Big Ron fan

Pretty sure this is incorrect. Played for England in a tournament in the US the previous season, but don't think he was at the world cup.

This, perhaps with a sub-title: 'Saints players 1885-2011'

Franny taking out Paulo Futre at about thigh height at Upton Park in the mid-1990s and trotting off without even waiting for the ref to produce a red card

Almost certainly so. I thought Andrew Davies was completely over-rated by most fans during his time here and am not surprised he has achieved little sice he left.

It was on May 4th 1982, my 21st birthday! It was in fact a beautifully clear early summer evening! Mark Hately hat-trick for Coventry; Bally scoring from 25 yards for probably the only time in his long career! One of my mates brought his girlfriend along to her first match, but she went down with food poisoning early in the game and he had to do the honourable thing and take her home - it was 1-0 when they left I think! The atmosphere was dampened somewhat later in the evening though on finding out that HMS Sheffield had been sunk!

The (current) absence of Papa, Antonio, Lallana and Barnard is quite a big difference compared to last year.

No, it's just that anyone else I've heard doing that has been a complete t****r (inc.KK)!

I'm sure there must be loads, but can you remind me of some managers who have voluntarily dropped down a league when changing clubs and been successful (as opposed to those who were out of work or sacked when they moved down 1 or more divisions)? I can't think of any off the top of my head. I wasn't a fan of Pardew and was not sorry to see him go, but surely Wilkins is going to take over the role of 'work caretaker manager we ever had' when someone writes the story of our second 200 years. I'm very concerned about Adkins though, having heard that he spoke about himself in the third person the other day.

Always thought he was pretty crap and how can anyone mention him and the word 'pace' without inserting 'has no' in the middle?

In the absence of both Papa and Antonio, we are severly lacking in pace in midfield and attack.

I've been away recently so am a bit out of the loop on signings, etc. Are we definitely not signing Antonio and Papa - a shame if that's the case.

Going through the turnstile last August v Millwall, knowing that Lowe's malicious presence had been removed permanently from the club.

How does this tie in with everyone saying that Kelvin made 3 great saves?

Without looking beyond the first post... Bates, Nicholl, Ball, Gray, Wise

I'm pretty certain that in the old days the home team got 2/3 of the gate and the away team 1/3. It changed to 'home team takes all' in 1985, when it was quoted by Laurie as one of the main things causing him to leave Saints, as he didn't think we would be able to compete properly going forward. How right he was!

Some of the older ones among you may remember how, in the 80s, 'Flanagan and Allen at the Palace' were both a very good strike parnership and a throwback to the days of music hall!

If we win, say, our next 5 games, we'll probably still be more than 10 points from the play-offs, with games starting to run out. It must be very, very unlikely we could put together a run that will get us there, taking account of likely injuries, etc. Here's hoping, though!

Agree with this. I have seen nothing so far to alter my original opinion, when he was appointed, that he is at best a moderate manager. I think he'll be out of the door if we don't show a huge improvement in league form for the remainder of the season, enough to at least get us very close to the play-offs. If he is here next season, he will be gone by the end of September, not Xmas, if we are not looking very likely to get automatic promotion. he definitely seems to be feeling the pressure - I think the next 3 months will be very interesting!

Sheff Utd when we won to stay up and Derby in the play-off were louder I reckon. I wasn't at the Norwich 4-3 but imagine that was too.

I agree with this and think Pardew will make this change, along with Perry for Fonte. I think Wotton (by his own standards) has done relatively well when he has played over the last few months, but he would really get found out playing against an (admittedly poor) Premiership team. He should be kept well away from the fray. I thought Thomas was truly shocking in all regards on Tuesday by the way, but it's pretty difficult to see who could play in place of him at r-b. I can see him getting torn to shreds by some of their pace though.

It will finish 2-2, one side (I can't decide which) coming back from 2-0 down. Pompey will be wound up before the replay - we will be at home to Stoke in the QF. I think we should play a song for our visitors from along the M27 before the game...Cher's "Gypsies, Trampa and Thieves" - that should spice up the atmosphere even more!

When I picked up my tickets at 11 am this morning I was told there were 3,900 left for Pompey that they expect will be sold tomorrow and 390 (!) left for tonight, which they expect to go before kick-off. Can't wait!

This is the most sensible appraisal of our transfer record this season that I have seen. I can't help feeling that several other managers in our division, given an equivalent amount to spend, would have produced a team that regularly dominated and won matches and was pushing for automatic promotion, despite the 10 points deduction.

I laughed louder at this than almost anything else in my life of nearly 49 years! Well done!

One of my top 5 ever Saints matches ever! Ipswich hardly got out of their own half in the second half!