St Landrew

It should have been the end of the beginning. If this club disappears completely, or to all intents and purposes, as a club that aspires to success, then I shall never forgive those people responsible. They need not worry about me though. It's the fans who have nothing other than Saints in their lives, they need to worry about. That's Askham, Lowe and those purposely connected with them at the time, post FA Cup Final.

And extra Start money.

Yes, but Ronnie was quality, in team that had a dearth of it, apart from Matty. Saying that, it would be odd if he made it into both best first elevens.

Thing is, this is voting from people's memory. For me, although I rate the players, I find it astonishing that players like Chris Marsden and Marian Pahars get anywhere near the best teams. But this is a fan's vote. I have stipulated, time and time again, that quality is paramount in this vote. But some people don't trust the reputation of footballers they haven't seen, and perhaps rightly so. But if that is the case, how come Mick Channon and Ron Davies made it to the first team in a cakewalk. One would have to put Martin Chivers in with them, in terms of quality. Reeves and O'Brien, largely did their business in lower divisions, but their stats speak for themselves. If they had done them all in the first division, both would have been big contenders. As it stands, they were often nominated. Just shows there have been no fix, unless voters have organised themselves, at times.

Same here. Actually, it looks a tad like sleet to me, as it is falling fast, and not floating down. If the temperature goes down tonight before it all melts, it'll produce some fun. EDIT: The snowflakes change in size from one moment to the next.

Yeah, it's all his fault. It it were not for him, footballers would still be on £20 per week..!

Did I mention at any point, anything about no promotion or relegation..? There are some things you take on board, and some things you can leave alone.

Aha..!

What you do is get to the AVG website http://free.avg.com/download-update and manually download the .bin files into a folder of your choice. You then update your AVG from the folder. That's Tools -> Update From Directory [isn't it nice to see these old labels like Directory. Never liked Folder]. You can possibly dispense with the Windows 8.0.176 .bin file, as that is the core program. Although it wouldn't do any harm at all to get the latest core files. Install the rest in order of date, even if you think the bottom one is unnecessary. AVG will be more resposive thereafter until the next problem. There are worms and viruses that are really having a go at making AVG difficult to access because it is so popular and good at what it does. If you start getting that bloody awful Google redirect virus [which incidentally cuts off access to AVG] then seek out a program called ComboFix. It works a treat.

We love ya Rudi..! Hey Rudi, I typed just Rudi into Youtube and got your song. Just shows how special you are mate. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=xu6g_fRKAkE&feature=PlayList&p=0A14E15A3D0144D4&index=0&playnext=1 How's that for brown nosing..?

I know that frustration, Hamster. The fact is, we've been underpaying for our presence since the Victorians came up with the word progress, and attributed it to better living standards. I'm not knocking the Industrial Revolution in any way. The Victorians didn't know, and we wouldn't be here with our relatively high living standards if it weren't for Victorian progress. But we've never paid the full bill for being better off, and we've known the damage we've done, and do, for a long time. The fact that some people deny it is just hot air, because the argument has already been won, and governments are gearing the general populations up to start paying the bill. The fact that it p!sses you and me off is that we would like everybody else to be as responsible, as quickly as ourselves. People are people, and they move at different speeds, even if it is made law. Which it probably will have to be so eventually.

Oh come on. Name a good thing about rain. And I mean from the lay person's point of view, not one of my environmental bullsh!t reasons. Snow is cute. It looks fab, and it's also fun to drive on, provided you know what you're doing. Can't sledge on rain either. Ah... just remembered having to deliberately lay down my motorbike in a ditch once to avoid a skidding car that wanted to kill me, while I lived in Kent. Perhaps snow has its drawbacks.

Another do-my-ears-deceive-me moment..! Just think I've heard a Grid-Iron fan in the USA talk about the benefits of a salary cap in the English Premiership, so that many more teams can compete, as they do in American Football. Kind of a strange collision of sports and politics where America is the western land of unrestricted capitalism, and GB is traditionally more cautious and responsible in the workplace. Yet, when it comes to two codes of football [yeah, loose connection] the politics are completely reversed. OK, the Grid-Iron fooballers earn a mint, but they all earn well, and there is a cap. Just a select afforded few earn the sky high wages in GB, and there's this big modern media led tradition that clubs like Arsenal, ManU, Liverpool, and latterly Chelsea, have some god-given right to be first in the queue for success. And they are the ones who can afford the sky-high wages. And touching further on that. Why is it that these clubs have the nod over other clubs. Anyone around 55 years old will know that ManU have little tradition of success before the 1950s, with marginal success after Matt Busby until Ferguson. That's a fairly long time, by today's instant standards. Liverpool were pretty much an alsoran team before the iconic Bill Shankly appeared. And Chelsea have been as iffy as anyone else. Luckily for them they came from the capital. Only Arsenal have any real tradition, having never been relegated from the top division. And only that record is unblemished because they were elected to stay once in the 1910s. Just imagine what could have happened if they had been relegated. Maybe they would be like Orient or Brentford, and there might have been no 1930's success or 1970's double..? Seriously..! Fortunes in football could be as fickle as fans are supposed to be unless they are given undue help by too much money. Unfortunately, the genie is out of the bottle. And it'll take a heck of a lot of persuasion to put it back in. I think we could learn a lot from American Football.

