Thimble

It is clear you goto games but as for watching them seems debatable so it is really pointless arguing! But, it was obvious we were not as up for it as you, as I could only count 2 players who seemed to be putting in a shift and we were no where near at the level we have been playing all season. As for throwing ourselves around and waving imaginary cards none of that really happened did it? I have seen one player wave one card last year sometime and that is about it...And timewasting?...You really weren't watching were you?...I suppose when you have a South American manager it is an easy to make general sweeping accusations. I also would not have begrudged any Albion player going down either especially as Chaplow was on a one-man fouling missions...The blokes a nutter. I am sure if he had ran out of Albion players to leave a foot in on then he would have probably started on his team-mates. Anyway, you can revel in your deserved 3 points but I think you would rather be like that horrible, bitter and twisted man in Lee Clark at Huddersfield...Why can't you just enjoy your victory and promotion? Right, I am out of here, it is obvious that from the rubbish spouted on here most of you are a bit deluded and on another planet and incredibly touchy! I am giving this place a wide berth for a while and if I want to engage with Saints fans I will do so on North Stand Chat, I mean, whilst there are a few Albion on here, for some reason there are loads of Southampton fans who have signed up to NSC!! Laters...Much laters...

I have not obviously read all this thread but I will add my thoughts. Firstly, congratulations on getting a deserved 3 points. When we got hold of the ball we played the much better football which hardly a surprise to anyone but you also clearly wanted it much more than we did, which again, is hardly a massive surprise either. You had blatantly learnt from the game at St Mary's where your players were knackered after 50mins but this time were a lot more conservative which was demonstrated by the fact both your goals were late on. It is a shame that I could count only 2 of our starting line-up who seemed to be bothered but that should not take anything away from your team...You deserved your win and we will definitely see you next season...And just think, you will not have to sit half-a mile behind the goal next time! Congratulations...Hats off to you...

They will be in the minority. I can understand the Millwall one as they are definitely disliked but most of the Lions direct their hatred to West Ham...As for Charlton that is a strange one as I just thought they took no notice of them. Charlton really despise Palace but Palace do not care about and spend their time hating us. As we are on the subject of rivalries, what would you lot have done for a rival had Pompey gone bust?...Other than hating the re-formed club that probably would have been created...

I think you find even the younger Palace fans hate us more...We are very much public enemy no.1 in all of Palace fans eyes. They do not bother with Charlton as they just see them as a silly, happy-clappy, nice club and there is no point hating Millwall as they are too busy with West Ham! I have never really understood this who has the biggest rivalry rubbish either as each derby is equally as important to every set of fans...I mean no seems to mention Plymouth-Exeter in a list of big rivalries but I bet to both groups of supporters it is as intense as any other...The same could be said of Mansfield-Chesterfield and so on, so on... But back to the Albion-Palace, it is not so much a rivalry, just a more deep-seated hatred...

...If both our teams play well, I expect us to still win the game

Both! The thing is we will not "shape up" to deal with you a we just play our own game and it will be a case of how you set up tactically...If results go your way on the Friday then Adkins may come for the draw. As long as we are on our game then it will not matter as we are the better side and should win...The only variable is if Gus starts putting in some development players...We will see...

Pretty well summed up. I am led to believe that Albion-Saints games were pretty feisty back in the late 70's-early 80's which is mainly because we are both South Coast Clubs. But even at that time you were never our main rival...Not then, not now, not ever. Obviously, as I have said, you are a fellow South Coast Club, but that just makes you no different to Pompey or Bournemouth. Our main hate is Palace and I can never see that changing and there is a real chance we can resume hostilities next season. For the final games in the Championship last season Sheffield Wednesday were up against Palace for a relegation shoot-out and the thread on NSC had more pages than any thread about our own games that season! Unfortunately, we have a few saddo's who post on North Stand Chat who have nothing better to do than have a pop at Saints...The thing is, in the grand scheme of things it is a minority or people and probably no more than about 40-50. The sad thing is, mediums like the internet has given these ****-heads a platform to spout rubbish and because for some reason, lots of Southampton fans have registered on NSC this is all they see and form an unbalanced opinion based on the rubbish written there...And if anything these morons are not "obsessed" and trying to start some sort of new main rivalry, it has come about because we have been promotion/title rivals this season and I think you guys have got a little confused by this. Anyway, maybe it is all still silly as you have not really been promotion/title rivals for us...No one has...We have been without equal this season... As for Adkins, he knows he made a mistake with his "keep-up" comment and admitted as such to an ALBION director the other week. But I just think it is funny!...If he wants to be arrogant then I think that is great. I am quite arrogant myself and have no problems with it especially from a football manager...10 years ago we won what is now League 2 under Mickey Adams and he was always going on - If the opposition so much as got a draw against us he would proclaim how they raised their game as they were playing the top team! Just being cocky really...Brilliant stuff! I also cannot understand, what the "inferiority complex" we are supposed to have and if anything, it is a superiority complex! I mean, we have pretty much nothing to be inferior about! Saturday should be interesting and do expect Adkins and your fans to come in for some banter but that is football and should be encouraged...Hammond and Harding should get abuse because they deserve it! But then maybe we should just be smug at 2 ex-players who would not have a chance of getting into our current team. So, in summary, 99% of ALBION fans do not give a monkeys about Saints from a rivalry perspective in the same way you lot should be getting worked-up about a handful of numpties posting rubbish on an internet messageboard...

