Wes Tender

He and Harding are the two stand out signings for me this season. They must be the bedrock of the defence for next season, whereas I'm ambivalent about Ned Seagoon and Otsemobor.

Was he worse than the previous worst referee this season and the worst one before him? I'm sure that I've seen worse this season. Wasn't there a really bad one a couple of weeks or so ago?

It was one of the most frustrating matches of the season by some distance. We must have had about 70% possession for most of the match and yet had hardly any shots on goal until towards the end of the match. But Kelvin could have stayed at home for all the threat that Oldham showed in the first half. They really were the most negative team that I have seen in ages and wasted time at every opportunity. It took ages for the referee to notice and he ought to have yellow carded it much earlier. But he was a niggedly sod, not allowing the game to flow, blowing up for fairly mundane stuff, mostly in their favour. I'm not a great admirer of Wotton, so wasn't exactly ecstatic when his name was announced in the team. I was more optimistic when James came on as a substitute for him, although I might have preferred Pardew to have gone for their throats with a more daring throw of the dice, such as playing three in the middle and three up front. Oldham's negativity would have allowed it, as they hardly got out of their half for most of the match. Otherwise, we could have had Antonio on for Puncheon who hadn't had a brilliant game IMO. Sometimes the play from us was pretty, pretty, good passing and movement, but we flattered to decieve with no real penetration or end product. When the clock began to run down, we threw everything at it and laid siege to their goal. We seemed to have a nailed on penalty appeal for handball ignored and hit the post, but it just wouldn't come. The players put in enough effort, but I just think that we got it wrong tactically. Although it is still mathematically possible to reach the play-offs, personally I gave up hope at the final whistle tonight. My mind is already on next season, when I would like to think that we make a couple more signings to complete the team.

HeHe, I saw that edit that took out Chainrai's name as him being from Thailand. Personally, I don't rate the Kuti's restaurant either, neither the one at the Town Quay pier, or the one near Wickham. But thanks indeed for all your research into those other dodgy matters involving the Skates. Much appreciated and good entertainment.

If this were a forum on flight matters, I would have a great deal of respect for the opinions of airline pilots. Conversely, the same applies if it were a forum on medical matters, then the opinions of doctors and surgeons or nurses would also command some respect. But it is a football forum. (Posts containing industrial language are to be expected too) Therefore if there is a post by a doctor or airline pilot or other professional person, undoubtedly it ought to be put across with eloquence and a decent command of the English language. But there is otherwise no particular reason why the opinion ought to have more validity than those expressed by somebody without professional qualifications, regardless of whether their spelling and grammar might be poorer. On the one hand, football is a profession for those engaged in it as managers, players, scouts, etc. Presumably you would give more credence to an opinion expressed by one of those contributors (as he has a degree of expertise to call on) than to say something that the Brain Surgeon posts about football. On the other hand, football is a spectator sport, an entertainment. As such, there is inevitably going to be differences in opinion about the match, the players, the manager, etc. So can you make out a case that the opinions of the Brain Surgeon on the match that he has seen are the correct ones and that the bricklayer must be wrong? I don't think so. And if Alpine's opinions are perceived by many to be negative, then they are surely a foil to those others that are endlessly chirpy. That's what life is all about. It would be a dull place indeed if everybody thought along the same lines and there would be no need for this forum, would there?

I would have thought so too, but then what do we know, eh, Whitey? So to a certain extent, all this hot air about how we are splashing out loadsamoney on players could well be because we can afford to do it through our income receipts, rather than because of the wealth of our owner. I understand that the break even point in the Fizzy Pop was about 17,000 bums on seats. Although TV revenue might have been greater, as you say, there is not the stadium mortgage or bank overdraft to service and attendance figures and ST sales are substantially ahead of last season's. Plus there was also the revenue from the two cup runs. Until I see concrete evidence from the accounts to prove otherwise, I will assume that we have been trading at a break even level this season.

