CHAPEL END CHARLIE

The standpoint of being 'unsatisfied' with your lot in life is one of (if not the) main drivers of human progress throughout our long journey from the dawn of prehistory until today , indeed this innate faculty of mankind is what truly separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom in my very non scientific opinion . Never settle for (or accept) the second best in life or football , rather we should all adopt the attitude of that unfortunate orphan in Shakespeare's Oliver Twist and always ask for more , because all experience shows us that if you don't ask for something better then you will surely never receive it . On reflection it seems to me that (if you'll forgive the contradiction) life's critics should be praised and encouraged rather than criticised and abused - just think where would humanity be without them ? There is no progress without protest .

I got my Match and Travel tickets today in separate envelopes - Some thieving git (in the Royal Mail no doubt) had deliberately slit open one of the envelopes and obviously had a good look inside . Luckily for me it was the travel ticket envelope that was opened and apparently the 'tea leaf' had no interest in coach travel as the tickets were still there . Trying to steal a fans Wembley ticket - scum of the earth :mad:

A truly bizarre refereeing performance , I can't remember St Marys ever being quite so collectively angry with a match official . At times he was so one sided you started to go beyond questioning Peter Walton's competence and started to wonder about his integrity - perish the thought .

You Sir may well be perfectly satisfied to see this great club languishing in the obscurity of the 3rd division as long as that means we win some games against the 'small fry' of English football . You may view the prospect of another season here as acceptable , if not welcome even . Some I've observed (yourself included it would seem) regard ambition itself as some kind of personality flaw and actively celebrate the mediocre in life . All that's fine with me , if seeing Saints beat the Southend's of this world 'floats your boat' then good for you , but please understand some of us want/expect rather more from a football club of this stature and history than merely that . A Wembley final or not this season must go down as a great missed opportunity in my view , a 10 point penalty should not have been a insurmountable problem to overcome for a club as generously financed and supported as this (and before the usual suspects chirp in) nor am I particularly interested in rereading the long list of tired excuses that is inevitably trotted out every time somebody dares to go 'off message' on here . As for your 'wheat from the chaff' analogy - well it seems to me that those who willingly accept the mediocre could be seen as human 'chaff' almost , while those on the other hand who strive for better may well process more real substance in the final analysis . Perhaps I am 'angry' as you put it , perhaps every Saints fan should be angry about having to endure another season down in this football wilderness . We're all in the gutter still - but you'll just have to excuse me if some of us at least retain the vision to be looking at the stars .

Alarming that so many are apparently satisfied to be in this dismal division , with it's mediocre football and the impoverished 'tinpot' opposition that comes with it . Yes we win more games down here , but some of us harbor greater ambitions for SFC than merely being some lower league 'Flat track bully' . All experience teaches us that if you aspire to mediocrity then you can pretty much guarantee that's exactly what you are going (and deserve) to get . :mad: I reject this point of view entirely - to my way of thinking it's shameful that this great club finds itself wallowing in the backwaters of the 3rd division , and those happy to tolerate this near unacceptable state of affairs (in perpetuity it would seem) should really be ashamed to call themselves Saints fans . Every day we spend down here compounds that sense of collective incompetence and lack of ambition that got us here in the first place . League One is a matter of embarrassment for this club frankly . The fact that we will almost certainly still be in L1 next season is a minor tragedy in my view . The grim reality is that there are some among us who will not live to see our club return to the CCC , let alone the heights of the Premier League . That's the brutal truth about time - it's always later than you think .

I kinda like his (bad) attitude . All he needs to do is cut out the political correctness ............

Patience ! There's no way I'm going to pass up the chance to see crying Skate kids At Fratton Park when their relegation is confirmed .

The ref and lino's missed almost everything , but it's good to see a group of severely disabled men overcome a crippling visual handicap and earn a living as proffesional match officials . It makes you proud to be British . :mad:

He's almost unrecognizable from the promising but rather lightweight player who lost his place to a semi-fit Simon Gillett last season . It's in the nature of being a lower league football fan that you waste time worrying that some bigger club is going to come along and sign your best players - but I honestly think Morgan (and Adam Lallana) are not very far away from reaching Premier League standard .

