Berkshire Saint

Worth pointing out that the bloke who did these reviews is a Pompey fan, although he technically didn't do the St Mary's game as his Norwich supporting mate did (the game was our fairly routine win against them). Considering our record in recent seasons I don't think our home support is that bad, certainly no worse than other clubs of our size. These things tend to go in cycles, Villa and Leeds seem to have very good home support at the moment but they've had plenty of seasons with attendances way down in the not so distant past. Never really understood the fuss about Palace's home support, possibly because we have a decent record there. Not much you can draw from one game really (and in some games the reviewer was in amongst the main singing end which no doubt skews things) and including stuff like food is pretty pointless as most don't tend to bother with it.

Chelsea have been pathetic this half. Hopeful balls to no one in the box.

What screwed us was that most of our signings for that play off season had minimal resale value, lots of players in their late 20s/early 30s (who had usually played for George Burley at other clubs). Only players we made money on were academy graduates like Bale or Baird (and subsequently Surman) or ones we signed fairly young like Jones.

From memory I'm fairly sure the second yellow would be a straight red now!

Luton away

Done exactly the same, usually The Cricketers which is really good. Don't think The Alex has had real ale regularly since covid (I think it was declining just before then to be honest) although it looked as busy as it's been all season for the Man City game when I walked past.

He took them fairly regularly before scoring his first one and had quite a few near misses from memory! Also wasn't a nailed on starter for quite a while. Would have been Lambert (who scored a few) and probably Tadic (don't remember him scoring any) taking most of the others before I think. I think Van Dijk, Yoshida and Bertrand used to have a go too. Also remember Cedric randomly scoring one in Hughes' last game against Man United.

As good as he now is for us, free kicks aside I'm still not convinced that JWP is good enough for a top 6 club based on his all round play. Although I can see the appeal for clubs like that given they're more likely to find themselves in big title/cup deciding moments and someone that good from dead balls can make such a difference. I could see him ending up as a squad player/utility man (a bit like James Milner) if he did end up going. He's 28 this year so if he doesn't go in the summer, he probably will never get a 'big' move.

Seem to recall they breached financial fair play rules in their Championship winning season. Fairly sure their owner took them over when still in League 1.

Yes, he was quite a bit before my time but looking at his record for us it looked like he had the potential to get close to Channon in terms of goalscoring record at one stage. Instead he was out of the top flight by 25 and looks like he had a pretty middling lower league career afterwards unfortunately.

From memory I don't think we were ever top of League 1 that season and it was really all about pipping Huddersfield to 2nd as Brighton went top and stayed there fairly early on. We were in the relegation zone when Adkins took over in mid-September and ended the season really strongly (something like 13 wins in the last 15?) so can hardly say we bottled it. Possibly an argument for that in the Championship season given we were top for most of it. Reading's late run was really strong though and ultimately it came down to that game with them towards the end of the season.

He probably did deserve more of a chance with us (certainly ahead of Mayuka although he barely played either) but he didn't really tear the Championship up in the two seasons we loaned him out. He then had a disappointing season with Leeds. It was only when he dropped down to League 1 in 2015/16 with Sheffield United that he started scoring prolifically again.

I was there for the evening session on Friday evening and a couple of pretty borderline ones went our way when we were bowling. Sounds like Amla and Roussow got bad ones in our first innings too.

Have a season ticket and been to plenty of aways so unfortunately, yep. This is our first FA Cup semi final in 15 years and only our fourth since 1976, just find it bizarre people won't be going because of our league form. Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

Went there after seeing Saints crumble on Saturday. Pitch was noticeably slow so Vince's innings on the first day really stands out looking at the scorecard. Disaster has struck though as because of Hampshire being sponsored by Greene King IPA there is no longer any Ringwood Ale!

I must be painfully out of touch as I can't quite fathom how we're so short of selling this out!

Leeds away in first season in League One was pretty bad. Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

I'm giving this one a miss as well now. Left home but turned back before I got out of Maidenhead as felt it was too bad. It wasn't forecast to come this far south! Seems to have caught the council out too as the roads here haven't been gritted. Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

Alsop is worth persevering with. He had a decent season in 2016 and when recalled at the end of this season had to keep wicket (keeping generally looked pretty good) and bat top 3 which isn't ideal. Too soon to write Weatherley off as he's only 20, it can take players a long time to establish themselves in county cricket. Felix Organ is meant to be very good but is still only 18. If Ervine and Adams are out of contract it's probably time for them to go unfortunately after very good careers with us. However we could be left with a very small squad if there aren't any replacements lined up! Looking through the averages in Division One and Division Two there don't look to be many top quality batsmen knocking about. It doesn't help that so many matches are played in April and September when the conditions aren't great for batting. I'd give Edwards another year after his finish to this season. I can't see Topley getting fit enough to play four day cricket unfortunately. Wheal has done reasonably well the few times he played this season but there seems to be no home grown youngsters coming through at all. They could do worse than looking at club cricket/minor counties players as some other counties have done, we did it with Ryan Stevenson but unfortunately he is always injured.

112 for 9 now. As a batting unit they have absolutely no bottle. To have already crowned champions Essex and already relegated Warwickshire in our last two games was the ideal run-in and to not even draw one of those games is pathetic. I know a poster elsewhere in this thread disagreed but I felt enforcing the follow-on last week was a real **** up and allowed Essex back into the game. Abbott has been outstanding and the rest of the bowlers have also had good seasons, even Dawson has done well but that has been to the detriment of his batting. Abbott and Berg have also bailed us out with the bat regularly. I don't know their contract situations but I think the time has come for Adams and Ervine to move on. They've barely got into double figures for the last month or so and unfortunately Alsop hasn't done well either. In his defence he was mucked about a bit earlier in the season and it's not ideal to keep wicket and bat in the top 3. Vince has flattered to deceive yet again. I'd give Fidel Edwards another year as he's been very good in the last few games. There is an argument for not bothering though as he'd probably be too old for Division One in 2019 if we managed to come straight back up. The lack of young seamers coming through is a massive concern...we don't have a single home grown seamer in the squad and I'm not aware of any in the 2nd XI or Academy. Giles White has to go, they seem to find a new job for him every few years but it's time for someone from outside to sort things out.

12 for 4 and will lose this game now surely. Our batting lineup has no bottle. Given the early stage of the match enforcing the follow on didn't seem necessary. Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

Block 36 I'd suggest. Lower down in 37 you'd probably be okay but from about half way up most stand there I think.

There were rumours linking Vince to Essex towards the end of the season in a couple of papers. Vince denied it on Twitter and Wheater ended up joining them so wonder if it was a case of crossed wires from some journalists! Very odd that nothing has been announced on Adams or Ervine. Quick Google suggests that Weston is correct that their contracts expire this year. I'd give Adams another year and Ervine another two or three. Adams actually did okay last season despite no tons and you don't want to lose too many experienced openers at once with Carberry unlikely to play again. I thought Smith might have been out of contract this year, he struggled so you would think he may drop out of the regular side to more of a cover player. The batting actually looks okay on paper (flatters to deceive a bit) but the bowling still very weak and we will struggle again. Another problem is how bad most of our bowlers are with the bat! Our tail gets blown away very easily and Edwards, Crane, Wheal and Topley are all number 11s. You shouldn't pick your bowlers based on batting ability but numbers 8 and 9 being able to contribute something makes a big difference. How often do sides do that to Hampshire?

George Bailey on 2 year deal as overseas. Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

We definitely used the long throw throughout his time with us. It got booed on occasion in the relegation season! Was much more loopy and easier to defend compared to how it was for Stoke. Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk