EFM

Yes that was a strangely dreary season really until the run at the end. From my recollection we didn't play particularly well (at least not as well as anticipated) and were one of those sides in the middle most of the time with little to get excited about. I agree with another poster above exactly, in that if we were in Birmingham's position and form we would be getting 28,000-30,000 every home game. I cringe at some of our attendances but so many factors have contributed to them being low whilst BCFC don't have any excuse. I don't personally hold with this "small club" idea. Our average in the Prem was, I think, the 8th highest in the country one season. Maybe that was the season we finished 8th! But it still puts a lie to the idea that we don't have the potential support of a lot of clubs who consider themselves as "big clubs". It doesn't take much for their support to drop in bad times either.

Whatever some might say about Saints fans I was amazed to hear the supporters of a team in with an outside chance of the play-offs boing their team from a long way before full time. Given the season(s) we have endured I think our supporters deserve credit for rarely venting their anger at the team during the course of a match. Listen to the Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal fans for example who boo loudly any time they haven't won. Liverpool fans even booing when a home draw took them to the top of the Premiership! We don't have such fickle fans as some on here would like to believe. Compared to most clubs these days we are pretty bloody good!

I think you're spot on there but after the last 3 games at least we have some hope returning to the fans quickly. I was getting a bit carried away myself after 2 wins but after last night I'm basking in an unusual warm glow about Saints. Even if don't get anything at B'ham I would think the £5 offer should see us get at least 25,000 for Derby? Plus it's a grudge match for a lot of Saints fan anyway. As Saint Clark said, even if we don't make a profit on the night the extra support and atmosphere will be well worth it if it contributes to us staying up. (Ok, forget the Forest game!) More importantly, I can afford to go :-)

I'm one of those who is getting carried away with two wins in a row and quite excited about tonight even though I'm not going. Damn this sudden "hope" feeling! Isn't the phrase "it's the hope that kills you"? Oh shxt, I'll go for 4-0 Ipswich and several serious injuries to our most important players. That should sort it.

I'm one of those who is getting carried away with two wins in a row and quite excited about tonight even though I'm not going. Damn this sudden "hope" feeling! Isn't the phrase "it's the hope that kills you"? Oh shxt, I'll go for 4-0 Ipswich and several serious injuries to our most important players. That should sort it.

Sorry Bexy, if I knew how I would have put a winky eye thing at the end of my post. I wasn't really calling your Saints supporting credentials into question. I'm sure my illogical loathing of all things P'mouth related is as alien to you as your slight indifference to them is to me. It HAS always been "that way" though in my time of supporting SFC (nearly 40 years). I wonder sometimes if it is partly to do with being brought up in the "border" towns that make some us more anti as any Friday/Saturday night in town was likely to end in a row with them somewhere. Then again that doesn't really add up as most will have been brought up in Soton postcodes and feel that the rivalry between the 2 cities is the thing. As said, it's not rational it's football :-) Ps Regards Eastleigh, I've always thought of that as Saints territory but it seems to be split?!

I think it could still be good if I left.

If you did say that you deserve everything you got! And stop trying to apply some rationale to it - this is football. We are Southampton supporters, most of us hate anything to do with the great unwashed, their city and particularly their football club and that shxtty blue shirt and its pathetic emblem. That's the way it is and should be. As Scotty said, no logic need be apllied although if you grew up where you were outnumbered by the cxnts or had ever been to Fratton you would find a lot of very good reasons. I can only conclude that your family did not bring you up properly as a Saints fan. Hating Pxmpey is integral to supporting SFC imo. You have also missed out on the biggest joy in football - watching us play and stuff our local rivals (on numerous occasions) is the biggest adrenalin buzz EVER. All IMO of course. You should also be tried as a traitor IMO.

Used to be my screen saver. I punched the air when he did it again on MOTD!

Has anyone mentioned Darren Andert..............oh yeah, several of you. No 1 on my list. What a Saints fan eh? Could have chosen any other club if he wasn't getting a game here but he swapped for the Poxpey shirt? I await the usual abuse when I mention his name as a traitor of the worst kind. (The mighty Channon and Davies only did it for pocket money when they knew they weren't up to top class football any more.) 2) Ron Harris for whacking Davies in the knee at least 50 yards from where the ball was and then spending his post professional career living on his tales of what a talentless thick thug he was when he played it. 3) Alan McGouglin for being pictured in the sunday papers wearing a Poxpey shirt whilst still at Saints. (To be fair we wouldn't play him cos if he got one more appearance we owed a lot more money on the rest of his transfer fee!) 4) Ronaldo for the Beckham wink, the diving, moaning, riverdancing etc etc - AND being good at the same time. 5) 'Arry. No comment needed. Ps Westwood isn't worth much of a mention as I think Skates find him nearly as embarassing, if not as annoying, as we do. Embarassed mention - I think Steve Claridge is alright. Sorry. Change of mind mention - Ian Wright. Used to **** me off as he always scored a load against us but he was hilarious at MLT''s testimonial and I forgave everything (apart from his useless punditry).