What precisely is "more than educated"? Educated and wealthy? Educated and healthy? Educated and possessing a big d*ck? Surely people are either well educated or not.

Wow! What a find, Tim. I love the Amalfi coast. In my opinion, there are more places of interest there within a short distance than anywhere else on Earth.

Do you have a sense of humour deficit? I thought that it was quite a pithy little come back. So you're a shades of grey man, but Alpine isn't allowed to qualify his response by anything more than a simple yes or no? Let's see if it works the other way, shall we? You have started up a thread raking over the coals of long ago, asking whether Lowe f*cked up over the timing of the club going into administration. Personally, I believe that he did f*ck it all up and landed us with the -10 points deficit. I don't need to qualify my opinion, as I am now able to ask you what your position is. Do you think that Lowe f*cked up the timing of the administration? A simple yes or no will suffice.

On the definition of what constitutes spending money like it is going out of fashion, falls your whole argument, as that is only your opinion. It certainly isn't a fact, so quit the sneering; it is that which makes you come across as so arrogant.

Why would we wish to assist them to return to their own countries when they could be spending their tourist dosh over here?

Me too. Although there are players available to play up front with Lambert, Connolly is getting on and prone to injury. Lallana is capable of playing up front, as is Waigo, but they offer options in midfield which are possibly better. Then there is the question of players being unavailable because they were cup-tied, or extra cover being needed because of the additional burden of cup matches or injuries, or loanees. So it is not difficult to make out a very good case for the purchase of Barnard. And the insurance analogy is also apt, as he is an asset that barring injury, is likely to appreciate in value so that the outlay may be recouped with a tidy profit later if circumstances dictate that he be sold on.

Regardless of whether you mentioned Pardew before, after or not at all, the points that I made still have relevance. Understandably, you don't like anybody picking holes in your broad sweeping generalisations, because as somebody else labelled you, you never accept that you might be wrong. If I misconstrued what you wrote, it could be that you did not express yourself very well. This is quite feasible, as somehow you interpret what I wrote as "cash = definitely win every single game ever". Perhaps you could point out where I said that, or why you lamely reached that conclusion, attributing to me arguments that I never made. But as you're in an argumentative mood, I'll happily challenge your assertion that Pardew has achieved instant success, when it has only been latterly in this season that he has turned things around. I don't dispute the fact that he has done a good job, but we took an eternity to get shot of the -10 points. I grant that there were good reasons of no pre-season, low confidence and no backroom staff, perhaps lack of fitness too, but success was not instant. If your time scale for judging instant success is over a period of 18 months however, then perhaps it has escaped your notice that there is still some considerable time still to go. If for whatever the reason, the wheels fall off by say Christmas and we are around mid-table, will that still count as instant success? Having the money to spend is obviously a massive help if it is spent wisely. Generally, Pardew's players that he has brought in have been good buys. Your assertion that we have spent money like it is going out of fashion is a wonderful bit of hyperbole, but needs putting into context. It might be a lot for this division, but it is small change for ML. Players who could play in the higher divisions need to be paid more to either attract them here or to keep them here for when we get promotion. The cost of these players is pretty well covered by additional receipts through the turnstiles or the cups, as I already pointed out. We are hardly doing a Man City or Chelski, as we are not ramping up massive debt levels buying players we cannot afford.

If Alpine is akin to a politician, then you're certainly up for the Paxman award of apeing the most annoying political presenter. The second most annoying thing after having a politician avoid answering a question is to have the presenter repeating time and time again ad nauseum "answer the question - a simple yes or no will suffice" I feel sure that I have had a recollection somewhere buried in the mists of time on here, that you have accused others of only seeing a problem in black or white. I would be much obliged if you would kindly attempt to explain to me why you somehow believe that requiring an answer as either yes or no, is not in itself a request for the very type of black or white response that you would label as being either narrow-minded, naive or simplistic. Do you see the irony here, by any chance?

