Double dutch

Well there I am driving to work this morning, when the travel news kicks in and at the end it doesn't turn off so i can go back to my iPod, so I hear "...and for all Saints fans stay tuned we have big news for you all"



Well usually that means "we've got tickets to give away" but as the season doesn't start until mid August, I stayed tuned. This meant that I heard the announcement that Nigel Pearson was leaving the Saints and that Jan Poortvliet and Mark Wotte had been appointed to bring "total football to St Marys. Poortvliet was a member of the 1978 Dutch world cup final team so at least he knows what total football looks like.

This brings to mind a number of points.

Firstly Nigel Pearson. Nice bloke, strong, tough and hard working. BUT when he took over we were 18th and we finished 20th and very nearly a disastrous 22nd. While he had won over the crowd, that was only because he kept us up and actually he achieved very little.

Secondly, reality check. Since Rupert Lowe and Michael Wilde have been re-appointed as directors (and Chairmen- one of the PLC one of the football club) they have revealed exactly how little cash we have to spend. The fact that last season our wage bill went UP by 30% when the parachute payments had stopped defies belief, especially when we played so poorly for large parts of the season. Not good enough and expensive too! Therefore cuts had to be made and Pearson was clearly not cheap.

The financial stability of the past has been built on a cracking academy and Lowe has made it his top priority that we invest in it to restore it to former glories. Sounds sensible to me.

Loan signings have been a feature of that last three seasons, during which we were nearly relegated twice. While some have been good, the majority weren't good enough for their own clubs and knew that even if we went down, they would still be returning to the parent clubs. Thus can you ever be sure they are giving it their all?

Nigel Pearson wasn't good enough for West Brom, they replaced him with Tony Mowbray (what's he ever achieved?" they probably said at the time) and he played attractive football and got them promoted.

The new managers want to play football the right way, get a complete style throughout the club and use the young players from the academy rather than loan signings.

Sounds rather exciting to me but only time will tell, but if you read the Saints message boards you thing we'd appointed Harold Shipman and Fred West . I can't help thinking that if we appointed Sir Alex some fans wouldn't be happy.

Art for art's sake

Have just found this web-site, which extends well known album covers so that we can see the whole cover as intended by the artist!

Some are great, some are clever, some feature Gary Glitter are very dodgy, but generally they will make you smile. Some have very naughty words, so if you are under 18 ignore this post. (That means you Matt!)

Welcome to my nightmare

As Freddie Mercury once sang "It's finally happened..... I'm going slightly mad"

Today, Pompey won the F A Cup and despite my best efforts, I did get to watch most of it.

I help run a Youth Club for 8-12 year olds and this afternoon we took them swimming between 3pm and 5.30pm. This should have meant that I missed the whole game but as the viewing area was as hot as a sauna and there was a Costa coffee at the pool, that's where I took shelter. This, however, had a big screen TV and guess what they were showing?

From what I saw it was a pretty dull game, the winning goal was a goal keeping howler (but Enckelman the Cardiff keeper has form in that particular area) and now Pompey are in next season's UEFA Cup.

My only hope is that Harry Redknapp, the Pompey manager, wakes up tomorrow, thinks he'll never top this achievement (which he won't) and promptly resigns and Pompey appoint Steve McLaren as his replacement.

All I want for Christmas is a Dulka Prague away kit

...cos I'm not sure you'd want this one!

This what the Saints will be wearing next season. My problem with it? The socks, they are horrible, horrible, horrible! They should be red in my view any way (or black?) but if they have to be white then white is what they should be not red and white hoops.

On related news, now that we are signed up to Umbro, we will be having a new kit every season, so parents better have deep pockets. (who shouted rip off?)

You can see more pictures of "the candy man" here.

The Great Escape

My pulse rate has just returned to normal and the great news is Saints will NOT be playing League One football next season.

It was, however, very tight, and with 23 minutes left we were going down.

The afternoon went :-

1. Sheff Utd score 0-1 (relegation beckons)
2. Saints equalise 1-1 (still relegated Leicester drawing so not good enough)
3. Saints take lead 2-1 (safe)
4. Sheff Utd equalise 2-2 (relegated)
5. (2 mins after 4. above) Saints take lead again 3-2 (safe again!)
6. Final whistle (definitely safe)

There were 21 finger chewing minutes between 5 & 6. Had Sheff Utd scored to make it 3-3 then we would have been relegated, yes it was that close!

Now we need to sort out the ownership of the club and then probably get a new manager. The later because the owners will want their man. I do not want to be threatened with League One football ever again!

Vultan's Theme (attack of the hawk men)

Last night's "Have I got news for You?" (Hignfy) was hosted by Brian Blessed and it was a corker!

He played the whole show as if he was Prince Vultan from the film version of "Flash Gordon", including a very early joke about Gordon Brown's political career not being over which finished with Blessed shouting (and I mean shouting!) "Gordon's alive".

Ian Hislop and Paul Merton, the usual team captains, were completely thrown by his antics and spent the whole show either in hysterics or with a bemused look on their faces.

The whole episode is on the BBC iplayer or you can see out-takes here.

I could be happy

The mighty Word podcast have pulled off a magnificent coup by having Clare Grogan as this weeks guest.

She is great fun and you can hear Dave Hepworth, Mark Ellen and Matt Hall are all enthralled by having her in the studio/pub/office or where ever they record it!

At one point David Hepworth comments on the fact that most men of a certain age have a crush on her, which she knows but still tries to deny.

You (that means you Steve!) can find it here!

The Tommy Steele story is awesome!