Nineteen Canteen

Absolutely and just for the record I have no idea how my post got posted twice 35 minutes apart! Sorry about that folks obviously something I did but no idea what exactly.

Morally reprehensible it really is and goes to show how decent and upstanding our fan base is. It's like when your local Sporting Hero admits that the time he ran his hardest during a game was to try and deliberately kick the ball out of play so and he a few associates could hoover up on a betting scam. We don't have double standards at this club. Wurzel can I suggest you change your name to Matthew?

Heard Pardew say today that the club is over blessed with paid professionals on their books and in that regard he feels sorry for Messrs Leibherr and Cortese. Presumably because of paying salaries for not much in return and the club's inability to get these players sold in the last window or out on loan during this window. He was pretty clear that unless we can move players on for our mutual benefit new players will not be forthcoming. Although he will have a conversation with the big two I got the impression it's loans if new buys cannot be self-funded and the wage bill reduced. Mr Liebherr may be a wealthy man but I don't believe for this season at least he will be throwing money at the cause when with a degree of patience the 5 year plan has not exactly come of the rails only the level of our expectation following our run before Brighton. The issue is that Pardew has played effectively the first team for the JPT and FA Cup games and that I think is beginning to tell on some players plus I understand there has been some illness in the club. If that illness has been viral in nature then players are going to struggle in returning to fitness. We can help our cause in th league by fielding a reserves team for the game at Northampton and then the Norwich game wihich is in the midweek 3 days before a massive game away to Leeds. Are we going to be proud fans to win the JPT? Is it not a bit of a joke and an unwelcome diversion not to mention risk to our best players' fitness? Do we need a CB? No and my guess is Trottman and not forgetting Lambert have both looked jaded and may have had a virus of some sort. Furthermore Thomas and Perry provide plenty of cover in those positions. Midfield we have plenty of options and with the return of Murty we dont need a recognised right back as James can act as cover although could never be classed as first choice IMO. Do we need to be concerned about our first choice front 2? Yes but only if we overplay them and we have Papa in reserve and Lallana can play in the hole in a 4-5-1. WE were never going to make the playoffs and like Arsenal today all the good teams suffer hiccups. The only thing that has changed is in some quarters the size of the fans expectations and the key target for year 1 of 5 was always to survive and build a foundation in this league for an assualt on promotion in year 2? Hartlepool is not going to be easy on a Tuesday night and it hopefully hasn't escaped people's notice that Wycome who we play a week on Tuesday had a good result today after their horror show last Saturday and so we play another lowly team with the new manager bounce factor. 6 points in our next two league games will be some achievement and arguably 3 wouldn't be bad but if Pardew decides to go for it at Northampton on Saturday we could come away with a 3rd round tie against one of the big 4 and no points come 9.30pm a week on Tuesday. I know what i would prefer and lets give those squad players a chance to show what they can do on Saturday.

Made me smile when he said his second greatest moment was winning the League cup for Norwich. Watching the tumble weed drift from the Northam in proverbial silence was quite funny. True diplomat and love him all the more for it. Mick Channon the greatest? I think so.

Don't forget I'm also here to give reason to Phil's efforts. If I hadn't started posting this would be a one man ego trip written and read by one man. Whereabouts is this golfing game taking place anyway? MLT hit 6 birdies, wow! Get Solent Uni to give him a Doctorate in Sport for such achievement and on the Eels course. Still he doesn't say how many times he hit the ball out.

Hopefully none of the team that play next Saturday were on the pitch today unless he watched the subs have a session after the game.

Why and in what context? Conducted himself very professionally and in extreme circumstances if you ask me during hsi time as manager and his treatment in the end was a tad shoddy but at least he did ok out of it financially allegedly. If Mark Wotte can enjoy a game at SMS makes you wonder about the great McMenemy and just how the big the 'bitterest pill' is? Lets hope he swallows it soon and pays his money and follows the fine example of Wotte sometime soon.

No, the police are investigating you for continually jumping on someone elses bandwagon in a very unoriginal way and for committing crimes against comedic banter in the process.

Get a grip of yourself even the mighty Pearson had worse runs as he dropped us into the relegation zone. Norwich were hardly going to be a push over and we were unlucky to catch Brighton with the new manager factor. Or do you expect us to win every game?

Seriously? In relation to the league we are in and the start we had? A poor defeat and a draw against a team pushing for promotion having won 4 of their last 5 and not to mention we gifted them their goals today I would say it's a tad early to be losing faith with the current team.

