countysaint

Injured in the warm up is the buzz in the crowd

Not for much longer….. Hopefully!!!

This lot are so much worse than the class of 2005. Soul destroying watching this spineless shower. Ruining the enjoyment of watching them every time they play now!

So Leicester City have won more at St Mary’s in a calendar year than our team???? Brilliant just Brilliant....... Now that takes some doing!!!

True Gentleman, gone far too soon. Thoughts are with all his family at this terribly difficult time. Remembering of course Dean one of his Brothers as he was a Saint in the not too distant past. RIP Ray.

Isn’t it about time fingers were pointed at Katrina Leibherr and questions asked about her part in our ignominious downfall? In my eyes she’s sold us down the river and as a fortunate circumstance of holding the Leibherr name escapes any criticism whatsoever!! I’m amazed I’ve not read one post questioning her assets strip and sale of the leftovers to the highest bidder regardless of financial credibility. This club has taken us supporters for fools for two seasons solid and we’ve allowed her to escape Scott free from questioning or criticism. I’m thinking Marcus would definitely be having a face palm ? right now if he was here to witness the destruction of everything he built. Maybe this should have a thread of its own seeing as everyone else to blame has one.

Would be good if you wrote your message in plain English. I had a job to understand you!!!! Really wish I hadn’t bothered reading it you Dimwit!?

I remember writing to Reuben after he left,expressing my sadness and disappointment that he had moved. He unexpectedly wrote back to me thanking me for my letter and Remarked that both himself and his wife were overjoyed to read of my gratitude for his performances and if memory serves me correctly there were references to LMcM and I was of the impression that he very much disliked him and felt he had at the time had a detrimental effect on his career. The move to Sunderland was a relief to get away from whatever the problem had been with LMcM but when he then left for Sunderland too I think it was a very difficult time for Reuben. I was so pleased that a footballer who gave me such enjoyment watching him play had taken the time to reply to me. Can you imagine a modern day player actually writing and posting a letter to a fan nowadays rather than social media? I later tried writing to David Armstrong after he left but alas didn't receive a reply! Great memories of a player of a bygone era that for me were the best football days of my Saints supporting life. Thank you Rueben and thanks to the OP for this thread.

Bloody hope so! 3 adults 2 kids from woolston side of itchen bridge To the other side was £10 on Saturday! How can this be allowed???

Slightly different scenario with me but simillar! I along with my longstanding ST holder mate from Selsey went to Five aways plus West Brom this season thus fulfilling the criteria for Liverpool away tickets. I went to SMS ticket office to purchase the Liverpool tickets only to be told my mate had only attended five games and was not entitled to a ticket for liverpool. I argued the point that we had stood side by side on every away game of the six required and they told me it was an issue with the Spurs purchase last season online. I was able to purchase up to 5 tickets every time i logged into my online account even though i should of only been able to have one per ST number. I only purchased the tickets for me and my mate but afterwards went to the club to point out what I had done and ask was it ok? The guy said it was a glitch in the system but the tickets would still be valid. When I pointed out to the Ticket Office supervisor that it was a club system error that had caused this problem she refused to over ride the decision and refused me tickets for Liverpool. I had not broken any rules and even when I realised I had two tickets on one ST number I notified the club with all good intentions only to have issues now with the club showing no common sense being able to overturn the decision despite the valid explaination! In any other walk of life you stick two fingers up to the company treating you this way and say **** you ill go elsewhere! but as its football they know you cant! SORT IT OUT TICKET OFFICE YOURE A JOKE!

18.07.2008 0-2 And No we were not PL but they still tore us a new one and probably still would, as they would with most PL sides! I also have no interest in SPL football just was asking the question why it seems we regard The SPL a league below us (yes I know we are now PL!) but Celtic beat Barcelona last year so they cant be that bad.......Can they??

I don't understand why people say that coming from the SPL to our level is a step up! I remember Celtic giving us a lesson in how to play the beautiful game in a pre season match not so long ago! We were miles apart from them and I don't mean in a positive way either!!

Who says you'll get a ticket for Arsenal away? I asked first!!!

Sincere condolences to friends and family. Another Saint watching fom a higher viewpoint. R.I.P

Does anyone have any info on where to park tomorrow? Is there park and ride near the ground? Just Chinese Whispers I know, but was told that there is no parking anywhere near the ground.Would be greatful to anyone who can help on this.Thanks

Not gloating or anything like it,but if you really wanted a ticket that much,why did you leave it till 8 o clock to start queueing? I got up at 4.30 this morning and got to the ground at 5.20 where 6 hardier souls than me were already there! Between them they required 35 tickets and had the required amount of ST numbers. I inquired last week when were the new batch going on sale and how many? I was told 100 when i first asked and then on Monday when buying Coventry tickets was told about 150. I obviously knew then they would be in short supply. I sort of felt for you guys further down the queue but like I said you could have spent 3 1/2 hours at the front end and more or less guaranteed a ticket!! See you other hardy queuers at the AMEX!!

