John Boy Saint

Here on my Holibobs in Cataluña (yes Whitey Llafranc again) all my Dutch friends know about Saints to a frightening degree they are all waiting for us to sign Virgil They also say the KNVB dropped a bollock when they over looked Ronald and burnt their bridges with him in the process.

You nicked Bridge Too Far's punchline!!

Cool!!! ............. Have you got one really DT.?......have you?........... Can I have a go in it?

Well done England Ladies to beat the world number ones Germany for third place. Whilst not the standard we are use to in the premiership, or Play station, in the grand scheme of things they have done a damn good job flying the flag.

Lots of goals many mentioned above, Bobby 1976, Camara v Norwich, Beattie 88th minute v Manure. But the one that popped in my head just now was Papa Waigo equaliser last seconds v Norwich JPT, 4 of us, forty and fifty something's, seemed to have the Devil in us that night with no beer involved but the banter was flowing every quip was funny. I guess after having all watched crap for the previous few years and having seen into the abyss the previous summer, when that goal went in against a good Norwich it was like, oh yes The Saints are back!! We bounced around like we were 14 again......... Silly buggers!

Get the impression that Van Gaal has a different agenda where Ronald is concerned, probably resents the fact that Koeman is mentioned in the same sentence as Cruyff in Dutch football, bit like Hoddle and his issue with Matty being more gifted than him. The Villa story at Vale do Lobo does show the pettiness of the man.

I blame Jonathan Pearce, he delivered the curse of the commentators right on cue.

What ever fine he got for Newcastle and Jose it would have only been 2 weeks wages max as that is the maximum permissible. With players seemingly holding all the cards plus a few extras up their sleeves, you would hope in the time that has elapsed the club have been able to armour their backsides enough to pull the plug on this waste of space at the minimum of expense.

Cos they won't see the steel wall, a ride in the bubble, chance of naughtyness down the town, no Robo cop armour, or those nice Police Horses, but most of all having to figure out an angle to sing song towards them containing gratuitous amounts of spiteful abuse peppered with words your Dad would give you a clip round the ear for using in front of your Mum.

That would be nice for a change to have someone to build a steady base in that position. Funny you mention Lawrie Mac, I was sorting out the garage from a house move 4 years ago, and found his book Diary of a Season from the 78/79 season, our first back in the top flight, opened it up and like a fool started reading. Whoosh I was 14 again, but reading the stuff about chasing Colin Todd and Charlie George around, plus being hounded for the Leeds and Sunderland jobs was very interesting and probably pretty much as it is now without the added 24/7 input from Sky and the media.

Wouldn't worry about it

Well done Ladies......... That was well worth staying up for. Semi Final v Japan Wednesday night should be good. Japanese are not too shabby play the high press in a disciplined way.

Rodgers constant dipping into our club for players makes me think of the Johnny Cash song - One piece at a time. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rWHniL8MyMM So Jose will be next on the list. You would think if Man U came knocking that would be the go to place, but I can imagine the stories out of Liverpool regarding ease of sitting around are better than the stories about sitting around under Van Gaal.

It's the "England Way" ......... Players starting from the youngsters can see a clear and defined pathway through to the senior team. Nice to see they have picked up something from us and been original enough to put their own spin on it so as to look original

Team managed by an international defender and we defend like each player was press ganged as they stumbled out of a pub. Ronald - defender we defend MoPo - defender and we defended. Watched one of these under 21 game a while back and JWP must have come off the pitch with a crick in his neck as every time he went to get the ball off the keeper to build up the play............. Hoooof keeper launched yet another ball long over his head. Still James and Matty can now buzz off on their Holibobs.

Cracker of a goal to win it, Jo Scott made quite a difference........ Good it see history being made especially after the first half.

Didn't pay much attention to the Eire game, I must have been washing my hair or something even more less important, hadnt realised Clyne had been widening his backside for that game too. Reading Billy's take on it does make you think you are in a parallel universe, even more so when you add in Roys selection rational. Cheers for keeping your readers topped up

The flaw with Yoshida that seems to have him marked as a Marmite player for many commentators on this forum is he is one of those players who needs games, when he sits out he appears to get rusty quicker than some other players, then when he does get called upon he has to shake off that "ring rust" Jose plays some right stinkers like under hit back passes from time to time but because he is always on the pitch putting in a good overall performance these get over looked, Yoshida by comparison hasn't for the last 2 seasons had the luxury of maximum game time to dilute the odd error every player makes. When he gets a decent run he gets better and better, Ronald and the back room boys obviously spotted this last year and as result tried to keep him ticking over in the team, as Ronald said in one interview "it's great to have a player who can play right across the back 4 positions", if he was the pile of poo some make him out to be he wouldn't have been offered the contract extension he signed last season. Again as Lawrie Mac always said "A good team is made up of Violinists and Roadsweepers" Maya fits the latter and as such is an important cog in the machinery.

Strange one really as for us a good pre season better integrated with the team I think he could be a bit useful, but then mid way through his loan with us he did say that he felt his business at Benfica was unfinished, there is no doubt he has ability.

The positive with Osvaldo was the boys and girls in the Black Box department had concerns about him, he was a signing against the grain, and as much was said at the time he was revealed. But Pochettino stuck his neck out and said he could tame him as he had before. So they knew he was an issue, Gaston like Mayuka were ones who sadly slipped through the net.

If Roys comments after the supposed England strop are anything to go by, this would probably enhance his England chances.

Home Arsenal Boxing Day proper, away Wet Spam Boxing Day lieu bank holiday unless Christmas has been changed.

Still think these plastic pitches are doing nowt for the spectacle, the Cameroon's seemed have the long ball sussed, hoof it up field where their team mate is running to the ball bounces backwards like its a Rugby ball straight into the possession of the player on the run. Even my daughter commented that the ball bounced a few time like a Rugby ball.

1st Wet Spam away.......... You read it here first. Last Leicester Home.

I have a friend with Club Wembley membership, he has no issues regarding reselling tickets he even re sells his "neighbours" seats for them if it is a game of no interest to them......... Got my JPT tickets thru him and there was no keep you head down and if you are asked, your name is....... To reinforce that our JPT tickets were for 4 of us and he has membership for 2 so we sat in different seats to his own and he openly went through official channels to secure them.