Sour Mash

My recollection from previous trips to Gillingham many years ago is that it is a pikey s**thole, with few decent pubs. Is this still the case?

No it didn't. Hardly anyone went in fancy dress or any "theme" that day.

No it wasn't sold out. Definitely a fair few empty rows at the back of the upper tier in your end. HTH.

Most women I know are very apathetic towards politics and the election, typical of this generation, they can't see past their last copy of "Hello" magazine.

Agreed, loving this season, but I'd say 89/90, 94/95 and 02/03 were all better seasons.

But Seabourne's headers barely clear our 18 yard box, Jaidi's clear our own half.

Probably going to be on my own on this one, but I don't rate him. Gets a lot of the ball, but his final ball, crosses and set pieces too often don't even beat the first man, he's laazy and doesn't track back and tackle as much as he should and he gives the ball away in dangerous positions.

The problem is the vast majority of football fans are genuinely unaware of their situation and how in effect they have been funding their players. Even most of the more clued up Spurs fans that I know don't really know the background behind it and don't seem that interested.

You still don't get it. I have no doubt that they have many years of struggle to come. However, for a club of Portsmouth's size, ground, resources and support, to have 7 consequtive years in the top-flight, make two FA Cup finals, winning one of them, qualifying for Europe, that is far more than the vast majority of clubs of similar size or even for plenty of bigger and better supported clubs have enjoyed. If you were to offer the majority of teams in the Championship/League One/League Two what the skates have had for the last 7 years in return for languishing in the lower reaches of the football league for lets say the next 10 years, I reckon the vast majority would bite your hand off. We can speculate as to what might happen in the future, but as it currently stands the way I see it is the message that has been sent out is cheat your way to success for years, the worst that will happen when you get caught out is you'll be returned to your rightful place in the lower leagues. The only way I would see them as having not "got away with it" is if their club ceased to exist or ended up non-league etc.

Who got man of the match on Sunday? Ricardo Rocha, who was signed when exactly?

Not really. How many different teams have won the FA Cup in the last 20 years? Not many. How many teams have made two FA Cup finals in 3 years? CHEATS.

Spot on. That's pretty much how I feel about the current state of affairs.

To be honest that's kind of how I see it. I have no intention of supporting the BNP, but I can understand how others in certain areas and situations would support them and I wouldn't simply lump all of those together as "scum".

How many people posting on here live in Newham, Peckham, Oldham, Southall, Bradford, Aston, Hackney,Tottenham, Tower Hamlets, Barking etc etc? The majority (I know not all) posting on here live in nice middle class areas, that only tend to benefit (if they're actually affected at all) by mass immigration (cheap labour -e.g. builders/mini cabs etc or the "exciting" option of eating at a different kind of restaurant when out in London for example). Very different to those who genuinely feel swamped by large communities very differnt from their own, taking over areas that they and their parents had grown up in.

Can't agree with you that I'm afraid. I know plenty of 2nd and even 3rd generation people of Afro-Carribean heritage and while many do see themselves as British and are positive about this country, the vast majority still see themselves as partly Jamaican, Nigerian etc etc and do still see themselves as different (even slightly different) to those that would be classed as "white british".

As with their game against Spurs yesterday, they have very little to lose, most of them have given up on the league and well have a guaranteed good day out at Wembley, the only way it'd turn bad for them was if they were to be 4-0 at half time and completely humiliated, but I said the same before yesterdays game......

I make no bones about the fact that I hate the skates and want them to do as badly as possible. If seeing them cheating their way to an FA Cup final doesn't p**s you off then fair enough, can't say I or any other Saints fans I know share your indiffernce.

Yeah, you're right, most football fans tend to agree that winning at Wembely and getting to an FA Cup Final makes relegation harder to take

Had originally refused to watch it as with their 2008 final, but had my arm twisted and the idea they were going to get hammered. Without a doubt won't be watching anything to do with the final though.

Yeah, yeah, there are 466 pages telling us about how f*****d the skates are and of course I can see the future doesn't look to clever for them, but we can only speculate what may or may not happen to them. There were plenty on here suggesting that they may not have been able to fulfil their cup fixture with us, now look at them, winning at Wembley and in an FA Cup Final with players in effect paid for out of money due to the HMRC. In my eyes they have currently "got away with it", I'm not going to comment on ifs or maybes until they actually come to fruition, however likely they may or may not seem.

How utterly THICK are some of the people on this thread who can't see how the Skates have cheated their way to an FA Cup final. Have the last 4 or 5 months completely passed them by?

Agreed, I thought Bale looks absolute class, Spurs best player and from what I've seen/heard has played like that all year. If he stays fit he'll only get better and better over the next few years.

Despite a couple of bits of luck, with Spurs players slipping at key moments for both goals and a few key referreing decisions going there way, I hate to say it, but I thought they matched Spurs throughout and were the better team for fair sized parts of the game (if you were a Spurs fan you'd be fuming, I know a fair few Spurs who already hated Redknapp). But yesterday just goes to show that those who have said "they're getting away with it" have been right. They have cheated their way to an FA Cup Final, beaten a Spurs side full of expensive internationals. They've been allowed to take whatever the current figure is (£18 million??) of HMRC money and spend it on a half decent forward linel. We can laugh or they want and talk about them being "toast" and continue to speculate as to what may or may not happen to them in the future, but as it currently stands they have just won at Wembley and will be playing in the FA Cup final. They would have most likely have been relegated without the 9 point deduction, so at this point in time they have "got away with it". Compare that to our punishment for going into administration - basically not being in a play off position as our results from this season should have guaranteed.

I'm sure I saw a a fair few rows of empty seats at the back of the upper tier in their end. The rest of your post is spot on though.

I think he might have been joking.