FloridaMarlin

Poor old Mike Neasom must be spinning in his grave. He was a great local paper journalist, who would have asked all the right questions and given the answers straight to the phew, right between the eyes, whether they found it unpalatable or not. He probably would not have been able to prevent the current shambles, but he would have made bloody sure that it was fully documented and reported and those responsible were - at the very least - embarrassed to the tips of their ears. It's probably a result of falling newspaper sales, a desperation to cling on to the readers they have and not risk upsetting or alienating anybody, but there is very little in the way of investigative or hard-hitting journalism in local papers these days. You can't entirely blame the individual reporters, they just follow the editor's policy (and often the editor follows diktats from the parent company or owner). So if it's the paper's policy to soft-pedal, keep the club onside and spoon-feed happy-clappy stuff to the masses because the truth would upset them and drive them away, you can't entirely blame reporters for dishing up pap if they want to keep a job. This isn't a defence of Neil Allen or The News, who appear to find it difficult to be objective in their reporting. It's a trend across provincial journalism where fear of losing advertisers has culled a lot of investigative and campaigning journalism.

There used to be a New Zealand cricketer called Bob Cunis. John Arlott once described him live on air as: "Cunis...neither one thing nor the other."

How can they pledge to put home-developed talent at the core of their future development? I might well have missed something, but wasn't it part of the trust's plans to scrap the academy?

Chaps, you'd be wasting your time with Cat Deeley. She is a woman in sensible shoes. Ever wondered why she never married and you will periodically see articles in Heat and other mags with poor Cat explaining why she is still looking for Mr Right to come along? All these blokes she dates are the female equivalent of 'beards'. She's been living with a female television producer for a long time, well known for her fondness for tweeds and brogues.

The only big surprise is that it is women coming out to complain. Most of the stories I heard about him involved young boys.

Swindon are going well and will take a few. That will give an unrealistic figure to the gate, although at least these days you get the number of the away support to reveal the real truth.

Take your time and have some overnights between SF and LV. We have stayed West side of Yosemite at El Portal (as its name suggests, at the western gate to the national park) and spent the next day crossing Yosemite. If you want to spend a couple of days in Yosemite (and why not, it's fantastic) there are hotels in the park. They can be a bit pricey, but use your website (Hotrooms.com, Lastminute.com, Expedia.com) for deals. I don't know when you're planning to go, but the snows to come early and they do shut the Tioga Road pass across the park - and it is a big detour if the road is closed. Check out the Yosemite Park website (http://www.nps.gov/yose/index.htm) which details of road closures. Depending on what speed you want to go at, once you've crossed Yosemite you might want another overnight stop on the east side at somewhere like Mammoth Mountain, which is a ski resort in winter. This sets you up you go into Death Valley. You must go to Death Valley, it's an amazing place. First time, we went there in the height of summer (August) and it was 124degs at Stovepipe Wells. The Furnace Creek Inn is a bit more upmarket than the Furnace Creek Ranch (and more expensive). Again, it depends whether you want to potter around the park for a couple of days, or pass through. From Death Valley, it is a relatively easy drive into Vegas. It's 275 miles from LV to LA and easily drivable in a day, although you can stay at somewhere like Barstow or Victorville. Universal is a good shout in LA, although if you've been to Universal Studios in Florida you might be a little disappointed as the Florida parks are bigger. However, the California Universal does remain truer to its movie roots. If you want to do a theme park, Knotts Berry Farm is the best all-rounder, and Mrs Cordelia Knott's Chicken Dinner is the best meal deal at any park (in fact, locals go there just for the meal without visiting the park itself). Kmotts Berry and the two Disney parks (Disney's California Adventure has taken some stick, but I liked it) are in Anaheim, which is a 30m drive from central LA. It's worth spending a day in LA driving the length of Mulholland Drive, the road across the top of the San Gabriel mountain which provides all the iconic views of LA. Finish your drive at Griffith Park Observatory. It sounds shallow, but it's worth spending a day at one of the big galleria shopping malls. Shopping may not be your bag, but if you want to see how Angelenos regard the epitome of the American Dream and what drives the US economy, just have a wander round. LA is a vast, sprawling city, covering roughly the same area as Belgium. But driving in the States is rarely a chore. The distances may be huge, but the roads are good, the radio stations are always wacky and there are always interesting places to stop off. My best bit of advice would simply be to spend as much time as you can before you go on the net, doing as much research as possible.

