Ted Bates Statue

Couple of wins and we would be three points off top. We have an inferior GD, but winning a couple of our six-pointers would take care of that issue. It's possible, but realistically most don't expect us to even achieve the two wins we need to get within touching distance of the leaders. Fingers crossed I'll be proved otherwise.

no worries, it's not your fault someone sat on the keyboard when they were filling out the lad's birth certificate. His surname is literally a countdown conundrum

I understand they wanted to leave and we wouldn't stand in their way, but I do wonder how we would be doing if we had kept JWP and Tella. Given our September slump after their departures, it's not outrageous to say we would have taken a few more wins. ah well, our fate is still in our hands (to throw it all away in the next ten games)

I clicked just to check whether Mordaunt would be at the top of the list and was relieved to see she is. Even if they get wiped out at the election, the tories need at minimum a safe pair of hands in the medium-term and I think she will be one of the more sensible ones left. I imagine Ben Wallace would have been up there too, had he shown an interest in staying on. I wonder what his plans are. Both parties seem hell-bent on demonstrating that their members are incapable of seeing the wood for the trees. You still get large numbers of labour voters who think Corbyn was a winner, and the tories spent ages mucking about with Hague and IDS when Hague should have held back from the leadership for about a decade.

Seeing as we now have no games for ages, felt it would be a good time to check in on Minsk's old thread, with a brief comparison to see how we are shaping up against the promotion league table of 2011-12. Back then with ten games to go, we just beat Barnsley 2-0 having drawn 1-1 with Ipswich in the previous game. With 20 wins, 9 draws and 7 defeats that leaves us with 69 points at the same stage we are now. Having won 22, drawn 7 and lost 7 this season on 73 points, we are 4 points better off today, but we are in 4th place as opposed to being the division leaders, which maybe explains why it felt a bit more enjoyable back then. I'm reasonably certain there was less moaning on the forum. Back in 2012 we had Millwall up next with Rickie Lambert snatching two late goals in London. I would settle for getting our next 3 points done and dusted a bit earlier in our next game against Boro, and hopefully we can keep the pressure on the division leaders.

Sholing have won loads in the last ten years, but it doesn't mean people are going to get envious over their trophy cabinet.

for those of you gullible enough to check, they haven't really

Any excuse to post this again. Sorry for the facebook link but the other media available seem to either be sullied by a shit soundtrack or the picture quality similar to that of a potato. https://www.facebook.com/southamptonfc/videos/osvaldo-nets-a-stunner-against-man-city/1529447253735156/

WTF does the city of Southampton have to do with all this?!

Given the amount of people on here who seem to regard it as a chore to watch Saints, we should be more grateful to be given three weeks' respite. I wish we could have international friendlies all the time. The icing on the cake is that Saints often make the most of these quiet periods. Think of the glorious metamorphosis we all got to enjoy as the side transformed from Ralph's lowly caterpillars to become butterflies soaring up the table under Nathan Jones. There was some kickabout in Qatar but the real excitement was taking place at Staplewood, and I'm sure something similar will be afoot right now.

Bournemouth have just taken the lead after being 3-0 down to Luton. Brings back traumatic memories of the last days of Redknapp for me.

For those who are interested, there is also an explanation of the methodology behind it. Personally I think these things are a long-winded way of repackaging the latest league table. I wonder at what point would they have started to predict Reading to win the 2011-12 Championship.

Yeah we're probably going for the playoffs now. I know it's fun to look at, but these kind of predictions never seem brave enough to suggest the team in 2nd or 3rd is likely to pip the team in 1st place. Invariably they seem heavily based on whatever the league table looks like at the present time. Leicester are having a pretty big wobble but they seem happy to have written off Ipswich for auto promotion, in favour of the top spot incumbents. I bet you this time last year, they would have predicted Arsenal to go all the way in the premier league. So my analysis is that this is all too close to call, and the Opta Supercomputer is just re-hashing the current league table. I would have been interested to see their predictions going back to Xmas, but they seem not to have deemed them worthy of inclusion. Make of that what you will.

Surman would have been my first choice as it felt like he was a natural for the role, but Jo Tessem has grown on me too. Yes he has a funny voice but he has been developing a lot and getting good rapport with Adam Blackmore who is consistently excellent (I don't recall any instances when he's missed out on goals while going off-topic, @david in sweden maybe he's sharpened up in recent years since the club have tended to use Solent for post-match highlights). @NewYorkSaint I liked Dave Merrington too, but I bet you he would have been spitting feathers at some of our performances. I can just imagine the rant already, "What you don't want to do is concede so soon into the second half!" Where Tessem has won me over is that I occasionally watch footage with Solent in the background and frequently hear him making an interesting observation well before Sky/iFollow do, or if they notice at all. If you're going to rely on radio commentary then you need someone like that. A word on the iFollow coverage. I think Ian Wilding does a pretty decent job, but as @bpsaint has already said, it feels like Dean Hammond still thinks he's working for Saints and is delusionally positive. Must be a symptom of having worked under Nigel Adkins... Sometimes I don't mind him when we're really shit, but deep down I know he's talking bullshit! Tessem isn't afraid to speak his mind, and that is particularly necessary when Blackmore seems to feel the need to tread more carefully and avoid Russell Martin getting stroppy after the match.

Sunderland diving about everywhere and the ref's just buying it in bulk

banter football

Hello, sorry to disrupt the music banter but some of us are seeking info about whether the game will actually go ahead...

In terms of re-arrangement, the Echo advises that the available fixture slots midweeks of the weeks commencing March 11, April 15, April 22 and April 29. I would prefer we go for next week, April is already pretty full-on and we need to brace ourselves for the play-offs too.

Speaking of the roads around Southampton, how has it been since the temporary one way system been in place? I haven't been to Southampton since it's started, how bad is it? edit - never mind the roads, if the neighbouring site is burning down then I'll leave it. On the positive side, chances are we get KWP and Fraser back for the rearranged match.

Not sure Millwall have exclusivity rights over it. I've heard us do it before the match on the stairs up to the San Siro upper tier. Thought it sounded great, and despite the lyrical complexity I'm surprised it doesn't seem to have caught on. I look forward to seeing it on a songsheet in the future along with a full multiple verse OWTS.

BBC 5 Live Extra is using the BBC Merseyside feed. I did wonder why it felt especially nauseating to hear, I've been listening for 15 mins and they've mentioned about 10 seconds on the opposition - no exaggeration.

Nathan Jones 🤣

I think you lot will find that Brooks is cup tied. There was a whole thread a couple of weeks ago making jokes about it.