saintsdan

Just gone to Forest! http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/nottm_forest/7940031.stm

No idea, as I didn't save my predictions but having had another look, their fixtures include: Blackpool, Plymouth, Wednesday, Watford, Ipswich and Charlton. All of which are winnable, could concievably get close to that total.

I came out with a bottom 8 of :- QPR 53 Saints 53 Sheff Wed 53 Forest 52 Plymouth 52 Barnsley 52 Blackpool 44 Charlton 36 Our results were :- Birmingham(a) LOSE Derby(h) DRAW QPR(h) WIN Blackpool(a) WIN Charlton(h) WIN Watford(a) LOSE Wolves(a) LOSE Palace(h) WIN Wednesday(a) LOSE Burnley(h) WIN Forest(a) LOSE

Totally agree BTF, and not only does private healthcare (and education) provide for the few to the exclusion of the majority but in effect it is detremental to the majority. The existence of private facilities means that there are large numbers of highly skilled and trained (probably through state education) people whose services are denied to the average taxpayer because they are employed in private hospitals and clinics. Without those private facilities these people would be working in the NHS, and spreading the workload on NHS staff, which would lead to reduced waiting lists and a better standard of care.

Totally agree BTF, and not only does private healthcare (and education) provide for the few to the exclusion of the majority but in effect it is detremental to the majority. The existence of private facilities means that there are large numbers of highly skilled and trained (probably through state education) people whose services are denied to the average taxpayer because they are employed in private hospitals and clinics. Without those private facilities these people would be working in the NHS, and spreading the workload on NHS staff, which would lead to reduced waiting lists and a better standard of care.

I expect one of the admins has a pretty good idea!!

It certainly could be, Saturday's fixtures include Barnsley v Charlton Blackpool v Watford Forest v Derby So at least 3 of those sides wil pick up points!!

It cedrtainly could be, Saturday's fixtures include Barnsley v Charlton Blackpool v Watford Forest v Derby So at least 3 of those sides wil pick up points!!

Absolutely, and I think where Leon Crouch has been quoted as saying that we would be getting 20,000 gates if he were still in charge this is what he was meaning. 20,000 may be slightly ambitious but the atmosphere he, and Nigel Pearson in particular, were creating was one were the fans started to feel more involved again. By doing that and making them feel part of the club it was encouraging those who had lost heart to continue going or to start going again.

Apart from missing the point of Duncan's thread completely, I think the original post highlights precisely part of the reason we are in the predicament we currently find ourselves. Yes, as a club we have good times and bad times, we win games and lose games, we get promoted and we get relegated. That unfortunately is the nature of the sport. We currently find ourselves in a bad period and many on here are angry (arguably rightly so) at the decisions that have been made and the reason we are in this position, but we are where we are. Duncan's thread, apart from providing a bit of nostalgia for those fortunate enough to remember those good times, is also very relevant to our current predicament. Many of the comments on the thread talk about how much the club and the players were a part of the community and how the fans could relate to them and felt a strong association with the club. More recently many people have lost interest and lost heart partly because, by contrast, they feel totally disassociated from the club now. The club has lost its identity in many peoples eyes and the fans no longer feel a part of it. There are very few people left at the club, staff or players, that the fans feel represent them, who they can idolise and who epitomise this club, its fans and the community it represents; the 'spirit of Southampton'. Surely in these difficult times and with attendances dropping the club should be doing more to improve and harness that relationship, and to make the fans feel a part of the club again. It would get more people through the turnstiles and maybe, just maybe through doing so reduce the financial concerns that currently constrain us. So rather than saying forget the past and focus on the here and now and the future maybe we should be taking lessons from the past in an attempt to improve our future. The previous regime, with help from the Echo started to try last season with their 'Dell Spirit' campaign. The attitude of Nigel Pearson was condusive to that and is part of the reasion the fans warmed to him so much. The people representing the club could benefit from looking at the situation from a similar perspective, rather than marginalising the fans and pushing them further away, because getting more people through the turnstiles is the only way we are going to survive and progress.

Strachan was quite good at Coventry until they started selling their better players (namely Keane and McAllistair).... and we wonder why he left here when he did!!

Exeter did something similar I believe. They kept their prices at conference level after promotion back to the football league provided that average attendances were above 4,000. http://www.exetercityfc.co.uk/page/TicketNews/0,,10436~1337163,00.html Good scheme to encourage high attendances.

Primarily because ABP wouldn't let them put it where the council and IKEA wanted it. IKEA wanted to use a site in Millbrook, near dock gate 20, and this was backed by the council but the port authority opposed it because of the traffic problems it would create around the docks. So instead it was built in the middle of town. This will create more traffic but will have less impact on the docks and therefore ABP! It is much the same reason that a lot of waterfront developments don't get off the ground. ABP can be difficult to work with and unlike the navy in Portsmouth are not particularly accomodating of the interests of the city as a whole. Unfortunately they also happen to be one of the largest contributors to the local economy and therefore their support and contribution is crucial to the city.

Kevin Summerfield (Sturrock's number 2) John Sainty?? Jim Smith??

Interesting interview with Rob Andrew on this subject http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-1049097/EXCLUSIVE-We-won-World-Cup-coaching-team-left-terrible-state-says-Andrew.html

I don't want to sound overly negative because everything I'm hearing about the new set up sounds promising, I also appreciate we have major financial problems, but this has always been Rupert's philosophy. Selling quality players of higher value and replacing them with more players of lower value hoping they will be as good. It worked once, when the money from the Dean Richards sale was used to bring in Niemi and Svensson, unfortunately on other occasions it wasn't so successful, hence we ended up with a massively over inflated squad of average players and a wage bill similar in size to that of a smaller squad of higher quality; and got relegated.