CHAPEL END CHARLIE

Did Rickie Lambert (and the majority of the squad for that matter) not come here because we offered them more money than they were on at their previous clubs ? If so, then they are all 'mercenaries' then. As for the 'no primadonnas' rule, you could argue that special players (like Mario Balotelli or Christiano Ronaldo for instance) often fall into that category. Now I Don't know about you, but I'd happily pay good money to watch them play.

Fishcakes

This weeks episode of 'The Mentalist' was outstanding I thought. The CBI were on the trail of a serial killer - The San Joaquin killer - who it turned out was a psychotic attention seeker who had inserted himself into the investigation by becoming a kind of expert media 'rent-a-quote' on the murders he himself was committing. Jane of course with his infinite insight into the human condition soon cottoned on to him, but the killer was (for once) a match for our brilliant hero and outwitted him. I've seen quite a bit of this type of detective drama by now (to put it mildly) and I can normally predict how the story will end long before the hour is up - but this time the script didn't 'telegraph' how Jane would stop the killer, indeed the awful cold-blooded way Jane actualy dealt with him (involving his nemesis Red John) did not even dawn on me until the end credits were rolling. In a sea of dull and formulaic TV, the shock of that sudden realization made this episode a rare treat.

A team over reliant on easy-to-manage, but middling ability players (such as Dean Hammond or Dan Harding for instance) seems to me a recipe for disaster in the crucible of the Premier League. You can of course unearth diamonds like MLT that deliver outstanding performances while simultaneously being inexpensive to employ and hassle-free on their manager, but just like diamonds they're rather thin on the ground. If we get promoted I don't think we should be looking to spend a vast fortune and sign 15 new players, but we should be adding some real quality to the squad that can make a difference and keep us up - and if some of those players are what you might call 'high maintenance' then we'll have to take it on the chin because exceptional talent very often comes with an exceptional ego attached.

Some rubbish comments on here that should be treated with all the contempt they deserve. Popular with the general public or not, I wish the Duke a speedy recovery - just like I would for any other WWII veteran who's never done me (or you lot) any harm.

Yep, me too. The technical term for any bloke who spends more than £7 on a hair cut is 'ponse' I believe.

Top on Xmas day = promotion 5 times out of 6 I understand.

While making all hand ball incidents in the box a automatic penalty award would I suppose make life easier for referee's, I'm far from convinced it would benefit the wider game, or further the interests of what we might call natural justice. The laws of the game have evolved over a great many years, and its outstanding world wide success seems to suggest that there's not that much wrong with them. Frankly, to make a change this fundamental I'd want to see a case made that is rather more substantial than the one put forward here. I say that all rules (or laws) should be open to interpretation by a human being, rather than automatically enforced by a unthinking robot. If the price we pay for that latitude is that decisions made are not always consistent, or that some are deemed to be a case of human error, then to my way of thinking that is a price worth paying. Ultimately match officials are there to serve the game - where the hell does it say that their job is supposed to be easy ?

That Eric Pickles is especially lovely, the way the sunlight reflects playfully upon his bold head, his God-like features, and how his exquisitely tailored suites manage so artfully to conceal his vast gut ... well what can I say, the mere sight of him could turn the heart (and stomach) of any man. Indeed, if it wasn't for the stubborn refuse of the current Mrs CEC to accept that she's met her match, you can rest assured I'd be in there like a rabbit up a drain pipe.

Open your eyes. I have observed while out and about 'people watching' that only a small minority of our 'black' people are truly black skinned in reality, as they are mostly a shade of brown. For that matter so called 'white' people tend to be more pink/beige coloured. We once routinely referred to the Japanese as yellow, and that wasn't true either. So for accuracy sake perhaps we should ditch black & white and go with brown & pink instead. Which all goes to show what a minefield - and a utter nonsense - this type of debate is.

If memory serves, Pebble Island was a simple grass landing strip for light aircraft only - quite a different matter to MPA. On the wider point, if there is one bloody lesson the long history of warfare teaches us, it is that you must never underestimate the opposition. Would it be a easy matter for the argies to successfully invade the Falklands again - absolutely not. Would it be impossible for them to devise a method of damaging that crucial runway for a day or so ....... well the yanks thought that the Japanese would never dare to attack Pearl Harbour didn't they ? Our whole defensive strategy for the Falklands depends upon that one runway - I suggest that reliance represents a point of vulnerability that a audacious enemy could exploit to their advantage one day. I say the decision by the current government to abandon our 'Carrier Strike' capability for a decade (or more) in the last defence review was a strategically dangerous one. A reckless decision that didn't save that much money in the grand scheme of things, and one that may well come back to bite us one day.

