Toon Saint

Got away with that. Phew.

Get in! Just went a bit mad in the Uni library!

why didn't Osvaldo take that first time?

I'll help a brother out: http://cricfree.tv/setanta-canada-live-streaming.php Should start working when match kicks off.

Probably best to go to specialist running store Turks and they can analyse your gait. I've had a random problem with my left knee which started occuring a couple of years ago when using the treadmill in the gym (which is quite high impact). Would be absolutely fine most of the time, but on occassion, a day or two after exercise, I would get some pretty bad pain on outside of my knee which made it difficult to even walk on. That could last up to a fortnight or so and pretty much put a stop to any cardio exercise during that time. Was also having a few calf strains and ankle pains on same leg. Anyways, I went to a running shop and turns out out that I have pronation of left foot - just turns inwards when running. That was putting a lot of strain on my left knee (hence the pain), but they recommended some proper shoes designed for my running stance and it has definitely improved the problem. Would recommend going to one if you haven't already...

Drinks at mine beforehand? Gay men and Jewish peeps only.

Quick hop on the metro from Jesmond. Lovely stuff.

Good lad.

I thought Tord Grip was already part of the scouting network albeit in an unofficial capacity - is this actually a new development? Hardly helps us if he is revealing our targets in national newspapers either.

Would prefer to see him as one of the AM three MLG as don't know how good his hold up play will be. Might be redundant if Ramirez can control possession well enough in final third and supply decent through balls to Lee, but we'll see... Surprised Isgrove isn't involved. Injured? Anyone got any info on this McCarthy fella?

Don't mind him getting some game time, but really hope he isn't starting as the lone striker. Bit lightweight IMO.

Quite an interesting blog here that uses sabermetrics to evaluate how various clubs performed in the transfer window. Currently we come out top of the English teams. http://footballisfixed.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/self-harming-sabermetrics.html?m=1

My only regret about this decision is that we never got to beat Sunderland with him in charge. A loathsome man with loathsome views. Despite some considerable acumen as a coach, his man-management style was always going to cause problems. Talking about himself in third-person; banging on his desk while being interviewed when he heard that Wigan had scored last season; berating players in public almost every weekend; and confronting fans at the final whistle (whatever his intentions were), all smacked of self-importance, naivety, and an unwillingness to adapt his approach to a group of players that were surely signed, in part, for their mental characteristics that Di Canio so craved. What a contrast to Poch, who after being praised about Liverpool win, just talked of the players getting the credit and continuing to work hard behind the scenes. Dignity, respect, humility, and quiet confidence - not traits I'd ever associate with Di Canio. To be fair, Sunderland needed to change a lot if they were to escape from the clutches of mediocrity, and Di Canio did achieve his immediate goal of avoiding relegation. But as I said in my predictions thread, a case of too much too soon.

Matt Targett will be involved on Tuesday according to his cousin on twitter. Makes sense if Fox still injured and not wanting to over-exert Shaw. As others have said, would like to see Osvaldo played for 60 mins or so to get among the goals prior to Palace game. My team would be: >>>>>>>Davis Chambers Maya Hooiveld Targett >>>>>Cork Davis >>JWP Ramirez Isgrove >>>>>>Osvaldo Hope to see the likes of Rowe, Sinclair, and Reed get some more minutes as well.

Barnard and Jonno Quick, unfortunately.

We all dream of a team of Schneiderlins, a team of Schneiderlins, a team of Schneiderlins... Yellow Submarine, obv.

What's your point here Gemmel? That your boss earns so much money that he is oblivious to, does not recognise, or does not care about prejudice towards Jewish people? Another foot-in-mouth comment given the nature of the debate. This isn't about anyone being needlessly offended on behalf of Jewish people, it's about having an ethical consideration for how language evolves and how it can be used to discriminate and cause harm. It's also a question of whether non-Jewish Spurs fans should be able to invoke an identity that they have no actual claim to. As we have seen and read, there are obviously a fair amount of THFC fans, Jewish and non-Jewish, that are happy to use the term 'Yid'. Does this equate to the majority of Spurs fans? Does this mean they are ok with opposition fans using it against them? Maybe we should wait until THFC have heard back from all S/T supporters and published their findings before we completely deny the existence of anti-Semitic abuse, or state that its not a problem for any Jewish spurs fans at all (never mind your boss!). I've certainly read enough, and heard enough from radio phone-ins that suggest that there are a number of Spurs fans that object to the use of 'Yid' altogether. Prejudice, whether racism, anti-semitism, sexism, or homophobia, is not something that simply disappears over time - it is kept alive in myriad forms, sometimes flaring up overtly, but often taking more insidious and covert forms (some of the crap posted on here as excellent examples). I personally think it is a more progressive attitude to be alert to that possibility, rather than dismissing it outright as a problem because you have not encountered it first-hand. Those that do the latter - 'they don't want to be rescued' - are surely the ones that are speaking or acting on behalf of Jewish people?

