John Boy Saint

Thank goodness the Olympics were on the Radio when we started the car to go home to avoid the chat on Solent. That tonight might prove to be a worthwhile lesson, getting spanked at home. Udinese were a team getting into their Stride in time for the CL qualifier looming large on their horizon, that said we were very laboured in our play and they read us like a book, we tried to play the suck out game to make holes for us to exploit, they just sat there and said were 2-0 up you can play the ball around in your own half as much as you want we don't care. Once again Clyne was very good as was Prowse, although when Davies replaced him the difference in experience was there to see. To be honest I just hope we were taking it easy, if not we are in trouble as we seemed to give Udinese an age to set themselves up to defend, Jason Puncheon is living a charmed life as his performance tonight was pretty poor Di Natale's first (sublime) goal came about as a result of Puncheon loosing possession, on the positive for Jason I was stunned to see a shot of his actually stay low. Next week is going to be the first time we find out how we actually play. The party is over its back to work folks.

Without a doubt. Tomorrow at midnight the curtain will fall for another 4 years on the greatest show on earth, and boy did we make a bloody good job of it!!!

I liked this line from the comments at the bottom of the article: 8users liked this commentPlease sign in to rate a Thumb UpPlease sign in to rate a Thumb Down0users disliked this comment I Really Don't Believ ... As she leaned over the judges the words ....my hammer.....your table.......match wood..... were heard. Did this have any part in their change of mind?

Numpties in Blazers aside, listening to the guy on the radio yesterday morning did little to endear himself the longer he spoke. But you have an organisation that receives little funding, to the point of the Village having a whip round to send a promising young Lady to represent her country in the youth Olympics. So you have fighters who are in the GB programme, as an organisation you know if you get a medal your Lottery funding goes up, if you get a Gold medal in the mix your Lottery funding becomes a bit more serious which in turn should benefit British Taekwando and folks coming through it. Not being a mainstream sport the first objective is to secure funding to make the sport grow, but like I said earlier this guy on the radio was beginning to grate, so as a governing body you have someone who has slagged the organisation and gone out on his own, if he had been picked and Medalled I got the impression this could open another can of worms where he demands a slice of the additional funding that will now come British Taekwando's way and remain outside the main programme, The potential for it all becoming a bit messy and devisive was there to see so go with the guys that will ultimately benefit the sport. British Taekwando is too small to have splinters.

Glad I watched it in bed, that looks like a Sport that hurts!

No thank you very muchley. Kitson offers nothing bit in the mould of Beattie, great at Reading then achieved chuff all when he left believing he was as big as the hype that surrounded him in the very Small pond that is Reading. Ben Haim always gives the impression that he is a disruptive character, so with that at the core I don't feel he offers us anything of use

Can't argue with this. We didn't get park tickets (came close 3 times on the resale bun fight) but did already had tickets for Greco- Roman Wrestling at Excel so got to feel a part of it. Being a bit fuzzy on the DLR help with a smile from LT staff was a pleasure, Games Makers were all very chatty and helpful, again with a smile. We went up to Westfield so my Girls could have a glimpse of all the doings in the main park, the crowds were immense but everyone were cheerful and it wasn't a chore again the Games Makers were punting everyone in the right direction with a smile, Westfield was amazing in itself as there were so many competitors and support staff in team uniform shopping for Souvenirs and allsorts alongside you. Gettng in and out in Excel was so smooth, in fact when we came out of our event just about every other event at Excel was finishing too, and if you know Excel the centre corridor was a sea of thousands of faces, my heart sank at the thought of the scrum for getting onto the DLR away from Excel but within minutes we were out and sat on train. I think many folks feared the worse when we got the games, but impressive medal haul aside, with 2 days left I think we have pulled the Rabbit out of the hat and put some of the Great back into Britain.

Trouble is in these days of Players Agents the water gets muddied, all you need is for the Agent to say over diner Southampton are interested in you, as he has had a "legal" conversation to put the feelers out. Then in training the Blackpool dressing room nark overhears Phillips saying "Southampton are in the market for me". I bet now we are back in the Prem we wished we had split on Arsenal for granting Oxo's parents wish to give him a medical mid season 'without the club knowing'. Of course like the Football League, the FA have the ability to apply the rules as they go along.

Aaron Cook was on Radio 5 this morning at first you felt sorry for him, but after 5 minutes of listening to him I really did start to get bored with his rational, and ended up thinking: you are not a superstar in a mainstream sport enjoy the cold outside as you peer in through the window.

Bit miffed at myself for not paying attention to the Olympic timetable so disappointed to be missing Mo Farah in the 5k. C'est la vie, going to have to do Olympic Cold Turkey at some stage.

Despite the smiley face my Daily Mail hat is back on......... Thats their choice to live here and pay the TV licence fee to watch our TV, I doubt the fanfare would be reciprocated on RTE to the level it is on the BBC. Ah well that's the generosity of the UK. Thats our Girl that has made history: hey wait a minute that other lot are having a party for their girl, well done Nicola, right let's get in on the Craic.

Something I find Amazing is the attention the Beeb are giving to Katie Taylor who fights for a country that might be nice near neighbours but have a different anthem, Passport and Money, yet we have the FIRST ever Olympic Women's boxing champion but the BBC 2 end credits finish on an Irish Boxer raising her arms in celebration at the win. Rant over Daily Mail hat off!

The very level headed Michael Johnson was on BBC doing a link with Inverdale on the TV just as Robbie Grabarz was clearing the high Jump, the noise on TV was immense, so goodness knows how loud it was in the stadium: he stopped mid conversation looked out to the stadium as he turned back just said "Wow!!".

