John Boy Saint

I have to say that second half was enjoyable because sat in the Chapel that breeze was chiiling me to the bone watching 10 men behind the ball twarting us, so it was great to get the circulation going in the second 45. What I want to know is what is with the hatred from some quarters for Lloyd James I just don't get it, yes I prefer him in right midfield but he does as well as anyone else at right back with the exception of Murts. He is probably the best crosser of the ball and has set up no end of goals this season. As for corners compared to the shoite Lallana was "punting" in Lloyds corners are the best we have seen for at least a season. That back pass to Bart was under control from both of them; we just see that self destruct button looming in the background. Pards rates highly him so that to me says what I see is not wrong. How nice it is to walk away from the ground having watched a nice win on a regular basis. How nice it is to be in a stadium full(ish) of people unified in the pleasure of watching the team doing well. That slow Oh When The Saints sung by the whole stadium as one just showed that: being unable to single out a MOTM in the poll I would say, 3 beautifully struck goals apart, that was my Moment Of The Match.

The Chineham branch near Basingstoke was a jewel in the Threshers Crown, last 2 Days sale started Thurs shelves empty and shop shut before the deadline. Shame really the Staff were all nice, for many years run by an ardent Saints fan who could still watch the match at SMS until the final whistle and then get back into the shop by 6pm for the evening shift.

I drive 40K miles a year invariably down motorways at light speed, I thought the bingo bus would be purgatory over great distances. Have to say that the journeys that I have taken have been quite relaxed. On 2 occasions on journeys over 2 hrs the tin lids have been quite happy outbound and invariably falling asleep on the way home (me almost joining them too).

What you will probably find is the Echo have become a little too familiar with the new regime in other matters (maybe sprinkle in a bit too much media speculation), so an easy slap back onto the right side of the line is to dust off the iron fist to show them the hierarchy. The back pages of the Echo when I see it (lazy scrotes stopped distribution north of Winchester a few years ago) are dominated by Saints so when Mondays circulation drops through the floor a few noses Nursling way will have brown tips come Tuesday teatime.

A month in a remote town in the Madrid area would soon sort you out, go to somewhere around Barcelona and you will get foxed with the increasingly spoken Catalan.

3" of Snow on the ground when I open the curtains Christmas Morning. Golf Bag and Clubs off my list Terrys Dark Chocolate Orange Something from the Saints shop, I won't say what just in case everyone goes "Ooo thats nice" before Mrs John Boy can get in there to buy it in my size!!

I met a chap who was a RAF pilot and he said about these low level bombing training sorties, while the Cold War was on, between the US and UK. According to him nearly everyone of these runs saw the Yanks being identified and "killed" whereas the Vulcan proved successful in destroying their target 99% of the time. The Americans asked that we did not mention this failure v our success just in case the Russians got to realise that they were not under threat from the air, the UK ignored this request and were quite happy to "accidently" let it slip that we had the capability to get all the way to Moscow undetected with a Nuclear payload .

They only got rid of the blue "knickers" as they were referred to in those days because they found as the season progressed they got lighter and lighter in the wash. Maybe for the away strip they go back to the Old Gold rather than the Yellow shirts

Wembley stadium = so they will up their game to suit the surroundings

We have been knocked out of the cup by Rotherham in recent years so no easy game on their current form and then Luton are a bit of a wounded animal after the crap cards they were dealt last season, so a bit of a double Banana skin.

What a Carrot for Kettering and they get a warm up at Elland road to prepare themselves

Saints v Rotherham or Luton

That is probably the kick in the pants we needed to keep our feet on the ground. I suppose at the end of the day New Manager and being on Sky syndrome in one game was too potent a force today.

Awwwww............. Don't spoil it for me.

Having experienced both I would say multiply by 1000 and you are still not close!!

We did!!....................... did you not read my post??!!

Katie Price will be put up for every single Bush Tucker trail while she is in there, whats Paddys odds on that?

Autumn 1978 Elm Park Reading V Saints League cup very unlucky 0 - very fortuitous 0. I could only get a ticket from a Reading supporting mate on the Notorious South Bank, it was great fun watching Saints fans being told off for climbing further and further up the Floodlight Pylon.

My Sister and I were staying with my Granny & Grandad in Shirley, seeing the town getting whipped up in Cup Fever even at 11 could not be missed. Saturday came and we watched everything on TV including FA Cup Its a Knockout (that was always great on Cup Final day) if memory serves me right they had highlights of the Southampton Ladies team (who were fairly invincible themselves in those days if memory serves me well) lifting the ladies cup; so winning Its a Knockout and the Ladies Cup final had the omens heading in the right direction. One of my Granny's pearls of wisdom when talking to her neighbours before the game was "if John Curry can win the Olympic skating, why can't we win the cup!". The game kicked off and we all fidgeted whenever Man U came into our half. During the second half Granny nodded off as she always did about half four, then that glorious moment happened and my Grandad, my Sister and me went loop the bloomin loop round the living room: Granny woke up with a start "Have we won!?" she said calm as you like (now there's a Woman who brought up a very young Daughter through the bombing of Southampton in the war). Those last 7 minutes have to have been the longest 7 minutes that I can ever remember when the ref blew for full time, we all went mental again along with most of Dale Valley Road, we could hear the car horns blowing up on Winchester road. The next day seeing the cup and the players on the open top bus with my very own eyes cemented that IT WAS NOT A DREAM we won the FA Cup!!!

