saint1977

MLT WGS Keegan Channon Top evening that would be. Nothing personally against him but definately wouldn't invite the "Exorcist" George Burley - would make the all the spirits disappear.

That was 98-99. 5-0 at the Valley and then a home defeat by Forest. Had lost to Liverpool on the opening day with Beresford finishing his career with a knee injury to be replaced by an unknown 18 year old called Wayne Bridge... We had a problem defending high balls in the opening few games so shows you little changes! Scott Marshall at CB didn't help with his own goals. Jones had a tremendous first season but he bought some crud in the summer of 98 - Marshall, Ripley etc. We had an incredible home run in 1999 and got what I think was our first away win at Selhurst - what a day out that was. Ignore the official figures, we had 15k that day and the volume when Beatts scored was awesome. That was by far Jones best signing in 1998 - Beattie for £1m. That's what we need in 2009 - home form like that. We cannot rely on away wins, welcome as they are and cannot afford any more home defeats. Never mind the tippy tappy stuff, get 2-3 experienced heads in to help the more able young players out and get stuck into the opposition. Results first.

That was 98-99. 5-0 at the Valley and then a home defeat by Forest. Had lost to Liverpool on the opening day with Beresford finishing his career with a knee injury to be replaced by an unknown 18 year old called Wayne Bridge... We had a problem defending high balls in the opening few games so shows you little changes! Scott Marshall at CB didn't help with his own goals. Jones had a tremendous first season but he bought some crud in the summer of 98 - Marshall, Ripley etc. We had an incredible home run in 1999 and got what I think was our first away win at Selhurst - what a day out that was. Ignore the official figures, we had 15k that day and the volume when Beatts scored was awesome. That was by far Jones best signing in 1998 - Beattie for £1m. That's what we need in 2009 - home form like that. We cannot rely on away wins, welcome as they are and cannot afford any more home defeats. Never mind the tippy tappy stuff, get 2-3 experienced heads in to help the more able young players out and get stuck into the opposition. Results first.

The fans would have had a pop anyway but you have to admit RL stirred it right up knowing how volatile fans can be - he's had plenty of experience - which didn't help in 2004. I think Hurlock has a fair point. I would have had Hoddle back but there's a lot of fans that wouldn't in 2004.

You should be fine as our stadium has undersoil heating. There are 3 JDW's in the City Centre but the newest one is next to Ocean Village and is supposed to be not bad. Hope both our clubs stay up and we can drag Norwich and others in the mix. I think Forest will stay up but Charlton are probably 2 defeats away from being gone. Given they've only recently dropped out of the PL and will lose their parachute money in the summer, their board must be bricking it! Their plight could make Saints look pleasant. You've got a good chairman in Ryan and I was cheering you on V Leeds in May.

I don't think that it is more acceptable Alps. Doncaster is MASSIVE now, 2 wins in a row would be a move forward and we'd drag a few more teams in the mire. If we can lay our Carrow bogey and get something AND we kept this squad together through the window then I'd start to feel more optimistic. We need more like Saejis - that sort of player prospers at CCC level and helps us keep clean sheets. If we sell Kelvin though, we've had it. I'm not sure all of the above will happen which is true for most of us fans so this is why Doncaster is such a vital barometer.

Hi Lee, welcome to the site, hope our in-fighting fans haven't put you off! In terms of child-friendly pubs, you'd be looking perhaps at one of the JDWs - there is a new one in the Ocean Village that I haven't got to yet although it may depend on how young they are. I have to drive these days but the pub I use does real ale but is probably too small to be family-friendly. In terms of attractions, there is shopping at West Quay which is quite a large, modern centre. The City has an art gallery (at the Civic Centre), a Maritime Museum and Tudor House if you want something cultural and there are lots of parks and green spaces. The Hall of Aviation is not far from the ground but I've haven't been there for many years. The Spitfire was built in the city. There is a large multi-screen cinema at Leisureworld although the bars around it are a bit much at night. There is another smaller one at Ocean Village plus another really good independent one called Harbour Lights. On the city's outskirts, you have the New Forest and to the East the Hamble River is nice. Royal Victoria Country Park was the site of Europe's biggest military hospital which was demolished in the late 60s to leave a large waterside country park. Lovely museum and about 6 miles east of the city. Romsey is an attractive market town to the West and Winchester is to the North, set in the South Downs. Hope that helps and enjoy your stay.

