Wednesday 29th July 2009

Whatever happened to loyalty in football? Gone are the days when players would ply their trade at the same club no matter the circumstances surrounding the club.
With Saint's relegation to League One, all the big names, with the exception of Kelvin Davis and Adam Lallana, seem to to be queuing at the door to leave. Stern John today turned down a very generous offer to stay at St Marys and will look to move to a Championship club, most likely Crystal Palace, on a free transfer. In addition to this, Polish duo Marek Saganowski and Gregorz Rasiak are expected to move on within the next few weeks and it seems such a shame that the three outfield players most adored by the fans are willing to pack their bags and move to a club in a higher division without giving a moment's thought.
Of course, its all about money now and I'm pretty sure 99% of all professional footballers would rather have the big fat pay packet than be classed as a club legend by thousands of fans. Premiership footballers such as Ashley Cole are the worse offenders, but they've set the standards for others in the lower divisions.
Another sad state of affairs from a Saints perspective is the news today that ex 'keeper Antti Niemi is in talks to come out of retirement to play for Portsmouth. The former Finland number one is regarded by many Southampton fans as the best goalkeeper to play for the club in the Premiership era and it will be a side sight to see Niemi line up for our bitter rivals. However it does make me laugh that despite this apparently revolutionary takeover at Pompey, they still have to bring a 37 year old injury plagued 'keeper way past his best out of retirement. It doesn't look like we'll be seeing the likes of Iker Casilla or Gianluigi Buffon between the sticks at Fratton Park any time soon!
On the subject of player loyalty to their club, Matt Le Tissier's highly anticipated autobiography is scheduled to be released on August 20th. It will be a must read for every Saints fan.
More updates coming soon as we prepare for the new football season, including my reflections on our trip to Loftus Road on Saturday to watch Southampton take on Queens Park Rangers in a friendly.

Saturday 25th July 2009

This afternoon, for the first time since April 13th, Southampton FC won a game of football, albeit in a friendly against a very average Hearts side. Having just got back from the 3-0 win at St Marys, I was pleased with the result and the performance to go with it.
Goals from Adam Lallana and two from substitute Gregorz Rasiak ensured Saints won their first game under new manager Alan Pardew and hopefully the winning mentality can continue into the new season. The results in pre season are usually relatively unimportant, but after losing 5-4 to non league Salisbury on Tuesday and 4-1 to Ajax last Saturday, three goals and a clean sheet will have boosted the team's confidence, two weeks before kicking off the League One season at home to Millwall.
Triallist Greame Murty looked solid at right back, new signing Dan Harding played well at left back and it was great to see striker Stern John back in a Saints shirt after spending most of last season on loan at Bristol City. A few first team players may leave before the season starts, but I'm confident that adequate replacements will be brought in, with Saint facing the challenge of starting the campaign on minus ten points.
After a disappointing pre season results wise, I think the difference today was the presence of Pardew on the touchline and hopefully he can drive the team forward throughout the season.

Monday 20th July 2009

Now that I have the Internet at my new house it looks like I have no excuse to not update regularly, so after a long time away, here goes..

For the first time in years the dark cloud above St Marys has been lifted and Saints fans can finally be optimistic for the future. After coming within a whisker of going out of business, Swiss billionaire Marcus Liebherr bought Southampton FC a couple of weeks ago, making them the fourth richest club in the country behind Man City, QPR and Chelsea.
As a Saints fan I can tell you that it feels great to be supporting a club that isn't threatened with financial difficulties and ran by people who appear to put the fans first. It might take a few seasons to get back into the Premiership and I'm not expecting any huge multi million pound signings for a while yet, but its good to know the new owners have a long term plan for Southampton.
Saturdays friendly against Ajax at St Marys was a celebration that the club had survived administration and despite the fact the team were clearly outplayed by much superior opposition, as the 4-1 scoreline reflects, there's a sense of relief there is still a club here to support.
Aside from the takeover being completed successfully, perhaps the key moment of the summer for Saints will prove to be signing captain Kelvin Davis to a new three year contract. Davis was in great form against Ajax on Saturday, keeping the score fairly respectable like he did on so many occasions last season. A few fans in the Northam sang his name non stop in the second half when he took his place in goal behind he stand and I would like to think the plaudits he's received from the fans has played a key part in keeping him at St Marys.
Graeme Murty is on trial at Saints and I would love to see the former Reading captain tied down to a full time contract. Murty spent 11 years at Reading and is being rewarded for his commitment with a testimonial at the Madejski stadium tonight. Saints could really do with his experience at right back.
Only time will tell if Alan Pardew will be a success at Southampton, but his record at third tier level with Reading speaks for itself, as he took them to a play off final in 2001, then the following season achieved automatic promotion. His presence in the stands at St Marys on Saturday went down well with the fans and the majority of us have faith in him.

