spyinthesky

I must have been sat by you too as I managed to deal with the stairs to Level 5 reasonably well but felt sorry for those who were less able, for one reason or another, and didnt have the option of the lift which was out of order!! I am not sure if the lad behind you was the same one that I could hear throughout the game with the very loud voice and restricted vocabulary. To be fair it somehow blended in with the excitement of the day and I give him and his palls full credit for their lung capacity and cast iron throats. We went by coach which was OK but the air conditioning was on both ways and with no onboard toilets and no stopping I am sure one or two of us more senior fans had to be very careful with the intake of liquids. A few strategic sips of water there and back and a few pints to make up for the liquid shortfall when I arrived home. Interesting to see that a post on a Leeds Forum suggested that their support struggled to make noise as they had a variety of songs which were not sung in unison whereas we had only one (fair comment) but everyone joined in to maximum effect. Speaking to a few of my mates who support other teams they reckon our support came over as loud and continuous.

Spot on comment. Difficult to come to terms with in light of the current euphoria but the step up to relative safety in the Prem is massive

Prem fixtures out 17th June?

Apparently all coaches booked by the club will be leaving an hour later than planned. Anyone know why this is and how many coaches have been laid on?

Not sure if it has been mentioned before but have to give a thumbs up to the entreprenurial gentleman who was selling Saints at Wembley for the Play Off Game straight after the WBA win on Friday. Not sure if he had any takers but expect him to be around the city selling his wares before Sunday.

Big shout out to Mark Dennis for his rousing pre match speech. Really got the crowd fired up and didnt go down too well with the Baggies fans as MD was a Birmingham player before joining Saints. MLT also hit the spot at half time when he suggested that WBA hadnt come to play football after their time wasting efforts first half.

Big shout out to Mark Dennis for his rousing pre match speech. Really got the crowd fired up and didnt go down too well with the Baggies fans as MD was a Birmingham player before joining Saints. MLT also hit the spot at half time when he suggested that WBA hadnt come to play football after their time wasting efforts first half.

Was named as a sub but, as far as I can tell he wasnt involved in the pre match warm up whereas Tyler Dibling, who wasnt named on the bench, was. At HT Ross was involved in very gentle exercises with a trainer well away from the main substitute group. A bit odd to me. Appreciate all a bit irrelevant after such a special night at St Marys but wonder if anyone has any thoughts. Just hope that thar Ross isnt suffering from a recurrence of his injury.

I thought one of the main purposes of a country's leader is to unite the population as best they can. Trump's main objective appears to be to create as wide a division as possible.

I spoke to someone 'in the know' last week who basically underlined the message coming out of the club. We have to go up this season to make finances work. If we dont the money available for replacements for McCarthy/KWP/Downes/Harwood Bellis/Adams/Fraser/Rothwell/Brooks/S Armstrong/Mara/Sulemana is extremely limited. The unsavoury fact of life is that Pompey may have a better financial model next season. I do hope all this is not true but the person I spoke to has a pretty good handle on things and is a keen Saints fan.

Odds on at least one game will go to penalties. Can we put Rickie and MLT on the bench, just in case

Quite right. And of course the club wanted the transfer fee and also the saving in wages which would have been around the £5m mark.

Early May 1976. Sunny and warm. Early May 2024 Overcast, wet and miserable. Global warming?

I'd be VERY surprised if season ticket sales are anywhere near expectation. Whilst I think the idea of a Saints 'end' the scaffold like structure doesnt seem conducive to safe standing. Also the move of away fans will not go down too well with supporters in that area or people like me who will now have to put up with away fans impacting on my stroll to and from the game and my choice of watering hole after the game. The 10%-15% hike in season tickets will also impact on non Northam end season ticket holders. I am not short of a bob or too but have recently have to pay for car insurances, home insurance and these have finally been negotiated down to around 20% uplift after renewals were offered up at between 50-65%!! Those on tighter budgets may decide that they will select their games or give up entirely.

For us dwindling band of older Saints 1st May is always a day of positive refelction. Today 48 years ago I was up early polishing my flag, scarf and entry ticket (£6.00 for a seat not far from the Royal Box) expecting to see Second Division Saints brushed aside by a top rated Man Utd team. Five us us left our local pub jammed into a Morris Marina Coupe, waved to all the supporters without tickets at the Chilworth roundabout, managed to get through the Hockley lights on the dual carriageway at Winchester without too much of a queue and join a procession of Saints supporters heading for Wembley in the sunshine. The rest is history but gloating at the Man Utd supporters club coach broken down outside of Basingstoke after the historic victory was great fun as was the amount of people on bridges waving to us as we returned home. A brilliant day which unfortunately for all the younger Saints fans is unlikely to happen again.

Could Pompey be next year's Ipswich or the version of Saints the year we went straight up from League 1 to the Prem?

I remember Lawrie McMenemy getting booed when he first took over from Ted Bates due to a run of poor results!!

I dont blame the Manager for making changes for an non event team for us. That said, the performances of all the players apart from McCarthy and KWP left an awful lot to be desired. Its OK for the Manager to say the team is tired but what's the difference between us and the rest of the teams in the League who have had a similar amount of games to play. There is no urgency in our play even when chasing the game at the end. The bubble has truly been burst both on and off the field.

Back to my usual negative thoughts after feeling positive that we would comfortably dispatch Blackburn and Cardiff. Reflecting on the last time we were in the Play Offs under George Burley. Lost 1-0 at SMS to Derby, beat them at their place then lost on penalties, a result I was unaware of until I woke up about 2am and switched on the TV in my hospital bed after recovering from a 4 hour operation. We then went into free fall and ended up wallowing in League One until being rescued by dear old Markus. I fear a repetition when Sports Republic either lose interest in us or we suffer another financial meltdown. Whatever the outcome, I dont see us ever being a force in the Premiership in my lifetime and suspect my end days will see the team return to the level I started watching them ie Third Division South (nowadays League One)

I was relatively optimistic that the appointment of Colin Calderwood as First Team Coach last October would make us more defensively astute bearing in mind he was a decent defender in his day. The team certainly doesnt look that strong defensively at the moment but, of course, that may well be down to Russball and the fact that RM's style of play has resulted in a shed load of goals being conceded at his previous clubs.

Leicester fans were critical of their Manager for playing tippy tappy football and missing loads of chances. They were far more direct than us on Tuesday whilst we went more direct with Baz Ball missing yet got slaughtered.

Awful performance but really puts into perspective that if we, by some fluke, manage to get through the play offs, unless Russell Martin can pull a rabbit out of the hat and adept the teams style of play and the owners manage to find the cash and the scouting ability to rebuild the team, the performance at Leicester will become the blueprint for next season in the Prem. Worryingly, as other posters have pointed out, Sports Republic have said that there is little money available for transfers next season in the Championship so, at best, we can anticipate mid table obscurity and at worst flirting with relegation and a double loss to that lot down the road.

Will a Security Box be built at the away end to replicate the one in the corner at the Northam?

Spurs was the only one I have been to. All fine but think the steps were built specifically for railed standing/seating so that may have helped.

Couple of interesting views on the recent total eclipse of the sun. One that is had been planned by 'globalists' to affect world events, a sign from God that we all have to repent our sins and that it would promote disastrous earthquakes, the end of the world etc etc . Heaven knows what the conspiracists will make of the forthcoming cicadas invasion in Louisiana.