angelman

Agree that he is a bit old. Ian Wright is the classic example of being plucked from obscurity. He was playing for Dulwich Hamlet before he signed for Palace. But then he was just under 22.

very sad when this happens.

who runs footie in this country? The PL or FA?

I love the FA Cup. I have mixed views on the Champions League. If one had to go, I think that I would rather the CL go. A shame but the whole ethos of the rich clubs getting even richer isn't quite as enthralling as some non-League club getting a pay day from some big 3rd Round draw which basically enables them to survive. Therefore, it pi**es me off a bit when teams (mainly) in the Premier League take the mickey by fielding very much weakened sides. Therefore wouldn't it be better to give a Champion League spot for the winner of the FA Cup? As the CL is at the moment, it is rather farcical that 4th spot in the PL gets into the preliminary rounds. Is 4th spot any worse than the winners of the Cup? I would love the Cup, the longest running competition in the world (first held in 1871/2) regain it's glory and not be shafted by greedy PL clubs. That a PL team would most likely win it is irrelevant. I know that this has been muted before, but.....

What exactly has NA done that AP didn't?

Well it is a nice pitch. Sir A probably has kittens before the draw in case he has to go to some ground which might injure his squad. And then there is also the fact that his team can continue to pass the ball along the ground in the style they are accustomed to.

What youth players? He had 2 sub 22 in his starting 11, as did we.

maybe when you get to the premier league you lose your sense of humour and take yourself far far too seriously. (Were we like that a few years back?)

Ahh yes!! But even if it was 1 their average age would still be more than ours.

why did he and Blackpool even bother joining the competition? Anyway Holloway is talking bull. He says a great day out for all the youngsters, but the average age of the starting line up was 24.5 for Saints and 26.2 for them (I had to guess Liam Tomsett's age at 18)

£10m is obviously a message to say not bothering to offer peanuts and if you want to buy him then a decent offer has to be made. Why would anyone pay a huge amount on a young kid like this? I see 2 reasons: 1) In case one of your competitors buys him and he does turn out to be good. 2) I think, within the framework of EU law, going to be a bigger and bigger requirement to have English players in your match day squad. The rules now say that the PL has to have 8 home grown players in your 25 squad, and I can see this getting tougher. At the moment howe grown is quite a loose term as Fabrigas counts as home grown cos he's been here from a young age.

So you say Android lied? So let me get this straight. HMRC claimed £17m + £15m = £32m. If debt was £35m, then there is hardly anyone else being owed apart from the tax man. Therefore I am surprised no one, apart from Chin, bought the club.

Dune, if you think you are so good trading, why not go and work for a stockbroker?

I am concerned that I am not allowed to support Saints. Was born in Boscombe, grew up in a BH postcode, moved to France for a few years and then to London and now back to a BH postcode. I feel ashamed to say that I don't support my closest team, and have never ever been to one of their games, even though sitting mid table isn't too bad. Sorry Bashley FC.

I'm asking myself this same question. Eldest is 9 but quite badly disabled. He wouldn't know what is going on but would love the noise of 25,000 people cheering. Next is a 7yo daughter. I have offered to take her, but she isn't interested and prefers to stay tied to her mother's apron strings. I took her to 3 games years back and the opposition put 9 past us while we put 1 past them. Therefore the Mrs isn't asked, not that she wants to go, and that is absolutely fine. But....my youngest is a 4yo boy. I have, having lived half way between Craven Cottage and Stamford Bridge for years before quitting, made sure that he doesn't like any team in blue and only Southampton. Any sport that I watch, whether it be cricket or something else, is accompanies by the question "is that Southampton?" If he doesn't quite get that then I am not sure that he is ready. Maybe another year or two. I went pre FA Cup final as I remember not being allowed to go to it and being taken to Marwell Zoo instead! So that would have made me 4 and a bit. I remember my first game (not sure who against but think that it might have been WBA) - it was 1-1 and I thought that it was brilliant. My father said it wasn't a very good game, and I couldn't quite get what he meant so agreed with him although I thought otherwise.

the board of directors are very professional!!!!! Are they now? I am sure that the board of directors of Bre-X were thought to be very professional at one time, that is until people started falling out of helicopters.

haven't they just found the biggest gold deposits in the world (or one of the biggest) in Ethiopia?

Interesting. Looked into the Mail to see what was what and came up with a story from September 2008 whose headline was "Southampton set to agree £5m transfer deal with Spurs for Saints' starlet Adam Lallana". 2½ years later.....

Who cares whether Brighton like us or dislike us? I guess when you are rivals then you don't usually say anything nice about the other side. Personally I would like them and Bournemouth to join us (hopefully!) in getting promoted.

Ridiculous if Becks get's knighted now. Maybe later but NOT when he is still playing.

dunno - going out with some mates to the local pub. does damn good nosh.

had some "friends" coming round for lunch, who didn't deserve any better. It might have been £7 but still that was too good for them. It was a while back but think that it might have been my brother in law and his wife.

It may be a scam, but do be careful. I was at a Sainsbury's in London when I lived up there. Got all my goods scanned, and while packing noticed that the girl scanned a bottle of wine and then put it on the floor by her feet. I carried on until the end and finished packing up, when I then turned to her and asked, in a loud voice, whether I could have my bottle of plonk. She asked what bottle, so I said the one by her feet. She looked down and was mighty surprised to find it by her feet, and bumbled about saying that she must have put it there while trying to clean something blah blah bah. I left it that as I thought the embarrassment what with a queue at the checkout would be enough but when I got home I was well ****ed off that someone had tried to steal this from me. I wrote to the store saying that I am sure that no one would risk their job for a £5 bottle of booze but that they should be aware. I got a letter back saying that she'd been sacked. One half of me felt bad that she had been sacked over such a small amount of money, but the other side felt that she was fairly treated.

^ exactly. If it isn't a big deal, then these guys should have been paid back months ago.

raining here near Christchurch