Winnersaint

I tend to concur.

Stopping is good (very occasionally and only if you run out of water) Older is definitely good. Wish I'd seen the cycling light earlier, holding on to speed as you approach 60 is a bit of a challenge! Have a pass next year (my 60th year) to the Alps, staying in Huez village two/thirds the way up the Alpe, can't wait. Training starts now, well yesterday. Happy days.

If Everton are prepared to throw enough money at players in the same vein as they did to get Koeman, release clauses will be triggered. If this is backed up by contracts which are significantly greater than those paid by Saints then whoever Everton come for they will get. There is no loyalty in football. Whatever we feel about this approach, whether is ethical or economically sensible matters not. I think Everton have looked at us and seen a quick fix to the top and are prepared to chuck ridiculous sums at it to get Koeman and I fear key playing personnel. Hope I am wrong.

I think a gentleman's agreement can be sorted out between clubs. One such was in place when Brenda left Swansea and involved Joe Allen. An approach from Liverpool was only able to made if a club competing in the Champions League came in for him. Spuds made such an approach to Swansea in 2011 which then allowed Brenda to seal the deal. Convenient or what.

Enjoy! By a quirk of Fleet Air Arm stationing I was born in NI albeit to very English parents (Southampton and Sussex). I only spent six months there well before I can remember, but I will be rooting for the team as I did in 82 and 86.

The 3 Counties Cycle Ride provided a welcome break from the frothing at the mouth and general insanity on the main board. There have been a few sane posts, however (take a bow VFTT) but a 50 mile sportive starting in Bracknell, (Berks) heading out to Christmas Common (Oxon) before a very brief interlude in Bucks seemed like the perfect antidote. About 25 club members from Team Boutique headed off at around 8:30. The pace was crazy and by Binfield I was off the back contemplating a lonely 47 or so miles. Getting caught the wrong side of the lights at Twyford didn't help and by this point only a couple of stragglers were in sight. Towards Sonning two team members were at the side of the road fixing a puncture on one of their bikes which put me back in contact with at least some of the team. A few minutes later a group of the team's lady riders scuttled by and the three of us got on the end of the group. The first main climb on the route is up to the village of Dunsden Green from Playhatch, nothing too steep, but a bit draggy but effectively the start of 23K uphill. Ok it was punctuated by short descents but most is on the B481 through Nettlebed to the top of Pishill. A second puncture stop within the group ensued around Highmoor which was the result of a split in the tyre wall, unusual on Conti GP 4000S IIs, and after a bodged repair we decided that a new tyre was the safest option when we passed through Henley. The bit from Christmas Common down to Stonor and into Henley is quick and once a new tyre had been bought and fitted the only other obstacle was the Flowerpot (pub) climb from Aston Village up Remenham Hill. The drop back to the A4 and then down to White Waltham was a breeze along with the road back towards Binfield. After this we were going back the way we came through Binfield and into Bracknell. My sub three hour target wasn't achieved but my moving time around the course extrapolated from my time for the whole ride was just over 3:10. The club's ladies and a couple of other blokes were ideal riding companions and the former a certainly no slouches when it comes to it. All in all a thoroughly enjoy able morning on the road in brilliant weather. Chapeau the ladies of Team Boutique!

Am I alone in not giving a s h i t?

Kudos duly given. looks like a good few lumps in that Bx16

It always was.

Have no idea why but Darren Gough was on our club social ride this am.

It would leave us with a stadium two thirds full.

Guy from the Sun also said that we'd be the club most likely to emulate Leicester next season. Cundy amazed at our recruitment following Adkins how lucky we'd got with Pochettino and Koeman. They just don't get it!

This made me laugh. "In human body terms Southampton are the appendix. It's there but no one knows what it does and no one would miss it if it's yanked out. Imagine being Koeman and having to manage a club supported by a fanbase that's the equivalent of the Inbetweeners on cocaine. The cringey bastards trying to banter you every week, and the all round scruffy nature of the "city" of Southampon and its people. They're a tragic bunch of humourless titheads who no one is arsed about. We're Everton, Liverpool is our city. There's no debate to be had really. The cruise ships know it. The outside tourists choose it and so will their Eskimo eyed freckle of a bee stung featured manager. If he wink at him he will crawl over broken glass to have the honour of managing Everton and to put distance between him and their mouth breathing southern coast mutants. End of chat."

Good luck with that WSS. Hope it works out, if not it's a trip to the LBS for you. With regards to the Conti GP4000S tyres, I cannot fault them I run them on both road going bikes (as opposed to turbo bike) 23s on one and 25s GP4000S IIs on the other.

Having enjoyed The Last of Us for a week or so as an hors d'oeuvre it finally flopped onto the doormat today courtesy of a pre-order from Amazon. Grown up stuff like teaching children, meant that I had to wait until late afternoon before firing the PS4 up and loading it. I don't want to give any spoilers away but my first impressions are favourable. Be good to hear what others think. Meanwhile it's back to Nathan Drake.

Get well soon.

Bet he turns up in his kit though!

House prices were always cheaper than most parts of Berkshire I would say, but I'm not sure that's going to last much longer and the price differentials have never been that huge. £237000 for a modern 2 bed flat in Easthampstead and £300000 for three bed terraced house in Great Hollands for example. I've worked in the town for the best part of a quarter of a century so it's a place that is oddly close to my heart. A sizeable number of the population under the age 40 may well have been taught by me, and I'm well into the second generation kids now. I've seen it change over the years. When I first started work there it was still very much a New Town with a new town population. A lot of people moved out of south west London and as ever in Berkshire a shed loads of settled travellers. A lot of the kids support Chelsea (inevitably but always been a strong core of Chelsea fans in the same way Stevenage has strong links to Tottenham and Arsenal), QPR and Brentford. Being a bit cheaper has attracted more professional people getting on the housing ladder and socio-economically it is much more 'grown-up' and diverse place than it was 25 years ago, when I encountered very few children from any ethnic minority or from what might be termed 'middle class' backgrounds.

Daft route coming up. If it were me I'd be inclined to go as far as I could up the M3. Come off at Hook and go along the A30 through Hartley Wintney, past Blackbushe to Blackwater, then towards Sandhurst at The Meadows and straight into Bracknell via the A3095 as Napalm suggests. The alternative is indeed more convoluted. At the top of Star Hill out of Hartley Wintney is a one way slip road to Reading which brings you out onto the A327. If you go through Eversley and turn up through Finchampstead Village on the B3348 at the Tally Ho you can follow that through Crowthorne and into Bracknell. A work colleague who currently lives in Southampton and drives daily to Bracknell uses that route.

Upside down shooting in Bill's Town is fun!

Good advice. I also use the same Conti tubes. Schwalbe OK, but occasionally have dodgy valve cores.

The most amusing thing is this thread has gone on for this length of time. M***board gold!

Just left Tess in Capitol Building. Intense and atmospheric stuff. Slightly disconcerted by Nathan Drake's voice being Joel's.

Dembele out for weekend!