Apologies about the lack of political content in this post, but with summer recess starting in Westminster tomorrow I don't expect much news from Parliament for a while. In the mean time, I'll be focusing on Saints as they complete their remaining pre season friendlies before kicking off League One against Millwall on August 8th.

Thursday 2nd July 2009

Sorry about the lack of updates recently, I was working all last week and this week has been very chaotic with moving into the new house. We haven't yet got Internet sorted in the new house (I'm sitting here in the Solent uni computer room), so I'm afraid I might not be able to update for a while. In the mean time, here's a piece a wrote back in December on the subject of Prime Minister's Questions for a Reporting Government assignment. Enjoy!


Its 11:55am on a Wednesday and the majority of Westminster is getting ready for the biggest media event of the week; Prime Minister’s Questions. The news channels are preparing for half an hour of intense debate, millions of people tune into The Daily Politics just for this constitutional occasion and as soon as Andrew Neil says “and now over to The House of Commons” we can expect fireworks.
Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) has been used to hold the Government to account since being permanently introduced by Harold MacMillan in 1961 and after recent reforms by Tony Blair it still remains the most watched Parliamentary event in an average week. In its 47 year history we have seen some classic battles between the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition, from its early beginnings in the 1960s right through to today, when Gordon Brown steps up to the dispatch box to face questions from leader of the Conservatives David Cameron every Wednesday.
It is sometimes the only time we see the House of Commons full on both sides. MPs make a special effort to be present and viewers at home can watch proceedings on a number of different channels, including three different BBC channels (BBC News 24, BBC Parliament and on The Daily Politics on BBC Two).
So why does this routine event attract so much media attention? Shadow Chancellor George Osborne argues we should be proud of PMQs as no other leader in any other country in the world subjects themselves to a weekly inquisition, where any subject could be brought up by backbench MPs.
However, not everyone is a fan of it. Joe Ashton, MP for Bassetlaw claimed during the 1997 reform process that the “Chamber sounded like animals in a zoo” during PMQs and can it could be said this is true; we often tune into PMQs on a Wednesday afternoon not to see intelligent political debate before us, but elected members of Parliament shouting and jeering at each other across the house.
But perhaps this is what we have to expect from the House of Commons. It is, after all, Speaker John Bercow's job to keep the house in order and he faces his biggest challenge during PMQs.
Before 1997, PMQs took place during two 15 minute slots on Tuesday and Thursdays. Tony Blair changed this almost as soon as he became Prime Minister by allocating half an hour of his time to questions at 12pm on Wednesday. This was part of his grand plan to dominate the national news agenda. Blair was a natural performer and one of his greatest strengths was answering questions spontaneously and the new time slot meant he could release a sound bite which would be reported on the lunch time news.
In fact, the differences between Blair and his successor Gordon Brown become obvious when comparing their performances during PMQs. Whereas Blair excelled in this area and could give a satisfactory response to almost any question asked by an opposition MP, Brown has struggled to make an impact since becoming Prime Minister in June 2007. Perhaps the most cringe worthy moment for Brown during Prime Ministers Questions came recently when he accidentally claimed to have “saved the world”. Of course, he meant to say his Government had saved Britain’s banks from the credit crunch, but this simple slip of the tongue prompted much laughter from the other side of the house and it was replayed an hour later on the lunchtime news.
If Tony Blair had made a similar mistake during his premiership then it would be likely he would recover by making light of the situation, but Brown’s lack of performance skills only enhanced his reputation as a faltering leader. Some critics suggest this may be that defining moment that everyone remembers from Brown’s time as Prime Minister.
Presenter of Channel Four News Jon Snow believes Tony Blair has been the best performer in the history of PMQs. He says:
“Although Blair would have done better to abandon the charade altogether, he was a complete master of PMQs and performs brilliantly, wiping the floor with the opposition most times. But that was because Blair was an ‘actor barrister’, absorbing a brief easily and acting it out with a keen sense of timing.”
It is clear that Tony Blair had the right skills to succeed during Prime Minister’s Questions, but that doesn’t necessarily make him a better Prime Minister, as Snow points out:
“His performance during PMQs hasn’t prevented his reputation withering since his retirement. You never hear anyone calling for the return of Tony Blair.”
The question of whether PMQs is the most effective way of holding the Government to account has split the media, but Jon Snow is one of those who firmly feels there are better alternative methods. He says:
“Individual MPs only get one question each, meaning there is rarely any ‘follow up’, so the Prime Minister neatly avoids the awkward detail.
“PMQs is far more a matter of theatre than of genuine inquiry and suggests the PM is in some way more held to account than he really is.”
But what do the Members of Parliament themselves think about Prime Minister’s Questions? It is true that the House of Commons is more or less at full capacity for that particular half-hour on a Wednesday afternoon and according to one Conservative back bencher PMQs may not be the best way of holding our Government to account, but it still holds some importance.
Richard Benyon was elected as MP for Newbury in 2005 and has been involved in PMQs a number of times, most recently asking Gordon Brown a question about child welfare. He says:
“When I entered Parliament, I thought Prime Minister’s Questions would be the most pointless half-hour of the week. I still hold that opinion to a point, but have slightly tempered my view in light of experience.
“For the leader of a major, developed democracy to have to come to Parliament every week for half an hour to face pertinent questions and a confrontational atmosphere is a good way of reminding the most powerful in the land they are, after all, mortal.
“The problem is the Prime Minister rarely answers any question.”
Benyon has had personal experience of having his question not answered directly by the Prime Minister. On 26th November 2008 he asked Gordon Brown why a report into the death of Baby P wasn’t made available for the public to read. Brown quickly put an end to this matter by saying the report was confidential, but the Opposition Children’s spokesman was allowed to read it. This clearly supports Jon Snow’s view that back bench MPs contributions during PMQs are largely ineffective due to the lack of follow up questions.
So we’ve established that Prime Minister’s Questions doesn’t effectively hold the Government to account, but there is no doubt this Parliamentary event provides great entertainment. From the days of Macmillan right through to today with Brown, the performances of Prime Ministers are critically assessed by the media and there is no doubt that PMQs has provided us with many memorable moments over the years.

