Kenilworthy

I just hope to have a club to support

> I've been down to Staplewood with the nipper and IMHO there's something deeply, deeply wrong with the coaching and managing That has been my impression too. But I only get to see the games. Can you expand on what has distrurbed you about the training?

absolutely appalling today. His kicking was laughable

Taking a look at the table, Swansea who are in 7th place and with a chance of reaching the play-offs have a big vested interested in us fulfilling our fixtures so that our results stand. Otherwise they will lose 4 points going down to 61 and will be overtaken by Preston who would remain on 65 since we did the double over them. Maybe we should seek a contribution from Birmingham who could miss out on automatic promotion without the 6 points from us?

A pre-season friendly is a good introduction as the atmosphere is not too intense. I took both my boys at around 5 to St Mary's and then they started going regularly home and away from just under 8.

I think this may be academic as I am sure they will find some way to impose a points deduction. I too would feel a little embarassed at getting away the points deduction. But perhaps it would even up all the times that legal matters have not gone our way - such as the number of times we had work permit applications rejected when bigger teams had them nodded through? Or the decision that Pandiani, who scored for Birmingham against us in 2005, was legally registered even though the fax arrived after the transfer deadline?

If the worst came to the worst and it became impossible to rescue the existing club as a League One side so that we had to start again from zero, realistically what league would the new club have to start in?

How about making it £500 a share but with the promise of a decent discount off season tickets for share holders so that over a few years you would get your money back?

I am afraid that TNS have already bagged the New Saints

Oxford must count as the South to someone from Hull. It's not much further to Southampton.

>So long as The Dell was around, then Southampton were more than just an average team. They would win the FA Cup, qualify regularly for Europe and finished 2nd in the league to Liverpool in 1984. It was, in a nutshell, their power source So I must have imagined all those weary weekday evening journeys back after seeing us lose at the Dell. I loved the old ground but it only made a difference when we had a decent side. When we had an awful side it was still awful at the Dell - such as the game we went a goal down in the first minute to Sheffield Wednesday and didn't get a shot on target all game. But when we tried such as in the 3-1 comeback against Newcastle it did help. SMS didn't seem to be holding us back for three consecutive seasons so you can't blame the stadium. What makes me laugh is that the journalists who like to get all teary eyed with nostalgia for the Dell are the very same ones who when it was in existence were constantly abusing its primitive facilities. I know because I had a seat right in front of the press box and I could hear them. We had no choice but to leave the Dell as in may ways other than capacity it didn't meet Premiership standards. Had we been able to get it back up to about 20,000 capacity then maybe we could have stayed but major redevelopment never seemed an option.

1984 - a Thursday evening in May away at Notts County. Standing on open terrace in the evening sunshine knowing that I was about to see the best Saints team in history takes runners up spot. We romped to an easy 3-1 win thanks to Steve Moran and David Armstrong. I never wanted that game to end as it felt like it would never be so good again.

IMO at least all of these were failures: Hajto Ostlund Powell Brennan Kosowski (Loan) Pele Sarmiento (Loan) Viafara Licka Hammil (Loan) Pericard (Loan) Agree on all but Brennan. He did a good solid job in helping to stabilise our defence during the tricky period towards the end of 2005/6 when it looked like we could struggle against relegation.

If Ipswich do the same job on the Bartman as they did on Fuller, who came back a different player, then it might be a great deal for us.

>Many others already mentioned, but one of my other pet hates is Phil Pinocchio Thompson. Remember the game in September 79 when Steve Williams burst clear with the ball just inside Liverpool's half and Pinocchio rugby tackled him to stop him scoring? Sadly it was before that would have been an automatic red card and he stayed on the pitch. We still won 3-2 though.

[ (PS Crouch was already here, just in the reserves under Wigley, so Lowe didn't "let him" do anything on that front, he just picked a reserve player and set him on the road to becoming an England squad regular). The idea that Crouch was somehow left languishing in the reserves by Wigley and then rescued by Arry is part of a mythology carefully fostered by Crouch and Arry. Crouch was always part of Wigley's first team squad and used regularly as a sub until he was injured -it was our striker injury crisis that ended up with Blackstock and Best leading the attack at Everton. As soon as Crouch returned from injury he was back in the squad. I agree there is a difference between getting a start and being on the bench, but the alternative would have been Crouch replacing Beattie. That wouldn't have gone done well at the time, given that he started his career at St Mary's being booed by his own fans. Arry or not, Crouch would have played a major part that season since Beattie was on his way.

Is it only coincidence that our loss of Premiership status and Portmouth's rise now means that where it was always Southampton located on the BBC's weather maps it is now Portmouth?

Oldham didn't only cheat us at the Dell. In the replay at Boundary Park they kicked us from one end of their plastic pitch to the other.

It was 1980 and it was 7-1. I was there though in 88 when we won 1-0, I think it was Kevin Moore.

[ Keniworthy - My older brothers were great fans of Southampton Speedway, and everyone in the team would have been a hero to them. Who was your father..? Cheers Roy Bartlett - would have been late 40s early 50s I think. He suffered a lot of injuries so didn't get as many rides as he would have liked. He also rode for Poole Pirates.

Although Askham sacked Nicholl the supporters are not entirely blameless, there were plenty shouting Nicholl out. It was perhaps understandable as it was difficult to come to terms with the fact that we were no longer a top club, due partly to the fact that the new live TV deal was already helping the choosen few to move away from the pack, well before the advent of the Premiership. For example, Saints went from 1984 to 1991 without appearing live on TV. In recent years a manager who matched Nicholl's achievements of relative league stability and a number of cup runs would be regarded as a god.

My 11 year son asked me this recently. I feel kind of guilty of inflicting Saints on my two boys, especially as we make a 260 mile round trip to suffer. It's so sad. When I was 11 I had no concept of clubs going into administration or any idea who the chairman was I hope it doesn't happen. But it's not impossible - every day I drive past a deserted Woolworth's that shows that firms you always thought would be a fixture can go out of business. And the story of Southampton Speedway strikes a chord as my dad used to ride for them. I think I would lose general interest in going to football every week, but might go and watch our best local side - Leamington FC - from time to time. I can't help feeling that I might actually be a lot happier, and definitely wealthier.

Not that I am defending Rupert. But I am not sure we can count Souness, as he resigned while Rupert was only chairman elect and hadn't actually taken over - remember Rupert being called from the tennis court to comment?. So it could be claimed that Souness went on Askham's watch.

Under Jones in 96-97 Stockport had finished second in the old second division (ie what is now League One) to get promoted to division one (the Championship) as well as knocking us out of the cup. So Jones had not catually managed at Championship level.

Lowe wasn't going so far out on a limb in taking Sturrock from Division One to the Premiership. He had after all seen it work relatively well with Dave Jones who came from Stockport and had a very good first season. Jones' second season was admittedly near disaster, but we did stay up. How it might have panned out from there on we will never know as he was forced out when proving his innocence and running a football club proved too much to handle, and Lowe really had no choice but to bring Hoddle in. I sometimes wonder if, but for a liar in Liverpool, Jones might still be manager now.