saints_is_the_south

FAO Saints fans due to fly home from Milan on Friday 21st, information here (in Italian) on flights in respect of the transport strike in Italy. All flights between the hours of 07.00 - 10.00 and 18.00 - 21.00 are protected and should all depart as normal (although I imagine the ones between 18.00 - 21.00 will be subject to delays, morning flights may be OK). If you're flying in between those hours be prepared for delays/cancellations as the strike will include Italian Air Traffic Control. http://www.enac.gov.it/repository/ContentManagement/node/N1368939924/Voli_garantiti_sciopero_21_ottobre_2016.pdf

FAO Saints fans due to fly home from Milan on Friday 21st, information here (in Italian) on flights in respect of the transport strike in Italy. All flights between the hours of 07.00 - 10.00 and 18.00 - 21.00 are protected and should all depart as normal (although I imagine the ones between 18.00 - 21.00 will be subject to delays, morning flights may be OK). If you're flying in between those hours be prepared for delays/cancellations as the strike will include Italian Air Traffic Control. http://www.enac.gov.it/repository/ContentManagement/node/N1368939924/Voli_garantiti_sciopero_21_ottobre_2016.pdf

I've been told by a mate who has been to Milan a few times that the streets named Corso Garibaldi and Corso Como are good for a beer. The two roads run into each other and are a short walk to Garibaldi metro station where you can take the metro direct to the Stadio San Siro stop.

Er, yes it is what I paid for. I paid fo special delivery, why on earth shouldn't they provide me with a tracking number?

I'm guessing nobody has received their tickets yet then? Surely would've seen posts all over Facebook and Twitter if people had. Plan to phone the club again tomorrow and insist they provide me with the tracking number, even if it means I have to sit on hold for hours whilst they search for it.

Corso Garibaldi and Corso Como are supposedly good for a beer. Can then hop on the metro from Garibaldi station direct to the San Siro.

Phoned the club this morning to see how they were getting on sending the Inter away tickets out. Was told that they'd started posting them this week and tickets will be with supporters by next Monday at the latest. I also asked if they could provide me with a Royal Mail tracking number given that they are being posted by Royal Mail special delivery and was told no this would involve going through a log book of several thousand tickets to locate my tracking number. What's the point of sending them via special delivery if they can't provide the tracking number to the purchaser? And why not add the tracking number to the online booking at the time of posting.

Any idea on how many we've now sold for Inter? Not seen an update for the club in a while and they're not answering the question on Twitter either.

Either they've moved us all from the top tier into the middle one (which holds about 9K) or the initial 5K is in the top tier and the additional 3.7K will be in the middle tier. We won't be in the bottom tier, that has already been on sale to home fans.

So with the prospect of 8,700 Saints fans being in Milan it is probably about time we started discussing meeting/drinking areas. The obvious one is Piazza Duomo (location of Milan's Duomo Cathedral) which is where I imagine many will congregate. However word of warning, this is likely to be the most expensive place in he city to drink, I once got stung for €15 for a beer in a bar in the Vittorio Emanuele II shopping centre just off the square. I've only ever been to Milan once for half a day so don't have great experience of the place, I was talking to a friend last night who has been a few times and he recommended the following areas and pubs. Corso Garibaldi and Corso Como (they lead into one another) The above are situated close by to the Garibaldi metro stop on line 5 which takes you direct to the San Siro with no changes involved. So that area could be a good bet. He also recommended the English Football Pub, 5 minutes walk from Piazza Duomo. It is only open from 12 til 3pm and then re-opens again at 5. Any other ideas welcome!

You got lucky! I've been to a lot of Roma home games and several away games, been checked every time and sometimes more than once for the same game.

I have been to 20+ live football matches in Italy. I can assure you they will check your ID against your ticket whether you are in the home ends or away end. Isn't worth risking using someone else's name/customer number.

I have been to 20+ live football matches in Italy. I can assure you they will check your ID against your ticket whether you are in the home ends or away end. Isn't worth risking using someone else's name/customer number.

The away capacity at the San Siro is approximately 4,500 in the 3rd and highest tier of the stadium, we'll be right up in the gods! We'll be in the Curva Sud end (Inter's traditional home end is the Curva Nord). However I know that when away teams in Europe have been likely to bring large followings for European games they have before moved the away sector to the bottom tier which can hold between 8 and 10,000. That would be the ideal move so then everybody who wants a ticket would definitely getting one. Haven't booked up yet but looking at flying to another city in Italy then getting the train up having seen the prices to Milan rocket in a matter of minutes and hours!