Saturday 20th June 2009

Frustration. I think that one word sums up being a Southampton fan at the moment. We've waited three weeks for the Pinnacle consortium takeover to go through, but the deal hit a snag yesterday, on the last day of exclusivity for Pinnacle, over negotiations with the football league. An emergency meeting on Monday concerning the ten points deduction imposed on Saints by the football league looks likely to make or break the deal.
I can't stress how much I want the Pinnacle deal to go through, for the simple reason that Matt Le Tissier looks set to become chairman if negotiations can be completed successfully After having to put up with Rupert Lowe for so long, its important Saints are now looked after by someone who actually cares about the club and its clear Le Tissier loves Southampton FC as much as the fans love him.
A rival consortium is waiting in the wings should the Pinnacle bid fail, fronted by businessman Marc Jackson. I'm wary of this Marc Jackson character, not just because he looks like Newcastle owner Mike Ashley (who has had a disastrous tenure at St James Park), but Jackson was linked with a takeover of AFC Bournemouth less than a year ago, which suggests he just wants the novelty of owning a football club.
Lets hope the Pinnacle bid is triumphant and the ever growing complicated situation can be resolved in the next few days.

In other Sport news, the Wimbledon tennis championship begins on Monday, with huge pressure on Scotsman Andy Murray to be the first Brit to win the mens tournament since Fred Perry in 1936. After world number one Rafael Nadal dropped out due to injury yesterday this may be Murray's best chance of winning Wimbledon and he'll be full of confidence winning the Queens tournament last weekend. Ladbrokes have put Murray as second favourite behind Roger Federer, but with Nadal injured this a huge opportunity for Murray to win his first grand slam title.

