John Boy Saint

All the big boys can breathe easy as Bradford lose 4-2 on penalties to Bury who played with 10 men from the 39th minute. The deciding penalty scored by Jacob Mellis who we had on loan from Chelsea back in 2009.

An Englishman was touring the USA on holiday and stopped in a remote bar in the hills of Nevada. He was chatting to the bartender when he spied an old Indian sitting in the corner. He had tribal gear on, long white plaits, wrinkled face. “Who’s he?” said the foreigner “That’s the Memory Man.” said the bartender. “He knows everything. He can remember any fact. Go and try him out.” So the foreigner goes over, and thinking he won’t know about English football, asks “Who won the 1965 FA Cup Final?” “Liverpool,”replies the Memory Man. “Who did they beat “Leeds,” was the reply. “And the score?” “2-1.” “Who scored the winning goal?” “Ian St.John,” was the old man’s reply. The Englishman was knocked out by this and told everyone back home about the Memory Man when he returned. A few years later he went back to the USA and tried to find the impressive Memory Man. Eventually he found the bar and sitting in the same seat was the old Indian only this time he was older and more wrinkled. Because he was so impressed, the foreigner decided to greet the Indian in his native tongue. He approached him with the greeting - “How”. The Memory man replied, “Diving header in the six yard box"!!

Anyone else notice Morgan has gone soft at Man U: running around wearing GLOVES!!! in their midfield today.

He got his crotch less knickers in a knot in a TV interview when we signed Gaston Ramirez (?), banging on that we no way had that kind of money to buy and pay the reputed wages.

Ha-ha! that just made me think of being at Wentworth for the PGA Championship, the presentation was made on the 18th green, out totters the Sky TV MC Kirsty Gallagher looking pretty wearing heels and having to walk uncomfortably out to the lectern on the green as if she knew that the Green Keeper was lurking somewhere in the bushes with his Martini snipers trained on her, finger on trigger ready for the moment a heel broke the surface. Apologies for the attack of the Dubai Phil's in the last couple of posts in this thread.

Golf courses live and die by the condition of the grass and especially the on greens. Most metaphorically chop up £20 notes and spread them across the surface to keep them tip top in all weather conditions 365 days a year, Just about every head green keeper and many of his staff are highly educated in grass and course management. But despite all this diligence they sweat about grass infections (I can't remember it's name, one is particularly damaging ) that just decimates the grass. No amount of money can prevent this, plus I doubt football pitches get the same chemical cocktail golf courses get due to the fact that players will be rolling about on them.......... You never lick your fingers on a golf course.

All these guys develop at different rates, you think of Bale went to Spurs and was a steaming pile to start with then suddenly got on his bike, there are many players down through the years who have come on in later years. Another thing is Luke Shaw had a steady run of games young Matthew has been in and out knowing Bertrand will be first choice more often than not, you would like to think that the position he has played in these last few games has come about through his overall attitude.

I have a friend who blew his chance to play pro football, he was at Bristol City then Villa and played against the Wallaces Matty and Shearer at academy level. He has an uncanny eye for players, I can say whatsits a bit of a tidy player, he will come back with shrewd observations about their game and point out their flaws....... Next time you watch said player it was frightening how much of what he said was true..... We went to Old Trafford together in the relegation season and his observations during the game and post match analysis driving home was fascinating and non of it Cobblers. Some time ago around the time Luke Shaw burst onto the scene he says to me "who's that left back of yours" Luke Shaw? "No not him, he's good but not that good" "Skinny Kid, hasn't played for your first team yet" Matty Targett? "That's the one, trust me he is very good, in fact he is one of those players who can't stop learning, he will be a better player than Shaw ever will be by miles when he develops". With this in mind I have had a very open mind when watching Matt. It's interesting that Koeman has no problem sticking him into this new position with Ryan behind him, once again my friend has probably hit the nail on the head.

Long Mané Austin that is a bit of a scary front line if they make the pitch together. The issue with the alledged knee if there is an issue you know he is in the right place for repairs if necessary

Surprised the Lino on the Kingsland side could even spot it, that was more of a guess, he must have been knackered after chasing Shane Long with his afterburners switched on, quite a few times he was left for dead.

