SaintJackoInHurworth

Just to add to my comments above, I would say both the Full Time Report and Alan Pardew's comments on the OS are pretty accurate records of the game. In terms of player ratings, I would offer the following: Davis 8 (Two brilliant saves just before limping off helped secure the win) Murty 6 (Struggled to get up to speed in the first half) Trotman 6 (Too many hoof bals in the first half, but better in the second) Jaidi 8 (A tower of strength throughout - extremely assured) Harding 5 (although his difficulties in the first half were more due to tactical inadequacy, so maybe that's harsh!) Schneiderlin 2 ('though I may be being generous there!) James 4 (although much better in the second half so I may be being harsh!) Hammond 7 (Workman-like performance in first half, more influential in second) Lallana 10 (What more an be said?! I just hope we can keep him in January) Lambert 9 (Worked hard and deserved his goal - even if it was a bit fluky!) Connolly 9 (Deserved a goal - a constant threat and brilliant composure to turn and shoot in tight spots) Subs Wotton 6 (Didn't do a huge amount, but couldn't be much worse than Schneiderlin!) Bart 7 (Had very little to do but coped fine) Antonio 5 (Very clumsy and fortunate not to get booked. Didn't offer much threat.)

Really? How did you get back so soon? I thought I would probably be the second person back after droping Stu home, but looks like you beat me as I only got back about half an hour ago! I assume you haven't just got back to the Isle of Man?!! Anyway, I enjoyed the match tonight - our support was absolutely brilliant. I would say that our supporters were singing for at least 80 of the 97 minutes of the game (allowing for injury time at the end of each half). In terms of quality, would say some of the team were a bit disappointing in the first half, but the second half display was great. Man of the Match was Lallana without a doubt, with other notable contributions from Lambert, Connolly, Jaidi and Davis. Lallana's goal was an absolute peach! Before he limped off Davis made a couple of wonder saves that kept us ahead. In fact he ws possibly injured making the second of these. If it weren't for those saves, th match could have turned out very differently. Schneiderlin was the biggest let-down unfortunately. He contributed absolutely nothing until the start of the second half and it was no surprise that he was the one substituted. James had a poor first half but a better second half. Harding was pretty exposed in the first half, but it was very noticeable that Pardew made a couple of tactical changes at half time and Hammond and Lallana between them gave him some cover in the second half.

There were some positives... Antonio was pretty threatening down the wing and his throw-ins scared them every time!

I've never been to Hartlepool even though it's only 45 mins away from here. However, it looks as if there is an ASDA not far from the ground, so I was wondering whether that might be a good place to park. Anyone know? Also, are people congregating at any particular pubs before the game? I see on the Football Ground Guide that the Jackson's Wharf pub is supposed to be ok for away supporters and is also close to ASDA. Has anyone got any helpful experience??! Cheers!

I will be there... but then it will only take me about 40 minutes to get there from here! C u there!

When I was little I used to listen to Radio Solent every week and their seeming unbiased backing for each and every south coast club rubbed off on me. While a Saints supporter I nevertheless always wanted Pompey and Bournemouth to do well. However, while I was at university (in Southampton) I spent a year sharing a flat with among others a Pompey fan. Now, on the whole we got on fairly well - except that whenever Southampton lost he would take great glee in being completely obnoxious and rubbing it in with a disdain that I had never seen in my life before. From that time on I began to understand a little of the hatred between the two clubs and began to take great pleasure in every Pompey defeat. So, my point of view is that some of the hatred between the clubs (and yes I know there are lots of other reasons!) seems to have been sparked by the obsessive hatred & jealousy that Pompey fans developed in their wilderness years back in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Having once been the bigger club they couldn't cope with seeing our success (especially in the 70s and 80s) and responded with infantile jealousy. Then as this became more and more purile, so more and more Saints fans in coming into contact with Pompey fans responded as anyone would and grew in reciprocal contempt for them. But, to answer the original question, while I would say that I take joy in seeing Pompey lose and would not be bothered if they went bust, I would not in reality 'hate' any Pompey fan. Instead I would say that I would hold their club and their support for their club in contempt. The fact is that my parents and sister now live in Portsmouth (within walking distance of (Should be) Flattened Park) and they have friends who stick up for Pompey, because that is where they have always lived. Those particular people are really nice people. Similarly, I have a couple of friends who are keen Pompey supporters who regularly go to watch them play. And they are really nice people too (despite our occasional banter!) So, no, I am with you - I dislike the club and enjoy seeing them lose; I take glee at their current troubles; but I don't really hate their fans.

