Rut

Mate - if that comes in I hope to see you in Indiana for a few pints - and you're paying!!!! On Stan James it pays 6046.52 for quid (1,209,304.69 for 200). I've had a sly tenner on it. If it comes in then we'll split the beer tab. Only doing this cos I couldn't decide what bets to do for the season. You're a bit of jammy sod sometimes so why not - I'd rather lose a tenner than cry if it did come in and I hadn't backed it! Everyone reading this - you know you should put at least a quid on it.... It's gonna happen :-) (if they all come in bar Saints then I will wear a Pompey shirt for the day - ok praps a couple of hours - ok praps 20 mins - ok I'll just put one on for 5 seconds - in a dark room with nobody else around)

Nail on the head I'd say. Most threads do seem to have multiple postings by the same 10 or 20 people. Even if this isn't statistically true then that is what a lot of people think about this forum - 'It used to be good but now it's just the same old handful of people throwing handbags at each other on every thread'. I read quite a lot of other team's forums. It is the same on a lot of them. There is some stuff worth reading but it's a bit like shopping at 99p store. You have to weed out a hell of a lot of crap to find something good. It was not just this forum that went into a flap because we didn't beat some lower team 10-0 in a pre-season friendly. Each team seems to have it's major drama queens calling for the managers head because his players didn't tackle much away at Working Man's Club Rovers in the middle of July. It's 2010. It seems to be the way it is nowadays. Representative? Slightly.

LOL - I didn't notice that. Fair play to that horse!

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2010/07/27/liverpool-fc-fans-banned-for-four-years-after-attack-on-man-utd-supporter-100252-26936807/ The difference is obvious. The Scousers were just having a friendly kick about. Scousers are a laugh a minute so of course they didn't mean any harm. Watch the video from this site and spot how friendly they are compared to the Saints fans who got jailed. The Man Utd fans who got attacked each got 3 years inside. Guess it serves them right for causing so much trouble.

I think the Belfast's Runnin' Riot sum up Alex well in this song. An alcoholic hero. ALCOHOLIC HEROES © Runnin' Riot He’s the greatest player the world has ever seen Geordie we love you the crowds all scream But Geordie doesn’t care what the crowds all think Is it near full time then I’ll get some drink Chorus 1: Geordie, Geordie, Geordie, the fans all sing Geordie, Geordie, Geordie, he can do anything Geordie, Geordie, Geordie, he could have gone far But Geordies too fond of the bar He’s the greatest player the world has ever seen He’s Hurricane Higgins king of of the green Alex doesn’t care what the crowds all shout He’s gonna pot the black then he’ll get some stout Chorus 2: Hurricane Higgins the papers say Hurricane Higgins he could go all the way Hurricane Higgins he’s never a loser But Higgy's too fond of the boozer Bestie and Higgy they’re part of folklore Geordie and Alex they know the score You can take them out of Belfast and give them loads of loot But you’ll never take away their Working Class roots Chorus 1 Live youtube of the song: Great band, great song.

Awesome

http://www.rebellionfestivals.com/index.php?page=bands Best festival of the year by far. Great lineup of classic & new Punk & Oi bands - along with tons of weird and wonderful stuff on the the Bazaar & Acoustic stages.

Just put a bit of the Upstarts on. Good to see (yet another) Punk anthem from the late 70's/early 80's standing the test of time. As for this bloke not getting done? Course he didn't. He's Old Bill. There are the law (and therefore above it). As the 4-Skins sang - 'One law for them - and another one for us'. Guess what? Another Punk athem that....

Just wait for the new season and the 'back from the game' threads. 100 posts in the thread. 90 of them from the same 10 people - none of whom were actually at the game.

Just let the manager throw a 'red thing' onto the pitch by the 4th official. The game carries on as normal until the next stop in play. The 4th official then lets the ref know that the manager wants the play reviewed. Depending on the outcome play is either taken back - or the game carries on as it was - simple. One challenge allowed each half. This and a great big digital clock that is controlled by one person. It is all they do. It starts at 45.00 and counts down to 00.00. Each time there is a stop in play the clock stops. It would stop all subtle cheating by players trying to take time off the clock. Take as long as you want with that substitution, roll around on the deck for 10 mins - we don't care - the clock has stopped. When it hits 00.00 that is it - no time to take a free kick or corner (as per the rules of football!). Again - simple. Neither of course will actually happen. The 'big' clubs would hate any extra fairness creeping into the game. They are very used to being 1-0 down and being allowed to take a corner 2 mins over time etc etc.

It's interesting reading other teams msg boards. This is kinda typical (Millwall): http://www.independentmillwall.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=99767&st=0&sk=t&sd=a Southampton to win League One is not questioned at all. For those who think our odds are way too short then just how much are you laying us for on Betfair? I bet not a single penny. Put your money where you mouth is or STFU. For those who took the 4/1 on us when the 1st odds were published - fair play! I hope you HAVE laid us on Betfair - easy money!

No way. Met Malc at football and then used spend many a lunch time whooping his ass at pool at the Imperial Club in Eastleigh. For those that didn't know him then don't turn this thread into what happened at Maze Hill. That is ancient history and it is well documented what a lot of us thought about the whole thing. Not the time or place. Regards to his family and his close friends who knew him a lot better than I did. RIP mate.