That is certainly true of Wilde which is why although Rupert isn't my pick for CEO, I still respect him more than Wilde. Having said that, Crouch had already said cuts had to be made - not that I'm a fan or his either. I think the JP gamble was uneccessary with the fragile state we are in and next weekend could be the last chance to really kick on and gain momentum to get out of trouble. Some of the PR on the OS has been unneccessary and inflammatory for the sake of it, not to mention inaccurate. As for the "total football" articles, I won't even go there, the stupidity speaks for itself... Rupert has got a very difficult job but he is also one of the contributors of the mess as well. I have always wished him well and continue to do so. Don't be fooled into thinking that Lowe opposition is a lunatic fringe though, support was about 50/50 on his return at best and a lot of that was provisional which was swept away with the JP gamble. Lowe's supporters are very much in a very small minority. My views are not set in stone, if Rupert keeps the squad together in the window and JP keeps us up, he's had a good season. If he fails on both counts, that's 2 relegations and he really does have to go. Right now, if we can take a pragmatic approach and bring in more Saejis-type signings, we might just do it. I backed Rupert 1997-2003 because he was doing a fine job. 2004-6 his record was dreadful and the jury is very much out on this season. As a fan, I reserve the right to call things as I see them and not be labelled Lunatic Fringe, Lowe Luvvie or Keyboard Thumper.

I wish he had as well OB but you've got to admit that Rupert did make a rod for his own back with all of the "North London Yobbos" spin. I can even remember arguing with 2 STs in the next row from us who had "ABH" t-shirts on making a case for Hoddle's return but the hysteria from Hoddle's exit in 2001 that the club had whipped up still made rational debate impossible. These 2 men were otherwise good lads all season but were spitting chips at the thought of Hoddle returning and couldn't be talked around. People should think for themselves but Rupert did reap what he sowed (ironic turn of phrase as we're discussing Hoddle...) from 2001.

Agreed, I actually said to my friends in the pub before the Bolton game that Rupert had just relegated us with that decision and I didn't get huge amounts of disagreement, particularly after the game where Bolton won every 50/50, our players bottled challenges and it was clear the players had no respect for Wigley. People were put off by Gray. To put some balance on this post, Leon Crouch was even more stupid going with Dodd and Gorman, for the same organisation to make the exact same mistake 3 times in only 7 years defies belief and shows you none of them have a clue.

Doubt if Harry will comment on any Sol abuse, very hypocritical. Not surprised by another sycophantic article by one of the tabloids - Jeff Powell was always Venables PR man and of course Charles Sale does Rupert's newspaper PR. Harry is simply the new ****ney untouchable post-Venables. Why do people even bother buying newspapers?

Next weeks Spurs V Skates clash is a real 6-pointer actually. I think Stoke will carry on picking up points and both Spurs and the Skates are in real danger. If the Skates win, the pressure will start to pile up on Harry and would put the Skates on 26 points. If they lose, Spurs will be level with them and the Skates will be relying on Boro continuing their poor run or Hull dropping in. I think Big Sam will get Blackburn out of it so anyone up to Hull are serious candidates to go down. Wigan on 31 should be fine now even with a slump in form. Redknapp's comments were odd but designed to push Levy to up his bid for Downing. No coincidence that Downing plays for one of Spurs relegation rivals. I think back to last night's Sir Alan Sugar programme and Harry is definately the London media's new Bambi, taking over from Venables. Actually, I'm not sure who is worse, Harry or Terry?

Cowen has by all accounts had enough - I don't blame him - and Wilde is just crossing his fingers and hoping it somehow comes off OK. Rupert is highly unpopular and hasn't handled his return well - sometimes confrontation isn't the right way all of the time.

That is a very good point to raise actually. I personally had no problem with Hoddle returning but I'm not surprised that there were other STs sat around me with "ABH" t-shirts on. I'll give Rupert his due, he did squeeze a great price for Dean Richards but to stir the rhetoric and then to have a pop at the fans for following his original lead in 2004 was a bit rich. FFS, there were even t-shirts printed for the N London Cup Semi saying "Saints say be a Gooner for the day"!

There's the key, the home form. With the side we've got out, 5 away wins is OK although we need to grit out a few more draws like we got at Sheff Utd & Charlton. We need to win Saturday however scrappy, the result is king and we need to win the bulk of our remaining home games.

I totally agree with this post and Askham was so appalling as Chairman that Secure Retirement had to clear a significant overdraft. However, I know that you are no fan of Rupert either CB but whatever anyone posts at the moment, it just seems to be labelled as pro-or-anti Lowe straight away. OB is as bad as some of the antis actually, many of the silent majority who are not RL backers are not keyboard-thumpers or have ever had an issue with background, education etc. The re-writing of history needs to cease from BOTH SIDES!

