ecuk268

Nothing new about SFC falling out with the Echo. Many years ago the Echo reports were so biased that they were ridiculous. After some team thrashed us 0-4 at the Dell, the Echo would start their report "Unlucky Saints...........". There were also occasions when reporters were removed from covering Saints if they wrote things that the club didn't like. SFC can make things very awkward for the Echo if they don't toe the line. You very rarely read anything in the Echo that doesn't originate from the clubs press people. Whether this is due to lazy journalism, I don't know.

What have virtually all of the possible replacement managers suggested got in common? They have failed and been sacked from their previous clubs.

If Lowe left tomorrow who'd take over? Don't forget that we are skint and, for now, Lowe appears to have the confidence of the bank. If he went, it's likely that the bank would call in it's debt and that would mean administration. As for managers, we couldn't afford any of those mentioned. They'd be working with the same very limited squad and shouting and bawling at young kids would destroy any confidence that they might have. JP must be doing something right (away wins at Reading and Barnsley) but the home form is disastrous. I don't know what the answer is but I can't see getting rid of JP (or Lowe) would bring about a miraculous transformation.

If you're really interested on sweets from your childhood, go to http://www.aquarterof.co.uk You'll find lots of oldies there.

Working for a company that sells about 60-70% percent of our product in the EU and also buys a lot of our raw materials from Europe, the fluctuation of the exchange rate makes forward planning difficult. The strength or weakness of the pound against the euro can have a significant effect on how we perform.

Saints shot themselves in the foot here. Just after the FA Cup win in 1976, he club were looking to build a ground and the Council offered them the old Power Station site (Toys R Us) AND help with the finance to build it. However, the Council saw it as a community stadium with joint ownership. Saints turned it down saying that they wanted complete control. I don't think that Lowe should take all the blame for the Stoneham failure. The site was ideal with the links to the motorway, railway and airport. It also included a leisure centre, football pitches, tennis courts etc for community use. apart from the usual group of nimbys the whole thing was very political with the 3 councils involved. If Southampton had been Tory controlled things might have been different, but with HCC you had councillors from faraway places like Aldershot, Hartley Whitney etc voting. What was never really spelt out at the beginning was how it was going to be financed. All that Lowe did was to look at it with his financial eye and realise that it needed some form of retail development to fund it. Eastleigh objected to all this and the whole thing fell apart.

Go to a plumbers merchants. The stuff I used was called D-Block. It's VERY strong stuff (don't inhale the fumes) but it does the the job.

Depends what you enjoy. I've done a bit of both and I much prefer the hands-on "techie" side of things. Didn't really enjoy the things like doing budgets, loads of meetings, pressure from above re timescales etc.

Not particularly relevant to this thread but I gather from the lady who looks after the Saints Mascot that as the teams ran out, all of the Saints lads shook the young lads hand. The Man U players looked straight ahead and completely ignored him apart from a certain W Rooney who broke ranks, shook the lad's hand and wished him good luck. Only a small gesture from Rooney but that lad will probably remember it for the rest of his life.

I'm certainly no Lowe luvvie, but we need to remember that all major decisions at the club are taken by the board. If they weren't a load of yes men they could easily overrule Rupert. At least he has the guts to stand up and take it on the chin unlike his spineless fellow directors.

Sadly the Echo has declined from a slightly dull but readable local newspaper into the tabloid wannabee that it is today. There is very little actual news in it and most of that comes from "easy" sources like press releases from SFC or the city council. Any newspaper worth it's salt would be doorstepping people like councillors, local authority managers (and football club directors) and trying to get some real answers. But that would take effort. Much easier (and more profitable) to fill the paper with adverts and photos of meaningless events (which they hope people will then buy) or asking people to send in their comments by e-mail which can then be printed to use up a bit more space.

Only with us for a season, but a class act with some sublime skills. Unfortunately, Lawrie Mac took a dim view of his off-the-field activities with the ladies and shipped him out.

Ah, Jack Hargreaves, that takes me back. Bit of a daft old git but a very good story teller when talking about fishing and shooting etc. Picked up a lot of his knowledge from other people but had a talent for re-telling it. The real expert on these matters was Major Ollie Kite who had a programme on Southern ITV called "Kite's Country" in the 60's. Expert fly fisherman who wrote many books on the subject which are still on sale now. Sadly died from a heart attack in his mid 50's. I believe he was sat on a river bank fishing at the time so it was probably how he would have like to have gone.

Don't forget Hampshire demolishing Notts and finishing 3rd in the County Championship. Not bad after their very dodgy start to the season.

One of my all-time favourite films. Didn't realise he was 83. Superb actor

One thing you can be certain of with El Tel, he'll be pocketing large amounts of cash.

I been using Googles Chrome for a few weeks. Definitley quicker than Firefox or IE. Worth a try.

I've been using the road twice a day for years, although I go from home in Shirley to work in Hythe so I avoid the worst of the jams. The problem as I see it is not the road but a minority of the bikers. Some of them go at such high speed when compared with the rest of the traffic that it's not surprising that they come to grief. It only needs one of the heavy trucks to wander slightly towards the middle of the road as they are being overtaken and these guys would get swatted into the undergrowth. I keep a eye on the mirror and move over for bikes but some of them come up behind you so quickly that often, you don't have time to react.

I thought it was pathetic. The level of "bullying" was less than we used to get when I was at school in the 60's. There were many teachers who wouldn't think twice about giving you a whack around the ear. Not allowed now unfortunately.

I caught a bit of Soccer Saturday. Apparently, MLT had criticised Heskey's inclusion in the England squad and someone rang in saying that Heskey was brilliant and better than a certain fat , lazy midfielder who spent all games strolling around the pitch and taking pot-shots from 30 yards. Matt came back with "and happened to score a goal every other game". Beat that Mr Heskey.

I go from Winchester Road to Hardley and it's usually no problem apart from, since they ruined Millbrook Roundabout, I have to go through about 17 sets of traffic lights altogether.

Same here especially the top end.

Spot on matey. very few clubs will hang on to a player against his will. The player will probably go into sulk which creates a bad atmosphere amongst the rest of the squad. All players have their price. If it's high enough, they'll be on their way.

Although I was only a very young boy, I saw the last few games of Derek Reeves time at The Dell. Still holds the record I think for goals in one season, 44 in 1959-60.

I'm a fan of radio-controlled watches as they keep perfect time and never need adjusting. I also have much-treasured 30-year old Omega clockwork job which I have regularly serviced and is as good as new. My friendly local watch repairer hates radio-controlled watches and refuses to touch them. Working for a chemical company, there are certain areas on our plant where we cannot take anything that has a battery (watches, phones etc) due to risk of sparks so we are always on the lookout for reliable clockwork watches.