John Boy Saint

My Granny reckoned that I spent enough pocket money in there to have bought a player!

You could smell the players!! Frank Worthington first evening game back in the top league he was then playing for Bolton slid out of play in front of the Milton Road wall when he got up inches from the fans the smell embrocation oil was immense. Oooo I just smelt it then! When you are in the Chapel or the Northam behind the goals and you see the signs "Beware of flying balls" at the Dell there was no room for a sign! My mate was holding court being a bit cocky sat on the wall as the players were kicking in before the game, BANG Phil Boyer lights one my mate is suddenly sat on a heap on the floor, and all us nippers are almost wetting ourselves with laughter. Even Phil had a grin on his face.

Us get an unfair decision, based on refs performances this year so far, and away at Chelsea or Arsenal: pigs fed and ready for take off spring to mind. Chelsea should be interesting as MP stated that he is looking forward to crossing swords again with both Mourinho and Pelligrino (sp?).

If that was a penalty then we had 2 nailed on Pens at Sunderland midweek. our one at WBA wasn't soft Luke had his jet boots on the defenders backed off but matey couldn't stop fast enough and bingo clipped him, penalty cheaply given away.

Is there any chance you can put together a team solely made up of English players for me?

Hey Nicola do you think I can borrow Pochettino for training next week?!

The one thing you can say about Sian Massey whenever she is running the line you can be assured that she is going to do a good job, and the fact that she has made it to being a Premier League line official deserves respect as that must have been a bloody hard journey. Her outstanding quality is that she keeps up with the game, unlike many of her wobble bellied colleagues.

You have to say though that none of them when given the chance look shabby or out of their depth, and best of all try bloody hard. In our recent dark days you so longed for a player to bust a gut for the shirt. Manufacturing our own priceless.

My thoughts too, being in those surroundings along with a couple of mates, including one who has made his mark on the International stage will be really good for him in particular. Very good news for all 3 of them, and for the standing of the club too.

Come Vic you have been watching all those Brit Flick films, this has to be my best impression of an English Actor: I will give you a clue! "Are you ****ing Mugging me off?!!!".

An attempt at "are you the Chapel in disguise" towards the quiet Sunderland fans was piddling into the wind a little bit too.

Strangely he did make me smile last night, takes over from Gaston and his polite fluffy corners, and spanks in a few of hard and menacing corners. He delivers another punishing free kick that we scored from. Then in the dying minutes a moment of human fallibility, outside the box in space he decides to have a crack at goal and smashes one into the empty seats behind the goal....................... He will probably be working on that in training if his dead balls this season are anything to go by.

Just woken up in my hotel in Sheffield Reading some of the above match thoughts, there seems to be a bit of a "we should have steamrollered Sunderland as they are bottom of the league" attitude. They had a larger slice of first teamers out on the pitch than us, and whilst some of them looked really bad there were others who under new management were out to impress the the new boss. We on the other hand had players who despite training all together who don't play every week and you could see the telepathy was not there or match sharpness. That said we did play in the same style as the first team so at least there is an understanding of the system if called upon. Their first goal was a 6 yard box lottery with the ball & players everywhere as soon as Kelvin was on his backside the target just got even more tempting. Their second goal was was a bit more measured with a bit of good fortune but when the ball went out to our left there was and area the size of the New Forest for the Sunderland player to make the most of. With our 1st eleven not smashing in goals from all over the park, the final third fizzle out also applied more so with last nights team. Rather bizarrely I would like to see Lee brought on in the latter stages of games as he does buzz about like a hornet and seemed to be showing for a pass that never came or when it did was at him rather for him to work with. Jack Cork seemed to be his usual putting himself about winning balls passing well, still unlike the Brick outhouse and his Ninja buddy who will have a crack at goal, he gets towards the 18yard box then just just takes the soft passing option: have a go mate otherwise until suspension or injury presents an opportunity you will be sitting on the bench for a while. Then there is the enigma that is Gaston Ramirez, the lad obviously has talent but he gets the ball and slows down and as a result is instantly swarmed and overcome by opposition players, there was a moment in the first half where basically what he decided to do was woeful, from our lofty perch you had a good view of everything, looking at MP just moments after he just looked at the floor arms crossed and scuffed the head off a worm that had just popped his head of the ground in the technical area: did not look impressed. Second half I forgot that he was still on the pitch when he was subbed. If he us still here on Feb 1st I will be very surprised. The player who impressed me on the night was young Master Reed, he looked very comfortable and combative, although in the second half not quite sure what his instructions were from MP but he went on a few meanders from left back to almost right wing on one occasion to hunt down the ball, this aside, I think we have another able Academy player about to be pushing for a first team start. Bit of a shame not to have progressed further. Still interesting evening out at a ground I haven't been to before.

And Don't forget your warm clothes 4c on the cards for the game!! Brrrrrrrr!

We had the same issue a few years back in our old house we had the British Gas service cover (which was very good especially in the middle of winter and a chap had it running again the next day) and every year we had the same warnings we must have had our boiler still running for 7 years at least from their first warning what actually failed in the end was the fan. We had it replaced by the same local chap who had given the system a flush 2 years previously. He replaced it with a Worcester Bosch which also came with 5 years of labour and parts service cover as standard. That came to just short of £1000. When we bought the Wife's Fathers house off the estate, it had storage heaters and electric immersion, the whole place needed major surgery and we went with the same local bloke who again stuck in an even more efficient Worcester Bosch. And if you have the readies to go that little bit further and intend to stay in your house for a while this guy stuck in a Megaflow mains fed hot water system, this saw the header tank in the roof disappear but best of all the shower is immense and the bath fills in a fraction of the time. Importantly if the system you have is running happily with no strange noises, and you can live with your bills to run it, then don't be in a massive hurry to change it just because they are giving you the frighteners about spares. Do it in your own time with your own research, as has been said above don't jump into the hands of British Gas there are cheaper better options out there.

"Something strange then happened at the other end as King Artur, who had been leaning up against the post, smoking a fag and swigging from a bottle of vodka, actually touched the ball as he claimed a cross, one handed, without spilling a drop." Superbly painted picture!!

Don't forget their Goalie too on MOTD2 last night............... quite strange.

Hope we do make a good fist of it seeing as I am making the effort to go, be interesting to see how Sunderland approach the game as the money staying in the prem has to far out way the bobbins money on offer in the league and Europa cups.

Flying on the Dash 8 (I think) out to the Channel Island a few years back you can see the tyres as the plane is under the wings, on the Tyre markings I noticed " Nitrogen fill only". I guess if you have a tyre full of just air descending from Minus 50 to plus 20c quite quickly the tyre pressures would be compromised, so sticking it in car tyres where the temperature extremes are not as varied it makes sense. Quite amazing that Tyre dealers are happy to prolong the life of the product they rely on as a main income by putting Nitrogen in them.

I thought losing more than 6 games precludes you from the Champions league or a shout at the title. i think it's pretty impressive, end of chat, that so far we have lost just one game this season, if someone had suggested that on the eve of the season the majority on here would have sent for the men in white coats to cart the nutter off!!

So glad I punctuated my similar post with

With today's freak opener for Stoke and back in the 60s Peter Shilton getting a similar wind assisted goal (with a bit of good fortune of finding the only hard bit for the ball to bounce off on what was reported to be a quagmire of a pitch). Is that the only 2 times it has happened against us?

What pray for a windy day and make sure you have a keeper who can kick straight

Not too hard considering how exposed the ground is to the weather.

No Pen and a shonky offside decision against us in the fading minutes, still the draw keeps the tally ticking along.