Halo Stickman

Actually, thinking about it, I’m much more likely to see a sole than a soul. Why did I use that daft expression in the first place?

Well, bless my soul, I see what you mean, Fowllyd. I better correct that immediately: I would skate anyone to think I was married to one of those fishy types.

Yep, days of the week socks would be a real no-no for me! My wife is not religious either, yet, I believe both the superstitions I linked to her have their origins in religion. Not cutting her nails on Fridays is obviously linked to the crucifixion, and magpies were viewed with suspicion by the early church because they didn’t conform to the idea that people were either good like the white dove or evil like the black raven.

Bearsy's busy teaching the mainboarders how to spell

Actually, I think it’s some bloke called Charles Miller, who introduced football to the Brazilians and had some connection to SFC back in the old days – the very old days

Spent ages this morning scrabbling around looking for a pair of matching socks! It’s not like I’m going for a job interview or anything like that: I’m working at home all day and won’t see a single soul until Mrs Stickman returns in the evening, so why the hell can’t I bring myself to wear odd socks? Then there’s Mrs Stickman, a highly qualified woman in a top job, yet won’t cut her nails on Fridays, and every time she sees one of those black and white squawky birds feels compelled to say: “good morning mister magpie, how’s your missus?” FFS! Anyone else care to share their irrational, superstitious or OCD type behaviour; or am I the only nutjob on here?

I reckon she’s enjoying owning a football club – on nights like these, what’s there not to like?

It’s the first ever mod on here, Doc Holliday

Keegan and Shilton out; Ron Davies and Lallana in!

Lived on the Isle of Wight when I was a boy; most matches me and my mates would catch the 9am ferry, but for the bigger games we’d catch the 7.15am ferry – hour over the Solent and half hour walk to the ground got us there at about 8.45am, where we would join the queue for the west stand terrace. Amazing now to think we waited over 6 hours for the match to kick off, often in the pouring rain! Of course, when we were older and taller we left it a lot later – one time I had only just got in before I heard the dreaded turnstile bell ring to signify the ground was full. As for the smell of smoke, there’s a certain blend of tobacco that even to this day, if I catch just the slightest sniff of, transports me straight back to those terraces. If I knew which blend it was, I’d buy some and smoke it myself. Avoided queuing for my 1976 Cup Final ticket by giving one of my vouchers to a mate in return for him queuing all night to get both our tickets.

Both, simultaneously.

You can't say that about Ant and Dec, Bob! - they're a national treasure... or something like that

Naked News used to do it for me

When I lived in Somerset, I sometimes concentrated on watching just one player at Bristol City or Yeovil matches; I was surprised by how few touches some players got. There was an article in last week’s New Scientist featuring a theory as to why some teams do better when their main play-maker gets injured – something to do with his team being forced into using different attacking options and having to bring more of their own players into the game, especially if the opposition haven’t expected or prepared for these different options. The article cited some examples in basketball, but I suppose it could apply to football matches as well.

Groping around in the dark, eh? Sounds rather like this place.

Mate of mine (no, really a mate, not me) met up with a woman from Plenty of Fish. Turned out she looked 20 years older than her photo, had stinking breath, and babbled on about paranormal shi t all night. Even several drinks couldn’t engender any enthusiasm on my mate’s part, but being p issed and not wanting to hurt her feelings he agreed to meet up with her again, only to subsequently ignore her numerous attempts to contact him. Couple of weeks later he got chatting to another woman on Plenty of Fish who asked him whether he had met up with anyone else from the site. He replied that he’d only met up with one, and that she had looked 20 years older than her photo, had stinking breath, and babbled on about paranormal shi t all night. Turned out he was chatting to the same woman, and that she had re-enrolled under a new identity in order to attain some genuine feedback. Moral of the story: genuine feedback, not always a good thing.

Seem to recall we won our first 3 games of that season; then went 2 up at Arsenal, only for them to grab an equaliser in about the ninth minute of injury time, which had been added on for Paul Davis breaking Glenn Cockerill’s jaw with a left hook ffs! – a point which proved pivotal for Arsenal when they snatched the title on goal difference with the last kick of the season.

Agree his taciturn approach to the media didn’t always help him, especially following in the footsteps of LM, a man never short of a word or three. When Man Utd came in for Danny Wallace, I remember a reporter asking him what the position with Wallace was; dead-pan Nicholl replied: “right wing.”

Surprised by that, FF. What did Mick say?

Remember Mark Dennis rifling a shot inches over the bar in the last minute of full time

One of my favourite matches during Nicholl’s reign was the 4-2 League Cup victory over Swindon. 2 nil down at half time, Nicholl brought on the Bruise Brothers – Shearer and Ruddock – we equalised with a few minutes to go, and then banged in 2 goals in extra time. Brilliant game and atmosphere under the floodlights!

Yep, you’ve made a very important point: if Osvaldo does ever play for us again, then the opposition will be doing just that.

If this was a one-off incident we were talking about, FC, I would definitely agree with you that we should try to help the bloke – with the proviso, of course, that the rest of the players were happy to go along with it. However, as you rightly say, Osvaldo has done this type of thing before, and I suspect he needs professional help – professional help that is likely to be time consuming, costly, and will come with no guarantees of success. And, all the while, he will remain a liability, with the likelihood he will lose it again – next time it could be in the middle of a crucial match; who knows, he could even do a Gazza in an FA Cup final. Now, I really hope he gets the help he needs to turn himself around: for all I know, underneath his anger issues, he could be a decent bloke and a more than decent footballer – although, unfortunately, aside from fleeting moments of brilliance, I’ve yet to see much evidence of the latter. You think that the club should help Osvaldo and try to integrate him back into the squad – that’s fine; I’m sure others share your opinion. Personally, I’d rather we let him seek help elsewhere, try to recoup some of our losses, and replace him with someone who can actually do more to help us win football matches.

I’m all for giving people a second chance, but this bloke has had a second chance, and a third chance; in fact, several chances. He appears to have an anger management disorder, and probably needs professional help. I’m not convinced Saints are the ones to give it him: we are, after all, a football club, not some care-in-the-community rehabilitation centre for serial offenders.

I know they happen, Turks. I remember Hurlock and Speedie having a punch up on a pre-season tour in the Channel Islands. Can’t remember the outcome exactly, but I don’t think it was long before Speedie was on his way. But the present Saints squad seem a close knit bunch, and it appears they’re all solidly behind Fonte, so I can only see one outcome here: Osvaldo will be shown the door.