The9

Me and MrsThe9 are on bus 9 from St Mary's... along with about 5 of our mates. I'll let them out themselves though - one of them has already posted on this thread without giving himself away. By the way, there are bus 1s at all three sites and I seriously doubt its the same bus, I suspect you should update he OP with 3 different sites rather than having bus numbers and the different sites in brackets - they are different buses, after all. Highest number I've seen for bus numbers so far is the #30 my 3 +1s will be on.

It's actually their process that all of the +1s will have someone else's name on the tickets - at no point was any ST applying asked for the details of the people who would actually attend. If nothing else that's a massive dereliction of duty by the club on safety grounds, you could have hundreds of people in the ground with no way of tracing them back to the original ticket purchase if they wanted to kick off...

The 12:15 departure was on the Online Ticket history when the first batch of first ballot tickets were put online, it's never been on a bus ticket. We've already had pics of bus tickets on this thread (I posted them) so not sure why you hadn't spotted that days ago. However, I would say that my missus has somewhat thrown the cat amongst the pigeons as she works with a steward who's said that despite what's on the ticket (and on the letter you get with your ticket) the stewards have been told we'll be leaving at 12:30... For completion, I have now had the second ballot email, arrived at 22:45pm on a Saturday - amazingly convenient for making the club another few quid in car parking fees from people who'd have been near the ticket office some 8 hours earlier, but not for anyone who actually did as they were told regarding waiting for the email.

Interesting lack of knowledge from all the people jumping on the OP as well there. To confirm, the FL did use goals scored as a tiebreaker for getting on for 10 years from around the time the Prem started, but they don't any more. Before that they used Goal Difference, and before that (before I was born) Goal Average. In short, unless West Ham win by a sackful on Saturday, we'll be signing "we're top of the League" when we arrive at Fratton on Sunday - and if not before kick-off, the second the ball is kicked the "in-play" League will stick a point on us for drawing 0-0 and we'll be back top again. So we'll get to do it at some point anyway.

Have since discovered the train cost to Shoreham (nearest station in the area) is the same as it is to Falmer anyway, so it's a bit pointless from Southampton - could be handy if we split our train journey though, or take the bus direct to the ground.

I went to Fratton a few times in 1991/2 when I was still a naive student with no club but quickly worked out who I wanted to follow. Went to Skates v Millwall and endured TCWTB about 5 yards away, thereby qualifying for a ticket to their 1992 FA Cup semi (massive club)... Also went to see them against Newcastle the season Newcastle were running away with this league under Keegan, and having picked my team by then also pitched up in the away end for their games against Cambridge and Bristol City, who my student mates supported. We used to go all over to loads of daft games including Plymouth v Bristol City on a Tuesday night. First Skates v Saints was Knight's Testimonial, they played 13 players at one point, we had Beasant up front and still stuffed them. Coins and concrete ahoy, hid behind a bush at one point on the way back to the car to avoid some nobbers. The other two times weren't worth talking about, the police cordons guaranteeing we missed kick off both times but I got there soon enough to see the goals blahblahblah still in denial about the second game even existing.

Well, I got one and I think the whole thing smacks of the TO just not being bothered to do it properly - having shifted 4000 for Reading we were always going to sell way more than were on sale. As it happens we also picked up the travel vouchers at £1. 50 each only to find the train to Falmer is the same price as the one to Shoreham, so no saving by getting the voucher. I'd be interested to find out if any other club charges for the voucher, too.

Incidentally I just found the letter they gave me in my pocket. Before I gave the tickets (+ 1s with the ST holders names on in 3 different names) back. Will try and upload when I can get near a laptop, but other than instructions to be there 30 mins before the buses leave there's not much of note, certainly nothing clarifying the names on the tickets, etc.

Given the shambolic lack of communication so far I'd be surprised if the stewards were all operating the same processes...

They are almost certainly going to have to have a collection window (or similar) open on the Sunday morning of the match as they will definitely have tickets uncollected.

Can't argue with much of that.

Not so much getting shirty that you don't have confirmation, they actually printed them for me - I gave them back because I THOUGHT they had the wrong names on, but it seems they didn't. But the fact someone said they hadn't sent 2nd Ballot emails out meant they hung onto the tickets anyway. It genuinely seems like none of them know exactly what they're meant to be doing.

See my post above for my u-turn on this, you're right that all the +1 buses won't have the right names on them, they'll only have ST holders instead of +1s. Of course SOME of the 4+ aways people, presumably also on the +1 buses, WILL have their own names, which confuses matters further. I'd still be inclined to think if you're meant to be on an ST-only bus and go on a +1 bus or vice versa you're running the risk of one of you not getting a ticket - most likely if you're the +1 on the ST only bus.

