Mowgli

So to sum up... MLT and LM are legends and always will be MLT, LM and NC need their heads knocking together (NC coming out of it slightly better image wise by appearing to keep his mouth shut but mainly by being in charge of a club that is finally going places) SFC running a series of 125 year events and run their own charity Ex Saints formed in 2008 and registered charity but are not very good at publicising where their money comes from and goes to. Ex Saints is not longer associated with club so can no longer use logo Mayflower event and dinner organised by Mike Osman and not a charity event Osman, MLT and LM are very funny when they get together and even though they will have swipes at NC it should entertaining Not the sort of place that SFC employees would feel comfortable attending (when do you laugh...?) LM uses mail to get his points across MLT uses Sky NC uses Telegraph Daily Echo plagerise from all sources with negative spin and finally, re SFC being a good investment... ...who was it who said there is only one way to make a small fortune out of football? You start with a large fortune....

Fair point. The charities objecties with the charity commission web site are fairly broad brush but do not include the 'looking after former players who have fallen on hard times' as is published elsewhere (wonder how much they helped Ron Davies out...). Their income was £20k and expenditure £8k. No information on charity commissioner web site - or their own - as to specifically where this money goes. Maybe it is the lack of information that put off Cortese being too closely associated? At the end of the day, I think this dinner was organised by Mike Osman not the charity so the charitable cause is not clear. Same goes for the Mayflower event - no indication on Mayflower web site that a charity benefits (more than happy to be corrected). To be honest this thread is probably missing the point. We know there will be some good jokes about the current regime at both these events. It's how Mike Osman gets his laughs - he's made a career out of it! So would it not be just a tad embarassing for any person currently associated with the club to attend? Where do you laugh? Where do you look embarassed? Is it not a good idea for NC to warn the players off - for their own sakes?

I will always remember Le Tis and Big Mac as they were during their time at the club. Nothing will tarnish that but I do think that they are needlessly attracting attention to themselves right now. It's difficult when 3 people (MO included in the three) are such close friends not to stand firm alongside one another and admittedly they do a lot for charity. Speaking as someone who has helped to organise such events though, I feel it necessary to point out that they do not give up their time for free and sometimes it is clear that using them to attract more people and more money backfires because their fee takes so much away from the charity. It's a pity the accounts of these events are not made more public as the average person would be truly shocked. But for Lawrie and Osman, in particular, this is how they make a living. Not sure I'd be comfortable making a living that way really. So against this background, I can sort of see why SFC run their own charitable foundation so they can control all expenditure and by having direct access to players, can ensure that more funds go to charitable causes as opposed to expenses. It would make no sense at all for players to be seen to support any other charity. I might quietly donate to other causes but my 'public' face is only with one charity.

Someone gag Big Mac please.....

I loved every minute of that game. Two team giving it their all. What more can you ask. For me, it beats at scrappy 1-0 win any day of the week. Put it down to one of those days and we'll crack on next week

Pot half empty? We're half way through the season and we have Lallana and Lambert on 9, Guly and Barnard on 8 and Oxo on 7. I would say anyone of them could go on to score 20 this season.

Davis is good #1 at the moment and Bart will become regular in due course. Both make mistakes but SKD - with some spectacular saves has gained us more points than he has lost. Bart yesterday a bit flat footed for first goal (but so would most) and I thought he was partly to blame for not getting down for the second but in fairness he did get a touch which was so nearly enough to push it onto the post

Came on this after the 'back from game' thread and it made me smile. given that the BFG thread seemed to think Fonte was much to blame for the first goal and the second was a fluke, I guess the poster was not at the game. It's easy to dredge out specific examples as to why one keeper or another ought not to play for the first team but I stress again that as supporters we ought to be encouraging our players - especially in times of difficulty - not demoralising them and affecting their performance even more. Davis - like all good keepers makes the occassional gaff but you can't consider those without the brillient saves (e.g. owls) and the penalty saves he has made over the last few years. Truly awesome Having said that, I would love to see Bart get an extended run. He was a top prospect whose confidence took a knock after that walkabout in the Poland game and (note again) the reaction of the fans which DID NOT HELP.

