VectisSaint

As Mrfahaji says it is a rose, a modern stylised white form of the Hampshire Rose, which can be found in red, gold or white, and used to form part of the badge and is a part of the Southampton (City) coat of arms. The reason why Hampshire uses a Rose (or roses) is a mystery, though the most often used theory is the related to the Houses of Lancaster and York. The other theory is that it is based on the golden rose of Provence used by Henry III (the Southampton Coat of Arms has two white roses and one golden rose on a red and white shield).

Nice typo that, or perhaps it was deliberate :-)

If you mean Lambert, he never played non-league.

Vardy was playing for Halifax in the NPL (7th tier) at about the same age, he is 29 now. I really don't think Bentley will be good enough to step up to the PL, but who is to say he could not make it in the Football League and make a decent living as a professional. By the way, i was reading this article earlier today, does anyone actually know when he was with Saints academy, and is there any record of him being there. He refers to playing with Bale. Bale was primarily at the Bath Satellite academy until he was about 16 (while he was still in school in Cardiff), of course he would have played at Southampton before then. Just wondering when Bentley was actually on our books as I have no recollection of him as a scholar (not that it means much that I don't remember him).

... which hardly counts as supporting the club does it.

Could help to develop the Indian market: http://www.niviasports.com/ quite a good shout Or did you mean Nivea? Think the Bin Dippers have that wrapped up.

Tripped by Skrtel for the 2nd penalty. Skrtel seems to have it in for Saints players in the box recently. Injury doesn't sound too bad, played for 20-odd minutes from when he was injured until half-time. Maybe a doubt for the weekend, but could be OK beyond that. We have JRod and Charlie back in contention for the Leicester game, don't we?

How odd, but you're entitled to your opinion of course. Seems to me Van Dijk is ideally suited to the way the Dutch want to/used to play (not how they play at the moment). Very good central defender, but also very good on the ball, and excellent at playing out from the back. Reminds me in many ways of Koeman. One of the least limited (most complete) central defenders around from the experience of watching him at Saints. Not even sure that CB is his best position, could be developed into a midfielder.

I reckon he meant the first game for Saints at WHL in Division 1. It was end of November when we played them. I'm feeling very young here, this was the season before my first game (3-5 at home to Chelsea, Big Ron (2), Mick C the other, Chivers' last game for us, this was after we had beaten then 6-2 at Stamford Bridge).

England doing a Saints.

Correct, confirmed when the stadium was built (and many times since). Only the Itchen is not designed for expansion.

You should never rely on "averages" to determine whether your demand is greater than the current capacity. We have sold out several matches this season. Our average has been affected in a major way by two factors (1) 3 home games against unattractive opposition in 7 days in January and (2) the oddity of the West Ham game (why only 29k, did we think Fat Sam was still in charge?) in February. Otherwise we have been close to actual capacity (as opposed to the advertised capacity) in almost every other game since September. Average attendance is an odd stat, because of course you can never have a bigger than capacity attendance to boost the average, whereas one or two low attendances can have a significant affect over 14 or 15 games. Suggests to me that we could in fact sell more tickets for a substantial %age of our matches (including a higher away supporter allocation), but probably not enough to warrant a new tier on one of the 3 extendable sides, hence the club's understandable reluctance to expand.

Don't panic, a draw will be enough to ensure our survival.

Of course you did

Bertrand withdraws from England squad due to injury. Maybe more serious than it first appeared.

Well done. I effectively did the same as you. Of course its not going to happen. I was a bit concerned to post, because I knew it would confuse CB Fry and make him think that I really believed it could happen and then he would misquote me for ever and a day

Actually it is, on goal difference.

Charlie Austin back in training (with the U21s and the other non-internationals). Hopefully available for our next game (though where or whether he will fit in is another matter).

Apparently Wellbeck was also absent (there's a surprise). Still Ryan has nearly 2 weeks to recover from what cannot be much of an injury.

As I said I tend to agree with your thoughts, but it really only needs a few results to go our way and it could be very different. West Ham's fixtures are very tough, Man City can't buy a win at the moment, Liverpool are inconsistent, Stoke are poor at home, and Man u are also very inconsistent. It could be fine margins, but to say anyone that thinks 4th/5th is achievable is hardly barking in my opinion. I think if you ask Ronald he would say that 5th at least is achievable. I don't think he is barking, he may be over optimistic. Who knows after Sunday? That's the beauty of the game and its good to have these conversations, sadly spoiled by the ignorant abuse of one (or two) of the trolls on here who love to ruin a decent discussion.

Feck sake you continue to be a **** don't you.

I'm certainly not suggesting that Pelle's penalty wasn't a penalty (and I don't think Whitey was either, the discussion was why Skrtel wasn't red-carded). The point about the "obvious goal scoring opportunity" was whether it deserved a red card or not. That was what the FIFA presentation was specifically addressing, guess you didn't really read it. You've also missed the point about "obvious goal scoring opportunity it seems. The point is that FIFA (and the FA) have clarified what is and is not "obvious". The word "obvious" is not really the best word to use. As I said we have all seen players score from these angles, but in terms of whether a red card can be given, it is defined as a player running toward goal, nothing more or less. That makes it as close to being a black and white decision as is possible. Pelle or anyone else scoring from difficult angle is a skill, and not "obvious", it would be unlikely for instance that I could score from such an angle* I also think that the Long incident was a clear penalty (but again not a red card). *to be fair I did once score from a similar position with the ball being on the goal line, but the referee disallowed it because he believed the opposition manager, who happened to be leaning against the other goalpost chatting to the keeper who was smoking a ciggy at the time, who told him the ball had crossed the goal line first. But that's my issue and nothing to do with FIFA, but it has stuck with me for over 40 years, my only goal for my village team scored on my debut and it was disallowed, and I was cautioned for arguing, and subbed at half-time. The world is so unfair I guess me doing what was considered highly unlikely is a perfect example of how this is not considered an "obvious goal scoring opportunity"

David, Whitey is completely correct with his assessment of why there was no red card (not that he needs me to tell him that, he is a far more experienced referee than I ever was). I learned a lot from this FIFA document regarding Fouls and Misconduct (Law 12). The last three slides in particular explain how to decide whether an "obvious goal scoring opportunity" has or has not occurred. The critical issue seems to be whether the player is running towards the goal. On Sunday Pelle was wide right of the goal and running directly towards the goal line following the threaded pass by Davis. He wasn't running towards goal, neither was he running away from the goal. He was in line with the limit of the goal area which if I recall correctly is 6 yards (5.5m) outside of the goal post. He would have had to have been more than 6 yards to his left for this to be considered an "obvious goal-scoring opportunity". Of course we all know that a goal can be scored from this position, but the word "obvious" is important and the advice given to referees clarifies this. Here's the presentation document I referred to: http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/afdeveloping/refereeing/7.%20law%2012_miscounduct_557.pdf

I tend to think that you are right that we won't finish 4th or 5th, but people who think we might are hardly barking. It is still very possible, and for precisely the reason that you think we won't do it. No one from 4th down is consistent (even 3rd for that matter). We may just be slightly less inconsistent than Man City or Man U for the remainder of the season. To dismiss the possibility of making up a 3 point gap (to 5th) is just nuts.

Agreed, totally irrelevant if Long moves one way then another, it was still a 2-handed push by Lovren. Not a red card though.