Colinjb

Same kind of thing for me. 900 quid under due to a discrepancy with my company car allowance in 2008/9 and 2009/10. Now will be paying it off over the course of this upcoming year. Bast*rds.

Stuart Ripley Has a premiership winners medal. Has a law degree. Scored twice as many goals on loan away from Saints as he did for us.

Ali Dia Not George Weah's cousin Had one shot on target Has scored at Conference level.

Yes, it's bad..... almost too bad.

Oh good lord. That's horrible. It's even worse then my prior favourite 'bad' cover. This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U77bsDnC4w&playnext=1&list=PL29AA23D8CF0ECF44 That one at least could be listened to for comedy value.... This cover though, god it's unlistenable.

I've just gone for some of the preliminary football matches at the Ricoh arena. Shouldn't be much competition for that.

Loving the Final Fantasy 7 reference there! Unless of course you are actually a keen follower of Lutherism.... in which case nevermind.

A nice section on the show. Was more interested with Murty's tactical piece. Nice, succinct and nailing how we won the day... just a shame about the kung fu noise he made when detailing Gobern's red card!

I was going to ask why, but then I saw you put the skates at the top of your list.

HAHA Surely that was editted in, no? That was an absolute blinder!

There's that word again. What is this 'rug-by' people keep mentioning?

Yeah, I wouldn't worry about that one.

Er, what?

1 Liverpool 2 Man Utd 3 Chelsea 4 Arsenal 5 Spurs 6 Newcastle 7 Sunderland 8 Leeds 9 Nottingham Forest 10 Aston Villa 11 Everton 12 Sheffield Wednesday 13 Saints 14 Wolves 15 Norwich 16 West Ham 17 Birmingham 18 QPR 19 Leeds 20 Leicester

Not Rickie's fault to be fair. And it just shows, we are playing a differing way. It can be no mistake that since Adkins took over he has chased the ball down along the wings more, thus he is no longer right in front of the goal as he used to be and doesn't have as many opportunities to stick the ball in, he is now being used as a more rounded attacking footballer..... ....And he is still on 16 league goals for the season.

It was always difficult after last year because he set himself such a high target to aspire to. He is playing a different role now and has to contribute to the team in more ways other then finding space in between the centre backs and scoring. We are no longer the one dimensional 'get it to Rickie' team that we at times were under Pardew and are all the better for it. If it means he doesn't look to be as prolific, fine, we now have more then plan A and thank heavens for that!

These results better continue, don't want to be going Down Down again.

The locals are restless up here. They thought results were really bad but equally they feel that the board are giving their managers absolutely no support whatsoever. Conor Thomas is a particular example of this, a youngster whoi actually went to school with a few of the youth players I currently coach. (Having seen him train when he was a 14 year old, yeah... he was always destined for big things.) He was earmarked as their future yet they couldn't even keep him up to the point of becoming a first team regular. SISU have talked big but are now pinching pennies big time. As a hedgefund they never had the cash to really push on long term and now they are paying for it. Thank heavens for Nicola Cortese introducing Markus to us.

Considering the media hype, the rehetoric coming from the club and general 'vibe' in the fanbase at the start of the season, the play-offs will not be surpassing any expectations... it will be a minimum requirement. Our form/circumstances at the start of the campaign along have tempered that expectation for many... but the fact remains, we should have been doing better. Had things been managed slightly better, we would have been doing better. Either way though, if we are promoted come the end of May, how it has happened will almost be secondary.

Someone's modified wikipedia..... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Howard_%28footballer%29

It would take an absolutely catastrophic end of season collapse to see us miss out on the play-offs. Let's hope we can avoid the lottery they represent though.

Jaidi.... Whoa-----ahhhhh -ooooo Jaidi.... Whoa-----ahhhhh -ooooo He's from Tunisia... ...He is a big f**ker.... Jaidi... Whoa-----ahhhhh -ooooo etc.

I do understand your point, but there is one massive problem that had been addressed this year. While at our peak under Pardew we were magnificent... but also... we were utterly predictable and much, much easier play defensively against. We would just have kept attacking in swathes... gentle play in midfield played to the wings or using Rickie as a focal point. It was unplayable if other teams came to attack, but if they parked the bus... we were stuck. This year we havn't reached the same highs but we have been far, far more effective. We have had more then one plan. (4-4-2 and 4-3-3 being used at times) Neither plan has been as attractive but we have had more then one trick to rely on... and that has made us far more difficult to play against as the opposing managers have not known what to expect. Harding has not been a shadow, he has just needed to be more defensively sharp and thus cannot contribute as much going forward. Equally more pressure is on Fonte. Lambert is now playing a differing role... needing to support as well as being a focal point. He is supplying just as much as he is scoring. It's been more frustrating to watch us this year... but if it ends in promotion it will be more then worth the sacrifice.

Fair play to you Ossie for being dignified and straight up in defeat. Best of luck for the rest of the season and lets hope we are both playing in the next league up, next season. As for Pardew v Adkins. We were utterly brilliant under Pards at times, when all was going in our favour it was fantastic.... but we were too soft and predictable. Under Adkins we are far more resilient but when we shine it is not quite as brightly.

And with that our expectations have been raised so much that the reality can only dissappoint.