Whitey Grandad

And a schnorkel. There is a water culvert under the pitch. That's why it was called 'The Dell'.

They've already lost the money. They have been spending far more than the company is worth so their net value is now almost nothing.

Maybe it's because they weren't playing and not in the shop window?

The permissible sizes are somewhat different to that. The touch line can be between 100 and 130 yards and the goal line between 50 to 100 yards. You most definitely cannot have a square pitch, the touch line must be longer than the goal line. For international matches the length is from 110 to 120 yards and the width from 70 to 80 yards which I believe would have ruled out the Dell. http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/lawsofthegame.html

Phew, look what promotion gets you. That could have been us, we had a lucky escape there.

I can't remember when we had a couple of good fullbacks.

It was the same size as White Hart Lane and slightly larger than Highbury. Or was it the other way round?

I've seen cack in a Saints shirt.

I saw him win one. I remember thinking at the time that he wasn't winning anything in the air, and then blow me he went and won the next one. Perhaps I should do that more often.

I suspect it is because the business is a more attractive proposition, Premier League and all that.

Correct. After a season like the last one - or the relegation one - you can always point to one chance and say 'if only that had gone in' then all would have turned out differently, whereas all that you can do is make sure that you increase the number of opportunities to score goals and to deny the opposition their's.

I think that the problem was not that it didn't come off, rather that we weren't playing it.

I agree with both of you. It's much too soon to read too much into the low crowd figures but if I were running the club I would be feeling a little bit nervous.

I'll say it again. They are not kids, they are inexperienced footballers, but the main point is that the great unwashed are being asked to pay high prices to watch them learn their trade, and when they have they will be sold off to the highest bidder. It won't affect my support. I'm old enough to have seen it all before and I shall still be there through thin and thin. It's the 10,000 who have found other ways to spend their hard-earned pennies that we should start to be concerned about.

And how big were the crowds?

But that is my point. We are charging top prices for a second-string act. Watching last Saturday was worse than any of the games that I saw at SMS last season and, before you ask, I only missed two: Bristol City and WBA.

... or to watch a bunch of cheap understudies. What they want is the main act. It's like buying a ticket for a top rock group and finding the stage filled by a tribute band.

I'm prepared to give him a chance but I'm hardly excited and I don't think that he will be pulling in the crowds. What we really need is a couple of full-backs!

Saint Robbie, I'm completely with you on this one. I will be there with my support just as I would be if it were my own kids out there, but there was a whole league of difference between the teams last saturday.

.... and they had to change their manager to do it.....

Only 2 of them are teenagers. The Middlesborough team yesterday averaged 22.

The loan period goes on for another month so there's no guarantee after tomorrow that nobody is going to leave.

Here's a thought for you all: Leicester have 10 points from 4 games and won 4-0 away yesterday. It could so easily have been us in their situation and with the same manager. Would anybody swap places with them?

The ratio is usually given as one goal from every 6 chances. And I agree with Arizona, James looked out of position at right back. They were swarming all over him first half.

I'm with you on this one. Championship, my rrrrrr.