Fitzhugh Fella

Rupert got bailed out by the council after putting all his eggs in the Stoneham basket.

Yea but we blooded Shaw aged 17 and Chambers 18. IMO if you aint banging the door down at 18 you aint gonna make it. All our great players ie Shearer, Channon, Bale, Le Tiss were doing it at 18

I represented plenty of people for crimes very similar. It was always my duty to do my upmost to save their jobs and the best way was - if they were guilty - was for them to admit their guilt, apologise sincerely, make financial reparations like offering to finance any dental work and basically beg forgiveness with a promise of never doing it again. Depending on the manager and the amount of provocation involved plus hopefully a clean record, one or two kept their jobs but lost rank etc. As far as I can see Osvaldo has shown little or no remorse, he has history and I wouldn't bank on him not doing it again. Plus we have the situation where his colleagues seem to have turned their back on him. He has no future whatsoever at SMS. He knows it, the club knows it and my guess is he has played his last game. To do what he did so soon after his violent conduct charge at St James is ludicrous and let's remember up there it was not even during the hurly burly of a match but his actions had an element of pre-meditation. The guy's a nut job and if he was allowed to stay could seriously undermine the great team spirit we have engineered over the last few seasons.

Even if we don't get rid off him it will be impossible to pick him

Disagree Ron. I think we are all entitled to make a judgement that is far from rash. I know this sort of thing happens on the training field virtually every day but it rarely ends up with injuries serious enough for the victim to miss games. If you really think "anger management" courses are the answer then you are living in a HR wonderland. I went on one once, biggest load of crap I have ever had to endure, I came out angrier . The guy needs to be taught a lesson, he is a serial offender - it is a shame Fonte didn't press charges frankly because 6 months in Her Majesties finest, trying to flick the soap up with his kicking foot, might make the overpaid spoilt brat focus on which side his bread is buttered.

"flare-ups" are permissible but head butts followed by a right hook is a bit excessive surely?

Maybe he is just telling it how it is - he has been doing so for a while I admit but not many people actually listened to what he was saying

Surely that is rule nos 1 on here?

I find him frustrating. He is too easily eased off the ball and has no body strength. The potential is there alright but he needs to muscle up and get more aggressive.

Wow aren't you sure you are not really a Lib Dem sort of guy?

A promising start - already communicated more openly than NC and that can't be bad. Let's give her a chance I am sure we could be in worse hands.

From talking to quite a few people in a better place than most to form an opinion I would say this is very near the truth.

Indeed Hypo

Thanks MLG - you are right bad odds

Ray's funeral was today and I am pleased to say Brian O'Neil, Tommy Hare, Denis Hollywood and Lawrie McMenemy turned up. For me that is wonderful that ex players and an ex manager took the time to pay tribute to a devoted fan. Fair play and hopefully now we can once again have a club that respects properly the local community. Too many funerals recently the club have not sent anyone to represent them and while I accept football has changed a lot of the players' relatives come from a different era and they don't understand why the club grandees just don't seem to care.

Manji has just had six kittens!

I am seriously thinking of waging a large bet on Pompey not getting relegated. This means I have a win win situation. IE if they avoid relegation I pick up some winnings but if they don't? - well I would be quite happy to spunk £100 up the wall if it means they go down. So my fellow nut jobs, what are the odds on them not going down tonight?

Nick knows nothing but he talks like he knows everything

Indeed there were, don't forget Anthony Salz and Morph's friends. Good solid, honest Saints fans who would not have let the club die.

Nick your traditional obsequiousness always undermines the value I attach to your opinions. In other words you would say that.

I once spent an interesting drive up to Doncaster listening to Leon Crouch's explanation of the Tommac/Paul Allen takeover. I was staggered how, based on very little evidence, Tommac was able to convince the board at the time there was something in the story that Allen was interested and even managed to fleece them for more than a few grand. Like all Saints fans I desperately wanted the Allen thing to be true but at the time, when I think of all the hours I spent on the forums waiting for the final announcement that our club was rich and yet at the end of the day it was all based on a con man and a very naiive board, then I am going to be truly sceptical about this story. One thing I know when it comes to football clubs being for sale every Walter Mitty, tyre kicker, nutjob and fantasist comes out of the woodwork. And even if it is true I am not sure I want it to happen, especially if it means the return of the bully.

Well said, Old Nick likes nothing better than to have his cake and eat it. I've heard the facts and the added fact that someone coughed up on the court room steps should indicate pretty clearly who the guilty party was. More money, not his mind you spunked up the wall - he was pretty good at that.

And you know all the in ands outs of what NC did to Benali?

This is one of the most refreshing posts on this thread. If our club is being successful we are all - to various degrees - fickle. You only have to note the NC appreciation thread is struggling to clear two pages.

As usual wise words Chapel End Charlie. I know I am accused of having an agenda but for the record I have got to say, by and large, before the book business I was pretty much behind NC if only for the fact he put my football club back on the map and then some. But I did feel very let down re the book ban and I challenge anyone else who found themselves in a similar position not to be a little hacked off and yes, a tad bitter that many years of work and a considerable financial outlay was jeopardised. I realised if he treated me like that (and it was nothing of my own making) then what else was he up to. He shafted Hagiology out of petty spite so I make no apologies tonight for a) explaining what happened and b) letting people know I think the man actually to be a bit of an arse, no matter how brilliant his business acumen is (or was). I also make no apologies for what I said about Lowe as eventually my accusations over his egotism proved right despite what diehard Lowe luvvies like Once Bitterne would have you believe. Tbh give me Lowe any day, he did actually have some redeeming features, he at least treated his staff well. It seems Saints are unlucky in that two of our recent chairmen have turned out to be flawed in fatal ways and have had to step aside. Let's just hope our next messiah does not fall into the same category but it seems anyone who runs or owns a football club these days is of a certain breed.