The9

It would also explain why it is subscription-only on the internet.

There was Grolsch on tap in the Dell Bar, where I chose to sample the Saints Ale, seeing as I'm unlikely to go in there again. It was alright though it just reminded me of a lighter Boddington's or Tetley's - it was never going to be anything ale-wise other than slightly thicker than the lager though. Not sure it was just rebranded Worthington's though as that was also on sale. Can't say I often drink at the ground, there's plenty of time before and time after and I reckon I can cope without needing to get a beer during the 15 minutes in the middle too.

96/97 for West Ham, and it was all Ecru with navy collar and side panels. You're right, the Saints one was the same season. There are slight differences in badge/logo placement and the shape of the side panels and collar, but I'd never noticed they were so similar before.

West Ham had an ecru and claret Pony shirt without the stripes down the sleeve, not sure that was the same season though, I'll have a look.

I buy kit for training, including socks - got a load of Umbro stuff in red/black/white from last season but bu66ered if I'll pay £10 a pair at time of release ! I think the point with the socks is not that anyone wants to get the whole thing to wear up the park but that not only do the white socks not go with the rest of the kit (and I really hope the sock logos are blue or it REALLY doesn't go), but they are the difference between the usual Saints away and the rubbish wannabe Brazil lameness we've inexplicably gone for. Yellow kits are sales death anyway, as I suspect they already know. Certainly it was well known the last time we had one, which is why they went for an all yellow change, and a limited edition one the time before. Keep the shirt the same but mix up the stuff around it to try and make it look fresh.

That is bloody awesome.

Some people just aren't funny, are they? Saints' turnover, £14m, Chairman's salary, approx £1m (that £600k IS a part year figure btw, I've been told by someone who gets paid to find this sort of stuff out and I'll cede to their knowledge on it). That seems like a not-insignificant amount. Of course player wages are sky-high too, but that's the value of their trade - there are lots more players on lots more money than our second-tier superstars and player wages reach a natural level across the divisions in a way that exec remuneration doesn't, necessarily. I guess part of Cortese's salary is down to his trusted friendship with Markus, and part what he gets paid not to be banking in Switzerland where I'm sure he's very good at his area of expertise. When we're a profit-making global brand in the Champions League turning over 100 times the figure we had in 2009/10, he'll have earned it.

But that does cover the subject that you've mentioned in the OP (although it was already in circulation before you posted this) so are went be expecting something else about Lambert from Adkins then?

Fair point I suppose, but what's a rumour if it's not something you overhear from someone else loosely based on a set of feasible circumstances ? If I'd said "Lambert's off", which was one conclusion you could have drawn from it, that would be a rumour. But what I actually did was post the detail of the conversation and let people decide for themselves whether it was something or nothing. I think in a few cases I may have given people a bit too much credit for independent thinking though.

I will speculate that we won't be having one, seeing as the club made that clear in 2008 when signing the deal.

The missus came up with (to the tune of Night Fever, see what she did there?) "De Ridder, De Ridderrrrr, He knows how to do it De Ridder De Ridderrrrr He knows how to move it". Or of course "Knight Fever" also works. Probably could do with some tweaking of "do it" and "move it" but it's partially faithful to the original, and a vaguely familiar tune. Which also has actions.

Yeah that one. I packed at least one of them yesterday. Surely we wore that more times than the white away with turquoisey-ish stripe down the sleeves ?

I'm thinking that it's perfectly possible the club could have known Lambert wouldn't be playing on Saturday due to his minor injury and had decided not to risk him a few days before, and therefore didn't want him in the promotional pic for the away kit launch as he wouldn't be on the pitch in the kit. I don't think it's that likely, but it's probably more likely than to think that we're selling him... Either way, nothing in the original post suggested anything about WHY this might have happened, and even my subsequent post only illustrates that I don't know the bloke much and he seemed genuine. But don't let that stop people having a pop, because what a forum that people have been complaining about being "boring" needs is people hearing stuff but NOT posting them, purely because they know they'll get hammered for it...