There is just a little flaw in your argument. There are a couple of caveats in the premise that money thrown at building a team produces success. Firstly, a team of footballing stars does not necessarily mean that success is assured. Sometimes a team full of stars does not gel together, individual egos can produce conflict and disjointed play. What is sometimes preferable is a team of more moderate talent, but one comprised of individuals who give maximum effort and who play for each other. In other words, sometimes the sum of the parts is greater that way than the team of gifted individuals. Naturally, if the team comprises players who cost a fortune because of their footballing prowess and they are true professionals in terms of their efforts and ability to be a team player, that is the best of all worlds. But the lower down the divisions one goes, surely the rarer that type of player becomes? Secondly, a lot depends on the ability of the manager to inspire and control them. Again, players who cost more, often have an ego problem that needs to be handled with diplomacy and tact by the manager, so that a feeling doesn't exist in their minds that they are too good for that team, or that division. Other than that, as a broad sweeping generality, having no money problems is certainly a great benefit to us. As Sophie Tucker famously stated, "I've been rich and I've been poor. Believe me, honey, rich is better". We have known for long enough what it is to be one of the poorest clubs in the country at the level we played. Now that we are one of the wealthiest, it is also somehow reassuring that we are not really throwing money at getting ourselves back to the Premiership. Even with the increased levels of expenditure, the costs are largely recouped by increased income through the turnstiles and financial rewards from our cup runs.

I was working on Jersey, due to fly back to Southampton on Friday evening. Luckily I went to the Ferry terminal at St. Helier to inquire as to the sailings and prices. I got there at about 9.40 and already there was a large queue trying to book for Weymouth, Poole, or Portsmouth. Their computer terminals were down and they were short staffed. Eventually, nearly two hours later, I got a ticket to Portsmouth. The tickets for all three destinations sold out soon afterwards and on my trip, there were no cabin or seats available, so I had to sleep on the floor in the bar, along with dozens of others. Not nice. Not so bad for those who would have been flying into Southampton, but the ferry also had passengers on board who were there from cancelled flights to destinations all around the UK and they had to then arrange their onward journeys. Strangely, flights between Jersey and Guernsey were OK, but quite why they couldn't just go 100 miles or so in a turbo-prop aircraft in the extreme South of Britain, is beyond me.

The club was trashed by Lowe the minute that we were relegated from the Premiership under his watch. Wilde was the meat in the sandwich until Lowe returned with the Double Dutch and finished the job that he started, the coup de grace.

It's not a bad time to mull over the transformation since that prat brought us to our lowest ebb through his crass incompetance. It is pertinent to consider that we have almost miraculously reached a point whereby if it wasn't for the -10 points that can be laid at his door, we would be pretty close to the automatic promotion spot. Thankfully, the buffoon increasingly becomes a distant memory, but when the stage is reached that the memory of those charlatans on the board is seen merely as a dark chapter in the Club's history, it is to be hoped that there is a long period of success under the Liebherr era with which to contrast it. The stability and the growing confidence that comes with success certainly seem to point in that direction.

We seem to be living life on a knife's edge. Not having been there, I had to rely on Merrington's commentary and although he gets some stick for bigging up Yeovil, I will have to either accept that they did actually create enough chances themselves to have won it, unless reliable evidence surfaces from somebody there that Merrington was wrong. But certainly the commentary seemed to suggest that they had at least a couple of cast iron chances that they fluffed and the fear that Fonte could have been red-carded too for holding back the striker when he was the last man. Ultimately though, Yeovil did fluff those chances, lady luck smiled on us and Pardew put the house on black and it came up. As Del Boy, says, "who dares, wins, Rodney". Pardew dared to throw on Barnard and Connolly to accompany Lambert up front and Papa at right back to forage forward too with his pace and trickery. Papa fed Barnard and he scored right at the death and the vital three points were ours. Yeovil might conceivably feel cheated of the points, so they will know what it has been like to be a Saints fan and lose a game in injury time. They can also learn from the example that we set, that it isn't over until the referee blows the whistle for the final time and that with a team of players that has racked up goals from all over the park, we have enough quality to produce a goal from nowhere, even against the run of play. A result like today's is almost more valuable psychologically than the five we scored on Tuesday, as it can instill a belief in the team that we can win pretty or win ugly, we can come from behind, or score in the last minute. An aura of almost invincibility might begin to manifest itself and propel us on to win all the remaining matches. The question is, will any of the teams above us suffer an anxiety attack when they glance over their shoulders at our late charge and gift us a place because they lost their nerve?

