The Kraken

I agree with the moral standpoint of it, of course I do. I just wonder if the argument is based upon the fact that footballers are seen as role models, and an ex-con is a poor role model. The idea of footballers being role models is just not a concept I agree with in the first place. Barring someone from a job just because it's high profile isn't enough justification for me. I think a lot of the argument for it is that people want the punishment to continue by him having to work in a less glamourous job.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one; but I think a lot of the ill feeling is caused from a sense of injustice just concerning the amount of money that players earn, and how it's considered an "easy ride" of a job. If he's not allowed to work as a footballer, what jobs is he entitled to apply for? And who makes this determination?

Hmmm, an interesting question. I'm going to suggest that it might have happened before, yes. I can offer no categorical evidence to back up my claim though.

I really don't see how that analogy holds up. Yes, there are Academies but King is not in charge of them. He just works in the same place as them. If he was a football academy coach then I could probably understand it, as he's on the sex offenders register. But as a footballer, I really can't see how by any lawful means he could not return to his job. There's the obvious moral issue of it all, of course, but that's an entirely different thing. If a football club wants to employ him, I don't think laws should be there to stop this.

I totally agree with that; from a moral standpoint I'd have hated for Saints to sign someone like Marlon King. Unfortunately most clubs do not operate like that and are prepared to put aside their morals in response for potential success on the pitch.

I'm not sure I understand your analogy and how it's relevant to football.

As if that's going to stop the usual bedwetters throwing their toys out of the pram and claiming our season is in freefall when we fail to win a couple of games in a row

I'm not sure I understand the argument that convicted footballers shouldn't be allowed back in the game. So long as they serve their sentence handed down by the courts, they are deemed to have suffered their punishment and they're entitled to a career afterwards. Yes, the game is awash with money so it doesn't sit well, but they have every right to return to their previous job role.

I don't think you have to be Freud to realise the bloke is scum. Besides, I'm not sure of your argument that you have to actually know King to be able to make a judgement on him. I'm not sure since when that's been a pre-requisite for starting to form an opinion about someone. If you want to give him the benefit of the doubt, fine, you do that. No-one is stopping you. A lot of others, however, look at his rap sheet and see a certain picture developing of the type on individual he is. I'm not so sure what's wrong with that, if I'm honest.

It's got nothing to do with eggs. It's got everything to do with the fact that alot of people think the man is complete scum. You say to forgive and forget, but it's a bit difficult to do that when the bloke you're talking about seemingly has no intent of changing his ways.

If someone could only ressurrect THAT thread about the statue unveiling. Comedy history. Cracking post CB Fry

"King has convictions for 14 offences, dating from 1997. He received fines, driving bans, community service sentences, a rehabilitation order and orders to pay compensation on convictions including: theft from a person and from a car, criminal damage, and attempting to obtain property by deception; fraudulent use of vehicle licence document, driving without insurance, speeding, drink driving; a wounding incident while playing amateur football, and two cases involving assault of young women rejecting his advances in the Soho area of London." I'd suggest that the odds are pretty high on the man re-offending at some point in the future; and he has enough form to be mocked for past indiscretions IMO.

The problem with that is that there are still some (I don't need to name names) who STILL believe that a fan on the board is needed. I'm all for the club engaging with the supporter base more often; I don't think it happens enough at the moment and the removal of the fans forum is a backwards step in that department IMO. But the whole notion of extending that to a supporter on the board is unrealistic, unnecessary and just a recipe for disaster; in my view at least. It was a bad idea back then, it's still a bad idea now.

If you're going to stick to songs that are 100% accurate there's not going to be too much left to sing! You can get rid "we're by far the greatest team the world has ever seen". And my dad doesn't own any firearms, so "get your father's gun" is out.

Without wishing to go all MLG, Porto have had a far bit of success domestically and internationally. Notwithstanding winning the Portuguese league 63 times, prior to winning the Champions League with Jose they had previously won the European Cup once, UEFA cup once and Cup Winners Cup once. I accept of course they're not the footballing powerhouses you mention; but it's not as if they're a footballing backwater with no previous form. Just don't think it's the best analogy, is all. Anyway, it matters not.

Really? Porto have rarely been outside the top two of the Portuguese League in the past 20 years. Yes, Mourinho's efforts in Europe were a brilliant achievement, but domestically they've dominated (winning the league 15 times since 1990).

I think so! The immortal quote: "Ian has done a tremendous job. It's very rare I'm lost for words but I saw the statue last week and it's awesome - a tremendous tribute to a great man. Fans have waited a long time for this and it's fantastic." :lol:

There was; the organiser dude saw the finished thing a few days before the unveiling and gave it a massive thumbs up Fan on the board would have been a ridiculous notion and would have served only to satisfy the ego of one of the usual publicity-hungry suspects; thankfully it came to nothing.

It's an awesome start so far. Still keeping my feet on the ground though, Leeds are the only team we've beaten in the top half of the table. There will be much tougher tests than we've seen so far; full credit to NA and the team though, the goals scored is quite incredible (especially given that we only have 2 fit strikers).

More to the point, in the absence of Barnard, who on earth would we play instead of him?

Just imagine the photographer. "Now, could you scowl a little bit more? That's better, you look nice and miserable. OK, big nose at the back, if you could just squint your eyes a little bit more to make it seem like you've been crying, that would be great". Dicks.

Most?

I'd have thought this one was pretty self-explanatory. The Echo are Southampton's local newspaper; therefore, as a consequence, a high proportion of its readers are going to be potential customers of the football club. Any news story in the paper is in effect a marketing tool for the club. Therefore, the more exposure in the paper the club receives, the more indirect marketing it is performing. Take the recent Markus Liebherr friendly day at the club; it was very poorly attended, and received very little pre-exposure in the newspaper, except maybe for a mention the day before the event. IMO it was an opportunity missed not to get onside with the paper and run a feature of events over a number of days leading up to the day. I bought the Echo in the whole week leading up to it, not once was it mentioned that there was all the children's activities going on outside the ground. As a result we got a very poor attendance, when in like for like fixtures in the past (Ted Bates trophy) we've seen much higher gates. The Echo is a much more powerful marketing tool than some fans on here realise; all potential fans simply don't log onto the OS every day/week for their fix of Saints information. So to shut the local paper out is short-sighted IMO.

Ronney Rosenthal won't score many goals IMO.

This. £6M plus was being talked about for Maynard and Rodriguez, and Rickie is much more important to us than either of those two would be. RL completely dictates the way we play, and while perhaps not reflected in the transfer market he's worth much, much more to us than £5M in the bank IMO.