FloridaMarlin

No need to convince me. Le Tissier was treated shabbily by a succession of England managers.

I was always amused, bemused and slightly annoyed by the media love-in for Sheringham when Venables picked him for England. Although Sheringham had no pace, that didn't bother the London-based media as he didn't need it. He had a needle-sharp football brain which allowed him to find space by standing still while the maelstrom stormed around him. He didn't need to track back or tackle and win the ball, there were other players in the England team to do the spadework. Their job was to win the ball and give it to Sheringham, who would make the team tick by playing in the hole and pinging the ball around. The problem was that what were seen as positive qualities when possessed by Sheringham were criticisms of Le Tissier, and the very reason he was a luxury player and could not be risked at international level!

Are those people chuckling and chortling at MoPo's post-match presser and smirking at how he treated Ray Stubbs' questions with disdain the same people who criticise the manager for keeping silent over his future? That's what Ray Stubbs was trying to draw out of him. Asking awkward questions of people is what journalists do. Strangely enough, they do it on your behalf because they are in a position to do so. Stubbs would rightly have been slated if he hadn't asked those questions which are on everybody's lips and which Saints fans wants answers to.

Didn't see that, it's answered my question as to whether it was official and sanctioned by the club. In his previous guises at other clubs, Les has been known to go off half-cock and do and say things off his own back. I think it would undermine MoPo if he wasn't aware that Reed was spouting off that he (MoPo) was not in control of player acquisition.

I hope I'm not missing anything, but it doesn't appear to be on the club website. Does that hint that it might not entirely be made with the club's sanction, it might not be an official statement and that Reed has decided to do this unilaterally? If I was a cynical person, I would say Reed has done a good job in attempting to scent-mark out his territory. "I am responsible for transfers, I’m responsible for contract negotiations and all of those board level football matters that the club is involved in," he says. Does MoPo know Reed has said this? Is the statement made with his blessing, because it does undermine MoPo's role somewhat. Perhaps I am getting cynical and reading too much into it but this seems to be a statement aimed at KL as much as the fans.

Apart, of course, from the fact that cocaine is a Class A narcotic and as such, it is an offence to possess or deal in it in this country. It could also be argued that cocaine is performance-enhancing.

Nope, sorry, just don't buy that. Having c*cked up with Moyse's appointment, United will want to make amends and show they are still a world power with a statement marque managerial appointment. As good as he is, MoPo is not that.

Marianne Faithful and the Mars Bar?

The main issue I have with Martin Samuels' article is that he assumes the reader knows how the FFP rules work, and offers no explanation to those who might not. He maps out the effects it might have on Saints, without explaining how the rules will affect those clubs the FFP rules are designed to curb - Citeh, Chelsea - whose owners have just bought success without paying even as much as lip service to the development of young players. I would have liked Samuels to speculate how clubs like Man City and Chelsea will get round the FFP rules - which they will. Football has become much more venal since the advent of the Premier League, but not just in this country. I'm old enough to remember the great Ajax sides of the 1970s, who conquered Europe with a team composed of home-grown players (with the one or two foreign players permitted then). But what are a great club like Ajax now? Little more than a feeder club. I've long made my theory known about where football is heading - a Kerry packer style schism with the big clubs hiving off, sticking two fingers up to Fifa and forming their own TV-sponsored World Super League to compete with and undermine the World Cup. A previous poster mentioned the Far East market and it's the vast still largely-untapped Chinese market which appears to be the focus of the efforts of clubs and organisations like the Premier League. The clubs hold a lot of power and want more, as power = wealth, and the big clubs are heading for a showdown with Fifa. I would not be surprised to see in my lifetime, the World Cup and continental championships reduced to second-rate competitions. The Far Eastern hordes are not interested in national teams, they want to be able to parade their Man Utd/Liverpool/Chelsea/Barca/Real Madrid shirts through the streets of Beijing and Shanghai.

