sambosa75

This afternoon - BIG final interview with a major publishing house in Chelsea. Big £££ if I get the job. This evening - hopefully a celebratory meal at London's finest proper American restaurant; The Big Easy on the Kings Road. Tomorrow day time - The Valley. Dont have a ticket yet. Hoping to score one down there and watch Saints march in with a triumphant win. Tomorrow night time - few mates who are coming up for the game and myself are meeting and hitting London town. Sunday - no doubt hungover. Will chill and attempt to convince 'er indoors to cook me a roast. If all goes to plan, its an 11.5/10.

Firstly, whilst the free-kick that lead to Ronaldinho's goal was perhaps not the most stonewall foul in the world, if Zambrotta had committed it on Richard Hughes, you lot would have all been asking for the free-kick, so that argument is a non-starter I'm afraid. With regards to feeling bitter, you lot prior to a couple of years ago have spent the last quarter of a decade in Southamptons shade and obviously still care about us, given "Are you watching Southampton" was the loudest chant of the match. I'm touched you still care, even amidst our recent demise. I dont even recall singing "Are you watching Portsmouth" in the heady days of Saints 4-0 demolition of Spurs, the semi final or the final back in 2003. For the record, you lot really didnt deserve a win. You played well, especially in the 2nd half for 30-odd minutes, where you happened to gain a 2 goal advantage. AC Milan could have quite easily been 3-0 up at half time had the usually sharp Inzaghi been a bit more clinical. Okay, they didnt put those chances away but I would say they had far more clean cut chances than Pompey did.

A sad state of how far we have fallen in recent times to hear Pompey fans singing "Are you watching Southampton?" (considering I went to the 2003 FA Cup Final with a St Georges flag with "Are you watching Pompey scum?!" emblazoned across the front!) but I must confess despite feeling oh so depressed upon first hearing the chant, pure delight when Inzaghi poked in the deserved equaliser. 2-2 IS a good result for them, but the fact they were getting so ****y makes them look like prize idiots, which we all know they are! The beginning of the decline for PFC??? I certainly hope so! Up The Saints!

I definately agree with the two shouts for Danny Dyer. Blatently wants to be something he clearly isnt but it doesnt stop him trying any way. Aside from that take your pick from Jordan, Jodie Marsh, Kerry Fatona, that tart from Liberty X, basically anyone who gets paid on a monthly basis for giving an interview in OK etc... where they lie about how much they are in love, and how amazing the sex is etc etc, only 2 weeks later to give another "exclusive interview" about how they were being abused by the same person who was cheating on them all along but its okay because the sex was terrible blah blah blah.

Correct me if I'm wrong guys but havent we always really been a club that feeds the slightly bigger clubs? No matter of our status, we have never been in a position to stop players going on to bigger and better things. In my lifetime, Danny Wallace, Tim Flowers, Alan Shearer, Dean Richards, Wayne Bridge... I'm sure there are more. This is nothing new and I dont know why people are acting as if it is. The simple fact is that we are physically not in a position where we can bring in players on transfer fees at the moment so have to rely on the fantastic academy that we are famous for and a reputation of bringing through young talent that makes us a favourable option to the big clubs when it comes to sending their youngsters out on loan. Call me crazy, but I would rather be bringing through youth players and then selling them on and making a clear profit, then signing a player for a fee (no doubt with a sell-on clause agreed with his previous club) and then having to sell them on. I just cant see the problem. We are skint. No-one is riding in on a white horse to plough millions in, attendances are dwindling, we arent as attractive as we once was commercially meaning revenue from sponsorships and affiliations etc.. arent great. There is only a few ways this club can make money now. The main one of course is bringing on talent and selling when the time is right/when a suitable offer is made. Frankly, if we are following this path then I dont think there are many better negotiators around than Rupert Lowe. I have every faith he will be able to get the best deal for the players we have. I agree, its not ideal but its the hand this club has been dealt and we have to live with it, until the time comes when transfer fees received outbalance what we owe.

Any free commentary going? Saints TV has expired cant be beothered to renew right now.

How much I'd love to see us win this one. never before have I seen such an insignificant club in every sense be over confident of beating us.

