Ken Tone

Surely you remember the rules from our points deduction? They were engraved on my heart. There is a fixed date --before it the deduction happens immediately regardless of how many points you have at that time. After it, the deduction happens the next season unless applying it immediately would cause relegation, in which case, that is what happens. We went into administration just after the date, so the points came off next season because we were relegated anyway. If we hadn't been relegated anyway they'd have come off in-season to make sure were relegated. Of course with any further (unlikely in my view) Pompey points deduction it won't be for administration as such anyway ..they've had that punishment. The authorities can be pretty much as nasty as they want for other deductions. Look at what they did to Luton and others.

Don't know on what you base this, but the 7 Nolan principles for standards in public life are applied rigorously in public sector employment. Any public sector boss who employed his son in the way that Pulis has done several times, or even who favoured his son's business in the way that Ferguson did with Darren F and loans, would be sacked. Things are generally laxer in the private sector but still boards of directors would not exactly smile on a chief exec who used his position to help his family rather than do the best for the shareholders. This thread isn't the place but if you want to reply via "The Lounge" with some examples of nepotism in the public sector, please do.

Quite. They will not get another well-paid contract elsewhere, so why would they agree to shorten the ones they have here? So since we will have to pay them the full value of their contracts anyway, we might as well keep them if no one else will take them. Forecast just might one day make a player at some level, and Pulis can help clean the proper players' boots. I just wish my Dad had been a football manager when I was young. The nepotism in football just wouldn't be allowed anywhere in the public sector, and not in many places even in the private sector.

"We're down to the bare bars in here" ?

I'm not sure you've fully grasped the concept of a league table.

Who said anything about respectable business people?

Am I missing something here? Why does an international in Cardiff affect our game in Plymouth? The only rationale I can see is that some 'fans' might not go to the game because they want to watch the international match on TV, but a) how many club fans are going to make that a priority over their own team's game? and b) most fans won't be home in time to watch a 3pm TV game anyway from a 12.30 ko, so it makes little difference moving it to then.

Nah ....winger cum striker. Totally different thing

Wonderful irony. I hope it was deliberate! I've never met the bloke and have frequently been irritated by his public statements... even now quoted as 'saints expert fan' etc by radio solent .. but this is a serious independent body set up by the FA, FL etc and after an apparently thorough investigation it has found that the club was in the wrong. Read the report. Saints come out of it looking really bad, regardless of whether Illingsworth is or is not a prat I hope Nicola now has the grace to accept this ruling and follow the recommendations.

Assuming this is a first offence (?) then I agree ... and/or maybe a suspended sentence. Highly unlikely he will go to prison IMO, if indeed he is found guilty.

Yet you still read it?

Last night they were reporting that Bournemouth had turned down Burnley's offer for him, never mindit not being in time.

Adkins sent him out on one loan spell in the 2008/9 season, when he scored 8 goals in 18 game for Notts County. 2009/10 season he was peripheral to the team, but has been a regular for Scunny since. (It doesn't take long to check Scunny's web page) So I'd say Adkins saw him as a young player learning his trade, who has done just that.

Maybe Adkins thinks he can drive the bus? Actually Forte seems to be pretty much a regular for Scunny. 22 games this season so far? Played in their last game. Is apparently as much a winger as a striker, so of course he isn't a profilic scorer. Sounds like a fair replacement for Puncheon, and if we've managed to keep AOC as well as Lallana, on top of the permanent deals for Chaplow and Guly, that's been a pretty good window. N'guessen too as a bonus signing.

Don't know much about him, but a regular first team choice for a club in the division above us, shows some ambition IMO. And it seems he plays winger or striker, so will be good cover and an 'impact sub', if he doesn't win a first team place here straight away.

If his shirt is sponsored by Trusthouse Forte we'll know

Fannythorpe?

Sunday times had a piece quoting Adkins clearly saying 'we don't want to sell' etc, then the article ended with, 'but he did not confirm that Chamberlain was staying'. What does the bloke have to say? Elsewhere on the same page it said that Chambo was expected to move to Arsenal or Man U by the end of today. Either the papers are all together making this up, or someone has really been feeding them a line. Why? Who? ...His Dad to boost Chambo's wages. Saints to boost a transfer fee? Deliberate tapping up by the big clubs? Dark forces undermining the club?

The first thing to look at when any research is publicised in the media, is who paid for the research. In this case it was the girls day school trust, an organisation that has a vested interest in 'showing' that girls are better taught separately. It's like the old milk marketing board saying that milk is good for you, or the tobacco companies trying desperately to prove that smoking does not kill you and trying to show smoking as sexy when it is the biggest single cause of impotence in young men. What does this research show? Oh gosh, that it might be a good idea to put girls and boys in separate classrooms Well there's a thing! Maybe if they let the girls who go to these independent schools wear trousers instead of skirts as part of their uniforms, they'd be happier learning in colder classrooms?

Lallana can play either side,and will be back soon enough IF Chamberlain isn't going this window. If he does go, buy/loan someone else.

Here's another possible interpretation for you to consider: Adkins is broadly happy with the squad, especially he has now made permanent the 2 loan signings he had and fixed Lallana's contract (...and is keeping AOC???) He's made a few offers for relative big names, but we're not prepared to pay silly money, since we don't need to ..(cf he's happy with squad as it is) However after deciding that Puncheon had lost his bus ticket, he's signed this fella on loan to give short term cover for Lallana ..and who knows maybe he'll turn out to worth keeping, in which case great. If not ,no loss. that is why it is a loan not a permanent deal.

I'm more worried about peterborough catching us. They have a game in hand and can overtake us, so automatic promotion is no longer in our own hands as it briefly was a few games back. We now need others to do worse than us.

Only fair because where I sat in the Dell you literally could smell the embrocation on the players. Setting the stands back further from the pitch as they are at St Mary's and every other modern stadium a) increases safety, b) protects the poor players from the crowd (Beckham reputedly hated the Dell where he could actually hear the insults!), and most importantly c) allows more spectators to see. If the stands were right at the pitch edge and went up at the same angle as now, they'd be considerably smaller stands.

It's not a running track, but I swear there are a couple of bus stops on the Itchen side, near the dougout, just outside the building.

Irritating yes, but when you look at it dispassionately, it is good for us. The more the public believe we have a great academy and that our 'graduates' go on to great things, the more likely it is that promising youngsters will come to us in future years.