um pahars

Not overly bothered about the England national team and not overly bothered about Redknapp. My only point would be that as others have mentioned I think it's the wring kind of job for him, no day to day involvement, no deals to be done, too much aggro from above. Stuart Pearce would be my outside bet.

Of all the things to knock Portsmuff for (and there are many!!!), not sure I agree with either the jibes at the staging of this game, nor the attendance. Obviously there's the Ruski connection, but I didn't hear of any other clubs going out of their way to stage a match or have a whip round, so fair play to them for at least trying to do something. And as for the attendance, then it was about 3,000 more than I thought they would get. Compare it to some other "friendlies" and is it that bad (8,000 for the Liebherr Memorial Trophy?)???? (The caveat is of course that all this only applies if the money does find its way to its intended recipients and not like the last time when they were witholding monies promised to charities).

Just under half of our games in the final season of the Premiership weren't sell outs (lowest was 27,000 x 3 occasions). Of the sell outs, only a few were sold out quite a way in advance indicating a sizeable lock out (e.g. Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea), whilst other sell outs eventually got there (probably locking a thousand out at most IMHO). We had four seasons in the top flight. The first was honeymoon time, with everyone clammering to see what SMS was like. Even then we had at least 7 games that dodn't sell out and were around 30,000 (lowest was 27,000). The second season ended well with our Cup Final, but even that saw half of our games not selling out (with a low of 26,000). The third season was great off the back of a decent league placing, an FA Cup Final appearance and a rise in season ticket sales. A few games didn't sell out, but the majority of those that did only just got there in that they weren't sold out within days. (lowest gate was 30,500). The fourth had about 7 that didn't sell out (lowest of 27,000 on 3 occasions). Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking our attendances as I have to say that I thought the were brilliant considering the legacy the Dell had left us with and to be able to double our attendance (and hold it) was impressive. But the talk of needing a 50,000 capacity is risible. Even 40,000 is pushing it and although I'm sure for some of the big games we could fill it with daytrippers who "only came to see United" for others we would probably have 10,000 spare seats rattling around. With hindsight, perhaps St Mary's should have held around 36,000, but that's being really harsh on those who delivered the stadium. Given the sums involved to build a ground and the ROI on it, I struggle to believe that even our fantastic benefactors are going to stump up so much money to provide us with one. If they do (and it doesn't leave us with a millstone) then fair play to them, but I personally wouldn't want it any bigger than late 30,000s (at best) as I wouldn't want to be rattling around in an MK Dons style ground when we play Blackburn, Wigan, Swansea, Bolton, West Brom, Wolves, Fulham, QPR, Stoke etc. Impossible to prove this argument one way or the other, but I think the gut feel of many on here is closer than the pipe dreams of a few (despite whatever Gandhi, Van Goethe, Kennedy, Lincoln might say about minorities).

As another Saint said, all soundbites, playing to the "Daily Mail" gallery and nothing really substantive in that lot. I'm just struggling with the lack of leadership and in particular the vision of growth, the vision of what UK should look like (inc stuff you have mentioned) and how we're going to achieve it. It's easy to knock stuff (and cut stuff) and get applause for bashing the obvious right wing pet hates, but where's the vision?? The only ones I can think of haven't been very well explained or received (NHS Reform, Big Society etc)

For the Cornish Saints I tell thee. Kernow = 100% Saints

If anyone wants a reason to skip this thread, then this has done it for me LMFAO.

Stress????? had a bout of them when I was in mid 30s and that was the only thing they suggested for me (after seeing optician, blood tests etc). Chilled out a bit, wound it down, didn't take things as serious and they soon disappeared.

That was the only part of a cheap and ill informed shot from Ms May that got a giggle out of me. No Theresa you were making it up and if you had any decency you would apologise PDQ.

I said as much on the other thread. This was not from some Local Councillor or some old biddy Party Member going off on one, but by the Home Secretary who is charge of such a sensitive area. If she's going to lie in order to pander to the xenophobic right wing of this country, then I'm afraid she's in the wrong job. It's an area that needs an honest, sensible and rational debate, but I'm afraid her lies and mischief making are worthy of contempt.

...

I think you're being somewhat harsh on Brown there as he did steer the UK away from joining the Euro on the ground that "it would not be in Britain's economic interest". The 5 tests were in some ways somewhat superfluouswith the main issue being as to whether the UK has a degree of economic harmonisation with the rest of Europe. He was open to debate and discussion on the idea and I always felt his policy wasn't that he was following a particular political dogma, but instead he was constantly weighing up whether it would be in our interests, or not, to join. I would say he was constantly reassessing the situation and making a decision based on its merits, which IMHO is a very sensible way of making decisions (as opposed to be railroaded by special interests or political dogma).

