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Reply | about last night
at 18:11 2 Mar 2023
I'll probably get slated for saying that I am not a regular at St Mary's and my son was born in Grimsby while we were up in Lincolnshire temporarily . Growing up, he loved Saints when we got promoted, and to when Koeman left. Then he slowly fell out of love with them. You can call him a fair weather supporter if you like.
Anyway, he takes a jokey joy out of saying he was born in Grimsby whose team are so far below us they look like ants and always wanted to see a Grimsby game - he couldn't get to Eastleigh v Grimsby last season. So when we drew them, I treated both boys to a night out.
As I have been driven to total complacency about Saints I quietly hoped Grimsby would do it.
You could tell they were up for it - charging down everything they could, lunging into tackles, throwing bodies at the ball, and trying their absolute hardest.
The fans were well up for it - well you would have to be - I know what the journey is like! You don't do that and sit quietly.
We just sat back and enjoyed their crowd, the noise, the fish - everything. I was even gutted (sorry - fish pun) when we thought we'd equalised. I was willing them on.
Maybe it was love for my boy, or maybe in part this is what being a Saints fan does to you these days. I can imagine how some of you may describe my 'support', but sport won last night, a dream for the minnows (pun intended). We left laughing.
The serious issue though, is that as a Saints fan (honest!) it is a telling time when so much money on the pitch and experience of playing in the premiership, can be beaten by a team that, attitude and effort aside, were far short of being able to score in open play or realistically expecting to beat us. |
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Reply | Saints Sign Championship Striker
at 17:30 25 Jul 2022
I watched the women's world cup a few years ago and thought the pace was off the men's game and it lacked some intensity - except the semi-final England v USA which picked up a few gears.
The only one I've seen in the Euros so far was our quarter final and I was really impressed at how faster and more intense it seemed - ACCORDING TO WHAT I REMEMBERED!.
What was weird was that there was no mass arguments with the ref (they get booked for it), only a little gamesmanship in a couple of incidents, no bitching and - get this - England went a goal behind, made substitutions and tactical changes which worked and we won - the complete opposite to what happens in the men's game (from what I've seen when the men actually meet a decent team).
I hold little hope for the men's world cup later this year - this is my football tournament hope right now.
In the sexist past, people would call footballers 'girls' or 'big girls' blouses' etc, but England v Spain was a lesson to the men's game.
I was much impressed - men's football in this country has got so pressured with the monetary rewards on offer that it has spoilt the sport and the fun of the game and turned it into a 'win at all costs' event where people argue everything, act injured to get free kicks or penalties and partake in dubious tactics to get unfair advantage.
It was a cleaner, fresher, more sporting event in my humble opinion.
But then, I'm not your typical footie fan. |
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Reply | Will Saints Announce New Signing Tonight
at 17:19 25 Jul 2022
They didn't but maybe tonight.
A 19 year old striker from Bordeaux.
I saw an entourage at St Mary's - all speaking French, bouncers/bodyguards, whathaveyou plus a gut with a big camera and a Saints taxi with uniformed drivers. I asked a mate who worked there and they confirmed they were expecting something.
You heard it here first.
Unless I'm grossly mistaken
Which sometimes happens. |
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Reply | Gary Neville
at 12:02 20 Jul 2021
Right at the start let me say racism is deplorable and in fact stupid. We are all of the human race. Also a player doesn't miss a penalty because of his skin colour.
This is rightly an issue that needs addressing but without wishing to defend any politician, I think perhaps they, like many others I have heard from, see a difference between anti-racism and actions in line with BLM.
BLM as a movement wants more than to end racism - and I have yet to meet someone who doesn't want that. However, BLM also want to defund the police and destroy the traditional family unit among other things - apparently all this is right there on their web page. Taking the knee is an action from BLM therefore an action that certain people do not like even if they too are anti-racist.
However, booing someone who stresses a political opinion is a backwards step, so there is that.
I was speaking to a black Nigerian last night who said he was against taking the knee. I know a few other black/coloured people who also dislike it.
