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23rd December 1972 Saints 0 West Ham 0 viewed in wonder (aged 7) from the chocolate boxes

Lost my ££ today too. In the family Centre concourse there was no draft beer available, despite them advertising Saints Ale prominently. When I pointed this out to them the took the sign down in a hurry, then told me it was being served at the other counter, which of course it wasn't. It's not like the Saints Ale is any good, but choosing between bottled Carlsberg, Magners or Singa is no choice at all...

Randomly saw one this morning outside Denmark Hill station as I went past in the car! Don't know if it was anyone from on Saintsweb

In the middle of the top tier going f*cking bonkers. Apologies to all around me :-)

Still have the last visit there haunting me. Time for payback, time for revenge...

Stadium bus 12 for me...

A combination of chocolate boxes and the Family Centre in the Milton until 1980 Under West Stand bench seats until the last games at the Dell Various places in St Mary's, ending up with season tickets in the Family Centre as the next generation starts watching Saints :-)

Mowbray may well be a very good candidate. However, talking with my Baggies supporting brother-in-law his comment was that "If Saints appointed Mowbray we'd play nice attractive football, but let in lots of goals...."

Babel fish says translates Gonzalez's nickname 'el moco' as 'the snot'!!

Cup win 76 - At home in our front room (couldn't get tickets). You can still see the dents in the ceiling from when we all jumped up when the goal went in - followed by the longest 8 minutes of my life.... Keegan signed - Saw it on Newsround and went nuts! Saints put the sixth past Man Utd when Egil scored- Driving a van full of my stuff through Bristol as I was moving house St Marcus passes away - Sitting by Lake Garda checking the latest Saints news, quickly followed by texts and phone calls :-( One special moment for you - So very many.. 1st game at the Dell 0-0 vs West Ham 23-12-72 (Thanks, Dad) 1979 LC Semi-Final second leg vs. Leeds & going to Wembley for the 1st time All those great games in the early 80's - Keegan, Channon, Ball George etc (especially a 3-2 home win over L'pool in 1979) with my all time hero Nick Holmes Following the '84 win at Krap Notarf on the radio and going crazy at the end while I was living in Sheffield (no-one understood quite what it meant) Keeping in touch with Saints while living out of the country for most of the 90's - early days of Saintslist, dutch teletext website etc, before the advent of SaintsWeb in its many disguises. Back for the last game at the Dell and the move to SMS The wall of yellow and abide with me in Cardiff Play-off away at Derby - ending up several rows further forward when Rasiak scored! :-) The emotional roller coaster of administration and the take over Taking my kids to their first ever Saints games... plus JPT at Wembley with 2 of them Probably next Saturday v Orient...

Block 238 Row 15 :-)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/football_league/article7070442.ece

Denmark Hill for me! I sometimes see someone cycling north towards Camberwell Green wearing an old Saints shirt (the one from the great escape years)...

They did indeed. Thanks!

Does anyone have copy of that great wallpaper from the League Cup game in 2003, with Beats standing there in front of the Poopey fans after scoring the 1st goal? My copy is at work and I just have to send it to someone as a reminder... :-)

How about? Oh no, now you're f*cked. look who's coming on Connolly, Connolly, Connolly, Connolly, Our other goal machine!

Two of my 3 boys were born there too. :-) King's is a fine place to work. My lab is in one of the research buildings on the campus. Good luck for your youngest's surgery...

