true-saint-keit

DELUDED. Three games in, two of them away from home and people are already calling for the managers head. A lot of people on this board don't deserve to still have a club to support. We have a major rebuilding job to be done which IS going to take years.

It is like asking "who do you prefer, your friends or your family?" To me Saints are like my family, I didn't choose them and I can't dis-own them, but no matter what they do to me, they are still my club and I love them. England are my friends, I am happy when they do well & it does upset me when they do badly (I didn't watch an England game for 2 1/2 years after following them to Germany for the 2006 world cup) but it doesn't define who I am. If you were to ask me to list the things that define me, "Southampton supporter" would be in there. "England fan" wouldn't.

If they don't, who will?

I think that rumours are what makes sites like this worth reading. Just because they don't come fruition does not mean there was never any truth in them. Being a saints fan has been a shockingly upsetting affair for the past five and a half years. Why can't we indulge in a bit of dilusional fantasy manager speculation. Some people post rumours they have heard and genuinely believe, some people make things up, it is up to you if you believe what is written.

I've just heard this news this news this morning and I am really, really touched that a player who is without a doubt too good for this division, would show so much loyalty to the club. If there is anybody on this site who doubts what a massive show of commitment this is, they should ask themselves if they'd be willing to make the same sacrifices. We are a 3rd division club starting on minus 10 points, the players have not been paid on time for the past two months. I'm sure KD was being offered more money to play for a premiership team, even if he was not going to be first choice, he would be getting more money for doing less (footballers are no different from the rest of us) Well done Kelvin. YOU have restored my faith in the spirit of Southampton.

I actually well up when I see that final goal at the dell. What a moment.

What about smoke machines?

Do you not think he might be talking about the 1-1 draw with Sheff Wed last Saturday? He doesn't mention Palace at all, but don't let that get in the way of jumping down his throat and calling him a muppet.

Survival was what I was hoping for pre-season. Glimpses of brilliant football against some of the best sides in this division raised my expectations. Glaring fallability and inconsistancy lowered them again. Without a proven goal-scorer, fancy, intricate passing mixed with naive defending will see us struggle.

I'm as big a Rasiak fan as anyone, but his form at St Mary's has always been dire. Away from home is where he scored the majority of his goals. I do however agree that if either of those players came back we'd be better off.

I think that SCW could have been the saviour of this football club.

Man City's new owners talked very openly before their deal was signed & sealed. I'm not for one minute suggesting that any rumours concerning a take-over at Saints be taken as seriously, (I don't think anyone is going to buy us at the moment) but sweeping statements add nothing to the debate.

Ken Dodd's dad's dog died too

Money is tight at the moment, I'd love to get down to St Mary's more regularly but I just can't afford it. If the tickets were cheaper, I'd go to more games, it's as simple as that.

Having grown up watching and supporting saints, I don't expect to see us win, in fact I hear over the past 20 years Southampton have won less games than any other professional club in England. That is the way things are and I'm quite used to it, now I am happy as long as we play well.

What exactly don't people understand about the financial direstraights we find ourselves in? We CAN'T afford to change our manager, we have NO money. If we had continued to travel the path we have been treading for the past few years, the only possible result would be administration. We CAN'T attract a truely decent manager and the rest of the mediocre managers out there (like davies) would only be able to buy mediocre players, deliver mediocre football and then administration. The model we are now following can go one of two ways, it can succeed, or it can fail. The old way can ONLY lead to failiure. I for one am much happier in the knowledge that this youthful team can provide me with football that is worth watching. I've been watching dross for the past 4 years and I'd rather see young footballers with a chance of improving than journeymen footballers who don't care about the club and are here purely to collect that last paycheque. UTS

The problem is we wouldn't receive the riches - ala Man City, we'd be one of at least 15 teams that have to fight for scraps.

That save against Celtic on the You-Tube is possibly the bast save I've ever seen, it's up there with THE Gordon Banks save from Pele.

I will give JW a warm reception, he certainly wasn't the most gifted player we've ever had (then neither was Franny) but he was a trier. I got bored of seeing players (like Oakley towards the end of his time here) who showed no desire to get stuck in and play for the club. That said, I would also give Oakley a decent welcome, because pre-injury, he was quality, he was here for a long time and I understand that sometimes players have to move on because they can stagnate.

I think we can all agree it makes a refreshing change to have a whole host of players worthy of the player of the month award, rather than just having to pick a player who's been not quite as Sh*t as the others. I hope that come May there will be thread & a debate like this for player of the season.

Can anybody tell me exactly what Phillips originally said to cause such upset? From the reaction he gets you'd think he was Gary Glitter. I seem to recall him saying when he left that he never really settled or felt happy here. That didn't bother me in the slightest because whenever I saw him play, I thought he gave his all and did well for us.

I am hoping for success this season, but for me success IS survival. I think getting promoted would be a bad thing for the club in its present state. Sunderland only just managed to stay up last year despite spending £30,000,000, if we went up I'd be surprised if we spent £10,000,000. We would without a doubt be relegated after an embarrassment of a season and a promising young team would be dismantled. I think saints need to enjoy and play well over a couple of seasons in the championship before we can think of going up.

Some times it is left to the player's discression, Chris Lucketti is a good example, under the terms of his loan deal he was eligible to playfor us in the final game of last season, a match which potentially could have seen Sheff Utd into the play offs and us relegated. Lucketti opted to declare himself unavailable for the match to avoid a conflict of interests.

[quote That'll be the only goal he scores this season, I suspect. He scored on his home debut for Pompey in the Premier League and then failed to score in 20-odd games after that. I'm not too sure what the reasons for letting Fuller go were, he'd finally found his feet for us at the end of the previous season and it seemed as though the fans were finally off his back, so to get rid of him then seemed very odd. If I was Fuller, I would have had absolutely no desire to play for this club and would have been desperate to get away from here as soon as possible, we paid £90,000 for him and even when he started scoring "fans" were still giving him outrageous grief.

We have more than enough chavvy supporters who would have reacted in exactly the same way had the tables been turned. It's one of the worst things about football today, the vitriol and hatred you can see on people's faces directed towards opposition supporters. I love banter, that's fine, but anyone that leaves the stadium feeling actual hatred and then carries it with them for years afterwards seriously needs to re-evaluate their life and perhaps go on an anger management course.