The Kraken

Not as big as Tomas Hajto though.

He’s certainly not shit. I haven’t seen enough of him to form a decent opinion, he seems tidy enough but unsure if he’d make a big impact with us. It would all depend on price, and I can’t see that he’d be cheap.

Interesting, thanks.

Genuine question. How was the badge prominent in your support of Saints pre 1973? It wasn’t featured on the kit, or much other saints merchandise. How did you come to be brought up on it? What brought the badge to prominence? I’ve looked via google and can’t see much evidence at all of that badge in practically anything Saints related of that era.

Yeah I agree with that. Just looks a bit clunky.

It’s just lazy. I would very much hope that pretty much everyone would welcome maximum inclusion for all for sports, no matter your colour of skin, so much so that I shouldn’t need to say that. But it’s a natural thing that there are going to be some sports that are skewed one way or the other. Take 100m and 200m running. Due to natural body physiology, black athletes are much more likely to be better at elite leve than their white compatriots. So relay squads are going to be dominated by black people. Then take swimming. Again, due to physiology, white people are much more likely to succeed at elite level than black people. Being outwardly inclusive in either case isn’t going change the laws of nature. Give everyone an equal chance, which absolutely should be encouraged, and the natural levels will rise to the top. Outside of that, you’ve got other ‘athletic’ sports mentioned in the article such as sailing and rowing, which are populated by mainly white people. Why? Well, it’s a very complex answer, but at least some of it comes down to where you are located and having access to those sports. If you’re born in Croydon and are white or black, chances are you’re not going to be a sailor. Those sports somewhat represent their local dynamics, and coastal towns and cities are, basically, quite white. Maybe that will change naturally over the next ten to twenty years, as ethnicity breakdowns in all cities have changed, who knows? Theres some real battles to fight with racism, and while there’s still a way to go, as a country I reckon we are doing ok so far. Some of this seems to me like an exaggeration, and I think misleading headlines with percentages and what not that don’t equate to actual facts don’t help the argument.

Are they? https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/aug/09/team-gb-still-too-white-suburban-sport-england-official Again, the headline says that black people are under represented, then says that 14% are non-white.

Just read that article. The bits below stood out. I must be missing something as it seems like the representation so far is not very far off of that of the general population. In any case, the men’s Premier League has only around 30% or so of its players who come from England so it’s hardly going to be representative of the population, it gathers the best players from all around the world. There are only three non-white members of England's 23-woman squad for this month's Euros and the PFA believes that only 29 out of 300 footballers playing in the WSL are from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds - approximately 10%. That is in contrast to the men's Premier League where it is estimated that just under 45% of players are non-white. In the England men's 2018 World Cup squad, there were 13 players of colour - celebrated as "representing modern, multicultural England". About 13% of the UK population are from ethnic minority backgrounds.

There definitely are some, Palace and Man City off the top of my head. I quite like Bristol City’s new one too. Arsenal and Chelsea tidied their’s up, and while I’m not a big fan of either, they’re imo probably better than their predecessors. But in general I agree with you, far too many badges are worse than the thing they’re replacing. Everton’s was laughable and so bad that they replaced it a season later. The Leeds fascist badge was so bad that it never made it beyond its initial announcement. The Saints badge holds itself because it’s pretty simple in design. The current fashion, if you like, is to clean up and declutter, and despite ours having a few things going on, it’s a pretty simple and clear design really.

Tbf, There’s a difference between educated and intelligent. Though Braverman has been rampantly over promoted compared to her actual abilities. I had the misfortune to meet her a few years ago and it only confirmed my suspicions. After that she went up the ladder and got appointed AG

I’m not. Braverman is horrendously thick and a bit of a headbanger to go with it.

Pretty sure the club never printed the badge on the players shirts until the current design in 1973. Can’t imagine the original was all that well adopted; IIRC it was never even the official badge, just loosely associated. It’s certainly hard to find anything SFC on google that has the badge, it’s not on shirts, team photo, programmes etc.

Correct. Im sure I’ve said this before, probably on this thread. I’m not beholden to our badge, but any move needs to be one for the better. And through all contributions that people make, I have yet to see one that is better than the one we’ve got. Various online polls are done on club badges and ours regularly features higher up in the charts. If someone puts out a mock of a new one that is brilliant then, yes, let’s talk about changing. So the challenge is on those wanting a change to come up with better. Not seen that yet.

Or that.

What is it Jamie? A ball?

Maybe we find out by doing a straw poll of how many SWF female posters are players. I’ve got a hunch Sue might have played once or twice, though she’s a little coy about it so I could be wrong, but perhaps there’s others that play that will push the representative number closer to that 5%.

About that, yes, probably. It seems that Sport Republic were quite open about the fact that we may not need to sell first before buying. Whether they are funding the squad massively, or whether they will offset spending with upcoming sales outward, we’ll see when the window #slamshut.

Vote of no confidence motion denied by the Tories 🤣

Ankersen must have ice in his veins. I played golf in that weather yesterday and I melted. There he is wearing trousers and a hoody. Madman.

Tbf, the club also signed Billy Sharp a few days after signing Lee. But striking options of Lambert, Sharp and Vardy would’ve been quite something.

Some rumours tonight that Labour will follow through on their commitment to push for a VONC in the next few days to get him out immediately. It’ll be quite staggering to see what happens with that.

Presumably only back because the club isn’t being run like a clapped out B&B any more, heady days indeed.

Bloody terrible call. Fortunately VAR cleared it up.

A shame to the see that the women are as good at conning the ref as the blokes are.

Stadium Capacity is reduced to less than 5000 for the tournament, 4400 I believe. And still, the reported attendance was less than 4,000. Its a difficult balance. Northern Ireland are based at St Mary’s and they got around 10000 for their game, around 30% of capacity. That’s a bit rubbish really (in terms of how many empty seats there will be) and a number of other similar sized stadiums won’t get close to selling out. On the flip side, a stadium less than 5,000 is also a bit shit, but if the game doesn’t actually sell out, can you argue with the choice?