I've just had a think about this, and remembered that the 2nd ballot application was in the names of the ST holders and not the people who will be +1s, so maybe the names of the "applicants" will be the ST holders and not the people you've applied on behalf of, because... well, I don't recall ever having to give out the names of the people I applied on behalf of. So, logically, on the +1 buses, they don't have the names of ANY of the +1 people who will be on those buses (only the ST holders or +4 away non ST holders) - which actually means that absolutely anyone can turn up on those buses and get a ticket by claiming they are the +1 of someone whose name is read out. Also, there's no particular reason why the people I applied for would know the names of the ST holders who they were +1s of (friends of a friend) so that's shambolic as well. It also means I should have left with the tickets when I had the chance... There was a letter given out with the Bus Tickets, didn't get the chance to read it though, maybe that clarifies it.

That's what I mean, they're saying there aren't any more tickets, that they won't sell any more, and making this 2nd phase go slowly is justification for not releasing any that were left over - they've never said "sold out", only "all taken up".

They will, the names of all applicants (not the lead applicant) are on the bus tickets and its the only way they will know that match tickets are being given to the people who actually applied. Otherwise anyone could turn up, and it's not like they can cross-reference the TO database on the bus, is it ? It's going to be chaos one way or another. Just for the record, my favourite new rumour is from a mate who knows a steward, who has said DESPITE what it says on the ticket about 11am, the 12:15 leaving time is still right...

It will be interesting to see exactly how they plan on herding everyone back on the same buses after the match when there's no incentive for them to use them (other than an easy trip back to a part of Southampton/Bursledon/Winchester they don't really want to go to) and there won't be any tickets left (bus tickets given in to get match ticket, match ticket given in to get into ground) for people to get back onto the bus with anyway... I guess they're assuming that everyone in the ground will want to get back on the bus and that everyone getting on the bus was in the ground.

Anyone else think the reason they're going slow on this is so when it becomes clear that "all taken up" means "we decided not to release the ones we had left after the second ballot" they can claim there "isn't time to process a third phase of applications anyway"?

I'd say yes, which is why I gave mine with the wrong names on back.

Only because the OS is a little misleading, saying "We have also been allocated 1,000 travel vouchers that can be purchased for £1.50. This entitles supporters to subsidised travel within a certain area, details of which are advertised on the back of the ticket." The subsidised travel is in fact FREE travel (as opposed to the voucher being part of the cost), so if you pay the £1.50 at the TO you can use that on either a train or a bus in the Brighton area - you don't have to pay anything else on that bus or train. I took a photo of the voucher and the info, as I'm good like that, so you can see the areas for bus and train travel :

Okie doke, I've just been to the ticket office to get Brighton tickets, took a punt on getting Pompey Bus from 2nd ballot whilst I was there (it's on my online history). Spoke to some geek kid, asked me if I'd had the email, I blatantly just lied to see what would happen, he got his supervisor over, they printed me 3 bus tickets for the right bus - job done ? Well, no, because the number on the ticket was my ST number and the names on the bus ticket were me and two linked people, all of whom already have different bus tickets from the first ballot, and none of whom would actually be on that bus when they were handing out the tickets - so no use to my +1s who actually would have been on the bus. I decided it wasn't worth the hassle for my mates on the bus, went to a different window and had the helpful TO person look up the people who were meant to be on the tickets - whilst this was going on, someone in the TO announced to all and sundry "BUT WE HAVEN'T PROCESSED THE SECOND BALLOT YET" - meaning they haven't sent ANY 2nd Ballot emails - and she said she'd have to wait for me to get the email to get the bus tickets with the right names on. What a shambles. Luckily I went for Brighton tickets anyway, or it would have been a complete waste of time - but if they don't get the second ballot emails out before tomorrow there will be some annoyed non-Southampton-based fans. FWIW I parked on the road, didn't pay the 15 min charge...

I haven't seen an email yet, but my Online record now has the 3 "ST +1s" I applied for in the second ballot on it.

Mr Steve Grant seems fairly sure they're double-deckers.

I thought Cox and Miller for West Brom (reserves) pre-season looked exactly like the kind of borderline Prem strikers we would need if we wanted to challenge for the Championship. Turns out we already had those kind of players here, and Miller is now scuffling around the bottom end of the table with Forest. Funny how things work out.

My bus ticket is in the possession of a mate of mine, who picked up all of our application today, no idea what info he took with him, but they had definitely already had the email and it wasn't even him who was the main applicant.