spyinthesky

If we do sign Downes that would be a total of five 'strikers' plus Ballard in the frame somewhere too. So points towards Arma and BBD being waved off with our thanks and a bit of cash in the kitty.

Have a read of Nolan's post a couple of hours ago. The difference between P & O Ferries who operate Ferry Services out of Dover and P & O Cruises who operate cruise ships out of Southampton is worth a read.

I just wish we had a striker who was decent in the air which is very helpful in the Championship Tall Paul should have met that criteria but he didnt have anywhere near the aerial power as the likes of Pelle and Ricky Lamber although being a few inches taller than either of them

It may be you are confusing P & O Cruises with P & O Ferries, who are owned by completely different companies, one American, the other Saudi

Nick, Quite right. Like you I have been fortunate to have seen the likes of terry Paine, Ron Davies, Martin Chivers, etc in their prime as well as all the newer players. Perhaps one day there will be some sort of computer programme that could match up talents from previous generations to properly assess their respective talents. The great players from the 30's/40's and early 50's would undoubtedly be unable to match the size, work rate and style of play todays players. However I wonder how our modern, nicely coiffured and tattooed bunch would have coped with playing with old styled boots, kit and ball in a mudbath back in the 1930's when shoulder charging, physical attacks on the goalkeeper etc were part of the game??

Money dear boy, money. If all the speculation is correct the current squad will suffer a 40-50% reduction in their wages. Anyone going to a Prem club should at least maintain their current renumeration and possibly get a decent signing on fee.

Hit and Run.........................................................Contours What Becomes of The Brokenhearted...............Joan Osborne & The Funk Bros Aint Too Proud To Beg........................................Temptations Function At The Junction....................................Shorty Long Baby You Mean What You Say............................Drifters Open The Door To Your Heart............................Darrell Banks Tainted Love........................................................Gloria Jones Heaven Must Have Sent You..............................The Elgins A Change Is Gonna Come...................................Sam Cooke Do I Love You (Indeed I do).................................Frank Wilson Run For Cover.......................................................The Dells Helpless................................................................Four Tops Uptight..................................................................Stevie Wonder (Come 'round here) I'm the one you need...........Miracles Tracks of My Tears...............................................Smokey Robinson Take Me In Your Arms And Love Me....................Gladys Knight & The Pips Shotgun.................................................................Junior Walker & The Allstars In Crowd.................................................................Dobie Gray This Old Heart of Mine...........................................Isley Bros (extended version by Mosogotam) Bills Bag..................................................................Billy Preston and many more!!!!

As the man with the wooden leg said, 'It is a matter of a pinion'😆 No mention of Charlie Wayman ('Up The Middle For Charlie', as many Saints of the 1950's would shout) Further back Ted Drake was a top striker of his day.

As well as understanding all Damion Down's fitness and various other metrics, the most important thing to measure is his support (or lack of it) of Donald Trump and the MAGA bunch.

All the discussion on Glastonbury made me remember a story from my youth when I was ski ing in the USA many years ago. I was at a Disco (remember them?) one evening and the music being played was what was referred to as Carolina Beach Music, which was quite close to my favourite Northern Soul genre something I got into during my time at University in the north of England. There I was trying to perform the Northern Soul shuffle to Marvin Gaye, Darrell Banks, the Contours etc, and a very attractive American girl came up to me and said 'Do You Shag'? This seemed even more music to my ears until I realised that 'The Shag' was quite a complicated jitterbug dance move which was beyond my capability at the time. The other proper English interpretation of the word I could have performed quite capably at the time but unfortunately I never had the chance although we did end up being pen pals for a while so I guess there was some gratification with this. Has any one on her ever 'Shagged' on the dance floor?

Joe Rothwell was an interesting one. A couple of cracking goals but not much else to write home about. Is he back at Bournemouth after a seasons long loan at Leeds?

