Crazy Diamond

My mate Jack did that.

Sarcastically bringing it up is going to do the world of good isn't it?

Not looking good I'm afraid, from what I heard last night. Could well be a case of stopping midway through the season.

It might have been all the way back when we played Peterborough when I noticed Nigel and the guy, who we now believe to be Lee, posing for photographs in the tunnel, which tells you how long we've been working on this and how good a job we've done at keeping it quiet.

I bloody told you I saw a Japanese player at St. Mary's! Get in. I'm ITK.

Yoysoy is a good bar near Alexanderplatz, run by a friendly Irish dude. It's a decent place really, can't really think of any don'ts.

Well, was the Championship as strong last year as it is this year? Don't think so. West Ham, rejuvenated Middlesbrough, a brand new Cardiff, it's going to be tough regardless of how we do. Still, as I previously said, let's just keep winning and see where we end up. It's Nigel's philosophy and it's not done us any harm so far.

The rule about no stuttering run ups for penalties means nothing to this man! Then again, it means nothing to anyone. Wish FIFA would crack down on it.

It's all about perspective. Given where we are, and how long we've been there, not getting promoted will be a disappointment. As would not going up automatically, surely? Spurs this season similarly will be aggrieved if they don't get a Champions League spot. Last year they were saying that a Europa League place was as good as it was going to get. As daft as it sounds, the ambition should be to just win as many of our games as possible and see where we are at the end of it. Forget everything else. It's down to us.

I'm informed we were in for Neymar, until Cortese saw his hair and decided his attitude wouldn't be right.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq_u3CBhrUM&list=UUha1eHFRGMFJfSBbFL_P_yQ&index=10&feature=plcp "(The win) could very well be a defining moment" Nigel, how right you were.

And yet CH4 kept showing it long after Gazza had gone - they were still doing it a couple of years ago with Mark Chapman. As for a 'small albeit hardcore following' I'm not so sure about that, and I genuinely believe it's a great loss. The only complaints I've heard of with the FLS are the timing, which I think is better than ITV's Saturday morning slot on the whole, and the studio. There are worse studios out there, so I'm not going to buy that argument. Compared to what ITV offered, the FLS is an absolute revelation. I remember in our first season out of the Prem we played Millwall at the Den. The cameraman found the sight of planes taking off from City airport more interesting and overall it was just f*cking abysmal. Remember Djamel Belmadi's finish after that fine passing move against Plymouth? We saw literally the ball arrive at his feet and him put it into the back of the net for 'highlights'. It was a ten, perhaps more, pass move! The BBC may never be able to compete with Sky, but they gave it a good try and did well in my opinion.

It wouldn't interest Channel Four. I'm still scratching my head as to why they did the whole Italian football thing even now. You're probably right though, are any of the rights holders getting value for money?

Having an interesting Carling Cup tie for once - Leon Clarke and all that scuffling with Di Canio at Swindon!

As I have said on MANY occasions, if we're going to sign anyone, it'll be a name we are not familiar with. Did we see De Ridder coming? Did we see Hooiveld coming? No. This news is neither surprising or interesting. Time to move on.

What about... Winning at Barnsley and thinking 'Haaang on. An away win at a place like this? Having luck in games? This could be the start of something special...'

It was about 1.4 million when it began in 2009, not sure where it is now. I imagine it's less than that.

Since it changed from live to pre-recorded, the emails bit had to be dropped. It's also just a way of saving time. It wasn't a case of it not being a success or not. Either way I was glad it went - Lizzy Greenwood-Hughes (who was really ****ed off to lose the spot, I should add) spoke way too fast, made too many errors and the whole section was just pointless. In my opinion, the BBC did good in just getting the contract to begin with. When it was first announced we were all quite taken back by it after Sky's years of dominance, and to have that handful of live games too? Incredible. Having been to the set I can tell you that the BBC have very little say in how it looks, it's ESPN/Disney's studio after all.

They wouldn't do that because they know they'd be picked up by a competitor, which is a massive slap in the face. Look at the fuss when Ian Wright left - no great loss, he's an absolute tosser and added nothing to the programme. It's very naive for all these people in the press to say it's facing the axe mid season I ought to add. The BBC wouldn't let it happen. These things are planned for up to a year in advance, it is extremely unlikely that they would run out of money like that. That and the fact they'd be well and truly in the **** with the Football League for not getting the highlights broadcasted.

The BBC were gutted enough to lose the F.A Cup, they've not got the England games and now probably no Football League. Not good for them.

At the very least, ITV haven't been mentioned once. If it went back to ITV, I wouldn't watch it. Terrible.

Beating West Ham, that was nice. Biggest crowd at SMS, fantastic atmosphere, Hooiveld heads it in to the roof of the net just before half time. I've never felt so relieved at the full time whistle.

Right, I'm involved with the Football League Show, and here's how I understand it. Negotiations are ongoing regarding the BBC getting an extension to their current contract. That's been happening for a while. It's unlikely the BBC will be able to afford it though, and they've already made cutbacks to the programme as it is. Forget the fact that they couldn't do two programmes over the festive period, the programme is no longer shown live in order to cut back on operating costs, it's pre-recorded in the Chiswick studios belonging to ESPN/Disney. Next year the BBC are rolling out HD on absolutely everything, which includes the cameramen and women that do the games, and it's not cheap to change them from digi-beta cameras to HD. So it's looking likely that the BBC will lose out and all the coverage will go to Sky. Sky will then, to compensate for Sky-less people like myself, put free highlights online. We're facing two scenarios - it stays how it is, minus the handful of live BBC games, or it all goes to Sky, who will do free online highlights to appease those of us without access to $ky.

Used to work there! Great post Mr.Scott

Took the plunge and bought a second hand 1984 kit Saints side. Box is a bit tatty but not too bothered. If its yours, thanks!