Wes Tender

I wonder whether there is any mileage in writing to the Chief Constable now and suggesting that as Southampton's fans are to be subjected to this massive inconvenience and restrictions to their basic human rights, that he can confirm in advance, in the interests of even-handiness and fair play, that Portsmouth will be sujected to the same treatment.

Last night was probably the most exciting game I've seen at St Marys for some time. Although many would have been happy with a draw, or expected a loss before kick-off, it seems that the teams' belief in their own ability is a lot more positive than the average fan's. For that, I suspect Nigel Adkins deserves some credit. Probably also for his tactical awareness, as I got the impression that he had anticipated Allardyce's game strategy and countered it magnificently. The key was the midfield, Allardyce having been rumoured to be playing five across the middle to snuffle out our passing game. Well, it didn't happen like that. It was us winning the 50/50 balls through the grit and determination of Hammond and more particularly Chaplow, who was magnificent, with a man of the match performance. We were the team palying the neat skillful passing football and they looked like a first division team of cloggers and hoofers. Was this really a Premiership outfit last season? We looked more the recent Premiership side and they the promoted team from the third division. But as the record attendance testified, this was deemed to be the match of the season for us and having got a point from fellow high-flyers Derby on Saturday, we proved yet again that we are the form team, the ones to beat. It is certainly too early in the season to get too carried away, but those who forecast that we have a genuine chance of automatic promotion are no longer being shouted down as loonies. Week by week, it looks more a possibility that we could do a Norwich. When that was raised as a possibility at the start of the season, it was suggested that there were stronger teams in the division this time around, so much more difficult. But which are these teams? We are beating them. So to last night's match; a great crowd in increasingly fine voice once it became clear that we getting the better of West Ham. It was great to be in a completely capacity crowd once more and hopefully we can now get a few more sell-outs this season. The defence increases to be more solid, as the new players reach an understanding with their colleagues. Although it is heart in mouth time sometimes when Kelvin plays the ball short out of defence, he made some outstanding saves. Hooiveld looks increasingly a very good player and we should buy him. He and Fonte look more and more like Claus and Killer. Midfield, we have so many options as was proved last night. Players can be rested or injured and their replacements can be relied on to fill in seamlessly. To perform as we did without Lallana and with Cork coming on only late, shows how rich are our options in midfield. Up front, although Barnard is still out, Connolly and Lambert are a good pairing, with Guly and De Ridder offering alternative options. Barring injury and suspensions, we do seem to have a very good squad in most departments. If we are still well in contention by January, we could add a player or two to fine-tune us, but as we stand at this moment, this could be a team capable of securing promotion as it is.

I totally agree with you. It appears that criminals in the nick have more notice taken of their human rights than football fans. What it needs is somebody to mount a legal challenge.

This from them:- And Collison believes that the pressures of their Premier League days will stand the players in good stead against a relatively inexperienced Saints side. ”I think if you look right through our squad, there is a lot of experience there, as well as nice mixture of youth,” he said. I don't really think that this charge can be levelled at us at all. Most of our squad have a similar level as experiene to theirs. If he's talking about Premiership experience, he might have a point, but if he meant experience generally, then that is arguable.

Ok, I'll amend the joke to make it funnier. So instead the guy says that if had a lottery win, he'd buy Pompey And if four numbers came up, he's also buy Havant and Waterlooville. That's much better and also much more believable too. What do you think?

Quite.Raking over old coals does no good and as we're in a far better position now under Adkins, I'm not going to lose any sleep over hints and allegations which are not substantiated.

Originally Posted by Wes Tender Corpse Ho Did you find that funny? Really? Jokes like that are only funny if there is some accuracy to them, something which was missing, because the cheeky little imp obviously had no up to date information regarding our more recent ownership. But if that was considered funny by you, then I suspect that my sense of humour bypass operation was carried out at a simultaneous time to your frontal lobotomy.

I was listening to the Ken Bruce show this morning on Radio 2. They were discussing the 3rd highest win in the UK for the Euro Millions jackpot and what people would do with it had they won the £110 million. Some ignorant wag phoned in to say that if they had a win on the lottery, they'd buy Portsmouth Football Club. And that if they had four numbers, they'd also buy Southampton Football Club. Apart from the stupidity shown in the belief that had they bought the Skates for £10, they'd somehow not have to inject any further money into the almost bottomless pit to keep the club going, with players' wages and the other expenses, their ignorance of our situation must be blissful to them. I did consider phoning in to inform the tosser, through the programme, that in terms of the wealth of our owners we sat number five in British football, ahead of the people who own ManUre and Liverpool. But then again, I thought that it suits us quite well for there to be this general ignorance of our position.

