Nineteen Canteen

Does that not show the dominance the big 4 have on the game in this country and that they can treat the competition with disdain by fielding their youth and overpaid reserves. Why shouldn't we do the same and give our players the the chance to prove themselves in a professional game. It may be an advantage to play at Wembeley should we need to qualify through the play offs but equally you would be a bit miffed if key players got injured playing JPT ties if we mised out on a playoff place by a few points this season. Just like the other missing 10,000 if we make the Wembley final then I will be using my STs to purchase final tickets (one of the advantages) but seriously hope we are concentrating on league survival and the 5 year plan long before a place in the final may become a reality.

Was MLT involved in a betting scam or did he make it up to sell more copies of his book and cover the cost of his crayons?

F*** y**

I would argue we only played 6 of our first 11 and that losing the JPT tie would have been a blessing indisguise unless AP intends to use it as a serious friendly going forward to have a look at others players and formations without risking important league points. The academy, reserve or a combination of the two teams may have lost the game but you have no evidence to suggest it would have been a huge defeat in fact they may have been more fired up with a point to prove in a professional game and may have been less apathetic than the first team players and the fans about whole exercise. If we are going to win a trophy whilst in this league let's make it the play off trophy or championship itself as oppose to some kind of supplementary cup for the flotsam and jetsam of the Football league. A competition that would have more meaning if it included the 3 conference leagues. Let's hope we get knocked out at the next stage if Pardew feels it is necessary to use these games to experiment with players from the first team with those on the periphery as the risks to our overall performance in the league could be great unless you assume we can spend in Januray. Did that game last night help or hinder the confidence and future performances of Davis, Thomas, Harding, James, Hammond and Lambert?

We are all rooting for you Chris - 18 to go - you know you can do it. Take the easy option adopted by some and you could do it in 36 words and using just the 2 letters and 5 asterisks. In fact the challenge should be to do it using as few words and letters as possible or tell me to f*** o** if you think I'm a f****** c***. No restriction on asterisks. Good luck.

Yes imagine, all 10 running for all their worth only when then had money on the game, allegedly. You've done well lads but imagine if the fans of the big 4 got hold of this acknowledged benchmark for the best Premeirship player of all time? My guess is MLT won't even get a trial and IMO will go back to colouring books as oppose to 'dictating' them. Now where is my tie? Need to know if it suits me or if the open neck attitude does make you appear a little casual in approach and appearance.

Seriously who cares? We should be treating this competition with the disdain the big 4 reserve for the Carling Cup. We should have fielded our academy team or at best our reserve team and given them the chance to take us as far forward in the competiton as possible. My guess is if we had been a little more advanced in our pre-season preparations Pardew wouldn't need to use these games to continue to develop his opinion on his best side/formation. There is surely no sense in risking injury to established first teamers in games like this unless we still need to build opinion on how they play with other members of the squad. Pardew tells us that he would like to deliver a Wembley final for the club but IMO the reality is somewhat different and these games are being treated as 'serious friendlies' and a chance to further develop opinion on his resources in an unimportant match situation alongside more regular players. Afterall, he cannot afford to experiment in a grand scale in the league. It's a pity we have to take the risk and that we can't play our academy/reserve team but that is no fault of anyone at the club from the new regime who saved this club as opposed to 'tried'.

Johnny, hopefully we'll be allowed to donate the prize to a worthy cause even if it means it remains the last prize to go from the 'raffle table' competing with a box of orange matchmakers and a selection of pretentious CD's as we read about on the Arts thread. Perhaps it's not such an Evile (sic) and infected nation.

Agreed, beyond that Idon't really care as IMO although he gave much it was with an agenda beyond simply keeping the club going. He paid and lost on this occassion and whether he attends or not does not bother me one iota. Same as McMenemy whose refusal to attend because he is upset at having to buy a ticket says more about himself than he could ever fill a book with, IMO.

Vectis my opinions of KK have nothing to do with lawrie McMenemy and more to do with his recent managerial record and the fact for 3 years after Man City he never watched a single game of football. IMO he is out of touch with the modern game to allow him to run a team beyond the initial isn't Kevin wonderful first few weeks. I wouldn't want WGS either as I believe he peaked with us and failed by comparable standards in a two horse race with Rangers barely have two pennies to run together allegedly. People will say WGS got Celtic through the group stages of the Champions League but considering some of the dubious quality at that level and 3 opponents it's hardly the biggest challenge with a 50% chance of success before you set out. In fact i would prefer Pearson over the both of them as like Lowe he would be the lesser evil of a fairly unappealing bunch. Best of 3 - that's all it ever was.

Who was Pearson's agent and how many other managers does that agent have on their books? I don't know the answer, just a hunch but it would be nice to get it confirmed.

RandW I have no doubt they are tracks lifted from that album and would strongly recommend it if you are into late 70's heavy rock. There are much better tracks than these two, in fact there isn't a duff track on the whole album.

Got that and the Scorpions live album but this tops everything. The first band i saw live was Black Sabbath on their Heaven and Hell Tour and thought ok but not brilliant and nor sure what to expect either and then followed that up with UFO live at the Portsmouth Guildhall and discovered exactly what live music was all about and although Motorhead live at the then Gaumont when they broke the record for the loudest band ever and were nearly as good but apart from them no one has come close to UFO, although I never got round to seeing AC/DC. Led Zeppelin at Knebworth and various Pink Floyd concerts at Earls Court were awesome but more jaw dropping and appreciative and less involving as that UFO concert was and its raw energy. If people have never listened to it then I would recommend it enormously and Schenker and Mogg are absolutely brilliant. Even better that it was recorded in New York and clearly the crowd aren't quite getting it. UFO were the band Deep Purple should have been had they not got hung up with their own self-importance. The Arts - may need to come over here more often.

