bangkoksaint Posted 6 November, 2012 Share Posted 6 November, 2012 With all that is going on at our club, where the rumour mill is doing overtime and nobody really knows what's going on it made me think of what the club means to me. My first memory is in the late 70's maybe early 80's when we had probably one of our best periods. Since then it has been at best I would say average. Jobs, girls, homes and holidays all come and go but what stays constant for any supporter is his or her football club. At the moment I miss the feel good factor, I don't care about the league we are in I care about how I feel about SFC. If that Is in the Prem where we can compete then fine - but if its in a lowere league where I have that feel good factor again, I can easily get tickets and I'm not ripped off then fine - because for me the two previous seasons where far better and infinitely more enjoyable than this one is or will be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Posted 6 November, 2012 Share Posted 6 November, 2012 Well, I could never afford a ST until I was 18, so I didn't start going every week until after we were relegated from the prem. So to me, supporting Saints means Saturday 3pm kickoffs, Tuesday nights at 7.45pm under the lights, away days at sh*tty northern industrial towns, 50+ fixtures a season, having that feeling that I'm a proper football fan, going through the proper emotions of supporting a proper football club, not being one of those c*nts that goes once a year and thinks they're clued up because they can repeat half of the analysis from MOTD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Strover Posted 6 November, 2012 Share Posted 6 November, 2012 Nothing much. Saints were the closest professional team to where I was born and lived and my brother and mates all supported them and went down the Dell so I did. Them's the lumps and I take as the come. I have no real opinion on Cortese and Adkins and I don't know how they work nor do I pretend to know how they work either. I don't come here much or post here much. I'm Saints that's it - through good and bad I think I will always will be, hating and loving in equal amounts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RogerRamjet Posted 7 November, 2012 Share Posted 7 November, 2012 You have to have the pain to appreciate the pleasure (at risk of straying into Bearsy's 50 Shades thread). Without the ups and downs it is just another Saturday afternoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpine_saint Posted 7 November, 2012 Share Posted 7 November, 2012 This is a great thread. Especially like Jack's post. Personally I think we came closest to the 80s feeling in the previous 2, maybe 3 seasons following survival. This season has seen a return of business-as-usual Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daren W Posted 7 November, 2012 Share Posted 7 November, 2012 My first game was at Upton Park watching West Ham. my dad worked for an outside broadcast unit and I was hanging around there and in the camera pit right by the pitch watching the game. If anything would have made me a West ham fan it would have been that. But my mum took meet to watch an evening game at the Dell. It was freezing, we lost. I loved it. I think there's a whole generation who got into Saints through the Dell, it was just magical. I watched Saints with my mum and my brother, he was flying over from Holland, Spain, Portugal for the games. It meant something to all of us... It still does but the puffed up corporate, you mustn't stand, you mustn't do this, you mustn't do that, experience that modern football is, will proably put a whole slew of people off football.. I'm besotted with Saints. Be it Premier League, Championship or League One, I always will be. It's the hope that kills me... Come on Saints... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemmel Posted 7 November, 2012 Share Posted 7 November, 2012 My first game was at Upton Park watching West Ham. my dad worked for an outside broadcast unit and I was hanging around there and in the camera pit right by the pitch watching the game. If anything would have made me a West ham fan it would have been that. But my mum took meet to watch an evening game at the Dell. It was freezing, we lost. I loved it. I think there's a whole generation who got into Saints through the Dell, it was just magical. I watched Saints with my mum and my brother, he was flying over from Holland, Spain, Portugal for the games. It meant something to all of us... It still does but the puffed up corporate, you mustn't stand, you mustn't do this, you mustn't do that, experience that modern football is, will proably put a whole slew of people off football.. I'm besotted with Saints. Be it Premier League, Championship or League One, I always will be. It's the hope that kills me... Come on Saints... Lol... What a top post. Nice one and for what it is worth I would go back to The Dell in a heartbeat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Bateman Posted 7 November, 2012 Share Posted 7 November, 2012 Relegation fights from most of the 90s, which is why now, it washes over me - it's almost like normal service resumed. Having been born in 1976, we weren't a top 10 team for most of my lifetime! