Guided Missile

Aaron Martin signing a new contract. Danny Butterfield on another year, due to 20 game trigger in current contract. Random gossip from a Sky source - Harry has instructed agents to get £50M for Bale and £25M for Luca Modric. Apparently he can then quit Spurs and take over at Chelsea, complaining that the Spurs chairman (who he doesn't get on with) is selling his best players from under him. Heard all about the total stitch up with Lee Barnard, from a player who was a witness, but I think I'd better leave it there...

For those going, I'll be the one in the tuxedo. Really looking forward to it, despite John Motson being there. We've got a great table and I hope the players are allowed to relax a little more, this season. First one I went to, we sponsored Marek Saganowski. He couldn't wait to leave, to go and have a cigarette break with Skacel. I trust anyone else going will post gossip after the event. Personally, I'm going to get bladdered...

The best way is, rather than convert the dwg file to a pdf, use the print command and select Adobe pdf as the printer. Print preview can provide confirmation of what you will output.

...the horror story that was our relegation season seems to have prepared our former Chairman well for his latest venture. He seems to be intent on carving out a career in the movie business. "Going Wilde" teeshirts have to make way for "Going to Watch a Wildcard Film". I have been lucky enough to watch a trailer of our former Chairman's first foray into moviemaking and those interested can watch it here. Saints fans will, upon careful viewing, recognise many scenes from the boardroom from our last Championship season. I am looking forward to their next productions, which have been announced here. Good luck to the guy. As they say, you can't keep a good man down....

Yet again, I will post this:

I remember

Like you ain't done time, rude boy...

I don't have to read the Daily Mail for information regarding this. Still, due to the overwhelming pro-Cortese lobby on this site, I'll refrain from posting anymore of the information I have recently heard regarding this. I wouldn't want to upset any of you in case you stain your Go-Wilde tee shirts with your tears

I was told last week that it is going to court. Benali will be talking through his lawyers, if at all. I think that if there was damage to his property and there was rent outstanding, it should not have been necessary for a former player to sue the club or Cortese. You would have thought a quick private meeting and agreement regarding the amount owing would have avoided any public spat that could damage the reputation of the club.

Thanks, Clarkie. I think it may be worth reposting the original post, the most sensitive part of which has been published in the Daily Mail. For the benefit of readers and administrators, it is important to note that the claims below are facts that have been reported to a close friend of mine, directly from the person(s) involved. So, it was claimed that: Frannie Benali is suing Cortese for £50K for damage to his house and outstanding rent while Cortese was living there. Cortese charges employees for parking whilst they are at work. The club pays for Cortese's wife's manicures. The Liebherr family aren't interested in Saints and let Cortese do what he wants apart from spend too much money. Whether these claims are true,or not, it should be of concern to all Saints fans, however the team are doing on the pitch. The reason is that although Cortese is undoubtedly an excellent and talented administrator, SFC has always been a family club and one that has maintained great links with former players. That these stories exist is confirmation that there is something wrong about the relationship in some areas and it needs to be addressed. Cortese will only address it if the fans force him to, in my opinion. For Francis Benali to feel like he has to sue over what is simply a matter of money, surely isn't right. Cortese/SFC should have settled the matter privately and not allowed it to become a public issue.

Steve, that's exactly why I started a new thread. Unfortunately the thread was locked and the opportunity to discuss an issue (that of the relationship betweeen some ex-players and the chairman)has been lost. I has nothing to do with libel law and to suggest such is ridiculous. The original post was true and it's removal was an opportunity lost.

...getting arsey with the mods? I saw it the other way round....

Everything in the original post was true and from an impeccable source. It is a shame that this site did not take the opportunity to address a serious rift between ex-players and the chairman, five months before Charlie Sale broke the story in the national press. Still, we are getting away from the subject of this thread and into a different topic, which formed the point of the thread that you locked. Pity that topic can't be debated now due to the perpetual heavy handedness of the moderating on this forum. Talk about stifling debate and if I hadn't contributed anything, I wouldn't complain, but I think a fiver is enough the claim the right of free speech. Jeez, in the rest of the country, it comes at no cost....

As saint clark charmingly suggested, before locking my thread about a different topic: A few may remember a thread started by me, which resulted in an infraction and a banning. To be honest, with my record of carefully checking my facts and never being one to libel anyone, the ban p! $$ed me off. I have searched through the site and cannot find reference to the article below, published in the Daily Mail, on the 1st February, 2011: Former Southampton crowd favourite Francis Benali claims to be taking legal action against the club's executive chairman Nicola Cortese over alleged unpaid bills. Cortese was living in a house Southampton rented from Benali's property company. The former defender said: 'We had to get contract cleaners in and there was also unpaid rent. It's a legal matter now.' Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/art...#ixzz1EOxXXZog On the 26th September, 2010 I posted this on this website, which was hastily removed and for which I was banned for three months: Frannie Benali is suing Cortese for £50K for damage to his house and outstanding rent while Cortese was living there. I would appreciate an apology and a statement that this website has not sacrificed freedom of speech on the altar of Cortese's personal ambitions. I would have thought that this site's administrators would have learnt from Keith Legge and his doomed love affair with Wilde... ...I won't be holding my breath, though and I await the junta's removal of this post and suppression of any future negative posts against the Cortese regime... (I guess Clarkie answered my question, although I would have appreciated a less abusive response to a paying customer and fellow Saints fan)

