revolution saint

Actually that's a really good idea. Would re-invigorate the league in the same way the play offs have done for the football league divisions. Doubt it would happen as the big clubs would be the ones to potentially lose out and UEFA wouldn't like it. Losing finalists could then get the Europa League spot as well.

Would be happy with Ings - scores goals, young, point to prove and a bit of pace as well. Burnley fans think he's a better striker than Rodriguez. I'd rather make signings like this than take an expensive punt on more proven players that probably don't want to be here. In any case I reckon we'd need another two strikers even if we do sign Ings.

Ha ha, I love it when people lose an argument and then say "it's just a joke". I don't think science tells people what to think - it offers proof and is open to questioning. Religion on the other hand..... Anyway, you'll be pleased to note my 3 posts for the day are up so to summarise - GSTQ is a rubbish anthem whether you believe in either a monarchy or a christian god, monarchy and hereditary rule is logically indefensible, and god probably doesn't exist.

Do you dress up in skirts and call yourself Mavis?

Nice to see a healthy dose of republicanism running through this thread. Personally can't stand GSTQ for reasons already expressed and always either turn the sound down on the TV or if at an event then sit down (did this at the cup final in '03 - didn't notice anyone else doing it but what the hell).

OK, read a few fairly recently so here's my thoughts An Officer and a Spy - Robert Harris. Really enjoyed this one. I'd tried his book on Cicero but gave up - I'll give it another go now though. This book really interested me and I've always found French history exciting. I knew a bit about the Dreyfuss affair as I'm a fan of Zola but Harris does a terrific job of turning a story of great injustice into a modern parable. It stands up in its own right as well. My only slight criticism is that after a great build up the ending seemed a little protracted and lacked a bit of momentum but that's a minor point and thoroughly recommended. Live by Night - Dennis Lehane. I've enjoyed lots of lehane books like Mystic River and when he's at the top of his game then the books are unputdownable. This one tells the tale of a small time crook who makes it as a gangster during the prohibition era in America. Apparently it's to be made into a film and it'll probably be a good one along the goodfellas line. As a novel I thought it fairly good but suffered because it centered too much around the life of one character and the events around him became the other characters. Good read about an exciting era but not his best by a long way. The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion. Don't normally read these types of books but it had good reviews and fancied something lighter. This is a tale of an obviously (obviously except to him) autistic lecturer in Australia who embarks on finding a wife because it is proven to increase longevity. Of course the girl of his dreams doesn't fit any of his carefully prepared criteria and that's a struggle for him. It's a good, fun little book and funny. Maybe overdoes the autistic angle - surely not all autistic people can be like rainman but if you ignore that then it's pretty entertaining. The Thicket - Joe R Lansdale. Think True Grit meets the Coen brothers. I don't like westerns much but this was brilliant, funny and gripping. Early 20th Century and a 17 year old boy searches out the kidnappers of his sister in East Texas. He ends up accompanied by a midget, a hog and it's grave digging negro "owner", and a prostitute with a heart of gold. There's tension, violence and humour along the way as the unlikely band track down the sister in a hornets nest of outlaws. Really recommend this one. Lansdale does many different styles and all well, after this I read a short story of his called The Drive In which is a terrific homage to classic B movie horror films. I am Pilgrim - This had had some terrific reviews and was bought on the back of these. Apparently it's Bond meets Bourne in a modern spy setting. It's not though. It's total rubbish and awful. The writing was so bad it made me feel dirty. Avoid. Mr Mercedes - Stephen King. Retired cop tracks down homicidal lunatic in a race against time. King goes for standard thriller here - no ghosts or supernatural stuff but doesn't suffer for it. It's not his best but perfectly readable and enjoyable. Forget any of the comments about hard boiled crime because it's not that but if you want an exciting standard detective story told with a bit of style then you won't go far wrong.

Can't say I'm overly excited about any of the potential candidates so far. That's probably more to do with selling RL and likely LS and AL as well. Anyone coming in will probably have a fairly big job on their hands. I guess if I had to pick one candidate it would be Ronald de Boer based on nothing but gut feeling. Is he out of the running now though? No one seems to be talking much about him. Hopefully whoever comes in will continue the same pressing style we've got used to - makes us a bit more distinctive.

Hope we don't end up with anyone like that. It's not that they're bad players, far from it, but their motivation would probably be zero. We've made similar mistakes in the past with players with a good reputation but just going through the motions - David Hirst, Speedie, Dixon, Osvaldo and loads more. Our recent record on big money signings is hit and miss at best. We'd be better off trying to nab the next Torres or Ba rather than the actual ones. All IMO though.

I hate this modern poetry lark - that doesn't rhyme at all!

That's the fella, cheers!

OK, this is bugging me - can anyone remember the name of the youth player we signed from a club in Spain about ten years or so ago? Lad played as a winger or forward and was supposed to be very quick. Remember at the time he was supposed to be the next big thing but never made a first team appearance and think he went back to Spain in the end. Have a feeling we either bought him from or sold him to Osasuna but could be wrong about that. Ta.

