St Landrew

If this doesn't usher in video evidence, nothing will. There have been dozens of gaffs over the years, and at the end of a season, some clubs are promoted and some are relegated. the bullsh!t argument is that luck evens out over a season. Nobody wants luck; they want fairness. The League is disappearing up it's own backside in an attempt to avoid this problem, and they have suggested that the referee's decision is final. If that is the case, why are yellow and red cards removed..? The fact is, officials make mistakes. They can'r be relied upon to be 100%. So video evidence on questionable decisions should be on hand to settle the argument. End of story. And let's not have any rubbish about the refereeing official's mistakes adding to the atmosphere/game either..! A club's fortunes may depend upon a decision at the end of the season. let's hope it is the correct one, so the outcome can be deemed absolutely fair.

Forgot to mention this yesterday [Monday] evening, but did anyone see the Red Arrows fly over Southampton during the afternoon..? I was working on a couple of items on my Audi 80S to get it up to scratch for sale, when the diamond formation flashed past at a very low altitude. As usual, in the case with exciting aircraft, I then spent the next hour with one eye on the sky. I should be annoyed at their flagrant use of fuel these days, but they've never failed to impress this lad as far back as I can remember, when they used the Folland Gnat as their display aircraft.

I do have an axe to grind here. As previous posters have noted, Zed is UK English, and Zee is US English. It is the encroachment of another speaking culture. This may not be much of a problem, but where do you stop..? Do you start spelling the description for later this evening as Tonite, or correctly, Tonight, eh..? What happens to the nuances that are possible in UK English, and almost not possible in any other language, once it becomes simplified, or adopts a dominant literary culture..? It's Zed.

Hmm. Hard luck. Almost exactly the opposite score.

Don't know about his hair, but his playing was manure at times while I was watching. I mean, this guy is an England star player, so he finds himself all on his own in the penalty area, with plenty of time, and he decides to hit his shot directly at the keeper at chest height. I can do that..!

Must do better. Seriously, they must. And although the heavy pitches of late autumn and winter will almost certainly work against our style, I think they will. We've got to hope. There's nothing else...except a takeover and huge January buy in.

It would be really nice if there were a few more Dubai Groups out there, ready to throw a bit of spare change at a [slightly..?] unfashionable mid-sized coastal football club. And unlike the one down the M27, there wouldn't need to be any spending at all required on the infrastructure. Tbh, I still find it unfathomable why some super-rich billionanire, with a sporting bent, doesn't go for us. We should be available for a mere snip. And then throw 30 million at us and this league would be a stroll in the park. You can argue pros and cons until you're [the] blue [few] in the face, but just what is so bad about owning Saints..?

Mark Dennis, I believe.

I don't see a problem with this. The player must be true to himself, so if he believes he must fast during Ramadan, then he must. If his manager thinks it is affecting his energy levels during playing, then he will relegate him off the first eleven. Eric Liddell famously didn't run his heat [on a sunday] in the Olympics in Paris 1924. He was castigated, but he stuck to his belief. Whether anyone thinks he, or the Muslim footballer, had/have their priorities mixed up is neither here, nor there. I hold no religious belief myself, but I respect the right of people to have them.

Harry Potter And The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. Now there's a book I don't see Rowling ever writing.

Of the 3, I had no problem with Saints letting Leon Best go. He seemed slow of thought and deed. I always thought Dexter Blackstock would get better and I was disappointed when Saints transferred him. But then, we had the likes of Rasiak, Saganowski, etc... Now we have McGoldrick, so fine... a good striker who will get better. Perhaps a lot better than both his contemporaries.

I'd rather a season of boring 1-0 wins, all the way to promotion. But we don't get that. We are served up very entertaining football from a squad of previous seasons reserves, academy players, loanees and cheap buys. I don't have a say in that, as I don't own the club. So it's up to me to like it or lump it. I like it, but I'd rather have promotion.

Yeah, but you're forgetting that The Dell used to have a 30,000 standing capacity. I was in the 30,044 crowd watching Saints v Man Utd. A midweek match too. In those days, Saints had a so-called core support of about 20-23,000+ fans. Personally, I don't believe there is such a thing as a core support, unless you are talking about a base crowd that would turn up at the gates every week even if Saints were a team of amateurs. Basically, with every relegation, or slip in ambition and place, the support will get less and less, and people will turn to something else to do. St Marys could well have the same atmosphere as The Dell used to have. It just needs the club to be in a position where 32,683 people are being royaly entertained by some excellent Saints winning football in the Premiership every week. And never, say never.

I really hope we give Jan Poortvliet the time he needs to mould his team. Anybody can see the quality of the play when Saints are on the ball, so to speak. They need to learn how to play properly when they don't have the ball, and that is a much harder thing to be good at, taking experience and concentration. It's a sad observation but, we could do with a player or two of Michael Svensson's capability all the time.