It's always something of a surprise that more pro footballers AREN'T implicated in drug taking. When you think about it, their profile of young men, with lots of disposable income to indulge expensive habits, a fair degree of leisure time, and needing a means of filling the void in down time between the intense highs of match days (we've all seen Claus Lundekvam's accounts of that) fits perfectly with recreational drug users. And when you consider the farce that is drug-testing in football is, it's no wonder few footballers are caught. Football is one of the few sports reluctant to sign up to the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) code of conduct. Most people associate drug-testing in sport is aimed primarily at performance-enhancing drugs, and when you consider the way that swimmers and track & field athletes are tested, you realise how football gets off lightly. Swimmers and athletes, for example, can be drug-tested at any time out of competition, and that means any time. The drug testers can knock unannounced on a swimmer or athlete's door at 2am and ask them to take a test. If they manage to avoid three tests, it's tantamount to refusing to provide a sample and they risk facing a ban (Christine Ohuruogu anyone?) In contrast, football's drug-testing is farcical. The deal Sport England (the drug-testing agency) has with Premier League and Football League clubs is that they can only test players during a training session and post-match. They have to give the Premier League and Football a list at the start of the season of which clubs they will be attending and when, and they can only test those players present on the day. This makes it easy for footballers to avoid detection. As you know in advance when the testers are coming, you simply make sure your coke-fiend star striker is not at training that day. As coke and other recreational drugs can flush through the system in 36 hours (apparently) if he manages to lay off the stuff from Wednesday onwards, he should be clean if picked out for a random post-match test at the weekend's game. Sad to day, it is true that in the drug-testers' fight to clean up the game compromises are made, as somebody in the anti-doping camp once told me. The drug testers would obviously love to expose ALL drug takers, especially the high profile ones to set examples, but the Premier League have their brand to protect and that would prove tricky if big-name players were constantly being nicked. Football would pull the plug pretty quickly on what little co-operation exists between football and the drug-testers if they exposed big names and whenever players are exposed as recreational drug users they tend to be from lower league clubs and are expendable in the bigger scheme of things. So while Andy Carroll's injury was no doubt genuine, there have been instances where players have tested positive but a compromise agreement is made that he takes a proscribed time out to recover from an injury in return for the drug testers' silence.

It also shows they have a half decent squad of players which has badly underperformed. That should not be a surprise considering the money that has been spent on it compared to other League Two clubs. #livingbeyondtheirmeansagaintosavetheirnecks.

Apparently Danny Welbeck has a brother who is an army bomb disposal expert. His name is Stan. Also, Beyonce has discovered her real father was Roy Castle. But she has decided not to use his surname.

But don't forget, the H/LNW individuals are fans too. Just that some of them aren't fans of p****y. But hey, once they've sampled that 'special atmosphere' (insert own punchline here), they'll be won over, just like all those players who loved the club when they were playing it, and love it now, so long as they pay what's owed to them.

Solent Uni don't put the barriers down on their car park on Saturdays on the East Park terrace entrance. Get in there early enough and park all day. Nobody minds.

You might be able to explain something. Why is that so many people from Poole are Saints fans? Is it something to do with Poole regarding itself as a seperate entity in the Dorset connurbation and supporting Saints as a form of protest? The first Poole-based Saints fans I ever met was back in the old days of standing under the East Stand at The Dell when Saints first got into the top flight. My old man got talking to these guys who used to come up from Poole every home game, and said they would never go and watch Bournemouth. (One of them worked at Poole Pottery and used to bring up a piece of the pottery's wares every home game as a little thank you for saving a place for him. I kid you not, my old man eventually had a full Poole Pottery dining set, and some majolica vases, all now vintage 60s and 70s pieces which are worth a lot of money). But since then, I've known and worked with loads of people from Poole who support Saints. And that's not to mention the fair few Saints fans in Weymouth.