I can type just as quick on my phone as I do on a real keyboard, just need to check carefully for typos... :-)

Sitting on the train back to London reflecting happily on one of the rare times that a plan obviously came together. Many of the tactics we saw at training on Thursday worked well, and it was only when Saints strayed from the plan that things started to go wrong, helped by a weak and inconsistent ref. The big plus was that the scouting system is now up on running properly. What we heard on Thursday was a) that MK like to play the ball slowly out of defence; b) that they don't like being pressured; c) that their midfielders were considered 'lazy' on the ball and d) that whipping the ball into the box + timing runs from midfield to shoot would be profitable. So did this work? The first half was so frustrating, with the pressing game working well, although Papa seemed a little too lightweight to do this effectively. A couple of the moves we'd seen practiced were reproduced perfectly, with only good defending, and/or Papa's inability to stay onside resulting in Saints failing to be in the lead. MK played just like their manager used to: nasty, niggling and somehow always getting away with it. I still don't know what the ref saw to give their free-kick (or to book Jaidi), but it was an excellently taken free-kick for an undeserved lead. Ho hum & back to the drawing board then for Saints. But the most encouraging thing was how they stuck to the game plan, albeit with different players and managed to turn the game round. It was especially pleasing to see several of the specific moves practiced on Thursday prove to be so effective. In this respect Antonio did much of the damage relaxing on the ball, then flicking it past their increasingly harried left back, to sprint past and fire the ball in from the wing. The alternate approach we'd seen on Thurs was the winger laying the ball back for Llyod James to cross. Each of these tactics, one with the ball being deftly laid back for a crisp finish saw Saints storm forwards to reverse the deficit. Being Saints there were, of course, scares a plenty, but the substitutions had definately improved the team, with Connolloy in particular showing that he has lost none of his mental sharpness and was nearly always in the right place at the right time. When he spooned one chance over the bar it looked like his luck was out, but a very deft finish in extra time finally made the game safe. All in all a great game, made all the better by Saints managing to play to defined tactics and come up with a result against one of the best teams in the division. Great atmosphere too and a real sense of onwards and upwards together. Thanks, Jon. PS Special mentions for Adam Lallana (a fitness doubt who worked his socks off), plus Rickie Lambert who intelligently lead the line again. *** Sent from my iPhone

I think he twigged that something was up, but he played along with it :-) He's not a very outgoing person, but was clearly very chuffed that I took him along. We don't always see eye to eye about many things, but Saints is one big thing we have in common. Since he's been (and my Mum has also been) through some tough times health-wise recently it was a real treat for him. So all together it made the day more special. Not only did I get to see training and meet the players, but he got a lot from it too :-)

