knellster

The fire alarm sounded at 11 at our office, and I was pleasantly surprised to hear a fairly young guy tell someone to shut up and show some respect. Pretty much everyone is wearing a poppy too.

Sorry brightspark but you're wrong. It doesn't matter where the ball is (as long as it's still in play) if someone is stupid enough to lamp an opponent in his own penalty area it's a penalty. It's frustrating that the assistant didn't see the first offence 'cos P****y would have finished with ten men and probably lost, but I'm afraid the ref wasn't wrong.

For about 4 years I used to work in Manchester while living on the South coast, so I flew up and back every week, stayed in the Holiday Inn and hired a car all at my employer's expense. It gave me enough air miles for a first class return to San Francisco for my wife and me, business class returns to Tokyo and free nights in the Holiday Inn at Tokyo Airport for the duration of the 2002 world cup. It was great while it lasted, but I now have a job that just pays me every month, with the huge added perk of being home every night and having a family life.

Sadly for the fans who decided to boycott the match, they had the same problem as anybody who decides to boycott a Man U or Liverpool match over here - there were thousands of others who were more than happy to pay the £20 to watch what is their biggest game of the season, so the game was still sold out anyway. Also Dortmund beat Schalke for the first time in years, so most of their fans would have been happy to pay much more than that to beat their main rivals in their own stadium. A more effective course of action is possibly what Man U fans did at Fulham a couple of years ago when they were charged about £40 a ticket - don't buy programmes / food / beer etc which cost Fulham a lot of money but they still got to see the game.

Since marrying a German I have been introduced to Schalke 04. After getting over the initial problem of supporting a team playing in royal blue shirts and white shorts we try to see them at least once at home and once away every season, and have seen some great games (esp winning at Bayern in their new stadium). However, I'd still always want Saints to beat them (but they wouldn't).

Anothersaintinsouthsea - We already have laws that prevent people from wearing what they like. It's illegal to wear nothing in public and it's illegal to wear a t-shirt with a slogan inciting religious or racist hatred. Do you really think that everybody should have the right to do either of those? As far as finding it offensive goes then I'm afraid we'll just have to differ. I think that it oppresses women and I find that offensive. BTF - Sorry but no I don't get your drift. I suggested that certain traditions from other countries are illegal here because they conflict with the way we live in the UK. How do any of the items in your list conflict with the way we live in the UK?

I'm perfectly well aware of that! The suggestion was that we shouldn't pass a law that would prevent someone doing what is the tradition in their country. I'm merely playing devil's advocate and asking where we should draw the line if we accept that line of thinking.

Many businesses (my employer included) will already not admit anyone to their premises wearing a crash helmet, and personally I would also be quite happy to see youths prevented by law from roaming the streets wearing hoodies and covering their faces with scarves. Also, if we do allow women to wear the burkha in the UK on the basis that it's tradition then should we also allow people from France to drive on the right when using our roads? Or should people have to accept that some customs or laws from other countries simply to not fit in with the way we live here and people from those countries should adapt accordingly?

I was in Canada at the weekend where they had John Collins and Jason de Vos. They were ok to be fair, but they had to share the studio with a presenter who seemed more interested in the poll to decide on the best ever goal celebration rather than the current game. As an aside, it was fun having to explain to the Canadians where Algeria and Slovenia are 'cos most of them had never even heard of the places.

Why does the BBC need either of them? On top of the commentators they've already got Lineker, Hansen, Shearer and Lawrenson. How many people do they need to talk sh1t during half time? Also, if they've got reporters in the cities where the games are being played then why does the studio need to be in South Africa? It's quite clearly just a beano that we as licence fee payers are footing the bill for as always.

Well clearly it still means a lot to the Germans. On Saturday their football team won their last World Cup warm up match 3-0 against Hungary, and on Sunday the President resigned, but the main story in all the tv news programmes is Eurovision and the fact that over 40,000 people were at Hannover airport to greet the girl that won it.

I'm only going if England get to the final so I guess the answer to the OP is no. However, went to Durban last time England played there and had a fantastic time. The locals were friendly and we didn't feel at all threatened by anyone. We also drove to Pietermaritzburg and Rorke's Drift, and again felt completely safe. Maybe we were just lucky, and maybe the local thugs didn't expect too many fans to come that time so weren't looking for easy victims. I do have a fear that things will be different this time though.

