CHAPEL END CHARLIE

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ... The best? Well beating both the (then) Premier and Champions League title holders was really more than any Saints fan could reasonably have asked for. OUTSTANDING. We have our share of good players now but seeing young talent such as Morgan Schneiderlin, Jack Cork, Nathaniel Clyne and Luke Shaw flourish at this level has been a true privilege. At our best we've played some smashing football this season and I hope I'm not going too far when I say that in my opinion we have now earned a degree of respect from this division - We truly are now Premier Class. The worst? After the memorable drama of our first fixture, losing the next game against Wigan came as a sobering reality check. With a challenging fixture list ahead of us (to put it mildly) that drab disappointment kinda put us on a uphill path we would spend much of the remainder of the season trying to escape from. But it was losing a game I'm sure most of us never expected to win anyway (Man Utd at home back in September) that really hurt this fan. I left St Marys that evening feeling as depressed as I can ever recall from seeing my team get beat. We played so bloody well that day and were so brave, yet our reward was another 90th minute MUFC goal that was about as much as I could take at the time. So a memorable and - on the whole - a successful season then. My thanks go out to my fellow SFC fans (both at St Marys and on here) the Liebherr family, the Don, our managers (both of them) and most of all the players for making it so. My life without this wonderful old football club in it would be such a poorer one that I can hardly bare to contemplate the prospect.

Are you Peter Ridsdale in disguise? I don't much like the uncertainty raised by this issue at this time, I don't suppose many of us do, but if Cortese does go then I'll get over it - after the sudden assassination of our last manager this is a lesson that ironically he has helped install in me. Lets face it, this grand scheme of his to transform this middle sized regional club into a top 5 force in the Premier League was always insanely overambitious anyway. So if the Don does get the boot then as long as the Liebherr's can find a capable new Chairman who is happy to steer the club onto a more realistic and sustainable pathway then that might not be a bad thing in the long run. Our model should be to emulate the success of clubs such as Swansea - not to be another Leeds or Pompey *shudders* In any case this matter needs to be concluded ASAP.

If you could guarantee me our time machine won't break and leave me stranded in these hellholes, a trip to see the late/great Johnny Cash prison concerts at either Folsom or San Quentin comes to mind ...

Let's remember the part Nigel Adkins played in getting us where we are tonight. I'm not sure he had us as prepared as we might have been for the trials of this season, but he turned us into a competitive outfit by the time he left and he deserves a lot of credit for that.

Yes barring a virtually impossible GD swing (one that's not even worth worrying about) we are now safe. My congratulations to our Owners, Chairman, Manager, and most of all a fine bunch of players. Remembering the dire situation we were in after ten games this has been a fine achievement. Looking forward to 13/14 already.

Thanks very muchly I did enjoy that. A fascinating record and amongst the very earliest examples of colour filming I've ever seen. I love the horse and cart on Tower Bridge and all the men waring suites and hats - the advent of casual clothing has a lot to answer for. The odd Austin 7 aside, the comparative rarity of private cars back then means that traffic congestion is still in its infancy of course. Overall it's kinda of surprising how much the landmarks of the West End haven't changed, even after the Blitz and 80 years worth of redevelopment.

A friend of mine running into the squad as they alighted from a train at Waterloo station last Saturday certainly surprised her ... although she was somewhat taken aback the forum will be pleased to know that Sir Rickie Lambert behaved like a perfect gentleman.

Some more stuff I kinda like: Great British Railway Journeys Michael Portillo travels around the country comparing the past with the present using a old copy of 'Bradshaw's' as a guild. OK not exactly cutting edge television this, but Ive always liked travelogues and Portillo is a surprisingly likable host. This series constantly reminds one of what a interesting, diverse, and sometimes beautiful country Britain still is. Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? A competent early 70's BBC sit com that has become something of a period piece now. See the slums of old industrial Newcastle being demolished and replaced with cheap and hideous concrete structures that we now know were a terrible mistake. Just as terrible, can Terry save Bob from Thelma? Outback Truckers A bit of a rip off from Ice Road Truckers perhaps, nevertheless in the world of Australian lorry driving the men are still men ... and so are the women. How epically vast Australia is, and how resilient and resourceful the people who live and work in the 'outback' are.

I saw 'Silent Running' for the first time in years the other day - a bit of a disappointment to be honest.

Here's one for the teenagers:

A Simple Act of Violence by R J Ellory Miller and Roth are overworked Washington DC Homicide detectives assigned to investigate the murder of Catherine Sheridan - the latest victim of a serial killer known as 'The Ribbon Killer' because he uses a ribbon to tie a tag around the necks of his brutalised victims. But they soon discover that nothing to do with this intractable case is quite what it first appears to be ... A powerful book that blurs the line between the crime novel and a conspiracy thriller so plausibly that it leaves you asking all kinds of questions about the nature of government and the terrible price we paid to win the cold war.

I was worried a little while ago that the end of the season might turn out to be a depressingly drab and meaningless affair with nothing much left to play for. So I suppose we should all thank the team for organising a slump at the perfect moment to lift that terrible prospect off our shoulders ...

Rather like Glen Johnson he's decent going forward but, despite noticeably improving over the course of the season, he's still worries me when I see him one-on-one against a nimble forward. I think most PL clubs are happy now to trade some defensive cover for full backs who can get forward well. So a promising young player who (unlike some higher profile signings of ours) actually looks good value for money. However talk of a international call-up seems premature for me.

