Latheal

It was amazing, like iansums said earlier, was just like the JPT semi (maybe its something about the Dons, if I remember correctly they brought no fans to that match as well!). I even took my mother today for her visit to St Marys as an early Mother's Day present - she was cheering so loudly at the end she fell off her seat. Not sure how many we'll get on Tues, I'm hoping we'll steadily grow until the end of the season - obviously Tues is massive as well, gutted can't be there due to work commitments. There's plenty more twists and turns to go yet, but at the ground today the game just felt crucial.

To be fair Alps, I think the boos for Forte were because a lot of the crowd thought it was Barnard's number which had been held up (he even started running off the pitch) before everybody realised that it was an MK Dons substitution first - it died down almost immediately. Some of the things that have been written on here are absolutely shocking, especially be people who weren't even there. We were nowhere near awful. First half we played some pretty good stuff, just the final ball and a willingness to shoot were missing (Guly being the main culprit although some of the crossing was shocking - looking at you Hammond). Second half, we were much better and Stephens made a great start by showing Chaplow how to pass a ball to a teamate from 5 yards. Not a perfect performance, but for sheer entertainment it was breathtaking and its all about the points now as Walsall showed us. The Stadium was rocking at the end. AL is fast becoming a legend - how we managed to get that kid to sign a new contract is beyond me. He's worth the price of a ticket alone. On another note, the reaction of the crowd when we went 2-0 down was awesome. It was actually quite a proud moment as a Saints fan - I don't think anybody in the crowd could quite believe we were 2-0 behind, we didn't even deserve to be 1-0 down. The guy who got up in the Kingsland corner and started orchestrating the whole stand and the Northern - my friend, you are a legend. Have faith. Today was massive. The crowd knew it, the players knew it and the manager knew it and for once it was all as one. Fair play to NA and the players and everybody who went. Fantastic atmosphere.

Nobody wants to see another club go bust although if they do and we benefit then so be it. The rules are the rules and we all signed up to them at the beginning of the season. Whilst we are all looking at how it affects us at the top, there is a flip side at the bottom as well. I doubt they would still relegate four so somebody who has been down there all season and played within the rules would get a stay of execution and to be honest, that's how it should be. If Plymouth have lived beyond their means then they are no different to us, Pompey, B'mouth and the others. We all got bailed out within the rules (in some cases more stretched than others) by whatever means. If Plymouth do as well, good luck to them, if they don't then those that benefitted whilst playing within the rules have got what they deserved. I won't feel like we haven't deserved it - in fact quite the opposite. The state of football needs to change, its almost a common appearance every season now that somebody gets -10 or is threatened with extinction. For those of us saying we don't deserve to go up if its by the fact Plymouth go bust, does the team that finish 4th from bottom deserve to go down when they would have been 5th from bottom if Plymouth were still there (albeit with the minus 10)? Of course, that's in the scenerio that Plymouth are still in the bottom 4 if they are liquidated...

One of my best mates is a Bournemouth fan and I asked him about this rivalry yesterday - he reckons its nothing sinsister but they don't have any local "derbies" apart from us and its the miniority who are the Chavs and call us "Scummers". Most of them see us like we see them, look out for our results and are happy when we win. He's even come down St Mary's a few times this season with me. After last season, its amazing what they have done down there and am really happy for them. Nice club. Even better weekend! I did give him a £50 bet that they wouldn't get 2 or more points of us. He didn't take it.

Not being funny, but what is this whole database stuff about? I rang constantly today, finally got through at 5:15, wasn't on the database as all this season and last I have purchased on the day (and before people start saying "not a true fan" my work commitments mean I can't really do weekday games which is why I didn't buy a season ticket) and the guy just entered my details, gave me a customer number and I ended up with tickets for MK, Pompey and Leeds. What's the problem?

Ticket office open at normal hours - got my Mk Dons, Pompey and Leeds tickets today at abut 5:15pm. Bloke I talked to still reckoned there was about 6K left for Pompey but soon retracted that statement, and 4k left for Milton Keynes. Struggled to find me a decent place for Pompey but got the Northam for Leeds and MK. Wouldn't pay too much attention to the numbers they give out over the phone, sounded like he was struggling to find me a seat for Pompey whilst the others were easy enough. Can. Not. Wait.