Always good when it's hard to pick a MOTM, this was one of those games where you walked through the turnstiles in a strange frame of mind not knowing what we were going see, especially against Watford who have been a funny team for us down through the years, and with them being a team that has its tail up at the moment. As it turned out like against Arsenal we just shut Watford down from whistle to whistle, you just wonder where these performances disappear to. Thought Romeu and Clasie looked very solid in midfield they both have good vision and both can deliver perfectly weighted Hollywood balls cross field, The switch around in defence looked strange but seemed to work, Nice to see Fraser between the sticks. The 2 lads from the Emerald Isle, North and South, just seemed to relish playing in the rain almost like it energised them, Davis and Long just did not stop moving and being a pain in the backside, when you see the whole ground stand to applaud Davis off the pitch, including even the most miserable moaners you know Steven had put in a bloody good shift. And when Shane Long got his legs in a pickle down in the Chapel Kingsland corner the reaction from us fans was not moaning it was laughing at his kerfuffle as we all knew he had run his legs off for the cause. And those moaners at the £12m price tag just watch that first goal, Matty Targett isn't even looking at the balls final destination he just knows to fire in a blistering ball into the penalty box Long knew where it was going and was on the move knowing exactly where he needed to be and when, there are not that many players with that pace to then hit the ball while at pace. Like others have said leave Victor on the sidelines and let Clasie and Romeu develop into the next Midfield brick wall.

Taking my mind off the effect on us, listened to the Utd v Utd game on the radio whilst driving home from Scotland, as a outsider its sounded a cracking game...... Made me think of that fantastic 2-2 game at SMS v Newcastle when Blaney made that stunning double point blank save to deny Shearer.

Nope - the money we pay into the club is incidental in the grand scheme of things. The only bonus, if it were to happen, would be being to slag off the player (s) my/our extra money at the gate bought......... Of course I would like the right to a return on my additional outlay should sad player hop it for twice as much as I/we bought them for.

We'll be in Europe next season........................ If there's a war!!

Maybe if Pelle is back we might get a game out of him, as he is a first pick right now for Italy and at his ripe old age (in Footballing terms) on the verge of going to a International tournament, and I am pretty sure that the Italian manager picks his team based on playing well for your domestic team rather than the name on the back of the shirt and the club you play for, like the dopey Old Goat managing Ingerland.

Pellegrini will be on the market soon if rumour about Guardiola going to Citeh are true.

"The longest 7 minutes of my life" I was only 11 at the time and it is still mine too!

The Family tree on my Grandmothers side (Father) dates back to Fife in 1140 but named folks start in 1348 again in Scotland and meanders along to include a few landed Scallywags who were fined substantial amounts of Scottish Marks for naughtiness. There are branches that just run dry which coincide with the land rights and large scale emigration to the New World. My Dad picked up a trail recently which led him into the New Forest and a long established link there, being born under the British Raj in India living from the age of nine in Lancashire then work bringing him to Southampton where he met my Mum, he thought that was amazing that there was "family" not that far away. My Mum's side would be interesting to explore as my Great Grandfather sailed regularity out of Southampton to Cape Town, where he met a South African lady of German descent who he married and brought back to Southampton. Both World wars were interesting for my Great Grandmother living down in Freemantle as she had a German accent. All interesting stuff, it would be nice to have the time to poke about properly.

Stats like that always make me think of the Lee Evans skit where he talks about the money players are on:

I wonder how different things would have been if he had slotted that chance home against Arsenal that night. As for the growth spurt stuff, I seem to recall Steven Gerrard had a similar issue at a similar age, and possibly Gareth Bale slightly younger, but both when they were young first team players and it resulted in a very disjointed season for them as the growth spurt however small makes the internal gyroscope go a bit wobbly and eye-boot co-ordination with it.

Thanks Billy/Glen as always spot on, Happy New Year to you Sir.

Lee Clark was on Soccer AM yesterday morning, he said that Pavel had his heart failure while out running but was not found for a while. So sadly the Golden Hour had elapsed. Very sad as 47 is no age these days.

Last one of them worked a treat after they got Luggy out the door, then got man with hands in pockets, followed by twitchy.

I liked the story linked at the bottom about the bloke who put on a £1 for Cucu to score first and Saints to win 4-0, smashing Boxing Day for him.

Peter Reid when he had his brief spell with us in the twilight of his career knew his mobility and pace was also in its twilight, made no secret of the fact that he used Neil Maddison as his legs by passing the ball to Neil moving into position via the shortest route to receive the ball back for him then to repeat the process.