We hired a car both of our trips, so I didn't realise that was a problem. In that case, it was good to flick two fingers at them. On Samui the situation is similar, but as you say, in both Krabi and Koh Samui and most other resorts, the Songthaews are plentiful and cheap. For Sambosa's benefit, a Songthaew is like a utility van with two rows of seats parallel to the sides, They can hold about a dozen people. Sometimes it can get very cosy. In Phuket, there was the Tuk Tuk mafia who threatened all sorts of reprisals against the taxis who were trying to start up.

If a taxi demands a fixed price, don't take it. Insist on the meter and take another one if they don't play ball. Apart from the risk of serious injury on a moped/scooter, as far as I know, you can't get insurance, so would have to pay for any damage. A decent new Toyota could be hired for 800/1000 baht at the airport if you haggle. Haggle for everything you buy. Offer a third of what they ask for, which is probably the lowest price that they would settle for and if you get the item for half the original price, then you will both be happy. If they sell, take it that they are happy at the price, despite protestations to the contrary. Restaurant prices if displayed are generally what you pay, but accommodation, clothes, boat trips and other excursions are all negotiable.

Good advice from Um Pahars. I've been there a couple of times and love it there. It's a lot less commercialised than Phuket, Koh Samui, Pattaya, but depending on what you're after, probably better for it. We've got a hire car from the airport, playing one operator against another to get a good deal. But be warned, unless you have a good map, it's a bit of a distance to the beach resorts and you could easily get lost. Advantage is that you can drive back to the airport when you leave. The Tiger Cave and the Emerald Pool are good calls. You'd have to be pretty fit to climb to the top of the Tiger Rock and its a bit precarious on the way so you need a head for heights. At the other end of the Ao Nang beach there is a little fishing village that serves great fresh fish. Nearby is a creek where you can hire a boat to take you to Koh Phi Phi. We went on a large and extremely fast speed boat with two huge Perkins engines. They stop at various islands on the way and you have time for some swimming/snorkelling, with lunch at Phi Phi. A great day out. As Um says, also a good trip to Phang Nga and James Bond Island, gypsy fisherman's village, canooing etc. Phuket is doable in a day trip if you have a car. We were there in the monsoon season, peed down a couple of days, so we went to phuket to see if it was drier there and it was. Ao Nang is where to go for a bit more night life, restaurants, bars etc. Krabi town is not particularly touristy, but worth seeing as a good example of a working Thai town. But the entire area is really very pretty with the limestone formations making spectacular islands on the mainland landscape and in the sea.

Yes, Steve, we shouldn't underestimate the enjoyment that the Skates give us through their hilarious antics. As they say, "Pompey, the gift that keeps on giving".

Just as a matter of interest, do you take them off when you're pleasuring yourself? Or are there really only beer and tomato stains on them?

How likely do you think that it would be that anybody on this forum might qualify for that epithet? I would suggest that unless one was deemed to be bad enough to qualify, it would be hard to understand the sense of injustice that might engender. Although of course, it could be argued that if somebody was really capable of attaining that status, they might also expect to receive violent retribution rather than a fair trial. If you live by the sword you should expect to die by the sword.

Ah. So it's not right to kill this terrorist because he is an Amiercan citizen, but it would have been fine to have killed Bin Laden because he was not. Got it.

I agree that watching the gutless performance that day was one of the worst days of my footballing life and nearly everybody who played in the red and white that day should be ashamed at their disgraceful display. When they beat us here in the Cup, there were excuses, like them being in the Premiership and us in the third, them having the England goalkeeper making saves that kept them in it. I was proud of our players that day and recognised also that the Skates through cheating had secured the services of players that shouldn't have been there, as they couldn't afford them. One thing is almost certain though about the forthcoming two matches that we will play against them this year; this is not a team of quitters. This is not a team that does not have pride and commitment. This is a team of fighters, of leaders, of professionals who give their all and who don't know when they are beaten. The best conclusion this season would be two wins for us, the home win sending them down whilst we are promoted. There is little chance of them catching us up within several years with the owners they have and the cost required to gain them the facilities that would assist their rise again.

A bit ironic when you supported that and the electorate didn't want it. I'm all for more referenda myself as being the path to more democratic government. Where governments of both the major parties have refused to allow the public to have their say on this issue ever since the major sea change that altered the entire basis of our involvement with Europe, it is long overdue to be resolved. The whole sorry episode could be laid to rest once and for all.

Naive in the extreme to believe that in a general election especially, one should vote for UKIP if one believes that we should be out of Europe. As they do not have a realistic chance of forming a government, the likelihood is that if enough others voted that way, then the party that I wouldn't wish to be in government, that doesn't have the policies in its manifesto that I support, would win. But then you admit that major constitutional changes such as those on Europe should be put to the British public in a referendum, so your suggestion that I vote UKIP is spurious. I should be able to vote for my preferred party's manifesto on all their other policies and also vote for what I want in the referendum.