Heard Pardew say today that the club is over blessed with paid professionals on their books and in that regard he feels sorry for Messrs Leibherr and Cortese. Presumably because of paying salaries for not much in return and the club's inability to get these players sold in the last window or out on loan during this window. He was pretty clear that unless we can move players on for our mutual benefit new players will not be forthcoming. Although he will have a conversation with the big two I got the impression it's loans if new buys cannot be self-funded and the wage bill reduced. Mr Liebherr may be a wealthy man but I don't believe for this season at least he will be throwing money at the cause when with a degree of patience the 5 year plan has not exactly come of the rails only the level of our expectation following our run before Brighton. The issue is that Pardew has played effectively the first team for the JPT and FA Cup games and that I think is beginning to tell on some players plus I understand there has been some illness in the club. If that illness has been viral in nature then players are going to struggle in returning to fitness. We can help our cause in th league by fielding a reserves team for the game at Northampton and then the Norwich game wihich is in the midweek 3 days before a massive game away to Leeds. Are we going to be proud fans to win the JPT? Is it not a bit of a joke and an unwelcome diversion not to mention risk to our best players' fitness? Do we need a CB? No and my guess is Trottman and not forgetting Lambert have both looked jaded and may have had a virus of some sort. Furthermore Thomas and Perry provide plenty of cover in those positions. Midfield we have plenty of options and with the return of Murty we dont need a recognised right back as James can act as cover although could never be classed as first choice IMO. Do we need to be concerned about our first choice front 2? Yes but only if we overplay them and we have Papa in reserve and Lallana can play in the hole in a 4-5-1. WE were never going to make the playoffs and like Arsenal today all the good teams suffer hiccups. The only thing that has changed is in some quarters the size of the fans expectations and the key target for year 1 of 5 was always to survive and build a foundation in this league for an assualt on promotion in year 2? Hartlepool is not going to be easy on a Tuesday night and it hopefully hasn't escaped people's notice that Wycome who we play a week on Tuesday had a good result today after their horror show last Saturday and so we play another lowly team with the new manager bounce factor. 6 points in our next two league games will be some achievement and arguably 3 wouldn't be bad but if Pardew decides to go for it at Northampton on Saturday we could come away with a 3rd round tie against one of the big 4 and no points come 9.30pm a week on Tuesday. I know what i would prefer and lets give those squad players a chance to show what they can do on Saturday.

Did Tiger Woods Dad recogniose his son's golfing talent when he forced him to start swinging a club at 2 and thereby allegedly conditioning his life accordingly. There is a fine line between nutter and support your son's dream as oppose your own. 'Rory's dad I am sure can afford to relax now but I wonder if that was always the case. Or shall we talk about Mr Williams and his daughters - sh1t look at the tme must dash.

I accept I may be boring but what steretype am I living MOG. Must admit when I wrote that comment I thought someone will pick me up and you were on the shortlist in a friendly thinking kind of way.

I'll take your word for it but goes to show how interesting you are finding the golf reports.

I was a Leeds fan like all the other kids in my primary school. No different to todays being full of Chelsea and Man U and us Dad's still buying them Saints shirts although it was different 6 years ago, just ask the Saints the Community team. A Saints shirt is a rare sight and it was no different in 1976 when one particular 8 year old got caught up in the wave of local emotion. So correct I never saw Ron Davies play - couldn't afford the bus fare - but i did see Channon and Ball and well aware of their Portsmouth connections and Channon's at Norwich which will make Saturday hopefully even batter for him. It is ironic though the reception we would give a player who left us to go to Portsmouth in this day and age of ever deepening hatred and dissatisfaction. The priceless thing about you Tame is your obsessiveness towards my posts when I haven't made a mistake as everyone but you accepted I was talking about the English game and as you usual you try and belittle me with asking answering a difficult question. Here we go to another 3 months of being reminded of Tame's misunderstanding dressed up as my mistake but in any event where is the harm in new 8 year old fan not knowing every fact about every Saints player prior to his support. I was 8 ffs all I wanted was a new Saints nylon tracksuit. I don't mind the abuse Tame but not from posters who never put their head above the parapet and actually voiced an opinion or started a thread worthy of discussion. Nearly forget, I lived in Blackheath for 3 years with my young family so rather than travel to watch Saints as time and money was tight I watched Charlton for a while as my Mum's family are from the Bexley area and all Charlton fans. So yes unashamedly, I watched then quite often without losing my love of Saints or fix of watching football and yes I still like to see Charlton do well except against us. Then again I'm probbaly alone in thinking it would be great if both Pompey and ourselves were both established in the Premier League. I think my reasons for my issues with MLT and McMenemy have been given and with my reasoning to my opinions. Also, lets not forget my issues with them have been after their playing and managing career and I doubt MLT would have shown up Norman Hunter more than once and Charlton weren't in the Premier League when I supported them and we moved house after they beat Sunderland in the playoff final. Saints v Charlton in the mid nineties, Priceless ( Go on research it and tell me there was a cup game)