But what about all your feelow supporters who regardless of league positions have remained loyal to reminding us of that fierce rivalry? How many anti-Pompey songs do we get a match and what will happen if Pompey were removed from the football map? We hated Pompey, we hated Pompey..... Doesn't seem quite so enduring as a song to get the crowd going. Pompey helps define our own identity as a club.

Keegan - No 'I wouldn't love it'. Emotion like money is only a short term motivator and the day we recruit based on PR potential is the day we may as well put Pinnacle in charge as they knew all about 'box office' appeal allegedly.

IMO you will miss them over time as you'll go looking for a rivalry with other teams that doesn't exist and will never match the intensity we share with Pompey today. Who's result are we going to listen out intently for at half time? Yeovil? Swindon? Reading? Brighton? Bournemouth? It's in our best interests to hope that Portsmouth are saved as much as we hoped we would be saved. If for nothing else it shows when push comes to shove we are a truly class set of supporters who love football and everything about it.

Excellent post and I agree completely. The rivalry is part of the make up of SFC and helps define us to many beyond just being an isolated team on the South Coast such as Brighton. Where would Rangers and Celtic be without each other for example and their rivalry transcends sport.

Amazing the level of gloating going on in here, more so when you consider the poistion we were in not so long ago. OK so many Pompey fans revelled in our potential demise but what shows more class? Us revelling in theirs or actually showing some concern about the collapse of our fiercest rivals who have long added to the experience of being a Saints supporter. Can you imagine a life without Portsmouth FC? I can't, if for no other reason the Northam will lose half their song repetoire and we will be subjected to a diet of them letting the rest of SMS know where they are in probably the most pathetic and least effective of their choral tributes to help support the team. 'We're the Northam, we're the Northam..........yes you are, well done' If Porstmouth FC do go under then it will be a day to regret and remember as oppose to a collective grave spitting. Our football lives will be all the poorer but it seems many don't recognise that fact.

UFO - Strangers In The Night The greatest live album ever + The best driving album ever - I have never removed it from the single slot in my car CD player and has made all the CD's in the changer redundant. I bought a USB turntable solely to convert my vinyl copy and then last year they released a digitially remastered copy so I bought that. Apart from that i may occassionally listen to Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks or the Yetties of Yetminster just to prove we cannot do Bob Dylan in this country. Verve - Urban Hymns . Must give that a listen again one day.

Must admit I haven't thought about it that way and I seriously doubt Landford everyone share' your patience. If we make it in 5 years to the Premier League then I believe there will be a few yo-yoy seasons before we hopefully settle in the top flight. If Cortese came out and said 7-8 years I don't think that would silence some critics and it would probably make it worse. If 5 years seems to quick to achieve our goal what are people basing that on? 10 games from 250 or more in the 5 years ahead? I agree with your conclusion 100% and cannot relate to the ridiclous calling for Pardew's sacking and the sense of panic that seems to be pervading certain parts of the fan base.

Although at times it may be considered contrary to your own views this forum has the ability to at least give an accurate indication to a more generalised opinion as is the case with exit polls at elections. I personally don't always like it, as i have disgreed with the consensus view on here in the past believing that off forum people felt differently. On balance I have to agree with Wes with regards to the mechanics of his theory. Afterall, membership is open to all and not just canvassed to those with similar ideals, with the major difference probably being their passion for the club above those who don't register. This forum will more often than not give an indictaion as to what the entire fanbase believes just as by asking a small percentage of voters exiting a polling station (usually less than 50% of the entire electorate) will give a accurate indictaion which party is likely to win the election. The polls have been wrong in the past and so has the forum but not as often as at times some would hope.

Tony Lynam did with allegedly MLT's endorsement to name but two who thought we were important enough to be kept abreast of abject failure and they weren't the first well connected individuals, so who knows? The day Messrs Liebherr, Cortese, Oldknow or Pardew come on here to address our tortured souls will be the day hell freezes over and we abandon all hope. Gentlemen please read and ignore by all means but please never, never, never post What next? Mike Osman and his bro's coming on her and getting all shirty because in my humble opinion of the wolrd entertainment, 'Mike Osman' and 'comedian' are as great an oxymoron as you could find in show business with IMO the possible exception when the media describe Bruce Forsyth as youthful.

Hypo, I hope you are right but listening on the radio it didn't come across like that. Cortese spoke of the 5 year plan and there was subtle disconcerted murmuring (if I can describe it like that) to which Cortese reacted and asked the rhetorical question '5 years is reasonable, isn't it?'. Then there was and increased level of murmured acknowledgement and a few guffaws but not exactly a ringing endorsement. There are many amongst the fanbase that for whatever reason have not bought into the 5 year plan at all. My guess is that as we have a wealthy owner they automatically expect him to splash the cash instead of the reality that he has bought the club as a self sufficient business with the potential to give a nice return on his investment either on an ongoing basis or when he comes to sell it.

How long have we been able to compete on a level playing field with regard to attracting talent to the club since Wilde drained our cash reserves? This season we had a bit more but a bit like walking around the shops on the last day of the sales - all the good stuff and a size that fits has long gone so i would consider what we have achieved this season as nothing short of extremely promising and augurs well for January. These are also facts and support the reason for the fact we have not won many games but not your reasoning that 'its not going to happen' is just a gut feeling and just a wrong one at best.

I agree and hope that continues despite the dissenters but after just 10 games you would have thought that it would still be possible to generally please everyone (given our starting point) as I wasn't even aware the honeymoon had finished. What worries me are some of the more, what i considered to be, balanced posters having an unrealistic moan and questioning Pardew. The Dune's and co of this world you can accept they get a bit upset at one defeat in seven but some of the others, well it makes you wonder.