'Bart is decent back up' Christ on a bike.

I'd like to address several recent points if I may: The RAF has hundreds of advanced Tornado & Typhoon aircraft - Yes it has, but mainly based in the UK they are no bloody good at all 7000 miles away from the Falklands. Because of the airbase we no longer need aircraft carriers - Again, lose that one fixed runway and the lack of carrier air power could/would become crippling. The RN could retake the Falklands easily - With no proper aircraft carriers or Harriers (flogged off to the yanks for spare parts) air defence of the fleet would rely entirely upon a handful of Type 45 destroyers. The overall number of vital Frigates & Destroyers available for Task Force AAW & ASW defence has more than halved since 82. The RN today is in its weakest state for many centuries. The Argentinian Air Force is weak - It's all relative, unlike the last time we now have precisely no 'Sea Harrier' fighters to oppose them. The Argentine economy is doing surprisingly well of late and plans for a F16 purchase have been mooted.

I hope you're right, but our intelligence services let us down badly in 1982 and history has a habit of repeating itself. The Argies would face a formidable military problem in retaking the Falklands for sure, but what if a covert special forces raid were to crator the runway say ? Everything depends on that runway - lose it (if only for a few hours maybe) and the islands could be lost. Given the run down (carrier less) state of the navy the prospects of our mounting another operation of the scale we managed 30 years ago look remote.

The RAF has no specialist anti-shipping missiles for Tornedo in the Exocet/Harpoon class since the withdraw of 'Sea Eagle' over a decade ago. But you are essence correct, with the Royal Navy on its knees almost, the real defence of the Falklands now depends largly upon the runway at Mt Pleasant airport - take that out and things could get very ugly, very quickly.

I'm totally against calling anyone a fat, or black, bastard, but mainly because the English language affords so many infinitively better ways to insult anyone. For instance, if I were let my guard down for one moment & express my real opinion Pompey fans, the French, or even striking public sector workers, then something like this might just slip out: You loathsome lumps of fetal horror, You maniac bastardly turds, I would rather sip stale urine from Sir Alan Surgers arse pit, than linger one moment more in your defiling company, You're filth, you're vile, you are the oooooze of a burst boil, I despise you, you towering mounds of corrupted slime, The very sight of your greasy snouts induces a unstoppable torrent of vomit, Your postings are like the slithering hiss of a bloated maggot, rotting in the putrid gut of a decomposing gerbil, Your views are fouler than the unwiped inner ring of Satan's rectum, Your constant moaning is akin to the dying whimper of a rabid dog, its boiled brain swollen to grotesque proportions. Now that's what I call a proper insult.

I'm betting Preston South End, Wolverhampton Stay-at-Homes, or maybe Sheffield Tuesday.

Maybe because it's both much longer, and far better written, than anything you will typicly find on our match reaction threads.

I'm almost as surprised as I'm pleased to see that AL is still here. Storys like this renew your faith in players, and the game. Well done Adam.

I'm pleased to see the club appear to be addressing the GK issue, Kelvin's been great for us but he's not getting any younger and as for Bart and Tommy Forecast ..... lets just say neither inspire much confidence.

According to the BBC South news the 'bubble' operation seems to have been a outstanding success, with only one arrest (for the flare) and a pleasing lack of rioting among PFC's over excitable fanbase. Like it or not, this operation will surely become standard practice from now on I'd have thought. The pictures did show however some local parents hurling hateful abuse at our bus convoy while cradling little babies in their hands - displaying all the class we have come to expect from our fishy friends.

Well done to Alan Shearer for pretending he's still some sort of Saints fan, but I'm far from convinced. Even accepting that the natural choice (MLT of course) works for Sky these days, surely the BBC could have found a more convincing representative of Hampshire's biggest club - Mick Channon or get Claus Lundekvam over perhaps.

Proud of the way our players stood up to the intimidation today and all-in-all I thought we were clearly the better team - by a distance. Can't wait (but will have to) to get them back to St Mary's, something tells me we're going to rip them a new one.