stevegrant

Ah, yes, I do remember that. I think that was Brian Bennett, can't remember exactly what was said, but the response from Jim Hone (I believe) was basically "don't care what you think, you're not even a season ticket holder". He wasn't banned, refused entry to a game, or anything like that though. Just a childish putdown via a club statement. Interestingly, the club is using the same PR advisor as it did in the Hone/Hoos era...

That's quite the accusation without divulging any facts to back it up...

Not that I'm aware of. I know Richard Chorley was banned from St Mary's for a while, although can't remember what that was for.

Why not ban StuRomseySaint then, who ran two coaches to Wembley, and it would be fair to say he didn't pay for them out of his own pocket. Last time I checked, we live in a (relatively) free world where enterprise is encouraged. What "negative remarks"? I can't remember anyone (other than perhaps Tony Lynam) being in any way disappointed with the takeover So what? Football club supporter in "supporting the football club" shocker. Don't know. Have you asked him? Was there actually any money raised from it at all? It didn't seem particularly well-supported at the time. Comments that have been echoed by hundreds of other people? IIRC, there were quotes from numerous people in the Echo when the ST details were released. If the reason was a genuine one - and for all I know, there may be a genuine and appropriate reason - why would the club not at least tell Nick himself why he has not been allowed to buy a season ticket this season? It would seem as though he (and others) have asked on numerous occasions, otherwise he wouldn't have seen fit to get the Football League and IFO involved.

One way of putting it, I suppose.

Worth bearing in mind that the recommendations (and that's all they are at this stage) refer only to domestic use, so pubs still won't be able to show 3pm kickoffs...

Seems somewhat unlikely...

Not at all... after all, the description of this part of the forum is: "General discussion area for all non saints related topics to be discussed sensibly. Infractions will be issued to those abusing this forum". Now, where's that infraction button... No I haven't read it, I can't be arsed reading that part of the forum as it's generally populated by mongs like you.

Congratulations, as well as being incredibly bigoted, you're also impressively ill-informed. Lump them all together, let's just call you stupid and be done with it. Seems much easier. I am intrigued as to how you've come to the conclusion that SHE got Keys and Gray fired (and I know Keys officially resigned, but let's face it, he jumped before he was pushed), considering it was somebody WITHIN SKY who leaked the recordings, and she has not given a single public comment on the issue and has tried to remain out of the spotlight as much as possible - how match officials should be. She decided to make herself unavailable for two games (one where she was due to run the line, in League Two, the other where she was due to referee in the Blue Square North) because, in my opinion (an opinion Mike Riley, head of the referees organisation, shares), she realises football should be about the players, not the officials, so to avoid a media storm, she decided it was best to try to let things die down a bit before returning. Dunno if you've noticed (you almost certainly haven't, considering you probably think that a woman shouldn't have a job unless it's cooking your ****ing dinner), but officiating at the highest level is actually a job for which she will be (reasonably well) paid. As a result of the storm created solely by Keys and Gray, she will be losing out on that income. I can only now assume you're on some sort of bizarre windup to see how many people can get angry and report your threads. You're up to 5 on this one, so keep going, be my guest.

When the pair of you have grown up, perhaps we might be able to drag the thread back to its original purpose? On which note, I see Elliott Bennett, Brighton's best player, has put in a transfer request. Heavily linked with a move to Norwich.

Adjourned until 11th February.

No surprise that Keys has resigned, the phrase "jump before you're pushed" springs to mind. As I said earlier (somewhere on page 3 of this thread, I think), I do suspect there's a link between Gray's lawsuit against the News of the World and this whole sorry episode. Keys and Gray have been doing this for years (read the Matt Scott article in the Guardian where he's spoken to three current and former female Sky employees), and it's only now that it's found its way to the newspapers... coincidence? I doubt it, but arguably Gray was playing with fire by carrying on in that manner. Surely he's not so completely in a bubble that he wasn't aware that there were loads of people within his own company who would love to take him down a peg or two? While Keys' comments were ill-advised at best as well, I think he's been dragged into it because he's intrinsically linked to Gray rather than solely for his own misdemeanors. Without the vested interest in getting at Gray, Keys would probably have remained untouched. I've not heard Keys' comments on TalkSport, but I saw all the quotes on Twitter as they were happening, and the general consensus seemed to be that it was an absolute car-crash, a complete PR disaster. He said sorry so many times that it completely lost its meaning and seemed to imply that he was only saying sorry to save face rather than because he actually meant it. And then there was the classic "I'm not proud of what happened at the weekend, but with success comes envy". I mean, seriously, what the ****?!

Wow, that's quite the bitter response from the Zimbabwe selection panel

Where abouts in the rules does it say this? I can't seem to find it...

Sheffield Wednesday equalise against Yeovil, 1-1

I'm quite surprised so many people both in broadcasting and in the game have been so quick to throw their weight into the argument as football does tend to be quite a secretive business when things like this happen. How many times have people been sacked as a broadcaster and they've just been ushered out the back door without a word said by anyone? Yet Sky News and Sky Sports News have produced in-depth reports, public statements from the head of Sky Sports, etc. It's almost as if they're glad they found an excuse to bin him. One thing some people may learn from this is that you take on Rupert Murdoch at your peril. Gray is suing the News of the World - another of Murdoch's media outlets - as part of the phone-tapping scandal, and it's odd and rather convenient how the initial leak was made (with Sky implying they won't be conducting an inquiry to discover the source) and then when everything kicked off, additional clips were then leaked to add extra weight.

That may be so, but I assume most of the time it would have been with tongue firmly in cheek, and as far as I'm aware none of us are the face of Premier League football coverage for the nation's most profitable broadcaster.

There was one clip I saw this morning where he, Keys and Charlotte Jackson were fitting their microphones, and Gray turns to Jackson and says "can you tuck my shirt in for me, Charlotte?" Edit: that one above!

Take a P45, son

Spot on. It could be a giraffe running the line for all I care, as long as whoever gets the job is competent enough to get the majority of the decisions correct.

While Colly's batting is appalling at the moment, he's still our best fielder and on the subcontinent his bowling will be very useful.

Wow. So much fail wrapped up in one post. Referees do not command respect by being "alpha males". Look at Uriah Rennie, initially he got rave reviews as he was built like a brick ****house and wouldn't take any **** from the players, but the facade got seen through pretty quickly when it turned out he was actually getting most decisions wrong. Howard Webb is going the same way, if he was well-respected, would Ryan Babel have posted that Photoshopped picture with him in a Man United shirt? Referees get respect from players by getting the big decisions right. Nothing more, nothing less. Take someone like David Elleray, he was an annoying ****, but he was generally right more often than not, and as a result was respected. Roger Milford on the other hand...

Unfortunately, because of the ridiculous scrutiny and abuse officials get at all levels of the game, there simply aren't enough men who want to do the job, hence why the FA has gone on a massive recruitment drive to get women involved in the mens game. I think there's now nearly 1000 female referees officiating in mens football.

Not a massive fan of Tyler, but he does despise Gray so gets a thumbs-up from me for that

The tone in their voices showed that they were both entirely serious, IMO.