You should read The Men Who Stare At Goats, By Jon Ronsson. It was made into a film, but the book is better and looks at the US Military attempts to harness the paranormal and new age concepts. Funny, ridiculous but also scary that high-ranking military brains are prepared to go down this route.

One for Dubai Phil to chase. In Spain for a few days, and last night they showed the Spain v Saudi Arabia game on the box. The game wasn't up to much but my eye was suddenly taken by the electronic pitchside advertising. Every 15 minutes or so, up popped adverts for "Suleiman Al Fahim" I couldn't read it as I was in a bar, but it was "Suleiman Al Fahim, your XXXXx partner." Are we talking the same Al Fahim here? What has he popped up doing now?

Does he know?

I bought Darren Anderton's guinea pig for my kids. It's long dead, now. I've got a little collection of bits and pieces I've built up. They include former 400m world record holder Butch Reynolds' baseball cap (signed), a couple of signed baseballs, a T-shirt signed by Michael Johnson, Iwan Thomas's vest number when he won the 1998 Commonwealth Games 400m, an England cricket batting helmet worn by Robin Smith, a West Indian batting helmet worn by Brian Lara.

Did you read the whole comment? I'm not advocating Adkins is fired, in fact I think he's the right man and should be given every opportunity to prove himself. But our chairman may not think so if we lose a few more games. Why bring it up? Sorry, I could have sworn this was a platform for debate. Why did the OP give the thread such an ambiguous title?

When I saw the thread title I thought it was going to be about Di Canio, who will be in the frame if/when NA is fired. I'm not advocating NA is fired, by the way, I think he deserves a chance to show what he can do in the Prem, having dragged the club up through successive promotions. But a bad start will not do him any favours. Bloody hell, could you imagine the electricity between Di Canio and NC? You could probably power a town the size of Winchester off it.

If they travelled up on Friday they would have had an overnight stay in an hotel. How much did that cost? You can bet they didn't have to shove Lenny Henry out of his bed in the Travel Lodge, or whatever chain he advertises. And the reason the trip on Friday took nine hours would be because they had several stops; lunch, tea break. Even in bad traffic, it doesn't take nine hours to drive from the south coast to Carlisle. And the coach would not have been a Shamrock & Rambler charabanc. Their credit might be shot to pieces, but you can bet there's a coach company out there somewhere who will provide them with a luxury coach. Don't shed too many tears. Besides, you have to question Djilali's fitness if he had a spasm getting ON the coach. You could accept it if he had a spasm after being cramped and locked in the same position for nine hours of a gruelling trip up the M6. But getting on? As Rallyboy eluded to, it was probably his pro footballer's pride and ego which went into spasm as he looked for a reason not to have to board the bux.

And all this for an academy that is going to be scrapped in 2014-15? Apropos playing the kids. The contrast between Saints and p****y on this issue tells you all you need to know. p****y fear they will not be competitive if they are forced to play youth team players, and whinge that they must be allowed to sign senior players. Saints have no fears in giving a 17-year-old his debut against the reigning premier League champions. A 17-year-old, who would probably have been part of their academy, if they had the foresight and long-term view to set one up, instead of spunking all their dosh in winning a cup they couldn't afford. Like images of your gran and granddad having sex, it's not a thought you want to enter your mind, but I wonder what Appleton's view might be if Saints offered JWP to him on loan. "Here you are Appy. Here's one of England's bright young prospects, with a bit of Premier League experience, forged in the white hot arena of battle against the Premier League champions." Appy: "He's too young, he's not good enough. I need to be able to sign more players like Williamson. Can I have £60,000 to outbid other clubs, please?"

Lawro's "He will never go to Southampton" was pretty much a throwaway line, which happened to be a lucky guess. Lawro doesn't have much of an inside track these days. He's only as good as the knowledge his researchers feed him. Don't ascribe him too much knowledge. As a pundit, he is paid to respond to questions, and just struck lucky with this. As for Nixon, he's more likely to have his ear to the ground, although questions need to be asked if you can trust his information. Although a freelance journalist, he's a shareholder in Paul Stretford's former agency. He hears lots of agent gossip, and is fed a lot of information with the intention of planting it into the media. For this reason, a lot of newspapers don't use him. He gets a lot of big stories right, but he gets just as many wrong. People tend not to remember the ones he got wrong.