Multi-quoting this thread I will add a reply. You may have retards on your own board but

I am still surprised you are even bothered about what a handful of idiots on that site actually say. I mean as an example, we should be in celebratory mood but there is a 5 page thread on there about the tannoy announcer trying to get people off the pitch last night, which has become a complete binfest!

...Thanks people. Had to do it the hard way tonight coming from behind twice but fair play to the Daggers, they came and had a real go. We looked awesome going forward but without Greer we seem suspect in central defence so you may get some joy there when we play soon. ...But this is just the start of an exciting journey for us so there is still a way to go yet. I have quite liked coming on here and despite me not being fan of a South Coast love in I am coming round to the idea of it being quite cool if you came up with us...To have 2 South Coast derbies plus playing the scum will make for an interesting season...

...We certainly start off slow in our build-ups but then zip it about with our passing when in attacking positions. We have barely had a chance to "play on the counter-attack" as most of the teams we have played this season have parked the bus even when they have been at home! This has been especially in evidence since Christmas and games have been extremely difficult to break teams down hence the narrow suggesting score-lines despite us being clearly superior. Would you rather have beaten Charlton 1-0 or drawn 1-1?...Not that it mattes now as I fully expect you to be promoted. It may looked like we played on the counter at your gaff because in the first-half, you gave a real do-ing...I was thankful in getting to half-time at 0-0 and was equally thankful that the first-half threat did not materialise in the second period. As for next season we can take heart from teams like Norwich & Swansea who also play passing attacking football so I am quietly confident...Also, I expect the chairman to splash the cash to bolster an already decent squad to make us even more competitive. Now, I am not predicting a promotion push (despite it probably being what the chairman wants) as that would be nonsense, but we should easily see ourselves sitting comfortable in mid-table...

...Maybe but I have no problems with it as I am all for arrogance...I think it is great. Although the silly comment about having an "barely average squad" might get a few laughs considering we are the best team in this division by a country mile...

It is his second straight red of the season so it will be a 4 game ban!! Anyway, as has been said a win against the Daggers on Tuesday will put us up...But if you fail to beat Rochdale on the same night or Bristol Rovers in your following game then we can clinch the title next Saturday away at Walsall. So by the time you lot turn up at Withdean we could already be champions and might have a bearing on the game as Poyet has said once the job is done he fully intends to throw in development squad players for the remaining games so Greer might not have played anyway!

I would be very surprised if events that happened years and years ago will have any bearing on what transpires when we play each other...At worst the players should just treat it as just another local derby like when we play Bournemouth or Pompey, nothing more than that. I would like to think we would strive to keep the unbeaten home run going but we could have promotion wrapped up 11 days prior to our meeting and Gus has hinted that we wants to start trying out players from the development squad...We shall see...

Correction - Gus is doing a fantastic job...It is not over yet and won't be for a while. Of course Poyet will leave at somepoint, that is inevitable but he will stick around for a number or years at least for a few good reasons. I have to agree with you though that league tables do not lie and clubs are always where they deserve to be. We have spent the thick end of 20 years down in these lower leagues and fully deserve to be here...But it looks as though we are finally leaving bottom 2 divisions behind and it should be a bloody long time before we return. Now you find yourselves here and being honest I can understand why you lot might be ****ed off with that...But bigger clubs than yourselves have been here and there is even a bigger club in League 1 right now and they are having a right **** time of things! I am not sure what reality check we will get next year and obviously we will not get the results we have been getting this season but if we can consolidate ourselves in mid-table I will take that...Then we can push on from there. As for the game at your place, we were crap in the first half and you were all over us...At half-time I was genuinely concerned that if things carried on as were going you would win. Those concerns soon evaporated early in the next 45 as the threat you posed in first period was just not there after the break, for some reason you gave up getting tight! North Stand Chat can be hit and miss and I do enjoy coming on here every now and then for a butchers...What I do find amusing though is that you lot tend to bicker with each other constantly...

