SFKA South Woodford

It would set us back if Ox leaves, there is no point in Cortese saying that he wants to model the team on Barcelona, if we then go and sell our best prospect. What kind of a message does that send out to the young players the club is looking to attract? Besides which, he is our only wide player with pace, so him leaving would have an immediate detrimental effect on the team. Cortese and Adkins have to fight tooth and nail to keep him here for the next couple of seasons at least and then try to get him to sign a contract extension, as they continue to build a team of the cream of the nations talent. If he does let his head get turned, then Chelsea will probably be his destination as he said in the matchday programme that he has supported them since he was a kid. Should that be the case then £10 million plus sell on and add ons should be the fee, as although he isn't as quick as Theo, he does have more bottle and better close control than Theo, as evidenced by the Bournemouth game earlier this season, when he emerged from between five of their players with the ball in an act of breathtaking skill.

Also given that Saints traditionally do so badly through the whole of December, maybe it's not such a bad thing to not be playing our league games then. Now we just need St Marys to become unplayable and the bad weather to last until mid February and promotion will be assured.

More like pulling him away into the crowd, so that he couldn't be identified and brought to account for his actions! Just as with the Ian Tomlinson incident. I do not agree with the protestors actions of attacking Churchills statue, members of the royal family or defacing monuments to the brave men and women who have made the ultimate sarifice to protect our right to democracy and freedom of speech. I do however agree that they have a right to protest and have a valid reason to do so, the way this country is heading and it's government is talking, this will be just the start of the protests. It's lucky for the government that it's illegal for the Police, Fire Brigade or members of the armed forces to go on strike, as with the governments slash and burn approach, we would surely see them registering their protests at the job cuts which are going to affect them. We are living in a country where, the government and a lot of their "I'm alright Jack" supporters think that the best way for the country to recover and prosper is to make hundreds of thousands of decent and hard working people unemployed from jobs where they make a valuable contribution to their communities and the countries economy, and to blindly hope that in the most part, foreign owned companies will then re-employ those people. Well Mr Cameron and sc*mbag Clegg, I don't see Hyundai or Tata clamouring to open a manufacturing plant or any other business on the Isle of Wight or in Cornwall to name but two areas of financial desolation in this country. We are also living through a period, when it is 'fashionable' for companys to ignore trained uk workers and outsource their work to other countries, with in some instances the outsource companies then sending their staff to this country to work for that company. Which really takes the biscuit, and further dwindles the supply of jobs. As for the "i'm alright jack" types, I hope you never have to go through the despair of not being able to work in a job you like doing, or applying for jobs where there are 200 people who have applied who have one hundred percent of the work skills laid out in the description, rather than just the ninety eight percent you have. As for support for demonstration among the general population. My grandparents have always been very conservative people in terms of their lifestyle and moral attitudes, having been brought up in the 1920's and 30's. They are now realising that things are no longer black and white, people do not have a job for life anymore and that there are people out there who cannot find work for want of trying and feel that the government only wants to hear from them in terms of payment of taxes. They might not have gotten as far as support of mass open protest yet, but they do realise that people are being left behind with no voice, which will eventually lead to protest. Which as the cuts the goverment are now and will be making, start to affect more and more of the population, will lead to greater support for protest.

How many of the bankers that got us into this financial sh*tstorm are paying back the money that they p*ssed away on bad investments? The condems are still refusing to regulate the banking industry, even though that evil little p*ick Nick Clegg promised to do so in his manifesto! Meanwhile the bankers are sitting back in their members clubs drinking their fine scottish malts and port, whilst waiting for thier fat Christmas bonus paid for by our taxes. So why should students have to pay even higher tuition fees, when their parents have paid their taxes and that money has gone to some fat cat banker to keep him and his property portfolio ticking along nicely. Before any of say "but bankers pay taxes as well" you should find out how much tax they pay, having worked with a few whilst on business at Barclays trading house, I can tell you that they have very efficient tax vehicles which mean that they pay very little tax, in a lot of cases no more or even less than any rank and file member of the armed forces or the police. It's their cycle of greed and Labours lack of backbone to do something about their industry that got this country into this mess, they should be doing more than their fair share to get it back out of it again. Whilst nothing is done by this government to level the playing field, which currently allows their mates to get away with carrying on in the same fashion as before and with Cameron and Clegg continuing to tell us that we are all in this together and that the tough decisions that put more hard working decent and honest people out of work, have to be made, i'm afraid that these protests will become an every day thing and become increasingly more violent. That is what happens when people feel that they don't have a voice or aren't being listened to.