Is there not a phrase used in Law - 'no case to answer'? Certainly a phrase I have heard before whereas, 'not in the public's interest...' Does seem to infer an element of recognition of the offence but not worthy of pursing for what ever reason. At least that is my opinion. If the CPS use this latter phrase as used for MLT all the time (first time I've heard it) then is that not unfair on MLT and everyone else whose cases are not pursued as it does IMO 'suggest' guilt but we the prosecutors have decided for whatever reasons not to pursue it ? Surely, it would be fairer on those who have allegedly committed a crime that they are exonerated completely by the phrase 'no case to answer' or words to that effect. You seem to be an expert in English Law and this is a key point of issue so I would appreciate perhaps if you could explain a bit more about the CPS and their role with the police and I assume the various grades of phrases that are used in communication with the legal team of those being investigated and the media etc. If for no other reason i was ever unfortunate enough to be accused of a crime whilst being completely innocent I would not be to happy if the CPS did not exonerate me completely instead of using the terminology they used in the instance in deciding not to pursue a case. Or is the issue of innocence supposed to be removed by the police before it gets to the CPS who simply have to decide to proceed with the case or not and not to detemine if the police work they are presented with is flawed and therefore the accused is innocent? I would appreciate your reply on this as putting the MLT case to one side it's an interesting subject and one I would like clarified if possible.

Well it is an ideal game for MLT to play after being dogged with the 'lazy' tag all his life. As for Phil I sense he just enjoys living the stereotype but it is getting boring now. There is a golf tournament in Dubai, great, enjoy it, and save us from the logistics reports and let us know who won on Sunday. Lets face it there is not that many golfers on here discussing with Phil the merits of the staffing levels and their desperate working and 3 star living conditions or the quality of the picnic area and drink stations and some flustered looking bloke walking around with a camera, anon. Blimey reports on how golfers perform is tedious but this??

Phil, thanks for making some wild assumptions about how travelled I am but in any event we don't need to travel these days as the plight of the third world is beamed into our living room. It's not always a simple case of filling in a social security form and bigots like yourself more in love with golf than even themselves would fail to appreciate that herion addicts; victims of serial child abuse be it by parents or in 'social' care; people in grim dog eat/fight dog existence in communal accommodation, can be just as frightening and horrific wherever you are in the world. You have no idea Phil about me and not only have I taken a pay cut I do it voluntarily but I wouldn't do that to support the staging of a golf tournament and the insult of staying in a 3 star hotel. Refugee camps be they Syria or Calais; Romainian Orphanages, Social Care or Deported to a 'better life' in Australia; a Glasweigian scheme or Chicago project, the gravity and underlying issues are the same whether you have experienced these things first hand or not. Perhaps some of that false wealth on the European Tour could be redistributed to your favourite resturants in Pakistan or to help those heros who are trying to help a country address it's drug producing problem. People ask why I have an issue with golf? Well as a game although I think its a bit silly I don't have an issue with it. My problem lies with it's bigotted under belly and the way it protects itself against those people you suggest I help out with thier social security forms. I wonder Phil who you think are the real scum - the self interested Surrey golf club captain or the 16year old girl living on the streets, uneducated, sexually abused since she was 10 and barely making enough from desperate tricks with desperate punters to feed her 'Karachi Resturant' habit. If only she knew all she had to do was fill in a form... Swanny, what were you saying? Disappointing it wasn't self parody but there we go.

Oh dear Tame you can be a bit of anorak.I think you know what I meant but just to clarify for you. Its the same when we agreed that McMenemy could not be regarded as one of the top 20 managers past or present in the English game.. Also, anyone under the age of 40 would be probably pleased to have this little nugget of information passed on just in time to sit their Saints GCSE and get their season ticket application approved. Perhaps you'd like to explain his move to Portsmouth after more than serving us well. Do you think a move like that today for one of our better appreciated players would be so well accepted by our tolerant fans?

I think that might be an exaggeration with the greatest respect to Ron Davies. Saints yes, English maybe, The world - I don't think so.

I'm sure you have read my previous posts but Channon is my boyhood hero and what he has gone on to achieve after a great career in football by most standards is nothing short of astounding. I'm not a racing fan but with his modest background to go and train Group 1 winners that are normally the reserve of those of the landed gentry and closed racing circles is without equal. He is one of the all time great sporting heros and a hardworking man of great vision and integrity. With the exception of Bates for his unique role at Southampton and no doubt in football Channon is without equal and others barely come up to his knees in regards to ambition and lifetime achievement. I have huge respect for Mick Channon. This award is great but barely scratches what he deserves in terms of recognition for achievements in both his chosen careers.

As a piece of self-parody is this post without equal? Poor 'oridinary' people staying in 3 star hotels because they love the game. I know some ordinary people who would stay in the tent for a 2 week holiday or just to have roof over their heads. Help the Heros of the European Tour anybody? We have no idea in the Uk how hard it is for them. Phil you must be on the wind up.

