um pahars

There is a sizeable % of football supporters who will pay through the nose and/or put up with total rubbish to get their regular fix (be it ticket prices, merchandise rip offs, changing kick off times, treatment etc etc etc), but I think clubs' sometimes struggle with the concept that for others it is a discretionary spend and whilst many of the "loyal" supporters will put up with anything (for the "greater good"), others might be more fastidious in their outlook.

Then why not just have buckets down on the concourses where every week as people exit the turnstile they can donate over and above their ticket price to the greater cause. Why not even have a bottom line for season ticket prices (at current rates) and then a tick box option where at the point of renewing you can "donate" some extra money to the greater cause each year. Why not change shirts every season and also put an option in that for an extra £10 you get a silver star on the sleeve to show that you have paid more. etc, etc, etc Then on top of the notion that there is a limit to which fans should be screwed for supporting their team, I think there is a very credible argument that such actions may ultimately be counter productive and may actually result in a loss of the very revenue it is trying to create.

For all of Coogan's honourable and reasoned words, I have to say that I think Will Self was more on the button. His reference to Wilde's "England being the native land of the hypocrite" and the "ubiquitous appettite for what the gutter press have peddled" had more resonance with me.

I do remember that one of those two put a charge on parking at SMS for the Portsmuff away game one year, which I thought was a terrible ploy. I fully understand the need to curtail those who take "advantage" of the free parking at SMS (i.e. those just using it as a free car park for their city centre workplace), but really struggle to understand the push to charge those who park there for away games, those parking there to buy tickets and/or merchandise etc.

I don't think the question was the issue, more the eulogising that preceded the question.

With regards catchment area, I think maybe we will have to wait a few years until Technological Developments allow us to massage our geographical position and/ore global warming kicks in. I would suggest: 1) Filling in the Solent, to join us to the Isle of Wight (or dragging the island closer to us). 2) Getting an angle grinder down to the north of Portsmuff and cutting them adrift, letting them drift to form another Channel Island (or anchor them down by South Georgia). 3) Wait for Sandbanks to erode, Poole harbour floods and Bournemuff goes totally under. 4) Recreate the County of Southamptonshire and start a civil war with London/England to reintroduce a local "Catalan Style" fighting spirit to the City/County. 5) Design a new flag for the County (get Gecko on it straight away). 6) Develop conscription for the Southampton Home Independence Territorial Team Emergency Regimental Squad

Been out of the country and to be honest I had forgotten about renewing. Will have to sort something out this week (sounds like going in person is the way to do it!!). Sadly, I think our group is getting split up with some taking advantage of the cheaper prices in the Chapel, with others staying in the Kingsland as they prefer a side on view. Think season tickets will be slightly up, with a decent number of "free" kiddies boosting the total. Had hoped it would have been a significant rise following promotion and some optimism about the place, but just don't think the Club have done enough to capitalise on this.

I'm always slightly uncomfortable with being compared to a Club that has 160,000+ Members, all shelling out £75 a year (and that's a restricted membership, although you can join the three year queue for £100+ a year with no guarantee of ever becoming a member). I'm all for positive thinking, ambition and thinking the unthinkable, but I think Turkish needs to be reined in!!!!!

As well as previous Governments' actions (and there is a debate about the pros and cons of their actions) I can also remember when a great many companies took pension holidays!!!!! The generous pension(and I have no problem in admitting it is/was generous) was a part of the whole remuneration package upon which I based my decision. As well as affecting me personally, I do have real concerns that the downgrading of this package will impact on the quality of the teaching profession (retention, recruitment & morale). I have utmost sympathy for those who have "suffered" in the private sector (been made redundant twice, had a pension holiday enforced on me, had T&c's amended), but I don't feel comfortable with a race to the bottom. If anything I would have thought that having experienced such unfairness and inequity, then others might have been somewhat more understanding. I certainly don't buy in to the blind mantra of "I've suffered, so you must suffer too" as I find that so short sighted, knee jerk and selfish. But I am more than happy to have a sensible discussion about the value we place on the teaching, how these changes might impact on that, the role we all have to play in getting ourselves out of the current financial problem and what choices we have. As Francis Maude's ignorance yesterday highlighted, I fear this is more about ideaologies than it is about affordability.

As noble as many teachers are in their dedication to educating and supporting youngsters, it is very often the longer holidays and promise of a good pension that ensures they come in and stay in the profession. Being honourable and noble s sadly not enough to get by in the modern world. I personally turned my back on a salary over double what I am now earning to try and put something back in to our society (and particularly the local community) and the decent pension was one part of making that decision. I was happy to forego the money now and be rewarded by an honourable profession in my working years and a decent pension when I retired.

They'll be announcing that players are bakc in training, you can sign up to pre order the new kit, no one is going anywhere (that is until Arsenal offer £10m straight and Oxo throws a tizz) and we are looking to strengthen but won't be pressured in to overpaying. TBF they are not going to say anything sensitive, scandalous or confidential.

The longer you push out the forecasts the better the Public Sector pension situation actually becomes. Now if we're all up for a race to the bottom, then let's be open about it, but whilst there is a short term spike to the cost of Public Sector pensions, there is a sharp reduction as you give the forecasts longevity (as recent changes start to kick in).

