theyin

A new way to fund book publishing by the looks of it and an interesting read no doubt to kick it off... http://unbound.co.uk/books/hard-case

I wanted to come back with something that would berate the OP for the utter drivel that he proposed then reminded myself of a line in Charlie Brooker's Guardian column the other day when debating Thatcher. He said... The homages weren't limited to TV screens however. Git-haired One Direction sex minnow Harry Styles hastily tweeted an RIP, prompting many of his fans to wonder aloud just who this "Thatcher" person was, much to the amusement of onlookers not quite smart enough to understand how time works. It's unfair to berate One Direction fans for their Maggie ignorance: for one thing, they're about 10 minutes old. They've only just learned to grasp objects. When I was their age I didn't know who Alec Douglas-Home was. Still don't, come to think of it. I've boldened (no, I didn't think there was such a word) the bit I think relates to this subject. No I thought, this is simply the daydreaming thoughts of someone not around back in the day who knows no better. I was five at the time and as far as I'm aware, it's my earliest memory. It makes the hairs stand on the back of my neck thinking about the absolute joy that summer was, forever reliving that magical moment out in the street using tee shirts as goal posts. When I came round from my own bout of daydreaming I thought hang on a moment, what an utter load of piffle. I remember as a kid how proud I was when I found out Saints appeared in the first FA Cup of the 20th century and then again in 1902 (we lost them both by the way, not that it would seem to have mattered to our younger fans if we'd won) and wondering what those early days of the game were like. So I do object strongly to this notion that all in the past matters not a jot. This is our history, it's something to be proud of, something to look back and wonder how great those times must have been for anyone who experienced them. Whether they be at Wembley itself or on the route of the victory bus that toured the city the next day. The facebook group, Southampton Memories: People and Places has just recently had people posting up pictures of the city tour. You can't fail to wonder how happy out city was that day. So young brethren, don't believe the hype that it's all about the now. Live a little in the past, it has a lot to teach you. As a wise old Greek said, Whoso neglects learning in his youth, loses the past and is dead for the future.

Have faith - he will come good

One thing I have never heard from any supporter of another team is a derogatory remark about our badge. That seems to be the domain of Saints fans themselves. Ironic isn't it? The thing that marks us out most from among everyone else, is the thing that so many fans want rid of. Being into design a bit I've often wondered if it could be done better but its our badge, everyone knows it, so why should it be changed. I've no doubt today's breed of graphic designers could come up with a plethora of designs but I can assure you today's designs will look jaded 10 years down the line. The only way forward is backwards and given back means two red roses over a white one (correct me if I'm wrong, I can't be bothered to get the google image up), though I admire it's simplicity, it would need something quite extraordinary added to it to warrant it being a worthwhile replacement.

No no no The football family will not honor it and shouldn't. She held no love for the game and if she had her way, would have disbanded the professional game. Not everyone attending matches was a hooligan but she banded us all together as troublemakers just like she did the working man in the street who she felt was a Trotskyite threat, so ripped apart industry to destroy the power of the unions whose strength lied in the failures of management. I hated here with all my heart, though strangely couldn't give a toss about partying over her death but am royally ****ed off to the back teeth with peoples short memories of what a terrible spell of leadership she had and its subsequent consequences. Someone else put it very well indeed, "Her legacy is of public division, private selfishness and a cult of greed, which together shackle far more of the human spirit than they ever set free." Anyway, this is a football forum, nothing more to see here, move along.

The most worthy claim to an international call up of all our players methinks

The Greatest Day

Having been off SWF for a little while I wondered what the latest speculation was as to next season's kit. I had to go to page five of the threads to finds this. What the fook is wrong with you people? This thread would have been in the top half of page one since January over the past five seasons or so. Or have you got something more interesting to talk about of late?

Having been off SWF for a little while I wondered what the latest speculation was as to next season's kit. I had to go to page five of the threads to finds this. What the fook is wrong with you people? This thread would have been in the top half of page one since January over the past five seasons or so. Or have you got something more interesting to talk about of late?

This dizziness could be down to positional vertigo. I suffered from it for a few months. Apparently down to fluids in the inner ear crystallizing which can be remedied by the Epley Maneuver. It's more common in those over 40 but it can happen to anyone. I was like a drunk getting out of bed or getting up from horizontal on the sofa and whenever I was moving about quickly until it was remedied. GP wanted to pump anti dizziness tabs but the wife wasn't having any of it. She's into alternative medicine and looked it up. Found the remedy on Youtube and jobs a goodun. Hopefully Art's problem can be sorted just as easily.

I don't get it, how many of the Premiership's twenty clubs do in fact have Premiership quality CB's in your opinion then? What are you basing this threshold on?

I would hate it, really hate it, if we got into Europe next season. Much to do to build on our impending success at staying up this season. No way do we need the headache of playing ACHE Meballsov and a host of other minnows in a jaunt across Europe. Consolidate our position and build for 2014/15 or more likely 15/16 battle at the top for a CL place. OK, you might want to discount that last sentence but I can dream can't I?

