St Landrew

Been watching Red Dragon. Considering that Manhunter was such an excellent film, I tried to give it a good bit of attention. Those that are not aware of the series, will no doubt have otherwise heard of The Silence Of the Lambs. Well, in the book/film series, Red Dragon is a prequel. However, back in the 80's before SOTL was filmed, came Manhunter, which was based on the book, called Red Dragon. And although it was quintessentially 80's in style, it was incredibly dark, and menacing. And in the cinema, it flopped..! Heavily..! But it's a brilliant film because, although Red Dragon follows pretty much the same storyline, even the same lines as Manhunter, the spark and edginess is all with the earlier film. We have a great actor in Ralph Fiennes [in RD], yet Tom Noonan [MH] is incredibly right as Francis Dollarhyde aka The Tooth Fairy. He makes the Jamie Gumm character out of SOTL seem amateur in his unstoppable evil, yet he is more human as well. And Will Graham has far more edge and danger from MH, as conceived by William Peterson [yes, you few people who watch CSI: Whatever] than Ed Norton from RD. They don't always make the best films nowadays. Actually, like for like IMO, most of the time they don't. But do compare and see for yourself.

Shame he said ex-English too. Give the man his proper nationality. Good read though. Kind of like the US touch.

I'm taking nothing way from the weather forecasters, but Southampton was the centre of a bit of drizzle today. Maybe the odd spot of rain, I couldn't make my mind up, as I was being dazzled by the sun around 10.30am on my way to South East Road. If anyone doubts that this City has a microclimate, then it's time to read up the evidence, because it's clear. It's what makes us soft-southerners.

I don't think it's cheesy in Saving Private Ryan though. In SPR it is an emotional release that is entirely real. It speaks to thousands and thousands of servicemen and [ordinary] families from any wartime era and attempts to answer their question... how did I survive, and have I justified my survival..? The problem is, when the scenario you describe is recreated for cheap thrills, and isn't appropriate. In fact, all it does is devalue anything of the nature that came before it.

I think that's a very fair summation for those posters who are split between Ted and Lawrie.

Unlike us though Colinjb, I'm sure they'll have a damn good go at trying to stay in their particular league.

I'm amazed..! Only two joke nominations and 6 genuine candidates. We revert to our original method for the last week's vote. That is, he who wins the most votes manages the A-Team and he who comes second manages the B-Team. You only vote for one person, so be clear who you want. And we'll see who we think is the greatest manager of SFC in living memory.

Well that's it peeps. The last nominations have closed, unless I get a request for backroom staff..! Now it's time to vote in the last poll.

Of course there is, and I won't give up hoping until that chance is gone.

Norm, the question was framed as head over heart. Do you really think we'll stay up..? Think of the Premiership relegation. We went down then, when we were in a better position, in that league, than this one. The days are over when this club could seemingly never get relegated, despite everyone saying so.

I think I have to defend this. I don't think Saintjay means what you think he means. It's possible to not like the Board, and yet wish the club well. It's also possible for the club to do well, yet not like the composition of the Board. Usually, these feelings come with a little knowledge of previous history, and I don't think they are entirely without foundation. As for my feelings on the subject, I go from despairing resignation to deep frustration and back. There's nothing one can do, and yet I can see Southampton Football Club making the same mistakes as it has always done. And that is being too cheap. They were being too cheap in the early 80's, when a Championship was begging to be won. They were too cheap to back Lawrie. They were too cheap during the early 90's, when they could have kept a great little squad of players together. They were being cheap [and cunning with it] with the reverse takeover. They were too cheap 5 seasons ago, and got relegated, and they're being too cheap now. And the peculiar thing is that this cheapness is going to cost Saints a lot of money in income. So they'll no doubt continue to play the cheap card.

I'm always here to help, ESB. You should have seen the lines of sarcasm I scrubbed out, because I thought I was being too harsh..! On the weather front - there is a balance to all this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7877178.stm

A name that has just sprung forth, so to speak, is Eastleigh Batteries & Spares - in where else..? Eastleigh. I'm so chuffed with myself for remembering anything useful that I looked up the phone number for you. 02380 322323

Have you tried online..?

Last I looked, the Solent was a body of water, and officially, outside of Southampton. Not laying all about the town. HTH BTW, it's raining again.

As with all nominations from past threads, the first one is the only one that counts. You'd better make your mind up.

I'd imagine sometime after 4th April 2063.

