spyinthesky

Corps Good to hear from you. Happy New Year Point of detail, I think most posters work on press reports (OK they can be wrong) that Pompey have the THIRD highest wage bill in the Championship. Re Ritchie and Pack Cotterill has said publically that neither of them are of sufficient quality for the Championship so bye bye btw I don't think that it is just your friendly Saints fans who are 'surprised' at the way your club is being run. P

Is O'Hara still injured? Wouldnt surprise me if he ended up back at Pompey Decent player

On the basis that the Gob****es had problems with the Revenue in the past, wonder whether they will be able to cope with the additional 2.5% Vat on tickets sales etc for here on in? I suppose the 'cash only' arrangement will help!!

Am I being a bit naive here. Stoke let a player go on a free who then, overnight, turns into a £4m player. I know things are never black and white with Pompey but cant really see the Stoke Board/management being so gullible, unless there is a monster sell on clause added. Surely Stoke must have learned after paying an inflated price for Marc Wilson but then again so many unanswered questions in football

I guess Le Tizz will be missing once again. When you consider some of the no marks who get a gong you have to wonder why Le Tizz has been overlooked. No disrespect to Alan Knight but what he has he achieved at Pompey compared to Le Tizz here.

Must add my name to the list who found David Luker very helpful and amenable Hope his replacement is as good

Hampshire Police raided a terrace house behind Fratton Library early this morning. Inside they found a large cache of Soviet made armaments, seventeen anti- personnel landmines, false passports and a boxes of brown envelopes. Local grandmother, Clamydia Westwwod-Jones (31), said.. I'm shocked, I have lived here all my life like and never knew there was a Library in Fratton.'

Wonder what he is doing with his time now? 3rd choice keeper, no reserve team. Still I suppose he gets a decent wedge. Wouldn't surprise me if dear old Rupes put him on £3/£4k per week as well as a 5 yr deal I reckon it was Tommy's Dad who wrote the letter extolling Rupe's credentials at the club's last (& final) AGM!!

I can remember a Cup Tie as a youngster v Blackpool when I think Stanley Matthews (the Beckham of his day) played against Tommy Traynor. Think we lost 2-1 They had a mascot (old chap with a brolly) who had a pet duck that waggled around in the goal mouth. We had Bill Bray with his rattle. Any one remember him? 2-4-6-8 who you you appreciate. Oh the memories!!

For both 1st and 2nd round Ties??

Looked the real deal when he first arrived and initially thrived under the Dutch regime However he often tends to go for the eye catching long ball when something shorter would suffice. He is not particularly quick and doesn't get goals (albeit from a defensive midfield position) If we were able to get a decent fee for him I think the money could wisely be invested in more suitable players for our current position. That said he certainly wouldn't be high up my list of player to lose

A mate of mine has placed a large bet on us meeting Bournemouth in the Play Off Finals at Wembley If so could cause massive problems with transport bearing in mind issues with availability of trains and coaches for the JPT Final. Segregation en route would be another issue Worst of all what if we lost!!!

Havent got my reference books handy How many times have we played them before yesterday? Programme article says once in 2007 (lost 2-1 in Carling Cup) Elsewhere David Bull says 3 times, all in League Cup, ic a 4-1 away win in 1996

Trying to take a balanced view here (a bit like Ho who has a chip on both shoulders), it would be interesting to know how many of us Saints fans would have enjoyed our 'moment of success' if dodgy owners had provided us with a platform for success. Whilst Rupert and Co were nowhere in the same League as the criminals at Pompey, they did get up to some unsavoury if not unlawful acts and whilst the team was doing OK most of us shoved this to the back of our collective minds. Rupert & Co were challenged on the dealings with the club by the SISA activists who, in turn were ridiculed, by some as trouble makers. I suppose at the end of the day many Pompey fans see their club as bigger and better than us. Certainly when it comes to dodgy dealings they win hands down

A useful topic i think our squad is not as geared up for a successful go at the Championship as many people think. Would be interesting to see how the current team would (hypothetically) fare against the team that made the playoffs three years ago. I suspect we are not as strong as Pompey are at the moment with their new acquisitions. Having dispensed with Pulis, Forecast (if we can on his wonderfully negotiated 5 yr deal!!) Mills, Wotton,Jaidi, Holmes and Connolly, I would put question marks alongside Puncheon, Seaborne & Martin and possibly even Harding, Hammond and Schneiderlin. Dickson I have not seen enough of the make a proper assessment. Lambert (especially) and Barnard will be exposed by their lack of pace in the division. Guly (if he stays) may possibly prosper. Think we would need a midfielder a step up from Chaplow All comes down to how much money is available. If a reasonable wedge then, in my opinion, need to bring in: Central Defender (possibly two) Defensive Midfielder Creative Midfielder Left sided attacker One Central striker One 'support striker (with pace)

Ho I think holepuncture may be using the 'porstmuff' vernacular in this missive. If you check out his other posts, directed mainly at Saints fans, spelling and composition are as one would expect in the higher stratum of Hampshire society.

Talking to friends the other day about the Adam and Eve where we cut our teeth as youngsters Anyone remember Arthur Sherriff who was one of the original DJ's and then went on to work at the Top Rank, eventually ending up as an A&R man (with Elton John??) Also Carol Hamilton, an attractive blond girl (well lady in age terms) who was married to the chap who owned Hamilton Electronics in London Rd The club was owned by Mr & Mrs Bignall who also owned the Checkpoint cafe near the Bargate (now Bouzy Rouge) Mr Bignall was an ex motor racer (apparently) and always had a decent looking young filly in tow. By comparison Mrs Bignall was an old sour puss who hated people chewing gum Re the Top Rank was Johnnie Diamond the DJ there or was he at the Pier? He was a bit of a local celeb and ended up being a Bingo caller at Portswood Mecca Also remember the resident Band the Top Rank. Don't recollect their name (Brian Ross??) but the leaders daughter was the main singer (generally out of tune) The dance floor was generally empty when the band was on but then got jammed for the 'pick up' slow dances. Eddie Holman's 'Hey there Lonely Girl' being particularly remembered

I used to travel to a lot of away games in the 60's/70's and 80's Closest I got to damage was being hit in the face by a (very!!) hot meat pie stood on the terraces at Ninian Park in the mid 60's. People in front of me saw it coming. They all ducked an d I got it full in the kisser!! I was wearing a brand new reefer jacket (Xmas present) and could never get rid of the smell. Coach was an old Shamrock & Rambler (no heating) and we had to look after one lad who had been attacked with an iron bar by Cardiff fans. Nearly came to grief at Elland Rd in the 70's when at Uni there. Stood amongst the Leeds fans and shouted out in anger when Billy Bremner fooled the Ref into giving a pen after an incident with Gerry Gurr. I was probably one of very few Saints fans there that day and fortunately the people around me took it all with amusement rather than hostility

Rumours are that the building contract was with 'Terry the Jerry' builder. However he experienced a couple of problems. First one was overrunning on a big executive house project on Hayling Island and then on some 'sporting' project on Portsea Island which went into administration.

I heard that the third year option was at the players discretion. If this is true then another strange deal Mr Lowe dreamt up for us. Not sure how the Andrew Davies deal benefited us but Pulis must be on around £3k per week = £450k over the term of his contract!!

This brings up another point. Anyone taken one on the snout exiting the 'facilities' when someone bursts into the St Marys toilets thro the exit door? The doors are clearly marked in and out!!

To be fair given equal circumstances Saints and Pompey will draw the same level of support as evidenced by the 17,000 ish averages (presumably from the mid 1920's when attendances were more realistically compiled) However it is a fact that over the past 50 yrs, Saints average has been 19,000 against Pompey at 14,000 and only since 2001 have Saints had the larger ground

2,229 away support Good numbers On the field County without 4 players and down to 10 which favoured us. Seems we have still to hit top form

I was brought in an age when good manners and politeness were a given. However I remember once being given my school bus fare back by a conductoress (remember them?) who was taken by the fact that I said 'thank you' when given a bus ticket. On the subject of open doors I do get miffed when people waltz through without any acknowledgement but, on the reverse, get a warm happy glow when people are genuinely appreciative. I find that youngsters are more likely to waltz thro an open door without a 'thank you' but I guess that is due to the society they have been brought up in. Mind you what really ****es me off are car drivers (mostly women) who do not acknowledge when you let them in at junctions (even hairy arsed Transit drivers will offer thanks) or refuse to let you out of a busy side road and sit in the car combing their hair or chatting on the phone when they could have let you out.

Where's the Gig? Is Roy Beazley still involved? What does Mel Blyth think of Ken Shellito?