A few may remember a thread started by me, which resulted in an infraction and a banning. To be honest, with my record of carefully checking my facts and never being one to libel anyone, the ban p! $$ed me off. I have searched through the site and cannot find reference to the article below, published in the Daily Mail, on the 1st February, 2011: Former Southampton crowd favourite Francis Benali claims to be taking legal action against the club's executive chairman Nicola Cortese over alleged unpaid bills. Cortese was living in a house Southampton rented from Benali's property company. The former defender said: 'We had to get contract cleaners in and there was also unpaid rent. It's a legal matter now.' Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-1352310/Charles-Sale-Replays-FA-Cup-revamp.html#ixzz1EOxXXZog On the 26th September, 2010 I posted this on this website, which was hastily removed and for which I was banned for three months: Frannie Benali is suing Cortese for £50K for damage to his house and outstanding rent while Cortese was living there. I would appreciate an apology and a statement that this website has not sacrificed freedom of speech on the altar of Cortese's personal ambitions. I would have thought that this site's administrators would have learnt from Keith Legge and his doomed love affair with Wilde... ...I won't be holding my breath, though and I await the junta's removal of this post and suppression of any future negative posts against the Cortese regime...

Speaking to Meridian Tonight, Marc Jackson was asked what his background is and who was behind his consortium. He told the programme... 'I was trained by Xerox, many many many years ago. I'm a business strategist, many people say I'm a photocopying salesman, which I always find quite amusing.' 'I actually have been in the past,been heavily involved in the fitting out of Southampton football club stadium. Obviously I have an IT background, sales background, but also I have had involvement at Southampton Academy and scouting for many, many years.' 'To give you an instance I was involved in the scouting of Adam Lallana from Bournemouth sadly, to Southampton.' 'I have many, many contacts in football, I have many contacts abroad as well, in American MLS football as well as in Dubai.' 'So it's a mixture of many many things, all put together with a vision for a football club and we are going to drop the blueprint into here, but all will be revealed.' When asked if it was his money he was investing in AFC Bournemouth, Jackson smiled and said... 'It is a consortium' When pushed on who is in the consortium, he added... 'That is, something that really and honestly will never be answered properly and completely, but the truth of the matter is, there will be answers to that to an extent in tomorrow's (Thursday) press conference.'

I think people need to remember that the pitch was bumpy and there was a strong wind, which blew in our faces during the second half. The problem is that you can't tell from TV, nor on the terraces, what the conditions are like on the pitch. For me, it was always going to lead to a number of individual errors, but I can't understand how posters can watch a match like that and not applaud both teams and take the positives from what was a great game of football between two League One clubs. I'm a football fan first and a Southampton fan second. That helps as we don't win every game and often play against teams that provide their own entertainment for me. I could honestly live with another season in League One. Gutted if it happens, but can't say I haven't had my moneys worth at St. Marys...

I don't intend to watch it, but will be posting regularly on the merits of the new series, based on reading other peoples posts about it...

Welcome back, Steve. I am very happy we may be able to resume our little cyber battle of wits. I don't think any posts should be taken as representative of a persons character, nor seriously, but they are good indicators and my experience of being an ex-pat is that it is almost impossible not to indicate how great expat life is to people living in the old country, when very often it is more about self-justification to soften the harsh realities of not being able to watch Saints on a rainy afternoon against Notts County. What expats have to remember is that if it wasn't for the Saints fans streaming into St. Mary's this afternoon and for every other home game, they'd have no club to support. Listen to me, mush (I couldn't force myself to type Word up, bruvver). Respect to the home and away supporters...

Not sure I ever posted that expats are bad people. I lightheartedly placed them in two categories, based on the style of their posts and wasn't far off the mark, I think: I also took offence to an old TT post, but would probably get on great with the guy over a drink, when my American wife and I go the West Coast this year. Just to recap, I am sure many found this post cringeworthy for a guy of bus pass age: hot young b!tch???...guide dogs for the blind??? Class Act...

Just before this thread gets locked, I think it is worth remembering that Alpine posts 10 times a day, every day for the same reason as some people access internet porn. He just can't get access to the real thing... Remember that, guys and show a little sympathy...it's a sad life.

Interesting to see our form against teams in the top half. We are number one by a long way...although 7th against teams in the bottom half of the table???

Leave the salad dodger alone, people. He's homesick and slowly, reluctantly going native... As I posted earlier: 2.Last of the Scummer Whine Usually post in negative terms about anything related to the club, city or the country. In the early stages of going native, so not reached that grumpy charm that Compo has. More the expression that the club, city or country they left behind didn't quite fit their ideals, those that served them so badly when they lived here. Zero entertainment value in their posts at the moment and the only relevance to the fan of today is the possiblity that more impressionable section of our fanbase may detect a slight lowering of their moral, when reading them. I think of Lord Haw Haw when reading the uninformed dirge they post. He was hanged for treason, but I think the penalty for them, when Saints are back in the premiership will be the sight of their gradual decline into a sad exile, never quite belonging to their new country and unable to return to God's country to see their team play...

If I had gone to a Pizza Express or Harvester I would have expected a f*** ing seat, even provided that many families infest those establishments. DOES NO ONE THINK THAT'S A REASONABLE EXPECTATION FOR £57 A TICKET, EVEN IF IT WAS IN THE F*** ING ALI DIA SUITE... Jesus H. Christ...

All I wanted was a seat from where I could eat the food and drink the beer I paid for. I had the wild expectation that this, at the minimum, would be provided for £57 a head. I guess you must think that I should pay a bit more for that luxury...