I didn't indirectly vote to stay in Europe at all. I voted for a basket of policies including those on Education, Health Service, Law and Order, Immigration, Foreign Policy, etc. Any politician who claims a mandate for any particular policy issue based on that is a charlatan. There are some policies that are too important to be hidden within a manifesto and declared as having a mandate for them. I don't recall you taking this line when there was the referendum on the voting system as the price to be paid for Lib Dem support to the Tories. The constitutional aspects of EU membership are at least as important a subject for a referendum as the voting system and other such momentous pieces of legislation would be the abolition of the House of Lords or the Monarchy. Would you accept that these items could be buried in a manifesto and that if that party was elected, they have a mandate to pass that legislation?

So you think that if we left the EU, the Germans would cease to want us buying their Audis, Mercedes, BMWs, Volkwagens? The Italians would cease to sell us fridges, washing machines and their cars, the French would stop supplying us with their glut of apples, wines, cheeses, their cars, etc? And so the line is trotted out that if we are to continue trading, we have to have all of the other incumbrances that we signed up for? Well, treaties can be changed or renegotiated. Trade deals can be established on the basis of tit for tat, you take our manufactured goods and produce and we take an equal amount of yours. There might not be the political will to go down that road, but if the voice of the people becomes a crescendo, that political will will soon materialise. As for European legislation, we would set our own laws, ones that have been voted through our Parliamentary democratic system, rather than those imposed on us against our will by faceless unelected bureaucrats in Brussels. And why shouldn't we try and gain some unfair competitive advantage? We get stuffed by our European competitors with their agricultural subsidies and conversely have quotas forced on some of our industries to our disadvantage. Given your ultimatum, either in or out, then count me as being within the out group.

You've got to love the arrogance of certain people who would ignore the opinions of the general public on grounds that they dodn't know what they are talking about. You do not consider the possibility that we remain in Europe solely for the purposes of trade, but nothing else. That was the original purpose of the Common Market which was supported by the British public. So to get the result you want against bureaucrats, you speak softly and carry a big stick. The big stick in this instance being a threat to leave the EU altogether unless our position can be renegotiated to one of trade only. What would be the disadvantages of that?

What a load of cobblers! So the political landscape might change in the next 10 years, so there's no point in bothering? So why also bother with Parliamentary elections? After all, the political landscape will have changed there too, even in half that time. And as to the naivety of the suggestion that some sort of "brains trust" will sermonise on the matter of Europe and instruct the MPs on how to proceed, who precisely will these "brains" be and who will select them? Talk about pie in the sky! And I can see the MPs, supposedly elected to represent the wishes of their voters, kow-towing to some collective of unelected cognoscenti. As for the secret ballot, do you really believe that the voting public should be deprived of the knowledge of which way their MP voted? No, the only solution is a Referendum. As others have pointed out, the original referendum had no bearing on the way that Europe has evolved since, from a trading partnership to almost a United States of Europe. Major constitutional changes like this cannot be left to MPs, who immerse them into their manifestos and expect the voters to go along with it because they also vote on that party's policies on taxation, education, defence, law and order, etc. and then when elected, state that the electorate has given them a mandate on Europe. If a change to the voting system is deemed worthy of a referendum, so should our membership of the EU. Communication technology in this day and age has changed significantly. A newspaper can campaign to get a referendum, but it is also feasible that something like a Facebook campaign or emails to the PM could be very effective to get the refendum forced onto the political agenda. If a substantial percentage of the British electorate were to sign on to an initiative like that, the Government would have no alternative but to give in the that public opinion. When the billionaire Goldsmith formed his Referendum Party, had he reined in his ego and desire to lead his own party, he could easily have financed his own referendum on Europe. Had the government not wished to be excluded from it, they would have been forced to hold an official refendum, or else abide with the decision of the public had a significant number of votes been cast in favour of leaving the EU.

In fact, it's worth mentioning that a loud shout went up from the Northam for a penalty, certainly all around me in block 42, right behind the incident. To me, it looked as if the referee had some doubts, but that the penalty shout convinced him.

Man of the match today for me. A strong and assured performance. He got forward really well and as for that run the full length of the pitch and that shot, had it gone in, goal of the season.

/\ This. He seems to be a really genuine, honourable and likeable bloke and his little idiosyncracies endear him to most people. If results are anything to go by, he has certainly proven that he is effective as a manager. I suspect managers rule by fear, whilst Adkins appears to gain the respect of the players because they like him and want to put in the effort for him as well as themselves. I haven't known the team to have such unity and team spirit for many a year, so perhaps Adkins is able to inspire that unity, but also the ability to select the players to join the team who have those attributes that make them team players too.