The other side of that coin is that sooner or later we will start playing well...Still think somebody is going to get a proper spanking before the end of the season from us... As for the playoffs, as rightly pointed out, it probably isn't 7 pts but 10pts to make up (the likelihood of Swindow losing BOTH their games in hand is pretty low to be honest). Howerver, having still said that we do still have to play everybody directly above us. From now till end of January is going to tell us alot about what our aspirations for the season will be - somebody mentioned 8 points (2 wins, 2 draws) over our next 4 games but if we look from the Colchester to Stockport game then a minimum of 4 wins and 2 draws is achievable (with 5 wins and 1 draw not impossible). Yes to making the play-off Yes to thinking we will get there No to it not being a disaster if we don't. I'm still enjoying the ride. COYR

Probably a bit bias as a love the kind of player is but you'll see I've always rated him as well - this is not a "I told you so" post but do feel English football kind of stagnates this kind of player. Absolutely delighted to see him doing well at the moment, he will have crap games where he disappears but that's the trade off - Jesus, didn't MLT and Gazza do the same thing (and no, I'm not putting him in that class)? To me, at this level, he's a match winner. Don't care if he does sweet fa for 89 minutes as long as he does something to win the game in that 1 min of magic. He may go in January and to be honest, fair play to him if he does but I think he'll stay until the end of the season just to get a full good season under his belt. On a similar rant, is nobody else ****ed off at the way we treat creative players in this country? Joe Cole was the last, truly, exceptional world class teenager we had. Remember being at Southampton Uni and had a West Ham fan in my flat. He used to say how they played 5 aside in training and as soon as Cole was put on the other side, Ian Wright would kick up a stink saying the sides were unfair. I remember watching him in some Intertoto cup match at 16 where he beat 6 players and put in a 30 yard effort - he was simply amazing. Then Sven and Mouriniho got hold of him and said stop dribbling. Can you imagine if he was Brazilian?

The guys ran 40 yeards for their goal without anybody tackling him - can't just blame Thomson for that. Its an opinion - I thought we looked better with him on the right than that we did with Melis and we improved the second half with him on the pitch, hence I gave him a 7. FWIW, I voted Harding as the MOM. Is a game about opinions, just because somebody doesn't agree with yours, doesn't mean they are a "tosspot". Get over yourself. And sorry, he tested their fullback a hell of a lot more than Melis did.

Got to be honest, I was there and didn't think it was anywhere near as bad as some was saying - three home debutants in Melis, Hammond and Trotman which was always going to make it difficult - Brentford also unbeaten this season. First hald was pretty even although they probably just shaded it but the second half was all Saints. Trotman (and lets be fair here, he's useless on the floor but immense in the air and definitely has a presence) was good, I thought Hammond had a good debut and only Melis was disappointing out of the three. Morgan had a mere from where I was sitting and we looked a whole lot better and threatening when Thomson and Saga came on at half time (and to be honest, could not argue with those subs). Also, was it me or was Lallana a different player in the second half as well? He is so much better when he actually runs at players and looked dangerous every time he got the ball. Lambert must have won every single ball in the air, including the one that set up Harding (who was easily man of the match) and we looked pretty comfortable in that second half. Only downside was that nobody nailed their player who ran 40 yards before crossing the ball for thier equaliser and that we didn't get the 3 points the second half performance deserved. I was actually quite encouraged by the second half performance. Ratings, below, for what its worth; Davis 7 (had no chance with the goal, some of his kicking was poor but had little to do to be honest) James 6 (too far off his man although put some dangerous crosses in first half - hardly saw him second half) Trotman 7 (Great debut - can't pass for toffee though. Awesome in the air). Perry 7 (steady and calm.) Harding 8 (Excellent again. Calm finish, strong in the tackle and was actually showed some good pace at times). Melis 5 (should have scored when put through by a back pass - was nowhere for first 20 minutes but did show some flashes) Morgan 6 (excellent in places, just bottles 50/50s too many times and for godsake, head the ball man!) Hammond 7 (so much better than Wotton it was untrue. Played some good one touch passes as well and spread the ball well. Really promising debut) Lallana 7 (first half awful, second half much, much better. Actually looked dangerous) Lambert 7 (won absolutely everything in the air. Has an aura about him - need more crosses for him to thrive on. Free kick was awful though) Patterson 6 (Shuld have scored in first minute after Lallana put him through. Willing runner but right to be taken off at half time) Subs Saga 7 (linked up much better with Lambert and worked hard) Thomson 7 (gave us much needed width and tested their left back. Final ball needs to improve though) Rasiak NS (too little time to make an impact)

Get in!

