trousers

Congratulations to the journos at today's pre-match press conference (live broadcast section) for no-one asking when VvD is expected to be back in training. Bravo (yes, I know it might come out in the embargoed section but I'm still gonna be a bit grumpy about it in the meantime )

Local rag covering tinpot 5 year old football club in clutching at straws shocker

Thanks Alex. You're far too kind, although I do feel a bit bad about having to take some of yours

Ha! This

Please accept my humble apologies Alex. You're right, I should have given your repeating of John Cross's tweet much more credence. Any chance of unblocking me now?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-39293513

That thought did occur to me! (where's MLG when you need him? #cantbearsedtocheckmyself)

Under 21 squad....

I think what he's saying is that the 1,367,764 people who voted 'leave' in NI and Scotland is greater than the 1,269,501 votes that 'leave' won by overall, thus (technically) the 'leave' voters of Scotland and NI *could* have prevented 'leave' winning overall if they had voted to remain. (Yes, and the same could be said about other voting 'blocks' around the UK too...)

Enough said

Interesting! Where have you seen that btw? (U21 squad hasn't been officially announced by England via Twitter yet)

Its occurred to me for quite a while now that its rare for Saints players to be included in the England U18 and U19 squads. This has been reinforced today by the announcement of said squads with no Saints players in sight: http://www.thefa.com/home/news/2017/mar/16/england-under-18s-squad-announcement-160317 http://www.thefa.com/home/news/2017/mar/16/england-under-19s-squad-160317 Surely we've got some English academy players who are good enough to play for England at U18 or U19s? If not, does it suggest our academy isn't as productive as its renowned to be? I'm not raising this as a criticism of the club, just curious as to why. Edit: same applies to the U20 squad: http://www.thefa.com/home/news/2017/mar/16/under-20s-squad-announcement-160317

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/15158454.Ward_Prowse_waits_on__perfect__call_from_Southgate

Thank you kindly for noticing, sir. I was beginning to think that all this gibberish I spout was wasted on the self-appointed intelligentsia on here.

Is it more or less ironic in reverse? i.e. the SNP wanting to break away from one union (the UK) but remain part of another (the EU)? p.s. As Richard Osman would testify, the UK is a 'nation'... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_states_of_the_United_Nations

I don't have much idea about how anything works. Well spotted though.

Because too many people fall for the SNP's "Scotland = SNP" conflation mantra. People seem to forget that the SNP are running a minority government in the Scottish parliament at the moment, propped up by the Greens. Imagine the hoo-hah amongst the social media intelligentsia if a minority Tory government in Westminster were playing the "look, the whole country is behind us" card across the whole UK as the SNP do across the whole of Scotland. Less Scots voted for the SNP at the May 2016 Scottish Parliament elections than Scots who voted to leave the EU in July 2016; and only 36% of the Scottish electorate voted for the SNP at the UK General Election in 2015. Aided and abetted by the media, the SNP PR machine are very good at spinning the 'facts' to suit their agenda (yes, all political parties do this, but the SNP are particularly good at it)

No. I think the UK should have a referendum to decide if we should let the Scots have a referendum about whether or not to have another referendum

Ready, steady.... Bite...

Would the best thing for the UK Government to do be to go with the majority of Scots who don't actually want another referendum, rather than conflate 'what the SNP want' with 'what Scotland wants' ?

"The directors are pleased to report another period of positive financial performance, achieving profit for the year, after taxation, of £4.9m, whilst net assets increased to £45.0m. Turnover improved significantly to £124.3m (2015: £113.7m) with commercial and match day turnover reaching £31.1m, the former up 21% on the previous year. The group’s strategy has been to strengthen and maintain a competitive first-team playing squad in order to compete in multiple competitions, whilst simultaneously strengthening the overall operation of the club, through investment in its non-playing staff and infrastructure. The Academy talent pipeline remains strong and there is a continued focus on the principle of developing young players and incorporating them into a successful first-team squad, as witnessed by ten Academy graduates playing first-team football in the 2016/17 season. Significant investment has been made in the playing squad, with record transfer fees being paid to help grow the first-team squad and provide greater depth. Furthermore, the club has focused on establishing a core group of players on longer-term contracts. The spend on player purchases and increases in player remuneration, offset by the cash inflow from player sales, saw a net cash outflow of £20.1m for the year, with a further net cash outflow of £22.7m forecast for the 2016-17 season. Given this level of investment made during the year, the fact that debt levels have not increased correspondingly underlies the sound financial position of the group and is a reflection of its robust financial planning."

https://southamptonfc.com/news/2017-03-15/st-marys-football-group-limited-201516-financial-results

The Scottish people decided in the 2014 referendum that they wanted the UK government to stay in control of non-devolved matters, such as giving permission for another referendum.