Saint137

I'm hoping a rousing chant of "3-1 in your Cup Final" is doing the rounds now. P3 W3, sorted.

I emailed them on Monday morning but got no response (and usually they're very quick to respond) so I feared the worst. Whoever made this decision should pop up to Bradford and explain it to Deano's wife and kids. Given what happened to Markus we of all clubs should understand the fragility of life.

So, if we have All Saints Day, why did we bother with a tribute for Markus? How difficult is it for us to wear armbands and have a minutes' applause? ****ing disgrace, this is not the Saints I grew up loving. Pleased that at least the Northam got something going a couple of times in the game but its **** all tribute to a past player of the season.

Anyone know if there is going to be a tribute tonight? Mailed the club yesterday and got no response. Anything in the (online) programme?

Beatts and him were very close, Deano spent a lot of time looking out for the younger players and discouraging them from getting in trouble. Partly because that was the sort of bloke he was, but also because he had that car accident early in his career and I think he realised how fragile a footballing career could be. Looked like he was doing more of the same as youth coach @ Bradford. As the saying goes, only the good die young. Class response from Wolves & Spurs today, and if there isn't an official tribute on Tuesday lets make sure we hold one ourselves.

Good article in the Guardian featuring MLT's view of him: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/mar/04/dean-richards-molineux

Love this from the Guardian report on the game... "Yet they should have been a goal, and a man, down after two minutes, when a fine pass from Keith Fahey found Nikola Zigic. The angular 6ft 7in Serb, whose control with his feet is customarily wayward enough to make Peter Crouch look like Alfredo di Stefano..."

Should we make it to the Championship I think it will be quite disruptive to the team, and Nigel will have to get a shiny new bus with a few extra seats. Of the current squad I would say only the following are good enough: Davis Fonte Harding Schneiderlin Lallana Oxlade-Chamberlain RLSGM Barnard Plus possibly Guly & Hammond Not enough depth there, and bringing in Jonny Big Potatoes from the Prem will upset the applecart a little

The Ultras @ the Steau game were bloody awesome, and showed several of us good hospitality afterwards. Genuinely friendly. Certainly changed my view of what those groups are like, although expect they wouldn't extend the same welcome to Dynamo fans

Marked by a chorus of "There's only one Dean Richards" from the back of 42 today. I guess most in the ground hadn't heard. Hope we'll mark it with a minute's applause against Yeovil. He was a giant for us, exuded calm confidence, and I was gutted to see him go to Spurs. Sadly we had his best years probably. For those who didn't see him play he was similar to Fonte, completely in command and could play a bit if he needed to. Scored some bullet headers in his time, he was immense in the air.

Better than Rooney's recent effort, or that van Basten goal.

lol @ Gattuso's "I can't tell you what we were saying, I was speaking Glaswegian" comment. Bigger nutter than Mark Dennis?

Unbelievable goal. Unsurprisingly all over YouTube at the moment before the PL copyright nazis get involved: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H02oYdm80_Y Dragging it slightly back on topic, I can't remember Le Tiss scoring many overheads...

Golf Plus or Focus C-Max?

More pics from our favourite fascist daily: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaone/article-1354782/Robert-Kubica-recovering-surgery-shocking-images-reveal-extent-horror-crash.html Lucky to get away with the injuries he did (ditto for his co-driver) He must have been flat out to force such a relatively soft chunk of armco that far through the car. Brings back memories of the early seventies when poorly secured armco killed several drivers (Helmut Konig and Francois Cevert were both decapitated by armco).

Its strange. Have lived in Sholing all my life so regularly went up to Bitterne shopping with my Mum, but I can't remember when it was pedestrianised and also when the bypass was put through. I can remember it being different but don't remember it changing. Mid 80s I think? On a related note, would be interested in seeing anything about the construction of the M27. I'm pretty sure I can remember Dad being able to drive to Hedge End from Sholing/Thornhill by a different route. When was it built? Early 70s?

Good set of Southampton blitz shots here, including the trench shelter in Hoglands Park http://www.flickr.com/photos/backmanmal/tags/blitz/

The plane in Heathfield road is nothing to do with WW2, it looks to me like a 50s trainer, possibly from Follands in Hamble? On the subject of the bombing my Nans old house in Butts Road opposite the community centre had a long crack in the brickwork caused by a mine that exploded over the back of Swanmore Avenue - it's why that whole area has newer houses. Have also heard the story about the Edwin Jones bombing but it's not well known outside the city, and I wonder what the truth is of it. Perhaps the true numbers of dead were covered up for morale? I've looked in a few histories and theres not a specific mention of it.

Bring it on And the endless threads *****ing about ticket allocation

He's not a patch on Paul Wotton

This is not an uncommon feeling amongst IT pros in my experience (20 years in the industry). We're constantly at the cutting edge of the new, constantly running to stand still with our skills (much more so than if you're an electrician for example) and pretty much in service to others. The stuff we support tends to be **** and we tend to be reactive rather than proactive, and due to the complexity of systems absolute slaves to Murphy's Law. Tend to be under-appreciated at work and what we do, whilst it runs the world, doesn't feel particularly important. The company I used to work for has over the last 18 months got rid of around 100 IT staff and of those the majority have looked for something more fulfilling - when I took redundancy I looked at nursing, teaching and charity work and would be doing one of those now if I hadn't happened to get my current job almost by accident. Its still not fulfilling but its low impact, 9-5, no weekends, close to home (previously had a 2 hour commute to Reading and back), and pays enough to have a comfortable existence. I guess that's the point for me. What I've learnt over the last 5 years is that all that's important is your health and the health of those you love. With health comes the ability to be happy. The saying should really be "Health, Happiness, and Wealth". When I was your age (I'm 40 now) I focused on the material things - fast cars, world travel, gadgetry, eating in expensive restaurants, etc. I did all this stuff alone and it eventually became utterly pointless. As a petrolhead you soon realise that all cars are basically the same and all a constant pain in the arse. Travelling becomes a tick list. Photography (my other passion) becomes stale and uninspiring particularly when the great sites of the world are fully documented from every angle. Consumerism can never be fulfilling and you do question the point of spending 40-odd hours of your life a week paying for your addictions. So what changed things? I think the same as it is for most people - met someone I love and stopped worrying about me. Gave me a sense of purpose, re-ignited ambition, and made me look beyond the next football season/round of new gadgets/holiday, etc. Being in a relationship is a rollercoaster - there are times when I want to get off and say never again but most of the time you feel really alive. If you were a bird I'd tell you to read something like "Eat, Pray, Love". That's a manifesto for changing your life and working out what to change it to. If you're unhappy as you currently are, change something. If you don't know what to change, change it all. You might think you can't give up your job, but if you're not a slave to consumerism you can. Go volunteer in a 3rd world country for a year. You'll get fed, get out of the pressures of Western society, and it will look good on your CV when you return, if you return. Cut your life down to the basics, switch off the internet, and go and sit on top of a mountain. After a week or two your current concerns will slip away. Think of it as a reboot for the soul.

Cheapest diesel I've seen round here is 124.9 at the BP (formerly Shell) garage at the Salisbury end of the Salisbury to Ringwood road. For whatever reason over the last couple of years its been consistently a penny under most prices (even Tesco Shirley was 126.9 this week.)

Legard replaced Coulthard? http://www.crash.net/f1/news/165559/1/legard_exit_and_replacement_to_be_confirmed_by_bbc.html

Sad, but it was always going to happen. They properly hate each other and its an evening game so most of those involved will be well tanked up. All those midlands clubs seem to have proper hooligans - look at Wolves' traditional farewell to away coaches...

That's not a bear, its Jaidi