dubai_phil

Hmm not sure if I should take that as a compliment.... It's been a tough day, EricofArabia & myself get our mugs into the local Hello magazine, Damn you guys have no idea how lucky you are having such major A list celebs with you on match days..... Bournemouth need this a lot more than we do.... Their CVA meeting is 18th Aug and they really need to get past us and get someone big in the next round.... And we need someone big up fecking front by the sound of it just over 17,000 for a non descript cup game off the line from a header from oh thanks Solent And Barnard spoons it over from 4 yards - WTF is AP doing he MUST be able to coach LB better than that

Oops soory am late on parade it was incredibly humid here tonight with the temp in the high 30's when I played the weekly Par 3 medal and it took me a while to rehydrate with a decent Sauvignon Blanc while watching a low budget but entertaining move Serbian Scars I guess nothing new then one and a midget up front again....... Doesn't work peeps

Well, of COURSE a married woman would say that her Husband is happy..... Of course she would believe that - epecially since he has to do everything she tells him.... "I'm happy, I tell him everything he has to do so therefore by deduction of course my Husband is happy In a winky smiley irony sort of way of course BTF

Ah ha... He must have seen that new BBC Tv series episode last week about the Cowboy Builders and that family in Fair Oak Think they made the point about 500 times - NEVER pay up in advance.....

But also like Pompey, it will have a few moments before it finally expires in a year or twos' time

Sheff Wednesday have to be in there Would you include Forest?

Oh FWIW more tickets were released on the Ryder Cup web site last week. 100 quid a day plus 20 quid for park & ride....... Bargain for shorter people who like looking at the back of heads

I'm assuming that we are replacing AP with Ancelotti. After Chelsea put in such a dreadful lacklustre performance and got walloped on Sunday? Jokes aside, we're one game into a new season and whoosh a crunch game already.... Think somebody better get TSW a Prozac prescription ready for tonight, just in case

lol any publicity is good publicity.....

As if it isn't bad enough going through a "lean period" research now indicates that it will affect your lifespan as well.... http://www.business.maktoob.com/20090000505892/Competition_for_a_mate_shortens_men_s_lives/Article.htm?utm_campaign=Night-Newsletter&utm_medium=LatestNews-news4&utm_source=Night-Newsletter&utm_content= Thought the whole thing sounded quite sensible and plausible until the end when it said... Oh and no, sorry ladies, seems to be about blokes only

Lie vs Marketing Bullsh1t/Spin. No I'm saying that even a really BAD decision can be given "an angle" that makes it harder to "fight". ATM the "lack" of an angle makes it a dictat makes it easy for everyone to attack. An example - Ryan Air - standing room only on his aircraft. A ludicrous idea (if you are 6ft tall you CAN'T stand up under the hat rack in a 737) BUT it has the angle of "It will allow people to fly for a pound" - FFS they can do that already if they book during a sale period, but people are saying oh great. (also the pound for a pee decision - simple money making decision "It will allow us to continue to keep our fares low for the benefit of our customers - yeah right) Green taxes on flying - The UK put the charge on tickets the population say great well done - but around half of those who fly through UK are transit passengers who all feck off to other airlines from countries that don't charge it and bingo - airlines are losing money and will go bust or ask for handouts.... so the decision is a bad one commercially but everyone loves it. And then of course everone in the Uk then moans about Ryan Air charging all these add ons when they try and buy their one pound standing up ticket and it costs them 40 quid.... IMHO it is a commercially sound concept. One that other clubs would LIKE to implement. The Press already PAY for pictures from other sports. It also (possibly) has some relevance as we climb the leagues in view of the Image Rights v Tax issues. So it is a SOUND decision for the right reasons.

Quite clearly NC can't speak Polish... or Quite clearly the builders have all gone back home or NC refused to allow them space to park their Kilbassa/Pickled Herrings Van in the car park

Of course they wouldn't be taken in. The irony flag was flying high. Any organisation back there can get away with all sorts of cr@p as long as it is Green. Green taxes - yep give it to me Brownie I want more. I deliberately used the term Marketing Bullsh1t. The gist of the dig however is that these things CAN be packaged with the right BS and people then find it very much harder to form a coherent "anti" argument. Perhaps BS was the wrong word, maybe Spin would have been better, after all, the UK fell for about 5 years of Spin from the ex Government and look where that got the country. John Smith's post is actually quite eloquent on the subject. In reality it has feck all impact on the National Press as they print VERY few pictures of us during a season, but it does impact the local media. The main reason the nationals are up in arms is that they fear OTHER clubs & sports doing this. Oh, and by the way, the media buy photos in other sports. Reuters, AP, Agence France and Getty Images all make their money from this. I can assure you that the Mail, Telegraph et al do not have photographers at (for example) major Golf Events. Reporters - yes sometimes, but they buy their images from Getty. Think this again - players don't want to pay tax so they invented Image Rights. Clubs have to show Commercial Income (& the value of image rights) is in line with the amount paid to players (see HMRC V Skates thread). The press are in a twist because NC was the first to try this on and a bunch of old timer hacks and flashers are worried they'll lose their freebie seats at Old Trafford Wembley etc when the others jump on the bandwagon. The Press NEED football. Football & Scandals SELL papers - look at how many pages are devoted to it this week with the PL kick off. It is FREE to the press and they make money from it in many ways - sales, advertising, Fantasy Leagues etc. Conceptually this was always going to happen in football. From an implementation perspective, it SHOULD have been marketed (ie handled & communicated) far far better. The press are up in arms but I bet a lot of Club Chairmen are sitting back and watching and hoping

