Nordic Saint

It would be great to celebrate a victory at White Hart Lane with a chorus of 'Glory, Glory Hallelujah and the Saints go marching on'. Spurs fans would definitely not like that, even though they copied it from Hibs fans. Glory Glory (football chant) History Hibernian were the first known team to appropriate the tune as a football chant, with the release of a record by Hector Nicol in the 1950s ("Glory Glory to the Hibees"). The same underlying tune was used in "Glory Glory Tottenham Hotspur", which can be traced back to 1960. Tottenham's version was recorded as the B-side for the 1981 FA Cup single, "Ossie's Dream.

I was thinking the same. What a miracle it would if the Northam corner could get through an entire match without singing about Pompey, but then, sadly, they did. At least it wasn't as bad as most games, when they sing about Pompey for the entire game. Maybe it was just because they weren't singing at all. Pompey must love all the free publicity our fans give them at televised Premier League games and away fans must leave St Mary's thinking, I never realized just how massive Pompey are down here. With regard to when the noise started at the Liverpool game, what impressed me that it wasn't when we equalised but when we were losing 2-1, and it really did seem to motivate our players. It's true, however, that until then it had been very quiet. I agree with what's been said about the acoustics at St Mary's. I guess soundproofing materials were used in the construction in order to reduce 'noise pollution' to the surrounding area. The other problem is that the stadium has low, gently sloping sides so a lot of the noise is not channeled onto the pitch. A second tier on the Kingsland, like the one they've added at Cardiff's stadium, even if it were completely empty (which it wouldn't be) would improve the atmosphere a lot. I think what you hear does depend on where you sit. I am towards the southern end of the Kingsland and from there you don't really notice the home fans singing in the Kingsland North/Northam corner much. I think many away fans leave St Mary's without even noticing there were even any home fans singing in the Northam. They only really notice the Chapel End and wonder why the home end is so quiet and the little group of fans who sing in the Itchen because they are facing them. The chant of 'Come on you reds' which went up from the Chapel was not very loud, but it was hopefully the beginning of us having a proper home end at last. It would only take a group of 20 singers to migrate from the Kingsland/Northam corner, to behind the goal in the Chapel for the singing to spread around them, and the atmosphere in the entire stadium would get a massive boost. John Boy, it's nothing to do with our DNA. You obviously weren't around in the late 70s when we were among the noisiest fans in the country and really used to lift the team when they were losing. That's what winning a trophy does for you. It gives fans hope and belief. But, decades of failing to win anything have made fans cynical as they ultimately expect to be disappointed. Anyway, let's hope what happened towards the end of the Liverpool game was just the beginning of us having a proper home end at last, instead of 2 groups hidden in the corners of the away end, singing about Pompey all the time, except for big cup games when they disappear altogether.

The9 is right. Those stats are not very accurate as the officially stated capacity of many stadiums they are using, like St Mary's, is far bigger than the number of seats actually available. The most telling stat is that Saints have averaged in excess of 30,000 every top flight season at St Mary's, and over 90% of capacity every top flight season since the 1980s. In contrast, until 2002, Pompey had never averaged in excess of 75% of their capacity in their entire history.

Yes, Mane always has that serious business face when he scores. Some players do silly dances; Mane just gets on with the job. Makes a refreshing change really. In fact, it's how players used to be.

The whole stadium as well as the players seemed to perk up when the Chapel end started chanting, 'Come on you reds'. The atmosphere after that was almost as good as it used to be in the best days at the Dell. Hell, forget almost, it was as good. I'm really looking forward to seeing it continue for the Newcastle game. I've missed the atmosphere you get with a home kop and at times the lack of one has even made me wonder what's the difference to watching it on TV?

One of the best things about the Liverpool game was seeing the fans in the home end singing and chanting for a change. I think our players appreciated it and it really seemed to motivate them to go on and win the game. Let's hope it continues. St Mary's has badly lacked the support of a home kop.The fans in the corners of the away end really don't have much of an impact, as they are in very poor locations for influencing play or key refereeing decisions, or even making themselves heard above the away fans.

I have watched Saints for decades and I have rarely seen a player as supremely talented as Mane wearing a Saints shirt. Manchester United and Arsenal, yes, but Southampton....What you say about him is very true. His performance was incredible and sublime. Earlier in the season he was being valued at 50 million, then, along with the rest of the team, he went through a really bad patch, and that valuation started to look silly. But, if he plays like he did today, it's not. He's better than Bale and how much did Barcelona pay for him? If that dip in form means the big clubs have temporarily lost interest in him and we can keep him for another season, then it was worth it and I'll be very happy.

Bad timing for Hart, but excellent timing for Forster's England career and Saints' Champions League hopes.

They are both more expensive but not as good as Borja Baston though, who would probably score more goals than both of them combined over a season so, in a way, he is right: they are being overhyped, when there are much better value strikers out there.

Panic over. Koeman is only just over halfway through his current contract, and he has already made it clear he is staying until the end of it so there's no need to worry about replacements yet.

