Ted Bates Statue

One of these things is not like the other.

I thought I must have been hallucinating, watching that back.

As a starting point for a list of VPN locations to try, I guess it's any country which doesn't have a deal with the EFL. There is a list of these if you follow the link below. https://www.efl.com/news/2023/may/how-to-watch-the-sky-bet-efl-play-off-semi-final-second-legs/ So countries like Luxembourg or Belgium might be worth trying. Having said that, I know @sifter already suggested Portugal didn't work and yet that's on the list, so maybe there's more to it. Edit - a few clubs like Wycombe and Swansea have kindly gone to the trouble of naming the unsold territories (also named 'dark markets' - sounds fun!) that do not have TV deals. I guess it might be easier for VPN users to use a relatively local location setting, so here's Wycombe's list for Europe: Albania Cyprus Faroe Islands Gibraltar Liechtenstein Luxembourg Malta Romania Ukraine Hope that works for anyone on VPN.

Excellent guerilla marketing on Nike's part.

I can only hope so. I will try and maintain my utmost faith in your elite circle of trust. But to me and all my fellow sleuths on Twitter or whatever the fuck it's called now, something didn't smell right about this deal, and I'm not just talking about Flynn's toilet.

Yep, that wannabe-Nostradamus TWar never managed to survive the embarrassment of making that pronouncement towards, er, Tino Livramento.

Hey I'm not falling for the hype that easily. First he said he had food poisoning, then he said he had campylobacter. The lad can't keep his story straight. And don't forget when at the fans' forum they asked the Dyson bloke if he'd signed yet, and he only gave a curt "yeah," because he knew he hadn't really. Or something. I, for one, certainly won't believe he's signed until he's running out onto the St Mary's pitch during a match. Until then, I'll keep up with the latest on Footy Insider. They know something's up.

Nani McFee? Would work well with our youth, so I'm told

To be fair, we had to content with Saints Player charging about a fiver a month back in the Championship. So all this is nothing new. Absolutely agree that it does no good for retaining or cultivating a fan base when so many of us live away from Hampshire. I can't even get Radio Solent in Basingstoke FFS. I would be grateful to anyone up for setting up a live stream on Youtube, Discord, Twitter (or whatever the hell it's called now) with their radio set to BBC Solent. After all, it's got to be better than the dodgiest stream of the lot, over on the official website.

I needed to play it back a few times, could have done with subtitles. However, the gasps and audible noises of disapproval were pretty funny and needed no translation. You would think that PR-conscious organisations like ours would take the time to ensure that audience members get vetted, as they would do for Question Time.

Spain weren't that good last summer when I watched them against Germany. Although they passed nicely and had the majority of possession, they posed minimal threat in the final third. At the other end it felt like Germany could carve through the defence with long balls, and although the match finished 0-2, it could have been 0-4. A lot can happen twelve months down the line, but England managed to beat both sides last year and have weathered their last two matches while coping with a partisan crowd. I haven't paid much attention to this World Cup and would note that Australia have apparently not been very good all tournament, but as others have pointed out, England have improved as they have progressed through the rounds. They'll be in a decent position to peak and win the final.

Hope you didn't tell him about this place, we've got enough of that type as it is.

Yep and also two of those players were unavailable for almost the entire season. Still, here we are 12 months on and many of us are yet to be convinced that those positions up front and in goal are strong enough for a promotion campaign. As much as we can joke about 8/10 transfer windows, this suggests our recruitment isn't that bad in some areas. Just that they forgot to sign the striker Ralph needed. "All the right notes, but not necessarily in the correct order " springs to mind.

Ah yes, but in the middle of that you also need to demand a round of applause for the Women's team for an excellent debut season in the Championship. Can we do a bingo sheet for this?

It's been going on for a month and they've been bidding in 1M increments every day to get to this point... it's gone on long enough, might as well drag it out for a few more days and see if they can match the VVD transfer fee.

Not excessive. And probably more reliable than the official website audio...

That was my point, genius

So my hopes of JWP failing the medical and having to play for us in the Championship turned out to be futile, then

Thanks, as it's EFL cup tonight I expect to have to use Talksport 2 for this match, but out of interest, did this work for the Sheffield Wednesday match? I assumed a VPN would be needed to spoof location, rather than simply amend my location setting and have the BBC take my word for it! 😂

That's a brilliant setup to a punchline of Saints losing to a long-ball goal and one of our centre-backs and/or Baz to drop a comedy clanger. 🤡 Full match on Talksport 2.

"They think maybe he's done the hard work and you've got in the way?" 😂

All hail Martin Russell's Red and Pink Army.

For those not prepared to pay to listen to Radio Solent when living out of range, tomorrow's match is going to be on Talksport 2.

I never subscribed last time around but I think in Rupert Lowe's time Saints Player was £5 a month for Radio Solent audio, so I would accept a one-off payment of £45 now.

Same here. Branfoot actually went to the trouble of informing me personally (via the pages of The Independent)