Sure that's the case as well - which kind of makes me wander why Rasiak came on last night if Pards wants to off load him. I know its only the Carling Cup, but surely it lowers the value?

Yep, mine being bought then as well.

Just read this - looks like news travels slowly to Dubai - but either we may have another friendly lined up before Millwall or they've got us mixed up with somebody else, http://www.gulfnews.com/sport/Football/10335035.html "We have deliberately lined up strong games for our team as we want them to see where they stand against such champion and professional sides," Priceless.

Kinda makes sense why AP wants to hit the free transfer market first, soon they'll be nothing left! Did notice the amount going out from us as well, thought we got more than 1mil for Surman but not sure how accurate the article is.

That's the best comment today!

Don't know if anybody else is interested but saw this at the telegraph website - interesting to me to see what the other clubs are doing. Leeds have been tipped to do well this year but their supporters don't seem to be that happy with Mr Bates at the moment (and still haven't signed Sodje). For those of us expecting a 2-5million spending spree, interesting to note that only 1 deal incoming to League 1 has reached 500K. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/football-transfers/5494052/Transfers-League-One-summer-2009.html

Told yea I didn't know much about League 1 re S****horpe. Point is, none of those teams you mentioned had -10. If Leicester had last season, they wouldn't have gone up automatically as the league finished. Leeds did start on a minus, and they are still there. I think 2 years is realistic and should be more than achievable but I just think the play offs this year are completely out of reach. If we do, Pardew deserves a massive bonus after inheriting a team that have looked so out of depth for the last two years, short on confidence and quality (at least in the middle of the park) and with no fight within them. First 5 games will show us how its going to be, and with Millwall first game and one of the better teams in this league, we'll have a much better idea how we are faring after it.

To be honest, I have no idea of the quality of this league. The fact that Leeds are still her 3 years later makes me think its not as easy as some have mentioned. There are some big clubs above us with a 10 point head start and there's not enough time for Pardew to get enough quality in before the end of the Transfer window (and buy this I mean buying players, not the Bosman's). Obviously I'd love it if we stormed up the league, I think its going to be a lot tougher than people are giving it credit for. Looking at the fixtue list does not give us a clue about the quality of our opposition. Most people had Doncaster being relegated last season from the Championship, mainly because of their name. The likes of Swindon, Bristol Rovers, Tranmere, Brighton, Oldham are not going to be easy games - when you add in the teams you would expect to be at the top (Norwich, Leeds, MK Dons, Millwall, S****horpe and Charlton) I would be amazed if we made the play-offs. Without the -10, yes, with it, its a hell of a challenge.

Totally agree, would love to see him stay. Haven't read the echo with Pardew saying that he and Saga want to leave, couldb't care less about Saga but if we could keep Rasiak it would be a massive plus. We still need another experienced pacy strikey IMO. Still great result, Barry Hearn (Orient chairman) was on SSN earlier saying that this season is the toughest season ever in League 1 - when you look at the teams, he's probably not wrong. Not expecting promotion at all but a expecting to stay up and we definitely need a few more players to accomplish that I believe.

General concensus was that he and Saga were the ones to be shipped out because of their attitude. Don't believe he has ever said it out, just appeared he was not interested.

Great result, wonder if Rasiak is changing his mind about leaving or wants to put himself in the shop window? Don't laugh to hard at Newcastle, Orient are in our league!

Good Read!

What I'm saying is whether we have a legal document, written letter, handshake - its all irrelevant. The very notion of not being allowed an appeal is illegal and therefore cannot be enforced by the FL. The compensation argument you use is also guarded by statue law - there are statues in force that enforce the minimum you have. For example, if your employer offered you less than what you were entitled to by law with no right of appeal and you accepted this, do you honestly believe you could not appeal it? Of course you could, because the agreement itself is illegal... I'm a bit rusty, but I did 4 years at Southampton Uni studying law and that was one of the main things they drummed into you - its why when you see the T&Cs on items you buy it always says "This does not affect your statutory rights". Statute rights are God in Law. If its written in law, you cannot have somebody else come along and change it on a whim, which is basically what the FL are doing. I'm not saying we would win or that it wouldn't damage our relationship with the FL, but the basic right to appeal should be there.