The9

Is the Echo going to run a "Kerins Outs Himself Online" story tomorrow I wonder ?

I did it in July, got Virgin media for the phone and ISPness only. Just as well, as they were 'king useless setting me up... they throttle bandwidth from 5:30pm-ish too, but still plenty to get along with, as long as I'm not downloading lots of stuff, watching streamed footy and playing Xbox360 at the same time... "I'd rather it's free than in HD". © 2009, Me.

Do you genuinely believe there isn't already a thread on this ?

I have awesome major championship ticket sales, fixtures and stadium geekage, having been in 94, 98, 06 and to the Euros in 00 and 04. PS the best way to get World Cup tickets is to live in Wales and ask the FAW for some. And at least I know about offside, unlike certain number 9s!

Kelvin made two match changing saves last night at 2-1 up immediately before the injury - but agreed he hasn't been as vital. That doesn't mean we don't need a good goalkeeper, though I hope Bart has some confidence and commands the box. It was nice to see Trotman go up to him to discuss and clarify a few things during one of the many Lallana injury breaks not long after he came on. I was a little concerned that Bart was rooted to his line for one corner but the wind was difficult to read and we got it away...

As they were for Saints, Charlton, Norwich, Derby, Reading, Leicester, etc., all of whom have slid into the relegation places in the CCC not long after dropping out of the Prem. If you don't challenge in the first season out of the Prem you'd better be hacking away at your running costs or you're doomed. Lucky for Boro they're only a few points from playoff spots at the moment and they still have the chance to push on using what they've got if they can keep them for 6 more months. FWIW I can't see us selling anyone, we're in the position to offer security and new contracts for once.

It is, but it's also Dexys, pretty sure the same crossover audience will get either 1980s reference...

Shows rather a limited knowledge of the fixture creation process FIFA use which is set in stone at least 2 years before the tournament to enable ticket sales (although they have been known to switch match locations and kick off times within a group after the draw is made to ensure big games are played at big grounds). 40,000 capacity grounds usually get 3 or 4 group matches and maybe a round of 16 game. Probably wouldn't get a group seed, but would definitely see some decent teams in some of those 4 games. Anyway, that kind of multicultural takover is what the World Cup is about. Still haven't quite recovered from attending Jamaica v Croatia in the small northern French coal mining town of Lens, with their population of 40,000 (never mind ground capacity) and the two pubs and three cafes.

We started the Lallana one, it's some Dexy's Midnight Runners song I think... might be from "Jackie Wilson Said", not that that's going to help 90% of people ! Just for Delldays, some muppets started "we're the middle over here" at one point. We also started a brief chorus of "we've come a fcking long way" 6 minutes into injury time. PS Got back at 3:20am, absolutely torrential rain for at least half of the 5½ hour drive back.

You haven't actually seen him play, have you ?

Jack Warner matters a lot (unfortunately) due to his vice-president role at FIFA and autocracy over the CONCACAF vote, and he basically said what the bid was lacking was the Queen and David Beckham. As far as I'm aware that's about all anyone in a position of power has said publicly. I understand his wife has also given back the bloody expensive handbag that the bid organisers gave to various powerbrokers' wives. Whoops.

It's a guaranteed three games for any host stadium, and that's assuming the World Cup doesn't expand beyond 32 teams by 2018/2022. Also, you get to keep the stadium...

I don't know why not, it's perfectly easy to see a straight line compared to the goalline just as it is compared to the touchline and judge depth from there, and a few times Saints players had just run past defenders, which is a pretty good clue they're not offside. Waigo looked offside for all the decisions given, especially the one where he ran right across the pitch from an offside position on the right wing. The Connolly one and Lambert one where they came back into midfield from allegedly offside positions I can't comment on as I wasn't looking at their starting positions when the ball was played - though I suspect the linesman wasn't either on a couple of occasions. He was flagging extremely late when players were already in the act of playing the ball long after the pass and were clearly "interfering" the whole time, which is why I wonder.