I wouldn't say Tony Benn was on the right wing of the political spectrum and he was most definitely a Euro Sceptic!!!!

I have to agree in that playing to the right wing xenophobic audience (and the Daily Mail) with lies like this does make you wonder about the calibre of debate there is to be had about serious subjects. Andrew Neil took her to task over it, and she just squirmed, but I don't expect and apology or a retraction on the same sacale (a bit like the papers themselves who print shi1te all over the front pages and then put the retraction in a small paragraph on page 20). I was always concerned about the ability, experience and qualifications of the Conservative Party, as although I thought it was time for a change, I was worried that being so long in opposition meant they just weren't cut out for governing the country. Theresa May has displayed a desire to play to the crowd giving out misinformation on a very important subject, Lansley has made a total mess of NHS reforms, Hague, well I wouldn't let Hague be in charge of a train set let alone foreign policy, Gove has made cckoc up after cckoc up and is now trying to shoe horn a Victorian and/or Private Education system in to every school and Pickles is spending £250m on bin collections when we should be saving the money (but once again he's pandering to the Daily Mail). Osborne is about the only one who is making a bit of sense at the moment and even he is on dodgy ground if we go in to a double dip!!!! Not impressed.

The single biggest change regarding Europe in recent years was Maastricht, overseen by a then Conservative Govenrment. Amsterdam, Nice and Lisbon that followed were all amendments, but for me it was Maastricht and the establishment of the EU that was the major landmark (and if anything Brown should be commended for stopping us from entering the Euro, when many were pushing for it).

Having seen how the Daily Express works (from the inside), I'm afraid that I would almost automatically disagree with anything that it comes out in favour of as a matter of principle. Shockingly bad. However, on this one, I'm most definitely up for a full, frank and informed debate (hence ruling out the Daily Express) about our role in the EU, the pros and the cons.

IMHO you only have to look at the period when he was out injured to see how much he makes our team tick.

There was a caveat on the Connolly bit in that the incoming player had to be really decent and it was in the context of saying who would you replace. If, for example Craig Bellamy of a couple of years ago came available and it was a goer, then I would have him starting above Connolly. Connolly isn't going to be a force in a couple of years time (bu thanks for everything he's done), so don't think it would affect us long term, and I would be dropping him over Sir Rickie (if I really had to!!!).

I'm with you on that one, in that I'm sure our sweet talking Chairman of the time somehow convinced Wigley he would be right for the job, despite him not really wanting it. Watford away was the worst game for me under Wigley. Being stuffed by a team a division below us and we had a pretty decent team out that night (we could afford to have Crouch on the bench). When you see what a decent manager can do with a squad (i.e. Adkins), then that was an example of what a sh11te one can do!!!

Thing was that when Strachan left in the Spring, Wigley was adamant he didn't want the job, it was as if he realised his own limitations. Come August for some reason he was up for the job. Nightmare start to that fateful relegation season. Oh the memories!!!!!!!

Dontyaknow that's how it works on here. You ask a question, profer an opinion, suggest an alternative, and bingo you're a Club hating, Cortese is the Devil, agenda driven, always moaning kind of fan. It's much easier for people on here if them the rules.

...apart from William Hague aside yes? Where's the baseball cap?? You 14 pint, beer swilling, hip dude. No matter how many different "Montana" og "Hague" caps he wears, he will always be a train spotter. Not really the man who I would like leading the UK's interests abroad.

Just wait until Wigley is downstairs telling the press he has the job, whilst the Chairman is upstairs saying nothing has been decided!!!!!! Very good coach, just not cut out to be the Gaffer. I think he knows his limitations.

To be fair it was only a half ar5ed attempt at a vote. If you're going to vote on changing something, then you should at least be alowed to vote on all the options. Limiting it only to AV was just pointless. Personally, I think our existing FPTP has served its time (well) and we need to move to a system that reflects the wider views of UK society and give us a chance to move away from the dual party system (and dogma) that we have struggled with in recent years.

Indeed!! And with every prospective candidate (right or left) seemingly eminating from a PPE course at Oxbridge or equivalent and the expenses scam still fresh in our minds (even the lovely Caroline Spelman who Dune waxes lyrically about had her own "NannyGate") means that for me Politics is about as interesting as Big Brother!

Playing in the Champions League might attract better players, BUT, does it automatically translate in to a better team, what about wages for the 2nd & 3rd years of their contracts if we don't finish 4th+ again??? I'm not sure I agree with the idea that one 4th placed finish sets us up for the big time. #chasingthedream