balance is more towards pace and more skill, and the Premiership even more so, with the top teams being the elite in all departments. It just so happens that, in a one-off situation, huff and puff and a smattering of skill works occasionally, even against an elite side, if a lower league team is well drilled. But play, best out of 5 matches or more, and we know who'll win most. Since we don't have to worry overly much about the financing for players, I think Saints will change to whatever is most effective in whatever league they are playing in, and is best suited to the players at the club as well. This is a 5 year year plan, after all, that at the outset, didn't involve being promoted this season. So we'll need to get a shoofty on when it is planned that we actually do get promoted, and that involves not struggling with players that aren't good enough.

Yeah. I really, really wish football fans would learn to write in terms of black, through all the grey shades, to white. Rather than just black to white. Some on here already do, but some certainly do not. Shame really, because the debate would be so much more interesting.

Yes I agree, but to suggest that we have some Pompey fans on here who masquerade as Saints fans, is overreacting a tad. I feel.

Calm, calm. You're in danger of overreacting almost as much a those who are suggesting a change of manager. Anybody who is sensible realises the best thing we need to do is carry on with the present setup. The problem is, many fans don't know what it is like to support Saints and have the same manager in place for more than 5 minutes. But they'll get used to it.