Chicken With A Banjo

I can imagine it would be depressing for someone who has invested a lot of emotional energy into deluding themselves that a day out and a piece of silverware is a fantastic achievement. However, it is clearly a delusion. The facts are clear, it's just a few wins strung together against mainly second rate opposition. To suggest that Wigans victory in the cup last season is a more impressive achievement then an 8th place finish in the top league, 38 relentless hard fought games, played over the course of a whole season for huge rewards, is in my eyes a massive insult to the team.

Cups are second rate competitions. Portsmouth's route to the 2008 FA cup final Ipswich Plymouth Preston Manchester United West Brom Cardiff Southampton's route to 1976 FA cup final Villa Blackpool West Brom Bradford Crystal Palace Manchester United Wigan's route to the 2013 FA cup final Bournemouth Macclesfield Huddersfield Everton Milwall Manchester City Piece of silverware, big deal. Great day out for a few braindead morons. 8th in the premier league is a far more impressive achievement.

Boruc Ramirez, Fonts, Lovren, Yoshida Shaw, Gallagher, Guly Osvaldo, Sarli, Lambert Subs: Poke Jose Dominguez

If you want to meet with some people locally I recommend you sign up to german lessons at a volkhochschule (vhs) in Munich. Cost is cheap and there will be tons of other internationals in a similar position. Be quick, the new semester will start soon if it hasn't already. Another option is the toytown forums.

Here is another interesting site I have found: http://politicalomnivore.blogspot.de/2012/02/how-do-i-get-paid-to-be-on-line-troll.html

Does anyone here make any money out of the internet and is willing to share their methods? Here's a couple of things I came across: http://www.forumbooster.net/ and the interestingly named Amazon Mechanical Turk: https://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ugM7H4EEKU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[quote=Wes Tender;1792228 When the next election comes around, this episode will largely be forgotten, but what will remain in the back of peoples' minds is something about the Labour leader's dad being an extreme leftie and that there is the possibilty that he might have leanings in that direction too. That was entirely the object of the exercise and as distasteful as it has been, it is a blunt but effective weapon. There is no way this can be described as a blunt but effective weapon. The following comment from the guardian sums it up for me: So, to recap the effects of that Daily Mail article on Ralph Miliband: It robbed the Conservative party conference of the headlines it expected – it was ahead of any of their policy announcements all yesterday in most news bulletins, across most channels. It reinforced Ed Miliband's image, for the second week running, as someone of integrity who stands up to bullies. It secured him sympathy and support from most political opponents. It caused a social media reaction which refreshed everyone's memory about the Daily Mail's historical links with Mosley and Hitler. It even managed to revive interest in the Leveson inquiry's recommendations. All in all, it was the journalistic equivalent of a glorious Stan Laurel pratfall.

The burden of proof doesn't lie with the skeptics.

I would prefer to be a know nothing plastic fan who only takes a fleeting interest in the tedious world of football than one of you ****s.

I honestly didn't start this thread with the expectation that any of you people would perform for me but I have to say Bananaman, even with the somewhat uncalled sleights you threw in there, that was adorable. I wish I could give you a rosette. How about I put you in a special category all on your own as a reward? You can be in the category of disproportionately indignant fans of Southampton task based theatre club. You're right of course, balletomanes and football fans are basically one and the same and I am very sorry that I did not make the extreme relevance of this clear at the beginning of this discussion. I'm sorry to hear that. I wish there was something I could do.

The very fact that you think in these terms; using trashy celebrities and characters from the TV as your points of reference, puts you firmly in the uneducated/working class/stupid/average/disappointing British category of person. Don't pretend that you don't crave the same sense of superior smugness. I would guess half the reason you've set up your own blog is to reach out to a wider less disappointing audience. Football fans are disappointing the world over though, so to increase your satisfaction I would recommend that you move away from the topic of football. Not sure why this topic has been moved to the muppet show, if anything it should have been moved to the main board. Poor moderation.

