The9

Dunno, is the Register Office still across the road from the Hyatt ?

My £45 ticket the first year actually cost me somewhere in the region of £135, as I couldn't even give my two spares away outside, partially due to the rain, and partially because EVERYONE there had about twice as many tickets as they needed and they were all trying to get rid of spares. Until the Giants come back I couldn't give an ar5e about NFL Wembley matches though.

Sturrock had us winning one and losing one in the Premiership, I think a lot of people would kill for that right now. The SACKING of Sturrock was a joke, but we were a LOOOOONG way from the bottom of League One then.

I can't understand how anyone can think the bottoming out was BEFORE administration when we were within a few days of extinction at one point after it ? It's fine to say Admin was necessary with hindsight, but at the time no-one but Fry and possibly Cortese and Liebherr could be sure that Saints weren't going to cease to exist - which wouldn't have been very exciting at all. Oh, and if I want to be REALLY specific about the bottoming-out at Swindon, for me it was when Jacob Mellis' family (who were in the row behind me to see his debut) had to listen to some odious mong yelling (apparently) racist abuse at him, around 10 minutes from the end of the game, not long after the substitute gesturing from the fans and a few minutes after Lancashire's pass straight off the pitch and that ridiculous corner he conceded. That stand-up row wasn't pleasant to see or hear and pretty much summed the night up.

I can also understand that most people by then had realised we couldn't just keep giving money to some black hole, so it was kind of understandable, I just wanted to make sure I did my bit personally really. And I gave them £3 for to try and win on those bloody penalties too...

Lowest point on the field for me was definitely Swindon away. We had been second best at Huddersfield but they'd played well and at least we'd scored. Swindon weren't much cop, had already been stuffed once, but they just tried harder and looked like they had a clue when we didn't - it was also not a good day for Pardew's reputation, with the lack of subs and the fans making it clear to him so early in his tenure. I missed Brentford at home due to V Festival and when we played Birmingham it was already obvious that even the squad players were putting in the effort, though it wasn't yet clear if that was the manager or opposition motivating them. Against Stockport we were unlucky not to win, and versus Colchester's 10 men we were poor in breaking them down, but there was plenty of effort that hadn't been there against Swindon, just a lack of guile. Charlton away was a decent result, then we beat Yeovil comfortably, at Carlisle we probably deserved better, and then Bristol Rovers and Saints BOTH played pretty well that night, and they were at least 2 points better off than they deserved at the end. So nothing tops (bottoms?) Swindon, we hadn't begun improving at that point, and those who think we were bad against Bristol Rovers simply didn't see the effort the players were putting in. Off the pitch, for me it was being at Saints Aid, realising the level of apathy and knowing that there was no way the fans would be able to save the club as a football league entity without a buyer emerging immediately. Thank you, Herr Liebherr.

You're the only one then. When he tries he's already moving when the ball comes near him and has the ability to take the chances that creates. When he's unmotivated, lazy and out of form he stands around and considers running for things long after the opportunity has gone, so he fails to get into scoring positions. It's no coincidence that his best spells were 1) when he was on loan before he got a permanent contract 2) The first few games after the contract was granted when he was still fit and motivated 3) A couple of games right after he returned from Aalborg when he'd been playing for them to try and get a permanent move at CL standard and was clearly fitter and sharper than he'd been for some time for Saints. He's not average compared to strikers in League One when he's played successfully in the CL very recently and excelled for Saints for a period in the CCC when he first came. Unlike the likes of Pahars, he's not had endless injuries or gone beyond his peak either. He's just stopped being bothered. Just like he did at Troyes to end up in the reserves and loaned to Saints, after having two stellar seasons at Legia Warsaw and then Guimaraes when he made his name.

Nice sentiment, but I refer the gentleman to his tackle on me in the first 18 seconds of our St Mary's Stadium debut...

You're both wrong. HTH.

I couldn't care if he's 20 stone if he looks like he wants to play for us, but he hasn't done so since 2007 with maybe 2 exceptions.

The red socks look rubbish, and I think the hooped ones are excellent, and certainly nice in comparison. I dislike any Saints kit you can't actually buy in the club shop (white FA Cup semi final shorts, black socks with red turnovers in 2007 v Leicester, yellow away kits that aren't the same as the anniversary kit, red away shorts and socks last season, etc.) Not quite sure what the point of the ref having us change them was, if he can't tell the difference between a plain white sock and a white/red hooped sock when the ball bounces off someone near the touchline he shouldn't be reffing in the first place.

You might be right with that, but I don't expect Jake will be adding 3 stone of muscle mass in the near future, nor should he.

Seems pretty obvious to me that he only plays when he feels the need to prove himself, and that usually coincides with his contract expiring. Wrong attitude, and we should see if we can sell him for anything in January as there's no point keeping him when he actually has a contract because talented though he clearly is, he rarely tries.

Nice to see the extended version on there.

There are plenty worse around, mostly only because we found a buyer though. If we'd gone to the wall he'd have been in the top 5. And much as he was useless, there weren't too many dissenters in 2003.

We'll keep him if he pays us back his wages for the last 12 months which appear to have been gathered under false pretences.

Considering we're in the third tier, I think it's pretty good that we get goal/match highlights on Sky Sports News (free on Freeview) by about 7pm, then the FL programme on BBC (along with 71 other teams) before bedtime - The FL programme is on red button until noon the following day - and then the Beeb uploads highlights on the web club by club at midnight Sunday/Monday. If they got rid of the yakking altogether and showed more action then I'd have no complaints at all.

I thought he was alright against Torquay, crossing wasn't all that bad, though he didn't seem to offer much we didn't already have in the squad except a bit of strength compared to smaller players who've played there like Thomson and James. Pardew has already said he's one for the future... maybe.

Nice finish, obviously gave the keeper the eyes - a shame he didn't already put five in the bottom right corner so he actually needed to do it though.

Meh, happens to everyone.

What a crap and lazy article. "Can we think of ten ?" "Nah, only about 6 or 7, what's happened recently to pad the list out?"

Statistically I'd go for Brad Friedel on saves to shots ratio. Yawn.

He's not there, he has been out of contract. you'll have to wait for the new squad update. I'm not keen for more competition for my Be A Pro place anyway, LOL.

He doesn't do that for me... Masive exploit on the clean through chip-tap, though isn't there ? Bit rubbish, though I keep forgetting to use it.

A decent edit mode for ALL players (and a better Gameface option, mine still sucks after hours of tweaking) would cover that and leave me in footy heaven. I actually don't think I'll be bothering to buy PES this year, and I've got 6 or 7 Japanese imports of Winning Eleven...