My ratings for Saints v Walsall (5-1) K Davis 6.5 - Terrible start but the free kick was expertly placed in truth . Only occasionally called into action afterwards . J Otsemobor 7.5 - I've been unconvinced about him previously but a strong attacking & defending performance today by any reckoning . J Fonte 8 - Outstanding display from a cultured ball playing defender , obviously capable of playing at a higher level than this . R Jaidi 8 - Formidable as ever , paired with Fonte these two are perhaps among the very the best CB's in this division . D Harding 7.5 - I've never seen this lad give a really bad performance , somehow I doubt we ever will at this level . J Puncheon 8 - Capable winger who certainly knows his business . Not lightning quick but very good on the balll . Fine goal M Schneiderlin 8.5 MOTM - The beating heart of the team and almost irreplaceable . We'll do very well to hold on to him this summer . D Hammond 7.5 - Not as technically gifted as MS in all honesty but still a quality hard tackling midfielder . A Lallana 8 - What more can I say ? we all know how good he is and before long the rest of the football world will too . L Barnard 8.5 - A brace today for this super little 'Owenesque' goal poacher - subbed off injured ? R Lambert 8 - Scored again , he won everything in the air & a proper handful for defenders . To continue my theme he's the Alan Shearer of L1. Substitutes : W Thomas 7 - On for Jaidi , he did nothing wrong that I could see . Papa Waigo 7.5 - Poor finishing against PFC cost us dearly , but always looks more than handy at this level . M Antonio 7.5 - A late sub (for Lambert) he still made his mark on the game . Well worth a full contract I'd say . Conclusions : It's not my policy to brag about us beating the smaller/poorer teams in this division but every Saints fan must have left St Marys today with a broad smile on their face . At our best (like today) we truly look like a more than decent CCC outfit that has found itself playing in L1 due to some clerical error - we really were that good . I tried to identify the weak link in the side and after much deliberation I came to the conclusion that there isn't one - this team that Mr Liebherr and Alan Pardew have built is the best SFC team (relative to it's division) that I've seen in many years of watching the Saints - long may it continue Without the hinderence of the 'cup-tied' regulations our first choice central pairings are top class - Jaidi & Fonte / Schneiderlin & Hammond / Lambert & Barnard , add on fine wide players and a substitutes bench mostly occupied with players who would surely start the game for nearly every other L1 team and it's hard to see how you can go wrong . Indeed you have to wonder why we haven't amassed more points in the league than we have in recent weeks . Given even average luck I'm looking for this team to win the division convincingly next season .

No backlash but it seems to me if you continuously offer up a long list of excuses for our (almost certain) failure to reach the play-offs this season then Human nature dictates that people will shelter behind them . If you really want to see our club prosper then what good purpose does that serve ? Yes - it's true we have labored under certain disadvantages this season . No - we probably haven't done as well as we might have in overcoming them .

And I for one would recommend you follow your own advice and shut up . If you don't like to debate all kinds of SFC related issues than a (robust) football forum is probably not the place for you . :mad:

I've never heard of a Beatles version , but Frank Sinatra certainly did do a truly terrible cover 'Mrs Robinson' - best avoided if you care for the original .

There's a law of diminishing returns with football stadiums , the bigger you make them the worst the experience gets for those at the back. It may well be that St Marys is already the ideal size for this club . I see no real business case of it being expanded - at this time anyway . A replacement footbridge constructed so that the police could separate home and away fans (when necessary) would be very welcome however .

Two tickets booked over the interweb no trouble at all I'm happy to say . The last time I went to Wembley it was England v Holland in 1982 - we won the game if I recall correctly but the real highlight was some very tasty (Falklands related) Argie baiting from the crowd .

They were an ordinary , rather undistinguished , medium sized football club that is now extraordinary only because of the unprecedented scale of their financial mismanagement . At no stage have they ever been a 'fantastic' club with particularly 'wonderful' fans - except in the minds of lazy jurno's that is . I fear we will have to endure a all to predictable wave of this nauseating verbiage from the media in coming weeks , but it will be a small price to pay if the whole sorry story ends satisfactorily (from a Saints point of view) I suppose .

