Golactico

Solent commentry for Saints v Arsenal at highbury in the meaningless league game that we lost 6-1 in the week of the cup final in 2003. Merrington spent the whole game calling Giovanni van Bronckhorst "Van Brockenhurst", as in the New Forest village!

Mark Jacobs was interviewed on 5live this morning - said nothing that should give any Pompey fan any comfort or reassurance, no matter how hard he tried to talk up their predicament. Refers to Pompey's 'phenomenal fan-base'(!) Link here - Jacobs interview is in the last 15 minutes. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00psqtf/Sportsweek_10_01_2010/

I've always thought that 'Ruby's Arms' by Tom Waits has a real Christmassy feel to it. Incidently - a quick 'Google' has confirmed my suspicion that Waits did a version of 'When the Saints go Marching In' too.

I noticed that Radio Solent mentioned during their Sports bulletins yesterday that tickets for Pompey’s cup game against Coventry are now on sale – they even gave prices. I may be wrong, but isn’t that unusual for a game like this? OK if it was Man U or another game where there might be strong demand, but Coventry in the 3rd round of the cup? One theory might be that someone at Pompey has said to Solent ‘look guys, we are in such trouble in January that even a few thousand on the gate for the cup game might keep us afloat for a bit longer – can you do what you can for us to shift a few more tickets?’ Yes, I know I’m probably seeing something that isn’t there, but I’ve come to rely on my daily ’Pompey in the poo’ story.

Boogies - Reuben Agboola got into a bit of bother there once, if I recall rightly

Hi, I don't suppose you've got a programme from Saints v Leicester on 27th Dec 1980? I would be interested if you have (was my first ever match - those were the days)

The ChoculaKid - at last, the voice of reason. Please read this article before you believe the propaganda http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/11/english-defence-league-chaotic-alliance In case you can't be arsed to read the article, quote: 'at EDL events, skinheads have raised Nazi salutes and other EDL supporters have chanted racist slogans such as "I hate Pakis more than you". One protest in Luton in May ended with scores of people attacking Asian businesses, smashing cars and threatening passersby'

So, stay away fans like me are being urged to go to the last few games of the season. Then why can’t I buy a ticket yet for the Palace and Burnley games? I’d have thought that whoever is in charge now would be looking to make the product of this ailing business as readily available as possible.

Another 'would never get away with it today' moment was midway through the 1st half. The ball went out for a throw on the nearside of the pitch and Bally definitely threw a punch at Martin O'Neill. These days O'Neill would have gone down like he'd been shot, the crowd would have rared up, the commentator would have got exited and said 'you just can't raise your hands' and Bally would have been off. Back in '79 it just passed off without comment and the players just got on with it!

Redknapp quote from 27/10/08: "When I took over at Portsmouth, in the first game we played, I thought 'how am I going to get this lot out of [the relegation zone]?' because we were so poor. But this team is full of quality. Ledley King, when he's fit, is a great player. [Defender Vedran] Corluka plays for Croatia, [Luka] Modric can play and the ball from [David] Bentley for the first goal was world-class." Redknapp quote from 22/01/09: "this is a football club that has been put together by I don't know who and I don't know how. It's a mish-mash of players with people playing where they want to play. It's scary" A bit contradictory eh?