I played years ago when I was a nipper on Holiday in Falmouth on the Pitch & Putt that was run by the farmer who's farm we were staying on so we got rates for mates. On 2 occasions I managed a hole in one twice on the longest hole which was well over 100 yrds. That until 2 months ago (about 30 years on) was my only flirtation with Golf. At the beginning of September whilst staying away with work, the Hotel we were staying at has a British Par 3 Championship course in the grounds and my bosses were eager to get out there every evening. Having sat in my room for about half an hour I decided to go and see what they were up to, they said did I want a go, and that was it I was out there every evening having a good time with my "Happy Gilmour swing" holding my own. When I got home I had a look at getting some clubs, then by some quirk of fate I ended up winning a set of Wilson Deep Red clubs in very good nick on Ebay for £41 then added parts of a mates second set that were missing from mine. I went down the range with a mate and got into the swing of things, he suggested that we try the 18 hole Par 69 up the road which turned out to be a mare for me. So I booked some lessons and got better at a rate of knots, so he decided that we should try the 18 holes again. I was much happier until I tee'd off at the first: what a stinker. It destroyed my first nine in my head and led to going out in 74!! At the turn I was ready to go home, then pulled out the Driver made a sweet contact and distance that seemed to pull me back into line. Respectability returned with each stroke then on the 365yrd 4 par 13th a moment of glory a sound drive got me a good way down the track, my second between the trees with and 8 iron saw a sweet strike of the ball a skip over a nasty bunker with the ball coming to rest on the slope up to a raised green, my next shot was a perfect chip up on to the green and a, little as seen on TV, arced run straight into the hole for my first Birdie. As you can probably tell I was a happy boy. I ended up coming home 15 over which for a novice I was happy with. Shame the weather and the light is so crap at the moment, roll on next summer. There you go my minor contribution to this thread :-) As for your Hole in One the guy at our local American Golf who plays off 9 said, when I was buying my shoes, that in over 30 years of playing he has never had a Hole in One!

I was with a customer today talking Football, when he just turned around and said "I am amazed at how many people are not interested in the England v Brazil game". I inadvertently qualified his statement by asking "when is the game on?". Just out of interest who on here is really interested in this game. If you are not that bothered do you think its because with the FA selling the rights to an obscure satellite TV station, that has now gone bust, has diluted your enthusiasm to watch minor England Internationals. or Because Saints are playing well at the moment is your enjoyment of this uncommon phenomena blocking out your interest in much else in the Footie World beyond Saints.

AO trod a very fine line between being very good at what he does to the point of being anal, and being a total arrogant pain in the backside with the archetypal public school bully boy persona (maybe not quite that harsh but leaning in that direction). When he very first rocked up on the scene he came to a Basingstoke Saints social evening with Lawrie Mac, Lawrie enthralled us all young and old with his yarns. Then AO took over and totally and utterly misread the tone of the evening and launched into his job interview complete with flip chart and diagrams. He bored the arse off everyone in the room, Lawrie sat there with a face of please do shut up these good people are here on a social evening out not on a lecture tour, for those smart enough to follow the mundane presentation noticed that part of the pitch was AO basically outlining how to extract more money out of the fans without them noticing. First impressions were not very good, for the man who brought the revelation of Far East sponsorship to Everton and offered us the road to endless riches, amazingly he goes through jobs at a rate a knots for someone so great............. Probably his persona and method of presentation wears very thin with everyone not just a bunch of Saints fans enjoying a pleasant night out having to put up with him for 50 minutes. I honestly hope he finds a job that suits him and his abilities soon, otherwise his CV will look a bit shabby.

This is why so many players demand such high wages, should something like this happen to them. Before it starts, there are high wages and high wages though

There you go, as I said in my post: You don't choose to support The Saints, The Saints choose you...............................Eventually if you are outside the metropolis for whatever reason.

When I was little, the M3 was still just fields. My Dad had to commute up to London and points east from Southampton so he decided to move us closer to London. We ended up in a small village in North Hampshire called Silchester. I went to the local school when Leeds United were in their Revie led pomp so just about everyone supported Leeds like mad things I even had a number 4 Billy Bremner kit, with the sock flags one Christmas. As time passed Leeds slid and I continued to support them not knowing any better, when I said to friends about Leeds they said "I don't support them any more we support Derby..... then QPR" I was a bit miffed at this and then watching the teleprinter one Saturday I noticed that my home City had a team, problem solved: even if not long after discovering each other we were relegated. I have never looked back since. As I have written before on threads of a similar subject, in the back of one of the Hagiology books Farewell to the Dell (?) where there are the contributions from fans one chap wrote about going to the Dell as a nipper, and his Dad or someone saying "you don't choose to support The Saints, The Saints choose you!!". Since reading that I have always thought that was a nice sentiment and hoped that it applies to me and my transgression when I knew no better.