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 7 November, 2012 Share Posted 7 November, 2012 Relegation fights from most of the 90s, which is why now, it washes over me - it's almost like normal service resumed. Having been born in 1976, we weren't a top 10 team for most of my lifetime! I thought it meant popping down once a season when you can get a free ticket and taking yourself off home an hour after the final whistle without telling anyone because you can't handle your beer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampersound Posted 7 November, 2012 Share Posted 7 November, 2012 Always was a saints fan since going with my dad to the dell when I was between 7-10 years old in the early 80s. I lost interested in going when I started playing tyro footie and would go to the odd game. From 16 to 33 years old I was playing footie every Saturday afternoon but my missus had a season ticket and so I would go to midweek games.. Circa 2005 (relegation season) we moved away from Soton and I realised how much I missed saints. When you are there in the city it's easy not to appreciate the club but at that point my views changed and I had to get a season ticket. Couldn't afford at first but once we went into admin I had to sort myself out and get one. Taking my son (5years old) for the past 3 seasons and love it. Got another nipper on the way at Xmas and will be taking him in a couple of years too. Love saints no matter which division we are in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Kucho Posted 7 November, 2012 Share Posted 7 November, 2012 Supporting Saints means taking time of work, flying over to the UK and standing in the Northam singing my heart out. Started supporting Saints at 16, after Strachan took over and we finished 8th and that amazing cup run (I know, I am glory hunter ), my mother would always watch the Final Score to see how Saints were doing and that got me involved, growing up in the Netherlands that was the only way we got to see the Saints. My granddad (RIP) and mother supported Saints all their life and have to keep the tradition going. Hope to move back to the UK next year and get a season ticket for the first time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamilton Saint Posted 7 November, 2012 Share Posted 7 November, 2012 First game was about 1964. Standing at one end of The Dell. I think it cost sixpence for kids to get in back then. My friend at St. Mary's College lived on Atherley Road, just around the corner from The Dell. Used to take the ferry from Hythe and then walk up to the ground, going past The Polygon. So long ago! Couple of years later we got promoted when I was at boarding school in Shropshire. Good times! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eurosaint Posted 7 November, 2012 Share Posted 7 November, 2012 Been an avid supporter of the Saints for more than 40 years now and basically because my wife comes from Southampton you could say that I am married to the football club from the city ! "In good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, until death do us part" ! That's why I get so p*ssed off when some of the smartarses on here start whingeing at the merest sign of a blip in our fortunes !!! Amen ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david in sweden Posted 7 November, 2012 Share Posted 7 November, 2012 I watched my first game in 1959 ..(not a record I know) , but I was born in So'ton.... and only ever supported the Saints. I can't find the words to say anything more meaningful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintPC Posted 7 November, 2012 Share Posted 7 November, 2012 Getting my first glimpse inside the Dell as a 10 year old will always stay with me. Couldn't believe the size of the place at the time. Even walking past the Dell as a kid was a bit special. Lived in Fareham at the time so probably could have chosen the dark side, but for some reason this never even occured to me. Southampton til' I die. I still get excited for a match day 23 years later regardless of league, position, team, manager, chairman. No other club will ever do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHAPEL END CHARLIE Posted 7 November, 2012 Share Posted 7 November, 2012 I'll tell you what supporting the Saints this Saturday is going to mean to me. It will mean me desperately hoping that this team doesn't fail miserably yet again and break the heart of my much loved 6 year old Godson as he see his first ever Premier League match. You might argue that if he wants to grow up to be a real footy fan - as opposed to just another plastic - then he better get used to seeing his team lose I suppose - and there's some truth there. But please Southampton Football Club, if for no other reason than the childish hopes of this one little Saints fan, can we manage to get it right for once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsacar saint Posted 7 November, 2012 Share Posted 7 November, 2012 If we lose a weekend fixture,especially on a saturday,my weekend is ruined and I am nearly 58 and yes I do have a life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Didcot Saint Posted 7 November, 2012 Share Posted 7 November, 2012 If we lose a weekend fixture,especially on a saturday,my weekend is ruined and I am nearly 58 and yes I do have a life. That is so true! I'm 47 and hate it when we loose, I just love the Saints and am fiercely proud of who I support. Loosing hurts but I'm already looking forward to saturday, a pint in the King Alfred and a few beers back with the rest of the Didcot saints boys after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGTL Posted 7 November, 2012 Share Posted 7 November, 2012 Junior Saints ST holder at the dell, it really was a magical place and totally gripped me right from 5 years old. I still remember my seat, Block Q row 4 seat 197. Been going ever since, but has gone from home games with dad/grandad to all home and away with mates. I love every second and is a massive part of my life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucks Saint Posted 7 November, 2012 Share Posted 7 November, 2012 Junior Saints ST holder at the dell, it really was a magical place and totally gripped me right from 5 years old. I still remember my seat, Block Q row 4 seat 197. Been going ever since, but has gone from home games with dad/grandad to all home and away with mates. I love every second and is a massive part of my life. Simple yet top post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 7 November, 2012 Share Posted 7 November, 2012 I make no excuse for posting this quote again. “What is a club in any case? Not the buildings or the directors or the people