Lord Duckhunter

What a load of ****. Meant to be meeting an evertonian mate who emigrated and is back for Xmas, and now this has really ****ed it up, im on call the Sunday night, so need to be back in area, sober for 8pm. ****ing great reunion, 15 mins before ko and stright back or drive and 2 pints. Just glad I didn't get my act together and book train tickets. Seriously the league should do something about this. Everybody understands that fixtures change for tv, but once the tv games are announced they should stick to ko times except in exceptional circumstances. These are not exceptional circumstances, the gap between the Cardiff game and this was clear the day the fixtures were released . They should have done it then, not ****ing now.

I've spent nearly 35 years visiting boozers and I can honestly say it is in the top 10 of worst dives I've ever been in. The ale is awful and the only reason I was sad it shut was it meant other pubs got busier. For a city the size of Southampton, the prematch choice of boozers is pretty poor. I used to like the red lion, but **** knows what they did to that.

Gaston once missed the first man with a set piece.

I played local football until I was 48, and at one time many moons ago played with some decent ex pro's and some good ex Southern League players. In that time I never ever heard anybody ever have a go at one of their own players for diving, the only thing I ever heard these decent players bollock someone for was trying to stay on their feet and not scoring "you should have gone down there" being the general call. In fact, I was managed by a guy who was an apprentice at Man C in Joe Mercer's day, and he used to call it "helping the Ref" when a guy went down easily. "Buying a foul" has always been around in the game, but in the older days the game was more physical, therefore Refs would not give fouls for anything other than full on hack. Players stayed on their feet because they would not get a foul, with the change in rules meaning that slight contact results in fouls as well as the more liberal use of yellow and red cards means they go down nowadays. Nobody should kid themselves that older players would not bend the rules if given the chance. Feigning injury is one thing that has fundamentally changed however. Previously showing that you weren't hurt was a sign of strength. Had I started rolling about, some grizzly centre half from my side would have picked me up pretty quickly. I played with a full back who had been around a bit. He kicked every winger that went anywhere near me. When they started jumping around or needing the "magic sponge" he would know he had him in his pocket. The ones he didn't like were the ones he kicked lumps out of and they just picked themselves up, took the free kick and played as if nothing had happened. He then had to concentrate on defending properly and was in for a tough game. Look at Joe Jordan when he was head butted by that Italian, just stood there. Had it been the other way round a modern player would make a right meal of it.

People who are trying to compare Gaston's situation with Bale, Ramsey or even Walcott are living in cloud cuckoo land. Ramsey was returning from a horrific injury which will have affected him mentally as well as physically. Bale and Walcott (like it or not) were signed from a smaller club that were a division lower. Gaston was signed from a top flight club in a top flight footballing country. The other big difference is Walcot and Bale got slowly better and better, Gaston is standing still at best. If Redknapp or Fat Sam signed Gaston and he'd performed like he has, what would this board say , "he'll come good", "give him time", "he's young and in a foregin Country", "he doesn't suit their system". I doubt it, it would be more evidence of how dodgey or what mugs of Managers they are. Tim Vickery said all along he had concerns about him in the Premiership and of course there was the cumtomery thread questioning Vickery's knowledge, but listen to this at 5.30 (after the annoying advert). He's got it pretty much spot on, and that's before the Olympics, so he wasn't being wise after the event. Interesting that he says despite being rated by his Country, he "hasn't quite cut it". That sums up his time at Saints perfectly. http://talksport.com/radio/hawksbee-and-jacobs/120607/vickery-why-ramirez-would-not-be-good-signing-spurs-173873

The only way we'll get decent money for him is by sending a brown paper bag full of cash via sandbanks. No proper football manager is going to pay anything like 10mil for him. He's been a huge disappointment and is actually getting worse.

And their retail energy prices are much higher than the UK's.

But surely as soon as the fixtures were announced you could work it out. I knew that to get arsenal tickets I would need to do 3/4 aways prior to that, so went to Norwich when I didn't really fancy it. Looking at the fixtures coming up and today, there should be plenty of tickets going after Arsenal. Chelsea is on TV, cant see Newcastle , Cardiff, Sunderland or Everton selling out. Go to 3 of those and chances are you'll be able to get a ticket for any remaining game.

"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one" Meanwhile back in the real world, how do you abolish tax havens and set a maximum wage? Do we have a world government who set tax rates and wage levels? How do go ahead companies and market leaders recruit the best if they can only pay them what you deem the right amount.

Im at work and im bored. I only have my mobile and can't find any information, apart from Clifford left under a cloud.

Does anybody know if Rupes is still involved with this. I see Clifford has left after a disaster of a season on and off the pitch.