Temperature has dropped again. Clouds still look heavy with snow. Why the hell don't they drop their load..? You'd think I'd know why. I sort of do. But I didn't major in meteorology. But it's all appearances. Basically, it's because the ice crystals in the clouds aren't heavy enough to drop. They need to get bigger, and for that there needs to be more moisture. Hence why, for large parts of today, in Southampton, the snowflakes were really small. About as small as they can be and still be heavy enough to fall. I just wanted to rant about it. There's no accounting for clouds. You watch - the temperature will go up by a few degrees tomorrow, and it'll piddle down with rain.

I've just found another name for your initials TDD. Transfer Deadline Day. Like it..?

I gather that much..! How about depth of snow..? Thickness of cloud..? Direction of temperature..? In Southampton we have: 1+ inch of snow on flat ground. The clouds are thick and really grey brown - good snow clouds. Sadly, the temperature appears to be rising a tad, 'cause the light snow that's falling isn't laying. Oh well.

I have a lot of sympathy for your stance Hamster. I, too get really p!ssed off with local and national authorities lack lustre attempts at getting the everyday public to get their consumption and refuge in check. The first celebrity or royal who clearly shows an I-don't-give-a-sh!t attitude, or bit of fly-tipping we see, our first or second reaction is... why the hell am I trying...? The thing is, all this new responsible consumption is in its infancy. Like it or not, we are turning the Earth into a big hole in the ground, so to speak. We are running out of resources, and we cannot continue to consume the way we do. And we can't let the next generation pay the cost, because they will just have a much harder time, having grown up with the values and attitudes we are teaching them. I don't even have young kids, yet I realise that when our lot [that's you and me] are old, the next generation will have enough world tasks to be getting on with, without bothering with us. Don't expect them to be grateful, that we left the mess of irresponsible consumption for them to clear up, either.

What's the latest news from just up the road then..?

Dunno whuch part of the earth you decide to stick your head in either, but there you go. I won't be debating with you StG, because you listen to nothing but what is comforting for you.

After all the hullabaloo, there's probably no more then an inch or so outside in Southampton. The sky is full of snow, as they say, but it won't fall. Typical..!

I won't be watching this tonight, as I have a copy on disc. But I'd advise anyone to give this a go if they haven't seen it. Thoughtful and powerful, it's a very good film with a famous story, and extremely well acted. From the Radio Times website: Inherit the Wind Monday 02 February 11:30pm - 1:35am BBC4 This courtroom drama was inspired by the real-life trial in 1925 of a young Tennessee teacher who was charged with giving lessons on the Darwinian theory of evolution in a state school. Very much a drama of words and ideas, the film was a critical hit but a commercial flop in its day. Yes, the plot meanders and even drags at points, but ultimately it engrosses thanks to major-league performances from Spencer Tracy and Fredric March as the opposing lawyers in what became known as the "Scopes Monkey Trial". Eighty years on, we can all feel smug at the preposterousness of it all, but there is certainly no shortage of American Christian fundamentalists who would probably relish bringing to bear a similar prosecution today.

I've been trying to decide my subs since early today, what with nothing else to do but look at the snow. Every time I think I've settled on my selections, I think of another player, and it upsets the whole applecart. Who thought of this stupid selection method anyway..?

I'm not sure Rudi has ever played in his preferred position for Saints. Perhaps once or twice, that being left/central midfield in a 4 across the pitch, I believe. Maybe his desire to play will come back if Saints stop screwing around.

Well perhaps you'll change your mind when you see the B-Team's subs bench. BTW, I see you haven't made your sub's bench selections yet..? You could help bolster the height of the forward line..! Perhaps Paul Rideout ought to be a selection for you..? P.S. Height never seemed to bother Keegan and Steve Moran in the early 80s. They went together like bread and butter, and scored for fun.

Disagree. If one includes the elite motorcycle MotoGP circuits, there are several tracks which are equal to Spa. Mugello is absolutely superb. Watch a MotoGP race and see.