First post in a while but felt compelled too when the news broke about Garcia last night. As well as being a Saints season ticket holder I've also followed Roma as my foreign team for the past 12 years or so, been out to watch 25+ games and watched every Roma match during Garcia's tenure so I'd like to think I'm well placed to offer a bit of an insight into him. I've seen some on here and twitter who have obviously searched him on wikipedia and seen his win percentage and overall record with Lille and Roma, but there is more to Garcia than just his statistics. So here goes. Garcia had a fantastic start at Roma, picking them up when the club was in turmoil after losing the Italian cup final to bitter rivals Lazio the season before hand. After winning the first 10 games of his first season in charge (a record in Serie A), the team played some great football with Totti and Gervinho linking up very nicely indeed in attack and defensively they were solid as a rock. Roma went on to achieve 2nd place and a return to the Champions League after a 4 year absence. It appeared that Roma had found a very talented and special manager and possibly the man who could one day lead them to the Scudetto. Roma started off Garcia's 2nd season in similar fashion, winning their first 5 games before losing to Juventus in a game heavily influenced by refereeing errors. Roma's performance in that game however suggested they had closed the gap to Juve and that they would fight with them for the title until the very end of the season. Shortly after that game Roma met Bayern in the CL at home and took a 1-7 hammering. From that moment onwards things started to go downhill and it's a defeat that neither the team nor Garcia ever fully recovered from. They soon fell out of the CL and a run of draws against mid table and lower half teams allowed Juve to run away with the title. This poor run of form meant that in the end Roma scrapped into 2nd place on the penultimate day of the season. Not a particularly outstanding achievement given many had considered Roma as title favourites at the beginning of the season after Antonio Conte had left Juve, and 2nd place was the bare minimum expected considering Garcia had by far and away the 2nd best squad in Serie A. During the 2nd half of the season Roma were also hammered by Fiorentina in the Europa League (3-0 down at home at half time in the 2nd leg) and knocked out at the quarter finals of the Coppa Italia, again by Fiorentina. Some real cracks were beginning to appear in Garcia's Roma. Teams had started to work out his tactics and they became a lot easier to defend against. Many opponents would sit deep, not allow space in behind for Roma to counter attack and Gervinho to utilise with his pace and Garcia had no answer to this. He had no plan B and persisted with the same 4-3-3 formation week in week out and continued to play out of form players. Roma played some incredibly ponderous football which became increasingly frustrating to watch, there was no energy or creativity about the team and they would spend most games passing the balls sidewards and back to front without threatening the opposition at all. Another annoying feature of Garcia was his failure to accept responsbility for Roma's poor form, often blaming it on bad luck or injuries. I've read that his lack of plan B and inability to be flexible with his formation and tactics also caused problems during his latter seasons at Lille. This blog written at the time Roma appointed him explained what to expect from and highlighted his tactical inflexibility and hesitance to attempt changes. http://frenchfootballweekly.com/2013/06/19/what-as-roma-fans-can-expect-from-new-boss-rudi-garcia/ Roma started off his 3rd season in mixed fashion, beating Juventus early on but again failing to beat many of the smaller sides in Serie A. They did temporarily manage to claw themselves to the top of the table but it didn't last long. A run of 1 win in 10 included one of the most humiliating and embarrassing results in Roma's entire history. A 0-0 draw followed by a penalty shoot out defeat at home to Serie B side Spezia in the Coppa Italia which was one of the final nails in Garcia's coffin. In the end the vast majority of Roma's fanbase wanted him sacked and we finally got our wish in January this year. Some will look at Garcia's record at Roma and suggest his sacking was harsh, but I can safely say that in 12 years of watching them the football played during his final 12 months is some of the worst I have ever seen them play. It got to a stage where the prospect of watching a Roma game was just downright depressing, because the poor performances just became inevitable and it was obvious Garcia had no idea how to change things. It was a great shame because the way Garcia embraced the club and city early on really endeared him to a lot of fans, myself included. He was genuinely passionate about Roma and come across as a decent guy, and right up until the very end I still harboured hopes that would turn things around. But his tactical stubbornness and inability to be flexible cost him dearly. IF Garcia has learnt any lessons from his time at Roma and can prove that he is able to be flexible then we could do worse. He is a talented manager but with some real short comings that so far during his career he has been unable to address. Be prepared for a good start under Garcia, but if I come back here in a year or two's times to see complaints that he always uses the same formation, keeps playing out of form players, doesn't know how to get us out of a bad run of form...etc then I won't be at all surprised.

When the club announced Liverpool was sold out on Thursday morning, there were still single seats available. A mate phoned up and got three after it had been announced as a sell out, so what MLG is saying is right. Seems the club do announce a sell out whilst there are still single seats available, which I find a bit bizarre.