Just back from a day out (and a very HOT round of golf) to find a 5 page thread. No idea if anyone else has taken this line as it's late and I ain't reading all 5 pages OK I have a lot of time for NC for how he brought ML to SMS, but on this one he really really really has made an utter plank of himself. No it's not the decision to ban photographers per se, it's the way he has managed to do it that is wrong. He COULD have done exactly the same thing, banned the press, got them to buy from his phot library AND been a hero of the Nation and made front page news for all the RIGHT reasons.... He SHOULD have simply said "Southampton FC are investingating every way possible for the club to become more Eco-Friendly. We have teams investgiating every aspect of our business, and our first act is to reduce the number of un-necessary journeys made to our stadium. Our first act is to save all the National Media the cost and Carbon Emissions of their staff having to travel to SMS to take photos by using our own in-house team and will be distributing those pictures at less than the cost of the car-parking fee. Simples, he's saving the planet and has used Marketing Bullsh1t to get a case across that nobody will be able to take issue with. But then he just ain't that media and marketing savvy is he? So we're at war instead of being heroes. Well done

A married couple goes to a marriage counselor to work out some problems. The counselor sits them on the couch and says "Let's start by talking about what you both have in common." The husband says "Well for starters, neither one of us sucks ****."

Although it may depend on Rose doing well in the PGA or Bridgestone and getting an automatic slot. Can't see him leaving one of Rose Harrington or Casey out. The bad news of course is that it looks likely that Tiger won't get in the Yanks so that will make them stronger in this format of the game

Why Bog Rolls? Surely in these more enlightened times everyone should be using Bidets Should solve the problem of packed defences at SMS, might be a problem for the Yoof to hurl them down from the back of the Northam though

Can't believe this thread got so far without asking........ Who ate all the pies?

The point I made a couple of days back. We averaged 23,000 in 08 at 25 quid a ticket and our total REVENUE was 13million. Nott Arf holds how many at how much a ticket? Do the maths peeps

Good post Soggy One other pretty major point that most have forgotten besides RL being out Puncheon & Morgan have also missed pre-season games and were coming back from injury in that respect they did well to play and last yesterday.

IF we play 4-2-3-1 (which we WILL need to do at times) then I'd have Lallana centrally behind RL and Pucheon out one side and possibly Connolly or Holmes/Antonio replacement/even Dickson, leaving Morgan Hammond AN Other in CM In 4-4-2 the way Lallana pulls away from his usual wing position is what Pucnheon should also be doing - the movement screws up parked buses

I think Puncheon can fit that bill. It's just that to me he doesn't seem to be "direct, arrogant" or aggressive enough in the final third. Lallana has got better and better at that but in his early years it led him to mistakes and giving the ball away to easily. BUT I'd like to see an Antonio type on the bench

Looking at the positives with the packed defence issue. We played good neat tidy football, a great deal of accurate and quick passes to feet and moved the ball around well. But failed to do that around the "danger area" When Lallana came on that movement and passing did start to look dangerous, and when he gets match fit he'll be an important part of the solution. Getting around a bus needs pace - not just from wingers but in how the ball is moved around - something Man Ure do very well - almost route one in appearance but with more finesse. I think the basics - moving the ball are there, but that incisive pace is missing. One big difference with "pace" though at this level is the need for a Jonah Lomu type not a SWP type simply due to the way the big lumps get away with so much more. IMHO I think AP sees Oxy-Chamberlain as a Waigo "tricky winger" replacement, but I still think we need a big pacey winger like Antonio. Down side - neat passing ain't gonna be possible on cabbage patch mud baths

We are doomed we threw 3 points away same as Borough, Norwich & Reading. Didn't we sort of do that last year and the year before and the .... Of course it is only Saints that haven't done the bleedin' obvious in the close season. I note that Liverpool needed a striker as cover/support for Torres all of last season. I assume they haven't bothered and have failed to attract someone. Let's turn this around then. Who do you propose to sign as cover for Lambert? Will that be Antonio? Would you play Barnard or Connolly alongside RL every week or the new guy? Hell, we rejoiced when Connolly signed an extension - are we happy he is benched every week? CM is a different problem, Hammond had a good season last year at this level, Morgan IS getting better and more consistent, but still shows that an older head is needed for consistency in CM so the consensus is to get a better player than Hammond or Morgan. Who? Many have castigated Hammond for missing two headers yesterday - was keeping Gillett the answer? lol he wouldn't have reached those crosses with a step ladder. What all round attributes does FM need for that position - pace, tackling, leadership, heading, experience? We rejoiced when we signed Richardson and Dickson also being highly rated at this level and Butterfield was signed as a high quality experienced cover. The fact is that our first team was very good last season and we had options on the bench. Where did those options come from? Loans. Ask Andrew Surman about the wisdom of making a move to a "bigger club" as cover, the type of player who'd settle for that cover role is another Paul Wotton. We have no idea who we are after, we simply know we are after someone. Targets was the word they used so they know WHO they are after, maybe their clubs are waiting on getting their replacements in. Yes I believe that we SHOULD have had the full new squad ready weeks ago, but then we have a pretty settled first team this season and are only likely to have one or two new players to "fit in" as opposed to the wholsesale changes last year. I wouldn't have waited to see what sort of player we actually needed either, but wiser heads are at it and NC & AP and the scouting team have a pretty fecking good tracking record so far

Oh, and the REAL problem with Afghanistan? That idiot in the US who couldn't read a map and thought the threat came from Iraq and p*ssed all those resources and lives up against a wall so his buddies could carve up the oil & outsourcing contracts