who are paid to represent it. It’s not the television contracts, get-out clauses, marketing departments or executive boxes. It’s the noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging, the pride in your city. It’s a small boy clambering up stadium steps for the very first time, gripping his father’s hand, gawping at that hallowed stretch of turf beneath him and, without being able to do a thing about it, falling in love.” Sir Bobby Robson As this is how it was for me. An overcast, drizzly saturday afternoon November 30th 1985. Saints 2 Everton 3. My first every game. We stood near the front of the Milton Road end with my dad just to the right of the goal as you face the pitch and my day was made when Steve Moran who was my hero at the time scored Saints second right in front of me. remember so much about that day even though it's approaching 30 years ago now. The excitment of walking down Milton Road and hearing the noise of the crowd, the smell of cigarettes and cooking burgers and then finally seeing pitch, the players coming out to warm up, go back in and come out again and being so excited i didn't even know when the game had started. There really was a magic about the Dell that you just cant explain as a few others have said. There was a reall togetherness about the club in those days and it almost did feel like being part of a family. I may be wrong but these days it's all about the matchday experience, you see the kids going to the club shop and walking round with their bags of merchandise, eating their burgers. For my generation it was about the football and only the football, seeing players you'd heard your dad and brothers talking about, prentend to be in the playground and if you were lucky might get the odd glimpse of on match of the day if you were allowed to stay up. I think Sky coverage with it on telly 24/7, FIFA 2013 and the general consumerisation of soccerball have taken that away for kids today, its not quite so special as it was back then. BUt anyway, Bobby Robson said what it means much better than i can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangkoksaint Posted 7 November, 2012 Author Share Posted 7 November, 2012 Nothing much. Saints were the closest professional team to where I was born and lived and my brother and mates all supported them and went down the Dell so I did. Them's the lumps and I take as the come. I have no real opinion on Cortese and Adkins and I don't know how they work nor do I pretend to know how they work either. I don't come here much or post here much. I'm Saints that's it - through good and bad I think I will always will be, hating and loving in equal amounts. A bit like me. I lived in Andover and we were closest and cheapest team to get to................do I ever wish my dad had put his hand in his pocket and taken me to London? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verbal Kint Posted 7 November, 2012 Share Posted 7 November, 2012 Since then it has been at best I would say average. Jobs, girls, homes and holidays all come and go but what stays constant for any supporter is his or her football club. At the moment I miss the feel good factor, I don't care about the league we are in I care about how I feel about SFC. If that Is in the Prem where we can compete then fine - but if its in a lowere league where I have that feel good factor again, I can easily get tickets and I'm not ripped off then fine - because for me the two previous seasons where far better and infinitely more enjoyable than this one is or will be. I can’t say i agree with that to be honest, in fact i almost think the opposite. I started going with my Dad in the early to mid nineties as a young kid and at the time it was all about watching Le Tiss. I just used to love the anticipation of not just hoping, but EXPECTING him to do something incredible, and he nearly always did. As i grew older i started to appreciate other things more: The atmosphere for a night game at the Dell under the lights, the team spirit we had in such abundance under Ball and one or two others, the fight and determination of the Dodds and Benalis, seeing academy players coming through and making a name for themselves. Through all of this the result was never the most important thing for me. It was a bonding thing for me and my Dad (and later on the whole family) first and foremost, and secondly it was to be part of the backs against the wall mentality of being ‘little Southampton’ at such a small and unglamorous ground like the Dell. The last day relegation escapes when we had been written off by all and sundry, nearly always having to get results at home towards the end of the season and nearly always getting them. I saw Alpine on another thread complaining about the bias of Mark Lawrenson and how he’s always hated us and always predicted us to go down. That’s part of what i loved about being a Saints fan. Being able to ram it back down their throats when we did stay up and we did compete and nearly every season we took some big scalps along the way. We struggled, we battled and we never ever threw in the towel and we always backed the team, knowing full well where our place was in the football pyramid and being happy enough with our lot. That’s how i remember it growing up. Some people can slag it off as having “Dell sized mentality” or whatever else they want to call it. I, and about 14,000 others, call it “the spirit of Southampton”. And for the first time in years i started to feel it a little bit on Monday night at West Brom. That’s not to say the last couple of years haven’t been great. Going to some cracking grounds with fantastic character, proper atmospheres and having a drink in pubs mixing with other great supporters. None of this home/away fan pub segregation ********. And we’ve got used to winning. But that isn’t the norm for this club and it’s only the last couple of weeks that fans have started to remember what it’s really like to follow the Saints. “2 nil