knellster

When Shrewsbury made the play offs I went to their home game to complete the 92. Of those 74 have been with Saints and there will be 3 more this season. Also seen Saints at 3 grounds that no longer exist, but hopefully I'll get Arsenal back when we get back to the Prem!

Living in Nottingham I know how much it really ****es off the County fans that they hate Forest but the Forest fans almost always wish County well. I have desperately tried to do the same with the Skates but I'm afraid that I just can't. I grew up in Skatesmouth and when I was younger watched both teams at home (although I was always a Saints fan), but as I got older and experienced more of the hated from the Skates I grew to dislike them more and more. Now I really wish failure on them with an unnatural passion and can't wait for them to start next season in the Championship on -10 points, but I still wouldn't say I hate their fans and it would certainly never involve violence (but maybe that's just because I'm too old).

Saw Mills once after we played at Elland Road. He disappeared quickly when he saw loads of people waiting for autographs, and then came back and said "Sorry but I can't sign properly with a pair of boots under my arm so I put them in the car". He then spent however long it took to sign everything that people wanted signed. Obviously I don't really know the guy but he came across as a thoroughly nice bloke who had time to chat to anybody.

I've got my Bucharest ticket in perfect condition 'cos I asked the steward just to tear a tiny piece off. He looked at his mate who smiled and said something in Rumanian that I would guess was along the lines of "here's another anorak who hasn't got a life" and then gave the whole ticket back to me. It is now in a Smith's photo album which doesn't have pockets so can take tickets of any size (which I guess just proves that the Rumanian guy was right). As far as Ebay is concerned, it was a great way of making money from England away games until everybody realised. Whether people were trying to pretend to their mates that they went I don't know, but we would walk round the ground after games and collect a handful of ticket stubs that were on the floor and then sell them when we got home. When we were "banned" from the Macedonia game I sold about a dozen for between £8 and £20.

It isn't strictly speaking a rule but the fourth official should show the board on 90 minutes. I know 'cos I got bollocked by an assessor for putting it up early at a game!

The referee's main responsibility has to be the safety of the players. As a previous poster mentioned the idiots in the corner weren't watching the match and couldn't wait to get onto the pitch. My guess (and I am sure that the ref won't admit to it) is that he wasn't convinced that he, his two linesmen or some of the Burnley players were safe and gave a message to the players that he would blow the final whistle in 10 seconds so they could make their way towards the tunnel. Did anyone see where the assistant on the Kingsland side was when the final whistle went? Was he already half way across the pitch? Sadly Duncan there is something of a precedent that won't help us. Fulham got relegated when a match finished over a minute early because of a pitch invasion by opposing fans. I don't think the behaviour of our "fans" will encourage the authorities to help us.

If you go for this offer then take note of the small print. You get a voucher that must be exchanged for a ticket in person at the ticket office before the day of the game. So if, like me, you live a long way from Southampton then it ain't much use!

Well I was there, I did see what happened, I had a few beers before kick off and I took my seat 5 minutes before kick off. And I thought the language the kid was using was disgraceful. The penalty decison was dreadful and several people were hurling abuse at the referee, but most of them did it from their seats. One chose not to and when the police told him to sit down he didn't. There is no question that the police overreacted, but we all know what they're like so why give them the excuse to overreact in the first place? I have never been in trouble with the police at football matches, not because I'm an angel but because when I have got over excited I've taken notice of a copper telling me to calm down even if he's told me more aggressively than he needed to. We're not gonna win against them so why try?

I wonder if "our" view of the referee's performance would have been the same if we were 1-0 down and he hadn't given a penalty for a Cardiff defender handling in the same way that Perry did, or if he had given the penalty against Perry after not giving one for the foul on Saga. For what it's worth I thought he did well generally, but I though he got two major decisions wrong - they just happened to cancel each other out. Also, I have never understood the view that a good referee doesn't show yellow cards. I've seen loads of referees who haven't shown cards when they should, and games have just degenerated into wars. Usually it's the behaviour of the players that determines people's view of the referee - if they behave and he has nothing to do then everybody says the referee was good, but if they act like arses then he's always the villain for showing lots of cards.

In the 80s I met a girl on a train who was going to watch Saints at Stoke. I was immediately smitten and we chatted all the way up and back. A few days later I plucked up the courage to ask her out and being a romantic type suggested the midweek away game at West Brom for our first date. My car was not very economical so I knew that if I filled up when I left home I would have enough petrol to get there and half way back. Unfortunately I forgot about the detour I made to pick her up so I ran out of petrol on the M6 about 10 minutes into our return journey. I'm sure I could have found somewhere more secluded to run out of petrol, but at least Saints won and she gave me a big hug when we scored.

I can remember reading a newspaper report of a game against Blackburn in which the reporter referred to "a mindless group of supporters who couldn't forgive a player [John Bailey] for something that happened years ago". I always wondered what he would have thought about the abuse he still got when he moved on to Everton. I also seem to recall that he was frequently injured whenever Everton came to The Dell. It was great fun though. Other than him it would probably be Bagpuss and Peter Crouch. We took a gamble on Crouch and turned him into an England player. He then behaved like a complete ***t in a vital game at Palace and ****ed off as soon as we got relegated. As far as players in general go, I would have to say Ronaldo and Gerrard for having great talent but still seeing the need to cheat at every opportunity.

Yeah we do have some crap fans. For example those that jeered Fuller for no reason other than he used to play for the Skates, and those who only think it's ok to support Saints in a certain way. For years I used to come home from games unable to talk 'cos I'd been singing so much, but I'm a lot older now and I'm more concerned with watching the game. Someone asked "why do you go if you're one of the Marcel Marceau brigade?" and someone else complained about people telling him to sit down. Well maybe you've always been in good health and you're still young, but there are people who for one reason or another are unable to jump about and sing all day - should we ban them from SMS? As I have posted on here once before, my dad's last day on this earth was watching Saints at Fulham, but since he could do little more than just sit there and watch the game it seems that people on here think he shouldn't have been allowed to go. Well sorry but that's just b0ll0cks.

I know it shows my age but it's gotta be Steve Moran in '84 against the Skates. He also got my 2nd favourite when he scored the wiiner in the last few minutes at Liverpool in the early 80s after Katalinic had somehow kept it at 0-0. 3rd would either be MLT in the last game at The Dell or Camara v Norwich.

I know that I'm gonna regret it afterwards but I'll be there too. I just can't help myself.

Unless they're behaving like complete @rses (in which case the stewards will spot them anyway) what's the problem? They're putting money into our coffers (I know that Man U and the FA will take their share as well) and they're hardly depriving regular Saints fans of tickets are they? I live in Nottingham and travelled to the game on Saturday on the Forest supporters coach without any problems - is that really any different?

I agree that Le God worked on his game which is one of the annoying things about Saturday. The only two people from Southampton who could kick equally well with both feet were Kelvin Davis and the bloke who won the half time penalty shoot out.

Do you mean as a player or a manager? If it's the latter then no thanks because, as has been said previously, it was all natural to him so I don't think he'd be that good and I'd hate to hear chants of "Tiss out" at St Mary's. However, coming back as a player? Well at least we'd have someone who could take a corner that went more than 2 feet above the ground and reached the 6 yard box.

There's also the Elizabeth House Hotel on the Avenue. I've stayed there several times, and the breakfast is great.