Sha la la la McNamee

“There are about 6 or 7 trains right next to the station.” Sorry, my mistake. That should have read: There are about 6 or 7 pubs right next to the station.

Sorry if you’ve had the odd troll from Toon fans, I’m afraid all teams have a portion of bell ends, and you’ve met one or two of ours (to be fair there have been a couple of Saints equivalent coming on Newcastle message boards as well). A couple of your posters were asking about pubs. There are no issues about finding a pub near St James’ last count I heard was that there were over 150 pubs and bars within a mile of the ground. The train station is about 1/2 mile from the station. Generally away fans tend to stay around the station area. There are about 6 or 7 trains right next to the station. The head if Steam is usually popular for away fans, the Victoria Comet is also just over the road from the Station. The Centurion bar in the station itself is worth a visit if you like Victorian architecture. Other than that, generally speaking most bars in the town centre are safe for away fans. Obviously like any other city if you start shouting the odds and acting up, someone might get upset and react. if we get beaten and you win (and despite what the press and the bell ends are saying the majority of fans don’t think it’s all over bar the shouting), I would avoid the Bigg Market for a while. Most of the heed the balls go down there and it might kick off. To get to the ground it’s best to walk. There is a metro station at the Central Station, you take one stop change at Monument and then go to St James’. Don’t make the mistake an Arsenal fan I met made. He just sat on the train with St James’ on the front. The train goes to St James’ but it goes all the way out to the coast and then comes back through Monument to St James’ took him an hour and 10 minutes!! Hope you enjoy your trip, obviously not the game. Safe journey

If you watch it again, Pope made contact before he made contact with the player, if it was in the area and Pope had gone in that way with his fists to pump it away it would have been seen as a perfectly fair (as long as he made contact with the ball before he made contact with the player). As I say my perspective may be based on my generation. I played local amateur football in the 70's and 80's as a fullback. If you could make contact with the ball and then clatter the winger at the same time, all's the better. To be honest that's why I would often chose to watch a Gaelic Football match than some Premier League games these days. I agree with you about too much protection for keepers, this is how it used to be:

Hi Guys, Geordie who popped on to your boards over the last couple of days just to see what the thoughts were on the other side. First can I apologise for the clown who came on here recently to troll you guys. Unfortunately keyboard warriers and bell ends like him are part of the brave new world of the interweb whatever team you support, however the vast majority of Newcastle fans would not support in any way that kind of shithouse style of behaviour, therefore I also apologise on their behalf as well. To give another North East perpective on Southampton, I've long had a little bit of a soft spot for Saints, having worked on and off in Hampshire and the surrounds for many years. Spent a lot of time around the Eastleigh/Chandler's Ford area as well as Southampton and around the Forest and found that most Saints fans are knowledgeable and passionate about their team (one or two dicks, but again that's the same for every team). Regarding the game, my first response was that it was a really good end to end game, much better than the Arsenal v Man U game the day before, which was like watching paint dry, despite the score. I thought that Southampton made it difficult for us and although some people are surprised at our position in the league, defensively we are spot on at the moment. I would say that Southampton made far more chances and made Pope make more saves than any team in the last 10-12 games. Pope had to make three good saves, that's three more than Arsenal forced from him! I had more of a feeling that we were going to concede a goal that for quite some time. Re the disallowed goals, I would say if you disallow one you have disallow the other. At least there was consistency, lack of consistency in refs is the thing that really pisses me off. I was really interested with Armstrong's performance, have always thougth that he could develop into the real deal, saw him when he was at Newcastle and also in the Reserves a few times. When he left us (was loaned out) he did well in Division 1 but then struggled in the Championship, but after a couple of years came good at that level. He might have struggled since he went to Southampton, but I think he could still come good (Just look at Joelinton, Schar, Almeron). He's still young for a striker (25) hopefully he will start hitting form (hopefully starting next Wednesday.) People around hre who know him think he's quite a decent lad as well. Didn't think Pope should have been sent off, if anything your lad had made a back for him by pulling out, although I am of the Norman Hunter/Wyn Davies generation who thinks it's all gone a bit soft. To all of you who head up north I hope you have a safe trip and enjoy yourselves (but not the result), I've done the journey between the two cities more times than I can care to remember, and it's a long old journey (once drove their for a one hour meeting and then had to drive straight back, nearly killed me)