Listened to 'Churchills Bust' on BBC Sounds (Radio 4) Great piece of historical context presented with a great deal of satire. The actor who played the part of dear Donald was particularly spot on with his portrayal

Its great that you enjoyed Rod. I first saw him just after he joined The Faces early in 1970 at Leeds University and he went down poorly and had to apologise to the audience. In my view he was even worse today and thought the sort of performances you see at the Concorde Club or Cruise Ship are generally far superior. To be fair to Rod he looks great for an 80 year old. Back in the day I used to know Billy Gaff, his Agent at the time and there were quite riotous parties at his Office.

According to Pompey fans the meeting of two lots of strike breakers ie Combined Union of Northamptonshire Tanners and Shoemakers... versus Southampton Combined Union of Men We should all be ashamed of the actions of our forebearers but not as much as the Pompey fans who made up this utter tosh. At least the Northampton version had some reasonable thought given to it!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Very quiet on Bella Kotcha's future. Surely he must be worth the odd Euro or two?

There must be quite a few new season ticket holders to replace the not insubstantial number who were so cheesed off with last years dire performances at SMS

Tall Paul + Marcelo Carillo + Augustin Delgado Put them all together and you wouldn't come up with a decent player.

Jay Rodrigues, possibly Danny Ings and Stu Armstrong plus Phil Parkinson (Manager) Bit of an Ex Saints game!!

Just a point of interest re the Pompey home game. There are 4 cruise ships in on Saturday 13th September and the same number on Sunday 14th plus these dates more than likely clash with the Boat Show. GRRRREAATT!!

Thanks for the considered response, Nic. Interesting.

Any medical treatment or ingestion of pharmaceuticals (even popular drugs such as paracetamol or aspirin) carries a risk. Inoculating people has been going on for centuries and one of the early examples was Edward Jenner injecting Cowpox to deal with the effects of Smallpox which was a highly contagious and deadly virus before mass vaccination virtually wiped out the virus in the 1980's. Similar story with the measles vaccination, until recently!! Edward Jenner was the subject of much criticism in the late 1700's but this would have been small beer to the vitriol he would have been subjected to in today's world. Medical practices, drug therapy, pain relief etc have all improved over the years and hopefully treatments such as chemotherapy will be viewed as a very outdated and inappropriate treatment in future times. However nature has a way of evolving and viruses, in particular, can change and outwit the human brain. Personally I have no real objection to people seeking to challenge medical practices but relying on information obtained off X, Facebook etc which are often posted by people who believe in a range of Conspiracy Theories (and there are literally hundreds out there at the moment...I feel sorry for those who have a tattoo as apparently the ink is predicted to cause all sorts of problems later in life!!) rather than those who have studied and practiced medicine to the highest level. The recent case of Kate Shemirani and her daughter's tragic death serves as a warning perhaps. Kate Shemirani makes money out of her Facebook page as do may 'Conspiracy Theorists'. It seems rather laughable that she was involved in a Botox Clinic business and uses Botox , thereby injecting herself with chemicals!!

Re Mayflower Park...This is a protected area, as are the local parks and covered by Legislation ie The Hampshire Act, so the Council cant 'develop' the space. That said money (if available) could be invested in the area to improve the area Re Royal Pier............This is the responsibility of ABP. The Council has no involvement in the Pier but has been trying to get ABP to do something. Unfortunately there have been at least three schemes proposed to develop the area around the Pier and improve/expand Mayflower Park but non of the developers were able to raise the money. Re Toys R Us.............There are/were plans in the pipeline to develop the area for Toys R Us through to Dock Gate 8. Once again the plans have not been progressed due to lack of developers money.

The possible rail Station/Halt at St Marys is an interesting one. I am no rail expert but the expenditure of at least £1m, possibly a fair bit more, would really only cater for between 19-23 games a year. It is highly unlikely, in my opinion, that the Station/Halt would be suitable for regular, non football related, services and with regard to the latter would trains on existing services from London (which are normally 10 carriages long) and Romsey/Salisbury be expected to call in off the main line via the branch line at Northam? After the game, there would undoubtedly be a rush to board the one train, of indeterminate carriage length, that potentially could be accommodated at the Station/Halt. Presumably the rail line from Northam is electrified. If not then this is another consideration. Years ago I remember there was a Station at Boothferry Park and there was a rail line behind Bolton's old ground at Burden Park. None of them survived.