I have an unhealthy obsession with Southampton football club. I fritter away vast amounts of time reading news articles, reading this website, listening to and watching games. In the past I frittered away money as well as time, but thankfully not any longer. I am proud to admit that I don't spend a penny on the football club. I don't go to games, I don't buy merchandise, I haven't signed up to Saints player and I don't buy sky TV. To me, following Southampton football club is like a shameful habit that I just can't get rid of. I wish the whole ****ing thing was behind a paywall. I'm a 30 year old bloke, FFS! I was too old for this shit 20 years ago. Footballers are grotesque, the whole football circus is grotesque! National pride, pride in the city, taking pride in the useless physical achievements of people I don't personally know is about as pathetic as it is possible to be. To me it indicates stupidity and passivity. I find myself succumbing to these feeling from time to time despite this knowledge and it is always an embarrassment to me. I don't often pick up on a sense of embarrassment from you people though. Misplaced embarrassment about hashtags, foam hands and the clubs transfer policy, yes, but I rarely pick up on an embarrassment over the choices you people have made in your lives that has resulted in your degeneration into football fans. Reading this forum is probably my worst vice. I spend quite alot of time lurking here, yet I have so little respect for the vast majority of you. I cannot believe the number of idiotic posts I have read over the years. I find it difficult to explain why I come here, as said it is kind of an addiction. 1) I guess its because it's free and its about Southampton football club 2) I guess it is because I don't meet that many uneducated/working class/stupid/average British people anymore and I am interested to know what it is that you think about. Your thoughts are always thoroughly disappointing to me but I suppose I get to feel a smug sense of superiority until the guilt and shame kicks in. Some of you are young and can be forgiven for now, but the older ones should take a long look at yourselves. Would anyone else like to share their thoughts on the topic of unhealthy obsessions with Southampton football club?

Pretty sure that's not true.

Yet according to the BBC worthy of a place in the team of the day: Team of the Day - August 17th 1. Asmir Begovic (Stoke City) made 10 saves in this game, equalling the joint-most he has ever made in a single Premier League game (v West Brom on 28/02/11). 2. Steven Whittaker (Norwich City) scored one and assisted the other of Norwich's two goals against Everton today. 3. Jose Fonte (Southampton) made 14 clearances, the joint-most today, as well as a league-high five interceptions. 4. Sylvain Distin (Everton) made more clearances (nine), blocks (two) and interceptions (four) than any of his Everton teammates today. 5. Jose Enrique (Liverpool) won 100% of his attempted tackles and completed 100% of his attempted dribbles as well as collecting a clean sheet today. 6. Ross Barkley (Everton) scored his first ever goal for Everton and completed 51 of the 53 passes he attempted. 7. Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) made 88 passes, only Arsenal's Aaron Ramsey made more today, of which three set up chances for teammates (none for Ramsey). 8. Kevin Nolan (West Ham United) scored on the opening day of the season for the second campaign in a row. 9. Danny Welbeck (Manchester United) has doubled his 2012-13 Premier League goals total in United's first game of 2013-14. 10. Christian Benteke (Aston Villa). His two goals today mean he has scored 16 in the PL this calendar year, at least four more than any other player. 11. Robin van Persie (Manchester United). Since January 2011, Robin van Persie has scored 76 Premier League goals, 27 more than any other player (Rooney, 49).

If you want your kid to do anything worthwhile with her life, I would suggest that keep her away from football and all the ignorance that surrounds it.

It's ok, I'm sure you'll only have to eat it if you shop in poor people shops, like Sainsburys, Tescos, Asda, pizza hut and morrisons.

The club have done far more business than 'only brought in two new players': New contract for Lambert, New contract for Lallana, New contract for Shaw, New contract for Schneiderlin, New contract for Chambers, New contract for Isgrove, New contract for Davis, With the exception of Isgrove all on Long and in many cases expensive contracts no doubt. The club have allegedly fought off strong interest for Schneiderlin, Lambert and Ramirez. Signed Wanyama Signed Lovren. allegedly recouped a large chunk of the Forren money. That is A LOT of business, significantly more than 20 million quid's worth of business I should imagine, and that is an awful lot of exciting talent tied to the club with more rumoured to be coming through the production line. The old saints management would have cashed in on most of that talent to the the likes of Ipswich (Magilton), Everton (Barry Horne, James Beattie), Aston Villa (Kachloul), Blackburn (Shearer, Flowers, Kenna,Davies,Ostenstadt),West Ham(Hall,Berkovic), Liverpool(Crouch),Chelsea (Bridge), Tottenham (Ruddock,Bale), Arsenal (Walcott). A top striker would always be welcome, but I can't see the problem with trusting Lambert and Rodriguez next season with Guly and maybe Mayuka for backup. Rodriguez is a far better player than he gets credit for.

Apologies, I was thinking of this game http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/fa_cup/4703860.stm which to be fair was against premier opposition.

From memory saganowski, rasiak and skacel were all inexplicably left out of the starting line up for long periods of time. Which for some reason was interpreted by some fans as reaching for pipe and slippers. I would love to know the reasons. I don't believe it was because they weren't good enough.

Yes he did. And won save of the season or something.

I thought the reason we went off him earlier in the window was due to a serious shoulder injury he picked up which he won't recover from for quite some time. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2319484/Scott-Sinclair-Manchester-City-receiving-treatment-blood-clot.html

and Ryad Boudebouz

Why are people bothered that the gold sponsors logo doesn't show up well? Personally, I see that as a positive.