Tom8558

I think that we are more likely to be relegating Sunderland the previous week

Mrs T arrived in Heaven at the pearly gates yesterday and asked to be let in. 'You're not coming in here' said St Peter. 'It's the other place for you. Down you go.' Some time later St Peter phoned down to find out how she was getting on. 'Not well' said a demon. 'She has closed down four pits and three furnaces already'.

Please don't feed the troll We won 6 in a row in 1991/92 under Ian Branfoot, having been in real trouble going into March. Does Dalek want him back? I seem to remember that this was a record at the time. We lost the 7th game at home to Nottingham Forest. All I remember from that game is Franny taking out Stuart Pearce in front of the East Stand, and waiting for Pearce to exact retribution. Which he did.

I think that you are forgetting that in the early 80s there was a string of byelection wins for SDP/Liberals. Clearly Labour would not have won the 83 election outright, their manifesto at the time was very left wing and they were led by Michael Foot, but they would have won a lot of seats in the north and Scotland. You're right, it is only a matter of opinion, but my guess is that the 83 election would have led to a hung parliament without the Falklands. Goodness knows what would then have happened, but I am not sure that Thatcher would have survived it. Unfortunately we will never know.

And if it hadn't been for the Falklands then she would have lost the 83 election, and history would have been very different. Manufacturing was 20% of the economy in the early 80s. Its now 8% and our economy was very unbalanced. We had a situation in the early 80s when management was poor, productivity was poor and many unions were irresponsible. Thatcher took on the unions, but killed jobs rather than encourage investment and better practice all round. Heseltine had more understanding of what needed to be done (and still does)

From the Reading forum. 'Promising signs that Adkins might get us playing decent football, but this horrendously average squad that McD put together didn't get close to the excellent Southampton players. Just want this season to be over.' Which as the general tone of the thread. Fair play. Nothing if not realistic. Can't see them bouncing back next season though.

Although many may hate him as he is constantly predicting us to lose, I think otherwise. He is cleverly giving opponents false confidence by talking them up and us down so it's easier for us to beat them. When you look at him like this, he is vital in our survival in the PL.

We're on last.

Cortese is single minded and has bottle. He is also completely lacking in sentiment. Replacing NA with MP could have gone horribly wrong. Top bloke that he is, NA had taken us as far as he could. It was a brutal decision, but looks to me like the right one, although I didn't think so at the time. MP will make us a top 10 side. Not sure that NA could have done that. I hope that it works out for NA at Reading (after tomorrow). He deserves another go.

Benali: Camera: [video=youtube;UoUOD-h6N6w]

I think I'd have this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QacvElbvyWM This guy should commentate on ITV.

They have a horrible run in and have just sacked their manager. Can't see them staying up now. Looks like they will join Reading and QPR in the Championship next season.

Really enjoyable day out. We still had a club to support, everyone just had a good time and knew it was the start of the journey back. Don't think that any of us expected to get back to the Premier League so quickly. Just please don't start the discussion again on how many Saints supporters were in Wembley that day.

I'm doing my stats homework at the moment. Want me to work out the standard deviation of points that McDermott and Adkins have earned and find the most consistent?

Chris Packham

It strikes me as odd that whenever anyone mentions them they are redirected to "the" thread and moaned at. Admittedly I don't have much time for them but why is it deemed a bad thing to hate them?

I seem to remember a thread on this some time back. I quite liked 'For all the Saints (who from their labours rest)' which is the first line of an old hymn.

Bring in Deppo?

I screamed out loud when I saw him. I think I'm in love with that man.

We need 9-10 points to stay up and I think that we will do it. Just looked at the run in. If I was a Sunderland supporter I would be very worried. They have a horrible run in - can easily see them losing their next three. We go there for our last away game. QPR and Reading look gone.

Agree about the Reading game - win that one and we should get enough points to be safe. Reading, Wigan and QPR for me. Reading are in freefall, Wigan could well get to Wembley and go down like Brighton in 83, QPR still have loads to do - could do with Villa beating them on Saturday

Chappers.

I think that it is inevitable it will come down to the last game of the season. The question is, will we be in the driving seat with a result securing us promotion or will we have to hope results elsewhere go our way. Since Wigan play Villa on the last day, being 16th should keep us up. Liverpool play QPR and West Ham play Reading. Could be interesting.

This isn't a depressive thread although it may come across as one. Football (as a league) began to be established probably just over 150 years ago. Now with football progressing from the working-class bread-line man's game to a high paid millionaire's play toy (abramovich) where do you see football being in the next 150 years. There is a thought that ticket prices will increase to such ridiculous levels that football will start being over-valued and loans and debts by football clubs will start to cost them (look at down the road). I mean to say, at the current rate that football is progressing, how long will it last before new sports become the foreground to society.