Daren W

It's not that difficult to understand.... When Le Tiss was playing for not one person would have argued against a ticket for life. Now he no longer plays/does anything for the club, people no longer care... "Oh he can afford it, he should pay." If Matt had that sort of attitude he'd have left our club years before he finally retired. We'll forget that there would be no club without the likes of Matt or Lawrie. Their achievements made this club the attractive proposition for the likes of Leibherr and Cortese. The odd free ticket, bearing in mind we're not selling out every week, isn't going to hurt anyone but this isn't an issue about the cost of the ticket, I'm sure Matt and Lawrie can easily afford tickets, it's about showing our old boys some basic respect... One small black mark against Cortese... is that so hard to accept or is our chairman isn't completely and utterly faultless? Reading some of the replies here I'm a little shocked that we care so little about some of our former legends. We've gone from one extreme to another, from people milking all the freebies they can to two of our greatest names being called freeloaders for allegedly asking for the occasional free ticket..

I have no problem with fans saying Le Tissier doesn't deserve a ticket for life... I just would have liked to have heard them say that when he was still playing for us. I'd hazard a guess and say not one person on here would have said he didn't... not one.. Our memories are short and for many of us a free ticket for McMenemy or Le Tissier is a no brainer... And that's from someone who thinks Cortese can do no wrong...

Agree... and it's a real shame. But as said above, it's the managers who devalue the tournament, Wenger being the worst culprit. I'd hazard a guess and say he'll take it a wee bit more seriously this year as it's the only thing he's likely to win... Championship clubs should be up for the Carling cup, it;s the only tournament they can really stand a chance at winning... That said, it was a shame the club couldn't put out cheaper tickets, it would have been ideal to get free tickets for local children....

Any hoo.... Am I alone in hoping we draw Arsenal at St Marys? I know everyone will reckon AOC will score against his old team but I think Arsenal are there for the taking. Can you imagine it, them clogging away as we play crisp, passing football and brush them aside? I'd love it...

Played just seven games and are already twelve points ahead of Pompey...

So let me get this straight, the club are charging for something given away free? And people don't think this is wrong? Forget the prices, that just muddies the waters, does anyone think the club should charge money for something that is free? If, say, the tickets themselves were free and you were charged money for them would you be unhappy? If the answer is yes, then the original poster has a point...

The problem with threads like this is that we stay exactly the same and all the other clubs change and moved on. What if the Taylor report, never happened? What if Sky never happened and football remained the preserve of the BBC and ITV with the only live games being cup finals? I think Saints would do rather well... The Dell was tight, intimidating and with all the other clubs staying the same I think Saints would be quite an attractive proposition.

Watching Saints rip Birmingahm apart early season whilst under Portvielt and saying we could be an outside bet for promotion...

Take away the B and add an E and you've got Christian Dailly...

This...

Good point, everyone talks about his eye for young players but no one ever mentions the word poach. No one ever mentions the fact that Wenger's "genius" relies on other people's scouting. Paul Merson mentioned it but Wenger's formation for that games was a joke, you can't go to Old Trafford with a 433 and play young inexperienced boys, he was lucky they scored 2. Arsenal are a joke, they've known they were going to lose Fabregas and Nasri and yes they got good money for them, but they got it with weeks left on the transfer window.. Now doubt, long term, they'll be fine but this season is a wash out and the damage that game will have on some people's confidence could prove to be far more damaging...

My over-riding memory of the Millwall game was the look of fear on the police officers faces as they "co-ordinated" the fans heading up Britannia rd. They had their batons drawn shouting at fans to keep back. The fans being about a hundred or so ordinary fans with families, an old lady and me and a mate. Totally over the top as to be honest we weren't "surging" up the road we just wanted to go back to the pub. The police here just don't seem to have any experience on how to deal with these sort of crowds/situations. One Millwall fan was on the ground, his leg was bloodied (I'm assuming it a dog bite) and he was shouting at the police to let him stand up as he had done nothing and to be fair I saw no evidence he actually had. The impression I had was that the police were genuinely spooked by the whole thing and just don't know what to do.

Very true, it seems that we have people listening to Neil Warnock of all people about a player that the vast majority of us know very little about. I think we're a little too keen on the idea of getting new players, the ones we have seem to be doing just fine. Unless they're an improvement on what we have, why buy? The problem we've had is buying players for no real reason. If you think that out transfers in pretty much equalled our transfers out and that we had several high priced sales then you realise we gave an awful lot of players away... I, for one, am glad those days are over....

There, corrected that for you...

Chill out? Chill out? I think you'll find I was quite polite in pointing out you were being slightly hypocritical in having a go at Hypo for unneccesary threads. Yes it was a dig, of course it was a dig, as you seem to produce almost monthly "we love Nigel" threads and that's not attention seeking or unneccessary apparently. I don't have a problem with that, I love old Nige as well but you're surely aware that stating that almost on a monthly basis is just as unneccessary as another Maynard or player X thread? I'm not going to get into an argument over this, I'm sick and tired of this messageboard at the best of times but if you think accusing me of using my personal grief to have a go at the club is appropriate as a response then you're very wrong...

Hmmmm So some calls you a tit and you say nothing... I ask how many "I love Nigel" threads you've started and you decide you accuse me of using my "personal circumstances" to attack the club? 1) that's not true... 2) It's a huge over-reaction... Grow up...

Sorry but they can kiss my arse if they think they, a Premier League club, can loan a player from us, a Championship club... It's ****ing ridiculous. I can understand loans going Premier League to Lower league as Premier League clubs want their player to keep match fit, improve and get competitive games but we're talking about a club earning millions in Sky money and they're baulking at playing £1 million for a player with Premier League experience? It's insulting and if I were a QPR fan I'd be furious that my club was gambling with the its future so recklessly. It's a joke and I'd fully expect Cortese to show QPR the door. You want him? Pay for him, you have the money.

How many "I love Nigel" threads have you started, just out of interest?

A quick look at the amount of English players Saints have in their squad and it's very noticeable the amount of English players in our main squad. I know that the Football league voted for a rule whereby every team’s 16 man matchday squad must contain at least four “homegrown players” and that that the four “homegrown” players must have trained at the club for at least three years before the age of 21. With a squad of about 30 players only nine are not English. Now without getting all jingoistic and EDL about it all, that's actually quite impressive... No so impressive is the fact that the Premiership does not follow this ruling and any club getting promoted instantly finds itself on an uneven footing to the other clubs already there... Am I the only one a) Impressed by the amount of English players at St Marys? and b) No impressed that the Premiership doesn't adhere to the same rules and regulations that the rest of the Football League have to?

Valid question... but I can see this being twisted into a "You're being anti Cortese" fest on the assumption that in asking the question, you're actually trying to make some mythical point about season ticket sale not being as much as expected...

No doubt we'll get the killjoys on here moaning about being arrogant/complacent/it's just two games etc etc but its days like this that we go to football for. We may be top for a day or top all season but considering we we've been and we've suffered... it's ****ing great...

Yes I know it's only two games, yes I know it won't be for long... But considering the **** we've had to put up with over the last five years? I'm going to enjoy it...

And what experience will the Blue Square league give him?

Oh yes... Wayne Bridge... sniff sniff... What a waste of a footballer...

Kevin Davies? And Walcott? Considering his career thus far, I think Lowe did well to get what he did.... (Championship player and all) Hindsight is great isn't it?