We know that Katharina and the family knew how much Saints meant to Markus and that he felt he had a duty to provide Southampton with a legacy where Saints are concerned. Therefore I am confident that they will continue to see out his wishes, if only to see out the five year plan. Let's not also forget that Saints were the beneficiaries of a proportion of Markus's personal wealth due to the arrangements he made before his passing, which probably means that they don't even have to worry about financing the plan, so the only real reason to sell woud be if they do not have the time necessary to devote to the club amongst running the Mali group. This doesn't really make much sense either as Cortese is running the club on a daily basis for them, so the amount of time they need to invest is minimal, add to this the attendance of various Liebherr family members at our home games and also that you can regularly see Markus's girls sat in the directors box at our home games, so on this basis I don't see there being any truth in this rumour, just like the last one in the summer when there was a claim that Markus had put Saints up for sale as a result of his fallout with Pardew and disappointment of us not reaching the play offs last season.

It's been coming down quite heavily here in Basingstoke for the last five hours, there must be well over an inch on the ground now, and it's showing no sign of letting up.

Interesting thing about that OS map is that you can actually see the flightpaths of the aircraft that dropped the bombs from the positions of the strikes marked on the map. So what was there between freemantle and Shirley that the luftwaffe were so keen to destroy?

Dalek, Hoddle is a terrible man manager as has been demonstrated in his career as a club manager and as an international manager, and with his comments on the disabled he makes David Icke look like Sigmund Freud!

Looking likely that i'm going to have to go up to Glasgow for work for the next few months, can anyone reccomend a hotel in the £25 to £30 pounds a night bracket? Do they still have their own currency up there?

I'm just wondering when that beacon of social fairness and supporter of financial fairplay Barry Hearn is going to tell everyone that Charlton should be relegated to the Blue Square Premier division! What's that Barry? "Charlton are diamond cockernee geezers, who wouldn't hurt anyone that didn't deserve it, just like Reg and Ron"

I may have to go to Scotland to work for a few months in Glasgow, will be staying in the city centre near the office if I do go. Can anyone who has actually been to Glasgow and stayed for more than five minutes tell me what it's like there?

Massive fireworks display in Basingstoke on Friday evening which seemed to last somewhere between a half hour and forty five minutes, alas no bonfire or guys though! However, I went to the Anvil on Saturday evening to see Jarred Christmas and during the five minute walk home afterwards through smog, mine and my mrs' clothes picked up the distinct stench of bonfire smoke. So Bonfires are alive and well in Basingstoke! Kids musn't need to collect the money for their fireworks anymore, as I haven't seen a 'penny for the guy' in ten years. Parents it's up to you, to start this tradition again, next year refuse to pay for fireworks.

I think it's great that the opposition defenders look at him and think he's too tall to be quick. Boy do they get a shock when he makes up 10 yards and beats them to the ball. It will be so good once Adkins has got the rest of the team drilled in what to do with the ball when we get it back in defence. Playing the outlet ball to the Ox and Guly and then watching them tear the oppo's remaining defence apart. Especially if they defend as high as Dagenham did last night. Will be even better if Adkins adds a pacy striker to the squad in the transfer window, no team in this division would be able to cope with us on the counter attack then.

