spyinthesky

A year or two ago Bournemouth were looking at relegation to non league. Now look at them A month or so ago Pompey were facing the abyss. They can still go for a gutser but their recent signings should see them comfortably achieve mid table. Pre season Saints and Middlesborough were both strong favourites for promotion and now look at us. Things do have a habit of changing quickly in football but at the moment my initial pessimism about our chances for automatic promotion this season seems to be justified. Buggar!!

As a young kid we used to live in Milton Rd before moving out to the suburbs. Have regularly stood/sat in every part of the ground apart from the Archers. In one game v Liverpool (1st home game in the 2nd Div after getting promotion) the boys entrance fee was put up 50% from 1/- to 1/6d. Quite a few of us boys only had the shilling so there was a lot of kerfuffle at the turnstiles. Fortunately my Dad was a Steward and was able to get me in for a bob. Think of the stick the management would have got today if suddenly entrance fees went up by that amount without warning I vividly remember the 3 goal fight back in the Nottm Forest Cup game in 1963 and the Anderlecht European game in 1977. Stood in the lower Milton Chocolate Box for both games. Only time ever I heard the choco box singing was in the Forest game Both fantastic atmospheres as was the Mick Channon Testimonial which I watched from the back row of the Upper West Stand next to a handful of QPR fans who couldnt believe the vibes on the night. If truth be told the atmosphere at the Dell was often wanting mainly because of the open ends. This improved when the 'hardcore' moved to the terraces under the stands and again when the Archers was covered. However I was often embarrased about the third world state of the stadium and it's limited capacity. The move to St Mary's was a great leap forward and I still have to pinch myself when walking towards a modern 21st century ground (OK of limited architectural merit) when for many, many years I supported my team in very basic surroundings.

Shortly after noticing new arrivals at the rugby club site (they must really hate the intrusion most years), my house nearby has been flyered by people offering Tree Maintenance and Driveway work. All mobile numbers. Co-incidence or what? I guess some people get caught

2-4 Reading - Played well until multi changes affected the result 0-1 Plymouth - Dominated game. Caught by sucker punch 1-1 Orient - Dominated game. Couldn't overcome massed defence. Defensive error. 2-0 Bournemouth - Eventually won in a fairly open game 0-1 Bolton - Good performance in a fairly open game against decent opposition 0-3 Swindon - Poor performance against a team who defended well and broke with pace 0-2 Rochdale - Poor performance. Couldn't break down an organised defence. Another defensive lapse, or two. P 7.. W 1.. D 1.. L 5.. F 5.. A 12.. Not good Relatively decent performances against teams who want to play football. Against well organised teams who soak up pressure and hit us on the break, we are pants, as Pardew warned we might be. Maybe we will be better way from home. Not good news for us season ticket holders!!

Latest rumour is that AP flipped when Cortese asked him to pay for parking at St Mary's on match days!!

Scott IMHO the charts have often reflected bland music catering for the masses. I can't say I have ever bought a record that made the top twenty singles apart from in the very early days of the Beatles. I am quite proud of the fact but as the man with the wooden leg said .. 'It's all a matter of apinion (sic)'... so I keep to the record buyinmg high ground whilst never directly criticising other people's music taste, even though it may be crap!!.

Absolutement!! Bit tongue in cheek my De Vere comment!!

Update I saw Jose Fonte leaving West Quay in a Silver Merc Sports with a personalised number plate (F10NTE) or something similar. Could be off to meet the new manager in the De Vere perhaps?

Not bad in the circumstances How did our gate shape up to others? However will struggle to exceed 18,000 for Saturday methinks!!

Guernsey's not really foreign but if it was MLT would be right at the top!!

I like Lambert at the level we are in. However IMHO he would never make a Prem player. However, having said that who would have thought that dear old Brett Omerod and even Jason Euell would be still hacking it in the Prem. Also Fuller,Higgy, Kevin Davies etc Remember Davies struggled on loan at Millwall but was touted, by some, as an England possibility last year!!

Andy/Andy My parameter for 'successful' was hacking it regularly in the Prem Rasiak only played for us in the 2nd Tier and Kenwyne made only cameo appearances in the Prem. I am willing to be persuaded on Fernandez

As a change from the current Manager & Transfer speculations, the Football Echo did a good piece at the weekend on foreign players signed by Saints and actually played for the club- 72 in total. (another 8 signed but never played + Guly) Of these the following IMHO were successful: Ivan Golac Ken Monkou Antti Niemi Claus Lundekvam Egil Ostenstad Micheal Svensson Anders Svensson Marian Pahars Hassan Kachoul Total : 9 Generally Ok: Fabrice Fernandes ** Morgan Schneiderlin Ronnie Eklund (a definite with more games) Jo Tessem Bart Gregor Rasiak Marek Saganowski Eyal Berkovic ** Youssef Safri Van Gobbel Stern John Kenwyne Jones John Viafara Jose Fonte Inigo Idiakez Radhi Jaidi Papa Waigo JP Saejs Total 18 ** Possibly worth considering for a 'Good' as performed regularly in the Prem Waste of Space Baseya Gasmi Pericard Johansen Bliedelis Pekhart Ali Dia Sarmiento Delgado Almeida Brennan Total 11 Indifferent: The rest Not a wonderful conversion rate

