Fitzhugh Fella

If tonight Saints were 5 points behind the 2nd placed team with 2 games to go would you want your best players to bust their gut to try and overcome an unlikely scenario or would you prefer Saints to gather their wounded and concentrate on the play-offs? In other words if you were Big Sam where would you now place your priorities?

Cast your mind back to 1978 when Saints and Spurs allegedly colluded to achieve a 0-0 draw which meant both sides automatically went up and depriving (on goal difference) guess who. Yep you've guessed it Brighton. I remember it well and there were allegations from B and HA fans that we had deliberately not gone for a win. I saw the game and it was a strange affair because we could have won the title with a victory and yet apart from a Tony Funnell shot which hit a post, we did not look interested. Pay back time?

Pretty much sums it up perfectly although I think you are too kind to SDR. He may catch the eye but his end product is pretty ineffectual - he seems unable to run ahnd look up at the same time.

Chant of the day yesterday? "You're Pompey 'till July, You're Pompey 'till July"!

If their goalkeeper had been playing for us and ours for them we would have won.

Last year when we were at Plymouth I spent the afternoon on a long walk - just couldn't handle the pressure.

Pace and width non existant. it is a simple game.

Do your talking on the pitch Billy - thats my advice

I think those "bitter" people have moved on, especially as they are fans and must be pleased with the club's progress. No I think this is a destabilisation story emanating from London journos. If the Liebherr family sell it will be to Nicola Cortese.

Good point Wade

No Falque signed permanently for Spurs and that same day he signed on loan for us.

Still early days for me; long way to go and all that. I would advise suitable caution/hubris/magnaminity etc etc etc

I am a bit concerned this thread has slumped to 7th position in the Lounge (ie just in a play-off spot) we need some more bad news from down the road to kick start the season.

I gather work on redeveloping Staplewood has started in earnest with the contractors being the same company who oversaw the development of Chelsea's state of the art facility at Cobham. Apparently the spec for Staplewood is even greater than what was built for Chelsea which suggests Nicola Cortese is here for the duration and is prepared to make a significant investment off the pitch. Good News!

Indeed - the Queens Mother wore black for the rest of her life

Don't get me wrong I am delighted with our current position but my Dad is still alive and remembers vividly the heartbreak of 1948-49 when on the 2nd April we were 8 points clear of Fulham and WBA with just 7 games left (just 2 points for a win in those days). We blew (losing 4 drawing 2 and winning just 1) it as both teams overhauled us - one more point would have seen us up on goal average but we lost our last game at Chesterfield 1-0 having been denied an obvious pen. Afterwards the Echo said "it was the end of a tragic slide which must be almost without parallel in football". On the 2nd of April we had just gone to Tottenham and won 1-0 in front of 69,000 fans and Wayman who was an injured passenger on the wing bravely scored the winner but further damaged his injury which meant he missed most of the remaining games. I still visit Bill Ellerington who was our full-back during that run in and despite him being nearly 90 he still grimaces at the memory. So I am going to leave the celebration until it is mathmetically impossible for us to be caught - like someone has said elsewhere pessimists can't be disappointed.

1948-49 8 points clear with 7 games left (just 2 points for a win then) and we blew it. My Dad still talks about it

No longer in existance - showing my age sorry.

It's literally attached to the Jubilee market very near the cathedral in Winchester Walk - it's a very small pub but the bitter is brewed on site I believe and was excellent.

