spyinthesky

I was on the books of the Saints as a youngster back in the late 60's (selected at an open trial at the CPC ground at Rownhams) Played for the old A and B sides in the Hampshire league (then a decent standard) with the likes of Bobby Stokes, Paul Bennett, Bob Mcarthy etc who were young pros. Most of the rest of us were signed on amateur forms. We used to train every Tuesday and Thursday evening at the Dell. Training consisted of running round the shingle perimeter of the Dell, 5 a side in the Car park and, occasionally, using the (then) recently built gym under the West Stand. This smelt of sweat and dust. I once got kicked pretty hard by Cliff Huxford who took no prisoners, even amongst raggady arsed young wanna bees. After training us nippers would head for the bus station to get our transport home, sometimes enjoying a half a shandy in the Lord Louis and a scallding hot Plesteds Pie, if it wasnt too late. We used to get sent telegrams advising us if we were selected for games. Home games were played at the BTC ground Both Bill Ellerington and George Horsfall were involved with Saints at the time

Totally shameful Wasnt it the demented Toy Salesman who consistently argued that all the smaller creditors and charities had been paid?

Not far from Jeopardy. Plenty of jobs in Jeopardy

To be fair, cheaper tickets this year at FP

Apparently been offered a coaching job at Dean Park Bet he will come in for some stick at Pompey first game of the season!!

David James received an honour in the Civil List, following in the footsteps of that giant of footballing talent with a Pompey connection, Alan Knight Surely MLT for his one club loyalty, fantastic footballing ability,services to broadcasting and local charity work should be rewarded. He is also genuinely a nice guy. Perhaps that goes against him. Mick Channon is another worthy of recognition in view of his dual success on the football field and horse racing as well as his efforts in controlling his tourettes!!

I am sure there must be a good number of Pompey fans who are decent coves. However two of the most celebrated by the diminishing number hardcore supporters at Fratton Park appear to include the heavily tattoed, bugle blowing and often inebriated Mr PFC Westwood, and 'Docker' Hughes who's death 30 years ago is being celebrated by some of his peers. Not only is Mr Hughes famous for supposedly starting the SCUM 'Dock Strike' story but, according to legend, he was asleep up a tree at a 657 Crew event. At the same event he was also seen to be sick in his hands and to eat the contents. I sure this is exactly what legends are made of!!!!

Was walking behind quite a large bloke, presumably a cross dresser, wearing a bandana, black tights, large winkle pickers and what looked like a short skirt under a reefer jacket. Bit odd but there you go. Walking the other way was a man and a woman. The woman was quite short and chunky, also wearing black tights and a short skirt (not really the right look for her size I'm afraid), and sporting 3-4 piercings around her eyes/lips plus a tattoo on her neck. After she had passed the 'cross dresser' she turned to her male companion and said 'Blimey did you see the state of that'!! Of course I am falling into the same trap as pre judging other people but the phrase 'Pot, kettle, black' just seemed so appropriate

For the want of something better to do I had a quick look at the PFC official site. 13 players on the list ie Mokoena (assumed weekly wages - £10k) Halford £15k TBH £35k Webster £0.5k Lawrence £16k Mullins £7k Norris £12k Futacs £8k Huseklepp £15k Varney £12k Harris £0.5k Kitson £20k Kanu £15k Total per week £165k Av per player per week £12,692 Total per annum £8.6m on 13 players with no keepers!! Quality over Quantity!!!!!!!!!!!!! On top of this next year's Championship table is shown. Bizarre!!

Just received a flyer from the Commercial Dept Corporate Boxes are priced at £60k for Central, £50k for Wing and £45k for 'Goal' (where ever this is) Table of 10 in the Markus Liebherr lounge will be £32k All exclusive of VAT Had a Box for first 2 seasons at St Marys (fairly central) and it was £30k as I recollect. Todays prices work out at £379 per game per person for the central boxes In today's difficult financial climate the club will do well to sell out corporates at these prices Separately I had to smile as the advertising shots used pictures of the crowd on the hallowed turf at the end of the Coventry game when the official mantra was 'Keep off the Pitch'!!!

I was at the York City game at Bootham Crescent Travelled across from Leeds where I was a student and remember it was good to see a lot of familiar faces particularly those who had travelled up overnight after the Adam & Eve club had closed Recollect that York lowered a flag in the corner of the ground when we went 3-1 up (presume as a sign of defeat) only for it to be raised when they equalised We won the replay as I recollect

Any one know if the rules have changed for 'Find Tenant Only' clients? My wife rents out her Mothers house (to pay the £35k per year Dementia Care package!!) and the tenants deposit has been kept with the Tenancy Deposit Scheme for 4 years with no issues. Have just received a letter from the Estate Agent, who found the tenant and arranged the deposit scheme, to advise that any change to the tenancy agreement requires a change to the tenancy agreement at a cost of £25. All seems a bit odd

Any idea how much a Box and other Hospitality packages are for the coming season?