All of the below was from an email that I recieved and NONE of the below is written by me. As the full email is too long to post, PM me for the full transcript.There are some more juicy bits that I had to cut out to fit the post in. It has some very interseting points I think you will agree. The vision isn't just about 5 years. There is no point in getting back to the premiership if we are just going to struggle when we are there. Once we are there we will compete to win the title, that's the point of being there. The team is being built as exactly that, a team, that will get us out of league one, but also out of the championship. He wants to add players, but only if they will be good enough to progress the team and be 1st team regulars. If we get promoted this season, he wants the team to aim for the top two in the championship next season, and by doing so we may hit the playoffs providing we build the team properly via January window and in the summer. He said that the January window is difficult as any players we would want would be likely to be involved in Promotion pushes, or fighting to stay in leagues for their current teams so their clubs may be reluctant to let them go, so we might not see that much action in January. Before they employed Pardew, Nic and Markus were told not to employ him because of his personality, but Pardew won Nicola over. Nicola was wrong. He said the JPT cost us promotion, and the amount of games in all four competitions was a significant contributing factor. He said the start of our season was ruined by pre-season training in Switzerland, the players were pushed too hard. Ricky for example was in great shape ready for pre-season, he told Nicola that he wanted to get 40 goals this season., and he'd been training in his own time during the summer to ensure he was in good shape. Unfortunately the intensity of pre-season training un-did a lot of that work, and he picked up a number of injuries. Nicola he really feels for Ricky as in the closed season Ricky did everything right, but the pre-season training meant he ended up with about three different problems, where just as one sorts itself out, another one limits his training, he is still struggling with these problems. It sounded like Pardew basically wanted things done his way and didn't listen to the experts around him saying he was pushing the players too hard. The morning of the first game in Switzerland, Pardew had the team doing laps of the pitch in 34oc heat, and they then went to play in the afternoon, this turned out not to be a great idea. He created a fear culture where his staff (coaches, physios etc) were scared to speak out against him. In contrast, he said that everyone at the club likes Adkins and he's settling in well, apart from his wife not moving down yet. Baring in mind that Adkins is a Physio by trade, I think it is fair to say those mistakes won't happen under his reign. . Markus favourite player was Papa, who was apparently a very funny chap, a character who's English language improved remarkably. Nicola said Papa would come back, but Fiorentina wouldn't loan him, and we would have to buy him and he didn't think papa was good enough to push us forward. One of the people there said it would be good if on our last home game of the season the players shirts had Markus's name written on them. That suggestion was well received by Nicola and the rest of us; (sure there would be a lot more shirt sales generated as well if a limited shirt was also sold in the club shop). Nicola knows what next seasons' shirt looks like, the design has to be finalised in the next two weeks. He wouldn't describe it, but its red and white! . Regarding the funds we have, it's clear there is money there, he said "we could have spent 100mill on a premier league team" but as has been said all along, we must be run in a financially sensible manner. My opinion on this after hearing what Nicola had to say in person and in his press report (and this really is my own gut feeling) is that providing we do things the 'right' way and are not throwing money away, there will always be money there so long as Nicola is with us. He's stated in his BBC interview that although Markus's family are 100% committed, should they ever decide they wish to pull out, he has other people who would come in and replace them which is reassuring. . He said they had conducted a study that showed we could potentially attract 40k+ fans to premiership games, and obviously this requires enlarging the stadium. However, he said the surrounding roads and those in and out of the city could not cope with that amount of traffic, and would have to be improved to enable it all to happen. He's talked (informally or formally he didn't say) to a council chief or who ever the powers that be are, and he was getting good vibes from their side to enable us to safely and quickly get 40k people in and out of the stadium without bringing the city to even more of a stand still on a matchday. He will reconsider half season tickets, suggested that maybe he offer two half season tickets i.e. first half and second half of the season and also will look at season ticket holders being prioritised for purchasing their own seats for cup games before going on general sale. He said no more than 1300 people took out the instalment plan for season tickets, and as has been said, over a quarter of those people didn't pay but kept coming!, evading capture by sitting in other seats. This would be solved by the electronic tickets, because these people could be instantly denied access. An interesting point that Nicola made was about what we'd refer to as dead wood. As we are aware, last season the club off loaded 13 or so players, but he said we still have players that "should never have received a pro contract" This frustrated him for a number of reasons, one of which is because it hindered the progress of the young and talented players. Nicola said they have offered certain players on loan, with the condition that our club would pay 100% of the players wages during that time and other clubs have refused! He also said he has offered a couple of players money to leave but they refused! He was also deeply saddened that the previous administration swapped the Bale sell on clause for Tommy forecast! One particularly interesting and shocking thing was what he said about Begbies Traynor, our administrator. They backed the wrong horse for a long time, granting the pinnacle consortium exclusivity and leaving Markus and Nicola out in the cold, so Markus treated to his TEXAN RANCH! for a week or so and wasn't contactable by everyone. Then Nicola got a call from the administrators but was surprised when he asked for a period of due diligence, and that Markus wouldn't just sign the papers put in front of them, It took 15 lawyers 10 days to go over it. One of the other fans there was a particularly well dressed and spoken chap who said he used to work with Rupert Lowes brother. He had met Rupert a few times, and although he didn't warm to him (not many did) Rupert made a lot of mistakes yes, but he used to get depressed by the amount of corruption in his boardroom. This makes a lot of sense when you consider the amount of cash we received from big transfers, which went.. Where?. Nicola was saying we have a very good group of 6-7 youth players coming up through at the age of 16ish who have the potential to be premiership standard, but a void of talent a few years older. The youngsters are interacting with the 1st team in training and James Ward - Prouse in particular is excelling. If the new plans for the training ground are accepted and put into place, The building will incorporate both youth and first team platers, but the different players will have different levels of facilities. For example the youngsters will have good facilities, and will be like a college environment, but they will see that if they work hard, the facilities on offer to the main squad will be bigger, and better. I think it's to let them know that they haven't made it, and they will be inspired to work hard and impress, because all that will separate them is a door. So if they work hard, they can make it through the door! They have recently employed 25 staff for the youth teams alone, and now the academy players are taught at Staplewood instead of going to Tauntons. That removes the time taken to travel between the two places. He said they are making it a second home that provides everything they need. A lot of them now get their earlier and stay later. It ultimately keeps them getting bored out side of training hours, and the staff can make sure they don't get into trouble! He said we will have a new shirt sponsor next year, and we have attracted interest from a lot of companies. 17 of the current championship managers applied for Pardews job! As did at least 1 premiership manager and a couple of international managers!