My opinion for what it is worth After Saints' last away game (at Leeds) the West Yorkshire Post likened our back-to-the-wall smash-and-grab victory to one of highwayman **** Turpin's hold ups - and it went on to say that he had at least had the decency to wear a mask. It was a fair view nicely made. Well after another smash and grab raid, this time in East London yesterday, Gawd knows how the South Bermondsey Gazette is going to handle the match report. Unlike the Leeds game, where at times our defending was heroic, this was nothing of the sort and most of us at the New Den would have, after an hour's play, snatched a hand off had it offered us a point. We started brightly and were very dominant and I could see another Watford type performance where we had cruised to a fine routine win but no. After Lambert's opener which looked way too easy, we suddenly and inexplicably retreated into our shells and let Millwall take the game by the scruff of the neck. They scored two goals through sloppy defending and harried us into making a succession of errors all over the pitch. Chaplow was at "sixes and sevens" and I think Adkins's decision to rest him after Leeds was a wrong one - he needed games not rest and his rustiness was so evident in the first 45mins it was inevitable he would make way for De Ridder, who did at least give us the pace we had so lacked in the opening half. But the second period was basically more of the same with Richardson back to his worst, frustratingly over hitting cross after cross and Fox not doing much better. Hammond was woeful too and I was pleased to see the rotund Sharp come on after an hour, but he has flattered to deceive so far in a red and white shirt and did nothing to excite yesterday. Lee was being missed! But then a small miracle. In the 84th minute, when all seemed lost, Sharp was found in a good position and had half a chance to get in a shot, but perhaps lacking confidence he squared the ball back to the onrushing Lambert who managed to get himself tripped up for a pen. While he dusted himself off it was a nervous wait for us fans behind the goal facing him, as we knew this would probably be our only chance of a point we frankly did not deserve. Rickie has got to miss a pen one day but thank God this time was not to be it, as he placed it well away from the ex-Saints goalie, Maik Taylor. Could we hold on for this unexpected and undeserved point? In the 88th minute we had a corner and as Fox lumped the ball across Hooiveld jumped and missed but there was a hand waving in the air and when the ball hit it, the referee (who had started the game as linesman only to take over when the originally ref picked up an injury) had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Cue Millwall players and fans uniting in uproar. The opinion around me was split as to whose hand it was - some said it was Hooiveld's but I thought it was a hand that was sticking out of a dark blue shirt (why do Millwall now play in dark blue) and the ref had got it right. Again there was some nervous few seconds as Lambert composed himself and this time he hit the ball centrally, but had persuaded Taylor to dive out of the way. The Saints' fans were ecstatic especially as news had just come through that West Ham had fallen behind at Elland Road. The home supporters were gutted and very irate as can be imagined and I wouldn't have liked to have encountered any of the ones that were mocked and jeered as they departed by the delighted Saints fans at the final whistle. Not that there was much chance of that as the route back to the train station is a bit like the Berlin tunnel and is about as heavily guarded. We had found a brilliant little real ale pub in Borough Market called the Rake before the game and, over a post-match pint, opinion was we had just got out of gaol. It is good to win dirty and it is a sign that maybe the Gods are smiling on us but I would be more confident if we were looking a bit more cohesive as we approach the final run in. Yesterday not one player was better than average (perhaps Lambert and Do Prado should be excused any criticism) and most were below par. We will not get away with such an under par performance at Hull.

Hear hear Minty - having once evacuated a full jumbo that had caught fire at LHR I can vouchsafe that for every punter who knows where the exit door is there is one that doesn't.

Agree, if I was a skate (thank God i'm not) I would be favouring the best exit plan which would see my "reborn" club entering the highest league possible while keeping the original club identity/tradition/heritage. There is just too much baggage and skeletons in the cupboard for P*mpey FC to stay as they are. Liquidate, get out, reform, start afresh at the bottom, whatever it takes and maybe in 50 years reach the same level as Southampton. But in the meantime lose your arrogance, accept you only got what and where you did from living wildly above your means, you had a couple of seasons of pleasure but now you are going to have to pay with half a century of humility. Adios and Bon Chance it was nice knowing you. Shut the door on your way out.

Thanks for this

Yep was going down later this week to buy 4 from Parkway so'd be interested to see how cheap they are - as far as i am aware the deal is still there?

Has Manji contributed to this excellent thread yet? Be intrigued to find out more about this cyber warrior but doubt he will poke his head above his screen.