St Landrew

Oh, how I know the feeling.

We do still have an Olympic forum I believe, but I suppose you wanted to get a general view. I also think you've been listening to Michael Johnson on the Beeb, because he has been saying some of the very things you are about the swimming events. There are a fair few odd sports and event categories in the Olympics that I wouldn't include, and some I'd add, if I had the power of decision. The cyclists for instance, don't have all their events in the Olympics, especially the women. I don't know why, but the women have as full a programme as the men, where incidentally British Cycling is just as dominant, but not at the Games. Write to the IOC and get it changed for London 2012. Btw, I agree, it sure wasn't a yawn.

Every match is a test of some new area of skill, passion, endurance. Looking back through the results of the season before last, I was amazed at the results, and my own lack of memory of them. Saints were doing really well upto a certain point and then it fell away slightly. Even during just last season, we weren't doing at all badly, results wise, and then it completely fell away. I guess we saddled them with such unreasonable expectations that any poor result was worth firing someone for. This season our expectations are nothing like as high, and we've won one match in the league out of three. Yet we are a pretty happy bunch. I suppose it is all about perception in the end. But unlike the last two seasons, you can't deny the playing style is very pretty to watch and it is beginning to be effective. If they can continue to do that, then I'm sure our Saints kids will do us proud.

Yeah, well I only found the video. I didn't make it. It's funny - most of those Saints kids are from the Home Countries and they look like Brazil at times. No scrub that - they look better.

I would have thought someone would have dug out Lallana's little cameo on YouTube by now. Watch carefully, it's quick stuff: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-WraR8sCuTI Btw, notice any similarity how this academy/reserve side plays to the present 1st team..?

Just looked up Meridian's TV football coverage slot for this week, which is usually on a wednesday [tonight] after 10pm. Nothing..! Earlier in the evening there is Liverpool V Standard Liege in the Champions League. What the f**k do I want to watch that for..? Who would want to watch this twaddle apart from Liverpool and Standard Liege fans..? And this is on a main channel. Not consigned to ITV4 or something minor. I don't understand TV companies, and they certainly don't understand me.

Yes, you're probably right. I've looked back through the archive and found that all the home matches have both condensed highlights, and extended highlights per half. So I expect some to appear from last night's match in the end. I'd still like old Southern Soccer back though. If Meridian's Football Night was regular, instead of occasional, that would be something.

Following on from my rant about the lack of quality regional TV coverage last night, I've downloaded the highlights from Saints TV. It comes to 2 minutes and 26 seconds. Anything is nice, but I was hoping for 10 minutes per home match at least.

Nope, not sad, unless we both are. I agree with you. James started reasonably fine, but then the spelling and grammatical errors crept in. You can practically spot a hasty shifting of paragraphs to make the article read better. It's ok for a forum, but not for an offical website. James, find a decent context sensitive spell checker [good luck with that] or get someone who can proof read properly. Now there's a vanished skill. Btw, good luck Graham Hiley.

Almost anybody will do, but at St Marys. Because playing at St Marys brings in the cash for Saints. This isn't the FA Cup where the attendance money is shared 50/50. I'd prefer a team we are likely to beat because we will always get a tougher team to play in the latter stages. And anyway, we get more money by winning, by having another game to play. And I'd prefer us to get to the latter stages anyhow. Gives us plenty of practice to play Total Football experimentally without farting about with the league position. Which means I don't want ManU away or even at home. Why make things difficult..?

I like that Brummie's writing style and humour. For example: Southampton played the 'Dutch' system to good effect. They were mobile, first to the challenge and moved the ball around effectively. Blues, on the other hand, played the lesser known 'Sunday League' system. This consisted of Blues players constantly passing the ball to the opposition, hardly moving and, when they did attempt a pass to their own player, invariably it was head or chest high at around 40 miles per hour. and: The half time whistle went and to a few boos, off trudged Blues with several players moving quicker than they had all of the first half. Tbh, our Brummie friend's Sunday League description of his team reminded me a lot about Saints of the last few seasons. Thankfully, not this one.