Just look 18 miles east to see what a football man can do to a club when he is given licence to spend. It's interesting to listen to some of the early season stuff spouted from manager's mouths. I bet there is not one manager in any division who, when asked the question, says: "Actually, I'm more than happy with every player I've got, I don't need any more." Every manager will always want more players. It's not in their nature (or remit) to give a tinker's cuss about the financial implications. In the self-centered, coccooned world of self-styled Football People, that's somebody else's responsibility.

And so it begins.... The similarity and timeliness of the articles in the Mail and Guardian are no coincidence. The national media were all given the opportunity yesterday to interview Appleton (a friend of mine was among those summoned to take part in the blub fest). Thus, in the washing machine of truth cleansing (or money laundering, take your pick) the spin cycle has been switched on. Amid the serving of tea and buns, Appy was wheeled out in his hole-filled gardening cardie, his raggedy trousers out at the knee, to not even pat back the softest of questions, but to deliver a pathos-filled homily with the intention of providing the assembled hacks with the opportunity to produce the most heart-rending literature since Uncle Tom's Cabin. The Legend of Plucky P****y is about to have new life breathed into it. Standy by with the sick bags.

If nothing else, the Echo printing the views of a fruitloop/ITKer (which they are quite entitled to do) won't have done much for their prospects of getting their ban reversed. They might not be the Echo's views, but Cortese doesn't take kindly to the paper giving malcontents and nay-sayers a platform to air them.

Depends on the journalist. Get the right one and he'll keep you entertained with anecdotes and gossip all evening. Most people I know nearly always try to invite a journo if they're hosting a dinner party. As for Rod Liddle, as has already been mentioned, he's paid to make controversial comments. It's of little substance and really nothing to get bothered about.

The record for the 1995-96 season. http://uk.ask.com/wiki/1995%E2%80%9396_Portsmouth_F.C._season Didn't exactly pack the park against Oldham, Huddersfield and Grimsby. Average attendance that season: 9,406. Lowest home attendance: 6,002 (v Oldham) Highest: 14,434 (v Derby) The following season saw the arrival of Terry Venables, who bought the club for a nominal £1. Fresh from Euro 96, Venables arrival was supposed to herald a new era for the club. You might want to look away now. Average home attendance: 8,857. Lowest home attendance: 5,579 (v Southend), Highest home attendance: 12, 841 (v Manchester City). This in a season where p****y reached the FA Cup quarter-final and finished three points shy of the play-offs in seventh place. Work took me to several games at Fratton Park during those times and for anyone to say that p****y fans do not boo their own team has a very selective memory, or is deluded. The vitriol directed at Fenwick and Venables at times was quite shocking.

"Pompey always dig in. We DON'T boo our players when they don't meet our expectations" I take it you didn't watch them during Terry Fenwick's reign. The only ones that didn't boo were the ones who voted with their feet, 8,000 crowds in the second tier.

I wasn't a particularly a big fan of his music but a few years ago became interested in his story, mainly fuelled by the controversial Albert Goldman biography. My fascination has grown and I read pretty much anything I can on him. Obviously a lot of it is rot, and you have to largely decide for yourself how much is true. But among all the crud, there is a compelling tale of manipulation, exploitation and ultimate tragedy. The character in the Elvis Saga I find most fascinating is his manager Col Tom Parker. Amid all the conjecture and ballyhoo, what probably isn't in doubt is how he was manipulated and exploited by Parker, and stifled as an artiste. Elvis was probably capable of so much more. Went to Graceland a few years ago on a Pilgrimage To Tacky Kitsch Tour for my missus who wanted to celebrate a landmark birthday by doing the tackiest thing she could do. It really is a weird place. It's disturbing to think there is a considerable number of people out there who view Graceland as a Redneck Lourdes, and the place is full of clearly terminally ill and very sick people who think that touching Elvis's grave will cure them. You could only describe the house itself as Whorehouse Chic, and it is disappointingly not as big as you think. Premier League footballers live in bigger houses. We found ourselves constantly giggling at some of the 'objets d'art' and the grungy decor, and were rebuked on a couple of occasions. Graceland is a bit soulless, and you get a better sense of Elvis and what he was about at Sun Studios. Although it is very touristic, you can still get some feeling of the agic that must have crackled in the air when he laid down his first tracks for Sam Phillips. Perhaps as I've got older, I've become more aware of the heritage of his music and what it means today. Whether you like it or not, his early music was ground-breaking. All in all, I find him a very compelling and ultimately sad figure who try as he might, was never really in control of his own life.

I doubt it, Fred is as tight as two coats of paint.