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I've actually quite enjoyed the rivalry. Are we going to have any grudge matches next season? Spurs is never going to be as tasty without Redknapp to shout at. No team in the Prem really dislikes us, do they? Comparisons will inevitably be drawn between Southampton and Reading because we're from a similar neck of the woods and both just been promoted. I'd love it if we accidentally hammered the scouse clubs, but there aren't many games next season where I want to be there because I really want to see the other team take a hiding. Pompey and Brighton both qualified for that honour last season.

I've got a shed....

I'll admit it. During our time in League One and the Championship, I really grew to dislike Brighton. I know I'm not alone. I've seen at least one person from SaintsWeb winding up the Brighton fans on North Stand Chat. A few things p!ssed me off. "We're League One Champions" - yup, like it means anything. Most things Gus Poyet said in relation to Southampton (Dag and Red) My mate getting racist abuse from Brighton fans, then getting arrested for homophobic abuse at St. Marys (got completely thrown out in court, by the way) Simulation and fouling There are some things that I have taken comfort from. The three-nil at St. Marys was a lot of fun, especially because of the horrendously funny penalty decision. I also loved that the first defeat at the AMEX was inflicted by their arch-rivals. I realise that most Brighton fans are alright (some sensible stuff on NSC occasionally), but they do have some right nobs too. What's the score? Do we still dislike Brighton? Did we ever? Have we won now we've left them behind?

Agreed. Some of those kits are pure sh!t. The Manchester United home kit looks like something from a school dinner hall in the 1980s. Is Rio Ferdinand in danger of tackling someone with a potato croquette? Big lols at Kevin Nolan pelvic-thrusting the West Ham home kit. The Swansea home kit looks pretty class. Shame about the photo's inherent suitability for Viz's Up The Arse section.

Why? It's on the fixture list.

Like most people, I genuinely don't know what goes through the minds of people who do this. I'm sure there have been studies done on the subject. Does anyone know of any decent ones?

Great post, Wes I have to say, I find the "we'll never get into Europe thing" a bit of a laugh when people bring it up. Ok, the Passport Office hasn't exactly been swamped with applications for Saints players going to the continent over the years, but we have managed it in the past with less resources at our disposal. Then you take the likes of Montpellier over in France. They won Ligue 1 for the first time in their history despite spending years bouncing between the divisions. Sometimes I genuinely get the impression that people assess a team's chances in a rigid, mathematical fashion - like they're assigning each player a score and using the total to determine the quality of the team. That's fine and dandy in Football Manager, but there is so much more to the real game. Successful teams are often a case of alchemy - being better than the sum of its parts. That happens for all kinds of reasons; stability, well-drilled players, decent scouting on the opposition, etc, etc. The multiple paths to success is one of the most fascinating things about the game. I'd find it a lot less engaging if certain things could NEVER happen

I think we'll surprise a lot of teams, and not just because of the new signings. We've got a good nucleus of long-term players to fall back on, stable finances and management. People know what's expected of them and many of the variables that can mess a team up ( new manager / craploads of mercenary signings ) just simply aren't present. Adkins is a winner, and not just because the standard of opposition has been poor in comparison to what we can expect in the Premiership. There don't seem to be any crippling constraints and we have a good team spirit. All the ingredients for a successful season are in place. I'd be surprised if we didn't surprise a few people this year.

I'd actually hoped you'd be giving that a miss this year, mate.

Blimey. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/20/masked-gunman-batman-screening-denver Life imitating art. Some of the audience apparently thought it was a gimmick. Didn't move.

Interesting piece in the Guardian on deaths in police custody or with police contact. http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/jul/19/deaths-police-custody-data?newsfeed=true I have a lot of respect for the jury system, but it's not infallible. Juries can be directed. Prosecution might not go balls to the wall in a case like this either. Think this may well be a case where the authorities have looked after one of their own, probably not for his sake - more to prevent the political fallout and/or permanent stain on the reputation of the Metropolitan police. Shambles really, as anyone with functional eyesight can attest.