Yes I noticed the poor quality footage from the Boro match too. Must have been some sort of technical issue there, The light didn't seem too good and there was interference on picture. ITV have this belief, and it's not exclusive to them, [though they seem to grasp the idea as if it is gold] that all football fans want to watch just a few teams in the UK. Of course, I'm talking about the Big Four, and a few occasionally fashionable others. They have no time or imagination for football fans who might actually want to watch their own team, but can't get to the match for some reason or another. Years ago, when football coverage was a fairly expensive business for little regional TV companies, because they had to drag along big, expensive outside broadcast equipment, they managed to provide programmes featuring the local teams. Southern TV had Southern Soccer, which often covered two matches from Saints, Pompey, or Cherries and in the South-East, Brighton & Hove Albion. They managed to get all the home games in by the simple fact that at least one club would be playing away from home. So they showed the other two. Southern TVs coverage wasn't the very best in slick quality, but it gave excellent extended highlights. Even BBC's MOTD, then or today couldn't measure up to the time allotted to each game. And this in the the days when there was only one commercial channel. Now there is a proliferation of channels, we're hip deep in them. Yet you can't find a single channel that will exclusively show you your team each week. I'm extremely blinkered in my football support. I don't give a monkey's r!ngp!ece for any other club. The TV companies don't cater for, or understand me. I often can't get to the match because 1] I'm working to pay the bills, and 2] paying bills comes before paying to watch football matches, and 3] I sail in boats for pleasure and they come first before anything. And there must be 1000s of people out there like me [apart from the boaty bit]. They would like to watch Saints match extended highlights on TV later in the same evening, or the next day. Or watch their own team, but don't want to watch anybody else. We have all these channels, and can't get what we want. I call that crap coverage. Bring back regional football coverage and screw the Champions League. I don't a give flying toss who Arsenal, ManU, et al are playing next - I'm simply not interested. And yes, I subscribe to Saints TV. It's hardly the same though.

Once all the add ins and permissions are allotted, I doubt you'll find much difference in Safari's ability to go places or IE7s, or Firefox's. It's just that Safari will get there slightly faster and be slightly slicker in use. All my opinion, of course, but it is based on experience of all the main browsers.

That drag with the left foot onto the right before shooting from Adam Lallana had a young Le Tissieresque look about it. Very nice indeed.

Yep. But don't worry, you will be able to get on with it. Just remember it's completely unlike IE7 in an Applely kind of way. That's not all good, but it's not all bad either. Because I formmated the HDD on the machine I'm using at present, I'm not using Safari on it, but good ol' IE7. IE7 is OK, it's just a little boring and slow at times. And another point, the window we type our posts in becomes an instant spell checker with Safari. Just watch out for the U.S. spelling though.

Rupert Lowe certainly has a history that isn't completely positive at Saints. He has made mistakes, the biggest of which is so obvious I won't bother to spell it out. But if that mistake is undone, I'm almost certain those that won't go to St Marys because his team are in place will forgive him for his past errors. If those supporters can't forgive then they are the only ones who are actually suffering. I used to be a fan of Lowe, but hearing his methods and how he treated people put me off the man. His big mistake was just the icing on the cake. He has a certain way about him which I will never be able to completely come to terms with, but if the Club is going in the right direction, and Saints are ultimately solvent and successful, then I have to give him my support and the benefit of the doubt along the way. Anything else has to be head-in-the-sand behaviour.

Just a few things to pick up on that. Yes, check the fuse is sound. Have you moved the fridge recently..? Fridges are indeed a wonder, but of extreme reliability. The technology is so well founded, if they're treated right they go on for years and years. Once they stop though, they tend to stop for good. Then they are expensive, so just replace. If you have moved the fridge recently, and the fridge has decided to stop working, then let the unit settle for 12 hours. Then turn it back on [remember to check that fuse], and just maybe, you'll find it'll be fine again, and just as reliable as ever.

Whenever I used to go down to Staplewood and see the Reserves, a few seasons back, there would be this little lad bombing about. He seemed to be about a foot shorter than everyone else, and I always thought his height would count against him. I think it has proved to be the case as well, but Simon Gillet has always been a very capable player, but overlooked. His time has come, and it doesn't matter a jot that he's only 4ft 18ins. He plays to his strengths, and they are very strong.

To be honest, all the browsers have their strengths and weaknesses. I find Firefox'es quirkeness slightly off-putting. Of course, when I say that, it could also just be called different. Try Apple's Safari browser. Extremely quick, and actually a very pleasant change from the same old, same old. But don't tell Essruu I said that.

Not the kind of player we require. Beat himself too often against quite ordinary forwards. With good support players around him he's ok, but he'd come into a Saints team being considered as the class of the field. Not in my book. If he was half the defender Svensson is I might consider it a good idea. Leave well alone.

That must come as a huge relief to most Pompey fans. I understand that everybody except his little entourage absolutely loathe it. And on the very rare times that I have bothered to watch Pompey playing these days, it gets my goat within seconds of hearing it.

You'd be one of few..!

I've copied and pasted the entire article text so that I can look back on it in maybe two or three seasons time and think how far we've come from this starting point. I wonder where we'll be..?

Cheers MOG.

Bugger..! Missed it, after seeing a trailer. I was watching The Hairy Bakers. They had a go on a beautiful old Brough Superior.