http://elmwoodjoineryandoverltd.net/ This company is somebody I have had business dealings with. They are reputed to be honest and reliable, although not necessarily the cheapest. I understand they have done lots of pub refurbishment in the past, which requires a high standard of work.

So, the beetroot-faced one attempted to get the points deduction waived on a technicality, when he could have put us into administration before the deadline and avoided the points deduction, but was pig-headed enough to believe that something would turn up to keep us alive and him in charge. In the event, he badly misjudged the situation and many on here predicted that his ploy would not succeed. We were forced into administration ultimately for the sake of a few thousand pounds. Please do not overlook the fact that there was massive jubilation and gloating at our misfortune from your end of the M27 before you speak of hypocrisy. For a reasonably intelligent Skate, I'm surprised that it seems to have escaped you that the situations between the two clubs are so vastly different. You yourself have highlighted your theory that there have been some very dodgey dealings at your club, effectively money-laundering. Three of the major players at the club, Redcrapp, Storrie and Mandaric, face criminal charges. Your administrator also has a bad reputation from previous questionable ethics. The Skates owe a very large sum to the Taxman. You were undoubtedly trading while insolvent, a criminal offence. You might detest this moral outrage from our end and call it hypocritical, but it doesn't show very much balance for you not to acknowledge that we were not guilty of anything other than having a level of debt higher than we could sustain, even though it was a pittance compared to yours. Whilst you are attempting to reconcile yourself to that proposition, you could also reflect that part of that shortage of income was exacerbated by a proportion of our fans boycotting matches because of the Chairman, an action that does at least hint at a stance taken on moral grounds. There is a futility in accusing us of hypocrisy in a hypothetical situation whereby we might have found ourselves in a similar state to that which has befallen your lot, when for all their faults, our board seem to have generally acted with a degree of propriety. I can understand that this is an alien concept for the cheats and fraudsters that have attached themselves to your club. It is no surprise to me at all that we should find your situation so delicious, as it is seldom that one finds the rats clambouring on board a sinking ship.

I've been rather ambivalent about whether they won today, for much the same reasons as you. If it is indeed correct that by playing today, several of their players cannot play any further part in the Skate's season without invoking massive bonus payments or the right to a renewed contract, then it will be a major embarrassment for the FA. The players can withdraw their right to those contract renewals or bonuses if they wish, but certainly the club under administration cannot afford them. And so the possibility looms large that the Skates will have to field a weakened team for the remainder of the season, raising the prospect of other clubs complaining that this is against the rules of the Premiership, especially as it might have an adverse affect on the top and the bottom of the division. That covers the matches in the league, but what about the implications for the FA Cup final? Either those players forego those bonuses and contracts, or they miss out on potentially the greatest match of their careers with the glory attained should they win. And if they decide not to play, then again they will be fielding a massively weakened team against arguably the strongest team in British football. If Chelski really do the business on them and beat them by a ridiculous number of goals, then the FA Cup will be massively devalued and the FA will have egg all over their faces. And anyway, they beat Harry Redcrapp's Spurs. I don't recall many on here believing that his stay here as manager was any sort of golden era and that they would like him back under any circumstances. After all, he got us relegated and then went back to the Skates and brought them success that he was unable to produce for us. So watching his team being beaten would have been a pleasure had it not been the Skates. And after all, it was also Spurs that they beat too. It isn't as if they are the favourite second team of many Saints fans since the Hoddle incident. When we played them in the FA Cup last, we tonked them 4-0. So I certainly take the view that the whole scenario yet to unfold is really too delicious for words.

