St Landrew

Can't you work it out..?

The funny thing is, I'm no more inclined to watch Saints whether they play Man U or Blyth Spartans. I don't go to a football match to watch the opposition. If I can get to the game, I will. If I can't, because I'm working or sailing, I won't be too disappointed. But good luck to those people who will suddenly be desperate to get a ticket. Perhaps you'll keep going afterwards.

Indeed, some valid points again. I've decided that I cannot allow myself to think as far ahead as January/February. The above is speculation, even if it is well considered speculation, and will possibly/probably come true. But Jan Poortvliet is positive, and I don't think we can let him down by being negative. Even if all the pointers are telling us to be so.

Could I just be the first poster to trot out the old adage... be careful what you wish for... you may get it. It'll be fun to see how Total Football copes against Man U. But if any of our budding star palyers do well, they'll be on buying lists of all the clubs better off than us. It could leave a bitter taste, this one. But let's enjoy it while it lasts.

Alpine. You make some valid comments [for example, re Kelvin Davis in another thread], and I'm sure they are well intended. But you need to join the rest of us when we're not debating the low points this club has reached during the last couple of seasons, and get your chin off your chest. I know it's hard when thinking about SFC, but cheer up..!

It's usually a team who are lacking in confidence in their own defensive qualities that are slow to get people in the opposition penalty area to meet crosses. Saints like to attack through a wide midfield corridor. They don't seem to do well with the crosses to the byeline approach. This is understandable. The former is a continental style of play, and the latter is typically English. Dutch coaches.

Presumably, you would be one of these people who could not get to eat pickled onions unless someone else peeled them, and have their eyes stream. Yes..?

Good to read Jan's views, but I'm not at all sure Saints need a top team at St Mary's just yet. Just get a round or two further into the competition, and then by all means, have your Man U's or Chelsea's back here. Of course, with that inscrutable Dutch thinking, Jan might be going for the big crowd/club payday; if we lose, that gets the competition out of the way. If we win, that's a bonus, and a feather in our caps. Well we've done that before Jan, many a time. We've also lost to very weak opposition in the very next round.

Nominations close late this evening, and the vote will begin a little after that. That is... if I remember to do it. Busy afternoon/stroke evening. Those that haven't posted, get your nominations in please.

Well, buggered up that merge. Haven't merged a thread in ages. Hopefully, you get the idea. Robsk's post is in answer to mine. Bloody hell, it even changed the thread start to him. Ah well...

Put my Guitar Heroes at the BBC into the wrong thread [what film are you watching] last night. Just realised we don't have a thread to alert people to occasional programmes on the TV that manage to get through the Eastenders/Mediocre filter. This one did. Should be on next week too. Here's my post: Guitar Heroes at the BBC. It's pretty damn good too. They're not confining it to rock and pop either. For example, Paco Pena is on now playing some traditional Flamenco music, and brilliantly too, I might add. Blimey, now Whiskey in the Jar - Thin Lizzy. Great stuff. That one used to get played down The Dell loads. I believe we're watching Eric Bell, but Gary Moore is the more famous guitar hero in this band.

And I might be joining you in a few years. And I'm half Italian. Have you heard about Stallions..? It's all true.

Another CB please, or would you like me to put you down for a nomination of his constant CB partner, Jimmy Gabriel..? I'll happily do so, as both together were quite an effective pairing.

Pruned being groomed, I think. First I heard of it though, as Ted Bates himself, selected Lawrie McMenemy as his successor. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ekV2ifXEdWY

This is really bad for me. In the last thread, certain people nominated Franny Benali over clearly better LBs, and I'm the same with Michael Svensson. For me, Killer is the best thing that has been about Saints in years. If it was all about attitude, this guy would get into any Saints team. He's a superb CB, but there are 2 better defenders in front of him, IMO. One of them is Mark Wright, and the other is Dave Watson. In a sense, I hope Killer makes it into the A or B teams without my nomination. If he doesn't he'll be on my substitute's bench for sure. Saints have been rich in quality CBs down through the years, and so, from my era, my apologies also go to Jimmy Gabriel, John McGrath, Jim Steele, Mel Blyth, Chris Nicholl, Razor Ruddock, Richard Hall, and Claus Lundekvam. All would grace a Saints side, but my nominations are in bold.