There's so many here... but how many will actually get sung? I reckon someone should make it their intention to get ALL of the above sung!! lol

Are you suggesting that ML should quit the club? Or are you just suggesting that St Mary's Church should never have set up a football team in the first place?

If I were going to be at the Oldham match I would have considered trying to lead the way in getting people singing it, but unfortunately I won't be there. Nevertheless, when Saints come up to the North-East to play Hartlepool at the end of November I will try to lead the way if I can!! Must admit I can't now get the Smurf's chorus out of my head!! lol

The Smurf chorus has surely got to be considered!!! Click on the link below and forward to 53 seconds in and play until 1 minute 14 seconds. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS5ER8HaIhU Personally I think that would be hilarious!

A few musings from a non-Full member who is quite good with numbers... Getting between 64 and 69 is going to be tough but is not impossible. My hope is that we can achieve this, but I am not going to make any expectations that we will. My only expectation is that we will finish well clear of relegation. As some have pedantically suggested, in actual fact because we will have to gain an extra ten points, the actual points needed could be a tiny bit smaller as it will reduce the amount of points that others can get. However, ten points less for other teams divided between 23 teams is not a lot, so the difference is negligible and worrying about it is definitely very pedantic! If you did want to be pedantic and worry about those ten points, you would potentially be wrong to assume that they would come predominantly from teams higher up the table. While teams in the top half would between them have more points that could be taken back to contribute to the extra ten points needed by Saints, on average Saints are likely to claim more points from teams in the lower half of the table, because they are the teams that lose more games. So the contribution could actually be larger from the lower table teams! Both NickG and MLG were correct on the other thread! They were just arguing two different things! MLG was right to say that if you go ahead of the team in 7th, you move into 7th position, while NickG was right to say that if Scünthorpe had got two less points than they did they would still have been promoted (although of course if they had lost those two points playing Tranmere, the team in 7th, then that would not have been the case, as this would have implied that instead of beating Tranmere they would have drawn against them and thus Tranmere would themselves have had one extra point!) Ultimately though the argument was again very pedantic!! Hmm, I think we should have a competition to see who is the best pedant in this forum... do you think I'd win?!! (Cue: someone pointing out some error in my argument...!!)

As a Christian, perhaps I can clear up a few points here! While Jesus did tell a rich young man to sell everything, give it to the poor and follow him, it does not follow that this is the calling for all Christians (though it is for some - e.g. Mother Theresa). In fact the point in that story is more to do with the attitude of the young man's heart to wealth than necessarily to some legalistic killjoy demand that Jesus had. The bible teaches good stewardship of our resources. This is the one basis of the protestant work ethic which still largely governs the western approach to business. If Liebherr believes that investing good wages, etc. in a good player will be a wise investment, then that is an example of good stewardship. The bible also teaches 'tithing'. This means that an individual commits to giving at least 10% of their income back to God - often, in effect, giving to charitable causes. Consequently, the larger a return that Liebherr gets from his investements the more you would expect him to give to God/worthy causes. The 'camel through and eye of a needle' reference was an example of hyperbole. Jesus used this teaching method a lot. Basically the idea is that you make your point more forcefully by exaggerating. That having been said, some claim that the 'eye of a needle' may have been a gate in Jerusalem, though I believe there is insufficient evidence to back up this claim. In those days rich Jews used their wealth to suggest that they were in some way better in the eyes of God than the poor. Jesus was (as he often did) turning the whole issue on its head. Finally, with reference to the comments by Legod Third Coming: - you might like to note that historians of all shades of belief accept that Jesus was not a made up figure, but genuinely existed. The only debate is whether he is/was who he claimed to be. I believe he is, but I do not want to disrespect anyone else's right to believe he was not. In summary, while I guess it is a hard issue for ML to work through, it is not necessarily inconsistent with his faith. I am not sure what I would do if I had the same level of wealth, but ultimately it is an issue for ML, his conscience, his faith and his God.