Borja Baston

Sorry, but if you want to win, you field your best XI. I'm sure Pompey would. Sentiment simply doesn't come into it. So, you simply can't replace world class players like Bale, Shearer and Keegan with journeymen like Dennis and Golac, who only ever got 1 international cap between the pair of them.

If you want to win, you pick the best players. I'm sure Pompey would include Prosinecki, even though he was wrecked from years of chain-smoking and could barely run when he played from them for a few months in the second division. I wonder if Osgood would get in the Chelsea XI?

Saints have had more than twice as many international players as Pompey have. This is a complete list of the players who were capped for England while playing for the 2 clubs: Southampton David Armstrong James Beattie Ryan Bertrand Wayne Bridge Arthur Chadwick Mick Channon Nathaniel Clyne Peter Crouch Bill Ellerington Tim Fowers Fraser Forster Charlie Fry Kelly Houlker Kevin Keegan Adam Lallana Rickie Lambert Bert Lee Matt Le Tissier George Molyneux Terry Paine Tom Parker Alf Ramsey Bill Rawlings Jack Robinson Jay Rodriguez Luke Shaw Alan Shearer Peter Shilton Fred Titmuss Arthur Turner Danny Wallace Dave Watson Steve Williams Mark Wright 34 Portsmouth Jim Allen Sol Campbell Peter Crouch Dan Cunliffe Jermain Defoe Jimmy Dickinson Jack Froggatt Peter Harris Mark Hateley Kelly Houlker David James Glen Johnson Arthur Knight Len Phillips Jack Smith Fred Worrall 16 But, you have to base it on the best playersto play for the clubs, not just the ones who were with us for a long time or who had their best seasons when they were with us. So, obviously, Bale and Shearer would be in. Ivan Golac FFS??? He wasn't even good enough to play for Yugoslavia. Mostly, you should be looking at players who won a lot of international caps, like Alan Ball, even if most of them were won at other clubs. Although when magazines do our best XI they usually do stupid things like include Benali. So: Peter Shilton 125 caps Alf Ramsey 32 Dave Watson 65 Toby Alderweireld 52 Gareth Bale 54 Terry Paine 19 Alan Ball 72 Matt Le Tissier 8 Kevin Keegan 63 Mick Channon 46 Alan Shearer 63 Others to consider: Lallana 19 caps already and will probably go on to get 60, which is a hell of a lot more than Le Tissier; Mark Wright 45 caps but not as many as Dave Watson.

You seem to be the one who's moaning, Roger. The rest of us are very happy with Pelle's performance today. As I said, he'll score more goals now Spring is here so it's something to look forward to, not something to whinge about. He'll score more early next season too, as long as we hang onto him.

It's a nice sunny Spring day today.

That is a brilliant book, equalizer. I read it forty years ago and always wondered why it never received more attention but now it's been made into a film, it's sure to become a bestseller at last.

In the late 60s far more common than it is today. Saints used to take 5,000 - 10,000 away fans to London games. I remember us filling the whole of the Park Lane End at White Hart Lane in 1966 and we were packed in like sardines.

The 5th of David Downing's 'station' novels: Lehrter Station.

We need at least 2 goalkeepers to replace Kelvin Davis, Steckelenburg & Gazzaniga), a striker, 2 midfielders and a central defender. I think the club will be looking to make a profit in the transfer market again this summer so a lot of the targets mentioned will be out of our price range, and more likely to go to clubs like Leicester and West Ham. Jeroen Zoet David Raya Borja Baston Jan Kirchhoff (if Sunderland get relegated) Denis Suárez (probably out of our price range) Ben Gibson or Dael Fry (Boro won't sell them both) Georginio Wijnaldum (but we've little or no chance of getting him as other Premier League clubs will bid for him, and he'll cost more then we'll be prepared to pay)

You really could see how much we missed Wanyama yesterday. Sunderland dominated the centre of midfield and had us pegged back in our own half for long spells. We had no one to do battle with their midfield and take control of the centre of the pitch like Wanyama does.

Is Clasie a great player for us? From what I saw today, Sunderland totally dominated midfield and we were crying our for someone like Wanyama to battle them for control. I'd say, Clasie is, at best, like Ward-Prowse, an OK player. In player ratings for our games he's usually one of our lower rated players. I doubt any other Premier League team would very be interested in signing him.

As I said, he is a fair weather player. We'll see him at his best again, scoring goals for fun in April and May, and he'll love playing in France in the summer, while there are some English players who'll struggle playing in hot, sunny conditions.

The whole Northam setup is a stupid mess and the empty swathe of seats directly behind the goal is a real eyesore and an embarrassment when goals at that end are shown on TV. Why can't the singers create a proper home end behind the goal in the Chapel Stand???

The new FFP regulations make stadium expansion a matter of some urgency, which is why so many clubs are doing it now. Good luck to Leicester. It will help establish them as a top club.