spyinthesky

I am both a Saints and Aviva shareholder. My (modest) shareholding in Saints is no more and my Aviva shares have gone south bigstyle as has the endowment policy I have with them. That said I would be more than happy for Aviva to take a pragmatic view on the Stadium debt bearing in mind that Aviva must have spent millions on a ridiculous ad campaign telling, no one in particular, that they are changing their name from Norwich Union

If Isla St Clair (the Scottish Folk Singer) married Barrie White, divorced him and then married Brian Ferry her name would be Isla White-Ferry Similarly if Fannie Craddock married our ex striker (now with Stoke), divorced him and married that ex Arsenal & England keeper with the pig tail, her name would be ....interesting!!

Rupert will be there with another letter of support from the mystery man who 'sent' the AGM letter

Apparently secret talks have been underway between Eastleigh FC and various local authorities to upgrade Eastleigh +FC capacity to 10,000. Eastleigh & Saints will share Pompey will buy Staplewood training with saints and eastleigh renting their Stoneham lane facility but with the pitch avialbale for occasional Saints and Easdtleigh reserve games The stadium debt will lay with Aviva. Eastleigh Council have earmarked a site at the old railway works to build a new sports complex if England's bid for the World Cup is successful

:Pulis was given a thorough medical before signing...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................by the same crack team that examined Augustine Delgado's knee and Perry Groves hair

Current BTC (originally Railways/Docks) Vospers Aerostructures ( originallyFollands) Esso (Holbury) Police (Hamble) Past Ford (Briggs Sports) BAT Civil Service AC Delco (now privately run) Hamble Air Training Pirelli Fairey Marine (back of Plough) then Mullards Missed Gas pitch in Millbrook. Any more details?

Few of us were trying to work out how many works sports grounds, in/around Soton, there are remaining and those no longer supported by the parent company involved. Have got 3 remaining and 7 gone. Who wants to have a stab at meeting/bettering this total?

Gordon Watson is at Leicester with Nigel Pearson Rueben Agboola works for Parkway Cars Franny Benali is in Property development Nicky Banger is Commercial Manager at Aldershot

Fantastic response by the British public. Apparently £58m pledged in a very difficult economic climate. Understand that Rupert is looking at possibilities So wait for 'Red Cheeks Day' featuring the well known jokers we have in the Boardroom and beyond. Unlikely that our 'professional' comedian Mike Osman will be invited\ to participate though. Any thoughts on likely sketches?

Understand Sagas favourite song is a (Jim)Steeler(s) Wheel song which has the line....'Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with Euell..'

Denzil Surely SRS must live near you. Good neighbours and all that.

Not many people over here were complaining about capitalism a year or so ago when most people in the developed world were doing OK. Unfortunately any economic boom will, at some stage, downturn and we are suffering this big time at the moment. Just finished reading a book on Victorian Britain and there was a big banking crisis in the 1870's. Additionally the railway boom saw fortunes made in shares until the sector ran out of steam (sorry about the pun) and when the downturn came lots of people ended up in debtors prison

..and for the next 2 or 3 seasons if his contract term is as indicated in the Echo. Happy Days!!!

Many years ago I used to live on 'the front line' and all was generally well. Things changed when Saints became the dominant force on the S Coast and a significant proportion of Pompey fans became v unpleasant and, human nature as it is, this has been reciprocated by some Saints fans. However I still know a good few Pompey fans that are fine. The nasty ones, well, they may deserve some uncharitable behaviour. In the unlikely event of Pompey and Saints being in the Championship next season, I guess Pompey would benefit from the Parachute payment plus fairly significant revenue from the sale of a number of players. Most of their (high earning)players would have to go but a decent Manager with reasonable funds should make them a force to be reckoned with. In comparison our squad is likely to be decimated by the need to get our own high earners off the wage bill. Whilst I look forward to seeing Saints regain the title of S Coast top side, I don't see this happening for a few years yet, unfortunately However relegation for Pompey would surely scupper their new stadium plans. It's also about time Soton University hiked up the rent charge on the Stoneham Lane training facilities.

Chez, 'Enhanced' means...improved/increased/raised etc etc Dont think Andrew Surman has 'enhanced' his value in recent weeks

Unfortunately I think the 'Total Football/Youth Team' experiment will lead us to Div1 next season. Assuming this nightmare scenario happens, will be interested in any thoughts of likely player departures I guess a lot will depend on contract details/saleability of players and, of course, wages but can see the following leaving Kelvin Davis (for a fee?) Size (on loan currently?) Skachel (free) Saga (free) Euell (free) W Phillips (free) Schneiderlin (for a fee?) Guess these seven would save approx £2.5m in wages plus whatever transfer fees could be acheived. Surman & Llalana are also likely to go but dont think they have enhanced their values with recent displays. Gasmi,Smith & Liptak are loanees I think. Neither Gasmi or Smith have impressed. Liptak might be worth a go in Div 1 if wages cheap. Rasiak and Dyer are effectively gone. Perry I would like to keep but he is 38 next year and that may count against him. Wooton is probably on about £5/£6K a week but, I believe, signed a 2 or 3 year contract so may not be easy to get rid of. Assuming the rest of our 'youngsters' stay, it will be imperative to supplement these lads with experienced players able to stand up to the physical strains of Div 1/ Leicester have been successful by holding on to a basis of their experienced players from last season plus loan players. Even if a miracle happens and we do stay up can see quite a few changes next year.

The other interesting point about trawling the Ipswich fan sites,apart from the plaudits for the Saints, is the similarity of the criticisms of Manager/Board/Players that were being expressed by Saints fans until this recent upsurge in form. There doesnt seem to be the 'hatred' of the Chairman, at the moment, but that may come. Interestingly one poster queried the attendance. He felt it at least 4k short of the official 20,000. Seems this massaging of crowd figures happens elsewhere too. There are also dire warnings about the season ticket uptake next season at Ipswich. Meanwhile I bask in the glory of an unexpected run of wins and complimentary comments from opposing supporters. Fingers crossed for a repeat at St Andrews on Saturday and next week at St Marys What a shame the supporters views on the make up of the team were not taken into account earlier in the season!!

Apparently Cardiff will allow supporters to stand at one of their new ground according to the statement on their web site, relating to their new stadium. A sensible policy but surely will put them in conflict with the licensing authorities

If you look on the Cardiff City Website (or it could have been BBC Wales) Dave Jones makes some favourable comments about the Saints He also mentions a ppre season chat with our esteemed chairman in which Rupert boasted about how his youngsters would take the Championship by storm. Dave Jones indicated that you need a mixture of youth and experience in this Division as any one with any football knowledge would have agreed with I am sure if we had had a big ugly centre half and a big ugly target man from day 1 we would not be in our current parlous position

To be fair Peter Risdale, the Cardiff Chairman, was quoted as saying, in an article on their new stadium, that the club were hoping to attract more family supporters and get rid of the troublesome fans. Unfortunately there are some clubs who continue to be plagued by idiots and it is not difficult to name those clubs who continue to feature Not saying the person(s) involved in this alleged incident were of this persuasion but,if there is a serious casualty or, god forbid a death, then it will not surprise me if some knuckledraggers will be calling for 'revenge'

On the Muppet site someone says their brother witnessed the aftermath of the incident in Anderson Rd, which I believe is behind the Chapel Arms. Obviously don't know the circumstances but this is just shocking if reports are true. Before the game I walked up Anderson Rd behind 4 saints fans and 2 Cardiff fans (obviously mates) and this is how it should be, not people shouting, swearing and battering one another because they wear different colours.

The road behind the Chapel Arms was cordoned after the game and it looked serious with lots of police about. It may well be this is where the 'incident' happened

Hypothetically could a very rich benefactor buy the stadium debt off Aviva and then up to cost of borrowing against the debt to such a level that the club was unable to afford it, shares become virtually worthless, and the rich benefactor could then pick up the club for next to nothing. Didnt something like this happen at Crystal Palace some years ago?

To my mind Maggie did a lot of good things in the early days but then got carried away and seemed to have lose her sense of reason. Certainly the ethos of 'buggar you mate I'm all right' was started on her watch and allowed to continue by dear old Tone and Gordy boy

These circumstances are different to those described to me and could well be a separate incident. Certainly drink did not appear to have been a contributory factor However I guess we will never know the full facts.