Inspired genius Arizona :-) As well as many of the others on this thread who have cheered up my evening. Cheers!

Harry; Yeah, I admit I did royally shaft every club and its fans once I realised there weren't no more transfer money and I could earn better somewhere else anyway.

Andy, it sounds like you were there so I as I wasn't I'm happy to accept your point of view as more valid than mine and I'm not being sarcastic with these questions. But was David M playing well? Did he look like suddenly hitting a vein of form that he doesn't seem to have ever achieved in "first class" football (sorry that phrase was a bit sarcastic but not at your expense)? Did you think that at 0-1 down it was a good idea to swap our most prolific striker of late for a young forward-playing 17 year old lad or would it not have been better to add MORE attacking options as the game possibly drifted away to another defeat rather than taking off the one man who seems able to create and score at the moment? From a distance it seemed like total madness to me but as someone who presumably attended did it make sense to you at the time? I'm honestly not being sarcastic as I only heard the horror unfold via radio/tv. What did you think about the substitution and overall?

Please add my name as many times as you want. Saga hasn't been doing the business but we keep DMG on?! Oh christ how much more mindless insanity can this club take? Sky paraphrase, after we took Saga off, - "Southampton have had much of this last 20 minutes but, as usual, you can't see where a goal is going to come from" - MAYBE WOTTE, IT WAS FROM SAGANOWSKI, YOU KNOW, THE BLOKE WHO SCORES REGULARLY FOR US? I just ****ing despair these days. If you got a bunch of skates in to deliberatly fxck our club up they couldn't do it ANY better than this bunch of wxnkers surely?

UP - I rarely reply to anything without reading the whole thread but after those quotes from our manager I honestly cannot bare to read any further on this one without puking or smashing my computer up. I trust my fellow Saints fans have meantime covered the stunning imbecility of Wotte's comments. Beyond belief. I'm beyond despair infact if that is the retarded conclusion of the man supposedly picking the side and tactics. I tell you that there is only one thing I can possibly conclude about our f'ing Dutch experiment and that is that are making skunk even stronger these days.

(Ps I have no idea why I typed STF there? SFC obviously)

Chez - very ambiguous yesterday depending on which ticket office you spoke to! SFC - Yep, no problem WFC - Yep no problem if there are any away seats left STF - Plenty of tickes left WFC - SFC have 200 left and we've just sent them another 250. I didn't want to risk it in the end and have booked mine for collection. Would hate to get there and find we've sold out our section.

No other club really matters does it. I would just support whoever happened to be playing Pxmpey each week I suppose.

I can't be bothered to look up stats Stanley but, if I remember correctly, in the early 70s we somehow stayed up with 6 wins all season - 3 at home and 3 away! Admittedly that was in a 42 game season. I can only assume we drew a record amount or that the two teams below us were diabolical. Of course, with us having already equalled that number of wins already I'm sure you'll agree we probably only need one more to be safe again this season? (Even that may be asking too much at this rate anyway!) Apart from the fluke stats, no we have certainly not been remotely this bad in my 40 years of following us. Oh! Except last year wasn't exactly great either but I didn't realise it could get THIS much worse.

They just said on Badio 5 that transfers CAN be completed after the 5 p.m. deadline if the clubs concerned can show that any delay was due to the weather. So we've got ages yet before our major signings need to be made :-)

I think it's called inviting the opposition to attack you at will knowing that if you do clear the ball it will come straight back and you also have no hope of scoring (or indeed having a single shot in our case). What a revoluntiary idea to bring an additional forward on, change the shape, offer some attacking threat and nullify their attack at will idea! Nobody on this forum could possibly have thought that up so let's be grateful the Dutch genius eh?

Total agreement with your choices Stockportsaint for similar reasons but just to endorse the post from Denzil too, can we can rid of that 6 fingered fish fxcker Spike asap please admin?

Myself about Peter Crouch - "Not only is he a talentless gangly ex-skate but his only "asset" is his height and he admits he's no good at heading". Turned out to be one my favourite and most talented Saints players of recent years and a bloody good football player (even if he is back with the blue filth now).

Steve Moran (edging out Keegan)