Thursday 18th June 2009

I've awoken this afternoon to the sensational news that Kevin Keegan may be installed as new Saints manager if this Matt Le Tissier backed takeover is finally completed tomorrow. This would be great news for the club after a dark period. Keegan is a huge name in football, his teams have a reputation for playing attractive, attacking football and older fans will remember his brief, but successful spell has a player on the south coast in the 1980s. Attendances at St Marys have been dwindling recently, but the "Keegan factor" could be just what is needed to get the crowd back watching their team, who this season play third tier football for the first time in 50 years.
One of British football's most decorated players, "King Kev" has had mixed results as a manager. He's fondly remembered at Newcastle, but his time in charge of the England team is probably best forgotten. He has experience at this level of football, having helped Fulham to the old division one championship in 1999, before leaving to takeover the national team.
Keegan's second spell as Newcastle manager last year started poorly, but he was starting to turn things around at St James Park before a disagreement with owner Mike Ashley saw him walk out. I'm confident Newcastle wouldn't have been relegated last month if there had been more stability and Keegan had stayed.
Of course, this is still only speculation, but it could realistically happen. Keegan went to third tier club Fulham in 1998 after managing a Premiership club and he'll be welcomed with open arms by the majority of Saints fans I'm sure. Lets just hope we're not all getting excited for nothing, Saints fans deserve some good news for once after recent events. Tomorrow is judgement day, as the Pinnacle group's 21 day exclusivity period will expire if a deal is not sealed. Talk about leaving things to the very last minute! Lets keep our fingers crossed over this news, I shall most probably update over the weekend.

*Facts in this post were checked on www.soccerbase.com, a great site for football anoraks such as myself!

Saturday 13th June 2009

Looks like David Miliband has been stirring things up again! The Foreign Secretary has claimed in The Guardian that he nearly resigned from the Cabinet along with James Purnell last week. The timing of this has been criticised by John Prescott, who questions Miliband's motives. We all know that David Miliband wants to be Prime Minister, something which became clear last summer when he outlined his vision for Britain in an article in The Guardian without mentioning Gordon Brown. However, Miliband won't stand against Brown any time soon when he knows Labour have very little chance of winning the next general election no matter who leads them.
I predict, as do Labour supporters I have spoken to about this matter, that Miliband will bide his time and attempt to become leader of the Labour party in a few years time when the party are in opposition and Cameron's Conservative government start to become less popular with the electorate.
I'm confused as to why David Miliband has come out and said now that he "nearly" stepped down as Foreign Secretary. The Convention of Collective Responsibility means that all members of the government must agree with the policy of the government and if they don't they must remain silent in public or resign. Miliband seems to be sitting on the fence, making it unclear whether he agrees with government policy and its leader or not. To me it looks as though he's only staying in the post to protect his future leadership ambitions.

There's a worryingly lack of news on the Saints takeover front, but the big football story this week has been Cristiano Ronaldo's likely transfer to Real Madrid, after Manchester United accepted their £80 million bid. I think its about time United and Ronaldo parted company, its obvious the relationship between club and player has been under strain recently and this was made apparent when Ronaldo threw a tantrum after being substituted against Manchester City last month. For me, it looked certain he would be leaving Old Trafford this summer when he criticised Sir Alex Ferguson's tactics after United's Champions League final defeat. Jaap Stam, David Beckham and Ruud van Nistelrooy to name but a few will tell you that when you face up to The Boss then you don't tend to stay at Manchester United much longer!
With the transfer looking inevitable, United are already planning for life without Ronaldo, with reports today claiming they're after Wigan's Antonio Valencia as a replacement. I haven't seen too much of Valencia, but his statistics of just seven goals in 83 appearances suggests they'll need to buy someone else as well as Valencia to replace Ronaldo's ability to score plenty of goals. After all, I imagine £80 million could buy almost any player in the world (with perhaps the exception of Lionel Messi), so watch this space...

Tuesday 9th June 2009

Leading on from my post about Nick Griffin yesterday (sorry to sound like a broken record), I was glad to see him pelted with eggs by anti fascist protesters outside Westminster this afternoon.
This has been the big debate of the day; were the protesters right to deny Griffin the chance to conduct his press conference? Well, maybe his location for the press conference could've been better. The lawn outside Westminster is usually only used by the big political parties to speak to the press. His sheer arrogance is so apparent here by the fact that he thinks he and his fascist party are now the political mainstream, just because they now have two elected MEPs. If Griffin wants to preach his racial hate like Hitler he should've chosen a more private location.
And the protesters only threw eggs at him, not bricks or hand grenades. If I was there at that moment I would've happily joined the "Nazi scum off our streets" chanting. Well done to the anti fascist group who organised the protests. They weren't denying free speech like many people have suggested, they were stopping a fascist leader from preaching is immoral and socially unacceptable views.
Nick Griffin was on more4 news tonight being interviewed by Alex Thomson. He denied that he ever claimed that the Holocaust never happened on The Cook Report in 1997. Footage of The Cook Report all over YouTube suggests otherwise (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X8QQwU00Jk).

