John Boy Saint

So did I, that's why the comment in the club PR about the pitch being totally flat when SMS first opened stuck in my mind. The substructure of the pitch was designed to ensure optimum drainage. But then there was supposed to be a pump/heating system that could handle "8" of rain in an hour", as we know this was never connected up, subsequent threads on the subject following the rare abandoned games pointed out that the drain system around (and away) from the stadium could not cope with the amount of water this pump could produced if it was put into use, plus with only one game in about 20 odd years lost to freezing conditions the heating was deemed to be a bit of a waste of money so it never happened. So maybe the substructure is no longer as effective as it originally was, hence the noticeable appearance of the crown.

While we are mithering about the pitch it has been narrowed again on the Kingsland side the drain cover that use to be close to the corner flag in the Chapel Kingsland corner is now quite a way away by comparison now. I also noticed on Saturday that our pitch has a crown (middle of the pitch is higher than the sides on a line goal to goal for drainage, look at the skates when they next go on TV their crown is like a baseball pitchers hump the length of the pitch) when SMS was opened one of the facts about the pitch was it was perfectly flat. When Puncheon was taking corners against Bournemouth he made a massive hole with his right standing foot. I also notice that there are covers over the "sun roof" at the front of the Chapel roof, maybe the very hot spell we had late May into June has hindered the new pitch taking as well as they hoped. Hood down..................... Anorak Off!! ;-)

Blimey is this a secret society I am pretty sure that they could have make a few bob already from this little enterprise if we had known more before hand, my kids love these up. I notice the Marmite one has vanished so I have no idea what it looked like.

Seems a pretty apt signing to go with our 125 years when you consider that the Father of Brazilian Football Charles Miller played for St Mary's until the season before we became Southampton proper. Most Brazilian footballers know who Southampton Football Club are because of his connection to us all those years back. Someone asked if he was our first Brazilian................................. you should go and sit in the corner with a pointy hat sporting a capital D on the front!!!!!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_William_Miller

Shame that I am not going thanks to work. I think playing our best side would do us no harm, if you look at the Bournemouth game, after by all reports a lot of huffing and puffing with no result v Plymouth, the first half of that game was a bit of an effort but then the second half was far better and we beat a side that has since that game been smacking them into the back of the Onion bag for fun. It would have been interesting to see how we would of faired at MK then against Orient had the sad events of that previous week not taken place. The start of a Football season can be a funny thing most teams misfire a little during the opening games then get into their stride, unless you are Chelsea and you get to play 2 teams straight away, one who is fresh into the league and nervous and another who have been Smashed by some margin the previous week and are nervous to avoid a repeat. Momentum is the key.

Toe

I had better opt for my usual shandy pants half of Bitter before the game rather than the pint I had today.

Apologies........... All work and all that currently precludes extensive viewing on this site at present.

I eventually got to read the programme with any concentration whilst queueing for Swindon tickets after the game. The first bit that I read was the extract from the memorial service for Markus by David Bick, quite a surreal read.

Today was a bit of a funny one, there was understandably a lot of emotion surrounding the game, the players had not played for 11 days and Orient did give it a bit of a go in flashes. MOM for me was Butterfield how nice it was to see a Right back with 2 feet, none of this cutting in to get the ball onto the "right foot". Pain in the backside for me was Puncheon I would have replaced him with Chamberlain who for me was like a box of fireworks someone had dropped a sparkler into (came on late so his performance was short and sweet but left a mark with me). What frustrates the wotsit out of me is when we defend a corner every man in a Saints shirt is in the 18yrd box no one is lurking with intent towards the centre circle so the opposing team becomes a bit more bolder and crowds the box inside and out all 10 of them ( jeez I am just a bloke in the stands who sells wooden spoons and I can see that!!)!! Still just 2 league games in, unfortunately we have a different Monkey on our backs, last season we had the -10, this season we have the tag of the pre-season favourites to win the league. Add to this the desire by our opposition not to be tonked by us just compounds everything, (Oldham last season should have been seen as a portent). With 3 games played the tenuous salvation for me is that we beat Bournemouth by 2, a team who have smashed 2 teams this last week. The rickety stool, length of rope, and stout branch search along with the rusty razor blades are locked away in the back of the cupboard.

I understand the initial sentiment but I have to say overall this thread is symptomatic of Football these days failure of any sort is seen as a totally failure and a drastic need for change, on paper we have lost 1 and won 1 cripes I had better reach for the rusty razor blades. I just wish that some folks would wake up to the fact that we are not a footballing super club.................. yet. And that most teams that we do play this season will, like Oldham last season, will do everything in their power to prevent being tonked and if possible nick a result: this is thanks to the football history we do have in ourselves. The net result is that we have a permanent ticket on the football rollercoaster, so we are all going to have to learn to be flexible to what we see on a matchday............ and chill!

