Kenilworthy

Home games are a 260 miles round trip, so that's over 5,000 miles. With away games its probably over 8,000. The Championship used to be effectively a Midlands league with lost of short away trips. Now its only Walsall that's relatively local

As has already been said, we missed the boat badly on Ankergren. It is not as if the Bartman is a totally untried rookie. He played a vital role in the run to the playoffs in 2006/7 thanks mainly to Davis' gross unprofessionalism in getting a ban for kicking a Stoke player. However we have never had a full explanation as to why he was dropped for the second leg at Pride Park - it has been suggested that he bottled it. He also did very well when Davis was injured before Christmas last season. Adkins was pretty ruthless in dropping players who made errors at Carlisle. He needs to show that the same standards apply to everyone in the team.

It's hard to explain to young people now just how important the FA Cup was. And that winning the final was in many ways more prestigious than winning the league title. In my view, the FA Cup has suffered from a general erosion of the things that made it special. For example a draw on a Saturday was followed by a replay on Tuesday or Wednesday that was really an extension of the first game. Now there is such a long break between the games that the feeling isn't carried over. Also, the introduction of penalties has allowed teams to use defending and drawing as a method of progress. There was also something magnificent about the idea of teams keeping playing each other until the tie was settled, although in reality multiple replays rarely happened - I only experienced one second replay, in 1978. Playing semi-finals at Wembley has also devalued the competition. There was also the mad idea a few seasons back of the final not being the climax to the season, so that the last day of the season was the last league game - remember in 2001 we played Arsenal the Dell the week after they had lost the cup final. Something else that devalued the competition was allowing small teams drawn at home to switch their tie, effectively selling the chance of winning for a slice of a large gate. I think it could be reclaimed with the right treatment. One thing I would love to happen is to stop teams from the top two divisions getting a bye to round three and putiing all league teams into the hat for round one.

I bet Poyet will be in the frame

[the truth is that this division and all the clubs in it just don't matter to the vast majority of football fans} How much do Wigan, for example, matter to anyone? Thanks to the creation of the Premiership it is now really only a handful of clubs even in the top division that count. I have travelled a fair bit around Europe on business, and even when Saints were in the Premiership hardly anyone had ever heard of us - our the city of Southampton for that matter. But at least I don't have to bother about local rivalries, its Coventry that bug me.

It's easy to get to anywhere else in England in a couple of hours

Why shouldn't we have done it? There are good examples in AFC Wimbledon and Aldershot who did it from much smaller fanbases than Saints. I got the feeling that one of the initial drivings forces for FCUM was that Man U were about to implode. They didn't, they kept on winning trophies and that might explain the drop off in FCUM attendances. Now though that it does look like Man U's seemingly endless run of success might be coming to an end it will be interesting to see if FCUM's support starts to increase.

Graham Baker - a fine midfield player who was effectively sacrificed in 82 so we could afford to sign Shilton and coming back in 87. I would suggest that Channon is the only one who came back a better player.

This is the problem with all-seater stadiums that are anything but. It is an unfasionable view I know, however if everyone sits, everyone sees. I have no actual problem with people wanting to stand. It is extremely selfish though to do it at the expense of others who then can't see. I used to prrefer to stand on the terraces myself. But now I am taking my two boys with me to games all over the country it is a different matter. Yet the aggro you get from fellow Saints fans when you ask them not to block their view is unbelievable. Presumably they were never kids and will never be old. The best solution is what they do at Sheffield Wednesday. You can sit where you like and the stewards direct people who want to sit to the front of the stand and thos who want to stand to the back, everyone's happy and can enjoy the game in the way they want. Unfortunately it is actually illegal for the stewards to do this since the law says that everyone must sit. Even better is Yeovil where you have a choice of standing behind the goal on proper terraces or stiing in the stand on one side.

I thought I would never say this. But Lambert should have been subbed off today, he was dreadful. Ideally he should have a rest, and we need to get a big and silly striker in on short term loan as cover. Like Hayles for example.