I think the thinking is also that maybe many footballers do not realise the deeper/wider political intentions of BLM and are under pressure to kneel. Can you imagine the backlash if someone says 'Although I am fully against racism, I won't kneel due to the wider political inclusions of the BLM movement'? His club would be under pressure not to pick him again, he would be vilified on social media and lose any sponsorship deals - even though he comes out and says he is against racism in the first place.
It doesn't help that we seemed to have lost the ability to sit down and intelligently talk through issues. And to be honest, I have no idea if the PM or Priti Patel are thinking this when they don't denounce booing but then denounce racism - as I said - I'm not here to defend them, or speak for them.
Even thinking about posting here today made me think hard about what the backlash will be just for trying to shed some light on a possible difference in reasoning of being anti-racist but anti-BLM (as political entity). I am hoping that Saints fans can see the subtlety.
So let me clarify - I am against racism. We certainly need to be looking at the whole issue and taking action, it should not still be going on. |
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Reply | Kane and unsporting tactics?
at 14:37 15 Jul 2021
I can't argue with that.
Part of the reason it strikes me so much nowadays is that I have preferred rugby more and more of late. I haven't watched much football but returned to see some of the Euros. I was viewing with fresher eyes.
I guess most of us are of a different era - play the game, play fair, if you win, great, if you lose, OK. The drive for success has driven away that sportsmanship. My character is such that although I appreciate a close decision that goes our way, I do despair at faking. |
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Thread | Kane and unsporting tactics?
at 17:37 13 Jul 2021
OK, I can't deny it - Kane has been a top prem striker for a few years and seems ready to easily overtake Rooney's England goal record.
Also - he had a poor tournament - seemed tired, slow, off the mark, but that is not my reason for posting.
May be I have not been watching as much football as I used to but Kane to me is the epitome of unsporting behaviour in England right now. Not because he is the worst at it (he is not by far) but because he has the skill not to resort to certain tactics and as England captain eyes are on him.
Namely, that trawling lagging foot he leaves behind whenever a defender comes near to try and be contacted and if he is touched - even slightly, that fast drawing up of feet and legs so that he does go down then clutches the same place on his shin as if to say to the ref 'I've been fouled - I demand a free kick'.
Maybe I just don't see it in others, maybe I see it in him more given his high profile in the England team and that defenders always close him down and try a tackle.
My point is - if you are such a good player - beat the defence. Why resort to unsportsmanlike conduct with all the pretense? I get little joy in scoring from a free kick that's been unfairly given due to the attacking player being a soft playactor.
Then there is that other dubious tactic of his: in a club game against Brighton in the season he was 'challenging' for a high ball with Lallana. Lallana went up and Kane bent over and backed into him so that when he came down he would land on Kane and make it look like Kane had been fouled. If that was rugby, he would be off. He does it on numerous occasions. I may have ranted about it here at the time. I am staggered that refs still fall for it or that rules have not been changed to stop this. In the Lallana case I would have booked or sent off Kane and given a free kick to Brighton (someone will tell me I would have breached rules as ref in that instance!)
Saturday night I watched the replay of the 1966 final - I only found it when extra time was starting. You saw harsher tackles than Kane goes down from and players just got up and went on with the game. No tell-tale arms up from the culprit that basically says they knew what they were doing, and no complaints, pretending injury, and rolling around to try and get a free kick. The foul happened, the innocent guy got up and resumed his position and the ref gave a free kick - no histrionics.
It's high time this behaviour was stamped out. Let's see fellas play the game and go down only if they can't stay up. I did see a few times in the final that Sterling seemed to go on further than a tackle - maybe because he could and fancied a chance at scoring. That seemed out of character with recent events.
I was pleased to see the standard of refereeing and that many didn't fall for this acting, unlike the premiership refs.
Hey ho, that's off my chest now. |
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Reply | European Super League
at 17:16 20 Apr 2021
2 sides to the coin with this super league (but I don't like it either way):
On the one side . . .
1. What is to stop a few teams playing each other in their own little competition - maybe the south coast clubs have a little local thing going on in the year - all a bit of fun, squeezed in between other games, maybe even go down the high street and buy a little trophy to hand out - so what? It's just like a pre-season friendly tournament.