I would think that it was probably because her intial thought would have been that the girl had wandered off, rather than been taken. I've been reading all the stuff posted and nothing has changed my mind. I believe she was taken , but that the parents were seriously negligent in leaving her alone. I also feel very angry that instead of being racked with guilt, instead of asking for forgiveness, and being repentant and understanding that had they done what 99% of all decent people do, that little girl would be with them now, they try to make out they've done nothing wrong, that this could have happened to any reasonable parents. The seem to have no shame , and no guilt and that is unnatural in my opinion. Somebody in the media needs to grow a pair and tell them how it is.

Correct, and its about time the opponents of fees acknowledged this. You just can not have tax payer funded tuition fees if you're going to want 50% of kids going to uni. Once people accept that the options become, limit uni to the top 10/15% , pay as you go, or a deferred payment scheme that kicks in the more you earn. Its a no brainer

Spot on. Did you see that idiot choir boy leftie Owen Jones on question time last night. He was bemoaning the lack of working class and people who speak to them standing for parliament. Dimble then asked if he'd stand , "no" he said. I guess its much more lucrative to write and talk about it than actually work at the coal face. It did make me laugh that his reply and rant was almost the same as the great Satan Peter Hitchens, until Hitchens then said that the establishment had let too many immigrants in. Little Owen got so excited his voice nearly broke.

The voters.

So lets all sit back and say **** it, shall we. Who governs us then? The only way to change things is revolution or vote. As Brand can't be bothered to even get up the polling booth to try and make a small contribution, I can't see him storming Parliament somehow. The growing disparities of wealth, does that include Brand who gets paid a fortune as a one trick pony, or is it just bankers and energy bosses that earn obscene amounts?

What people who spout this rubbish mean is that because the majority of the British voters dont share their views, somehow this equates to a discredited system. The only way to change a voting system is to vote for a party that shares your opinions on our voting system. How else are you going to change it? One thing for sure , not voting is the least effective way of achieving change. Clowns like Brand dont seem to understand that its everybodies democracy, not just his and likeminded thinkers. local people vote for a local mp that then represents them at Westminster, it may not be perfect, but its not ****ed. What do you suggest, you and Brand sit down and pick a government for us. Why on earth do the BBC insist on putting this clown up as some sort of political thinker. His childlike approach to politics is a complete waste of broadcast time.What next Steven Hawkins on strictly come dancing?

"play in" is one my boss uses all the time. " im just going to play in blah blah blah"

Gaston needs to go. Personally, I'd go for Tom Ince to replace him. LB and Keeper need strengthening, Kelvin and Fox aren't good enough. I like an experienced number 2 keeper, we should be able to pick one up, but Left back could be an issue. What player of quality will want to be Shaw's understudy?

Annual leave-The company use this, I still refuse and call it holiday. Close of play-I get emails with COP on. Drill down-Used all the time, basically a holding statement when I haven't a clue why things aren't going to plan. "I'm going to drill down into the numbers and get back to you". Expectations- This one winds me up. I don't use it myself but I'm always hearing about people more senior than me's "expectations" (particularly when they're due to return from "annual leave"). Going forward-I use this to my guys a lot. Heads up-Again I use this a lot. One not on the list, that gets to me every time with my company using it incessantly is "opportunities". Which is basically a rollocking about something. My opportunities this month were my staff's appraisals as I'm behind on them, it's a sugar coated "you need to do this ASAP".

I got home about 12.30 and settled down to watch taped MoTD. Couldn't believe it, it looked like they were all over us. Showed some of our better possession when Shearer went through it afterwards. Had that been Utd, they would have shown Adams shot at the end during the main highlights. Joke coverage. Saw a Utd season ticket holder on the train and he said he was impressed with our support. Funny moments at Euston where a lot of Man C supporters were coming home from West Ham and started giving all the Utd day trippers stick. Train was full of London Utd supporters all with their mega store bags and cameras.

If we win I don't really care if I miss the train. My Manc mate reckons the overground by the away end is best and there's 2 trains that'll get me there on time. Weighing up whether to risk the queue as I might not get on the first two, or pegging it back on foot. Back on subject, I quite like the look of the Bulls Head, does anyone know if my 14 year old will be allowed in?

If Lambert ends this season like he's ended the last two, I really can't see it. He's looked whacked come April time, maybe Osvaldo will take some of the workload and this will help. If people are honest he's not setting the world alight in a saints shirt, but seems to have impressed woy with his attitude. Gut feeling , he won't take Carroll or Rickie, reckon it'll be Rooney, wellbeck and sturridge with Defoe. I suspect woy will want Walcott, aoc & Townsend and to accommodate all 3 he'll leave a forward out. Couple of injuries and he may get in, but he needs a big year.

Just double checked the train tickets and its 18:15. Looks like a brisk walk whilst looking out for a taxi is the only way. Reckon I can walk it in about an hour, provided the lunchtime beer has worn off.

I've never heard or read any journo, manager, pundit or fellow pro call him a big lump. I've never personally heard another sides supporters call him that, but accept that they probably have done. Must guys seem pretty impressed with him. I did get a mate from cov text " should have played Lambert" after the Ukraine game (which I thought was quite a good bit of banter), but most people I speak to rate him.