FloridaMarlin

Choose a club which has its own proper training ground with good facilities, or risk being asked to train at a navy base where the medical room is a tent? Choose between a club where the academy is well-established and valued as an integral part of that club, or one which is trying to set up an academy almost as a desperate afterthought because it can no longer continue the policy of paying over the odds for senior players? Hmm. Tough choice.

Rickie Lambert out! At 30, he drags the age of that squad upwards. Disgraceful.

Dust your parsnips with finely grated Parmesan cheese. A great way to get people who don't like parsnips to eat them. The secret to sprouts and cabbage is to steam it. The reason people don't like sprouts and cabbage is probably because their mothers boiled the bejasus out of them, and with it the flavour. Steaming them preserves the flavour and makes you realise how tasty they are. It also helps if you add some fried pancetta to your sprouts.

I'm sure Neil 'Dickens' Allen is al too familiar with the case of Jarndyce v Jarndyce.

Why would they need to buy a bit of time? Er...see my previous post.

I'm told by a journo mate that REL (who were effectively going to bankroll the purchase of Fatpipes Park) have developed colder feet than a shoeless eskimo after learning how few pledges have been converted. REL realise they are potentially in it for far more than they realised, are - at the very least - unlikely to see a profitable return on their investment, and are desperately trying to pull out quicker than an over-excited Avram without protection. That was the reason for yesterday's delay, apparently, so it will be interesting to see how that is dealt with.

I think Ohio Saints was referring to a previous chairman. He might have been largely (and perhaps justifiably) unloved but you cannot deny the fact RL did leave us with a modern stadium, a good training ground and an academy that has produced saleable assets. That's what masde us attractive to Marcus.

********. No High Court would adjourn a hearing and give somebody "a signal." The reason it is likely to be resolved by tomorrow is because there are two days set aside for it.

Martin Samuel and The Times pleaded that once when Rupert sued them. It didn't do them any good as it cost them £250,000.

Hate to be picky, but the phrase is "Just desserts," as in puddings and afters. Sorry to be a tool.

That should endear him to a group of players already with a reputation of being truculent. He's running true to form. He goes into a club and his first announcement is how difficult a job it will be ("We can only give it our best shot, that's all we can do), then he slags the players off. That's great for morale as he gets his excuses in first. The players must feel really good as their manager effectively blurts out in public: "I don't give us much chance of staying up, and certainly not with this group of players, who I don't rate." Then we have the announcement: "I'm not going to spend any of the chairman's money in January, he's already spent enough." That's qualified a couple of days later by: "We might need to bring in a couple of loans in January." Stand by within the next couple of weeks for that classic: "We're down to the bare bones," which will prompt a rash of signings in January, mostly his tried and trusted experienced playing lieutenants or others that agents have magicked out of thin air. When that fails, he'll blame the chairman for not giving him enough money, and then walk away. Sound familiar?

I honestly can't remember my first Saints game, although my first memory is the 9-3 defeat of Wolves. Then came the First Division and to ensure I got a spot where I could see me and the old man used to start queueing at 12.30 for 3pm kick-offs. I only have to close my eyes and the memories return, some of them pretty random. My abiding memories of winter games were cold feet. The concrete terraces were cold places, and my feet would be frozen numb. I could generally guage how cold by how far we got up Milton Road and turning on to Bedford Place before the pins and needles signalled the return of the flow of blood. Berkeley Road meant not too bad, Holt Road, meant quite cold, St Anne's School was perishing, while the old Pizza Pan restaurant was Captain Oates territory. I remember not looking when Ron (or was it Terry Paine) took the penalty against Nottingham Forest which ensured our survival in that first top flight season. I recall Bobby Stokes scoring on his debut against Burnley on an Easter Monday. The only time me and the old man left a game early was when we got soaked to the bone at a game against Leicester. Saints were 4-1 down and we were halfway up Milton Road when we heard a roar and concluded that Saints had snatched another consolation, only to discover later we had missed Peter Shilton's goal (Campbell Forsyth blamed the hard painted lines of the 18-yard box for the bounce that took the ball over his head. We always stood at the Milton Road end of the East Stand, where my old man could chew the fat with his fellow dockers. I began at the front, right by the wall, but as I got older and taller, worked my way back to a cursh barrier. When it came to getting out up those narrow stairways, my old man would boost me up so I could scramble my way on to the roof of the tea bar and over the low wall at the top of the stairs. I also have a clear memory of how crowded and packed the streets around The Dell were as the crowd poured away. As I got older, I stopped going with the old man and when I started to play on Saturday afternoons he continued to go on his own. He rarely used to pay to get in as all the gate stewards were dockers who liked my dad (he was a foreman in the docks) and would open the gate to let him in. When I was a kid he loved taking me to football, and I loved going with him. When he got older I was able to return the compliment and take him to games. My dad died three years ago and I miss the old bugger every day. As Blokes, we don't really feel comfortable talking about our relationship with our fathers. At the risk of sounding all Nick Hornby, it's only as you get older that you realise the special bond between father and son and how important a role football can have in sparking and nurturing that bond.

Bad news, I'm afraid, the Top Rank Suite is no longer there.

I think there are more than a few teams involved. There's always one team that goes into freefall and although they had a good start, I don't think West Ham will be safe from danger. The fixture list was as kind to them as it was harsh to Saints and they have a run of fixtures now against teams in the top half. They lost to Spurs, they lost Man Utd and although there was a goalless draw with Citeh tcked in there, I think their bubble will burst. On Tuesday night, four teams around Saints - Villa, Reading, QPR and Sunderland - managed one goal between them. It's not an infallible yardstick but Saints really did look better than all of them.