Maybe it's the weather..? Which seems rather odd, as Southampton probably gets the best balance of weather in the whole of the UK. But I'll just continue to think it is the weather, write this down, and then insert my head into a large bucket of sand.

With respect RobM, but what do you expect..? Saints might well be embarking into territory they've not been near in 50 years or so. They have the weakest squad I've ever seen, and the boardroom seem to be steering the club like the Titanic on its inevitable way to its encounter with the Iceberg. Ok, in this case, no-one will die, but there's a danger the club might. Now if that means you can't come on here and find some fun in talking football, well then perhaps you need to stay away until the future of SFC is sorted out one way or another. I'd love to talk about the merits of 4-4-2, but somehow it doesn't mean much when there are more important issues.

I think I can answer your question. Saints were always behind in the race, but had many games in hand. And there was a major distraction in the FA Cup, with Saints being in the semi-final. The run-in was superb. Saints picking up points everywhere, despite losing the combative and skillful Steve Williams to an injury that kept him out for the rest of the season. In fact, Saints could be said to have gone closer in 1981-82, when they finished 7th, because for several weeks they were top. It was only a bad injury to Steve Moran that kept him out of the side for the remainder of the season, and Saints failure to purchase a replacement striker [despite appeals from manager and start players alike] that meant that the form started to fall away a little. Saints finished that season 7th. We had a cracking side, but lacking the quality in depth to go all the way. Anyway, I think I've got my facts right here. You should see the squad photos from those years. Amazing..!

Oh the shame..! But now fixed. Ta.

It's the last weekend and we need the nominations for Saints best managers. Let's not beat about the bush here - who were the best..? I've a feeling the list will be short. But if it is long, then we'll take a vote on them all, upto 10 nominees, and they will be either the ones with the most nominations, or the first 10 if the nominations are the same. In recent years, Saints haven't been short of managers, so we have a wide selection. Or perhaps we haven't, if you think about it. P.S. Don't worry paulwantsapint, as promised, your early go will be counted..! Now let's nominate. Lasts until Sunday evening and then we'll vote throughout the week. Might be controversial. Will probably be fun. Cheers.

This thread is now ended. I've finally added them all up [what a bloody struggle that turned out to be], and now I have sore neck and shoulders, and my eyes are like p!ssholes in the snow, because they got tired before I found my specs. As you know, there were loads of players chosen, and it was my task to sort them out. Luckily, there were very few problem with same numbers, and so there was in the way of counting back, so to speak, in order to get a result. So the Subs benches sit like this: A-Team GK: Tim Flowers DF: Ken Monkou MF: Rod Wallace ST: Steve Moran UP: Nick Holmes B-Team GK: Kelvin Davis DF: Mick Mills MF: Ronnie Ekelund ST: Alan Shearer UP: Peter Osgood There's some quality here to compliment each starting XI, and I think they fit in quite well too. Some slight personal disappointments for me, in David Peach and Martin Chivers missing out. James Beattie came very close, and would have been worthy of a place. John Sydenham came in the middle of the pack, but he was surrounded by newer memories. Notable complete absentees include Kevin Phillips [surely you don't all hate him that much], FA Cup Final winning skipper Peter Rodrigues, Derek Reeves, Kevin Davies, Tom Jenkins, etc.. But it was nice to see players like Brian O'Neil, Glenn Co ckerill, and Paul Rideout getting a mention. Overall It's been fun for me, and I hope it's been fun and entertaining for you. Coming up is the last week and now it's time to decide the manager for each team. I've a feeling this is going to be a close finish, and it might turn out to be the most controversial poll of the lot. Nominations in the next thread please.

I think Clarkson is a superb presenter, but he really can be a foot-in-mouth specialist. One day, he'll overstep the mark once too often, and the BBC will decide they've had quite enough. Of course, we know he's by no means the only celebrity who gets caught mouthing off, and it is a growing trend. It's the culture of people who give throw away opinions, as fact, and that they themselves are totally unqualifed to offer. If people understood that to be the case, then there would be no problem. But the trouble is, some people actually take him, and others like him, seriously - hence he's now had to apologise. Perhaps he needs a brain filter. In fact, I'm almost certain.

What on earth is pull your lights down, meant to mean..? Why doesn't he just say he'll hit the guy, and get it over with..? The precious little luvvie had a problem with the Director of Photography who went behind the camera to check the lighting levels. Then Bale had a total hiss fit because it apparently 'disturbed' him. Tosser.