Trouble is Adrian, both sides are at it, there has been more re-writing of history on this website since the summer than a David Irving book. Wilde started this polarisation of the fans by using S4E as a propaganda tool - that "COYR and we got our club back" stuff makes me feel sick now. Just as unforgiveably, Rupert Lowe then wasted club money on putting some incredibly PR plants on S4E and I stand by my assertion that more have returned to this site recently. Some of the stuff on the OS this season has been very blameworthy and not neccessarily accurate some of the time either. Trouble is, if Leon Crouch returned tommorrow we'd have Lowe's army sniping and Lowe's pet pressman Charles Sale at it. The only way is a totally new broom, Lowe has about 5-10% support judging by what I see and hear at SMS and that's why some of the criticism is getting a bit unfair. He does invite it though by the way he carries on. That AGM was the final straw all-round with regard to the major shareholders for a lot of people.

Exactly but there are still a small but loud minority on this site who still maintain that if you oppose Rupert Lowe that you must surely come from a council house and dig pavements all week (not that there is anything wrong with either by the way). I think this is very insulting on our fans and to those who may have links with the current regime on this site I would urge you to quit this line of attack because it is a real turn off and not based within any recent evidence. McMillan and co. had a pop but that was so long ago it was just after Souness had left and the issue hasn't reared it's head since - it was only Mandaric wanting to get at Lowe and the media's image of Rupert which is not the fans fault. I'm not bothered about whether Rupert is nice, it's the fact that he's made too many foul ups and would have been out of the door long ago at most major organisations, it's only because senile sycophants like Askham and Richards that he stays in, plus King Rat Mike Wilde. I assume that you were agreeing with me Channon, I certainly wasn't supporting the likes of Professor who keep on throwing this accusation around. Like you, I'm sick of reading that anyone who opposes the current regime does so because he went to public school. Utter tosh and some of Rupert's followers are very worried by current fan opinion I reckon.

Good practical post. I think the people posting on here claiming "prejudice" against Rupert really need to change the record. I'm educated to Postgraduate level so Rupert's background has never been an issue for me at any stage, I think this ceased to be an issue for any supporters that had felt it was a problem in the late 90s and it's only Mandaric with his duck-hunting jibe and the media that have kept it going.

Yep, exactly the type of player we needed and still need more of to stay up. Great win yesterday, lucky or not and I'll settle for another scrappy 1-0 next week and at Carrow as well. Needs must.

Not many of our fans trust any of our major shareholders St Landrew, me included.

Agreed but the recruitment of Sajeis is a step in the right direction, I want to see 2-3 more in that mould if we can move one or two of the worse bigger earners on (ie Euell but that's real optimism!). Doncaster is huge now - if we win that brings a few clubs into the struggle. We MUST win a lot our remaining home games now starting next Saturday, if this result is to have any relevance. We could have been cut adrift this week but we haven't been and the lads must cash in, no allowances will be given for age etc. Football is about pressure, we need those clusters of 2-3 wins as Forest are starting to pull away, we need to draw the likes of Blackpool and Barnsley in. Charlton must be pooing themselves, if we and the clubs apart from Donny win and they lose again next week, they are miles adrift and weaker minus the likes of Bouazza. League 1 would be even tougher for them than for us.

You've hit the nail on the head, the spin was OTT but common sense seems to be at last prevailing and it does give the side a much better chance of staying at this level. We know the younger players that can cut it, we need a couple more experienced players on modest wages to help them through their development. Yesterday's team sheet just looked so much more balanced.

Surprise surprise, we recruit a big CCC type CB and we keep a clean sheet. If we keep Saga and Davis we might stay competitive. Skacel is almost certainly going to moved on but if we could recruit a solid, semi-experienced CM or RB with some of the money I could live with it whilst I like Rudi as a player. I think as fans we need to draw out the positives - Mills, Gobern, Lallana, McLaggon (sp) have all had first XI action and have some idea on what is now required for the future. Some young players like Lancashire haven't been up to it and Gillett has disappointed me as I felt he'd do well and would be lucky to get a new deal. Nevertheless, we need a couple more experienced faces to blend with the better young players. Lallana can wait on the bench, that team yesterday would give Doncaster a tougher time next week. Looking forward to seeing Molyneux.

It does seem that the penny has finally dropped and the staff can see what the fans have been able to since about October.