Cameras and butterflies they have it tough those golfers. BTW I think it is very funny or maybe just a tad sad. Does the European Tour Regs state that all crunchy food will be confiscated and anyone in the possession of an apple will be banned for life. I suspect the drinks were restricted because of all you muppets who live down there were making slurpy noises and talking about the excellent picnicing facilities. Ponty, I take it back about the F1 drivers but when they competed in Superstars back in the 70's they were alway last. I wouldn't mind seeing a Button vs Harrington Triathlon.

I know what you mean about fitness, we can't get into our local gym these days for the amount of golfers in there working out. Must admit I wouldn't mind taking on Colin Montgomerie, John Daley, Padraig Harrington, Lee Westwood in a 4m run over any golf course of their choosing to see who wins blimey I 'd even take on Tiger who must be 15 years my junior but can still play his sport with a major injury - does that happen in Tennis and they sit down a lot to have a rest? Since when is athletics a contact sport? Last time I watched the Triple Jump I didn't see Phillips Idowu get taken out on his run up by Jonathan Edwards or when Coe and Ovett tried to kick each other off the track in their great races. Mind you that Rebecca Adlington and Steve Redgrave they really got stuck into the opposition. Have I made my point? Who said anything about non-contact activities not being a sport? Most of those that I would class as a sport do require a bit of a sweat to be any good and not just general fitness to help them on a ridiculous 4m stroll hitting a little white ball around with some sticks that you have put into a bag with wheels and asked some lowly person to drag it around for you because you don't have the physical fitness to do all that and hit the little ball into a little hole surrounded by immaculate little lawns. The Scots only invented it because Hans Christen Anderson lacked the imagination to come up with something so far fetched. Benjii, it's not so much a fixation just a dislike that a game so exclusive and so far removed from the Greeks original idea of the Olympics is now been allowed in. Also, throughout my working life and I'm sure like many others I have had to put with 'golf days' used as excuse for others to 'network' when really its an excuse for a day out and a skive from the coal face and opportunity to grease your way up the boss's pole. Lucky for me I worked for two MD's for the most part of my career who loathed golf as much as I did and they were both women. Golfers lost out there because staying in the office was a distinct advantage for me and the eventual Mrs Canteen. When golf becomes a game of equal opportunity and rids itself of its old fussy class heirarchy image then maybe my view will change but IMO it does more to keep the riff raff out than develop young talent unlike other genuine sports that require athletic prowess. By that I mean one who excels and works hard at physical sports, exercises and requires both mental, nutrional and physical conditioning to therefore absolute peak to maintain performance and be able to compete in their chosen sport just like Tiger and John Daley and Tom Watson a near 60 year old competing against all those gym enthusiasts. Do you remember the old Superstars programme? If they held them today with a golfer in the line up do you think today's golfing athlete could hold his own with representatives from Football, Rugby, Boxing, Judo, Track and Field, Swimming or even Motor racing which although I enjoy is no more a sport than golf is IMO. (sorry Ponty, just an opinion) Having a different view than your's Stevo doesn't make me a moron and sorry I generalise at times but if you would like me to go into more detail let me know and I'll write you a book. I can only comment from my own experience, observations and thoughts. I'm clearly wrong as those morons on the IOC have voted Golf in and remember I didn't coin the phrase 'golf widow'. And Finally, perhaps Wodehouse sums it up perfectly why Golf is so pathetic as follows: ' The least thing upset him on the links. He missed short putts because of the uproar of the butterflies in the adjoining meadows.' I hope Dubai Phil doesn't take cucumber sandwiches and a packet of crisps to his recommended picnic areas. BTW are the bunkers made of grass in Dubai?

Now that's a typical attitude of a golfer. I don't like your opinion so we will make up rules to keep you out or just talk over you. If Golf is a sport then so should Scrabble, tiddlywinks, Su Doku, Darts, Snooker, Pool, Shove Ha'penny, Ten Pin Bowling and any other pastime you can do well into your old age and never concern yourself with nutrition, fitness conditioning, sweating or troubling yourself with visits to sports shops unless you want to keep up the illusion Golf is a sport. It's a game but so is Chess. Imagine athletes in track and field or footballers or rugby players etc etc never exerting themselves physically and competing in their chinos once they have convinced the club captain and the pitch and image police they are not jeans. Golf is the most ridiculous past time and waste of time on the planet and I would bet a golf club is open to a higher proportion of single, divorced or unhappily married men than anywhere else on the planet. I maybe wrong but I have many acquantainces and of those couple whose husbands plays golf there are major issues and tension within the relationship. Nowadays, if we are asked out to dinner I simply ask them if they play golf and if so I just say we can't attend as I have to get up at 7am for an important Su Doku that I must do without fail every Saturday morning and sod the family. Strangely enough they completely understand.