A trophy 2 seasons running that has to be applauded in itself, that last few overs were tense, but what great viewing on a Saturday night fair better than all the usual TV fair! Christian just ran that last one on auto-pilot, hit the ball and run like the wind!!

Looks like they picked the right day to go up the Mountains, looks like the weather closed in yesterday.

At the end of the day Southampton Football Club is not a disorganised Pub Crawl arranged at the 11th hour by a a bunch of lads who have been on the lash for most of the day already, neither is it a charity. It is a Multi Million pound business that needs to run as a business not off the back of a fag packet. Many clubs are run off the back of fag packets and beer mats and they end up paddling in the mire. NC has done a good job, what is hurting is change as the saying goes "no one likes change". In a year or 2 many folks will have forgotten all the issues that are on peoples minds at the moment. If we were looking forward to a season in the Championship this year much of what has gone on would not be of such concern........................ As Lawrie Mac once said in conversation: after signing Kevin Keegan, the following season the ticket prices were doubled and no one batted an eyelid.

Well looking at this we had better get a move on as it ain't looking too clever at the moment!!! http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/LeagueTable/0,,10280,00.html

Jeez there were clouds in the sky today must have been the doings of AP ML & NC sack the lot of them. Theres a Y in the name of the day tomorrow lets start a seperate thread about that as someone in the Crystal Glass Palace of SMS must have had something to do with it.

Looks there will be full use of all the Subs during the game! well someone had to write it!!

I was quite happy with my membership at the £12 -£15 or whatever it was at the time as it came in very useful when getting tickets for the Cup final and the games leading up to it. When we had games where all the JCLs would get off their backsides having membership gave me an advantage (especially living & working outside Southampton) to get tickets over those who could not be bothered to attend Leicester at SMS on a cold wet January Tuesday night. I have to say using this as a stick to beat NC is a bit bolting the stable door, we had had our pants pulled down on this years ago, but then when getting into the Dell thanks to my membership was enabled by a small outlay at the beginning of the season I can live with it.................................................... However the ticket poll tax before the day of the match certainly is a kick in the wedding vegetables!

Do you not think that when we changed his mind when we stopped his transfer to WHU last summer when money was being spent there like topsey (compared to at Saints) his palm was sufficiently crossed with silver at the same time. In all of this under the current regime we are now in the position where we unload our players on our terms rather than with the underlying need to balance the books, so scurrilous rumours about our players on their way are likely to be tenuous.

Good to see a traditional goalkeepers shirt colour, Banks wore yellow in Mexico because of the heat.

Nice to see Pearce and Lawro getting spiky with each other

If you have a look at the Beechdown "Ice Cream" racing team website there is no mention that their race ended after 17 minutes. I use to love watch Mansell driving in Formula 1, he always drove with his nuts hanging on the wing mirrors. But as time has clicked on he seems to have become a real miserable bugger, I know someone who worked at his place in Devon after a few meetings this chap decided to use his first name at which point he was told in uncertain terms " I am Mr Mansell"!

What do you expect Mr Rooney you all give it billy big ****** but fail to deliver. The England fans have spent thousands to watch in person the pile of sho!te you lot dished up tonight, it maybe small change to you but most of those folks have worked a damn sight harder than you will ever dream of to pay to watch a conference team performance. They have paid in full to have the right to voice their displeasure. Nice to see Lampard is back to his Invisible Man standard. Swap a tiny winger for a....................... tiny winger!! I can not see Gerrard handing out a captains bolloc-king on the pitch. Thank god Carragher (?) got a second yellow (he looked ****ed after 4 minutes). Rooney has looked carp, even for Manure, since his injury. As someone else has said a team of Championship (and even some league 1) players would have more fight an passion than that bunch of £30k a week wasters............................ But the bottom line is in this World Cup there are no crap cannon fodder teams in this World Cup. 4 of Europes "elite" Germany France Spain & England have all had their noses bloodied by "little" teams. Thank the lord I will be working next Wednesday afternoon!!

See what happened when he went north of the border................................ Threshers went bust!! Lets see how many of his old mates he can get to play for him there, Rasiak must be due a move.

Blimey I missed Orient in April on first reading............................... how much do you think you would get down the bookies this afternoon for a draw in that game; just like in 66 & 78. Amazing to see no nasty 600 mile+ midweek away adventures.