Patrick Bateman

Southampton used to be pretty terrible for a decent night out - Mcluskey's, New York New York, Dog & Duck, Thursday etc etc etc., remember them all well! Then it became okay, now it seems terrible again - or am I just old?

The thread may not make sense to some, but I understand the sentiments. The last three years have been fantastic - trips to small grounds (some with terracing), winning a lot, being a "bigger fish in a small pond" and being seen as arrogant. The promotions and did I say, winning a LOT? The Premiership was always going to be a come down. Less wins for certain, more sterile - but, we should see some fantastic football and if that's more your bag, then great! We've got more coverage, more money and we're back to where we were for 27 years and (I hope) financially secure now. So yes, the last three years have been great fun, but hopefully in the past now!

I had forgotten I asked for an MP3 ... it's disappeared from that link now, damn it!

I honestly think Adkins will be going nowhere for the next few matches - I think he'll have until mid/end October personally. It's FAR too early to be discussing this considering the teams we've faced - the top 3 teams in the country AND they are three of the top teams in Europe!!!! Had we opened with Norwich, Reading, Villa, Fulham (for example) and we had 0 points from those then yes, it *might* be a different story. But I don't see Reading with their mighty 1 point panicking, or, are they?? Football is weird. Let's enjoy the ride - if we go down, we go down - we'll come up again soon enough. That's football - someone has to go down. Personally I still don't think we will, especially once the new guys have adapted, but I suppose the real test is this weekend. A whole week of the whole team training together, a week of decent tactical analysis, a week of the new guys bedding in, a week for injuries/aches to repair, a week of confidence building. So we'll see.

Scarily, I didn't realise it was only 4 years older than me - I thought it'd been part of the landscape long before I arrived in the Waterside!! Shame about the workforce obviously, but also, the chimney is a bit of an icon. Can see it for miles - I hope they keep it. It's one of those "so ugly but you'd miss it" structures.

Agreed - he'd be my choice for at least a year's contract. KD as back-up and Gazza learning the trade. I don't think his temperament is questionable, I just think he's passionate - from memory, I don't recall him doing anything wrong other than a slight wind-up of rival fans?? Gordon is great, but are the old injuries too much? Am sure we'll be surprised, but would like one of them to come in, Boruc first choice for me.

Prefer Sashimi to Sushi - especially Tuna and Razor Clam, but maybe I'm boring? I can't stand the horrible bland "Sushi" you get from the supermarkets, it's rubbish - you have to smoother it in pickled ginger for it to taste of anything - not how it should be. I could eat loads of it, but then to be full up, I would need to eat loads of it - I really love it. The best I've had in this country is a little place near Westminster - http://www.atami-restaurant.com/ - I haven't been for a while, but it was still great when I last went. Nobu is very good too, but you pay for the name there! Atami's Marble Beef is absolutely stunning too, getting REALLY hungry now!!

There are no words.

Have done many sports - played American Football properly for a couple of years (was a running back), played tennis, did Taekwondo for about 6 years (Hi Pilchards!), did Judo, did some boxing and I really enjoyed cycling! Love watching Rugby (Union and League) as well as football and with what little time I have now, have just regained my passion weights and for combat sports as well again! The "sport" I love watching most on TV is, bizarrely, Snooker - absolutely love it. I grew up with a snooker table, was never brilliant at it and I just love watching people who are actually very bloody good at it!

I didn't say "good" ... I said there is one, you plum I don't understand why anyone would want to be a veggie personally, but hey ho! It's a nice little place to eat, peaceful, in the New Forest and they do a veggie menu with "vegan" (which is even more odd - sorry Pilchards!) options - so it fulfils the criteria!

Sample veggie/vegan menu; mains Potato and onion galette with ‘Mrs T’s wild mushroom cream, wilted spinach and roasted courgette Stir-fry of vegetables with noodles and an oriental Thai sauce Local free range eggs with spinach, sundried tomato, goats cheese and red onion confit served 14.95 with dressed salad vegan Stack of Provencal vegetables served with herb cous cous and a tomato reduction All our main courses are served with vegetables supplied by Sunnyfields organic farm

One of my fav places; http://www.themillatgordleton.co.uk/restaurant.htm They do a Vegetarian/Vegan menu too.