Has anyone tried translating his name to find out what it means??!!! I've just done so and I couldn't believe wat it came up with... ...now before I get charged with libel let me point out wht I did and assert that this is not what I am calling him - it is just what is coming up in a translation engine! I simply translated his name as written in English script back into Arabic. I then translated the Arabic text into English.. The result?.... (I couldn't believe this when it came out!!!...) n. pussy, vulva, relief If you don't believe me try it for yourself. Go to this website to do it: http://translation.babylon.com/Arabic

Your Graham Baker is definitely Alan Ball - take a look at this link: http://www.comparestoreprices.co.uk/celebrity-autographs/unbranded-alan-ball-hand-signed-10-x-8-photo.asp

Looks like (maybe!) I wasn't far off! (OK I accept CB Fry's point that the Mirror won't have put much time and money into it but the basic argument still holds good) Of course, the other possibility is that there is some truth in the rumour (especially if the Echo are right in saying that Cortese is intending to appoint a DoF at some stage) and that Coppell has basically said that he isn't prepared to consider the role until next summer, when he has had some time off and had time to consider his options.

Hmm - I thought stubs were the bit of the ticket usually kept by the stewards. I thought the rest was just known as the ticket? Or is it the bit kept by the stewards that you are talking about? I have got a number of tickets from matches I have been to, especially the 1979 League Cup Final. I also have the programme and rosette from that match.

Hmmm... I doubt this is true... I think the reality is more likely to go a bit like this: * Cortese gives some vague hints as to the sort of structure he would like to see at the club.... Some time later... * The Mirror hears a rumour that Saints are talking to someone who has previously been employed by Brentford and Palace. * The Mirror jumps to the conclusion that Saints are about to sign Coppell as DoF. * The Mirror begins to put the story together. * Saints announce that Wally Downes has been signed as coach, thus bringing in a two tier structure with Pardew in charge of transfers and player management and Downes in charge of coaching. * The Mirror decide to continue with their story anyway having invested a lot of time and money into it.

LOL - that made me laugh! Can imagine someone clutching that thing with clenched teeth ready to hit out at the next person to make that joke!!

Hmm - interesting editing going on on the Wikipedia website now: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Kluivert Sounds like the truth is out!

I agree, but also this also just about sums up why I think the usage of this stupid rule is so wrong..! The rule was introduced to stop clubs getting a competitive advantage of the sort enjoyed by Leicester, where they were able to use it to gain promotion. It was not introduced to hit struggling football clubs over the head with their debts in order to make things even worse... yet that seems exactly how these rules are now being used! Isn't it about time the Football League took a long hard look at this rule and re-examined the spirit of the rule and the reasons it was introduced, in order to get away from the situation where clubs are abused in this way?! Saints, Darlington, Bournemouth, Rotherham, etc... there are so many clubs that are being punished for simply struggling financially. It's a bit like if the government instead of bailing Northern Rock out, had told them they had to cut interest rates on all loans by 1%! Everyone would have riddiculed the government for being out of touch and unsympathetic to a British firm and its investors and savers, etc.

I thought exactly the same thing myself.

How can you say Mills looked poor?!! IMO he was one of our best players!! He made a number of teasing runs and linked up play excellently. He was streets better than when he played for us at the start of last season. He has matured loads as a player. In terms of Gobern, though, I agree he looked good too when he came on.

My view was that Harding was defensively solid and in defensive positions generally got the ball under control coolly and got it clear without resorting to the big hoof. He was also adventurous going forward and looked to build attacking plays from the back. However, on a couple of occasions he tried to dribble the ball towards the box but in that situation did not have the right level of ball control to be attempting any such thing and lost the ball. Of course, this may be because of lack of fitness rather than necessarily a lack of ability in such situations. Nevertheless, my gut reaction was that he would be better sticking to defensive duties and building forward plays rather than trying to dribble! With players of the calibre of Lallana, Rasiak, John, Mills and Gobern who all showed the flair to be able to dribble, I would say leave it to them and encourage them to do it more rather than expect it from Harding. Neverthless, I think he could do well for us.

Well, I don't believe that Lita is coming to Saints bearing in mind he has been connected with a number of Premiership and Championship clubs. And I can't see Bent dropping down two divisions, so that pretty much confirms your mate is pulling your leg and Saints are not losing 3-0!! lol

I'm going and looking forward to it big time for three reasons: 1. I am taking my three and a half year old daughter to her first ever football match. She is quite mature for her age and I think she is now starting to get to the age that she will appreciate it. As it is only a pound I thought it would be a good chance to see how she handles it. 2. I have only been to a match at St Mary's twice before as I live up north so, as I am down visiting my parents on holiday, I thought it was too good a chance to miss. 3. I am keen to support Saints in the new era and to see how things are beginning to take shape in the early days of AP's managerial reign. Anyone know if there will be a family centre area for this match and if it is open to anyone with kids or only members?