down, who gives a ****? We are the Saints and we’re staying up”. I have no idea who started that chant on Monday, but he/they get it. The unequivocal support of our manager, who has done wonders for this club, added to that feeling for me. The moaning and scapegoating and constant blame game that happens on here should stay on here. There were groans in the first half against Spurs and the booing of Boruc was horrible to witness. It’s time to support the team, the manager and play our part in keeping this club up. And if we do it with Adkins in charge, it will feel so much sweeter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halo Stickman Posted 7 November, 2012 Share Posted 7 November, 2012 Forty-five years of misery, despair and heartache interspersed with the occasional brighter moment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 7 November, 2012 Share Posted 7 November, 2012 I can’t say i agree with that to be honest, in fact i almost think the opposite. I started going with my Dad in the early to mid nineties as a young kid and at the time it was all about watching Le Tiss. I just used to love the anticipation of not just hoping, but EXPECTING him to do something incredible, and he nearly always did. As i grew older i started to appreciate other things more: The atmosphere for a night game at the Dell under the lights, the team spirit we had in such abundance under Ball and one or two others, the fight and determination of the Dodds and Benalis, seeing academy players coming through and making a name for themselves. Through all of this the result was never the most important thing for me. It was a bonding thing for me and my Dad (and later on the whole family) first and foremost, and secondly it was to be part of the backs against the wall mentality of being ‘little Southampton’ at such a small and unglamorous ground like the Dell. The last day relegation escapes when we had been written off by all and sundry, nearly always having to get results at home towards the end of the season and nearly always getting them. I saw Alpine on another thread complaining about the bias of Mark Lawrenson and how he’s always hated us and always predicted us to go down. That’s part of what i loved about being a Saints fan. Being able to ram it back down their throats when we did stay up and we did compete and nearly every season we took some big scalps along the way. We struggled, we battled and we never ever threw in the towel and we always backed the team, knowing full well where our place was in the football pyramid and being happy enough with our lot. That’s how i remember it growing up. Some people can slag it off as having “Dell sized mentality” or whatever else they want to call it. I, and about 14,000 others, call it “the spirit of Southampton”. And for the first time in years i started to feel it a little bit on Monday night at West Brom. That’s not to say the last couple of years haven’t been great. Going to some cracking grounds with fantastic character, proper atmospheres and having a drink in pubs mixing with other great supporters. None of this home/away fan pub segregation ********. And we’ve got used to winning. But that isn’t the norm for this club and it’s only the last couple of weeks that fans have started to remember what it’s really like to follow the Saints. “2 nil down, who gives a ****? We are the Saints and we’re staying up”. I have no idea who started that chant on Monday, but he/they get it. The unequivocal support of our manager, who has done wonders for this club, added to that feeling for me. The moaning and scapegoating and constant blame game that happens on here should stay on here. There were groans in the first half against Spurs and the booing of Boruc was horrible to witness. It’s time to support the team, the manager and play our part in keeping this club up. And if we do it with Adkins in charge, it will feel so much sweeter Top post and i wholeheartedly agree with all you say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Warrior Posted 7 November, 2012 Share Posted 7 November, 2012 58 years of supporting the team only twice have I almost lost the faith once was because of the negativity of sisa and this season because of the negative Ijits persistently knocking every player manager etc get behind the team saints is forever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verbal Kint Posted 8 November, 2012 Share Posted 8 November, 2012 Top post and i wholeheartedly agree with all you say. Reading this board sometimes i really do wonder how many of the regular posters were going to the Dell on a consistent basis. That's not me having a go at them, i just get the feeling a lot of them can't relate to that spirit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveo Posted 8 November, 2012 Share Posted 8 November, 2012 My Dad (RIP) first took me to the Dell for a reserve game mid 60`s, from that point on I was Saints. Been some highs, real highs, that make the lows (and the lows can be very low) worth it. We have had some great times, great teams, and great games, we have also had the not so good. That is what being a Saints supporter is all about, living with the lows, laughing at the lows (WBA monday) and make the most of the good times. What better way to spend a saturday (home or away) than with your mates, having a few beers, shouting your heart out and seeing Saints win. That is what Football is all about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 8 November, 2012 Share Posted 8 November, 2012 Reading this board sometimes i really do wonder how many of the regular posters were going to the Dell on a consistent basis. That's not me having a go at them, i just get the feeling a lot of them can't relate to that spirit Agreed. I much rather be in a 15,000 stadium packed with fans than a 30,000 one with 15,000 fans and 15,000 consumers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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