Yes, that was me - I tend to stand out in a crowd... So far the day had been a very interesting insight in how the team is being prepared for Saturday, but moving into the dome was the best bit of all when we got to meet the players. Now, I regularly stand up and give invited talks in front of big audiences at scientific conferences, talk to the media (live TV too) etc, BUT getting to meet (and even talk with!) the players took me right back to being a star-struck 10 year-old waiting in the Dell car park to get autographs from the likes of my hero Nick Holmes and Micky Channon... :-) As it turned out though there was no reason to be nervous, with all of them turning out to be surprising 'normal' - especially Graeme Murty who is a great guy and very much down to earth, but more of that later... The outside training session had finished with some of the midfielders practicing shooting from the edge of the 'D' with pardew also taking part. The aim of the game was to score more than Bart saved, but it turned out that he won every time. In 3 rounds of shots they even failed to score more than once or twice and AP apologised for the lack of quality! Wandering inside the dome was very interesting, having read several accounts of what its like had me prepared, but nevertheless it was fun to actually see it all. I managed to lose the rest of the party and sneak a quick peak at the indoor pitch, which is very impressive. The new players all trot out the cliche about Saints 'premier league facilities' in the 3rd division, but its undoubtedly true that the set-up at Staplewood is great. We all went upstairs and walked through the players lounge (nice, but Block5 is right the TV is cr*p) to reach a smaller room with bunch of (cr*ppy) PC's down one wall (with a solitary iMac :-)) and comfy chairs for screening video/DVDs of games. We got some OK sandwiches plus tea/coffee and the chance to mingle for a while with the other sponsors. Despite my earlier misgivings about the flash cars, everyone I talked to was great. Real Saints fans through and through, and mostly all excited to be there with a few kids who had either bunked of school or were already on half term. Gradually the players started to drift in one-by-one, having been told who their sponsor was by one of the club liaison people. With Graeme Murty obviously not having been involved in the main training session (he was doing some stretching excercises with some of the youth team players, but is mostly on hist strict rehab routine), I wasn't sure if he would turn up, but like most of the players he did and was very happy to have a long chat of 20+ minutes. Indeed, pretty much the whole squad turned up, with only a very few exceptions (Paul Wotton, Jacob Mellis, and Michall Antonio). I don't know whether or not their sponsors weren't there, but they were the only ones I didn't have a chance to say 'Hi' to . I'd brought a new shirt especially to get it signed and strategically positioned myself by the door to catch the players as they came in. I managed to get over 20 players to sign and have a quick chat with. All of them were dressed very casually (so in my normal scriffy jeans I didn't feel out of place :-)), with one exception. Several of his team mates had told Papa that a suit was compulsory and he had duly obliged wearing a very sharp outfit :-). As with during the training session it was very clear that there's a great spirit between the players with plenty of p*ss taking going on. All of them were very happy to chat for a while, Adam to say he would be fine for Saturday, Rickie Lambert to say how much he's enjoying his time here etc. I had a longer chat with Alan Pardew who comes across exactly as he does in interviews, direct, honest and interested in what you say. He comes from the same area of South London that I live in and knew exactly where I was working (at King's on Denmark Hill) and he was keen to hear what I'd made of the training session & hoped that the players would remember the tactics for Saturday :-) Of course, the longest chat was with Graeme Murty who was very happy to talk about his injury (thought it was really bad to start with AND got hit on the head by the gas & air cylinder when he was carried off!) and rehab routine (lots of strengthening exercises and he still had another session in the pool that afternoon), but also about moving clubs (very happy here and didn't have to move home) and what day-to-day life as a footballer is like. He's also very interested in the training side of the game too and is doing his badges. He comes across as a real leader (ideal captain material when he's fit?) and would be a good idea for the club to keep him on in some capacity when he retires. It's clear that Morgan, Jaidi and Papa hang out together a lot, and as we drove away the last thing we saw was the three of them talking in the car park next to a giant SUV type wagon, but they did manage to wave us off :-). I then had to get back to London in time for the school and nursery run. My two youngest boys (3 and nearly 7) are also big Saints fans and were very excited to hear about the day and see the signed shirt. Even my long suffering wife (a long term Saints widow) and oldest son (a die hard Stokie boy - he was born there...) feigned interest in what had been a wonderful day before I crashed out early. I know that it meant a lot to me and my dad and I'd like thank everyone for making it happen. Although I've rarely posted, the Saints Web (in all its previous forms) and Saints List have kept me going through the years, especially when I lived over in Munich and then in San Francisco. I hope that someone else reading this will be as lucky to get picked next year as it really was a wonderful experience. Now I really should get back to work... :-)

Hi everyone, I posted a quick account yesterday on the train on the way home (see the prize-winners thread), but crashed out early when I got home. Rearranging everything (including shifting my most important lecture on the MSc Neuroscience course! - sorry students, but I just have to take the day off...) took some doing, but it was well worth it. I live up in South London (Denmark Hill/Camberwell) and can't normally make mid-week matches, so explaining to my Dad why I was arriving on a Tuesday evening for no apparent reason was fun.... We've been season ticket holders for many years (since moving to the Bench Seats under the West Stand back in about 1980 when I got too old for the family centre), but recently he's had a run of bad luck with two hip replacements (including one which went wrong) so it was great to be able treat him to something that was so special to both of us. Block5's post gives a great account of the day (was that you that came over for a chat?), but I'll add my thoughts. They'll be less technical - just in case the MK Dons spies are watching :-), but will give you a more personal account of the day. I'd been out to Staplewood a few times to see the Youth team, but turning up and giving our names to the guy on the gate - including a long pause for effect while he found them - was all quite different. We got there early and could watch all the other sponsors turn up, mostly in big fancy cars as you might expect. By about 10.15 a few players began to trot over and we all gathered next to the field that was set out with those silhouettes of players, poles etc (but no cones). Most of the sponsors were standing there with silly grins like it was Christmas morning (I know I was!) - and that was just the adults, with a few kids too. One the players all turned up they went for a quick jog round the field and I got told off for taking pictures - not allowed until we went inside the dome.... For the first set of exercises the players were split into four groups of about 6 and did various routines run byNick Harvey (fitness coach) in which they dodged between poles and in between each other, mostly without any collisions - the exception being Neil Trotman who fell over at least once. It was great to hear all the banter going on between all the players and they seemed very much 'together' with lots of nick names used and **** takes going on to start with. As the pace of the session got quicker (which it did with several sprints and a lot of quick stepping through squares on the ground) there was obviously less breath to spare, but they all seemed to be having fun at the same time. Players who stood out a) as putting that bit more effort in included Paul Wotton, who seemed deadly serious about it all; or b) Saganovski who seemed to be drifting through the sesssion and not really part of it (just like in a match...?). While this was going on Dean Wilkins came over to talk to us all and explain what the sessions were about and how the rest of the day would play out. When they split into defensive coaching (with Wally Downs - who is clearly quite a character!) on one of the outer fields - we headed over to the main pitch to watch the forwards. I'd have probably chosen that anyway, but my Dad needed somewhere to sit by then as his hip was giving him grief.... The biggest impression of the forwards training session was that Alan Pardew really is the man in charge. While other tasks were obviously farmed out to different coaches, he clearly is 'the man'. As described in more detail by Block5, the players ran through various drills - mostly fast balls into the box and finishing past Bart - who it had to be said did a pretty good job of getting in the way of some very hard shots. Connolly's finishing really stood out, Rickie and Papa also put lots away - with Papa being surprisingly good in the air. Michael Antonio also stood at as being very good. Pards was constantly talking in a voice that boomed out across the pitch, offering advice, praising and telling off players who'd ****ed up badly. There were a couple of very funny apologies for bad language to the sponsors, but again there was a great sense of togetherness and working towards a common goal of winning on Saturday. Clearly the scouting has improved as there were several specific strategies that were being tried out with many references to how the Dons play and ways to counter them. These included both weakness they might have that could be attacked or particular pattens of play that they use which could be predicted and intercepted. These were then practiced several times when the whole first team got back together to practice against the youth team. Several of the strategies that they'd worked on earlier were tried out, with Pardew frequently using a whistle to stop play so that they could go back and try again. The whole session was all very focussed and 'professional', but there were several funny quips from Wally Downs, including one 'tres bien, Papa' which had everyone laughing. All in all a relaxed happy atmosphere, but clearly a lot of concentrated work going on with Saturday in mind. It will be very interesting to see if they remember them or are allowed by the Dons to use them. I have to run out to take my two youngest kids to school right now, but I'll send a second report later about when we moved inside to the dome and got to meet the players...

Adam himself said he would be fine for Saturday, but he didn't train as a precaution. Connoly, Papa & Rickie Lambert all looked very sharp with some great finishes past Bart.

Just on the train on the way back to London after a great morning at Staplewood. I'll post a proper report later on, but just want to give everyone a taste of what the day was like. Arrived in time to watch 1st team training: speed & agility exercises first, then split into defence and strikers for specialized training sessions, all with a definate plan in mind for countering MK Dons. Then inside the 'dome' and into the players lounge for sandwiches before the players & Alan Pardew came in and mingled. Good long chat with Graeme Murty, whose rehab is going well, plus managed to get a shirt signed by 20+ Saints players. All in all a fantastic experience & made sure to mention Saints Web lots! Still feels quite surreal being picked! A big thanks to the Mods for making this happen. More later (including pictures), Jon.

WOW! Never won a prize draw of any sort before!! Just managed to switch my lecture from next Thursday to the following week. That leaves me free to travel down from London the night before and give my Dad the surprise of his life when we roll up at Staplewood!! A slightly stunned, Jon.