St Landrew

When I worked at STC, back in the late 80's, occasionally the armour cable crew required extra hands. Normally, I would be joining the tiny fibre-optic strands, and was happy to do a bit of physical work for a change. It also meant that during a winter's night 7pm-7am shift, I could look forward to a good 5-6 hour sleep after the yardage had been manufactured. So, on a few occasions, after the night's stint had been over, I would go looking for somewhere in the factory to sleep the rest of the night off. I remember being lulled by the subtle clinks and rattles of the machinery several hundred yards away [cable factory remember - very long building], while I slept, way upstairs, in the old part near the exit. I once woke, only to find the next shift very much in the factory, and our lot gone home. That felt very odd, because the faces you knew from passing during shift changes, were grinning from ear to ear, knowing full well what you had been doing. I wasn't the only one though. It often happened to others when extra armour crew were required. Great days.

Individually, our youngsters are capable of playing in any league from the Premiership to League 2 and lower. Collectively, I doubt they'd hold their own in League 1. Some knowledgeable people need to learn this obvious lesson at the club, because the uneducated fans already know this.

I'm as keen to remove the present incumbents from the Saints Boardroom as anyone else, but this says very little to me. Unless the full story paints a worse picture. The article which says more about the current Saints crisis [and let's not delude ourselves it isn't...] is The Independent one, shown above in Post 34.

There appears to be some confusion, but if I was the boss of Kawasaki, I'd either being making sure we were doing a lot better, and winning, or pulling the whole rug out from under. And it appears they are doing the latter. After all, since they returned to the big time they've only been making up the numbers. I doubt it's the economic climate, although that's the excuse for the stopping of everything, of late. They're just not fast enough, and frankly, 99% of the time, haven't ever been. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/motorbikes/7811975.stm

I'm old enough to remember the dark mahogany counters, from yesteryear, with the glass partitions carrying the sweet and other goods. When my Mum first took me into a Woolworths [shirley], I was able to stand under one of the counters at my full height. The last time I remember those old counters, they were at waist level. Then IMO, Woolies tried to be the same as everyone else, and lost their uniqueness. They are a shop without a market of their own, and that has been their downfall. It's always a bit sad to see an old institution fade away, but not the one Woolies evolved into. EDIT: I will froth at the mouth if the site becomes anything to do with Tesco..!

Appalling way to treat a good quality player. SFC have never managed to get the best out of Rudi, which is unusual, but symptomatic of this club recently. Time was when players played out of their skins for Saints, and were less effective elsewhere. Now it almost appears to be the other way round. Totally agree with his comments too.

Just in case I didn't make it clear, The Club refers to Saints, from the season 2002/03, when the club was finally beginning to capitalise on its status as the Best of the South. You can now all wipe away the tears and blow into your hankies. We were flying at the time, and it shows in the confidence of everyone in the programme..!

Following on in my VHS tape rummaging, I've just found an intact episode of The Club, the Meridian TV programme that followed the fortunes of the top club on the south coast, back in 2003..! Loads of stuff on it, including the highlights of two games from the previous season.

Right at the top of the arm. Which meant a penalty.

Or as a character humourously wrote in a newspaper review during one of his radio programmes [read out by Sid James]: We are very sorry that we mistakenly called the famous gentleman Tommy Hin****. We were, of course, referring to that well known entertainer, Terry Hankick. That one always gets me. Now onto my watching moment. I found my old VHS recording of The Woman In Black and in superb condition too, just the other day. So I decided to play it to my DVD/HDD recorder before anything bad became of it. And what a superb transfer. Now I'm watching the DVD. Great spooky stuff. Apparently it was only issued on VHS as a prerecording [my recording is from the TV] on a very limited basis, and there has been no official DVD issued. At least, so the website's tell me. So I have a bit of a gem.

So what happens with people who have absolutely no interest in the opposition that Saints play, provided that Saints are playing in a league worth playing in, and they want to see Saints stuff the opposition..? I have always enjoyed my football watching [but not as much as playing] when I have seen Saints overwhelm an opposition, whoever they were. And it seems that a lot of people agree with me, because those big Saints scoring games often seem to be supporters favourite matches.

Of course. Only the really hard bastards would overly criticise JP. He is a good coach who is up sh!t creek without a paddle, and the RNLI are having their annual knees-up. Anyone would have a tough time in his position, even Ferguson. Mind you, Ferguson would have hairdryer-ed Lowe by now.

Dario Gradi. Mind you, he took Crewe Alexandra upward too.

Almost exactly how I saw the whole thing. I'm beginning to be torn with thinking JP is a perfectly good coach with poor players, or JP is a poor coach with perfectly good players. The truth is undoubtedly somewhere in between. In any case, Ferguson is old enough to have encountered total football in his Aberdeen management days.

