The Kraken

Having Clive Woodward on board to sit in the background, bring in new coaching ideas and fitness regimes might have been a great idea. Having him run the reserve team was lunacy. And it was clear that the long term aim was to fast track him for first team coach/manager, which was even more daft.

Yes of course. Quite remarkable really just what came through the ranks and then how bereft of graduates we were until Wayne Bridge. Even Bridgey didn't really look like he was going to cut it until he was switched from midfield to left back.

That youth batch was really impressive, and also included some players who didn't make the top grade but made a career for the game in the lower leagues. The likes of Mark Blake, Allan Tankard, Andy Cook. It really was a phenomenal breakthrough of youth players in one or two years.

They're at it over on Pompey Online as well; the amount of seething going on all round is utterly laughable!

Ouch. Play about too much with the line up and we'll come unstuck. Good draw.

Someone lower leagues and at home please. Although if we treat the FA Cup with the same disdain as we did the League Cup then its pretty pointless in any case. Hopefully we'll actually try to win this one. Got a strange feeling that we'll be drawn away to a Premier League team.

If he can he's not really shown it before. At academy level and England junior levels he's been employed more as a midfielder as well as at RB. Scored 3 goals in 6 games for England U17s, seems to play more as a right back for the U19s, a call up to the U21s perhaps isn't too far away.

An excellent performance and he certainly looked like he was given more of a free reign to bomb forwards, he gave us some excellent attacking options while also putting in a shift defensively. I'm still not convinced that right back is his best position, time will tell. But his record at U21 and at England junior levels suggests he's got goals in him.

And there are many of those; I've certainly met many. They were perhaps the most "un-racist" white people I've ever met, their thirst for proper integration was incredible. On the flip side, I've met just as many South Africans (and some Zims) who were still shockingly racist, who have no intention of integrating, who still regular use the term "Kaffir" in everyday language, and in fact who I found were massively proud of being racist and wouldn't countenance anything other than a colonial mindset. It was tyically the Dutchies that were the worst, to be fair. So I can't consider in any way that SA is a United nation. A lot of its inhabitants would like to be one, but I'd say a lot also don't.

John Boy Saint = Jim Davidson Saint?

Yes, I'm surprised by the over-reaction (assuming it was his decision in any case, something he denied to Hagiology). The spat between the club and Benali is obvious, and I'm not surprised at all he's banned from St. Mary's (and while I think that's quite sad I can understand that decision while perhaps wishing it weren't so). However, you asked about the decision to renege on the stocking of the book, and yes, I'm surprised that Hagiology are being punished for being stuck in the middle of the spat. I would hope and expect that a club that is so professional in so many other respects would choose a better option than such an outwardly petty way to make a point.

Was it? Banning Benali from the launch (at St. Mary's) is one thing, and something that SFC are perfectly entitled to do. Reneging on an agreement to stock the book because of the turn of events of the evening is something more; IMO a spiteful and unnecessary action, punishing Hagiology for something that was outside of their control.

Correct. Wanyama's agent wanted a £1M fee. SFC, quite naturally, ruled that out so the agent started whoring the player around to other clubs who would stump up the fee.

Poor old dark munter. Crying that dear old slug balancer Lawro gets paid for predicting stuff. "HE SAID MY SAINTS WOULD LOSE. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"/

:lol: You even spent the time to check!! :lol: Yes, i'm still laughing my arse off at you !!

FF, your dignified silence on this is admirable.

:lol: Good lord. These threads do make amusing reading. :lol:

I always thought you were a bit dim, but yep, that kind of clinches it.

Not often I say this, but Jimmy

Sorry Baz, I can see you must be easily confused. The "indeed" bit was in reference to the fact that you questioned the original number quoted.

I thought I just picked up on a bit of a ridiculous and inaccurate comment from you. Sorry if you don't like it being pointed out that you're incorrect, which you clearly were. Whatever it may "seem" to you about his predictions, obviously isn't quite right. Sorry you find that a problem. Just in jest though.

Last season "his" position had us finish in 17th. So, staying up. And 3 places away from where we did finish. Have another go. Perhaps you're referring to the 2004/05 season? Oh, can't be, we did go down that season. The season before?

We'd be 10th. There's a league table at the bottom of his predictions that show what "his" table would look like. F*ck me.

Indeed. From wiki: "In his four years in the Southampton first team, Shearer made a total of 158 appearances in all competitions, scoring 43 goals."