John Deacon..? According to Alan Ball's autobiography, the reason why Deacon lost so much money was that he irresponsibly compromised the Portsmouth football team by trying to establish a high quality professional basketball side in Portsmouth.

Some of the football I have seen Saints play this season has been excellent, and I'm not easily pleased. But some of the defending has been naive. That is going to be the case with less experienced players. But young players can be quick learners. I have always found the opinion of those that think, that the quality of the Championship as a whole is low, quite confusing. Some of the better, adventurous stuff would be capable of beating a Premiership team on any given day. But the established Premiership team would eventually do the Championship team over a season. It's why each are where they are, of course. Saints are uneven. The defence is sometimes porous, the attack wastes chances, and during a game the midfield occasionally gets overrun. But we are only half a dozen games into the season, and I believe Jan Poortvliet has the ability to get this squad playing well for 85-90 minutes. If he can do that, then I see a reasonably stable season. In any case, there's no point in contemplating the outcome if he can't.

Just had a look at the mid-week attendances of other teams, and although some games were below the Saints v Ipswich attendance, there were plenty who were above, and it tended to be the teams with a recent Premiership tradition, or those on the up, who were above us. In reading this, I have to revise my opinion, and look at the comments above too. It's harsh [but understandable] to lay the punishment of lack of support on the current 1st team and staff, as they often play very entertaining football, but everybody has a limit somewhere, I suppose. Like everyone else, I can't afford to watch Saints as much as I'd like. So, all I can hope for is that Jan Poortvliet continues his excellent record of winning titles and making the most out of little or no money. That should bring the crowds back.

I would say it's all those things, and people are digging in to weather the present economic downturn, and the recession that is predicted to follow. I've just watched the first highlights from the Ipswich match on Saints TV though, and there's plenty of cheering and shouting. Have to also add that, although the goals conceded were unfortunate, the Andrew Surman goal was excellent quality football.

Agreed. Too much basis of the global economy is on the price of oil. We're too dependant upon it. It's everywhere in our lives, and it's about time we addressed the need to back away from it properly. There are many benefits and several problems however. One of the problems being that the already slightly wobbly Middle-East may become more unstable. That would not be a nice situation at all. However, the OPEC countries cannot continue to play with nations economies as they do, and I sometimes wonder why they raise the price of oil, when quite clearly it will also eventually knock on to do them damage too. In my mind I'm always hoping that when the price of oil jumps alarmingly, it's because the oil companies are aware a wonderful power saving/making invention that is just about to hit the headlines, and they are trying to get some last hurrah out of oil before the invntion comes along to make the world much less oil dependant. Steorn anyone..? http://www.steorn.com/

I maintain that Simon Gillet is good enough for this league. Agreed, he's gone off the boil slightly, since the QPR match, but this is the first time he's had a real run in a Saints shirt, where it matters. He's bound to feel the pressure. All the players must have felt really down, and it's good that they've bounced back a little against Ipswich. Gillet will come good again, and so will the rest of the team.

I can see you are determined to not find common ground here. Have it your own way, I'm done. However, when he played, and I'm talking from the very beginning of his televised football career, Steve McManaman always struck me as not being the brainiest player on the park, despite his obvious skill. He shares that characteristic with Nathan Dyer, although sadly, Nathan is far, far [how many fars should I measure this by..?] less of a player, and probably possessing even less footballing wits. Now, if you want to call that a comparison, then fine. I was not being patronising, just making an observation.

It's Britain. We are an overpopulated land mass, so property pressure is always there to a greater or lesser extent. If you can afford it, buy into it. It's a straight forward investment, and it almost never fails. Even people who are in negative equity, if they can just wait, will find themselves in profit eventually, and the return is almost always worth it.

Yep, this is true. I still have a Fiat Tipo which I'm getting back on the road next month. And while I know it will be a fun car to drive, exhibiting very good steering, handling and practibility, it will, once in a blue moon, let me down. In the time I have driven my Audi it has not missed a beat. But that's another story. The Punto, like so many other recent Fiats, and one or two other cars, is based on the Tipo platform. So it starts from a very good base. Do make sure you obtain one that has been looked after as spares are indeed quite expensive. Fingers crossed though, you won't need them too often. What we need is German, Swedish and French, to add Italian to their spares line up. Then we could all buy Fiats and not be too phased when the need for spares became apparent.

Nobody is comparing Dyer to Steve McManaman. The latter was far and away the better player. But they share some of the same characteristics that stop[ped] them from being better players. Be careful to fully understand what you are reading before you quickly step in to mock.

I've been saying this season, after season about Dyer. There are plenty of footballers around who are skilled with their feet, but not between the ears. The Kieron Dyer/Steve McManaman analogy is very good. Both these players are/were very skilled, yet they never really rise/rose above the mundane due to their inabilty to be unpredictable, and deliver the simple move at the right time. Nathan needs a chat with Matt Le Tiss on how to do the right thing when required. If MLT's advice could be assimilated by the lad, it could be pure gold.