Wes Tender

And you are like a dog without a bone. Yaaaaaaaaaaawn.

Was Shakespeare a Skate, then?

Which major footballing nations are we talking here?

He is not yet a BIG loss, as you do not have any idea who is going to replace him. His replacement might score MORE goals than John would. Might be more quality than John. So we haven't got anybody else in as a striker with 10 days to go until the new season and you want to cut your throat by the sound of it. Although John wishes to play in the Fizzy Pop, there is no reason whatsoever why a better player than him from the Premiership might not come here on loan, especially with us having a decent manager and a wealthy owner. It remains to be seen as to whether John signing makes any difference or not. See above. It might yet be a blessing in disguise.

Perhaps the Nottingham Evening Post has it wrong then. But why would they have published that if there was no foundation for it, especially as he was a former player for them?

I thought that John had agreed to stay and signed a contract for another year. Doesn't that count? As for the transfer gossip, there is a lot about Rasiak going to Swansea or Reading which until substantiated might just be agents' talk. Could it be that in the same way that things were kept very close to his chest in the case of ML's takeover, we are quietly beavering away with a series of signings and will only announce them when the deal is done? Contrast this with all the hoohah associated with the Skates, but that is possibly to keep the fans and the bank onside, pacifying them while syphoning off funds from the sale of big name players into Gaydamak's back pocket.

I've just had to post on the tribalfootball site to remind them that Niemi used to play for Southampton. Somehow the fact had somehow escaped them when they reported it. Tw*ts.

Four, you say?

Now all we need to read is that Rasiak is staying too...

Really? I don't know how that came about. Weren't some of the Royal female children at Bedales at one time? That's quite close by. Also another claim to infamy for that bookshop was that I believe Erica Roe used to work there. Anybody remember her big hooters? First streaker ever at Twickers.

Scroll back to here and laugh even louder, Navysaint. Post 154 http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=15098&page=4

Trouble is, when we're in the top division, you won't be.

As you say, it is quite possibly a rehash of the previous story where Pardew hoped to keep him but admitted that if an offer came in for him he'd have to let him go. Encouraging that I can find no mention of interest in him recently on either the Reading or Swansea news items recently. The Star is totally rubbish as a paper, so I hope the story is gash.

According to the Daily Star, Pardew admits defeat in his efforts to keep Reading and Swansea target Rasiak at St Mary's.

Spot the flaw in your argument that an 8 year old would have spotted. Presumably by the same token, the groundsman knows more about football than the fan in the stand too, as they work on the same surface.

Personally, I think that you're wrong and Chez is right and you don't know what you're talking about. But that's just my opinion, which I'm entitled to as this is a forum of opinions, epitomising the freedom of speech in a democratic society as you point out. So regrettably I cannot join in with agreeing with the two points of your summary that I have left above. You admitted earlier that you were reticent in confessing to being a referee because of the flak that you were likely to get because of it. And then you go right ahead and illustrate clearly to everybody why that flak is so often deserved.

I pick up on this as Chez did and marvel that somebody who states that he is a football referee can have such thin skin. What do you do if a player stands up to you and argues a decision of yours? Give him a card, or go home crying to Mummy? And I agree with others that being a referee might mean that you know more about the rules of the game than most on here, but it certainly does not mean conclusively that your opinions about tactics, formations, players' abilities, player motivation, club finances, etc, is any more reliable or valid than the opinions of others. Quite frankly, the standard of refereeing in the fizzy pop is generally appalling compared to that in the Premiership, so I hope that you will accept that there are some poor referees. I have no doubts in my mind that a division a level lower will produce even lower standards from the referees. If the referees were generally so good, why is there a growing clamour for certain decisions to be backed up with video technology? TV action replays show that occasionally they do get things wrong, so that fallability should logically translate into errors of judgement in other footballing areas too.

Oh yes! I forgot. C'mon Eastleigh...you can beat this ****. As a Concorde member, I should have gone to see the manager and complained at the riff-raff that was acting suspicuously in the car park.

Went past the Concorde Club on the way home and who should be in their car park in his full muppet regalia, but Westwood. The tall hat, exposed chest (yuk) the full blue prat uniform. Quite what he was doing there, I don't know. Perhaps he'd been down the training ground to see whether these Notts Forest signings were there and to give them the proper nutter's welcome.

As saintdaz says, our site has become a bit mundane now that we have a wealthy owner and a decent manager. The state of affairs down the road is much more interesting; it's like watching a soap opera storyline unfold.

Nottingham Forest duo James Perch and Chris Morgan are targets for Portsmouth boss Paul Hart, according to the NOTW. Aiming really high for next season, eh?

Fair comment. He certainly gave me the impression that he wanted it against Hearts. I can't see that Pardew could have failed to be impressed with his performance, making allowances for his weight and lack of match fitness. His commitment didn't seem to be in doubt.

So did you take up the ST at Arsenal and join the plastics? If so, you won't be commanding much respect on here when you post.

I'm sure that he is professional. Otherwise, I doubt that he would have stayed at Reading for a decade and been their inspirational captain at the time that they achieved promotion to the top flight.

That's very magnanimous of you, OBS.