I said that too - there are simply TOO many names this year! I would like to see Ellie Simmonds get it though, she has a HUGE personality, comes across as really nice and is the best in her class. Followed by Wiggins and Ainslie. Wiggins as the "best British Olympian" of all time and Ainslie for being the "best Olympic sailor" of all time. I enjoyed everyone else's win, but those 3 for me, stood out!

Like it or not mate, football is now "business", big business. You can blame the Americans (for what they did to their sports and the knock-on to us), you can blame Murdoch and Sky, but unfortunately, to pay the players and to even run a football club is now a lot different to even the 90s. I mean yes, if we were still in the Dell, there's no doubt we'd be a floating League 1/Championship club size, watching more wins than loses and being ignored by the media. A lot of football fans would love that, granted. But if you took over the club for example, you'd want to do as well as you could - that would mean upgrading the ground, getting better players and spending more money. To aid the income from Sky and sponsorship you need a fanbase, but in order to maximise fanbase potential, you need to become a global brand. It's a spiral. It is unfortunate, but it really would need clubs to stop asking for silly money for players and for players stop commanding such ridiculous wages for it to stop. So whilst a lot of football fans would love for football to be a non-commoditised business, a large portion of the same group would want the best for their club if they were in charge and would therefore succumb to same spiral

I'm not bothered, but, I would have swapped the two kits around - white as home and the red one as an away kit with a 3rd kit of the normal yellow.

Agreed mate!

And to follow, in the spirit of "stirring" on the internet - calling Man Utd 'manure' is a bit naff.

Brilliant, I love the bit I pasted below. The "internet generation" is completely intolerant of any opinions other than your own. I know I can be as bad as anyone, but I only do it to provoke debate (read as; stir sh*t up for a laugh). But anyway; [h=2]3) Southampton 1-0 Manchester United (FA Cup final, 1 May 1976)[/h]Hey pop kids!!! Anyone for some raging pro-United Guardian bias?!? You love it, you lot, don't you? Gertcha! Here goes, then, with the leader column of the Guardian on the morning of the 1976 FA Cup final between Manchester United and Southampton. "A newspaper can sit quite comfortably astride any convenient fence and say, for example, that though Manchester United are a glamorous footballing side, nevertheless Southampton have the romance of the underdog to set alongside the talent of Channon. Or vice versa. Wembley today, however, is no occasion for vice or versa. Manchester must win. A loss will be a disaster ... Throughout the season, dismantling dour defence after dour defence, United have sent a dozen managers back to the drawing board. The repercussions, exhilarating already, will gain permanence if Manchester United gain a major trophy. Football will win if they win." Imagine if this newspaper – if any newspaper – had the chutzpah to publish something like this today. The bottom half of the internet would shear off and frisbee away into outer space, powered solely by the hot heat of disproportionate outrage, never to return. Something which may or may not give our current leader writers pause. But back in the day, opinions were tolerated in the adult fashion.

On the cards for a while? Rachel Hammond ‏@HammondRachel Brighton in the sunshine is lush, mickey mouse show amazing for little ones, but £25 for 4 hours parking! Wowzers!!!!

You would have thought so. Him and his party will probably arrive at the best Business airport in the South ... Farnborough! I see enough white private and charter flights landing there every day, I'm sure they'll be on one of them.

Got to agree! BlakeySFC - I did say "most", not "all" and perhaps "most" was harsh, but it is annoying and I've started removing those that do it (go me, very self-righteous). Anyway - back to Ramirez - just been on Sky Sports News that Saints are close ...

Am I the only one finding most Saints fans on Twitter f**king tedious? "Hi Alan, how are Saints signing today?" "Hi agent, what's the latest on Ramirez?" "Hi Alan, what did you have for tea last night and how many bowel movements have to had today?" Muppets.

Never understood this, load of arse - I just sit on or remove the towels if there's no one there.

Coffin, nail; " "I can leave for €8million in the current market, and that is quite a lot of money - but I agreed to this transfer fee myself so I can't really complain," he said."There are clubs ready to pay that amount but they are not better than Anderlecht so for now I focus on this club. I want to at least be playing in Europe. "

I would agree with that, had he started and struggled to score, it probably would have started to play on his mind a bit - but coming on, scoring so quickly and influencing the game as he did would have done his confidence wonders!