I believe Mayweather Sr, for what Hatton needs to work on is one of the best, if not the best trainer around. Hatton knows that PM is a decent fighter. He also knows if he wants to beat him comfortably, he will need a game plan and a better defence so Malignaggi cant simply rely on allowing Hatton to come in and jabbing him away all through the 12 rounds. Hatton is guilty of attacking in "straight lines" as PBF famously said. With his ability to land crunching body shots, he has been able to get away with it most of the time, Mayweather aside who fought him with almost the perfect game plan. Stick and move at range and tie Hatton up at close quarters. This lead to Hatton becoming frustrated and chasing the match looking for the knock-out which was never likely to come. For what is worth though, I believe Cotto beat PM despite not being able to knock him out. Not that is matters but you make out as if Cotto beating PM after going the distance is a bad thing. As for Pavlik, he might not be as brash as PM but you cant expect to call people out the way he was with Calzaghe, then go on to lose against someone Calzaghe beat. Funny how when Calzaghe beats Hopkins, Hopkins is considered "past-it" but when he beats Pavlik, he is considered a "wily old fox", as the media portrays. I'm not sure Calzaghe needs to fight anyone anymore. His record is perfect, he has beaten everyone there is to beat apart from Pavlik who naused it up for himself by losing to Hopkins, no matter what was going on prior to the fight. As for JC fighting has beens, he despatched Mikkel Kessler who has gone on to be a WBA Super Middle Weight champ. I'm sure there are other fighters out there he COULD fight, but why risk jeopordising the dynasty he has built. He's openly said the last couple of fights have been made due to the money thats been put on the table.

More or less as soon as the lovely Kimberley upped and left. With the benefit of hindsight, I should have maintained my Kevin-the-teenager attitude and ignored her whilst she was cooing at me. I would have definately closed the deal then as up until that moment, I was on top form that evening.

I've a good'un. When I was 17, I was quite a good looking young lad. I definately looked older than my real age. I was on holiday with my mum and step dad at the family villa in Spain. Needless to say I was desperate from the moment the plane touched down to get out there and meet some fine ladies. I went to a club and met a young lady by the name of Kimberley. Beautiful she was. Blonde hair, proportionate boobs, a body you could cut diamonds with, it was so toned. We got chatting and it turned out this girl was 22 and studying to become a dancer. Needless to say, I had come to the conclusion she wasnt going to be interested in some 17 year old oik who was at sixth form college, so I came up with the story that I was 23, was a journalist (its what I aspired to be at the time) and drove around in an Audi TT back home. By about mid-night, things were progressing quite nicely in my favour so I asked if she fancied going for a walk (my intentions to be down to the beach for a bit of howsyourfather). We set about walking in the general direction of the beach, when we walked past a restaurant on the sea front. The same restaurant my parents were at. They were eating outside on the patio. My mum began waving and cooing like an absolute mentalist trying to get my attention. When I noticed it was my mum that was shrieking, I felt I had to go over and say hello. I introduced Kimberley to her and Mum offered us a couple of chairs. We joined them for a drink, me having totally forgotten I'd fed this poor girl an unbelievable amount of ****** about myself. One by one, every single lie I had told to get this girl on the way to the beach was unravelled by my unsuspecting mum. She asked whether Kim was at college and then went on to explain I was studying English Language, I.T and Media Studies at college but working very hard at ASDA for pocket money. She then mentioned that she bought me driving lessons for my birthday, which I was currently doing and how much fun my 17th birthday party was. Kim was a very well raised girl though who was very polite towards my mum but I had to sit there thinking "20 minutes ago, I thought I'd be banging the hottest girl I've ever seens brains out, and in that time my Mum has totally naused it up for me". Needless to say, Kim made her excuses and left shortly after. She was in the same club 2 days later and I couldnt muster up the balls to go and talk to her. I did see her pulling some other lucky fella later on in the evening though. Shame. Thanks Mum.

Hatton will win. Dont be fooled by the fact he's got a new trainer. He's probably got the best trainer in the world right now, most definately when it comes to devising strategy and working on defence. If there are two areas Hatton needed to work on, it is strategy and defence. Malignaggi is brash, but that will come to an end when he loses on Saturday. The same way another brash American boxer called Kelly Pavlik has all of a sudden shut up about Joe Calzaghe after he got his arse served to him by Bernard Hopkins.

