Channons Windmill

I’ve got a signed copy of that as well, think we queued in WHSmith at a signing event for ages to meet him

I think it has to be my 1976 FA Cup mirror purchased with my pocket money from a shop (Goldsmiths?) on Rumbridge Street in Totton - it’s still proudly on my work desk. Next to it is my 1976 FA Cup mug and a ‘Southampton FC - The Dell’ mug…

I saw him play a few times for Orient last season, including a hat-trick at Wimbledon. Take the sentiment out of it, he still looks like a decent League One striker who has found his level. We need to be looking at players that can improve the team and play at a higher level, not ones who could ‘do a job’…

I don‘t check this site for a few days and come back to find it’s become a model railway forum - though impressed at how many closet train enthusiasts lurk…

But my point was about what constitutes cheating, and this open the doors to subsequent claims however spurious…. There is a real concern in football about this.

I’m pretty certain all on the management side at the club will have received very clear guidance to say nothing at all at this point - I know this was case in my corporate days when the shit really hits the fan. Hopefully they’ve started to look at this whole thing with a clear head and away from Gibson’s noise to understand the severity of the situation before making the next round of decisions. If the club failed to properly train Tonda (which appears to be suggested) then sacking him opens up another round of legal action. Having worked in regulated industries for most of my adult life, it is the Company’s responsibility to provide adequate training and to maintain levels of competence. I also know the FA/PL/EFL will be extremely worried about the precedent this creates - if ‘cheating’ has such a severe penalty, then how long, for instance, before a team takes legal action after losing/drawing a game due to ‘cheating’? Where is the line drawn? A last minute dive for a penalty? A last minute professional foul? It could really ruin the game (even more)…

Ryan Seager who, by coincidence, was from Yeovil and made 20 appearances for them scoring twice… now banging them in for Havant and Waterlooville in Southern League

Joined National League Yeovil Town on loan for the rest of the season. A YT supporting mate of mine has just asked me for my opinion and I’m can’t offer one….

I went to the game last night so was lucky enough to see his hat-trick. I understand the hype as he’s clearly a great finisher/poacher - two of the goals were rebounds - and he’s clearly a very difficult player to oppose for League One defenders, but he was playing against an average Wimbledon team that seemed to think they had the game won at half time. I don’t think he’s strong enough to play at a much higher level and can see why we let him go. That said, I also don’t really understand why he didn’t get more of a chance with us - though his record before he joined Leyton Orient was hardly remarkable.

We wore yellow and blue for the Mick Channon testimonial 1976 - possibly the largest crowd in The Dell? I was terrified

I’m looking forward to this - their defence relies heavily on Jake Cooper who is a Goliath with the turning circle of a super tanker. Hit them quickly on the ground and I think they’ll struggle, Tanganga was their brains in defence and I’m not so sure they’ve replaced him.

As Millwall are one of my local teams I’ve seen them a few times this season and have been unimpressed - Ivanovic is overrated and their defence can be ponderous. They’re physical and well-drilled but I saw Azaz have a good game against them in August when Boro’ won 3-0. If we play the slick attacks we have in the past few games then we have a good chance of a result. And it’s not the hostile place it once was….

Thank you @BERMUDASAINT for an interesting post. A few things have struck me reading through this thread. Firstly, we know very little about about Eckert as a person. Spors clearly rates him so we have to run with this. I think the age thing is irrelevant, he might be a fantastic coach, organiser and motivator, we just don’t know. I think there has been a subtle change in the way the team played in the last two games and that’s a positive. Trying to change the culture of a club in two games when there has been many years of decline is unreasonable and impossible. Small changes can be effected, some of which will have quick results, others won’t. For instance he can’t pick a top quality keeper or striker if they don’t exist. Secondly, all the names bandied around are consistently unimaginative and uninspiring. Middlesborough bounced up after Carrick’s departure, so why would we want him? Rodgers? Read the better articles about his departure from Celtic and you’d not want him nowhere near us. O’Neill? Already a journeyman manager. Hassenhuttl/Martin? Seriously? And anyone that wants Allardyce tor Warnock can’t be taken seriously. Then who else? For British managers, it’s a very short list - look at Danny Cowley - in recent history he was the next big thing now he’s got a lengthening CV and is currently 16th in L2 with Colchester. Where exactly are these ‘proven Championship managers’? I actually think we have the skeleton of a very good team, a lot of the summer signings are rather decent. It’s easy and a bit lazy to write Eckert off without further evidence but I would feel more comfortable with him coming in over one of the names above. I may be in a small group here but I like most of what Spors has done since he’s been here, so we have to trust him..

GON lives very close to Penge….

GON lives very close to Penge….