If the 'big' clubs want to do that and take it really seriously and get TV money and sponsorship - in one way - so what? {Though it prevents money going elsewhere!}
When you put it like that, and it doesn't interfere with anything else (fixtures, or playing full strength teams in domestic games for example) - no harm, no foul. For Uefa or the Prem league of the FA to ban teams from competitions would seem a legal non-starter on that front.
However . . .
2. Can you see Liverpool playing Mane, Salah, van Dijk in the prem but then buy in other players for the super league - or vice versa? No, the teams we know now will be the teams that play in the super league and they will want to play at home too.
Saying it's a mid week competition among themselves sounds like the scenario I highlighted above, but it won't mix with the Champions League. I can't imagine playing each weekend and playing midweek games in FA, EFL, Champions league and Super League. They have contempt for the EFL as it is and it looks like it will replace their involvement in the Champions League.
They are always moaning about playing too many games (whilst individuals always moan about being rested!?) and by my reckoning, playing in the final will be game number 23 in the super league. That's more games than doing the same for the Champions league (If I haven't missed a round or 2). No, it's bound to replace things.
Even if they stayed in the Prem there will have to be more squad rotation or bigger squads or playing to less than potential (like when English Prem stars play for their country).
The Champions League devalued the Uefa Cup and to some extent the league - the prize is more so a top 4 finish in order to get into the Champions League, whilst star players in other clubs keep trotting out the line 'I want/deserve to play Champions League football' and try to get transferred. What would a super league do to this?
To let the big 6 go and/or ban them from domestic competition would indeed give others a chance, but let's say Saints have a season like we did under Koeman and we win the Premiership. There will always be that line 'but the big 6 weren't in the competition'. That might ease over time but not until we are at a stage where those 6 have long been forgotten and are as distant to the premiership as Barcelona are (i.e. no one has said of Liverpool last year - 'you only won it cos Barca weren't in it' - that would be mad).
I grew up in North Baddesley and the local team who played on the rec could, potentially, possibly, gain promotion after promotion and end up in the top league - and win it (repeat - potentially/possibly). It may not be a realistic dream or ambition but it's technically possible. The super league is a private members club. Fine if you have that from the start, but not as something to switch to after so long where teams that start as, say a Church footie team end up winning the FA Cup and playing in the premier league (rings any bells?).
And where do these clubs get off. Yes, they are historically big and successful clubs (though Man City is only recently so in my 50 year lifetime, but they are just shutting up shop on the rest of us - OK, a few clubs can get access each year, but the rest have basically said 'we are so much better than the rest of you and we want to play on our own because we don't want to get our boots dirty on your pathetic little pitches and sit in your less than 5 star dressing rooms'. It is supreme arrogance in a way. The mighty do not have to shut themselves away from the little people to be mighty - we all respect the greats who have the common touch, who have no airs and graces and don't stand on titles and past deeds. The super league smacks of the opposite. This makes them look like those celebrities who get 15 mins of fame and start acting as if they are super human and better than the rest of us.
Grrr. |
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Reply | European Super League
at 16:43 20 Apr 2021
Last sentence you wrote - absolutely agree. It has been a curious thing for years in my book - and it devalued the Uefa Cup in so-doing.
Do you remember Mourinho at Man Utd publically admitting he didn't care about league results (when a top 4 spot was beyond them) and saying the only thing that mattered to him was winning the Uefa Cup? But that was only to gain qualification to the Champions League. If we we up with a shot of winning the Uefa we would be doing our nut with excitement. To Jose it was a stepping stone - a formality to get through to get where he wanted - such contempt for a once decently respected competition. |
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Reply | The sobering morning after
at 16:36 20 Apr 2021
That's about how I feel Buenos.
After a very promising post lockdown resumption of last season when if you looked at results in that period we were in the top 2 or 3 as I recall, followed by a promising start to this one and tipping the table briefly, it has been a steady decline since.
If it wasn't for the good start we would be in the relegation zone. For so many years we dodged relegation then when we went down I learnt that the world still turned and my heart was still beating. Dire times off the pitch but then looked what happened.
Performances (or is it lack of tactics/effort/heart) since we topped the premiership have reignited an apathy in my like you mention. I have found myself taking a morbid sort of joy in seeing us slip another place down the league, then another. Might be stoned for heresy for admitting it, and I don't actually want to be relegated but there it is.