Could he really do a job for us though? Aside from the season he got Watford promoted, he's hardly pulled up trees. I think he just happened to have one of those seasons where everything went right, players peaked at the right time and he had Marlon King who had a bit of a purple patch that season. I think he is a decent coach but not brilliant. A lot of people appear to be mocking JP but do you really think Boothroyd could come in to Saints, inheriting the same players we currently have with 0 transfer funds and do any better, whilst being happy with the situation?

The previous season? When Alonso signed with McLaren, I believe he was of the understanding Hamilton was to be the 2nd driver. The drivers were then given equal status, as I understand it, after it became clear Hamilton wasn't having any trouble adjusting to F1. In my opinion, it was this move that began the decline in Alonso's driving. He was used to being Renault's undisputed number 1 with a team-mate driving tactically to benefit him. A luxury he thought he would have with McLaren also. Dont ever underestimate the power of relationships forged between other drivers and teams. Hamilton has p*ssed a lot of fellow drivers off over the past 2 seasons with his daredevil tactics and gambles. As for Alonso's car, I didnt say he made up for a bad car, simply that it was more competitive in the latter stages of the competition that the early stages. Something which you have agreed to in your reply to my original comment. Put Alonso in a car that can compete with the best throughout the course of a season, and I reckon that, coupled with his desire and drive to beat Hamilton and his relationships with other drivers such as Massa, will potentially spell trouble for Hamilton. No matter ones opinions on who the best drivers are, next season promises to be an absolute belter.

I'm by no means an expert and definately think Alonso deserves a slap for being so outspoken about Hamilton and the way he was treated in his short stint with McLaren, but Alonso is a fantastic driver... in my opinion superior to Hamilton and if he is lucky enough to have a car that is able to compete throughout the whole season next year, I feel he will wipe the floor with Lewis Hamilton.

I dont think we used him as well as we could have. For me, he was not a right-winger. We got some fantastic performances from him when he was in the middle of the park, box-to-box, throwing his weight about. He had a fantastic engine and good athleticism. I never really understood why we wasted him out on the wing.

Following on from my last post, Ben (my nephew) played for the elite team against Chelsea on Wednesday and did so well Chelsea asked him to play for them against Bristol Rovers academy yesterday. I'm not sure of the final result but I know Ben scored as my brother in law called me just after. Apparently Ben is leaning towards the Saints as half the players he was playing alongside at Chelsea yesterday were foreign and the emphasis there was massively on individual talent as opposed to team play. For the record, the team he is playing for is Pace. I asked my sister yesterday. I watched them play a few weeks ago and I've never seen a bunch of kids that young spray the ball around like they do. The coach they have (incidentally a skate!) is top class. Just hope the lad can keep this development up. For a 9 year old to have Saints, Chelsea, Reading, Pompey and Bournemouth fighting over him must mean he is a pretty promising talent.

Use ragworm as bait. Nasty looking feckers but very effective.

cosyuboc... safg...

Thats just it though. The common misconception that every one holds belief in who wants to see the back of Lowe. It really wouldnt bring the fans back. Well, maybe for 1 or maybe 2 home games, the performances would still be the same however as we are playing with kids, most of which arent particularly special which in turn would begin to see the decline in attendance figures yet again. That really isnt Rupert Lowe's fault however. I remember a couple of years back 90% of fans practically baying for Rupert Lowe's blood in order for someone... ANYONE!!! to ride in on a white horse and takeover the reigns. Well my friends, you all got your wish and like it or not, IT IS A DIRECT RESULT OF THE POSITION WE FIND OURSELVES IN NOW. Rupert Lowe is not the architect of our current predicament. I agree, we might not have invested as heavily as we all liked back in 2003 and yes, he was chairman when we were relegated to this division. There is an awful lot of good that Rpert Lowe has overseen too but we all seem more than willing to look beyond that and simply focus on the negatives. How about we look at this particular negative for a moment... It was NOT Rupert Lowe that ploughed £8m in to the team in an all or nothing attempt at getting us promoted. It is that money that we are missing, nay craving for now and Rupert Lowe is simply the man who is not afraid of making the tough decisions with regards to finding the least bit of stability in the clubs finances. If it werent necessary to sell all we had sold, I really dont think Lowe is evil enough to simply go out and sell them anyway. I understand a lot of people feel they need a scapegoat but it seems a lot of these statements have been made in wake of Stern John's transfer to Bristol City. Here we had a player probably on anything up to £10k a week, not getting a look-in in the first team. Right or wrong, other players are ahead of him in the pecking order. Are we as a club expected to simply let him not play but collect his wages which will be amongst the higher ones being paid, or get him shipped out and save ourselves the expense of having an expensive player not adding anything to or benefitting the club? Man United had to sell Gabi Heinze for a similar reason. They werent prepared to pay him as he wanted out so they let him go to Real Madrid. If Man Utd cant afford to carry dead-wood... what gives us the right to do it?