I don't wish to spend any more time blogging on this scumbag, so will move swiftly on...

I'm still checking the Internet several times a day to see if the Matt Le Tissier backed Pinnacle group have successfully completed their takeover of Southampton Football Club. It will be difficult to relax until the deal is set in stone, but meetings last week between the prospective new board and current manager Mark Wotte suggest the Dutchman won't be in charge of the first team next season.
I would love to see Paul Tisdale become Saints manager, a young manager who has won back-to-back promotions with Exeter City and a former Saints player in the Premiership years. Of course, a return to St Marys for Gordon Strachan would be a dream come true, but we have to remain realistic. A few people have suggested Paul Ince should take charge next season, as he has a proven track record in the lower leagues with Maccesfield and MK Dons. However, I would be very skeptical of this appointment, as he may jump at the chance to move to a club in the divisions above, like did when in charge of both Maccesfield and MK Dons.
Just as long as Rupert Lowe doesn't ever return I'm optimistic the long road to recovery for Saints can begin from next season.

Off to watch Jack Dee Live at the Apollo now (its on Dave, I'm not actually going to the live event unfortunately), I seem to be on a roll with updates, three days in a row now, lets hope I can keep this run up!

Monday 8th June 2009

The European election results last night was a very sad day for British politics. I'm not talking about Labour's dismal, though somewhat expected, showing in the polls. Or the fact that only a third of the electorate in Britain turned out to vote. What makes last night's results so terrible is that Britain will be represented in Europe by two fascists of the British National Party.
I'm all for free speech, its the most important concept of a liberal society, but the BNP's view are simply racism disguised as politics. I understand voter's anger over the recent expenses scandal in Westminster, but there are alternatives to voting for a modern day Nazi party. Aside from the three main parties in Britain, ballot papers up and down the country included the Green party (which I voted for), the Christian People's Alliance, the Socialist Labour party, Libertas and many more. As much as I disagree with UKIP, even they would've been a better choice than the BNP.
What makes this whole ordeal worse is that Britain will be represented in Europe by perhaps the worst human being in the country, excluding murderers, rapists and paedophiles, Nick Griffin. If you thought your MP was bad, you should be lucky you haven't got this c**t (my apologies for lowering the tone, no other word describes Nick Griffin better) representing your constituency in Westminster. This is a man who claims the Holocaust never happened and has been arrested on suspicion of incitement to racial hatred, though unfortunately never convicted.
In Southampton in the early hours of this morning the results of the European election for the South East region were announced. When it was announced the BNP had amassed 101, 769 votes in this region there was huge uproar in the conference room of St Marys stadium, followed by a man shouting "f***ing fascists". I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who views the British National Party in this way and it was comforting to see anti racist protesters attempt to stop Nick Griffin from entering Manchester City Hall on television last night.
Hopefully the electorate will see the BNP for what they are and despite now having two MEPs it is only the minority who agree with their extreme right wing views. However its a shame that on the weekend in which commemorate the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings against a fascist enemy it is a new, modern fascist, this time British enemy to equality and liberalism which will be celebrating election results.

Sunday 7th June 2009

Its been a disastrous week for Gordon Brown, but the worst may be yet to come, as tonight the results of the European election are announced, with Labour themselves expecting "terrible" results.
I think the real key moment this week was when Secretary of State for Work and Pensions James Purnell resigned. We had already seen Jacqui Smith and Hazel Blears step down from the Cabinet, but the feeling is they were pushed rather than jumped, after being implicated in the recent expenses controversy. It is true that Purnell was also involved in this expenses scandal, but so were most of the Cabinet, I'm sure Gordon Brown wouldn't have wanted a bright young Minister such as Purnell to step down.
The real dagger in the heart for Brown was James Purnell's resignation letter, printed on the front page of Friday's edition of The Times, in which he states he believes Brown's leadership "makes a Conservative victory more, not less likely."
Purnell then calls on Brown to resign as leader "to give our party a fighting chance of winning", a direct plea for our Prime Minister to step down from a now former member of his own Cabinet.
Whether we will have a new Labour leader in the next couple of months in hard to tell, but I would think with Brown's stubborn personality he'll want to fight on until next May and call a general election in which he'll have no chance of winning.
And I imagine after this week Tony Blair is sitting at home with a great big smile on his face.