It's like the England national team - over the years I went from watching every game including friendlies to not bothering with friendlies, then not even bothering with qualifiers as they were played by precious premiership delicates who probably joined the England camp with their chairman having put a flea in their ear about not getting injured. Now I don't even fancy watching group stages. I'll probably get sucked in again with the Euros though - and regret it.
Or maybe I'm just getting old.
When I was in my 20s I kept meeting retired chaps who said they used to like football but couldn't be bothered nowadays as the game had changed so much. What you start with is normal and it all goes downhill from there - especially when things like the super league pop up, but that's for another thread.
Sincerely
A grumpy old so-and-so |
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Reply | Why so few fans?
at 12:47 22 Sep 2020
Have you been living in a cave for 6 months? |
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Reply | So post match...
at 12:46 22 Sep 2020
What worries me is that Ralph is starting to sound like Pelligrino in the post match comments. A rather resigned 'well, what do you expect?'. Pellegrino used to smile sweetly and say something like 'well that happens in football'.
After Brentford the BBC reported him as saying 'this is something we should work on'. Well yes, and you're in charge!
Also after Brentford he said with the team we have it will be very difficult to win games. What - the team he's been building for over 18 months?
Haven't heard the 'Klopp of the Alps tag lately either.
Don't get me wrong, he's a decent bloke, and over a whole season I have confidence that we won't be relegated (but Bournemouth had better confidence!), but we seem to keep having these poor run of games. This forum was full of comments last year about odd positions (midfielder in defence, RB in left midfield) but after being thumped by Leicester it was back to basics and stop trying to be clever. We are again facing a long session of poor results (3 down already) and not even trying to be clever this time.
What happened in the short close season? We ended on a high what feels like 'just the other day' prior to the start of the season yet we've gone back 11 months. |
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Reply | £2m for rest of the season
at 09:25 15 Mar 2018
Welcome Mr Hughes,
Whatever we think, let's be grateful someone has agreed to come in and try to keep us up - at least we do have our head above the water at the moment, not like being in West Brom's current position. In my mind I have had a quiet resignation about the prospect of relegation but now I feel this is a fight we can win (and we are already above the drop line). It's suddenly become exciting again - like many of the 20 or so seasons before we did actually go down. Panicky, but exciting.
I am by no means a tactician, but even I could see a number of things wrong on the pitch under MP. I reckon most of us thought we couldn't do the job any worse simply by saying 'don't stop your advance 10 metres away from the penalty area and passing it about sideways until you get tackled, waiting for the 'ideal' and no-risk pass to a forward stood on the penalty spot, unmarked with the goalie taking a nap'. Then just throw in a suggestion of 'how about a diagonally forward pass to the striker like what you see other clubs do on Match of the Day?'
I reckon Mark Hughes has even better tactics even than that!
On another note - a reported 1 or 2 million bonus to stay up? If I were appointed to a struggling club (highly unlikely) with 8 games to go and one point above relegation, I would assume there was one obvious and loud job description: AVOID RELEGATION. That would be my job. I would not expect to do 8 games and then get a bonus if my work was successful.
I'm not suggestion Hughes held out for that clause - I don't know who included it even if the rumours are true. Am I insane? |
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Reply | Parking Charge - Breach of T&C
at 17:07 14 Mar 2018
It appears they are in breach of the law. I had one once where they cited the Protection of Freedom of Information Act 2012 as proof they had the right to demand I give them the driver's name. According to the Act and to keep in with the Code of conduct for their 'profession' they have to write to the registered keeper between 29 and 56 days. In my case they were a mere 4 days late ha ha ha.
As well as sending off a stern broadside to the people concerned (and heard nothing back), I also wrote to the British Parking Association to complain on this point (and their heavy-handed, threatening manner). The letter you received will probably have their logo on it if they are legit - if not there may be another organisation to complain to. It would seem they are well past their time scale to do anything to you.
The address of the BPA is:
Complaints Department
British Parking Association
Stuart House
41-43 Perrymount Road
Haywards Heath
West Sussex
RH16 3BN
Hope you win! |
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