Mail me and I'll let you know who else is going to be there with me (a couple of people off of this board). I think we better not talk about politics. If we do then you best promise not to bring any guns along - ok? Got a few bars lined up but most of it will be 'see what happens' - apart from the Saints game at 1pm on the Sunday. Should be a good weekend - looking forward to it.

Yeah will prob end up at the game. Shame they just won the SB cos looking around now tickets are harder to get at a decent price. Can't you go back to being sh** again? Will be staying in the Garden District from Thurs til Mon. You up for giving us a bar tour one night/day? Some good off the beaten track ones if you know any would be cool. Drop me a line: rut66 (at) yahoo (dot) com

Good shout there. When was the last time the favs all won the qualifying groups? So many people accum up the favs and think they are buying money. T'ain't that simple though. As an aside just how much must the bookies be up already in this tourny? England 0 Algeria 0 must have been an absolute skinner for them. Then today's CERTAIN DRAW wasn't - even those not believing it would be fixed were mainly backing Mexico! A 2nd road accy of all the favs to go through? Gotta be done ain't it! It is after all only 8 teams...

I think most people are missing the point. Nobody is saying that those involved should be given a medal and held up as heroes. What they did was stupid. If you throw a coin into a crowd of people you should get punished. What a lot of us are thinking is how harsh the sentences are compared to similar (or way worse) crimes that are carried out away from a football ground. For me mugging an old lady of her handbag (with or without physical violence to her) is a way, way worse crime. Do this as your 1st ever crime and you'll probably get sent to some Butlins holiday camp to get 'cured'. Not sent to prison for a year. As the Dead Wretched sang all those years ago - 'No Justice'. Commiserations to the family and friends of those 1st time offenders who wrongly (in my opinion) are now behind bars.

October even.... You knew what I meant!

Not me or you George! Hey - should be down in New Orleans in Sept on the weekend of the Panthers home game. What is your email? Would be good to sort out a pint or 10.

The mighty CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) marches on! This is where USA, Mexico & Honduras qualified from (35 start in it - 3 qualify - 1 goes into play off with South American team - Costa Rica lost to Uruguay). USA & Mexico do suffer from a fairly easy qualification route but it's not a total 'walk in the park'. They do have to be able to play a bit to get through. Good to see Mexico do a number on France. Will be interesting to compare USA v Slovenia tomorrow. If USA play well they will win easily - trust me. It ain't always that simple though.... Tournament is warming up :-)

Still feeling confident at half time? I get to see quite a few Mexico games. Sven-Goran Eriksson managed to screw them over badly. Since he has left they are playing with a lot more flare and are a good team on their day. Don't read too much into their struggle to quality - most of the defeats were under Eriksson. The 1st half showed they are no mugs. Have France got another gear? They need to find it if they do...

ZZ had the right idea: (I love this clip!!!)

The funny thing is watching the South Africa v Mexico game you realise just how clueless those idiots blowing those plastic trumpets really are. They managed to totally nullify any home advantage South Africa may have had. Imagine if they just blew em when the other team kept the ball for a while, or if their team had a corner or shock, horror - a goal. It would probably be quite intimidating then. But nope - just blow the fn things for the whole 90 mins. ie there was a close handball by a Mexican player. Normally you'd hear the home crowd bellow out HANDBALL!!! putting some pressure on the ref. None of that from South Africa though... Their loss.

Very careful... Those trumpets things ruined the recent Confederations Cup over there. They will ruin many a game in the WC as well. 'The Sun' encouraging them. After 2 weeks worth of that endless drone destroying the atmosphere of many a game will those clueless cnts still wanna be associated with them? Probably. After all the kids can now go to football and have fun seeing who can blow their plastic thing the loudest - they won't have to worry about the game and they won't be able to hear the nasty chants from the crowd behind the goal. BTW wasn't sure it was serious about The Sun getting involved. This video seems for real though (from Sun Football on FB): http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=119028024805221 You've gotta be kidding me? Right? Aaaaaaaaaaaaarrgggggh.

Nice link. Thanks. Good that it includes the day of the week and come the quarters none of this 'game 47 v game 41' when the previous games ain't actually numbered!

For those in the USA (and UK? does this site work?) then most of the games are going to be shown live online at http://espn.go.com/espn3/ The streams are excellent. Will be handy for anyone watching at work. A clear schedule (in ET) showing the USA broadcast info is here: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/fixtures?cc=5901&ver=us As for the hype? What hype? Where I live about 2 people even seem aware it is on. I've found one shop in the whole of the area with any WC stuff for sale (including an Ireland shirt - seriously!). It may pick up once it starts but I can't see that happening to be honest... Those celeb quotes from the link above - they would probably sound quite sensible compared to the replies you'd get from a lot of people round the Midwest USA. I used to hate the over-the-top hype in England where every old bag suddenly becomes a football fan but round here it is just a bit too far the other way! The other week some college basketball team from 70 miles away did well in a tournament and the local sport is all about 'what are your plans for the big game' etc etc. USA v England in the WC live on terrestrial TV on a Sat afternoon? Not a thing.... Not one single mention yet... I guess it may be different in other parts of the USA but round here it definitely is the American cliche of 'Soccer tournament - what soccer tournament?'.