Saint_John

Sorry to post some facts on this thread but Court 7 at Southwark Crown Court tomorrow - 10:30 http://www.courtserve.net/courtlists/current/crown/sthwk_T110125.01.htm

I was going back over some old Sports Echos yesterday and I came accross an article from 5th April 2003 about the Cheats FC (At the time we were preparing for the Cup Final at Cardiff and the Cheats had just got into the PL.). The article has the title "As financial forces cast doubt over Mandaric's future at Fratton Park.. Chairman vows to keep on Spending" It has some interesting quotes So a recent history of the Cheats is :- 1998 Administration 1999 - 2003 Mandaric loses in excess of £30M just running the club. 2006 - 2009 Mandaric hands over to Gaydamak who spends many Millions, which eventually in 2010 ends up with the Tax Man paying for. 2010 Administration again. 2010 Another new owner and STILL the Fans and Manager expect MORE MONEY TO BE spent on players.

Dated today (last hour) from ESPN with quotes http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/67680.html?CMP=OTC-RSS

Duncan, I've had a quick look through your 2 books and I believe the last time (only time) we had 6 different scorers was Torquay on 26 Dec 1955 (Traynor,McLaughlin,Flood,Walker,Mulgrew and Hoskins), is that correct ? As Lee's goal was scored as a sub (for Alex) and subs were not allowed until 69 (??) should the comparison be with 5 different scorers ? In which case I believe there are a number with 5 :- 79-80 Seaweed (H) 5-1 76-77 Carlisle (a) 6-0 70-71 Palace (H) 6-0 63-64 S****horpe (H) 7-2 (5 Saints scorers + o.g.) 61-62 S****horpe (H) 6-4 60-61 Cheats FC (4 Saints scorers + o.g.) p.s. BEWARE in true Saints fashion the next game and/or next home game have been disappointing !!! After Torquay - (a) 1-3 (h) 1-1 After Brighton - (a) 2-2 (h) 1-1 After Carlisle - (h) 2-2 (a) 2-2 After S****hrope - (h) 2-3 lose to the Cheats Fc.

IF it is on telly :- 1/ ITV has first choice 2/ ESPN has 2 games schedules for Saturday 29th (11:45 and 4:45) and 1 on Friday 28th (19:00) BUT nothing for Sunday or Monday. (?? therefore ITV's 2 games on Sunday ??) http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcasting/news/a190468/espn-secures-fa-cup-rights-deal.html http://tv.espn.co.uk/gb/espl/tv-schedule

Good writeup, thats the way I saw it. Jason and Morgan both had very good games in that system in that they could press the opposition when we didn't have the ball. It also made us more "compact" in the centre of midfield which meant the central defenders were not exposed which they are sometimes when we play 4-4-2 or 4-2-4 (when Adam & Ox push up). I believe Nigel will use the system ALOT, even when the opposition have wide players. He will use to get control of central midfield and then ask the "morgan/jason" players to cover across as much as possible. With that system and the outlet of long balls between their full backs and centrebacks I don't believe the opposition full backs will be able to get up and support their wide players too often and our full backs are good enough to handle most wide players in L1.

After Season Ticket holders get their own seat, I hope the club LINK the ticket sales to supporters who are the d/b who MUST also buy a ticket to one of Carlisle, Swindon or Yeovil as well. This will have the effect of increasing the gate in those games from 21/22k to 24/25k and also discourage the "fair weather" types/manure supporters.

One of those Sky Sports "understands" http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12876_6638388,00.html

Yes played 67 mins against Swindon (0-4) on 6th Nov. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/9140359.stm

I was going back over some old "Pinks" over the last few weeks and I noticed an article about Adam signing a new contract in Nov 2006 when he was 18 (4 Nov 2006). A quote from it is worth a mention A couple of points :- 1/ A number of other clubs have dumped youth team players as soon as a heart problem is identified, however Saints stuck by Adam and allowed him to fulfil his dream of becoming a pro footballer. 2/ I don't know what the op was, but any buying club might have issues with player insurance (higher premiums ?) because of the op.

Do we have a 3rd strip this season ? We are now entering a period where we have 9 away games in the next 13 matches, 4 of them are night matches. I have not been impressed with the "Black Shirts" because I think they are incredibly difficult the see at certain grounds where the lighting is "less than perfect". For info this season we have worn the Black Shirts at B.Rovers (wall to wall sunshine in August), then defeats at MKDons, Huddersfield and Carlisle and a draw a Yeovil. Meanwhile since Nigel has arrived we have won at Sheff Wed and Notts County in "Red and White", so the away record for NA is :- Black Shirts = 0w - 1d - 3l and the Red & White Shirt = 2-0-0 . My concerns are the visibility of the Black Shirts at away grounds. Take at look at the OS pictures taken at Yeovil http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/Gallery/0,,10280~2168783,00.html There is one picture where Guly's shot has gone past the GK(13) who is on the ground and the only Saints player I can see in the gloom is Rickie. The rest of the team are invisible in the darkness. Tomorrow I believe we are wearing Red & White (which is good), however as it stands some of the other away games we will not be allowed to wear the R&W shirt, i.e. Exeter (imo yeovil standard lighting). I don't know about the other grounds, i.e. last season at Walsall we wore the Blue & Yellow away shirt but this season we were due to wear R&W on Dec 18th. With these 9 away games coming up and the fact that Nigel's record with the Black Shirts is so poor (0-1-3) I would hate for us to produce more substandard performances like Huddersfield/Carlisle/Yeovil and find afterwards that the players found it difficult to pass the ball to each other. For a 3rd Strip, I would accept the Cup Final Yellow or Dutch/Blackpool strip even the Original Cheats FC's Salmon Pink but I am concerned that if we don't have a 3rd strip that we will drop too many points in those Black Shirts.