These protests are centrered in a particular area of Bangkok, the main commercial centre. It is a huge city and you could be a couple of miles away from it and never know what was going on. It would be like being in Oxford Street or Knightsbridge while the Brixton riots were taking place. All anybody ought to do, is stay in another part of the city, or else make tracks for Pattaya, Phuket, the North or South, wherever they might be headed. Little chance of any problems there, the equivalent of being in the Cotswolds or the Lake District during the Brixton riots. In a strange way of looking at it, it is a great time to be going out there. Tourist numbers are already falling sharply, as is the Baht. Therefore good opportunities to get decent prices for the hotels and your money goes further. At the times of the Harrod's bombing, the Yank tourists deserted these shores in their droves, whereas if they were holidaying in Cornwall or the Cotswolds or virtually anywhere outside London, they would probably have been safer than if they had remained in New York, Washington or Los Angeles. Are we a load of woosies over here too? I thought that us Brits were made of sterner stuff.

A very hard fought and entertaining match, but we deserved the win, as we scored a cracking goal and then defended doggedly, but had chances to have scored others. The defence were superb, especially Harding and Fonte, although Seabourne and Otsemobor were also solid too. A special mention must go to Kelvin, who made three top drawer saves that kept the clean sheet and the points. I must confess feeling surprised that Pardew had started with Antonio instead of Barnard, but apparently Puncheon was to be the striker playing off Lambert, or what would have made more sense, the extra midfielder in the centre with a roving brief, with Antonio playing wide. Whatever the system was, it produced the desired effect, as it was Puncheon who fed Antonio for the goal. Antonio is a much improved player since his arrival here and has shown that he is not afraid to shoot when given the opportunity. Sometimes his shooting is haphazard, but often he does have a good shot, like today, a real striker's goal. Charlton made their changes in an attempt to get back into the game and did threaten on occasion. But although there were some heart in mouth moments, as time went by, it seemed as if it was our day. I cannot remember quite so many hand-ball appeals by us, none of which were given, or so many seemigly faulty decisions by the linesmen. Nearly every time the ball went out, you expected it to be our throw and it wasn't, but happily it also seemed that the linesmen were equally random in giving us the throw when I thought it was Charlton's. Another feature of the game was that Charlton's players are either a load of powder puffs, or cheating bastards, as they went down as if pole-axed whenever we went within a yard of them. I do detest this cheating and despise the teams that practise it. As I was leaving the stadium at the final whistle in an attempt to clear the road works at Mount Pleasant Road, I heard a mighty cheer or two raise the roof. Apparently it was to welcome West Ham's win that relegated the Skates. Further cheering I supect for the announcement of other results in our division that went in our favour and took us closer to Huddersfield. The play-offs remain a distant prospect, but we are one small step closer to them today. I wonder whether the players have that belief in them that they can win every game until the end of the season? We have beaten Charlton, Leeds, Norwich, Huddersfield, MK Dons, all of the top teams apart from Swindon. We really ought to believe that we are as good as anybody in this division bar none, provided that we have that belief in ourselves and play with maximum effort as a team.

Yep. You bet we're loving it. Do you remember that thread after we had been taken over by Markus Liebherr that asked whether you would prefer to be a Saint or a Skate, even though we were in the third division and you were in the Premiership? I seem to recall you defending your preference pretty strongly, even though you were already on the slide. Care to reveal whether you may have changed your mind? After all, our future seems to look pretty bright and stable, whereas even the most obstinate dull-brained Skate is having to admit to themselves that Pompey's future looks incredibly bleak. The possibilities include you not getting a wealthy owner, not clearing the CVA, playing in the fizzy pop with potentially no ground and no decent players and -15 points or even more. In just over a year, provided that you haven't been liquidated, we will swap divisions and that will be that for years and years. The future's bright - and it's Red & White.