My son is at Oxford doing a Phd, albeit four year later than he should have been (the nitwit). He had the qualifications to get a place at Oxford to do his degree, but like others on here, wasn't entirely comfortable with the Establishment nature and vibe of the place. He got his BSc at York (a Russell group) uni and his Masters at Nottingham. He then reaised that he owed it to himself (and his talents) to go to one of the best establishments. Obviously, when it comes to PhDs we are talking research money (his field is genetics) and universities and Oxbridge Colleges roll out the red carpet to get researchers in, and the money they can bring in. That meant he had several colleges and professors coming to him and pitching their wares, as opposed to the usual interview dynamic. As somebody who was very anti-establishment four years years ago, he now realises the networking possibilities of going to Oxford. I've mockingly called him a sell-out, but already he is realising that to get on you have to at least go along with the Establishment, even if you don't necessarily want to be part of it. When he comes out in four years time with Dr before his name, and PhD (Oxon) after it he knows he can pretty much go anywhere and do anything he wants. And if he looks the part in a white waistcoat and bowtie and sub fusc, even better.

Nice contribution for his parent club, as well. Four bookings in five appearances while on loan, so he'll be copping a suspension soon and not be available should they want him. Typical p****y attitude. Borrow something, break it, then send it back as faulty goods.

The Balfour Declaration, whereby the British government set out the desirability for a Jewish national homeland in the middle east, was made in 1917, so the premise had been around for some time before WWII. Obviously the Shoah exacerbated the desire to set one up. A lot of the land on which the 1948-borders Israel was built was (legally) bought from Palestinian effendi landowners who were more than happy to sell to Jews, with little concern for what might happen to those of their own kind who were living on it.

I always try and keep out of this row as I have rellies out in Israel and as such, people automatically brand you. The whole issue with Israel and the Palestinians (especially Hamas) is that of recognition. While some Palestinians do recognise Israel's right to exist, certainly Hamas never has. While at least one of your neighbours feels you shouldn't exist, you are always going to feel vulnerable and threatened, if not paranoiac. Especially when they lob missiles into your back yard almost on a daily basis. And while the world has obviously had it brought to its attention the fact that Israel has attacked Gaza, what doesn't come out is the above. The Israelis who live near the borders have to contend with almost daily missile attacks. Because they have been relatively harmless, they're not news, but the rocket attacks into Israel have been going on now for at least a couple of weeks. The problem is that when the Israelis decide to retaliate, they tend not to do it like for like, but they take the kid gloves off. Most people would accept they have a right to respond in kind. Their problem is that they chuck the kitchen sink in when they respond, as they did last time in Gaza. I'm sure it's not a coincidence that Hamas feel more confident in having a go since the Egyptian general elections. The Muslim Brotherhood are now in power, and such are the machinations of middle eastern politics that this might have been engineered by Hamas and the Palestinians as a test of Egypt's new government. There's always an element of 'Be careful what you wish for' in the Middle East, and while we in the West heralded the Arab Spring as the dawning of democracy in former dictatorships like Egypt and Libya, those in Israel feared that the downfall of dictators would create a power vacuum that would inevitably be filled by extremists. The fact it happened relatively quickly in Egypt in Libya made the west realise that Syria could be next, which is why not too much is being done to topple Assad, other than make respectful noises about what a terrible man he is. Most Western governments now realise that if Syria falls to extremists, that's when the lid blows off.

Their disciplinary record might well suggest they already have nasty as one of their attributes.

Er..no it's not. After the West Ham game he spoke to a journo mate of mine and another hack. He collared them in a quiet corridor, away from the rest of the press and clearly had things he wanted to get off his chest (but very much off the record).

If you believe there is a clause in Lambert's contract which says he will always be the highest paid player at the club, then Ramirez's wedge would not be the cause of Lambo's demeanour.

Yes. Apparently.

You've got to go to the Sixth Floor Museum in the Texas Book Depository. West Belt line Road, north of the city centre, good place for eats.

I think you'll find he's merely sat on an invisible flying carpet. I also like the way Everton have managed to cram all of their players into less than a third of the pitch.

"Originally Posted by PES Yes, I think that's mostly correct, I could not care less if this led to us being booted out the league. It's more than that, it's a battle for our club, if the league deems that the punishments for foreign owners using the club as a vessel to extract money legally and otherwise out the country then fine, should the circumstances prove similar to other clubs thrown out the league (examples?) then sure, do it FL. IF the fans can oust these criminals and win the club back then all the 'good' people who helped build the club over its history's effort will not of been for nothing, Portsmouth we retain it's history (earned and passed down by Jimmy Dickerson, Jack Tinn and all those boys in the old grainy black and white photographs) and people like Mike Hall and the PST and even Durr-brains like me, riding on their coat tails, will be able to proudly say we saw off the criminals, paid off some of the debts (dont forget the fans themselves have already collected thousands to pay back the charity money owed) and took the punishment for THEIR actions, we all know THEY will not be held accountable WHATEVER the final outcome, but if we can save the club from their clutches I can live with that, it would only enhance my enjoyment of being Pompey. But first we have to get the club back and as you can see some people are fighting very, very hard." Oops! If you're going to cite the club's glorious history at least know how the name of your most famous player is spelled. FYI, it's Dickinson, and it's his image on the seats at the Farton End.