Guided Missile

I know what you're trying to say, so what I'll do is logoff my VPN and logon via the hotels network, then you can have another look at the IP address....

Didn't think it would take long for a bitter post from an expat...shouldn't be long for Alpine to logon on to tell us how cr&p Saints are and how good Austria is. You must have totally gone native by now offix. Can't wait for your informed view on things in Southampton, not that it counts for sh!t... Our city is built on trade and enterprise....your adopted city, on whores and gambling... Can't wait for the response...along the lines of "Working for the Yankee Dollar", my favourite Skids track: "And all flags and Yankee mags which embroidered all the meaning In an oversight, forgot the fight, which never bore elation Yankee, to war Yankee, head high, Yankee, in call Yankee, we cry. Working for the Yankee Dollar Working for the Yankee Dollar"

Luckily they have air travel from India now, which means I will be able to make the Reading game. You must be thinking of the P & O Steamers into Southampton...they got rid of those a couple of years before they built Ocean Village...

Here I am, in Mumbai, defending the English cricket team versus India and you know what? I feel a pride, a connection, a shared set of values and a common love of a great game, with my Indian hosts. Would I refuse to attend the next England game in India because they are 2:0 down in the series? Would I feel ashamed that they lost to a better side, despite a fighting inninings from Freddie Flintoff? Would I tell my Indian hosts that I have stopped supporting the English cricket team because they are losing and I don't agree with the ECB and their selection policies? Would I f***. The fact that I support my national team, whatever the success or otherwise of the squad, is not questioned by my Indian hosts. All they will say is how exciting the next game will be, how they are looking forward to seeing Pieterson and Flintoff. How they love the game and respect the skill and talent of both sides. Why should it be any different with Saints? The way we are losing at the moment provides no shame to me, when I discuss the club with any other supporter. No true fan questions whether or not I should support the team I love. Fans of other clubs would have no problem with the question of why I continue to support the team that represents the city of my birth. Certainly not my Manchester City supporting mate who well remembers the season in Division One, when he made the trek away to Macclesfield. Simple question, really. Would you stop supporting England, in football, in cricket or in a World War, because they happened to be going through a sticky patch? No true patriot would question the FA, the ECB or the Government of the day, to determine whether they would stand beside their fellow man in support of their "team". Nor would any true Saints fan. In short, get down to St. Mary's, spend your hard earned money, cry COYR for team, city and fellow supporter... ...and get a f***ing grip... Supporter: A person who attends games involving his team, spends money that assists his team, or, failing that, raises the morale of the team or it's supporters that are able to attend games involving their team or spends money that assists their team. Non-Supporter: A person who doesn't attend games involving his team, doesn't spend money that assists his team, or lowers the morale of team or it's supporters able to attend games involving his team or spends money that assists their team.

Companies incur late filing penalties under civil law. Failure to pay a late filing penalty can result in a County Court judgment (or Sheriff Court decree) against the company. Failure to file accounts is a separate, criminal offence which can result in directors themselves being fined on conviction in the criminal courts.

Wilde criticising the way the club is run is like my bank manager complaining about my level of borrowing and the value of my assets. I am reminded of this old post of mine about the biggest bullsh!tter ever to be chairman of a football club, since Michael Knighton. I haven't a clue what Wilde is personally worth, but it seems to have come mainly from bleeding the company he runs. What we are left with is a company, in my opinion, with high gearing, large debts and interest payments of over £500K a year. With the low level of net assets, due, for instance, to the withdrawal of £1.8M in dividends against £1.5M in net profits over the two years, 2003-2004, Merlion seems to be very susceptible to any increase in interest rates and downturn in the property market. How does this affect Saints you may wonder? Well let's imagine Wilde has bled £5M from Merlion over 5 years. He punts a couple of million in Saints shares to satisfy his ego and very poor investment judgement. Interest rates go up a couple of percent, property sales dip and all of a sudden, Merlion can't service the £500K a year in interest to service their debt. The banks look to the shareholders or they will call in the loans and he either has to sell his Saints shares or let Merlion go to the wall. With potential personal guarantees, things are looking grim and the last thing him and people like Patrick Trant, also involved in building, want to do is invest further money in a Championship football club that is going nowhere. I'm not saying this will happen and I am sure Wilde understands the risks of running a company like Merlion plc. I am also sure that I would not like him running Southampton Leisure plc in the way he seems to be running Merlion plc. For that reason, if he wins the EGM, I will be selling my shares PDQ and will certainly not be providing any more money in the form of a rights issue. If I was any of the people that he is throwing stones at, I'd ask him why Merlion Group have failed to submit accounts for 2006, that were due on the 31st October, 2007 and have yet to be filed. It is probably not because the financial performance of the company that forms the basis of his wealth are doing well, is it?