Two out of our three targets were landed in time for pre-season, so I'm not sure you can criticise the club for not taking that process of integrating new players seriously. In an ideal world we would have got Osvaldo in earlier, but market forces dictated otherwise and negotations don't always pan out as the buying club would like them to. To be fair, he was was ony signed after the first game of the season - a game we picked up three points from anyway. He has been available to play since. Don't know how much difference it would have made if he was signed a couple of weeks earlier, probably very marginal over the course of an entire season. Bearing in mind some of the clubs that were scrambling around on deadline day (Arsenal, Man Utd) not sure there is too much justification to be annoyed with the timing of our transfers to be honest!

Fair enough. How do your mates feel about other Spurs fans who aren't Jewish using the term though? Do they see it as something specific to being Jewish or has it morphed into a generalised battle-cry for Spurs fans? I guess while they might be ok using the term to defend themselves and having it volleyed back at them as abuse, is it appropriate that non-Jewish Spurs fans do the same? I think the main thing that I worry about is whether non-Jewish Spurs fans actually understand the historical implications of the term, and also what motivates the opposition to be chanting 'Yid' in the first place. As Chapel End Charlie said above, when local rivals play each other (Spurs v Chelsea for instance) the atmosphere can become quite toxic. Where do you draw the line on what can be said as abuse and what cannot, especially when the intent among opposition fans is often to provoke and insult anyway? Do you allow the use of 'yid' for instance, but forbid the disgusting gas-chamber hissing? They are both varying gradations of anti-semitism but it seems strange to ban one form and claim that the other, however less offensive, can pass as mere football banter.

I explained why I think it is important above - don't worry, it's on this page you won't have to look far! Chapel End Charlie has done the same many times. The point is if you are to keep questioning posters who have already explained their reasoning, then surely the onus is on you to explain why you don't think it is important. But you can't seem to provide more than a flippant question or a sentence on the topic. If I am critical it is because you have done exactly the same to me on another thread. I'd just like to know your actual thoughts on the subject rather than seeing you constantly question others and ignoring the content of their argument(s).

He has explained that and more, so why do you continue with the banal questioning? Either you need to be spoon-fed information or you are just being deliberately obtuse; I suspect the latter. I notice that you never really add an opinion of your own but just pick up on a phrase, ignore the context of the argument, and then turn it back on the poster. All you succeed is doing is bringing the debate back down from a decent intellectual level to that of stultifying ignorance, rehashing an idea that seems to be met with a worrying amount of acceptance on here; what is the importance of people chanting an anti-semitic term at football matches? If you could present a cogent argument why chanting 'Yid' is not important (rather than just questioning posters who have articulated an intelligent, considered, well-reasoned viewpoint,) then I am all ears.

You have nailed this Chapel End Charlie. Not sure why so many others are mis-understanding your points quite so much. I sense some just do it deliberately and use the forum as a vehicle to chuckle about their own prejudices, which is pretty sad really. Some, like on the homophobia thread, believe that if they have never encountered anti-semitic chanting at stadiums it cannot be a problem or it cannot exist. Well sorry guys and gals, but there is a world beyond Southampton Football Club and it isn't always pretty. The debate here is about ownernship over the term 'Yid' and whether Spurs fans, who are comprised of mostly non-Jewish people, have any right to employ a term that has, over time, acquired negative and pejorative connotations. While I do not identify as Jewish myself, I do have some Jewish ancestry, and I'm uneasy with people invoking a term which despite their best intentions, does not actually belong to them. The difference between terms such as the 'N' word and 'queer' is that those terms have been reclaimed by the groups that have suffered actual persecution, and in turn, been used to symbolize a mixture of resistance, pride, togetherness, equality, etc. This is not the same as when Spurs fans use the term 'Yid', and when non-Jewish fans use the term it seems to legitimate a reasoning (as is evidenced on this thread) that 'if they can use it why can't we?'. This rationale seemingly gives license to fans of other clubs to continue with anti-semitic chanting which repeats the cycle of discrimination.

Yes, we are all made differently. But how is suggesting that all gay people have a genetic make up that prevents them from competing in sport at a high level in keeping with that? Personally, I don't know how you can't see that as a dangerous, perhaps even pernicious, statement to make. By doing so you enshrine gay people within a framework which suggests that they will never match up to the normative image of the heterosexual male: physically strong, competitive, aggressive, masculine etc. I haven't lied about anything to 'curry favour' - my views have remained consistent and for me, your theory is rooted in eugenics. It's not a view I subscribe to partly because there are too many terrible historical precedents, partly because I take an anti-essentialist approach to gender and the formation of sexual identity - I.e. selfhood as a historical & culturally specific construct, rather than something that is biologically defined. I think there is a lot more room for the embrace of difference, heterogeneity, and gender fluidity within that post-structural matrix than the biologically grounded model of homosexual genetics that you proposed. That we will never agree on that, I am sure. I would say one last thing: to say that I am 'so wrong' and once again reassert that there is no homophobic problem purely because you have never encountered it during your time as a fan, needlessly closes down debate and refuses to engage with anything but your own insular worldview - I've hardly maintained its a problem peculiar to Southampton football club have I? In that way it's as totalising as the homosexual/elite sportsman heterosexual model of genetics that you have offered previously. I'm done.

You must f^cking detest yourself then.

Ha, have you read any of the previous thread? If I reach the forum's threshold for 'bell-end' status because I've dared to say there is a real problem of homophobia in football and defending myself against a lot of rubbish, then that says more about you than me dear.