Team GB Cycling is a complex set up that optimises the power plants probably more than the Bikes. Apparently Vicky Pendleton is quite fragile in a sensitive way, put her out on the track and she has the kille instinct of a shark. At the other end of the scale Laura Trott, if you met her out in town on a Saturday night would come across as a ditsy giggly blonde and says herself that she is not the smartest cyclist on the track, again on a bike on the track she is lethal:her performance in the elimination race was the product of a highly tuned human being. All of this is what Clive Woodward did to the England Rugby team, filled the support roles with Human technicians who's role at every training session was to ensure that each player improved by 1% his performance. That's what he wanted to do with Southampton but unfortunately with Rupert the Hockey player and Sir Clive the egg chaser and Football being a bit set in its ways all of it was seen as witchcraft. Funnily enough we now have a manager in Nigel who is doing exactly what Sir Clive wanted to achieve, and applying vast amounts of the back up science that exists in the Team GB Cycling squad to the players at our club. Tadanari Lee stayed here over the summer rather than returning to Japan to kick back, as he said his best chances of a quick return was putting his injured foot into the hands of the Medical staff, Rickie said last year that he had never been so fit. Optimising the abilities of the Human body is the Technical advantage the Cyclists have.

None on sale due to the transition of over 200,000 folks in the park with tickets 80,000 of which are for each session in the Main Arena.

Someone asked their parents what they thought, mine are in their 70s and thought it was great, although my Mum didn't like all the bands but admitted that was probably a generational thing: but then my Dad was totally unimpressed by Macca. A friend who went just keeps saying awesome!

I have to say I was very impressed with Clyne, opening minutes I thought "oh cripes he is a bit small" but quickly he gave their winger very little, then going forward he looked a bit of a firecracker, he also has a very nice touch. Also thought JWP looked very composed. Also noticed Saints little game plan from the last couple of seasons seems to have continued: let the opposition have a run around for the first 20 ish minutes then step it up. My concern is with Jose, in the latter months of last year he seemed off the pace at times letting the oppo's have a sniff, today he was at the centre of gifting Ajax their goal. As for the Red shirts (sorry Nicola, I know you don't like stripes) I had difficulty getting my head to like them.

27 Swing slow, Swing Easy Keep your head down and think of girls.

I play at Dummer quite often they seem to have some good twilight deals. And the work on the 17th & 18th is just about sorted quite a varied course. I like the Sherfield Oaks course that goes out on a country amble for what feels like miles. If you don't mind crossing the state line into Surrey Oak Park on the way to Farnham has a 9 and 18 hole course, or Pine Ridge near Frimley hospital have had a nice twilight deal in previous years and not a massive drive from Blazingsmoke. Another that has popped into my head is Old Thorns at Liphook, they have had a round and a spot of grub deal, but you must mention the deal (if they still do it) to ensure you get the favourable rate. Blue Mountain at Bracknell isn't to much of a chore to get to.

He just lacks finesse for me, whereas Rickie has been maturing into a rather pleasant full bodied wine (he says searching for a better analogy) over the past couple of seasons, his contract extension length must also point to the fact that the club also believe Rickie has the attributes to make it in the top flight.

People offer Grant Holt as the example when the question in the original post is asked, the one thing that stands out for me in this comparison is that Grant Holt is the same blunt instrument at the end of the day. Whereas if you look at Rickie by comparison he is a razor sharp Rapier. The Adkins effect on the teams fitness has been demonstrated well in Rickie and he by own admission has never been fitter, which in return if you saw the second half of the season made him not only a bigger goal threat, but also a goal creator and game chaser. I think he will be fine in the Premiership as without doubt Adkins will have him and any other member of the squad who has been playing under Adkins at Saints even more finely tuned, by way of evolution.

Few extra bits I had missed too despite reading a fair few of the Saints books. There is a great photo in one of the books with the Dell as it was when it was just a Woodland Dell. A little Macabre I know, it would be interesting to see the same photo taken in 1945, to see what was left after the war. The reason for this curiosity is due to 2 postcards on sale in Frankfurt one was dated 1938 the other 1946 quite astonishing. And we all know Southampton was battered from the air.

I always felt Drew Surman was in a similar mould to Anders Svensson: Bilnding one week Invisable the next.

Years ago when we were still at the Dell and I was 14 - 15, me and a mate use to make our way to Southampton every home game from Tadley and Silchester, the added bonus of the trip was to meet 2 girls who stood with us in the Milton Road end who claimed to be Sisters of Trevor Hebberd and Austin Hayes! We were not the gullible hicks from out in the sticks they thought we were and went along with their wheeze, if it meant being in the company of a couple of pretty girls every other Saturday afternoon. My wife comes to football every week which is nice, she also knows her football having been banned from playing football when she was 11 prompting an article in the Basingstoke Gazette report the travesty that her only crime was being a girl. She grew up in the house of Chelsea but saw the light when she started coming to Saints with me, the day of knowing conversion was complete came when buying a replica shirt she pipes up and says why don't I have one too. Her moment of acceptance amongst the lads was when folks were blowing sunshine up Nigel Quashies backside, she told them the errors of his play and the negative effect it had on the team after watching the next game they could not argue with any of the points she had made. I had have no pressures re going to away games with the lads, having a beer etc etc. Football on the TV, she's the first one to put it on. Football has an access all areas pass. Trying to get a pass to play Golf though, is harder work than the 4 hours begging when the bedroom light goes out.

Just hope v the "Macaronis", Rooney remembers he is playing for England not Manchester United, and looks to pass to someone other than Welbeck when on the attack. Still job done, so far.