You should be more worried about the more modern tricks the US have pulled with regard to language. "Enemy combatants" was preferred over "prisoner of war" because you're not allowed to torture prisoners of war.

Load of crap if you ask me. The only reason we're living in dark times is because our priorities are wrong.

Lore-wise, I've no idea. Haven't seen Prometheus yet (I know, I know). Money wise, probably along the lines of "I made a lot of money for this, so why not do something similar?" Gotta go see it.

Crevice is a dirty word. Leak is a positively disgusting word

I don't think we'll fail miserably. I'm fully expecting to get a couple of hidings, but hey - there isn't a team in the Prem that hasn't had a good thrashing on an off day. We'll only go down if we're consistently bad, and I'd back this team to do better than that. If we can survive this year with this group of players fully blooded and experience to draw from, especially if we see the sort of improvement we've seen in the likes of Lambert, that's going to be an excellent first season back, imo. You're right though. Every player has got something to prove. Can't wait. Particularly looking forward to the games against the scouse teams.

Yes, if only because Star Trek bucked its usual trend of chucking a ridge onto an actors head when creating a new alien

The kung-fu/freeway chase scene is still one of the most impressive action scenes I've seen on film. It's just a masterwork in subtly raising the stakes the whole way, laying peril upon peril. It does the very smart thing of keeping Neo out of the picture for most of it too. If it was flashy and OTT and did nothing else, then I'd have to agree. Some interesting stuff going on in those movies. First movie was utterly superb, but in terms of Zion etc - just got to see the tip of the iceberg. They had to do something for Zion in the second film. Did they linger? Yeah, a bit I suppose. Big part of my love for that universe stems from how well constructed it is. The Animatrix, released between I and II, has a two part film called The Second Renaissance, which sets the universe up. If you haven't seen it, it comes highly recommended. I can understand this too; think they were aiming for a Jedi feel ( cut between 3 things ) here - not sure they handled it as well. They probs didn't fire the EMP because doing so would bugger up all their mechs. Totally agree about Newt though. They dropped the ball with that one, story and all. If they'd have followed the story in the Dark Horse Comics (Aliens infesting Earth), might have been a LOT better. There's still a lot to like about Alien3, but it falls way short of the mark. They've since retconned the comics to bring them in line with the films. They changed all the character names so it's no longer Ripley and Hicks, etc.

Wouldn't it be great if there were decent council places left?

My sci-fi confession is that I like all of the Matrix films. I think the sequels were excellent - a lot more cerebral, and I think that they were unfairly knocked at the time because the filmmakers didn't create the story the nerd community was expecting.

News just in from the game. Happy Clappers United 10 - 0 Dell Sized Mentality City "It's men versus boys out there" Seriously though, nice signing if true. I love our transfer focus at the moment; pluck young talent that can do a job now and have got room to grow in the future. The fact that a lot of them are English is even better. They're going to rocket in value if they do well. Bit of a gamble on youth/and or former Championship players, but much prefer this approach to the one QPR took.

Hello mate! Not sure it's really appropriate to pollute this topic with our map-based workplace nostalgia, but I approve of your location - winker indeed

Is Verbal dark-skinned? If so, why would that be relevant?

Yup, 'tis me. That system was still running last time I enquired about it too.

It definitely doesn't help if you're trying to keep up with the Joneses. Unfortunately, people have developed a mindset where they need material things to be successful, and not by accident - I might add. I'm 37 and I can remember having advertisements drilled into me from a very young age. At one point, actually loved them too. A big problem is that the most common definition of success is how much material wealth you acquire. It's irrelevant, in my opinion - and I say that as someone who earns more than most people. I can honestly say that the thing that has brought me the most happiness in life is seeing my two daughters become the people they are, and being a big part in that process. I'm not going to pretend I've never had a consumerist thought in my life, but I'm long past the point where I care about material wealth. I know people who have the latest sh!t, go on multiple family holidays a year, etc. I also know how much debt some of them are in. Personally, I prefer being able to sleep at night.