The goals from BBC iPlayer (Football League Show) are here http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00xbl8r/The_Football_League_Show_2010_2011_Episode_22/ (54:47 to 55:40)

They have now added the extended highlights as well http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/9326645.stm 00:00 to 1:54

The BBC have put our 1st two goals (Rickie & Alex) on their League1 roundup http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/9326561.stm (00:04 to 00:24)

IMO we keep him for another 18 months, whatever he wants. He has just signed a 3 year contract (2.5 years left) and the NEXT 2 YEARS are going to be the most important period in his development as a player. He will NOT get that time (17-19) back again if he waste it. Sitting on the bench or playing reserve team football at a PL club is the WRONG thing for him at the moment. He needs to be playing 1st Team Football with the odd rest game. He currently has a problem playing a full 90 mins in a game. Returning to the subject of the game the BBC web site says 18 Attempts on Target and another 7 Off Target. I cannot remember a game when we had so many attempts on target.

I see Radio Solent on their Twitter page had a link to this picture of the pitch taken at 11:15. http://plixi.com/p/65693528 It seems that their idea of Frost Covers is a collection of sheets. Now if you go to the Pitchcare web site and have a look a "real" Frost Cover protection system that covers the pitch down to -6 for only £7,735. And the ground shown is St Marys:- http://www.pitchcare.com/magazine/a-frost-protection-system-for-winter-sports-with-year-round-benefits.html

But the Football League site says there is a Pitch Inspection at 10:00. http://www.football-league.co.uk/latestnews/20101222/weather-watch_2245681_2248867 With a link to the procedures http://www.football-league.co.uk/page/FLExplainedDetail/0,,10794~1519997,00.html

I see Sheff Wed game is OFF (v Tranmere) and there is a pitch inspection for Brighton's game (v D & R) tomorrow. http://www.football-league.co.uk/latestnews/20101222/weather-watch_2245681_2248867 As Brighton play Charlton on Wednesday 29th, I wonder if Charlton want to play us on Sunday (to get match practice) or whether they would prefer it to be off to be fresh for the Brighton game.

I don't know where this Pardew rumour came from because Radio Solent said it was a LONDON club. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00cqskv/Julian_Clegg_21_12_2010 (51:39 - 52:40 into the program.) My guess would be the soon to be sacked Toad.

It was in the papers last week http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/football/Argyle-hire-Jones-combat-cash-crisis/article-3017384-detail/article.html Temporary appointment. Pushed then. Wouldn't it be better for them to appoint somebody from Cheats FC to help them ? say Comical Andy.

Your comparison is flawed, it should be :- Last Season Played 19 - Points 29 = 1.53 points per game. This Season PRE-NIGEL - Played 5 - 1 win, 1 draw; 3 defeats = 4 Points With NIGEL - Played 14 - 7 wins 3 draws 4 defeats = 24 points = 1.71 points per game (which is 2nd in the points per game, however it will only give us 4th at the end of the season if you add on the 5 games before he came).

If Pardew does enquire about any of our players perhaps we should remind him of the quotes he made last May in the Echo (May 10th). http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/8155765.Pardew__Lambert_s_going_nowhere/ From memory the hardcopy version went on to mention something about thinking again if somebody was to offer over £10M for Rickie, which imo is usually code for wanting at least half that (i.e. his valuation).

That is a surprise because this report dated August says all Regional papers bar one are losing circulation. http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=45899 It is one of the few tables where the Cheats FC are above us, 45,175 (News) against 34,550 (Echo). I think everyone accepts that we have a larger fan base than the Cheats FC therefore imo it might be something to do with the fact that they write POSITIVE articles about their team rather than the rubbish that the Echo prints (I've counted at least 6 articles in the last few weeks where they have been "trying" to sell Adam in January, to Stoke,Wolves,Toon etc.). Whenever NC talks of "dark forces" I always think of the Echo.

As we 100% sure Fonte is out. The OS says he is and the BBC site says his 5 bookings were (Bristol 65 mins, Swindon JPT 69 mins, Huddersfield 90+10 mins, Carlisle 38 mins and Cheltenham 84 mins). HOWEVER, the FA own site does not mention any suspension http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/Disciplinary (then select Suspended Players List ) It mentions other players who have got 5 bookings e.g. Tevez, Holt (norwich suspended against the CHEATS FC), and Power (Tranmere) etc. but there is NO mention of Jose being suspended. In the past I have heard that Referee's reports were submitted incorrectly and marked the wrong player for a booking. I am 99% sure he is suspended but it would amiss if we didn't play him and then found out later that there had been a mistake at the FA.

What is it with their need to have Court Cases every month or so ?, but you have to laugh http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/Pompey-hit-by-Muntari-cash.6645360.jp and So the CHEATS FC "Failed to take up" entry to Europe. IMO only people with an IQ of 2 or less are taken in by that comment.