Presume the new 2010/11 squad photo is yet to be released Looking at last years there were 38 people in the picture. Of these the following are no longer associated with the club: Gillett White Molyneux Mellis Mclaggon James Papa Thomas Lancashire Trotman Paterson Saganowski Perry Murty Markus L Pardew Henderson Chris Lovegrove (not sure) Murdoch = 19 Leaving : Pulis!! Forecast!! Saville? Doble? Mills Davis Bart Wotton Holmes Schneiderlin Lambert Jaidi Hammond Lallana Harding Cortese Mo Gimpel? Nick Harvey? Dean Wilkins =19 + Fonte/Dickson/Martin/Richardson/Butterfield/Martin/Connolly/Puncheon/Seabourn/Guly Quite a change. More to come I guess

In my personal opinion AP did a decent job and had the majority of fans on his side. He did, of course, benefit from a large war chest but had to overcome many of the poor management from the previous (mis) management However, by all accounts, AP appeared to be a 'dead man walking' more or less from the time he was appointed. I wonder if Cortese was involved in his appointment?

Actually I know No 1 through work. He's actually not a bad lad. Hard worker and not full of airs and graces

As a long standing supporter, who has generally seen it all before, I never believed the hype that we would walk away with the League. Too many disappointments to expect Saints to find it easy. However whilst it is easy to condemn the team and the manager for 1 point out of 6, the fact is we are creating (but not taking chances) and have given away two soft goals from otherwise sound (ish) defensive performances. On another day at least one of Barnard's efforts would have gone in and with a bit of daylight between the teams think we would have gone on to win handsomely, as really we should have done against Plymouth after a sparkling first half performance. As most people realise the team is lacking in pace and creativity and a big striker is needed to take the onus off of Lambert who does not look fit. I am sure this season will not be easy and it is worthy of note that both Nottm Forest & Leeds took 3 years to get out of L1

Re some inappropriate comments on Markus Liebherr. I can't honestly put my hand on my heart and say that all Saints 'fans' would have been restrained with their comments if a saviour of PFC had died. However I notice that quite a few comments have been made justifying these inappropriate comments, indicating that Saints fans had reacted in a similar way when Aaron Flahaven died. My memory may be a bit vague on the matter but I don't seem to remember anything other than sympathy from this part of Hampshire as both he and his brother were local Harefield lads (i think) and used to socialise with some of the Saints players at the time

I predict a slow start this season which will call for some fans to question Pardew's position As a reality check compare WGS's reign at Boro. Most people would agree that WGS was our most successful Manager in recent times and would have been glad to have him back. However his record at Boro' has been 9 wins in 35 games. He has been given a large transfer budget and Boro' are favourites for Promotion yet lost 3-1 at home to Ipswich Just a factual point to put our situation in perspective. However Nigel Pearson on the other hand........................

Anyone listen to Radio 5 Live yesterday? The Chairman of Oldham was on saying how difficult is was to keep going especially when surrounded by lots of Prem clubs. They even offered a £1 entrance fee for one game last season and were 2,000 short of their 11,500 capacity Apparently their playing budget is under £2m for the year compared to quote ...'Southampton at £8m or so...although this really reflects the fact that they average over 20,000 for their home games'...

Millbank used to run as a general auction then started selling cars (small volume) when the site at 10 Gate was turned over to container storage. According to the Echo now back to General Auctions

Any one remember going down to Dock Gate 10 to check out the cars going thro the Auction Site on a Weds or Saturday? Always remember the smell of the flour making at the Ranks Mill next door, the fry ups in the Auction Canteen and the Car Dealers doing the rounds. Bob Charles, the ex Saints Goalie, was always in evidence (he had a second hand car site in Swaythling) Only bought I car there (a Triumph Herald) only to find the chassis riddled with rust. My mates Dad went down to 'have words' with the Auction owners' They thought he was a copper and paid for most of the repair costs!!

I almost forgot. A 12.15 am Kick Off Note that for those of us coming in via Mountbatten Way or The Avenue, there are 4 big cruise ships scheduled for this Saturday and this may cause delays, especially along West Quay/Platform Road. Fortunately most cruise passengers don't start arriving until 12.00 but there are always some who arrive early, so be aware.

Interesting background Not sure\what to make of this. Do you have contact details for Duncan or is this a repro of an earlier piece?

I think the Saints 76 Cup Final song was penned by a local lad, Duncan Campbell, who once played in the Mojos. Duncan was a keen Saints fan, last heard of living in Tenerife