Just back from the game. I watched Danny Wilson spend the entire 90 minutes in his Technical area, giving direction and leadership to his team. I looked for Dean Wilkins, but sadly no sign of him giving any direction whatsoever.................Although I doubt he could have given directions to the team bus in the car park to be honest!! Answer to the OP question............If he hasn't got the worst record then something wrong must have been recorded in the history books!

Totally agree with your price! There is another point here that really has had me narked since Wembley and the winning of our first silverware since I was a kid. Having been to all the games in the competition last year and the cumulative spend for all the previous rounds and at Wembley on the day for the family included, I would have REALLY appreciated the club at the very least being bothered to parade said silverware in front of its home support at some point after the win!! Having watched our progression through this competition last year I ask, what is there in it for the supporters?? We don't even get to see the victorious team parade 1 solitary lap around our home ground after winning the trophy................Why bother at all this season if we don't deem it important enough to show off to the home fans?

I know that it has been done to death,the added tax on tickets etc.etc... What I would like to know is,how many people have thought about the cup games so far B'mth, Bolton and now Swindon,decided to go at the last minute and realised it was going to cost THAT bit more now it is matchday and then thought, No, Stuff Cortese and his supporter tax I won't go out of principle! I didn't want to make a big deal of this at the time, but as the games have come I have thought about going before matchday ,been unable to commit as work commitments dictate then deciding to go on the night and realising it would cost EXTRA for the same game, so have not attended. I was going to take my son tonight who would have been free with an adult but now it will cost an extra £4 for us to go and I object to this so will not be going. How much damage to the attendance figures is this tax going to make to the clubs income over the season? I'm just curious to find how many people feel the same? I don't really care too much for the sarcastic posters I just want to know how many people feel the same? Whatever the attence is tonight the club could have added another two to its figure and I suspect many more.....................................How many are the same as me?

How it works is like this: 1st = Automatic promotion 2nd = Automatic promotion 3rd = Playoff place 4th = Playoff place 5th = Playoff place 6th = Playoff place 21st = Relegation 22nd = Relegation 23rd = Relegation 24th = Relegation The football pyramid system is the same whichever league or country you are in,so no excuse for being foreign and not knowing how the third tier of English football works! Simples!!! Oh and bye the way............Disgusted we are back on the managerial merry-go-round. Thanks AP, good luck for the future.

Markus is dead as being reported on SSN R.i.p Markus and thank you. Condolences to your family.

After getting ****ed off reading thread after thread with different titles,which ALWAYS descend into personal agendas and bickering, I thought that maybe we could use this thread and JUST this thread to get it all off your chests if you feel the need! Yes have a go at Cortese if you want! Yes have a go at Alpine if you want! yes bicker to your hearts are content! but PLEASE, PLEASE,PLEASE..............Do it ALL on this thread only and leave all the other threads to stick to topic!! The whole board is becoming a bloody joke and just not worth reading anymore. Lets get back to proper sensible debate and enjoy reading Saints debates not personal gratification from several (yes, you know who you are!)regulars. Thanks. Mods can we have this as a Sticky?

Setady on patred!! The dirty Leeds bit yeah....................but hush your mouth on the last bit!