Predictions: Swansea (H) - W 2-0 QPR (A) - W 3-1 West Ham (H) - D 1-1 Liverpool (H) - W 2-1 West Brom (A) - W 1-0 Crystal Palace (H) - W 2-0 Chelsea (A) - L 2-1 Burnley (H) - W 2-0 Everton (A) - L 2-1 Hull (H) - W 3-0 Stoke (A) - D 1-1 Spurs (H) - D 2-2 Sunderland (A) - W 1-0 Leicester (A) - W 3-1 Villa (H) - W 3-1 Man City (A) L 3-1 33 points + 42 already obtained = 75 total. Probably enough for top 4. I think it's fair to say that the contenders for the top 4 are now clear, and will be us, Man Utd, Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool. Don't see West Ham mounting a challenge for top 4 and expect them to finish 8th. We have 5 games left against current top 8 sides, 3 at home and 2 away. Here are our rivals' remaining 16 games and number left against top 8 teams. Man Utd: Leicester (H), West Ham (A), Burnley (H), Swansea (A), Sunderland (H), Newcastle (A), Spurs (H), Liverpool (A), Villa (H), Man City (H), Chelsea (A), Everton (A), West Brom (H), Palace (A), Arsenal (H), Hull (A). Games against top 8 sides = 6 (3 H & 3 A) Arsenal: Villa (H), Spurs (A), Leicester (H), Palace (A), Everton (H), QPR (A), West Ham (H), Newcastle (A), Liverpool (H), Burnley (A), Sunderland (H), Chelsea (H), Hull (A), Swansea (H), Man Utd (A), West Brom (H). Games against top 8 sides = 5 (3 H & 2 A) Spurs: West Brom (A), Arsenal (H), West Ham (H), QPR (A), Swansea (H), Man Utd (A), Leicester (H), Burnley (A), Villa (H), Newcastle (A), Saints (A), Man City (H), Stoke (A), Hull (H), Everton (H). Games against top 8 sides = 5 (3 H & 2 A) Liverpool: West Ham (H), Everton (A), Saints (A), Man City (H), Burnley (H), Swansea (A), Man Utd (H), Arsenal (A), Newcastle (H), Hull (A), West Brom (A), QPR (H), Chelsea (A), Palace (H), Stoke (A). Games against top 8 sides = 6 (3 H & 3 A)

Any well run and organised club will start planning for and identifying summer transfer targets months in advance, so I wonder when it is that Les Reed & co start looking at & making enquiries about players to sign based on us being a Champions League team next season. Secondly, how many additional players do we need to manage PL & Europe (in CL or EL form). Surely the idea has to be get into Europe, but then continue to compete for the European places in the league as well.

That decision was an embarrassment. Officiating standards do seem to be at an all time low this season, can't remember them ever being so bad.

Just had this text of a Newcastle supporting mate: "We have Cisse and Tiote out in African cup of nations, De Jong, Rolando Aarons, Ryan Taylor, Steven Taylor, Obertan and Abeid all out injured - I make that 8 that would potentially start! We are also on bare bones! I'd take a draw anyday. "

Each country gets a market pool from the TV rights, which is then distributed between it's participants. The domestic league winner will get the most, and the 4th placed team will get the least. For example, the link provided by Stud mark of doom shows that for the 13/14 Man Utd (12/13 champions) received £23.75m whilst Arsenal (4th in 12/13) received £11.32m. The participation bonus for the group stage is a standard £8.6m for all teams, and then you earn prize money for the results achieved during the tournament, think it's £1m for a win and £500K for a draw. If we qualified for the group stage I'd say we'd be looking at between £20m & £30m depending on results. Then you have the added gate receipts and merchandise....etc. Not bad for having to play 6 games (8 if we finished 4th).

Saints fans coming from the Isle of Wight for today's game may want to leave a little earlier than normal. Speed restrictions in place for the ferries due to the cargo ship that has run aground in the Solent, possible delays.

After witnessing the opening of the new training facilities today, and the tribute to the great ML by naming the pavilion in his honour, how about we put on our own thanks to Markus by organising a thank you choreography at SMS before a game. A thank you for the amazing team we have out on the pitch, a thank you for the legacy he has left, a thank you for everything. It's been a while since we did one, Coventry the last IIRC, Walsall before that, both club organised though I believe. The last and only one I can recall us organising as fans was Chelsea in 2004/05. Thinking Red & white stripes with 'Thank You Markus' in black across the Kingsland Stand would be nice. Thoughts?

To those who are describing Italy as nothing special, I am intrigued to as what they think England are?! This isn't the best Italian team ever, but we aren't all that great ourselves, a shaky defence and failed to break down a 10 man Honduras side who will be one of the contenders for the worst team at the World Cup. Italy almost always suck in the build up to major tournaments, but more often than not they deliver when it matters, something we have rarely managed to do. They have World Cup winners & European finalists in their ranks, we don't have one player who has been past the quarters. Write them off at your peril is my view. I am hopeful we can get a draw against them, 1-1 draw is my prediction. If we can nullify Pirlo our chances will certainly be a lot better, but De Rossi can still dominate the midfield. I just hope we go out and have a go at them rather than try to defend for the entire 90 minutes and allow Pirlo to do as he pleases like we did in the Euros, if we repeat that performance I don't think we'll get so lucky a 2nd time. After Italy I think we'll go on to lose to Uruguay and finish 3rd in the group. That's been my feelings for a while and the 3 friendlies have done nothing to persuade me to change that view. 2nd round would be a great achievement IMO.

Just had a phone call from the club informing me that as I haven't renewed my season ticket I could still do so at the renewal rate, despite the deadline for renewals having already passed. Firstly I had to inform the sweet sounding young lady that I actually had renewed, to which she informed me I had mistakenly been put on the list of non renewals. More interestingly, the fact that the club are actively phoning STHs offering them the renewal rate after the deadline would suggest a poor show in the number of renewals to me. Anybody else had the call (renewed or not)?