I and a couple of the guys from the same company worked in Dewsbury for a while and made some friends there. We arranged to meet up with our firends for a night out on a stop over after a Saints game at Old Trafford a few years ago. Before we could head off on the night out, we had to go to our friends brother in laws birthday party in a pub in Wakefield. Our friend told us that everything had been arranged and we were welcome to go along. However we got a shock when we got there to find that the place had been decorated with confederate flags and that the birthday boy was wearing a state troopers uniform from one of the southern states, and a few of his mates were wearing confederate uniforms. I got the distinct impression that Southerners were not welcome unless they were of the gap toothed, ye-haa, family member sexual loving variety from the US of A. I was expecting the birthday cake to come out with burning crosses on it instead of candles. Things got more frosty from there and we eventually made our exit when our friends sister said it would be better if we left, I certainly wasn't going to argue with her. That's not the only bad experience i've had with the so called friendly Yorkshire people either, so do not agree that they are nice and friendly people at all. As for places on a par with the worst Yorkshire has to offer such as Wakefield, Doncaster, Rotherham and Batley, you need look no further than Portsmouth. By the way Basingstoke is a great place to live, as it offers so many things to do and has lots of well maintained public parks. I lived in East London for 15 years and can honestly say that Basingstoke is a fantastic place to live in comparison.

Maybe Lamberts just getting f*cked off with referees and linesmen letting defenders get away with climbing all over him every week, just like the Oldham centre back last weekend.

Don't think it was Saints that were time wasting, while they were leading and even while the scores were level, Oldham were hardly in a hurry to take any free kicks that they got. The added time was only down to d'unce-o's incompetence anyway in failing to get the injured Oldham player off of the pitch and allowing play to carry on. For some reason it was better for him to be treated on the pitch for three minutes, than for him to leave the field for treatment while the game continued. Shame then that he decided that Seabourne had to go off and get his little cut treated and change his shirt, whilst we were defending a free kick that they shouldn't even have been given in the first place!

He was absolutely brilliant yesterday, if he keeps on like that he'll be in the top 5% of talent in any league in the country including the premier league! He has pace and his close control while dribbling is better than Theo's is now, let alone at the same age, in my opinion he is more exciting a prospect than Theo. He's showed that he isn't just good on the wing but can also play through the middle on the counter attack and will scare the c*ap out of anyone who tries to stand in his way. I just hope we can hang on to him for a while, but he has already hinted that he woud like to play for Chelsea one day as they were the team he supported as a boy, and if keeps getting better at the rate he is, an under 21 cap will soon be coming his way regularly, attracting more admiring glances. Still if he does leave, it will only be for a seriously large amount of money.

Puncheon is either lazy or unfit, today he played moderately for 35 mins and then started standing around with his hands on his hips, so something is wrong with the guy if he thinks that's his job done for the day! Shortly before he was taken off we were in possession and he should of been pushing on down the line, but he just stood there with his hands on his hips while the ball was only a few yards away from him. He made no effort to get involved in the play, when he could of, if nothing else pulled some of their players out of position by making the run. I just don't see what some on here see in him. I would have Ox playing in his place anyday, and still think that Papa and Antonio gave us much more than he does. He needs to start showing a hell of lot more willingness to bust a gut and give much more end product before i'll start changing my mind about him being too much of a show pony, with little graft and end product.

For me it has to be Klinsmann, saw him in his first spell at Spurs in a game where Tiss had put us ahead and he equalised late on. Every time the ball came near to him you could feel the excitement from the Spurs fans and he certainly gave off an aurora of a pure predator who would score if you gave him half a chance. Have also seen Beckham in his prime and Weah, Viali, Lampard, Drogba, Zola, Di Canio, Gazza, Juninho, Henry, Shearer, Overmars and Bergkamp. Bergkamp and Zola were a bit special as well. Remember Bergkamp not having scored for the Arse until we played them and he broke his duck against us in the usual fashion.

Oh it's our long time allies the french to the rescue then eh? Who do you think sold the Super Etendard's and Exocets which attacked and sank our ships off of the Falkands to the Argies? Can you imagine the rows we'd have with them over where and when the fleet would be deployed, it would probably result in them never leaving port.