If you love your kids, it never ends. I have every reason to be in the "Let them stand on their own two feet" school as my parents never bailed me out - but that was not only because they weren't in a position to do so but also because I have been lucky enough that I never had to ask them to do so. I never really expected any sort of inheritance from my parents. I expected them to - and was more than happy that they did - spend what money they had in making their twilight years as happy and comfortable as possible. I've been lucky - aided by a fair amount of ability -that my wife and I have always held down good jobs. We're nicely set up and own a four-bedroomed detached house in a very desirable part of the country (which is our nest-egg), run a new car and have two holidays a year. That's not me boasting. We will both have to work until we're 67 and that might not leave me much time for a cushy retirement. I come from working-class stock and still regard myself as solidly working-class, even if the Daily Mail and other arms of the media would regard me as having the trappings of middle-class. But ours has been a lucky generation, in many senses. We've both had the good fortune in coming through various tough economic times unscathed, and unlike many others, we've never experienced redundancy and never been out of work, so have always been fortunate to have two incomes, which is why we are in the position we are now. While I have been able to work for everything I have, I fully appreciate a twist of fate -an HR bod putting a tick against my name instead of somebody else, an accountant's red pen drawing a red line through an unprofitable arm of a company - and things could have been vastly different, so I never take what I have for granted. I look at what I have got and I sometimes feel guilty at how little my parents had to show for all the work they put in. Then I look at my kids and see how tough they might have it. On the surface it all looks rosy. My daughter has a fairly-well paid job in London and my son is completing his Phd at Oxford (yes, he's that bloody clever). But until such time as her other grandparents die or we do, my daughter is not going to be able to save enough for a deposit on a property anywhere near where she works, while my son will emigrate to either the States, Australia or Canada as that is where the leading, cutting-edge research is carried out in his field. We willingly helped them our kids out when they were doing their degrees in the knowledge that doing so would enable them to get the qualifications they needed. And although - as a result of that - both my kids look very well set, I'm acutely aware that at any time, one of those cruel twists of fate I mentioned above, could strike them. At such time, of course we would step in. They are both adults now, in their mid-20s, but they never stop being your children. While they are adults and have to live their own lives, they also have to know that you will always be there for them. That doesn't make us a soft touch and a convenient safety net for them if they decide to be irresponsible and profligate but if it gives them some sort of security that we are always there for them I'm happy with that..

Contrast and compare with the reaction on this forum and among Saints fans in general when news broke of Alan McLaughlin's cancer. They really are nematodes.

I've got his mobile number.

He's doing a half decent job at AFC Portchester. Pretty much his level, but p****y might still have trouble prising him away.

"Weldon, who has been unemployed for three years after the cafe she worked in closed down," Looking at her, I wonder why? "Miss Watts added: ‘This is not a benefit fraud that has allowed her to live a lavish lifestyle. As a family they live hand to mouth.’ Miss Watts also said that Weldon had recently been caring for a sick aunt in Turkey' How does this work?

Pah! Tinpot trophy which p****y would never want to sully their trophy cabinet. That's why they deliberately made an early exit in the years they've played in it. They might well think the same about the FA Trophy if they are in that next season. Why on earth would they want to reach Wembley in the same competition as Gosport did?

Where are the blue-shirted heroes/villains? They all seemed to have disappeared rather quickly Among the two most enthusiastic celebrants there are Mick Mills - a victim of p****y's decision to abandon their youth system - and Fareham-born Steve Moran who never even featured on their radar. David Armstrong looks happy as well. I remember Spike telling me that although he had played in Tees-Wear and Tees-Tyne derbies, this was the one he enjoyed winning the most.

Jack Whatmough. Absolutely schooled by Sam Hesketh, 2:50 in. The kingpin of a defence that conceded seven, with the centre forward he was supposed to be policing (Sam Gallagher) scoring three. The phew have been asking for their youth team players to be given a chance. He is living proof of how good their youth set-up is. You have to love the way they think Neil Warnock will come to their aid after turning down the Forest job.

A well-reason, intelligent post from the thread on the Fansonline board entitled; "Put the club up for sale." "My own view is that we're too big a club to be fan owned. It's ok for aldershot Bournemouth etc but not for a club with 30,000 potential crowds." No delusion there at all, really. 30,000 crowds? FFS. I reckon they hate Bournemouth now more than they hate us. In all the arguments between us and them as to who is the biggest club, they've always been able to derive some satisfaction that they were bigger than Bournemouth. Bompey's status as a stable Championship club has relegated them to third club in Hampshire (I'm sticking Bournemouth in Hampshire for the sake of this). When they look up at the league tables and see Bournemouth way above them, it serves as a jab in the ribs with a pointy stick to remind them how far they have sunk.

So presumably the 2,000 or so disgruntled residents who signed the petition immediately become Villains. How can that be on the Septic Island where EVERYBODY supports p****y? No doubt, they are feckin' scummah sleeper cells, lying under deep cover and in disguise as hard-working shopkeepers and owners of small businesses fearful their livelihoods will disappear under the weight of the retail giant cuckoo that's just about to flop down in their nest. As their names will be known from signing the petition, surely these villains can they be rounded up and thrown off the island.