In this thread you vote for 2 players as a pairing, though they needn't have played together, and I will be counting them as individuals, in any case. It doesn't matter whether you nominate one player for LCB and one for RCB; just nominate your 2 favourites. Although you may like to say in which position you prefer them. However, I'll know in which position to put them; for example, in the A team so far: ----------------Shilton------------------- ----?-----RCB-----------LCB------Bridge and the B team: ----------------Niemi-------------------- ----?-----RCB-----------LCB------Dennis As before, these players are the very best, in terms of quality. Not for their personality or how they look, or play to the crowd. These players are not necessarily Cult Heroes, but they are the players who will be the biggest assets to a winning team. They will be the best players, in your opinion, to have ever played for SFC. As you can see in the examples above, the Goalkeeper and LB positions have been decided. Now get nominating the best ever 2 Saints CBs.

Easily better than Beckham's crosses. Just a shade better than Le Tiss too. Thanks to the posters that voted. Wayne Bridge has been voted the best Saints LB. He'll now go into the A team, with Mark Dennis making the B team.

Oh that's right... kill the guy off before he even tries. I admire the bloke for even dreaming that he could do it. Let's not put an end to his dreams. Although I expect the bloke to fail, because it is such a tall order; I wish him the very best of success while he tries. At least he's trying..! Try to be extraordinary if you can help it. As you can see, there are plenty of others only too willing to be mundane.

My first ever bike was a Lambretta GP125DL 2-stroke scooter. It was surprisingly quick, extremely economical and ran on an amazing 50:1 petrol/oil mixture. Even in 1975, there was still the Lambretta vs Vespa rivalry. Having ridden both types I can see why Lambrettas are so loved, but for the life of me, I can't see why people have a similar passion for Vespas. EDIT: Found a picture of the model. Mine was the same colour. Saw it still running in Southampton about 5 years ago.

Thought you people might like to see what's going on in Dubai from the bridge cam of QE2 during her last day as a serving Cunard ship. http://www.cunard.com/bridgecam/qe2_cam1.asp Should be sunnier than here, that's for sure.

You could also hypnotise refs..! You must award penalties against Man United at Old Trafford. I must award penalties against Man United at Old Trafford. Very good. Now onto the next ruling...

Why doesn't her boyfriend do her a big favour and stop publishing photos of her on the net..?

Fine by me. The amount I throw out is tiny compared to many people once I've recycled, composted, and separated the waste. Bring it on.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7749751.stm Yep, it's my old argument, and it seems that I'm not the only one complaining about it. While most F1 fans secretly would love more overtaking, they put up with strategy and pit stops, and call it fantastic, when realistically it is more akin to quite interesting. Now Bernie is determined to introduce a new scoring system. Presumably, when this doesn't get the teams to overtake more he'll try re-defining the meaning of overtaking, or even re-spelling it. F1 is going in the right direction. Make the cars such so that are create a big hole in the air. This means they can't easily get away from the rest of the field. And make the scoring system such that it really pays to win, i.e. restore the big points gap that used to be between the top placings - somewhat like MotoGP, but not necessarily a copy. Not this silly medal system Bernie is proposing. Of course, if you really want close racing, you could always enclose an F1 car's wheels in bodywork..! Then the danger of wheels interlocking would cease. But it might be a little embarrassing, as that sort of thing is already done elsewhere, and the racing is more exciting for it too. Finally, there's qualifying. Let's face it - the fastest cars get to the front, and they are in the perfect position to walk away from the rest of the field. Whilst F1 has cleverly designed in the weight of fuel in their qualifying system, it still cannot stop the fastest race cars being at the front. So less overtaking. I don't know what to propose here, other than some sort of handicap system, and I'd hesitate to adopt that at all. But something else needs to be done.

I'll take the Nigel Mansell/Nelson Piquet duel at Silverstone. For those that don't know, the year was 1987. The battle for the win was between Mansell and Piquet. Mansell was forced to pit but then got his head down in a relentless pursuit of his team-mate. The laps were running out as Nigel closed, but instead of having trouble getting past Piquet he immediately tricked him into thinking he was going to pass on one side into Stowe corner, and instead jinked to the other and went on to win. Senna was third for Lotus, but a lap behind the Williams pair. That's how fast they both were. That day, Mansell was on a mission, and showed that when all was mechanically equal, he was the class of the field. I consider him one of the best Grand Prix drivers ever, despite him only winning one World Championship, and being as boring as f....! http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=L8nGaXoxaHI