I have SOME sympathy for Puncheon. He did not feel wanted for one reason or another here and felt valued at Millwall. A combination of things have conspired to thwart that deal which would not be so bad if he was welcomed back here with open arms. But he is not getting a regular start so understandably he and his agent are seeking to get somewhere where that will happen. Having said that, hard though it is, you need to keep professional. The fact that he has not is down to age and attitude (and agent influence). All things considered though, would it be not sweet justive for two people if he ended up at Blackpool? lol.

Knock, knock Who's there? Lawrie... ...Lawrie who? That's football I'm afraid... When you think about it, there are very good reasons why in the final analysis Ted Bates will be remembered longer than LM. It's all about behaviour.

Jim Magilton, Eric Martin, Bobby Stokes, Nicky Banger and Chris Nicholl the most under rated manager ever. Why oh why did they sack him...???

If the current squad perform to their potential we will go up without any trouble. There is no gaurentee a new signing will play to their full potential either. A new striker / midfielder would be nice but if not it's not the end of the world given the squad we have.

Starting to get some sensible comments about Puncheo now! I agree with the person who said his performances are about the same as earlier in the season. I still rate him and thought he did not do much wrong yesterday apart from the glaring miss which unfortunately arrived on his weaker right foot. He had time to take a touch maybe but not three ) Shame he will be rmemebered by some for that miss rather than the hard work for the other 99% of his time on the pitch.

Errrr. ....bit premature. Blackpool play tomorrow. If they get a result he will consider himself vindicated. He could not give a toss about us today - we rested players too so we are hardly in a position to criticsie too much but.... Personally I think it is OK to field a weakened side so long as you have the objective of winning the game. I don't believe, given the team selection he made on Saturday, that he really believed they could win. So on that basis he has cheated his own fans who paid good money to come down - the Blackpool fans deserve a better manager than this.

. Yeah, and he was lucky to still be on the pitch. Thought he was quite poor to be honest. Poor ball control. Bit of a hot head. Not as good as he thinks he is. And at 26, you have to wonder whether there is a nything there to develop. He should be at his prime now. I take the point about Vinnie Jones but that is the exception rather than the rule.

For me, the most exciting thing about this draw is that there are apparently bids out for big players to come in during January. Whilst they are thinking about it, in comes the opportunity to play Man Utd in your first month with your new club. Sign here Mr Le Fondre...

No. Can't play oldham - they arep laying Swindon in the cup....

Funny old thread. What would the players do if they were not playing Blackpool? They would probably have a behind closed doors practice game where the risk of burnout / injury is marginally but not significantly lower. If I were a first team regular, I would be feeling pretty good about myself right now and would be royally disappointed if I could not gauge my progress against some PL players. I expect Blackpool to win but I'm hoping that we can put up a good show and it should be close. Last week I watched Fulham play WBA and concluded that we could have taken either side with a bit of luck and a fair wind. A good team thrives on winning games whatever the competition. When you are winning you just want to keep playing so I suspect the whole squad can't wait to get out on the pitch tomorrow. I can see the argument around the fixture backlog but hey, if we are going to play Champions League in a few years - we'd better get used to it!!

Not for a while. Hasn't he already gone to Yeovil on loan?

I used to support Dorchester playing at home and watched in amazement as the pregnant woman in front of me got bigger and bigger without missing a match. I assumed the birth would mean she would have to miss a few games but was astonished to see her appear a week later with the baby. So less than 7 days old.....!!

All the others are on the bench so I guess it is rotation

Nice idea but why support one charity (Naomi House has done very well locally over the last few years despite investing £5m in Icelandic Banks!)? The Saints Foundation ensures that other equally worthy casuses are catered for.

Not sure what his form is like at Reading. No first team appearances. 12 sub appearances. 1 goal. Maybe we should be aiming a bit higher than that?

Well, I guess this might cool Hull's interest in Matt Fryatt and Charlie Austin....

Good point. We would never have survived in the top flight as long as we did without some of our youngsters going for silly money. NC will tell us the strategy is different now and that we do not have to sell but if a player insists on going we still have a good return on the investment. Use the money wisely to steadily improve our position.