Have you ever been to Charlton though? Paulsgrove in Portsmouth is more cultured than Charlton. Its a sh!thole. I live within walking distance to Loftus Road, its in West London and has its fair share of wealthy fans, also Shepherds Bush is currently going through a massive regeneration that will see it become a very fashionable area to live in. I think Bernie and Flavio have been quite shrewd with that one. But I do agree. It seems just because a club is based in a London postcode they become a viable club to invest in, which is bollix.

Amazing. How on earth could people look at Charlton as a more viable investment opportunity than us? It really does beggar belief. Yes they are in London but have you tried getting to Central London from Charlton? It'll be quicker to get there from Southampton. We've got a beautiful stadium, great fans when all pulling in the same direction and a youth setup the envy of clubs in the Prem, let alone the Championship. Everything at this club is set up to be a Premier League club apart from the finances and the first team which is directed related to the financial status of the club.

Definately agree. He was quality at times for Newcastle. Sometimes unbeatable. The thing is though, he was part of a defence that was ridiculed from all sides during his time at Newcastle which did his confidence no good at all. Dont get me wrong he's still capable of the odd howler but by the same token, he's still capable of defending the likes of Didier Drogba out of a game. Put Bramble in the Championship, he'd be the best defender in the league by a country mile.

Bang goes the annual award for best playing surface, thats all I can say...

I'd tend to agree with this. Money is so tight at the moment that any player signed needs to come straight in and do a job for the team, no matter whether that involves a transfer fee, a loan or a free transfer. Quite frankly, whilst the idea of signing a load of players on the basis of their athleticism is a very good one, for every Kenwyne Jones, there has been a Federico Arias, Kleber Chala or Jason St. Juste (sp?). That said, if we were ever to win promotion to the prem or inherit a cash injection from a lovely wealthy benefactor it would definately be an approach I'd be in favour of. You only have to look at Arsene Wenger. Adebayor and Kolo Toure were pony when first signed but had every natural attribute required to make them top players. The same way Kenwyne Jones developed from a sprinter to a football player.

Redknapp wasnt actually offered a position by Newcastle, so how he could turn it down? He was invited up for talks and used that purely as a way of engineering a pay-rise at Pompey. Keegan DID make those signings, in so much as Wise did his job by recommending them to KK and he also voted in favour of bringing them in. That was what Wise was supposed to do; head up the scouting network to find players to recommend to the manager. That was the protocol set out by Newcastle to follow that of Arsenal, which Keegan was massively in favour of. What he wasnt told though was if he happened to disagree with Dennis Wise, the club would still carry on with signing the player. Do you reckon that sort of thing happens at Arsenal? Do you reckon Arsene Wenger would stand for that kind of thing? I certainly dont, and that is why I dont blame KK for walking. As for saying he's got a name for doing this, he did it with Newcastle in 1997, purely because there was a lot of outside interference with the Halls which he didnt agree with. He stood down from the England job because he admitted his managerial talents were not up to scratch tactically and he left Man City as a mutual agreement because he didnt want to sign a new contract. As for me seeming to know a lot about this, the baulk of my family are Geordies and NUFC season ticket holders so I speak to them a lot and keep up to speed with the goings on at Newcastle also. Also, whoever said it was a bit romantic to say all Newcastle fans want is a bit of attacking football, maybe it sounds strange but it really is true. If they were really that hung up about winning a trophy after so long without one, do you really think they'd pack 50,000 into St James Park almost every week (last few matches being the exception). They just want to be entertained and watch their players put a bit of effort in. That really is all they ask for.