If MON really wants to follow the same path as his mentor Brian Clough then that must include dropping down the divisions to earn a lot of money managing a south coast club funded by an ambitious owner. And then leaving after a few months including a home thrashing by Bristol Rovers.

Dan Petrescu, in the short time he had with us under Hoddle, was extremely effective.

Pearce - has he done anything as a manager? serious question - i cant remember! He got Forest relegated - actually relieved of command by Bassett (a name that hasn't come up yet) before the end of the season, and was then rubbish at the old poor Manchester City. Coleman got lucky at Fulham in inheriting a decent team but proved incapable of keeping it going long term, and was diabolical at Coventry and sacked before he could get them relegated. Southgate would be an appalling choice. We need to forget about a manager taking us into the Premiership. Unless you can find a Graham Taylor then the chances of a manager taking a team from the third tier to top and keeping them there are extremely unlikely. What we need now is a manager to get into the Championship whatever it takes. Then we can start thinking about the next step.

What is clear is that we have actually gone backwards from the team we were at the end of last season. We desperately lack the unpredicatability offered by Antonio and Waigo. The reason for the obsession with Antonio is that he is a player we know has worked in our system and he also offers an another alternative with his long throws. There is always the possibility of a Saganowski scenario where a player who is great on loan becomes rubbish with a long term contract. Even so, Antonio seems to be about as low risk as a transfer as you can ask for.

>Third time lucky and Kevin Davis must be just at the right timing of his career I can't image him dropping to L1, especially with the way things are going he might get picked for England. If we go up then I could see KD as a very realistic target next season. Steve Howard would work. However there are any number of big lump centre forwards out there in League 1 and 2 that none of us have ever heard of who would do a job. Until the FA Cup game, how many of us knew anything about Lambert?

First Son Hugh (Fisher) middle name Matthew Second son Robert (Bobby) middle name George (Charlie/O'Brien)

Caspar Ankergren was released by Leeds at the end of the season and i don't think he has a club yet. He would be an ideal signing as backup keeper.

Brantano is good for cheap boots. You sometimes get brands like Puma or Nike for £20 a pair, especially if you don't mind last season's styles.

When I moved seats a few years ago the staff in the ticket office were very helpful and took me out to check the view from the seats that were available. This was very important as the seats I picked orginally looked great on the seating plan - which didn't show the barrier that came right across your eyeline. You wouldn't buy a car without a test drive. A season ticket is an expensive purchase and its only reasonable to be able to check out exactly what you are getting.

I tried to renew season tickets for myself and my two sons. But even though they were previously associated with me - I booked tickets for Wembley in one go on line - it refused to bring them up. So I ended up doing it by telephone.

In fact he never won a cap as a first division player. Despite getting promotion with us in 66 which you would have thought would have increased his chances of playing for England he was never capped again.

When we were founded keepers wore the same shirt as the outfield players. So if we were going for authenticity we wouldn't need a keepers shirt! Even as far back as the 60s keepers had a choice of green, scarlet, royal blue or white. Green was just the most common as you didn't need to change it unless you played Plymouth. When West Brom started playing in green and yellow stripes as an away kit our keepers wore blue.

Promotion party at Leyton Orient then as in 66 and 78 (and yes I do realise that promotion was mathematically certain until the game after in both cases)

Total cost for me and two boys aged 8 and 11 in the Family Centre was £288 last season. This season with them 9 and 12 the cost for exactly the same seats is £412 - an increase of 43%. I really do think they need to look at the ages at which the prices change.

The part where it says that he was in the best form of his career then isn't quite right. Sadly by 97-98 Matty was already in decline with one injury after another. It was in the 94-95 season that he was truly at his peak only to be snubbed by the fraudulent Venables, and I believe he was never truly the same player afterwards. Matty was also brilliant in 89-90 - I seem to recall he was voted PFA young player of the year - and didn't get a sniff of being picked for the 1990 World Cup. Yet imagine Matty and Gascoigne together rather than the vastly over rated Waddle, especially in the penalty shoot out. Even worse, Graham Taylor, who had described him as the best young player he had seen anywhere in the world wouldn't pick him, however I believe Branfoot deliberately wouldn't recommend him for England.