Nordic Saint

Because of a football reporter from Waterlooville, called Dan Sheldon, who seems to be on a campaign against Saints.

Portsmouth's finest reporter on Saints, Dan Sheldon, has had the effect he wanted with his article in The Athletic. He's also circulated it to a lot of national newspapers. Was it also him who spread the recent stories about Ted Bates' statue? "Frank Lampard comments on controversial Southampton move with FA keeping tabs"https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/frank-lampard-southampton-everton-t [Post edited 17 Feb 18:10]

You obviously don't follow football very closely or you'd know that fans who go to games at big clubs don't all come from within a few miles of the stadium or even from the same city. The bigger the stadium, the wider the area you attract fans from. Travelling distances are so small in England that you could develop a big club just about anywhere other than perhaps the extreme south west. You could draw a line diagonally across the country just south of Liverpool, Birmingham and London and see that Saints don't have a lot of competition in the Premier League in our half of the country. I've heard it said that our fans have a 'small club mentality' which is hard to change, but there is really no reason why our club can't grow much bigger.

It's amazing what a difference stadium size makes. It's a pity we didn't start St Mary's with a 40,000 capacity. The difference in cost would have been minimal back then: maybe less than £10 mill. Nobody would ever have called West Ham a big club when they were at Upton Park. In fact, there were seasons when our average home gate was bigger than theirs. But, now they've moved to a big stadium, they've suddenly grown in size as a club in the eyes of the football public and are perceived as a club that could poach any one of our players if they wanted to. Premier League clubs with 30,000 capacity stadiums, even teams that have won major trophies recently, like Leicester, will always be regarded as small by Premier League standards. In fact, I can envisage a time in the futiure, when we follow the American sports model and insist that teams require a minimum stadium capacity of 40,000 or more to even compete in in the Premier League.

Tremendous performance from City and great atmosphere in Lisbon. I'd love to see us in the Europa League again and this time treating it more seriously. On current form, it looks a realistic objective for next year. In fact, if we win the FA Cup this year, it might even be sooner than that.

Yes, opposition players are bemused by that. When McCarthy was in goal, any near post shot was a guaranteed goal for them. How it was before FF: "McCarthy started between the sticks for Hasenhuttl’s team but his performance left a lot to be desired. Indeed, his was the lowest match rating awarded to a Southampton player. The 31-year-old was beaten at his near post for both of Norwich’s goals"

How much did Grobelaar charge for an autograph?

31,252 It's the second half of the season and we're not doing too badly so I'd expect all of our remaining weekend games to be sold out so attendances will depend on how may seats the police want left empty in the Northam.

Fraser Forster. He has a positive effect on the whole team. Also, more recently, with Armstrong, Ward-Prowse, Romeu & Elyounoussi we've found the perfect combination in midfield, which is helping us control games.

Pay cut??? He deserves a pay rise! He is one of our most important players. Having him in goal instead of McCarthy is worth millions in terms of points and league positions gained, not to mention the real possibility of winning the FA Cup.

He is the main man and such an inspiration to the rest of the team. If McCarthy had been in goal today, we'd have limped to a 4-1 defeat.

With Fraser Forster in goal it's like the 2015/16 season again. He is such an inspiration to the whole team. It's a sobering thought that if McCarthy had still been in goal, we'd probably have lost 4-1 today. The midfield of Armstorng, Ward-Prowse, Romeu and Elyounoussi is more than a match for any team in the league. Broja and Adams up front are getting better and better too and you expect them to score in every game. Walcott not even on the bench was a relief too. Ralph has got his best XI playing brilliantly and they can beat anyone. This could well be our year to win the FA Cup again, as long as that forst XI doesn't get hit by injuries and suspensions..

Meet the identical twins in our first team squad at Paços de Ferreira | Tottenham Hotspur

Thank you for this thread. I'm sure there are many people grateful to you for things you have done in your life. Good luck with the time you have left.

Our best midfield is Armstrong, Ward-Prowse, Romeu & Elyounoussi. When they play, we are a match for anyone. Elyounoussi is a gutsy player and really shows his worth when we are up against it in away games. He played the full 90 minutes and scored goals in the 2-2 draw at Newcastle, the 3-2 win at West Ham and, of course, the 3-2 win at Spurs. He also scored in our away cup games at Newport and Swansea. In fact, he has played in every one of our away wins this season.

Ward-Prowse and Stuart Armstrong just keep getting better and we know that Broja is a great striker but a shout out for two of our unsung heroes tonight: Romeu and Elyounoussi. I'd like to see Elyounoussi regularly ahead of Redmond in our starting lineup with Redmond used instead of Walcott as a sub. Also, Forster was immense in goal. If he hadn't made that early save to stop what looked like a certain goal, the match could have been very different. It seems like we never lose when Forster, Romeu, Stuart Armstrong and Elyounoussi play together. That midfield of Armstrong, Ward-Prowse, Romeu and Elyounoussi has the perfect balance. They totally dominated Spurs.

He's currently in the lead, ahead of Liverpool's Elliott: Vote for your goal of the FA Cup fourth round - BBC Sport

He has 16 goals so far this season. He's played most of his career as a winger but Pellegrini is playing him in a more central position this season and he is proving a deadly finisher. He reminds me a bit of Vardy.

Manchester City were always a yo-yo team (12 promotions & 11 relegations), and Coventry City always seemed to finish 4th from bottom or back in the day when only 2 were relegated, 3rd from bottom. They certainly hold the record for the number of finishes 1 place above the relegation zone.

Coventry's third round game last month: Coventry 1 Derby 0 Attendance: 8,896 If not for the visting Derby fans, the stadium would have been almost deserted: FA Cup highlights: Coventry City 1-0 Derby County - BBC Sport

Shame the club sent Coventry extra tickets, when there was no need. There would usually be at least a couple of thousand home fans who'd buy tickets in the week before the game.

Makes sense: get two names for the price of one.

Forster was our goalkeeper when we were a top 6 side in the Koeman days.

Apart from getting their autographs outside the Dell, the first well-known one I met was Mick Channon, when he knocked on my front door and asked if I wanted a free ticket for the next home game. (He was dating our next door neighbour's sister at the time, later to become his first wife).

Embarrassment?