If, as Fernandez says, the wages aren't too mad, are there any QPR players, or any from Reading or Villa (my predictions for the drop) that Saints might be looking to pick up this summer?

I'm on the other side of the world so it's not necessarily for my benefit but I would like to see the gaffer offer up his appreciation to the crowd at the end of the match instead of a quick handshake with his managerial counterpart and heading off down the tunnel. He gives it large in interviews that it's the club, the behind the scenes people and the fans he feels gratitude towards, a quick clap around the four ends from the touchline wouldn't be hard surely. Apart from that, I have Chelsea fans contacting me from all over the place saying they'd take him in an instant if the special one wasn't about to make a return. I think NC, for all his faults has come up trumps with this chap.

True

110% improvement over the last match day uncovered. Quite an engaging film, well cut. Lets not over do it now though, we're not going to learn anything new from a match day uncovered for each & every match. End of season round up maybe but there's only so much of this one can take ... ie one good one and that seems to have just been done. Next piece, day in the life of a player on a training day? The club's new found enthusiasm towards social media is most definitely a step in the right direction.

Mildly interesting - if watching the top of men's heads walk up and down a hallway is your kind of thing. Nothing particularly insightful. Could have cut it by 90% and still got the flavour and FFS get rid of that fish eye lens. Still using Sony Z1's by the looks of it. Can't they upgrade to a set of MkIII 5D's or the like?

I have generally found forums featuring anything other than football, well Saints to be honest, to be gentile, considered and pleasant places to discuss the order of the day. On skyscrapercity, MLG has succeeded in bringing the antagonistic nature of this forum to a wider audience (though they're not biting) and made the average Saints fan to look like a complete berk. Nice one. You sound like an angry young kid stomping his feet to get your point across. Give it a rest lad. We've heard you. Now wait until it happens and you can then say I told you so.

5-1 mmw

I point you again towards the Coppers film. Carnage on the streets of Wakefield, Carnage on the streets of Southampton. There is no slow spill of patrons onto the streets, they get fooked at home and continue it on into the evening. Look, yes most will be sensible but their will be those that spoil it for the rest.

Have a spin through this http://youtu.be/Q51j50Jwgf0 and tell me we're a nation of responsible drinkers. I don't see anyone worrying about any CCTV or the mini cams on the side of the coppers helmets. You may be one of many who could responsibly sink a couple of ales during the game but open your eyes fella. It'd be utter carnage. "an irrelevant law", you're delusional mate, there's a significant minority who would totally spoil it for everyone and British teams would soon be banned from Europe just we're on the cusp of gaining entry again. There's enough tanked up t w ats attend games as it is (t w ats being those who can't handle their beer, nothing wrong with sinking 5 pints before the game if you can handle them), why give them them even more ammunition? .... unless As UEFA do at the Euros, you serve up knats p1ss that you'd drown quicker than get drunk.

And man for man, can handle it better than a Brit. I've seen ****ed up winkers of plenty of nationalities, it's just the way we do it enmasse that's gives reason as to why bells should be ringing at this prospect. I've been to Germany plenty of times (I've even watched astounded as women drink from flagons mid morning on the assembly line at an Audi plant ), but I have never seen the magnitude of what goes on in town centres in the UK anywhere else on my travels. There's ****ed up loutishness everywhere, but not the way Brits do it.

I can just imagine the almighty cluster**** that will ensue should this go ahead. Anyone throwing out there that it's done in other countries is delusional. Other countries don't have town centres filled with completely spannered citizens every weekend. Except where Brits are holidaying. I know, I've been one ... at home and abroad ... in my more formative years ... well a few years ago. The majority of course would be responsible but it won't be long before the papers are filled with stories of ... well, need I go on? The Sun and The Mail will be in raptures should this go ahead.

