Halo Stickman

Reading player bitterly regrets FA’s ‘no spitting’ directive.

So fans were booing NA? That's okay then

We don't need to be taking lessons from that lot, especially when it comes to booing our own players

Really pleased for Punch and for Saints at how well he’s playing. Cortese deserves some credit here I think.

Puncheon and Clyne, what a fantastic partnership! Ramirez and Shaw also combined well and it was great to see Shaw displaying his attacking qualities; early days, but, at the moment, he looks destined to become a truly great player

Ways to make real life less sh!t? Now that would be an interesting thread!

Agree, that’s a pretty comprehensive spread of monitoring stations! I know Victorian naval vessels were required to record temperature readings etc every nautical mile and that we obviously have inland records from these times. Nevertheless, I do wonder about the validity of comparing this historical data with that acquired using today’s technology, especially when I see scientists quoting annual global average temperatures to fractions of a degree

Thanks for that Bexy. I’ve got no axe to grind either way regarding climate-change but the question as to how scientists arrive at an annual global average temperature - especially such an apparently accurate one - has intrigued me ever since I noticed some time ago that the daily temperatures given by three different recording stations for Plymouth, namely the Met Office, The Weather Channel and Plymouth University, often differ by up to 3 degrees C. I figured their recording equipment must be situated in different locations around the city, but with localised temperature variations such as these, I thought, how difficult it must be to come up with a definitive annual temperature for even just one location let alone the whole globe. For instance, I once went on holiday to Rhodes where the temperature in Rhodes Town was 84 degrees F but on the same day in Pefkos, a relatively short distance away on the sheltered eastern coast of the island, it was over 105 degrees F. I suppose that as long as we’ve been using the same locations over the years and the records show that the temperatures have been consistently rising then that’s evidence of climate change. But, even with recordings being made continuously in thousands of locations around the Earth, there must be great swathes of the planet still without reading stations. Do we know, for instance, that temperatures in the middle of the Amazon aren’t actually falling? Could it be that the distribution of temperatures around the globe is changing but that the global average temperature is remaining constant? I had assumed that perhaps there was a clever way of recording the planet’s average annual temperature using satellites; however, if this is the case, how then are we able to compare these temperatures with those before satellite technology became available?

I haven’t read all this thread so my apologies if this has already been covered. When scientists say things like ‘the global average surface temperature in 2011 was the ninth warmest since 1880’ how do they actually arrive at a figure for global average surface temperature?

According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on February 2, then spring will come early; if it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and the winter weather will continue for six more weeks

I was at the City Ground in 1977 for Forest 3-3 Saints FA Cup tie when there were so many Saints supporters packed behind the goal at the away end I didn’t see a single goal! A few days later I was at the Dell for Saints 2-1 Nottingham Forest in the replay; probably the best atmosphere I ever experienced at the Dell.

I was celebrating on the coach home from Saints victory over Crystal Palace in the FA Cup semi-final when a pessimistic Saints supporter* momentarily p!ssed on our parade by saying how embarrassing it would be if Man United hammered us in the final; I was there a few weeks later when they didn’t. * He wasn’t anyone on here, was he?

I thought we’d established weeks ago that Dig Dig was taking the p i s s with his original post

This is sad news both for Saints and for Ramirez. For the club to grant him leave of absence before such a crucial game I can only assume the ‘personal reasons’ must be fairly serious so let’s hope things turn out okay for him. Even if he’s back for the match, having one of your key players sat on long haul flights and missing training is no good for anyone, except perhaps the opposition. I suppose it’s one of the drawbacks of signing continental players. If Ramirez is absent on Saturday, I’d like to see Davis given a chance to play as an attacking midfielder in front of Spiderman and Cork

On present evidence, anyone hoping to double our money on Ramirez at the end of season had better start praying some club is daft enough to reemploy Kenny Daglish

How about 'yer da man'?

I suppose ripping off ‘Luuukkkeee’ from the world of golf (previously ‘sung’ by European golf fans in praise of Luke Donald) makes a change from mindlessly copying Liverpool or Man Utd songs.

I think you’re right. Also, Abramovich usually insists on Chelsea attempting to win all the competitions they enter so I can’t see Chelsea fielding a second rate team either

When I was a young teenager, in the early 70s, my match day experience would often begin around 10.30am - sometimes even as early as 9am - when my mates and I would join the queue for the West Stand terraces at the Dell. The gates would open at 1pm except for the bigger games when they opened at 12 mid day. So, we would stand around in all weathers waiting for the match to begin for up to six hours! But, at least, this usually guaranteed us a spot down by the wall near to the dugout which, because we were all on the short side, was pretty essential in order to get a good view of the match. Once we were inside the ground there was usually ‘entertainment’ – I use this word very loosely - of one form or other emanating from the Milton and Archers and sometimes from other areas of the terraces. As more and more people poured through the turnstiles and the crush of the crowd began to resemble sardines in a tin, the bloke on the tannoy would complacently announce ‘would the people in the West Stand move forward, there are still thousands waiting to come in’! There was no chance of getting to the food and drinks bar in the corner of the terraces – thank heavens for the guy selling wagon wheels around the pitch – and, woe betide, if you wanted a p i s s, or even worse, if the guy stood immediately behind you wanted one! On more than one occasion ended up with a shoe-full from someone not taking enough care whilst urinating through his rolled up newspaper on to the terraces. When I used to take my young son to St Mary’s, his match day experience compared to mine at his age were simply worlds apart. To be fair, both these different worlds have their pros and cons. For instance, I definitely think the fact that the terraces were often more-or-less full hours before kick-off in the early 70s allowed time for a much better atmosphere to built up prior to kick-off. However, before I lapse into the common trap of mistaking history for nostalgia, perhaps it’s worth remembering that by the mid to late 80s many football fans had tired of the violence and being treated like cattle in and around the grounds; a fact reflected by falling attendances around many parts of the country during that period. It will be interesting to see whether fans will eventually tire of the more sanitised - albeit, more civilised -atmosphere of present times. With regard to the poster who mentioned the cigar smoke, even to this day, I only need the slightest whiff of a particular brand of cigar smoke to transport me instantaneously back to those days under the West Stand .

We have to leave him out, not just for the sake of the club, but for own his sake. Opposition teams will now target him and further mistakes could seriously harm a potentially promising career. If Boruc isn’t available, I’d sooner see KD recalled for the Liverpool game

I take your point but fear Liverpool will target him. Any more mistakes could do serious harm to his career

I like Gazza’s enthusiasm but he’s been largely responsible for the last 3 goals we’ve conceded; without those we could have been sitting on a run of 4 consecutive wins and clean sheets. Don’t expect to be seeing him in the first team for a while.

The front 6 in particular reminds me of Chris Nichol’s briefly successful 4-2-4 team of the late 80s but with more potential and less chance of losing the better players to ‘bigger’ teams! Exciting times ahead!

Agree. I’ve been amazed at some of the criticism he’s received this season

He clenched his fists, raised his arms in celebration and looked really happy!