angelman

I posted a response to the article, in a polite and (in my eyes) erudite manner, but in the typical way of the Daily Mail, should you go against the author in such a manner as to show his arguments to be pithy, you won't get published.

I always felt, maybe unfairly, that he got knocked off the ball too easily.

I had the new Focus as a hire car a couple of months ago. Very impressed. I've got a BMW so would tend to go with them rather than Audi or Merc. One of the reasons being that I am not a great fan of FWD, as I absolutely hate torque steer. Having said that, not sure how much you are going to get with smaller engined diesels (and the Focus I had on hire was, I think, a 1.25 petrol). Audi probably better screwed together, but if they are like they used to be, the steering is devoid of any feedback and overly light. OK in town, but not great out and about. Don't know much about the A Class, save for it looks good. BMW diesel probably better than the others, certainly they tend to be punchier.

Players and managers referencing the chairman isn't the chairman doing it, nor are fans singing it. As for the front of the programme, I will confess only to having bought one programme in the past few years (against Villa, as I took my boy for his first game). Didn't Lowe do the same with the programme? Do you expect the Chairman to stay quiet? Maybe he shouldn't turn up to the games either.

My biggest problem with the article is when Samuel says that at Southampton, it is always about Cotrese. Can anyone show me what NC has ever done to further things for himself? To me, he puts the club first, and has always done what he considers best for the club. He may do it in his own style, which others might not agree with, but I really cannot agree that it's all about him. Putting a structure in place that will facilitate his vision for the future of the club is not "always being about" him. A somewhat vindictive article singling out NC, which leads one to think that he has an axe to grind. Journalists should be somewhat more objective.

Hmmm, a rank correlation coefficient of 0.675 is fairly bad really, especially if you discount both Manchester clubs as finishing 1 and 2 (that drops it to 0.556) and take into account that he supposedly knows what he is talking about.

Cortese holding the club to ransom - that bit seems to be true, but unless you were involved in the meetings then there is a lot of conjecture. Having said that, there were no moves from the Reichstag to quash the story, so people are putting 2 and 2 together and getting whatever answer suits their views. They think they are players, these guys. Literally and metaphorically. It is always about Cortese at Southampton - actually this is what I strongly disagree with. To me it is never about Cortese. What has he done at the club which has been in his interests rather than in the interests of the club? With Cortese it is always about Southampton. That he has a style that those "in" football don't like, he gets criticised. There is too much cronyism around, but it doesn't work with Cortese. Samuel then goes on about interviews and basking in any glory of appointing MP. NC gave an interview in Barcelona, but I must have missed the bit where he claims all the success for appointing MP. Cortese’s great talent is for spending another man’s fortune - yet we returned a profit, have a wage bill of 59% of turnover. I am not sure that we have been that profligate, considering how much it has cost to go from admin and near extinction to the Premier League. The Ramirez signing was perhaps a bit of an extravagance, but apart from that..... Does he agitate for a move to a bigger club, as a manager might? Is Southampton just his stepping stone? - well as AC Milan wanted him a year or two ago, then I guess that he might. Samuel is getting rather confused here. He says that NC should act like an employee rather than the de facto owner, so why shouldn't an employee look for a job with a bigger club?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2327233/Nicola-Cortese-Txiki-Begiristain-Ferran-Soriano-seizing-moment-clubs--MARTIN-SAMUEL.html *****y article by Martin Samuel.

People have been slipping up all season, but today seemed particularly bad.

Was watching the game rather than the board.

most expensive game ever been to. Ticket cost me £450. Think it was issued to some FA member in Southend.

Agree that SMS needs wi-fi. As customers who have shelled out a **** load of money to attend, then that is the least one could expect these days. I am with O2 and don't think that I have ever managed to get a data signal, or rather one that allows to check the scores.

woosh

or those last minute draws at Stoke and Wigan!!!!

I really hope Wigan win

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Peter-Coates-Stoke-City-5m-riding-Southampton/story-18979896-detail/story.html This is the same for us. So while some might consider it a worthless game, it is in fact worth a fair bob or two.

Liverpool 7th, Everton 16th? They are just across Stanley Park from each other.

Should have been sacked for that.

Quite sad that B&HA didn't get through. I like the South to be well represented at the top, rather than the concentration of London and the North West clubs. Having said that, Poyet doesn't float my boat, but fair does to him getting them where they are. I did like the radio bit last night where they said how well B&HA had done to progress from where they were to where they had got to. Did they really start off from a vastly different place than we did?

Not sure Souness ever saw Saints as anything else but a stepping stone to something else. Not sure why you would want to appoint a manager who was always looking around for something "bigger and better" that he would be off as soon as possible. Getting a 6-3 win and 3-1 all confused doesn't surprise me.

It was a lot better than Merpati. Recall taking a flight back in 1989 and seeing the jungle down through the side of the fuselage. But I guess the old DC3 (God know's how old that one would have been!!) was quite a strong old bus.

I can't see us losing by at least 13 goals to Stoke. That would be the 11 goals that our GD is better than Villa, + at least one that Wigan would need to beat them by (so at 12 would level things up presuming Wigan one by a single goal), and then our head to head is good.

Agree about Punch. To me he was one of the best players in the 1st half of the season and surprised MP doesn't start with him. Would take Punch over Gaston on this season's performances.

I did Singapore - Bombay - London on Air India about 25 years ago. All well and good until Bombay stop as by the time we got back on board, the air con had packed up and it got a wee bit hot (thankfully it was night time). Two things I recall - they served a good curry (but maybe my pallet was a little unsophisticated in those days) and somewhat more concerning, a near miss (or near-ish). Flying along quite happily (probably over Germany) when the plane increases altitude and banks quite sharply (or noticeably sharply). Looked out the window, and another plane shoots by, probably 1/4 mile away. Amazing to see the closing speed!!

Was taken to Arsenal vs Norwich as I was in college in East Anglia 4th Nov 1989: Arsenal 4-3 Norwich with a 21 man punch up.