Turkish

on how long into the England v Algeria game it is before the commentator says something along time lnes of 'this is the biggest night in Algerian football history' or 'this is the biggest night in some of these Algerian players lives' i'll go for 32 seconds.

On a serious note, i agree, however i wasn't that hopefull of signing him when i heard Forest and Boro were interested as they both have a reasonable chance of playing premier league footall sooner than we do. Plus gingers stick together, so he was always going to prefer to join boro.

You are correct, first win that season was a 3-2 home win against Blackburn, then Sturrock got sacked and Alan Hansen said we look like a team that was going to struggle, naively i thought he was wrong and we'd sort it out.

Is he that good? THe times i've seen him play not been that impressed i dont think he is a championship player. Whats he like on football manager?

bet you couldn't believe your luck when you started going grey.

Perry Groves was ginger and probably one of the worst players to ever wear a Saints shirt.

Nicky Bailiey, the ginge we were in for from Chalrton that everyone was wetting themselves over a few weeks ago.

For £1.5m. Deal to be done next week apparantly. Shame good player, but not that much of a shame as he's ginger.

He probably had a look on here and saw all the moaning. In any case,wasn't the plan always to try to get up in the first season and at least make the play offs and then in the second season when Wilde and co had got all this investment they promised add two or three extra players of quality to make sure we went up? Thats how i remember it anyway. I bet he didn't bank on having to sell his three best players and losing Lundekvam who was in decline anyway from that season and replace them with frees and loans.

cry baby.

But its not Burleys fault he was given money to spend! Blame the board for that, ANY manager, will want to improve the team, buy what they think are better players. You can criticise who he bought but you cant blame him for spending the money that the board authorised him to spend. Like it or not we were very close to a PL return, knocked out on penalties to the team that went on and went up with Leon Best scoring the most spectacularly ridiculous own goal you'll ever see.

OKay, thanks for the pedantacism (is that a real word) he didn't pick the team that night, i know, even if he did you could hardly blame him for the shambolic performance given he had only been there a day, which is one of the worst i can remember. However it was still his first game as manager. The point is we were awful and Pearson improved us.

I'm not saying Pearson didn't do a good job, i remember well his first game against Plymouth, lost 0-2, could and should have been 0-6, we were woeful. But overall Burley didn't do as bad a job as everyone makes out, he didn't spend the money, he told the board the players he wanted and then the board transact the deal, its not his fault we we got in debt every manager worth their salt will always want to improve the team and spend money made available. The players we had that season Surman, John, Safri, Skacel, etc should never have been in a relegation battle and under Burley they weren't, they were midtable. Add to Burleys record taking a relatively small provincial club like Ipswich to a fifth place premier league finish and Europe, 4 (?) play offs, an average scottish PL team to top of the table when he left, no he hasn't won anything, but not may do.

He wasn't that bad!!! When he left we were midtable, by the end of the season we only stayed up with a win on the last day and the season and Pearson was branded a hero by some for that, season before one kick away from a play off final. Give any manager money and he'll spend it, he only identified the players the chairman agrees the contracts, Ewells bonuses FFS!!! WIth the boardroom battles going on at the time i think any manager would struggle in those circumstances.

You get too worked up Stu, i was going to get a season ticket this season, as there is no installment plan i'm not, i'll just buy per game, as i have done for the last few years, makes no odds to me either way, i'll still go to games. In some ways it better not to have a season ticket, you can sit where you want, if you cant be arsed to go then you do feel obliged you go because you have allready shelled out for a season ticket. I think people seem to think there is some sort of status associated with having a season ticket, that it in someway makes you a better fan and they have to have one, like they have to have a new kit not only that but have to have it on the day it comes out, then announce it to the world on here, that they queued from 6.30, did this that and the other. How often when you ask someone if they are a Saints fan do they reply 'yeah, season ticket holder' when a simple 'yes' would do? You have a choice to go to games or not, if it doesn't suit you or think you are being fleeced, dont go. Its not like fukcing council tax which IS a rip off but you've got no choice but to pay it.

I dont agree, for once the club and I it seems shares the view that i have held for a long time that what goes on on the pitch is more important than anything else. More important than burgers, pies, beer, radio stations, half time entertainment and pandering to the whim of every one that will always find something to moan about. Decent players, playing decent football and actually showing abit of ambition and try to win something, if we have to pay a bit more for a bit of quality then i am all for it, thats why i buy my clothes at Sakks and not primark.

working- what i have been doing to be unable to reply to the above, which by no coincidence at all, not what Jelle Van Damme is doing, as he is on a mid season break.

U - upset, what Dave Benson Phillips seems to be with the continiation of the tenuos A-Z threads

S - Stampdee, what Jele Van Damme would be caught up in if he was in the serengeti when a herd of angry elephants all ran towards him.

N - Numb, what Jeele Van Dammes mouth would be shortly after a trip to the dentists for minor dental surgery.

M - Multichannel - what Sky package Jelle Van DAmme probably has.

Kryptonite - what Jelle Van Damme would have a weakness too if he was born on planet Krypton and was sent to earth by his parents in a small spaceship earth when the planet was destroyed.

jam- possibly jelle Van Dammes favourite topping for topping for his toast or alternatively one of his two favourite bands, which contain Paul Weller singing and song writing.

I - Irked, What Jelle Van Damme would be if he went camping for the weekend and was trying to get to sleep and a fly or wasp got stuck in his tent, he couldn't find it due to the dark and the buzzing kept him awake all night.

H - Hilucinations- What Jelle Van Damme would have if he took acid or any other hilucinagenic drug.