Crazy Diamond

He did indeed apologise, though this was not accepted by the woman he said it to. To be honest, the woman came across as very annoying and acted like some of the billy big b*llcks fans that used to hang around on our old forums. She properly milked it and had people cheering behind her and they then talked over his answers. They need to remember where they are, where they WERE, and who they are. Having worked at the Club, I can tell you for a fact their fans are a strange bunch. If you listen to the programme on iPlayer, you will even hear a fan of 40 years say that his own fans are fickle - a claim which no one disputed. They had a kit launch the season before last, with first team players in store, and two fans turned up. Ridiculous. That was when they were near to the top of League Two.

They are a small League One club at best. That's not trying be a wind-up merchant, that's telling the truth. They may have had their time in the Championship, but even Carlisle were in the top flight once.

Maybe he took the photo. Oh wait no, it was someone with steady hands, it's not all blurry.

I think also Howe overachieved with them. Bradbury has no managerial experience so was likely to be a downer I grant you, but with a stronger squad than last season's and a better manager in O'Driscoll they never made it out of League One (or Division Two as it was then), so can't see them doing it anytime soon. I remember talking to their chief scout (who also left this season) who is a cocky Birmingham fan, on the day Norwich beat the Skates to go up and we'd not long secured promotion after the Plymouth game. Said it'd be years before Birmingham played Saints and they'd beat us easily. Hmm, hope his judgement of players is a bit better! Well I admire his honesty I suppose but then again he did have something to do with Dorchester Town, and look at what shape they're in. If he was totally honest he'd recognise he wasn't really cut out for football and wouldn't go buying into a Football League club! Blake is there because he's related to Mitchell, so says it all really. Steve Fletcher has a huge ego, I bet he loved being the peacemaker.

It's a difficult one to judge really, but I think it's obvious if he left they'd be in the ****. Both sides have done things wrong but wouldn't ever admit it. Yeah, she was ****ing annoying. Talk about milking it. Is it not disrespectful to us, the Club that loaned them players (and continues to do so) and played friendlies with them, to say its a bad thing to be a Southampton fan? Can't have it both names, whatever your name was...!

Definitely. And the fans need to remember their place - there was a kit launch event at the Club with players at the shop and only two or three people turned up. Fickle? Not half. Oh and that's his name, Neil Blake. He's a ****. Rob Mitchell who does commercial stuff down there is a former Saints employee.

It's apparently a bad thing to be a Saints fan. Fine to be a cross-eyed, in-bred, sister-****ging wurzel and a fan of a terrible club then, apparently. The fact they see Steve Fletcher as an icon says it all really. Very simple people.

Steve Fletcher baulks at £4000 a week wage demands. Hmm...

He's not done all that bad a job, since he came in they've avoided relegation to the Conference, paid off creditors, exited administration, got promotion to League One and then for a long time saw the Club challenging for automatic promotion to the Championship. It'll be very different this season though - just look at the league table already...!

He's an odd character. When I worked at AFCB, he forced Eddie Howe to sign some Zimbabwean kid on a short term contract. He was absolutely useless and just some kid he knew of from his charity work. Not sure if it worked out for him but Howe really didn't like the idea. Also met his son who has some position at the Club. Not a friendly bloke by any means. Small club mentality around that place, and one that ensures they will never get back into the second tier.

God how many more times? No. Just no.

Not sure its fair to read into his time at Celtic. Adkins is a great man manager, so he could well be the man to unlock his potential which he must surely have. Hope he gets given time by fans should he sign...

Ha. Good one.

Trivia: One of their main reporters on the sports desk is a big Saints fan. Recently sailed around the world in a Saints kit.

"SOUTHAMPTON striker Jonathan Forte is set to join League One strugglers Chesterfield on loan." http://www.dailystar.co.uk/football/view/208729/-Southampton-s-Jonathan-Forte-joins-Chesterfield/ It's also been 'confirmed' by journalists up there as well. Interesting.

Swindon Town fans react: "The scoreline flattered us, Southampton should have had more, they had Mike Tyson up front he was ****ing huge" "I thought Southampton were there for the taking... If the defence had pushed their line further forward it would have closed down the midfield and put them under more pressure... Didn't think we played too badly overall and were beaten by a far better team on the night" "Saints were very impressive and totally controlled the game, we were chasing but just couldnt get hold of the ball" "Don't think saints needed any help but their second goal came from a cross by a player who looked a good yard off side" "Saints will beat a lot more teams in the championship with more comfort than tonight. Yes they were a much better side than us but they didn't look so confident after we scored, I was worried before ko we were in for a thumping and still think the extra game tonight has done us more good than harm" "Absolutely no shame in losing tonight" "We deserved to lose by at least 2 goals, I don't question that" "First half outclassed and chasing shadows. Southampton were good but we made it easy for them, weak midfield and Kennedy too easily losing his man for the cross that led to the first goal. Smith was at fault for the second goal"

I've been told Clarke had an altercation with the fitness coach, and that caused the scuffle between him and Di Canio. Their fans seem to be backing Di Canio rather than Clarke and the Chairman has said Di Canio was actually trying to calm things down.

Really? Incredible. And to think, the game was postponed due to rioting... Sounds like it very much kicked off at the County Ground anyway!

Good point. I don't think it's the last we'll hear about it though.

Well lads, if you were there, you've just seen Di Canio's last game in management for quite a while apparently!

A colleague of mine in Wiltshire says he has indeed been sacked. Disaster for Swindon though, he'll be owed a big bag of cash and they don't really have it...

It could well do if in the future teams turn around and ask for an outrageous price, knowing we're capable of spending too much when we get desperate. He's not worth £5 million plus. Not by a long way.

Any fans of it out there? I've not read the novel, I generally don't read an awful lot, but I've watched the 80s television adaptation and whilst it can be difficult to follow in parts, I thought it was alright. Not having read the novel however, I can't tell if it's faithful to the plot or is an accurate portrayal of each character or how it was meant to be played out. Gary Oldman is in the film that comes out in September and I can't make my mind up about it from the trailer - one thing that is obvious to me is that he's trying very hard to play Alec Guinness' George Smiley. The voice in particular... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aco15ScXCwA I'll give it a go though when it comes out, other than the Rum Diary there isn't an awful lot film wise I'm looking forward to.

I'm envious that you saw those two in the first place - both favourites of mine. Well, up to certain points. Anything post Ozzy and Gillan for the respective bands I find hard to listen to. Plus you can't really have Deep Purple without Blackmore. If at all. Sabbath did alright with Dio on Heaven and Hell but they were never going to hit the heights of Paranoid etc.

Decent band weren't they? I was sad to hear they'd split up, but I heard one or two tracks from 'Klang' and thought it wasn't worth buying. I saw them at the Guildhall too on the 'Ten New Messages' tour - great album. They were a good live act, first got into them when I saw them warm up for Franz Ferdinand in 2005. White Rose Movement though? Christ...