Greavsie on Gazza and alcoholism from The People "These are not the uplifting, heartwarming words you will want to read about stricken Paul Gascoigne. You’ll want to read that a man who is regarded as a national treasure can fight back from the brink to finally win his battle with alcoholism. Those are the sort of words people use when they know nothing about the hideous illness Paul is living with. I spent some time with Paul a year or so ago, when we appeared in a series of theatre shows together. And, as an alcoholic myself, I have to say I was very wary about the idea. But Paul had not had a drink for about a year and the excellent people at The Providence Projects’ rehab centre in Bournemouth were with him, believing that performing on stage would aid him and, as it happened, Paul did his turn and the shows went well. Yet he still seemed fragile. I still believed he was on the edge of a relapse. The problem was that people kept coming backstage and asking him to do this appearance or that after-dinner show and Paul seemed reluctant to say no. In fact, Paul is a prime candidate for alcoholism because he wants to please everybody all the time. He wants to be the centre of attention and, like all of us to some extent, he dearly wants to be loved. People talk glibly about clubbing together and getting him to a rehab centre in Phoenix, Arizona, to help his “recovery”. I’m sure these people are well-meaning and will enjoy being thought well of for trying to help. But people all too often want to help alcoholics at arms length, on their own terms. You cannot help an alcoholic on your own terms. So, if you want a dose of reality, let me give you one. There is no recovery from alcoholism. You can recover from a heart attack. You can cure cancer and mend broken bones. But alcoholism is an incredibly complex mental illness which never leaves you. It doesn’t matter that I’ve not had a drink for 34 years. For me, it’s still about not having one today. You always have to be acutely aware of it. That mental process is like having to screw on a wooden leg every morning. You’d rather not have a wooden leg but without it you know you will fall in a heap. When you are down, when you are lonely, that is when you want a drink the most. And Paul Gascoigne is a very lonely man. That is the heart of the problem. He may return from Arizona having dried out but he still won’t be sober. Probably only an alcoholic can truly appreciate the difference between the two. To learn to live as normal a life as possible with alcoholism, you have to have a supreme bloody-mindedness – and I’m afraid I do not think Paul possesses that. George Best, one of the few British players to rank above Paul in terms of genius, was a good friend of mine. I knew George in our playing days and I also performed a number of theatre tours with him. With no disrespect to Paul, George was a far brighter, sharper man than him. He was a far more together, a more rounded human being – but the drink killed George. After a number of successful theatre appearances, we were due to play a gig in Bristol when I heard that the venue had cancelled because they had heard, correctly, that George was back on the booze. It shocked me because I did not expect George to drink again. It also shook me because I felt that this time it would kill him – and it did. I fear Paul will die if he carries on drinking but it’s not about merely prolonging his life. He needs to find a purpose, a quality of life. I’m afraid I can’t see any light at the end of the tunnel for him. I don’t see the hope. And I don’t detect the necessary bloody-mindedness within him. As a footballer he wasn’t bothered about winning, losing or drawing. He wasn’t bothered about grinding out a 1-0 win. He wanted to entertain. And he still does. He wants to be the life and soul of the party. He enjoys the talking appearances but some people close to Paul think it doesn’t matter if he has a drink as long as he is sober enough to be coherent at the next dinner show, when there’s £5,000 at stake. Paul, as I mentioned, was a genius as a footballer. Others may have achieved much more in the game but Paul was genuinely touched by God. If you are a genius as an artist, a songwriter, an author or an actor, say, nobody tells you at the age of 30 or 35 you can’t do that any more. That the career which brought you wealth, fame and admiration is over and you will have to find something else to do. It leaves a hell of a hole in your life, I can tell you. I don’t know exactly when Paul descended into alcoholism but, for me, a significant factor was the end of my top-flight playing career. There is no tried and tested way of surviving with alcoholism. You have to find your own path. You have to wake up one morning, shaking like a leaf and puking, and realise that you don’t like the world you are living in and that the world doesn’t like you much either. I went to a rehab place in St John’s Wood three or four times and it was all warm slippers and hot baths, pay your bill and head back out into the world again. It was not until I woke up one day in a mental hospital in Essex – in a room of people sitting around farting, shaking and talking to themselves – that I had the reality check I needed. I haven’t had any counselling since but every alcoholic has to take their own path. Nobody can instruct you. Whether it’s going to AA or other counselling. Whether it’s finding God or talking to the trees in your garden, you have to find your own way. I believe Paul was getting the best help possible at The Providence Projects but nothing they could have done would ever have been enough on its own. When I stopped drinking in 1978, I had just separated from my wife because I realised how miserable I was making her and our children, who were young enough to be at home but old enough to be impressionable. The Gascoigne family talks about upcoming documentary 'Surviving Gazza' on This Morning. An unflinching and moving film about football legend Paul Gascoigne's family 2009: Channel 4's documentary "Surviving Gazza" highlighted the turmoil suffered by Gascoigne's family during his troubles I knew I wasn’t a very nice person and I wanted to be better. Luckily for me, my wife and I got back together again soon after and I could gradually get my life back into some sort of order. I was enjoying playing non-league football for Barnet, with no pressure, and I had a job selling knitwear for a friend, again there was no stress and I could work at my own pace. It was not for another three years that I felt ready to go into a full-time career in television. That was my path and, as I write, I haven’t had a drink for more than 34 years. Though I’m bloody-minded enough never to be complacent about it. I’m luckier than Paul. On a football field, Paul could always plot a course through an opposition’s defence with some mazy dribble or piece of magic. In life, sadly, I don’t believe he possesses that same vision." http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/jimmy-greaves-talks-about-paul-gascoigne-1646950

Britain is not only a nation of shopkeepers but also an immigrant nation. From the Romans to the Saxons, Vikings, French of William the Conqueror's reign through to the Huguenots, Jews from every nation where they were persecuted, all manner of other persecuted peoples from all over Europe, Spanish from the Civil War, prisoners of war and allies who stayed behind after WW2. I would love to go into the family history of a hundred of the most ardent racists and show a fair few of them that their ancestors were from overseas.