I had a couple of seasons watching Martin Chivers at Saints. I never fully appreciated him at the time, certainly because I was so young. When Ron Davies came to Southampton, his soaring jumping ability just made a little lad totally awed. Whereas Chiv was probably a more rounded player, being extremely capable in all departments. It's little surprise that Chivers, at the time, became Saints biggest sale, costing Spurs £80,000 + Frank Saul [about £125,000 in total], in 1968. A staggering amount at the time. Older supporters will also know how well he teamed up with Spuds old boy, Alan Gilzean when he arrived at Tottenham. I think it's fair to say that his legendary status is somewhat overshadowed by Ron Davies and Mick Channon, perhaps unfairly too. Looking back, he was every inch a player of sheer quality. An England regular with 24 caps, and a Southampton lad too, remember. Just checked with that book, and here's a snippet: During the 1965-66 season [one year before my starter], Chivers scored 30 goals in the opening 29 league games. He failed to find the net in the remaining 13 games. But that is just an amazing stat.

Sorry Tim. I have to agree with Duncan. This is a time where people really have to know how far we've settled. The cavern between Saints and a fair amount of a second string Man U was shocking. Gillingham managed a hell of a fight against Aston Villa. Southend did their bit against Chelsea. All lower division opposition against pretty damn good premiership sides. Because despite their limited resources and skills, they had one fight in them for respectability at the very least. And they were from a division lower than Saints. Although it takes little wondering how the teams will pan out at the end of this season. Saying that, when this team is relegated, as they surely will be, if a miracle isn't to happen, our website will tell of a tale of if only's and just missed opportunities. It won't mention the fact that 90% of the supporters knew this was going to happen with well over half the season left. I don't blame Jan Poortvliet; only a complete sh!t would. Even Ferguson recognises the huge uphill task he faces. I blame those presiding over a huge and quick decline, and seemingly doing everything in their power to actually make sure it happens. It really couldn't be orchestrated better.

I noticed Skacel putting himself about where he could. Clearly, he doesn't trust the youngsters, and he and Perry had to do a lot of covering today for the inexperienced. I was slightly embarrassed for the older players, because they've played in far better teams. EDIT: I see the OS is putting a positive spin on the proceedings. Just who are they kidding..? I've never seen such a blatant clutching at straws as in the last few weeks.

Quite conveniently, we have a final 6 players to vote for. The nominations were as follows: Mick Channon [14] Ron Davies [10] Steve Moran [5] James Beattie [4] Phil Boyer [2] All the others: Kevin Keegan, Rod Wallace, Derek Reeves Charlie Wayman, Eric Day, David Speedie [joke?] and Ron Davies very own nomination - Martin Chivers received one nomination each. Please don't bother to moan about discrepancies. You've been told countless times that I'll take the first nomination if there are more than one, unless instructed to nominate a later mentioned player. There will be no B-Team result at the end of the vote. Therefore, only the top player will go into a team. The rest will be eligible, along with any other nominations, for the B-Team, next week. Ta. The voting thread will appear shortly.

This is for the A Team only. There will be no B Team result this week. So vote freely. The final 6 for the vote are: Mick Channon Ron Davies Steve Moran James Beattie Marian Pahars Phil Boyer While that leaves out several superb strikers, it's an indication how rich Saints have been in this area of the pitch, in the past. Next week, all players who don't make this team, including those not in the final 6, or not even nominated so far, are free to be voted for in subsequent weeks voting.

If that is seriously being contemplated then that is the end of Southampton Football Club. You can wrap it up, just like the old Southampton Speedway team at Bannister Court, and forget the whole thing.

Indeed it does. RIP to the fellow.

You make a tiny point. The relegation team also drew against Arsenal at Highbury. There's another small point, but it illustrates that the relegation team were able to compete, just 4 seasons ago. Today, it was Men against Boys, and worse, everybody watching their TV screens saw it. If someone had decided to impose a strategy of convincing outsiders that a downward spiral had not actually been planned, but came about through unfortunate circumstances, despite every effort to the contrary, then this is the one. It's faultless. It's how to practically wipe out a football club in the shortest possible time and do so in such a way that nobody makes a noise about it. That takes skill. And it has almost been achieved too.

Please don't be uneasy about what will happen to the donations. The Give It To Ron appeal regularly meets to update on the next step in the plan to improve Ron Davies life. When it emerged, several months back, that a close tie to TT could arrange to have Ron's hip operations done for much less expense that all the researched information suggested, what were we to do..? Turn the offer down..? This means that a significant portion of the initial donations are intact. And ideally that's fantastic..! When Ron has his second operation, and is in a period of rehabilitation, then we will know, with a much clearer perspective, what the best thing is to do with the rest of the money. An announcement will be made then. Thanks The Give It To Ron Appeal.

This is the only time I'll count two nomination TT. One for your first nomination, and another for the nomination by proxy.

I think it's a measure of how far Saints have fallen. 3-0 was actually a flattering score line, as Man United coasted to victory. No one disputes their superiority, but to not actually be able to compete is the measure. Just a few seasons ago, even the relegation team would have competed. And make no mistake about this Saints being down to 10 men. I'm sure it would have made little difference. The gap is cavernous, and it needn't have been. And that is down to Boardroom decisions and policy, and many millions of pounds inappropriately invested or gone missing.