Crisps - why do they include Salt & Vinegar flavour in most assorted packs when its a well known fact that most sane people only really want the Cheese & Onion and Ready Salted ones? Also it would be lovely if Asda could bake crusty bread rolls that stay nice and crusty for more than 30 minutes!

A friend - knowing my insatiable TV nostalgia habit - has just lent me a DVD of 'Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected' first broadcast way back in 1979. Although I can't claim this was ever a particular favorite of mine I do remember this series so it soon found its way into my overworked DVD player. Introduced my the author (in a pseudo Hitchcock style) this was a Saturday primetime ITV series of one off short story's that invariably featured a rather macabre and twisted plot - if you are even slightly familiar with the work of the late Roald Dahl this will come as no surprise. A few highlights: A Dip in the Pool A hopeless gambling addict (very much like the real Dahl) is on a ocean voyage, true to form he bets his last $1000 on the ships regular 'how many miles will we cover in the next 24 hours' pool suspecting that a coming storm will slow the ship and thus make his low mileage bet the winner. All goes well until the storms abates much earlier than he expected. Facing financial ruin he must find a way of slowing the ship down - or lose everything. So he spots a old lady standing alone on the deck and (having first made damn sure she has seen him) he jumps overboard knowing that the ship will be delayed as it has to come about, lower a boat, and rescue him. Well she sees him jump alright but we soon discover that the old dear is suffering from dementia and no one believes her. The story ends with our desperate gambler floundering alone in the vastness of the ocean as the cruise liner disappears over the horizon. The Way up to Heaven. Mrs Foster (Julie Harris) is a very nice and respectable women but she has a morbid fear of being late for any appointment - a fear her wealthy old husband seems to go out of his way to acerbate. Setting off to visit a friend oversees one day she has just a hour to get to the airport to catch her plane, With time running out her hubby of course leaves it to the very last minute before getting in the car and then decides they must wait even longer because he has forgotten something ... oh and can they stop at his bank on the way! This to her is akin to a form of intolerable torment. You can only push someone so far you know, and the (genuinely horrific) fate that befalls her wicked husband is little more than a case of 'just deserts' if you ask me. Man from the South. A young American sailor brags to a distinguished Spanish gentleman (oldtime Hollywood movie star Jose Ferrier) that his top class cigarette lighter always lights even on a very windy day. The Spaniard challenges the sailor to a wager, the stakes being that if it does light 10 times in a row then the sailor wins the old gentleman's fine new Jaguar XJ6. Should it fail to light however ... well he's going to chop off the Americans little finger with a carving knife. What a utterly devilish proposition to put before a impoverished young man, but such is my love of Jags you know I think I might well have been tempted to take this bet on myself.

Well I'm no expert, but I suspect you may be right. I should add that as the Boeing 747 involved in this incident was a cargo version, there were only 8 people aboard at the time. No official word as yet on their fate, but it seems perfectly clear that this is a non survivable accident sadly.

There's something that's both utterly fascinating, and at the same time very disturbing, about watching this type of awful footage. But if you don't mind this sort of thing then here's latest example of the caught on camera air crash:

Quite right. With so few games remaining and with the table so close we're not 'safe' until this becomes a mathematical certainty. To assume otherwise is the height of folly.

My old Hitachi PVR - I programme it to record a movie when I'm out and it does it ... annoyingly the bloody thing also decides to record every repeat of the same film from now 'till eternity!

The funny thing is I invited you to comment re this player after he scored a fine goal at Reading and you declined the opportunity for some reason. I must admit I found this rather odd as you seldom seem short of a opinion on him. However as soon as a thread criticising him appears ... well you're all over it like a rash. For what's worth I didn't think he was any worse than the rest of our (desperately under-performing) squad yesterday and (despite being asked to play on the right) he still managed to produce more than a few moments of superb close control and intelligent forward play that the more observant among us have long admired. So in summery then: a good player having a bit of a 'so-so' season.

Well leaving that devilishly addictive narcotic that we know as Television (Father, Mother, Secret Lover) to one side for the moment, these horrendous deathtraps must possess a strong claim to the title: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_K_class_submarine

Um ... So we're convinced are we that spending a absolute fortune chasing a mad dream of the Champions League is a sensible and sustainable way to run a middle sized regional football club? You never see Peter Ridsdale and Nicola Cortese together in the same room do you ... When the money runs out - and rest assured it will one day - this is all going to end in tears.

Take care! You are perfectly right of course, but pointing out the importance of pace on here invariably earns you a deeply tiresome response claiming that Jonathon Forte's failure to make much of a impact somehow 'proves' the opposite.

If you are thinking about upgrading from a concession ticket to a full price one then I strongly suggest you do actually sort this out with the ticket office ASAP. Whatever you do don't just leave it and trust to luck at the turnstile because there is a 'traffic light' system in operation behind the gates that allows SFC staff to see exactly what type of ticket each person enters on.

I saw Marc Pugh play at Dean Court a little while ago and he certainly stood out as having 'something about him' as they say. Not just a nippy wide player who can open up the opposition defence, he has a eye for goal too. Highly rated by Bmth fans and obviously an intrinsic part of AFC's successful promotion push. It'll be interesting to see if the Championship is his limit.