Yes we got results under Hoddle, but we were not a good side. His brand of football was so dull, we played much better football under WGS and even under Jones on occasion. As for Pardew and a plan b, I agree with others in that there wasn't really one, which is why Lambert was only ever subbed when we had already done enough to win the game or when he had gotten a knock. The only variation was the few times when Antonio dropped deep to get the ball and then just powered his way through the opposition or getting the ball out early for Waigo to use his pace. Losing them and then failling to address that loss, was in my opinion, one of Pardews biggest failings. The others are that he seems not to have listened to or trusted the scouting system he put in place and that he was so slow to act in the transfer market two summers running. The only worry I have about Adkins is that he doesn't seem too worried about the lack of pace in the front players and wide men. I understand that he has faith in Ox and I can see that Ox is going to be one hell of a player soon, but I would still like to see at least one experienced striker with pace added to the squad and ideally before we have played too many more games. It would be great to see Papa back at Saints to give us another option. Still if Do Prado can keep last weeks performance level up for the next few months, he'll be virtually unplayable to the opposition.

My best mate was on jury duty a few years ago on a case like this. An asian guy was accused of glassing a white guy and left him seriously disfigured, the outcome was that it couldn't be proved that he hadn't been provoked, so he got let off without even having to pay the guy any compensation. Will have to be a lot of evidence against him for Barnard to go down for any length of time. BTW, if you are a professional sportsman and you earn your living through your ability with your feet, wouldn't you be a bit miffed if someone did something that could torpedo your gravy boat? Not that it is justification for a serious attack with a bottle, but I can imagine any highly paid sportsman getting upset if someone did something to their person that could put a holt to their career any length of time. Seeing as we still look fairly toothless in front of goal at the moment and Barney being the only one showing any sign of changing that, dropping him without an adequate replacement is nuts, we need the points so badly at the moment that he has to play on until he's been judged in a court of law or Adkins has got a decent if not better replacement.

Totally agree, winning at the skates on the last day of the season to stay up, and seeing the looks on all their faces would be f*cking brilliant! Oh, and getting to the Uefa cup final wouldn't be too bad either!

Been saying he's not good enough for us for a while now, because his level is to be consistantly cr*p with the very occasional good performance. He bottles tackles that he would win and is so indecisive, any advantage that he gains over a defender is lost before he can exploit it. He can't cross first time, and his head drops and frustration sets in very quickly with him. I can't believe there are some on here who believe he's a better player than Antonio and Papa, at this time, both would offer us more than Puncheon does.

Very good summing up of the performance there. Would add though that anyone who still thinks that Puncheon is better than Papa or Antonio, really does need their head examined! The guy has a yellow streak down his back, and is a charlie big b*llocks, who thinks he's much better than he is! I seriously think he has a mental problem. If you watch him, he looks up and rather than head to where the space is, he runs toward a group of opposition players and attempts to beat them all twice. So many times today he could have whipped the ball in early and caused a panic in the Orient box, but he decided to hang on to the ball instead. I'd call him the black 'Fernandes' but that would be an injustice to Fabrice, who had more skill in his little finger than Puncheon does in his whole body. Finally if anyone thinks he's unpredictable 'just like tiss' he is, he doesn't even know what he's going to do! I used to think that Wotton was the worst player in the first team squad, but Puncheon has stolen his crown! These two games have shown that we sorely miss Papa and Antonio, and that the squad seriously lacks depth, something that a few of us have been calling for an addressing of, since the last season ended. We need four players now, a replacement for when Rickie isn't fit, a replacement for Hammond full stop and two wingers (preferably with one of them who can also play through the middle, like Papa) Pardew has had three months to bring in new players and has had a full pre season and still hasn't been able to address weaknesses and get better performances from his players, the buck stops with him and I can't see much more time elapsing before Cortese loads his gun. Today was a shocking performance especially in front of Markus' family, who you would have thought that they would all have given a committed performance for, to show their appreciation of the great man. To those that say don't worry we are better off than we were last season, no we are not, last season we had a stronger squad and weren't expected to come higher than mid table and therefore not picking up points early doors was not a problem. This season we are 6 and 8 points behind our promotion rivals after two games, yes we have a game in hand, but how many of them did we actually win last season with a stronger squad? We need points and now and although he either doesn't seem to care or doesn't realise it Pardew needs them more than anyone. Lastly, have to say well done to the Northam for the backing that they gave the team today, was non stop for most of the second half. So what if some booing occurred after the game, the team can't complain that they weren't well supported during the game and after the backing that was given, they had every right to boo the teams lack of a response!