I remember being really annoyed when I found out my pension pot had shares in the very same company that was happy to p155 it up the wall on jollies, around the world training courses and profligacy & salaries you would never see in the Public Sector.

For some of my training days we were regularly flown up to Leeds (BA at over £200, maybe even £300), put up in decent hotels (£100+ a night), taxis to and from (£40), slap up meals each night (£30 a night), allowed a bit of booze (£10), then treated to slap up buffets and snacks during the day (all of which cost a fortune). Throw in the actual cost of the training and you could have built a small school on the amount we used to pay (we never really learnt much either). And we certainly didn't do this on our days off!!!!!!! Compared to what I've seen in the Public Sector, I certainly which one I think was more profligate and watseful.

I think the Gormless Gove has already started to back pedal with his office now saying he didn't actually mean that he wanted parents in to help (despite when asked on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show on Sunday whether he was suggesting that parents should go in to take lessons on Thursday, he said: "Well, parents going in to help, certainly.").

I don't think anyone is immune from needing a CRB check (maybe the Queen is) and I'm sure even vicars and priests need to be CRB checked if they come in to contact with youngsters or vulnerable adults in their parish (but of course that CRB check will not satisfy going to teach in schools). And sadly as some horrific cases have highlighted in recent years, being a respected member of the community is no guarantee.

Of course you can, but that would make you either an idiot for suggesting they are necessary in the first place, or foolish for not requiring them on an ad hoc basis. Not believing in the veracity or usefulness of CRB checks is a point of view that I can see has a some resonance about it, but the line of needing them for everyone, except when they don't need them, is somewhat disjointed and illogical.

If someone had offered up Go Ape as a perk in my last few jobs, then they would have been laughed out of the office. A day at Go Ape is not a perk, unless it was one of their Mediterranean offices!!!!!!!!! I think the biggest perk I have had in 7 years of teaching was a free BBQ, a pen and a day out on a treasure hunt around the New Forest. I reckon if you added up all the perks for the whole school over the last year, then it wouldn't even come to one of our long lunches back in the good ole days.

The usefulness and veracity of CRB checks is a whole different argument, but you can't on one hand demand everyone to go jumping through hoops because you believe in the robustness of them, only to waive them on an ad hoc basis (as Gove is now bumbling about). (On balance I think the CRB process is worthwhile, but that's not to say it doesn't have it's limitations or faults).

Fred & Rose West??? Maxine Carr & Ian Huntley??? Gove really does just seem to be making it up as he goes along if he thinks it will be OK just to draft parents in to help out (It's a tad more complex than that Mr Gove LOL).

But there's a CRB check and there's a CRB check. I was under the impression that you have to hold a separate CRB check for each different activity/role. When I started doing some cricket work with Colts (umpiring and coaching), I thought I would be OK as already held an enhanced CRB through school, but had to reapply for a "cricket" CRB!!!!!!

The thing is that I wouldn't call them perks, I would call them an integral part of the remuneration package. Perks would be the jolly **** ups I used to go on at Cowes, Wimbledon, Twickenham, Reading Festival, Glyndebourne, Goodwood, Salisbury, the County Ground, Edgbaston, Henley, The Oval, Ibiza Sales Conference, St Mary's, etc etc etc. The overwhelming majority of these were taken during the working week and I very much doubt any of them were economically productive from my side, nor did they provide and real value for money. I was already earning a stack and was happy with my lot, these jolly boys outings (all paid for by the company) were just OTT jollys.

My response would be (and although it is personal, there are a number of teachers similar to my background) : I left a 70k job in London and retrained to be a teacher a few years back. I had always wanted to teach but somehow got sidetracked for 15 years by going in to the Accountancy & Media field. I then happily accpeted a massive pay drop knowing that this would rise quite quickly to about £34k in 4/5 years, there would be a generous pension paid at the end and also the 12/13 weeks a year holiday were a huge benefit in kind. On a pro rata basis, I'm still down on the £££££'s front, but I'm much happier in my job, contributing more to society and hoepfully making a real change in many people's lives. For someone with my qualifications (Degree, Masters, Accountancy qualification), although the basic salary is low for what I could be earning, the pension along with the days off is a key factor in sticking at it (a noble and honourable profession doesn't pay the mortgage). Change any of these (as Gove is suggetsing via the pensions & you are asking re holidays) and I don't think I would stick around as a teacher and without blowing my trumpet (and the trumpet of others like me in the teaching profession) I think this would be a loss. I think you can always have a race to the bottom, but ultimatley there will be a price.

I was going to mention Dave Armstrong as being a hit, but thought against it as the fee at the time was decent by the standards of the day (£650,000??? and I'm sure it was a record for us). That said, I don't remember him having that much of a reputation when he arrived after being a one club man with Boro, but he certainly did the business down here and was one of my favourite players of that era.

Flops,or at least under achievers who failed to live up to the hype, the transfer fee or just took the ****: Charlie George Speedie & Dixon Mark Hughes Cherednik & Gotsmanov Alan McCloughlin Perry Groves David Howells Van Gobbel Beresford Ripley Delgado Then too many to mention in recent years!!! Those who surprised me or came with low(ish) profiles: Phil Boyer Ivan Golac Mark Wright Glen Cockerill Micky Evans Ostenstad Kevin Davies Pahars Beattie Msrsden Claus