Yes

Let me get this straight . The 'transfer window' closed less than 3 weeks ago . They were actually attempting to sign players a week or so ago . They now want to sell players against the games regulations . The EPL for some inexplicable reason has said 'no' . The Pompey Pokey . You sign a right back in , You sell your left back out , You put a pretty penny in , And shake dirty pound out , You do the pompey pokey and you run your club aground That what it's all about . Whoa the pompey pokey ! Whoa the pompey pokey ! Whoa the pompey pokey ! Club bent , cash stretched , rah! rah! rah!

You've a good eye for classic Horror movies , both 'Dead of Night' and the original 'The Haunting' (not that awful remake) are little gems and personal favorites of mine . With almost all its chills implied rather than actually shown 'The Haunting' must be the polar opposite of contemporary horror - and all the better for it many would say . If you've not seen it already do check out Amicus's 'The Skull' as well as 'Night of the Demons' - great movies both if you like that sort of thing .

I never spotted the 'Trigger' connection , I'll get my DVD out again and see if I can see any family likeness . You do now hold the title of 'SWF Movie Trivia King'. I too looked closely and there's just no indication which train station the climax takes place in - in my imagination it's Basingstoke or Winchester . I must have been 10 or 12 years old when I first saw 'Night of the Demon' and - dodgy effects or not - it was extremely effective in scaring the living daylights out of me at that impressionable age , especially the scene where Holden is alone in the wood outside Lufford Hall . Oh to be young again . Thinking back on it now , no other horror film ( except possibly that old Peter Cushing chiller 'The Skull' ) has ever scared me more .

I've gone 48 hours without sleep and that was bad enough , a week is almost unimaginable . My sympathies for what it's worth .

What you are describing DD is my everyday reality - the older I get the more I tend to tire earlier in the evening and wake correspondingly earlier in the small hours of the morning . Rarely do I get more than 5 hours sleep a night in total and sometimes much less than that . The flippant replies on here show how those fortunate enough to enjoy a good nights sleep utterly fail to understand how desperate a problem insomnia can be . Sorry I don't have the cure apart obvious stuff like try not to go to bed too early in the evening and avoiding stimulants such as coffee ... etc . If it's any consolation humans can manage surprisingly well on just a few hours sleep and you are almost certainly not 'ill' as I understand it , this is just a natural part of the ageing process I'm afraid .

It's in the trees........ For any fans of atmospheric old black & white horror hokum out there this really is great fun . Our American hero 'Dr John Holden' (Dana Andrews) arrives in England to attended a conference on paranormal activity only to find a British colleague of his has just been savagely killed in mysterious circumstances . Holden is a confirmed (almost pig-headed) skeptic about all supernatural phenomena but while investigating the death (with the obligatory love interest in tow) he comes across the wonderfully creepy 'Dr Julian Karswell' (Niall MacGinnis) and even his rock hard sense of rational certainty stars to come under challenge . It turns out that Dr Karswell is a Satan worshiper who through his life long study of obscure ancient manuscripts can summon a hellish 'Fire Demon' to dispose of his enemies - all he has to do his pass his unsuspecting opponent a parchment with strange runic writing on it and 4 days later the fearsome 'Baal' himself will turn up to do the dirty deed . Can Dr Holden overcome his own skepticism and discover a way to escape the hex ? ..... Well I'll allow you discover that for yourself but the climax of this fine film (set on the Southampton - Clapham railway line) is truly memorable . Trivia - Look out for a young Brian Wilde (Mr Barrowclough from 'Porridge') playing the catatonic 'Rand Hobart' .

Really ? Unless you live in or near London then the coach is the only sensible way to go surely . The trains involve the usual weekend line disruption and enduring our 'cattle wagon' tube service , if you want to drive then my old car at least is going to burn way more than £25 worth of gas to get there and back even before you add in Wembley parking costs (£20) on top .

We haven't got as far as permanently reopening the corners yet , so all this is very premature . It's not just a simple matter of raising the roof either , I presume we talking about constructing a new upper tier overhanging the existing structure or extending back over the current 'footprint' of the stadium . Quite major construction projects in either case and maybe 6 months work at least . As we can't shut St Marys for that length of time you'd have to do it one stand at a time possibly - meaning 3 years of disruption , lost income , and aggravation for club and fans alike . It seems to me that if there are really 50,000 people desperate to see us play in the EPL the club could generate that kind of income by simply keeping SMS as it is and raising season ticket prices to £600+ each and save themselves of lot of trouble . Not that I advocate they do that as I couldn't afford it !