Having moved here (twice) with the intention of making it easier for myself to watch Saints on a regular basis we clearly have a very different perspective on necessities. For as long as I'm in employment, and am permitted to attend by the club, I'll be watching Saints and worrying about how to pay for the other stuff after that. It would take a quite significant shift in my situation to not attend Saints, although I accept that as someone currently with an income but without a mortgage or kids I've got a bit more leeway than some. What I object to is the sly implementation of unavoidable charges for doing things that have been free for some time - and before anyone trots out the "but we went into administration" line, that was caused by the withdrawal of an overdraft and the overheads of paying for a stadium which now does not need to be repaid.

Thought I was doing quite well not getting absolutely hammered on here for posting something that I hoped people might appreciate until page 3. But "attention-seeking"? It's hardly "Chamberlain's in my garden with his Arsenal contract doing a poo on a Saints shirt" is it? I posted what was said, including all the detail that was available, and my knowledge of the bloke who mentioned it, apropos of nothing, in relation to a conversation about something else. I doubt he completely made it up, what would be the point, and everything I've related happened. Whether it's true or not only my neighbour knows, but he seemed genuine enough. If I see him today I might ask him what he actually does and how come they got a Saints printing deal, judging by his house he's high enough up to not get ink on his hands. And much as I'd love to tell you all where I'm moving, it's not near enough Portsmouth for you lot to be worried, though it is a little nearer than Banister Park was.

Oh come on, even I don't have the time to think up crap like that ! (Now if it was a decent away kit on Photoshop...)

Nice find on the video, I forgot Guly's goal was such a jammy rebound !

Well, let's hope so...

It's for one year, all kits under the Umbro deal are*. *Blah blah first flybe Umbro home kit, administration, etc.

Dunno if it's been mentioned on here or what, and it's pretty vague, but here goes... Basically I was emptying the garage today in prep for a move next week, when our neighbour wanders up and asks how yesterday went at St Mary's. We had a chat about the matches, then moved onto discussing the home kit which he's getting for his son tomorrow and the away kit which he hadn't seen. He then said that last week his company was printing something for the away kit, and they got a phone call from Saints telling them "to stop everything, and not to feature Lambert in any way". I pointed out that Lambert hadn't played, and we both raised some eyebrows... I have no idea what he actually does, or whether he meant "his" company or just the company he works for, and I had assumed for a minute that he was on about putting the sponsors on the front of the shirt or something as that's what we were talking about before he mentioned it, but on reflection he was talking about the away kit marketing literature, or maybe the point of sale stuff or something like that. The home kit ad (launched on Wednesday) features Fonte, Lallana and Lambert; the away one (launched Saturday) only Lallana and Fonte. Anyway, bit strange for him to have said that AND Lambert to not feature on the weekend or in the advert...

You don't have to, I'll be less cryptic, though people will probably just jump down my throat as usual. Basically I have been told, by someone who is about as well-informed as any Saints fan is, that the marketing bloke left because he found Cortese impossible to work for. The implication was that he was interfering, changing things at the last minute, etc. Logically, if the's marketing guy's not there any more, and the club continues to have crap marketing then you'd have to question who was to blame. Both the failure to communicate AND the failure to market the club in a way that makes fans feel involved and not dispensable money machines, as noted by St Jason, need to be addressed.

Honestly, the last time it felt it was my club was when there was no-one in charge and I thought it wasn't going to exist, probably at Saints Aid actually. The first 11 months under Liebherr and Cortese seemed pretty good and I was happy to buy into their vision, then from the ST announcement in the summer of 2010 it started to go rather wrong as far as fan-friendliness (in fact ANYONE friendliness) went. It would have been interesting to see how many of the policies that have been implemented would have been the smae with Markus around, though I have no doubt that he was involved in the ST 2010/11 decision-making process, which was the first really bad idea Cortese implemented.

From what I've heard the "problem with the marketing" is still there, and is likely to remain there until the club is sold.

We haven't had a third kit since 2007/8.

Fwiw I enjoyed it, and the 45 minute gaps were just about time to queue for a beer in the Dell bar! What annoyed me was the really stupid decision to prevent people leaving the site between games. We came without cash on us and were going to get to a cashpoint but couldn't - result being, we didn't spend anything. We also couldn't get to the Megastore to buy anything had we wanted to, and it closed at 4pm, so there were 8000 bored Saints fans with a new kit to buy who couldn't get in there to do it! Hardly maximising income.