sandwichsaint

I was looking round last night thinking much the same; with hindsight (or as some of us said at the time) they might as well have shut the whole of the Chapel and kept the Itchen/ Northam corner open. There couldn't have been more than 700-800 in there last night and they rarely contribute any 'atmosphere'. If those fans were dispersed into the Kingsland and Itchen we could more than afford to re-open the two corners closed at the Northam end. Which would give us a presence in more than one section of the ground and not let the oppo fans have it all their own way as Ipswich fans did too much last night! As for keeping the family centre open (or whatever it is in that's the Chapel/Kingsland corner) what a joke. Some might say 'it's midweek' but you could count the individual people in there last night. Surely we would have saved more real money (on police / stewards / operators / catering) if we had just completely shut the top quarter of the ground (the whole Chapel and the two corners that end) and concentrated the fans into the remaining three quarters of the stadium (where lots of people wanted to go anyway!) DUH!

I'll try and do it geographically-ish! Gillingham Charlton West Ham Spurs Arsenal (Highbury) Arsenal (Emirates, if Bruce Springsteen counts) Chelsea (old Stamford Bridge with the track and the curved shed end, 76 semi etc) Chelsea (the 'new' Chelsea village) Wembley (old) Brentford Crystal Palace Wimbledon (at Selhurst Park if that counts) QPR (and QPR with the plastic pitch) Luton (on grass and on plastic) Ipswich Colchester Brighton (Goldstone Ground) Portsmouth Dell SMS Bristol City Millenium Stadium Coventry (Highfield Road) Coventry (Ricoh) West Brom Aston Villa Leicester (Filbert Street) Wolves (the 'old' Molineux before they turned the pitch 90 degrees) Wolves (in it's modern form) Stoke (Victoria Ground) Derby S****horpe Middlesborough Blackburn Sheff Weds With a bit of 'creative accounting' that's about 35 grounds I've seen Saints on. Non-League: Dover / Folkestone / Margate / Fisher / Hastings / Sittingbourne / Dartford / Deal Town / Staines Abroad: Chatereaux / Nancy / Lille (all France) Favourite ground(s): The Dell! Highbury. Ipswich. Bristol City is also a good 'old' traditional ground Biggest dump: Luton or Selhurst Park Best atmospheres: Millenium cup final! the old Molineux. West Brom at the end of last season Least atmosphere: Middlesborough, nothing happened, we got beat, and dreadful 'goals' music every time they scored! Best Saints away game: Derby play-off

My first post for ages (extra busy, hence not posting much) and haven't read all of the above but for what it's worth: reading some of the above I'm wondering if I was at a different game last night? I went to the Brum game and after an exciting first half of 'total football' we rather predictably ran out of legs and were comfortably beaten in the end. The kids looked keen enough but it was real men against boys stuff in the second half. I left SMS pretty content that I'd seen the future (and the future was Division 3!) Then the false dawn of Derby who let's face it hadn't won a league game in 12 months, then the total car crash of the Blackpool game (on Sky for me) and again on Sky last Sunday at QPR. All in all I travelled my 150 miles with a fair sense of foreboding last night. Rocked into town at 5.30 and I've never ever seen the pubs so empty and devoid of atmosphere on a match day. And so to the match: I didn't think the actual game was anywhere near as poor as some on here are making out .. I've seen much worse in terms of 'entertainment' over the last few seasons. Ipswich have always tried to play football and you can't fault our players for any aspect of their effort and application .. it's just that several of them are completely out of their depth at this level. I thought we rode our luck a bit in the second half but not our fault the lino gives their forwards offside when they are (!) (and if we got lucky then we were owed one after Sunday's second goal). Thought on balance 2-2 was probably about right. We play some tidy football up until the final third but lack any sort of a cutting edge up front. Perry made a big difference at the back last night though we still look all over the shop when the oppo attack. Cork doesn't look a centre half to me (too good!); we should have begged/stealed/borrowed a brick outhouse McAuley-style CH as a priority. The right back (don't even know his name) was better last night than the other 3 games I've seen him in this season. Surman was penny dreadful last night, I was a big advocate of him at LB after the last few games of last season but he is completely wasted there in this team. Wotton tried hard, Gillett's confidence looks shot at the moment and he needs a rest, I thought Dyer was OK within his obvious limitations. Haven't read all the thread but can't believe McGoldrick isn't getting some stick (maybe he is!) .. **** poor last night... again ... after Sunday's no-show. John lacked any sort of service and he needs that; Lallana was excellent again although I thought he could have been involved more, if he plays in the hole we need to play through him more. Despite all those obvious and known limitations I really enjoyed it last night, you get the feeling the crowd (most of them) can appreciate the effort being put in and are willing the young players on. Go and watch Saints this season and you will see some decent football (not sure if you will see many wins though!) Bit of a rambling post (out of practice) but what I'm saying is make up your own mind ... don't beleive all the negatives on here... go and see for yourself ... and SUPPORT THE TEAM ... ! I travelled with a certain trepidation last night and I was probably inwardly hoping for another 'Blackpool' so as I had an excuse, a reason, not to bother for a few months. In truth I came to bury them but travelled home praising them. I'll be down again for the Norwich game and looking forward to it now... Saints are for life, not just the Prem! COYRs