Maybe not so easy for you to understand as you think if you really believe that Poyet is going at the end of the season...I mean, who do you think he is going to join? I am not sure why you think man for man we do not have a top finish squad - We have one of the divisions top scorers and our second forward already has 15...I also believe we have the meanest defence in the League 1. I am struggling to think of many players from other squads who would get into ours... The reason we struggled to get out of our half at St Marys was because we turned in one of our poorest passing performances this season which was in no small part to yourselves. I thought you were pretty good and penned us back...Saints has clearly done their homework and and set about stopping us from playing our game by closing us down extremely quickly and really getting at us so fair play to you for that. The thing is with the effort you put in with your guys were knackered after about 50mins spaces opened up and we found the game easier and really should have gone on and won the game comfortably.

Srtange post! We are not "an average to poor team" as you suggest we are just better than everyone else...We play the best football and are streets ahead of any other team in this division. Not sure why you me mention the support either as we pretty much sell-out every game, give or take a few seats, in the worst 'stadium' in the top 5 divisions...Also, we have had some comical away attendances this season although I not blaming the away fans for that...In fact when I am away with England I actively encourage opposition fans not to come! Following on from this, at last check we were in the top 4 for away followings in League 1 this season... I have to say I am not sure how correct the 21 points from the last 15minutes of games is but we have got late winners this season. This is mainly due to us having to be patient in games and wait for the break-through as teams are just 'parking the bus' when they play us...They are doing this even when they are at home which shows how much they want to stop us playing because they know if they get involved in a passing match against us then we will destroy anyone...

Well put!...I am an ALBION fan and I do not think I could have put it any better. In the last 10 years we have won 3 promotions, 2 of them finishing top and the other was a play-off win and although the day out at the Millennium Stadium was ace, there is nothing and I mean nothing like going-up as champions...

I am quite surprised you are all bothered what a few divs on an ALBION message-board are saying...I find most of them embarrassing and they are fans of my club!! Anyone who has looked at North Stand Chat regularly will know that is it the internet's version of verbal diarrhoea and there are is truly some "interesting" threads to put it midly...It is quite refreshing to look at this forum where the main board is solely about football. As for an obsession with Saints, I doubt that very much and we can leave that for Bournemouth...I mean, there have been a few threads recently about the English Defence League and I would hardly call that an obsession!...Anyway it works both ways as there seems to be plenty of Southampton fans that have signed-up to North Stand Chat and even joined in a thread some bloke posted about him 'allegedly' ****ging his birds best friend... As for the arrogance thing, I see no problem with it and even like it as I am quite an arrogant person myself, but there you go...

Bloody hell, a Saints fan talking sense!!! Joking aside, I think you have summed it up pretty well although it might be worth noting that although Brighton & Hove is a city with a decent sized population the ALBION draws most of it's support from the rest of county and not the city itself. We have historically managed to get very good crowds but the Withdean years have hit us hard and attracting new supporters in this era has been difficult which is why everyone talks of this lost generation. But it appears the new stadium has captured the county's imagination with it being built to the highest specification possible and coupled with a winning team has lead to high season ticket sales and hopefully re-capturing the lost fans. Hopefully with expansion of the stadium and progression on the pitch should unlock the potential that is undoubtedly there and if this can be realised we should at least be of comparable size to Saints. Also, I do not go on for this South Coast love in either!...You may want the ALBION, Saints, Pompey & Bournemouth to all do well so it can be good for the South Coast but I do not. Whilst you 3 would never ever be our main rivals I would still rather you lot were not successful although would take you lot being successful over Palace any day of the week...

I would not take what a few divs on our messageboard say that seriously. Personally, I would rather you stayed down...Not through any particular hate (there is only team I really hate, really hate) it is just I would rather the ALBION are clearly the top team on the South Coast team. I also, do not go in for this South Coast pals act and have no desire to see the rest of you climb the divisions...In the same way I doubt very much Middlesbrough fans think it is great for the North East that Newcastle and Sunderland are in the Premier League whilst they scrap around at the bottom of the Championship. But just to play devil's advocate, if Pompey had gone bust, what would you have done for a rivalry?...Pretty much every club in England is 'paired off' and surely you would not have taken Bournemouth on!!

I suppose I should apologise as it is an ALBION fan that started this ridiculous thread. But seeing as I am here I have to answer a point...You are not our rivals and never will be, we have a rivalry of our own thanks very much. As you are in our region (ie the 4 South Coast clubs) it makes for an local-ish derby which is a bit more interesting than your run-of-the-mill league game, so as far as we are concerned you are just lumped Saints, Pompey and Bournemouth together...Although the fact we are both (along with Bournemouth) are all competing at the sharp end of the same division gives is another dimension. So, you can carry on hating Bournemouth or Portsmouth or whoever it is...

Nope, it is based on the fact that for luxury, comfort and facilities only the Emirates is apparently better...It has been designed and built to a higher specification than just about every other stadium the country. Take the seats as just one example, every seat is to be completely padded (there is a homophobic joke coming surely) even for the rank and file supporter...These seats are exactly the same as those going into the Olympic Stadium...VIP section... The stadium has been designed for 30,000 but will have an opening capacity of 22,500 and just because that is rather small does not mean it is better...I mean, the Amex will be smaller than St Marys but it will be better. Just look around the Premier League, Chelsea have a 40,000-ish capacity but that main stand is looking ancient and from the back of the lower tier you are unable to see the pitch if everyone stands...Another example is Goodison Park which is another ground that can hold about 40k but the place is falling apart and I believe they still have wooden seats/benches in one stand! The stadium should finally unlock the potential. It is a strange one for the ALBION as the support comes mainly from outside the city. The club draws most of it's fanbase from just to the west of Brighton in the neighbouring towns...Also some to the east and north. Rome was not built in a day but there are signs of progress and even this season if proving it. The aim of the chairman is to get us established in the Premier and although that is a long way off at present the goal is achievable...If Bolton can make the grade and sustain it then the ALBION (and clubs like us) have a chance... As for the "fun-Size Barcelona" quote, I am merely saying what Poyet has said himself in so much how we wants the club to be run...It is not meant that I expect us to become massive and start winning league titles (well, maybe League 1) but in the way that the whole total football philosophy will be filtered through the entire club... Anyway, as my fellow Seagull has mentioned himself, the 3 post limit is up so this is from me for a little bit which is a shame as this site is fairly entertaining and I have enjoyed reading the threads debating your manager and certain players...So, as I am off for a bit, let me ask one question: If you do not get up automatically and fail in the play-offs, would you want Adkins sacked?...I know my answer but I am not a Saints fan so it does not really matter...

In the same way you seemed to have had a bad day at Tranmere the same could be said of the ALBION down at St Mary's. As I posted on here after the game we were pretty average in the first half. I say average becase without the ball we were excellent as we defended very well, making tackles and getting in blocks. Alas, on the flip side of that when we had the ball it was one of the worst passing perfomances we have put in all season. This was in no small part down to yourselves as you worked extremely hard in closing us down and forcing us into making basic errors...You really came at us but for all that rarely caused problems as I can only recall one dangerous shot and that was from a free-kick at the end of the half. But all your efforts took it's toll on your team. As early 5 minutes into the second half the sheer amount of work Saints put in with trying to stop us playing and coming forward themselves saw them visibly begin to tire...Gaps started to appear and we brought on Murray upfront and Smith who is a pacey winger we started to pass it round with a lot more ease. Southampton were clearly tiring and we really should have gone on and won the game without too much trouble but we just missed some decent chances. Squandering the penalty was criminal and you definitely had a look of a team that had just got out of jail following that incident and were happy to take a draw there and then! The return game could be an interesting fixture and I just hope we perform better this time round... Personally I believe Poyet will be around for quite a while and he would be mental to jump ship too soon. Next season we will be moving into one of the top 2 stadiums in the country and have plans to build a complex with mutiple pitches where the first team can train and will also have academy status for the youth teams. Poyet has said he wants to be a part of this and seems to seriously want to create some sort of empire! He has met with all the coaches right down to the youngest age group and has instructed them that even youth teams have to play the total football or the 'Brighton Style' as Poyet has dubbed it. Poyet genuinely wants to turn us into some sort of institution or a fun-size Barcelona if you like...Now, I know that sounds mad it is the way he comes across. Obviously he will not be around forever, no ALBION fan honestly expects that but he will be but he will move on when he can take us no further...Or gets an offer at a very big club...Like, say, Chelsea which would only be viable if he had sustained success with us. He would never leave us for a Championship club or even an average Premier League team such as Bolton or Blackburn he knows deep down he can take the ALBION to that level himself...So why jump when you can obtain success and grow with your current club? So in summary here is going to be at the ALBION for the long-haul unless something special comes his way...But for that to happen he needs to achieve something special first! Oh and for living among Palace fans you have my deepest, deepest sympathies...

I think you might be thinking of the wrong team!...Whilst the Albion have plenty of spirit it is not so much a "scrapping team" as Mickey Adams has long since departed. We are the best passing team in this division and despite what you say we should hold our own quite comfortably in the Championship...I mean, Norwich & Swansea are both doing fine and they are teams who played good football. We have played 2 Championship teams in the FA Cup this season and passed them both off the park. As for the pitch size then the bigger the better! With the new stadium nearing completion Poyet has been consulted on the pitch and from his instruction the playing area will be one of the biggest in the country so it will measure up as the same size as Wembley. Poyet has said that with the way we move the ball about a larger surface will tire out the opposition quicker as they chase down our shadows! I think the best thing I have read about the difference in ourselves has come from a Tranmere fan who has posted on a comments section following the latest Steve Claridge Video Nonsene that goes on the BBC website weekly and can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/steveclaridge/2011/02/claridge_kicks_off_15.html Anyway, the quote is here: