CHAPEL END CHARLIE

It's a mystery. But you're quite right, every time ITV show Star Wars on the telly I'll happily sit down and watch it all over again. I'll even watch the much derided Episodes 1, 2, and 3 - Ja Ja bloody Binks and all! The kids are much the same with Harry Potter ... I must admit I leave them to get on with that on their own.

Well I'll ask him. At the moment he's just happy to have gotten his QPR ticket in the post this morning.

Indeed we are. A defensive, rather than offensive, response to this very worrying situation would seem to be in order. Rather than launching a preemptive strike against N Korea with the aim of destroying its nascent Nuclear capability - a move that would almost certainly lead to war on the Korean Peninsula - this state should be surrounded by a 'ring fence' of Anti Ballistic Missile (ABM) systems. This is both a risky and a expensive proposal of course. But no more risky, and a hell of a lot less expensive, than war is methinks.

Why assume that when a player is not performing up to expectations then the blame for this situation must lay with his manager, rather than with the player himself? Has Rafael Benitez been able to magically transform Fernando Torres back into the player he was a few years ago? Was it ever likely he could? I see the Saintsweb excuse factory is running at maximum production again with plenty of 'he's not fit' or 'wait until next season' views being aired. Well maybe, but I must say I don't find either of these arguments fully convincing at this time. If Gaston Ramirez is struggling to adapt to the demands of the Premier League - and lets face it he certainly is - then maybe this player needs to take a long hard look at himself before we start spreading the blame around too widely ... So some kind of mirror would seem to be in order then.

Well no doubt the sells of tan Oldsmobile Cutlass's took off after this fine movie was released, but please tell more because I just love movie trivia in all it many forms. I must admit to not having read the book either, but judging my some of the reviews available on the net, I probably should!

Not all Coen Brothers movies have the stuff of greatness about them perhaps, but they have never made a bad film in my opinion - from the almost forgotten 'Blood Simple' all the way to the massively successful 'No Country for Old Men'. But 'Fargo' is perhaps the pinnacle of their creative output thus far. A audacious piece of film making that has gained a (well deserved) cult status among movie fans because in more than a century of film production there is nothing else quite like it. And yes I am 'kinda funny lookin' before anyone asks ...

Not really my kind of thing you understand, but here's another early 1970's masterpiece especially for Bearsy - Squeal little piggy!

Hooiveld can stand in for Fonte easily enough because in truth there never was all that much of a difference in class between them - at least not that I could identify anyway. Both are perfectly capable - but not outstanding - defenders who took rather longer to adapt to the pace of the Premier League than you'd like. So with the equally good Yoshida to add to the mix, this area of the squad would appear to be okay. But you can always improve, and finding a true top quality Centre Back - a Michael Svensson type - would make a real difference. Sent from my old laptop using my fingers.

So many excellent performances from all our players, it almost seems churlish to pick out any one of them. Having said that I thought Rickie Lambert was utterly superb today. Even though he didn't get his name on the score sheet on this occasion, we may just have witnessed his best ever game here methinks. A true 9/10 performance.

Good observations.

But Morgan Schneiderlin has always been class here, this is by no means a recent development. I really would not be that surprised if his national manager doesn't start to take notice before long ... he'd be a fool not to some might say.

All truly excellent choices my friend - The Cruel Sea joins Das Boot & Platoon as arguably the greatest war films ever made to my way of thinking. But the original Day of the Jackal is another one of those 'perfect' movies that I could - and frequently do - happily watch time and time again. Like the engrossing novel it is closely based upon, the narrative is both intelligent and remorseless, leading to a climax that is as nail biting and satisfactory as it could possibly be I suppose. Coincidently another film made in 1971 by the way - obviously a vintage year in the cinema.

I was enjoying Frank Skinner's excellent 'Room 101' last night when one of the contestants nominated the habit of watching the same movie time after time as one of her pet hates. I must admit that I'm very guilty of this terrible affront to originality. In my case at least once a year I just have to dig out my DVD copy of the early Spielberg road movie 'Duel'. I should confess this is a odd choice as Duel is in truth a small budget and hastily made 1971 TV movie that hardly bares close comparison to Steven Spielberg's later, more celebrated, work - significant films such as: Jaws, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, or ET. But for some reason (even although I well know by now every line Dennis Weaver utters) this simple little film about a mild mannered sells rep being chased by a murderous truck driver for no obvious reason satisfies me immensely. I welcome its regular reappearance on my TV almost as if it were a old friend who had come to pay me a visit. To me this represents the cinematic equivalent of 'comfort food' I suppose. I'm I alone in this, or do any of you have a film or TV series you too just never tire of watching?

For what it's worth I had us finishing comfortably midtable on 44 points! Unfortunately I remember reaching a broadly similiar conclusion back in 2005/6 ...

While I try to digest the stunning news that Ridley Scott's sci-fi/horror masterpiece 'Alien' is in fact a load of old rubbish (!) I will add that Film Noir is undoutably my favorite all time film genre. There's just something about a hopelessly doomed leading men in a Fedora that I find immensely appealing for some reason. Science Fiction, War Films, the better sort of Children's Films, Cowboys, Thrillers, Courtroom Dramas, Horror (but not the Slasher or Zombie sub-types) Fantasy and silly old comedies such as Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello or even the Marx Brothers I also enjoy more than I should probably admit. Although as you can see I'll watch almost anything given the time, I must admit (if you've not got a girl on your arm) the prospect of a 'Chick Flit' romantic comedy doesn't exactly fill me with joy.

Although the many fans of Richard III will vehemently disagree, on the balance of probability methinks he did probably do the dirty deed. Hero or villain, finding him after all this time is a truly remarkable historical discovery. I saw last night that the archaeologist who dug him up accidentally put a pickaxe through the old kings skull - he was long past caring but the stuff of nightmares for her!

It's probably a bit like a big car factory - they only make real money when they're working 24/7 - three shift a day - flat out. In a similar way any sensible economic case for expanding St Marys will probably require you to sell the stadium out virtually every game at (non discounted) ticket prices. If each new seat would (say) cost £2000 to add, then a 'kids for a quid' policy would require 2000 years to see a profit. The Germanic business model does look more to the long term than the traditional British approach, but not quite that long term methinks.

Before a ball was kicked this season it really should have been clear enough to any Saints fan that both Jack Cork and Morgan Schneiderlin had a great chance of establishing themselves as true Premier League players - and you can add Adam Lallana to that list too. There's really not a lot wrong with a midfield built around three young players as manifestly talented as this. Whether we stay up or not, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see us having to fend off serious interest in any of them this summer. All 3 are fine players but Morgan may well be the pick of the bunch. In his case methinks the bidding would have to start in the region of £8m or even £10m. Even at that kind of serious money we'd be fools to take it.

Look back and remember the brilliant job a pretty average Italy team did on England during the Euro's - the ball is precious and keeping possession of it is key in the modern game. Now it's true that sideways, or backwards, passes alone won't win you football matches because you have to temper that possession football with the obvious need to penetrate opposition defences and create scoring chances. But the old long ball game is dying out and the style of high tempo attacking/possession football we are currently pursuing is surely the right way forward.

I'm sure we all hope he turns out to be a outstanding success here - but with praise quite this lavish the expression 'going too early' does come to mind.

We were promised on here (by fans who follow Italian football a lot more closely than I do) that Gaston Ramirez was a world class player in the making. Well let's face it he has not, so far at least, shown anything like that kind of form on a consistent basis. With more than half the season already gone I'm far from convinced he's even managed to adapt to the physical demands of the Premier League. In this league you don't just turn up and expect opposition players to stand off you and admire your footwork, you first have to earn the right to play by matching their physicality - this is as true today as it was a generation or more ago. So it must be said this player is looking to be pretty poor value for money at the moment then. Let's all hope he learns and manages to finish the season stronger than he's started it, because our fate may well depend upon this.

I've chosen not to vote in this poll because I just don't know frankly where we will end up, and my guess is of no more value than anyone else's is. It's probably going to be very close but I reckon but we have as good - or better - a chance as most of the other teams down there scrapping away for every point. Time will tell as ever. As for panicking because we've 'only' signed one player in this 'window' ... that's not for me. We've spent plenty of money already this season, and I'm not even sure there's all that much wrong with the squad now anyway. Let battle commence!

The Ukraine January 1933: the time of Stalin's great 'Terror-Famine' Two starving boys - Andrei and his older brother Pavel - find themselves alone deep in the frozen forest, stalking the last cat left from the village. Catching this poor bag of skin and bones being their only hope of enduring for a while longer. As Pavel's carefully laid snare finally tightens around the terrified pets leg, his sense of triumph is brutally cut short as both he, and little Andrei, soon come to learn that in these woods cats are not the only living creatures capable of being hunted ... From the consequences of that terrible day in the forest a whole tale of state terror and brutal murder is skillfully hung in Tom Rob Smiths quite brilliant 'Child 44' - a novel I can't recommend highly enough by the way.

Agree - as blatant a exercise in character assassination as you'll ever see.

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/10188147.FA_Cup_hero_Steele_shown_the_door_at_St_Mary_s/