This may be a little naive, and a lot has been said about maximising the overseas market but what exactly does that mean? I can't imagine that we're suddenly going to shift loads more shirts to overseas fans and even if we did how much money does that bring in? How does being the favourite second team of choice translate into cash? Surely you'd spend money on the first choice and merely like the second team? It still seems a fairly strange concept this "second" team idea anyway - I support saints and that's it, but then I don't get the idea of choosing a club either. I guess it's more the corporate sponsorship route that is where we'd make the money - "SwissAir is proud to sponsor the nations second favourite team" that kind of thing....

Probably just twitter bollix but frankly is it worth going again for another south american at all? Have we ever had a decent one? Off the top of my head only Guly has been a qualified success (for the league we signed him in etc). To be fair to the lad he looks good on the YouTube but then so did Gaston and so did Ramirez. Obviously it's wrong to label all South Americans like this (he could be like Suarez or Coutinho) but it's not like we've had much success in this area before.

Of course the problem with fans doing this is that you come away with an opinion which is still subjective - example in point (and we've all done it) is watching an England game with a Saints player in it. You only watch the one player but you only look for the good things. I suspect the same would be true when watching just one player for us - you'd either want to see the good things or the bad things.......and you'd kid yourself afterwards that you were being fair minded.

Agree it's going to be a push but we've got 7 parks to do in 13 days. Ultimately though as long as we have fun then it's all OK - no doubt there will be things we'd wished we'd done instead but that's life. Of course would love to stay longer though.

Thanks for all the good tips and links. I went back in '96 and can remember how tiring it was. We've got 14 day passes to the parks so we don't have to feel like we have to cram everything all in one day - we're certainly planning a few "off days" as well. Looking forward to seeing Old Town Kissimmee again as well - loved it when I went before. Good tip to look out for the satellite launch at Kennedy Space Centre as well - hadn't thought of that and think I'd rather go when it'll be a bit quieter.

Well, off to the corporate greed soul destroying Orlando in a couple of weeks. Anyone got any tips? It's a big family thing (seven of us) and despite the commercialism etc I'm really looking forward to it. We're staying in Kissimmee and already got all the theme park tickets sorted (14 day unlimited access for Disney, Universal Parks and Kennedy Space Centre). Kids are 7 (going on 35) and 9. Also, we've got a connecting flight from Atlanta and only got 2 hours - slightly worried that won't be long enough.

Agree - Stoneham would have been a terrible location. I'm happy we're still relatively close to the city centre and I'm not sure we'd be getting quite the attendance figures based further away. I still miss the dell though - probably rose tinted glasses and all that but SMS doesn't have quite the same atmosphere. Terraces (or lack of) also has some bearing though. As for where we'd be if we hadn't moved? Relatively easy to answer - we'd have been relegated eventually once MLT retired and we'd have struggled even more. I'm pretty confident we wouldn't have secured Liebherr funding without the stadium - if you were looking to buy a football club then we were a an absolute bargain.

Ultimately if we don't get a statement about whether KL intends to sell the club then it probably means she does want to sell. Would be a shame but there you go - it's not like she chose to own us. I guess she won't be rushed and hopefully will get a decent buyer in if it happens. Would be interesting to hear exactly what happened to cause this chain of events but doubt we'll ever really know.

Yes, this is true although you can argue that anything over a month notice period is unfair and then it depends what the tribunal hearing decides. Generally speaking companies don't want the hassle and if you demonstrate a willingness to work out a months notice and plan a decent handover period for whoever takes over your duties then a long notice period can be shortened by mutual consent. Of course references may not be great but in reality it's very rare for companies to pursue legal action against people who don't work out an entire notice period. Closest I've come is when I left a job, handed in my notice and with holiday accrued reduced my notice period from a month to two weeks. My employer wanted me to work out the entire period and pay me my holiday pay which technically they could enforce - I still left though and there was no comeback. Don't regret it either - they were sh*t employers.

Don't really think the lifting on restrictions will make much difference to be honest. Bulgarians and Romanians haven't been subject to the usual tier type checks for quite a while (at least a couple of years) so if they wanted to come over here and work then they could. Certainly where I work checks for non-EU migrant workers is pretty thorough but Romanians and Bulgarians as far as I know just need to provide documentation from their own govt - they don't need British approval. Course you could see the pressure on wages forced lower but to be honest I'm not sure Romanians and Bulgarians will be responsible for that - they haven't so far have they? Personally feel we have a government more hellbent on keeping wages for people low than any migrant activity could ever do.

Oh well, thanks for saving me some money anyway. Shame - was looking forward to it if it was any good. Thanks for the reply.

Saw the book in waterstones whilst doing some Christmas shopping this week - have to say I was very, very impressed. I'm hoping it may end up on my lap Christmas day as a present but I'll be buying it if not. Everyone involved should be applauded for doing such a good job.

I really don't understand this home nations agreement because it only seems to be applied to players born outside the UK. Graeme Le Saux, MLT, and countless others have been eligible for all home nations and called up. Scotland have no qualms about picking players like Stuart McCall and Wales have picked Vinnie Jones FFS so surely this home nation agreement is just prejudiced against players born outside the UK? Personally I'm really not fussed about international football but the public tend to like winners regardless of nationality and if they're happy to cheer on Mo Farah and that fella who won the tour de france then I really don't see what the problem is with calling up eligible "foreigners".

So, is this any good? Really liked the original Rome but looking at Amazon the reviews are mixed. Could be a nice distraction for me over Christmas but have to admit the reviews have put me off a bit - especially as most of them mention the battle AI is pretty rubbish.