IF you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!' If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, ' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch, if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Sorry, Alpine, you're right. You emigrated because you couldn't hack it here and your wife wanted to be closer to her mother. Now shut up and do the dishes...

He's made me happy by getting Alpine to f*** off to Austria, where he can't pollute the air I breath here in God's country..

Great effort by the lads against 12 men. There is no way this squad will get relegated, if they show the spirit they did in the second half, for the rest of the season. A dramatic football game which I thoroughly enjoyed.

It was a bad deal in 2001, a fact that was confirmed when a base rate linked loan of £1M was negotiated by the club in 2003. The fact is, Lowe has lumbered the club with an expensive loan which will continue to be the driving force behind our rapid descent into administration. There were other ways, in my opinion, to have structured the finance for the new stadium. One way would have been for the club to have leased the stadium from a holding company who owned the ground. Either way, the terms of the loan and the way it has saddled the club with a level of debt that requires the sale of players every year is something that could have been achieved with a far lower cost/risk to the club....

The benefit of the recent Bank of England base rate cut will do little to help Southampton Leisure plc. It must have seemed like a good idea when our club negotiated a 25 year fixed rate interest of 8.35% on the stadium loan, at a cost of £560,000 back in 2001. With a base rate of 3% that seems like a pi££ poor deal now. Luckily the £1,000,000 loan we got in 2003 was borrowed at base rate plus 2% which means the recent rate cuts will save the club £20,000 in interest per year compared to a couple of months ago. Unfortunately, the £500,000 a year potential savings on the stadium loan, if we had negotiated a tracker rate, disappeared in the stroke of Lowe's pen, together with the £560K mortgage fee. Suckers.....

I had the misfortune to talk to someone who is reportedly close to a deal that is supposed to underpin this whole "investment". He tells me he is in line for a £7M commission, which involves a land deal in Wales and a £100M in investment in Southampton Leisure plc. The whole thing is apparently being orchestrated by Jonathan Fulthorpe and the money is "in place". I suppressed my initial response, which was to laugh out loud, but instead, simply asked whether he had the chance to read the newspapers over the last few weeks. I then remembered that this guy was recently involved in a large investment in property in Spain, which has resulted in a number of my gullible friends, who invested in the scheme, at risk of losing hundreds of thousands of euros, due to the Spanish developers recently going bust. This Fulthorpe thing is a crock, in my opinion, but I would love to be proved wrong...

I wasn't thinking of her, TBH. Every time you provide your opinion on yet another Saints performance, you failed to attend, I think of a sad ex-pat tossing themselves off in front of a computer monitor, with a soiled photo of Matt Le Tissier in his left hand. If your wife catches you again, it'll be another week of washing dishes, you mark my words....

I was the one that stopped to phone the Samaritans, half way across...

You don't screw Keira Knightley, but I doubt if that would stop you posting about how good she was in bed, on the basis that you toss yourself off, over a poster of her....

Spot on... I am restraining myself from reporting my opinion on Rapid Vienna's performance at the weekend, despite being in Southampton. I just don't have Alpine's imagination....

Very satisfied with the team's performance, overall. Skacel and Llalana looked very dangerous on the left, for pretty much the whole first half and we should have been leading, given the possession and territorial advantage we enjoyed. Less satisfied about the final score and the walk back over the Itchen bridge to the car. It was f***ing freezing...

Colin, can you get a grip? You sound like a drama queen.

Steve Godwin knows all about ineffectual leadership....

To help you "delve into my slur on the good people of Southampton", Steve, let me quote you this part of my original post: You really do have a problem with misrepresenting what people write and then hijacking their basic argument, don't you, Steve?

With the greatest respect, my father was disabled during the war, whilst serving in the Royal Hampshire Regiment in Italy. This was about the same time that the Mayor of Southampton and many of the ARP wardens under his control deserted their posts, while the town of Southampton burned. You obviously believe that the people that were entrusted with the safety of my fathers' family at home, while he was away fighting the enemy, had every right to run away and hide. I don't.

For those that wondered about the origin of the term, it may help to read this: 1995-1996 F.A. Carling Premier League Manchester City 27,941 1996-1997 Nationwide League Division One Manchester City 26,710 1997-1998 Nationwide League Division One Manchester City 28,197 1997-1998 Nationwide League Division Two Manchester City 28,273 Nationwide League Division One 1999-2000 Manchester City 32,088 Carling Premiership 2000-2001 Manchester City 34.058

Well said....

Obviously. Which makes deserting the club, in it's hour of need, even harder to justify