itchen

Thanks. A well-reasoned, well-thought-out post.

I think I probably could have predicted most of the contributors to NickG's highlights post above. Though, Nick, there's no point in your post. Even if Adkins guides us to mid-table or better they'll just find another scapegoat. It's the default position You're quite right that 3 good results won't be enough and that we need to keep improving. I hope we do and I'm fairly sure we will. But I'm of the camp that would rather show loyalty to a manager who got us here and who can, if we do go down, bring us straight back up again. I'd rather that than any of the chancers we're likely to get as a replacement. At least we've dodged the Redknapp bullet.

This is a much nicer place to come when we win.

I've just been asking myself what I'd do in a Pompey fan's position. It's not that long ago that Saints nearly went out of existence. So what did I do then? How important was it to me that Saints continued to exist? Well I'd have said it was pretty important. Although I was not a season ticket holder I went to most home games and supported the team. I watched them on the Football League show and read this forum. But that was it. It would have been sad if Saints had folded but life would have gone on. Did I get involved with SOS? No. Did I put money in a bucket? No. I could see that that was going to be a drop in the ocean compared to the amount needed to save the club. If somebody had asked me to give £1000 to buy a share in the club I would not have been able to afford it. But, even if I could, had I then been told that that money was non-returnable and that the real owners of the club would be a group of businessmen and a property developer, I would not even have considered it. I don't think I'm alone among Saints supporters. You'll always get a few thousand (or maybe few hundred) supporters to whom their club is the most important thing in their lives and who will make huge sacrifices elsewhere in their lives to support their team. But does that describe most fans who turn up at St Mary's let alone those who follow Saints from an armchair? I don't think so. And Pompey can't be that different. And, of course, they have many fewer fans who actually turn up to games. So I wonder just where the Trust is going to get all these £1000 pledges from, in a recession, just before Christmas.

You can't say C-l-i-theroe?

I think that was Jimmy ****heroe.

I was listening to a podcast of Saturday's Danny Baker show. Taking part in the "Sausage Sandwich Game" (if you're not familiar with this, now is not the time to explain it) was a Pompey fan who described himself as representing "the biggest fan owned football club in the country". So it's official then. B*gger won as well.

But if, as is often suggested here, Cortese is focussed on the bottom line - car park charges, no freebies for ex-players, sacking programme sellers, being generally evil - why would he miss a trick like making money from corporates? Is it simply a case of Saints getting the product or marketing wrong or are there other factors? We are in a recession where perhaps local companies would find it difficult to justify having a corporate box at the same time as they are sacking staff. We are newly promoted to the top league and perhaps local businesses have lost the habit of having a box at St Mary's. We may simply be trying to charge too much for what we are offering. How do our corporate sales compare to, say, Reading who are in a similar position? I don't know because I have no access to the figures or to discussions at the club. If we're missing a potentially large income stream then obviously we need to look at what we're doing wrong. I can't believe those discussions are not already happening.

Guardian says Yoshida was man of the match http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/nov/18/southampton-qpr-nigel-adkins. Not seen that mentioned here.

Seems an odd thing for Guly (or anybody else) to say. Assuming he said it (and we only have Zaha's word) do we know the context? Zaha says it was because he went past Guly. But did he say something as well? Make some sort of patronising gesture? Guly's many detractors on this board would say it's not unusual for him to be beaten on the pitch. Does he say "Respect me" to everyone who does it or just to Zaha?

Guardian exclusive: Nigel's positive. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/nov/09/nigel-adkins-relegation-dogfight-saints-swansea

It's all a bit vague though, isn't it? "One ex-employee has taken legal action" with no clue as to who, when or why this was or any indication of the outcome. If it got as far as court it would be in the public domain. And a glance at Private Eye would indicate that the Daily Mail is probably the subject of proportionately many more lawsuits from ex-employees. I don't doubt that Cortese is probably not the most pleasant of men and that he has sometimes unnecessarily upset ex-players and their hangers on. If there's hard evidence that he has treated employees unfairly then they have the ability to seek redress through the courts but I have not seen any reports that any have. But I don't really care what happens in the boardroom unless it negatively impacts what happens on the pitch. Without the current regime we may well have been in Pompey's position, had we even survived that long. I'm willing to overlook a lot of gossip in exchange for still having a club to support. The fact that that club is back in the top flight is a welcome but not essential bonus.

Hear hear

If he changed the goal posts at St Mary's he should have made our goal smaller than the opposition's.

First half we were awful. I don't normally single out players but Boruc was dreadful. Quite how he is preferred to Gazza or Kelvyn is a mystery. Second half we could easily have won if two of the many shots we had had been on target. I don't know what Adkins said at half time but I wish he'd said it before kick-off.

I think Woolworth's label was Pickwick? Anyway, you got some surprising people imitating the hits of the day. That Elton John, did he ever get anywhere? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_of_the_Pops_(record_series)

That article is open for comments here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/oct/25/portsmouth-supporters-trust-balram-chainrai#start-of-comments

Our own dear Echo went weekly years ago. It just comes out in daily instalments.

Ah, Boris the buffoon with his rehearsed ad libs and buffoon schtick. This is the man who has seen the forced resignations of, I think, three of his choices as deputy mayors in London. A man happy to take credit for the work of others - the Olympics and "Boris bikes" simply followed on from Ken Livingstone's work. A man incapable of marital fidelity. But, most importantly, a man prepared to hand over the details of a journalist to convicted old-Etonian fraudster Darius Guppy so that the journalist could be beaten up. Yep, surely a man fit to serve as PM. More info here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/05/sonia-purnell-boris-johnson-not-prime-minister-material and here:http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/articles/the-trouble-with-boris-darius-guppy-phone-callhttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/articles/the-trouble-with-boris-darius-guppy-phone-call

Yep.

Yeah, you're right of course. You're not tedious in any way and are performing a valuable service to those of us less gifted in communication.

f No. You're saying that. The rest of us don't really care and find your (and others) constant negative trolling a reason to visit this forum less and less.

But I think being opinionated is part of the job description for being a pundit, isn't it?. Doesn't stop him being wrong though.

Not surprising really as the govt has cut, in real terms, the licence fee and loaded more expense (such as the digital switchover and the World Service) onto the BBC. Some people think this is a good thing but many of them are happy to pay over £50 per month to Sky and the rest of them own the Sky company. The BBC cannot afford to bid against a company that not only gets people to pay exorbitant subscriptions but then makes even more money by selling advertising which those with subscriptions pay to receive. No wonder Murdoch wanted full ownership. Unfortunately, the days of watching ad-free football on a channel that costs just £12 per month (and also includes 4 other TV channels, plus a news channel, 5 national radio stations and local radio) are going to be severely limited.

Who's in the team? Edit: found it http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/documents/saints-vs-sheff-wed-teamsheet148-390374.pdf