Whitey Grandad

Then he's not watching the ball as he strikes it, and he's not keeping his knee over the ball either. For me, he doesn't do enough movement to pull the opposition defence out of shape. There's too much hands on hips and drooped shoulders and he's flat-footed most of the time. Watching players like Earnshaw and Doyle recently should have been a lesson to him. They covered every blade of grass.

Like most businesses it's too much trouble to change the pricing structure so most of them just swallow the increased margin and say something like 'it helps a little to offset our rising costs'. It was a truly ineffective and costly gesture.

I've played beach football in the West Indies - it's an absolute killer. Mind you, weighing 16 stone doesn't help either.

Better. Don't you think that Beattie & Jones are bit too similar, perhaps?

That midfield is very week, and it has been ever since.

But next season's tickets go on sale soon. Who's going to renew if the price is going to drop later? It's the same thing with the British economy. It's called deflation.

Have you been to one of our home games?

That is sad news. I spoke to him a couple of times after matches in the Dell car park and he is a true gentleman. My last memory of him was at White Hart Lane after whe had been well beaten (3-0 I think) and as he left the pitch he had one last wistful look around the stadium, knowing that it was the last time that he would play there. Please pass on all our best wishes. Once a Saint, always a Saint.

Good point. It could be that from the middle of the pitch the ends and the sides look the same. That would explain why we play the ball sideways and backwards so much. If by any chance we make progress towards their goal then it's purely random.

I'll take that as a no, then...

But if somebody else had been playing instead might we have had more points?

Chdajfu?

There's a book to be written someday about the politics at SFC and Stoneham would fill a large part of it. EBC spent a lot of time, effort and money looking at the project - ask Roberto Tambini - but basically the fear was that the project would fill the 'strategic gap' between Eastleigh & Southampton. Once one of the corners at the M27 junction had been filled in then the other 3 would soon follow. Added to that studies had shown that after the final whistle it would take 2 and a half hours before the last car had left the car park so the planned size was reduced (from 6000 cars to 3000?). The Pirelli site in Eastleigh would have been a good choice but football fans have a reputation that would scare anybody away. I seem to remember seeing 14 options for a site but the Gas Works suited everybody. I would have preferred the TOYS 'R US option but I read somewhere that it couldn't be used because it was reclaimed land, presumably meaning much deeper foundations. I personally believe now that St Marys is a good outcome but the whole waterfront area really needs some major investment. Paul Allen anybody?

Nah, it's just a job. oops, that's blown it.

It's what he does for us that matters. Anything else is irrelevant.

Branfoot for me. Not just for the 'football' but for not playing Le Tiss and depriving us of what might have been. We nearly 'lost' the two goals against Newcastle and I remember Moody at Highbury when Le Tiss was sitting on the bench. On the other hand, so many season ticket holders had given up because of him that I was able to get two prime seats in the Upper East stand. I don't hate Wigley or many of the others, because it wasn't their fault that they were awful and I don't blame them for having a go.

It suited both clubs at the time. You can't hang on to a player when the 'big' clubs come knocking. It's something that we are just going to have to get used to, I'm afraid. We've done our fair share of poaching players from 'lower' clubs in our time.

Wasn't it 'Western Connection' ?

When it says 'is tipped to go marching on' I wonder who did the 'tipping'?

Thanks for that, it brought tears to my eyes. :smt022

The great Ivan Golac bought his house in Chandlers Ford at the same time as us so we lived in the same close as near-neighbours for many years. His daughters were a similar age to mine and one was in the the same class at school as she so we often had time for a chat. I remember once we were talking about a managerial vacancy at Saints and I expressed surprise that he hadn't applied. He said that he had sent in a letter of application but that the club had not even bothered to reply, which disgusted him. Who knows what might have happened with him in charge? We once talked about defending corners and he said that he liked to leave three players upfield because then the other team would have to put four defenders on them.

After an evening's refreshments at a certain hostelry in Romsey, Peter Shilton insisted on driving home in his shiny Mercedes despite the pleadings of the regulars who implored him to take a taxi. "Safest hands in the world, these, safest hands in the world" he repeated as his car key scatched all round the keyhole. (allegedly )

My memory is of him skinning Jap Staam at Old Trafford to score, and wining the ball back and crossing for MLT to get the equaliser at 3-3.

Great! Let's play nine games and if we're lucky we might win one of them.

Oh dear.