kwsaint

1998/99 for me. We were a long way adrift at Christmas and were in the bottom three virtually all season. Just checked. We got 13 points from the first 19 games and 28 from the second 19 games. Only got out of the bottom three after the Leicester win, with two games left. Home form in the second half of the season was superb, including coming from 3-1 down against Blackburn to grab a point which really swung it.

Not sure that anyone is missing. It's a list of the previous clubs of the 76 cup winning side, including substitute Hugh Fisher. Nick Holmes, Mick Channon and Bobby Stokes came through the youth system, although Stokes had previously been a youth player with Pompey. But he never played for the first team until after he let Saints

Just checked that one. We were 1-0 up at half time and conceded 4 goals in 5 minutes. I was about to write that we scored 3 goals in 4 minutes against Newcastle in 94-95, but think that the Tottenham game trumps that

https://worthingfc.com/2020/03/veteran-midfielder-dean-hammond-has-signed-for-the-mackerel-men/ Playing for Worthing it seems

The right call imo. Can't see them resuming at the beginning of April either.

Just watched the youtube highlights. Both VAR decisions were right much to my amazement I was at the game, and my reaction for both decisions was that the red card was harsh and it was never handball. Along with most of SMS. But the images on the big screen were not the ones that VAR used to make a decision. VAR is here to stay but the way that it is communicated to those at the game needs massive improvement. Also think that the criticism of Valery is harsh. He was knackered after the layoff and should have been subbed earlier. As should Long. Long's decision making today was terrible, although he ran his socks off. Twice he got through and went for tight angle shots rather than squaring it.

I was at all three home EL games and made the trip to San Siro. It was fantastic. Would love to be in Europe again. BUT. Couple of EL qualifying rounds and group games is 10 extra games. My point is that are squad is so thin that we would end up back in a relegation fight next season. Thats my view. Accept that others may take a different view. Doesnt make any of us less of a supporter

Our squad is nowhere near strong enough to take on the extra games that the Europa cup brings. I am with Chewy on this. I would like to see us scrape into the top half of the table. Would be happy with 10th, especially after where we were in November.

Didn't we win 20 home games in a row in 2011? Atmosphere was a bit different then. The issue is more how we set up for home games, rather than the atmosphere. Really good post in the Burnley thread. We allow teams to get compact as we play so slowly, then get caught on the break when we make a mistake. For away games the opposition tends to open up and attack and we play through them.

RH trying to be too clever. New RB and he swaps out one of the CBs. Completely disrupted the defence. Think that he played Vestergard to counteract Burnley's threats in the air - which they didn't have. Bednarek is a much better defender. Problem is that we have a very thin squad. Having loaned out some of the dross/troublemakers we dont really have much cover. Not convinced by KWP either. There may well be a good player there, but he looked very rusty. We really didnt play well second half. Burnley really only had one good chance. Their second goal was a good goal, although we did look a bit open on the RH side. And having seen the Sky highlights on YouTube, it wasnt a penalty. Just wish that they would show this on the big screen instead of all those wretched adverts.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51413557

A station at St Mary's has been discussed previously, and was considered when the stadium was built. In fact the old Northam station was on the line behind the Kingsland. The council has safeguarded the option of reopening the docks line to the old Terminus station by acquiring land alongside the line for a new station at Ocean Village. But there are a number of problems with doing this. Apart from the cost of fully electrifying the line and building two stations, the curve heading back to the Central station has been filled in. So the trains would have to head north. Not ideal. For me the best solution would have been to have put a match day only station on the mainline north of Northam bridge, where the traincare depot is now. Would only have been a short walk from SMS and crowds could have been easily managed. I know that South West Trains were not keen on this option as the extra stop would disrupt the timetable - ignoring all passenger considerations. South Western Railways don't seem to understand the concept of a timetable, and won't be around for much longer anyway. My guess is that the topic will only be reconsidered in the event of an England or GB and Ireland World Cup bid being successful. SMS would be in the frame for hosting matches. Which would put extending SMS back on the agenda and force transport issues to be reconsidered.

As a commuter on SWR for the past 11 years I can verify that the service deteriorated when the franchise went from SWT to SWR. The capacity at Waterloo has increased but this seems to have made no difference. The government does need to take back SWR into public ownership, as I wouldn't trust SWR with a model train set, but the whole model for running the railways is broken. No-one sensible is advocating a return to the previous public ownership model Privatisation in the nineties was meant to remove introduce free market back into the rail industry, but the model chosen was dreamt up by clueless Management Consultants. They split the ownership of the stock, the running of the trains and the infrastructure into separate companies. Which broke all the previous lines of communication. The result was a number of nasty accidents (Ladbroke grove, Hatfield etc) due to cost cutting of maintenance and broken comms, and Network rail was re-nationalised. And don't get me started on the current ticketing model. Many of the current franchisees are publicly owned foreign state railways, so up until recently the profits were subsidising foreign state railways. Passenger numbers not meeting projections now mean that franchisees are losing lots of money (SWR lost £137 Million last year). So they try to cut costs and the result is strikes. Added to this the Department of Transport is not skilled up to manage the franchising process. Railway funding for the next few years will be directed to HS2 (needed but will be over-engineered and too expensive). So sorting out the infrastructure and Network rail issues will not get much attention. Really not sure what the answer is. Passenger railways will always lose money (originally it was freight that made all the money) so state subsidy is necessary. But they also need to to be free to innovate to increase passenger numbers. Making the franchisees state-owned, but using the John Lewis model for sharing profits has been suggested. But the current set up is unsustainable and returning to the past would not help

Can't say I'm too upset to be honest.

Best that I have seen Saints play in a very long time. Totally bossed the game. Would have to go back to the League Cup semis and final in 2017 for a similar level of performance in my view - and they were not in keeping with how we had been playing in the League that season. Just a pity that there weren't a few more of us to enjoy it. The block next to us was not very full.

I was at the Swindon game. Remember the third goal being a MLT free-kick bent round the wall into the top corner. Cracking goal.

The shame is that Hoedt has the potential to be a really good defender, if he was prepared to listen to others and work hard to improve. But he is just trouble and we are well rid. One of those people who just looks to blame everyone else, rather than take responsibility and learn from his mistakes. Does make you wonder if anyone actually checked what he was like before we bought him though

I don't even cheer at full-time cos i'm in shock. GTFI!

100% deserved. Glad he’s being recognised for the sheer graft he puts in in fundraising.

Yes. Third goal v middlesbro. Connelly scored after countless passes. Cracking goal

Errrr thoughts on today’s 2nd?

37. Nothing between 2005 and 2009. Think my brain has edited out those years

Heath at Highbury in 1984. Nothing else comes remotely close. We all thought that we were going to win the cup that season

I have a decibel meter app on my phone. The PA system before the game is around 80db. Much louder and they will have to start issuing ear protectors to the crowd. Club has clearly employed someone who is used to producing light and sound shows for concerts, but who has no understanding of what most of the crowd actually want. I like to be able to talk to the people that I have gone with before a game, so the volume needs to go down a bit. Personally I would like to go back to the team coming out to OWTS - as that would build the atmosphere far better than being deafened by random noise.

Ted Drake