It would be interesting to know whether Capello bothers practising corners or free kicks for the same reason. If we're a goal down in injury time and get a free kick on the edge of the box there's almost as much pressure on the player taking it as there would be in a penalty shoot out. Becks clearly thought that practising them was worthwhile and we saw the results against Greece at OT. Sadly, of far more interest to me in this thread has been the almost constant correct use of "practise" rather than "practice". I know it's sad that I should be so bothered about it but thanks to all the posters for making a sad old grammar anorak happy.

I am guessing that it may be to dissuade clubs from ignoring HMRC in future. They may well know that they have no chance of winning a court case, but they also know that it will cost Poopey a big points penalty if they appeal late enough to prevent a CVA as they did with Leeds. That's a hell of an incentive for the next club in admin to pay the taxman off.

I have to confess that I don't know all the facts and I have never been in the services, but the thing that confuses me is that her claim was for sexual and racial discrimination. Surely to have won such a case she must have been able to prove that the army would have accepted a white person or a man being late on parade to look after a child. From the little I know and from what I have read here that is clearly b0ll0cks, so how did she win?

I was looking from the side rather than from behind the goal, and nobody will convince me that Fonte didn't dive. I thought it was embarrassing to the extent that I really couldn't celebrate the goal. However, in some cases I feel refs bring the problem of diving on themselves. How many times have we heard commentators say "if he had gone down then the referee would have had a decision to make"? In other words they know (and we have all seen) that the ref won't give a penalty if the player stays on his feet, so is it any wonder that they don't even try to?

A mate who has no feelings for or against Saints played the BBC Predictor. He's a bit of an anorak so has a pretty good idea of the teams in our league. I don't know all the details but he had us two points short of the play offs with Hartlepool at home to come ('cos it still had to be rearranged so wasn't included for some reason). Could be an interesting end of season.

Thanks for posting the link - I didn't realise but I've been to all of them since 74. The 76 game was good 'cos it pretty much relegated them and we'd just reached the cup final. The 84 game is still my all time favourite and even 25 years on I still get a thrill seeing Steve Moran's goal. I have to confess that when I was younger and couldn't afford to watch Saints away I also went to Nottarf Krap. I even sold programmes there 'cos it meant that I didn't have to pay to get in. Haven't been there for years now except when we played there.

They all have little or no knowledge of the laws of the game that they earn a great deal of money from - Alan Hansen claimed that accidental handball on the line should be a red card, and Gordon Strachan showed an amazing ignorance of the offside law during Euro 2008. They are also too scared to say anything even remotely controversial in case they offend someone who then refuses to be interviewed. Football could do with someone like the rugby pundit Brian Moore who may be a bit opinionated (but isn't that what he's there for?) but tells it as he sees it. I remember him talking about a player being upset at being subbed - "I don't know why he's surprised 'cos he played crap". That's what I want to hear from a pundit rather than the usual bland "He'll be disappointed with that".

It would also be nice if Morgan would stop lying on the floor pretending to be injured. He did it at Swindon until the ball came to him when he descided to get up, he did it at Colchester and he did it again last night. I don't care if he's French - that's not how we behave here and it means we're playing a man short 'cos he's p1ssing about.

For those that are driving please don't be tempted to park on the pavement near the ground. There's a road going up the hill near The Pea**** pub that always has cars parked on the very wide pavement which makes people think it's ok, but when you come out after the game you'll see tickets on all of them. Also, unless it's changed since I was living up there The Pea**** pub is strictly home supporters only and the bouncers check match tickets to stop away fans getting in.

I know it looked weird but was it actually a foul throw? The guy released it from behind his head and one hand wasn't behind the ball (or it wouldn't have slipped through his hands) so it was probably ok anyway. There's nothing in the laws that says the player has to look stylish. Either way the ref got it wrong though.

That was my first away game too, although I only lived about three miles from Nottarf Krap. I had a new red and white scarf for Christmas and was too young to realise that wearing it under the South Stand wasn't a good idea, although there were a few Saints kids in that area.

Sadly I live too far away from St Mary's to go every week now, but I did manage every game (home and away) in the 84/85 season. I was quite chuffed at the time until I met a few of the London Saints who had been doing it for years, and in at least one case have done it ever since. Good luck to you though - at least you'll be able to say you did it once.

For those going to Sedgefield, you can get cheap admission if you shop at Tesco's. It'll only save a couple of quid, but, as they say, every little helps. http://www.sedgefield-racecourse.co.uk/general-info/tesco-clubcard.php See you there!