I'll be driving up tomorrow, watching the match, and driving back tomorrow night. Should get back around 3am. I went to Hartlepool for a week in 1999, left South Wales the second Saints' 2-0 win over Everton and our safety was confirmed by Sky around 6pm, and arrived in Hartlepool at midnight on a Sunday night in May to the B&B in a cul-de-sac overlooking a big green bit of common land in ridiculous winds and with the rain hammering in off the North Sea. My room key was under the mat outside. Went to work at the Register Office the next day, where the Superintendent proclaimed his hatred for women drivers, as a life-long cyclist, then spent all week with 6 colleagues trying to find something to do - there was a then-new WB cinema which had more staff than customers, so we went there and to Asda every night. That was about it. It rained all week, I drove past the ground at least 16 times without ever wanting to go in there, and it was blowing a gale and chucking it down about 90% of the time. So at least I'm prepared.

Erm, and if he hadn't spent most of the match midweek beating his man with a variety of stepovers you might have a point. He was also probably our best player today and looked like the only one playing near his best. Practically everyone I've spoken to was surprised he came off at all - but I expect he's not fit for 90 minutes as he's not played a full game yet that I can recall.

If the video I took of his "pass" out of defence at Swindon ever makes the internet his career will be stone dead with immediate effect.

Yes he did.

Dry Side, though as I was in Row A directly below a hole in the guttering (just to one side of the goal on the far away from the wet side) I got absolutely soaked anyway. I missed the first Rovers goal as I had my 2004 vintage Saints sleeping bag style coat pulled over my head, and I also have a few videos which go from decent quality to utterly unfathomably steamed up towards the end. Was a brilliant laugh though, I was singing "wet side" from the front of the stand.

Maybe they weren't very good at their jobs ? I don't think we need to be running a bloated, inefficient Premier League setup any more, do we ?

Gobern's been the standout potential breakthrough from the reserves for a good year or so now. The problem last season wasn't having kids in the side, it was not having sufficient experience alongside them, and picking one or two kids who weren't ever going to be good enough. Gobern is definitely not one of those.

Wikipedia is pretty clear that you are wrong. Public holiday Boxing Day is traditionally celebrated on 26 December, St. Stephen's Day, the day after Christmas Day.[1][2] Unlike St. Stephen's Day, Boxing Day is a secular holiday and is not always on 26 December: the public holiday is generally moved to the following Monday if 26 December is a Saturday

There's a can of worms you don't want to open up... Still sub judicie and heading for the highest appeal court in the EU IIRC.

You might be right, but they were exactly the sort of conditions in which he'll find re-employment next time. Am I thinking of someone else, or did he have a spell at Forest (?) when he came out which turned him into a Prem player rather than a low-level scuffler? You can almost see the thought process and maybe a time of trying to go straight before the old habits returned. Wigan's decision was easy, given that he's barely been playing for them anyway and was on loan to Hull at the time if the incident. He was very easy to dispense with. It also got Dave Whelan some good publicity, and he likes that.

I'm not sure whether to say "rehabilitation looks unlikely then" or the slightly more contentious "bit harsh on Tyson"... Hm, well with THAT in mind I do now think it more likely he would struggle for a club, as he's been trouble at a lower level even before he got the money. Does suggest it's him rather than "football's evils" as well, but also indicates the perils of choosing role models based on shirt colour rather than actions. Pragmatist that I am, I think the decision to employ or not should always be a combination of footballing skill and to a lesser extent potential to disrupt or enhance the squad and its morale. I don't see a proven troublemaker enhancing our squad, but there will still be other sides who need a good striker more than they worry he's going to screw up at some point. If nothing else this also shows just how MUCH you have to do wrong to get custodial sentences...

I'm going to have to stop agreeing with you today at some point. So fundamentally it's a jealousy thing then? "I'm 'crap' too but I'm not getting paid that much to prove it". It is with me and Poolis, for definite...