Fair play to Pompey that they have, at last, realised the need to promote some of their youth team rather than continue with the policy of quality(?) over quantity. Wonder if the next step would be to consider getting some of their Ladies team to step up to the mark??

I paid £6 for a seat not far from the Royal Box in our 1976 FA Cup Final triumph Any idea how much an equivalent seat would be nowadays? Presume you would have to be one of the Club Wembley season ticket holders to get such a seat

Any idea what will happen to Darlington's fairly new 25,000 capacity stadium?

Chasing EU money is a bit of bluff and bluster. It is highly unlikely to happen, especially for the cruise trade I was talking to a well placed source in the Civil Service a while ago who said it was successive Govt strategy to ensure the vast majority of EU and UK grant aid went north of the M4 This was borne out when chatting to some one well up at Fords plant in Swaythling Some of their buildings date back to pre war and they would love to get Govt assistance to upgrade buildings and tooling to compete with the Transit plant in Turkey They were told 'no chance' as this area is seen to be 'prosperous'

Whilst Liverpool has a significant tidal range I dont think depth of water is a major issue. However Liverpool will have to invest significantly in a suitable terminal, the current one is a tent with capacity to handle only 1200 passengers when the big ships are well over 2,500 Will the Local Council stump up the £10m or so required? It is unlikely that there will be any grant funding available Actually Liverpool is only slightly worse off than Soton as regards distance to Gibraltar (ie entrance to the Med) and is slightly shorter distance to New York. However if you are prone to sea sickness, I wouldnt fancy double doses of the Irish sea and Bay of Biscay if you are heading to/from Liverpool in bad weather!!

To be fair I think he provided a reasoned response Liverpool has always been a city of contrasts. Some fantastic old buildings and some great, warm hearted and generous people. On the downside there a some real **** holes and a vicious underclass that is unfortunately represented by increasing gun and other violent crime (over 50 shootings in the Liverpool area last year and on target (sorry about the pun) to beat this number this year. An awful lot of tax payers money has been wasted up there but again, to be fair, the car plants which were once riven with industrial disputes have turned round abd are doing well As an aside a mate of mine's cousin used to work for Ford when they ran Halewood. A pal nicked an Escort from the security car park and then upgraded all the parts from stuff he 'acquired' from the plant

To be fair though the regeneration of Liverpool was pump primed by Billions of pounds worth of EU Objective One and UK regional development aid which is denied the so called 'prosperous south' ie below the M4 corridor I am sure most of us on this forum could have made Southampton a much more attractive place with just a small proportion of the largesse given out to Liverpool Sure the city planners have done well in the main city area but have you ever visited Kirkdale, Garston, Speke, Anfield, Norris Green, Kirkby? Just outside the main city area is Toxteth which has the highest child deprivation area in the UK (by some margin) and the average life expectancy of a woman is 64, compared to 84 in Guilford. Perhaps some of the massive grant money could have been better spent in deprived areas than wasted on a large number of grandiose schemes which have not benefitted the community btw the amount of new flats in Liverpool city centre is massive (most of these were developed with Irish capital which has now disappeared) and the Liverpool One retail development has hastened the demise of many long standing retail stores, including thje flagship Lewis's dept store

Last time I saw Bob Babbitt was a year or so ago backing Phil Collins in his Motown covers album Just seems like yesterday!!

£550 for 2 Adults and 2 Juniors These are the sort of incentives that will attract youngsters to the game Shame that it will probably cost £1675 for similar season tickets at St Marys this year. I suppose that is the consequence of success

...'Play it Steve'......??

Saw Booker T and the MG's (Memphis Gentlemen?) at Leeds Uni back in the early 70's Very tight band Duck Dunn was a great bass player but some say not quite as good as James Jamerson of the Funk Bros Also saw Sam and Dave live. What a performance but apparently they hated one another!!!

Understand that 'Ricky Lambert' stood as an Independent candidate for the Coxford Ward at the recent Council elections and only gained 39 votes. Seems a tad harsh compared to our old friend Perry MacMillan who registered a relatively monster 259 votes as a Trade Union candidate in his ward. So different to the 1960's when Terry Paine was elected as a Councillor but, as I recollect, was rarely to be seen in the Council chambers.