revolution saint

This is great news - Bournemouth get their cup final early and decline from there.

It's a tradition that's stretched back as far as ooh the 90's......that's not a tradition and complaining about it isn't colonialist at all. It's very very annoying. I'll go a step further as well - it seems clear to me that the people blowing those horns don't actually understand football. They just want to make a noise. I'm all for atmosphere at football but Vuvuzelas are actually drowning that out - they're pointless and should be banned.

I'd turn this on it's head and argue what Maggie did right? Crushed the unions? Well probably neutered them and you could argue that was a good thing but the vendetta against the miners turned us into a shameful police state. What she failed to do was tackle the poor management of nationalised industries and instead privatised them. She promised us cheaper prices and better services but we got neither. The beneficiaries of privatisation got rich while we subsidised them. Privatisation also helped destroy our appenticeship system. Privatisation increased the gap between rich and poor. She let people buy their own council houses but refused to let local authorities use the money received to build affordable houses. This helped create an artificial boom in the housing market as supply diminished. Before the Falklands war she was the most unpopular prime minister in modern times - she was toast. She won an election on the back of patriotism and she was shrewd in that. She got lucky the next term in that she rode the wave of a global economic upsurge. Maggie wasn't great she was lucky. She found the country in a mess, left the country in a mess and made her mates richer inbetween. She was a poster girl for the right but her debating skills were zero and her slogans laughable - "you turn if you want to, the lady's not for turning" could have been written on the back of a chardonnay soaked beermat.

I've got to agree. This anti ginger agenda is positively sickening. I'm not ginger but my neice and nephew are and they're great kids if slightly annoying. The thing is though is that it's not their fault - it's a genetic lottery. I could quite easily have been ginger myself (thank god I'm bald) but there by the grace of god go I. Anyway this is about signing Bailey and if he's a good enough player and we can afford the sun screen lotion then why not?

We should call in Brazil's debt to us and play their national side. Personally I believe it's only fair that they give us Kaka as well - they can have Wotton. That's fair.

I got germany at work. Two quid entry winner gets £26, 2nd gets £18, 3rd gets £10 and team that concedes the most gets £8. I'm happy with this. Sweepstake should just be for fun - if I wanted to win a lot then I'd put a bet on.

I predict we'll find out this morning.

Anyone just see this? Schumacher taking out Battison in '82 was nowhere to be seen and instead we got Ronaldo winking. Annoying yes, shocking? No.

I agree and surely anyone with a brain cell wants them banned? I'm all for atmosphere, chanting etc hell even chuck in a little crowd trouble if the game is boring but those horns are just noise for the sake of it. I'd rather not advocate violence but if any supporters want to invade the S.African contingent and shove those horns up their arses then they'd get my vote.

I agree. The plan doesn't need to be set in stone and should be open to change. On a personal note I'd also want players like self styled "Guvnor" Paul Ince named and shamed for not having the bottle for stepping up. Actually, I have a bit of respect for players who realise they can't do it when it matters - I just don't like Ince.

Has any TV company found a way of filtering them out? I'm worried they'll ruin the world cup.

To add another thing into the mix Johann Cruyff used to say that it was the fittest players that were generally successful. If you've played the full 120 minutes then it stands to reason that you'll be extremely fatigued and more prone to mistakes. I think it makes sense to practise penalties but I also want the manager to be firm in choosing who will take them and in what order. None of this last minute "who looks up for it rubbish". The players should know well before the shootout or the match if they'll be needed and that might focus them in training. You could also have some fun and create a good team atmosphere by having a penalty shootout at the end of every training session. There's lots we could do but to neglect it is stupid - it's the primary reason we've gone out of recent tournaments.

Can't be bothered to look through the entire thread but as I understand he needs a work permit. There's no chance he'll get one so it won't happen.

Get in! Good on you Brett!

Except of course you admitted that Keane didn't rate him? Fact is he was at the end of his contract and on loan at Reading. They didn't sign him when they had the chance. Personally I'd take a better player, in better form in the first team even if it meant a player sulking as you put it in the reserves. I don't think that'll happen though. Harding isn't Bridge, Bale, Dennis, or even Micky Adams but he is good. I wouldn't say he was the best we could get though. if we're going to win the league then we're going to have to be the best we can be and if that means putting players under pressure then so be it.

Admin man you're suggesting that I said harding wants out - I said nothing of the sort. Actually i was suggesting that there might be a reason why managers want him out. You've done a quick google at his career and forgotten that he was on loan at Southend and Reading. Reading could easily have signed him if they wanted and they didn't which begs the question why? I don't know and wouldn't even speculate but if we sign a potentially better player then what's the problem? I'll draw a similar ill informed question though - what leads you to believe any of our players would sulk?

This isn't lets get a LB and forget about RB. Injuries and loss of form happen - it's a long season and as I said I think they'll both play in the same team a few times. Also remember that Harding doesn't tend to stay at clubs too often - there's probably a reason for that. Maybe he'll have one good season and then relax? Who knows? I fail to see that signing another good young player can be bad.

Good move. It'll be healthy competition and I don't expect Harding will leave. They can fight it out for the 1st choice LB position and provide cover for LM and RB respectively - I bet they play in the same team on quite a few occasions. Based on his showing at SMS Dickson was one of the few opposition players to stand out for me. Mills could do with going out on loan and getting some games - if he went to Brentford then it would be ideal.

Germinal is superb and one of my favourite novels. I gave up on the debacle but the earth is OK. By all accounts Nana is worth a try.

Thoroughly sick of the commentators attitude towards Pompey. They're not plucky underdogs or gallant or even passionate. They're crooks, liars and cheats.

Couple of potentially good fights today. I'm more interested in the Mitchell fight and think that could be a cracker. The Khan one will be more intriguing - it may throw up some areas of concern for Khan or it could confirm that his power is immense. Cotto couldn't stop "the magic man" and Hatton shouldn't have. Thoughts?

OK, none of you can substantiate any claims that the daily Echo did anything other than report back what was already in the public arena and none of you can back up any claim of a vendetta against Cortese. In that absence I've got to conclude you're all just plain wrong. By all means have a pop at the media in general if you must but don't single the Echo out and then lack the intelligence to back that up. Ultimately you're just annoyed that unsettling stories have come out of St Mary's and who is to blame for that? Not the Echo. Maybe whoever briefed radio Solent? Maybe the fact that we still don't know why the programmes were pulled? Or maybe because NC has taken his time before coming out with a statement that attacks a lot of people and actually doesn't answer many questions other than it appears AP and NC have a lot of fun together.

Any other media outlets other than Radio Solent, Daily Mail and the Telegraph? Probably not. The echo reported that and then garnered opinion from people who are rightly or wrongly regarded as legends. Nothing wrong with that - in fact they reflected the opinion of most people here. Still nothing wrong so far. NC in his statement did criticise those opinions and all he had to do to avoid it was to deny the rumours in the first place - he choose not to. That's his perogative but the consequence of that is that those rumours will persist and grow. If he had an adult relationship with the echo (or any other media) then maybe he could have avoided it. As for the criticsim of pinnacle - who's arguing about that - was it the echo's fault? No, so why bring it into the discussion? Keep this on track and argue the point and that is the echo have done nothing that any other media have done.

At what point did NC NOT hit out at Saints legends?

I agree but NC has withdrawn co=operation with them so how are they to get that insight? I'll repeat that they haven't done anything wrong and could have been really nasty - they haven't. If NC was clever about this he'd realise it but in this case he's been stupid.