Fitzhugh Fella

But we "floundered" around after the wage cap of 1907 was introduced to the Southern League and all of a sudden our best players sought fresh "plaices" back in the Football League.

You got to remember though we only got to be top dogs by throwing money at buying players and sooner or later when the money runs out - as it did after building the Dell we would have been found out. And the reason Freemantle were usurped was because they too ran up debts that were unsustainable despite having their own ground.

Just back - one thing very evident we need back up forwards who can score goals. Forte - I just don't see the poimt - he is not a footballer full stop. Fast maybe but on tonight's showing forget it!

Yes big rivals and they had their own ground too - which is still there. We proposed a merger around this time but their debts were too large by that stage and so George Thomas a local fishmonger dug deep (with an idea of a profit) and got the Dell built in 1898. You know the rest. We were in debt ourselves from thereon in.

There are some good questions in there - a lot was to do with the politics around - the North were furious that the South deemed to be their equals and equally furious that with no wage cap in the South a lot of the best players chose the Southern League. I think Spurs were eventually let in but Saints had upset too many big Northern clubs by nicking all their players. Around 1907 the Southern League began to lose ground when a wage cap was introduced and by the time Saints and the others were invited to join in 1920 they were no longer a force in the land. Saints won the SL 6 times in 10 years around the turn of the century and like you say throw in 2 FA Cup Final appearances and you have one of the best teams in the country at that time.

As the Dell was not yet built you must have got pretty wet stood in that stream

Glad to see you are all awake!! This was also the first season we wore stripes (although in those days the shorts were navy.)

was in 1896-97. We started with nine striaght victories, then a draw followed by 2 more wins. In the remaining 8 games we drew 4 and won 4 to end the season winning the Southern League (then the Football league's equal) undefeated. P20 W15 D5 L0 F63 A18 In the FA Cup we took Man United (Newton Heath) to a replay. All home games were played at the old Hampshire County Cricket Ground and our star players inc Clawley the goalkeeper, Joe Turner on the wing and Jack Farrell our main goalgetter (20 goals in 27 games inc Cup). Over to you then Nigel - a city expects and all that.

He should be and replaced with a poodle.

was described thus in the Guardian (apologies toTrousers and all you other D Mail readers) "symptomatic of a team in synchronicity" pretty much sums it up for me - certainly going forward.

I think the question is quite comprehensively answered by the fact that NC and NA made such strenuous efforts to get a stiker in before the deadline.

Believe it or not they finished 4th!

Having a fan on the board is something we have done since 1898, because I think you will find that up until the time ML bought the club most board members had started off as fans and then been invited onto the board. Admittedly it wasn't just because they were fans that they were invited on - it had more to do with money or expertese, but they were all passionate fans from John Corbett right through to good old Keith Wiseman and Guy Askham.

But I was right - we only ended up finishing 3rd that season!

1908-09 Won our first 7 games then drew our 8th 4-4 v Palace A Lost our next game H Northampton won our next A Exeter. The first 7 results were v Brighton A won 3-1 v Brentford A won 3-2 v Brighton H won 4-1 v Luton H won 6-0 v Palace A won 3-2 v Swindon A won 2-0 v Portsmouth H won 2-0 Hope this helps

If you check out David Bull's two books on Terry Paine and Ted Bates all is revealed

Mitchell may well have saved Bournemouth, put his own money in etc etc but his PR skills are appalling. I heard him speak on the Solent phone in and it was excruciating. I would suspect all most Bournemouth fans want is some sort of rationale but on the forum Mitchell went straight into attack dog mode in response to some very well put and polite questioning. He came across as an absolute arse to be frank.

I don't know - I assume it had

I have the whole game on 8mm film. Time to get it on to a DVD I guess

Yes thats as far as I got - keep your ears open for me

Good informative article and well researched too. Amazing no one from the Ipswich squad "made" it big time. Thanks for sharing it. As you seem to be hot on research how about trying to find Lee Powell (little Welsh winger from the 1990s) for me - I have looked everywhere.

A big disappointment for me. His defending is average at best but the biggest minus is his woeful distribution/crossing. How he got into the League One team of the season is - on what we have seen in a red and white shirt - a mystery.

You lost the plot the day you first put your hand in your pocket to buy the Daily Mail, Trousers.

Sorry, I had to smile at this - after Buccotim's ironic contribution it cheered me up

Steady you are getting confrontational and have, I note, put one foot in the positivity camp. And yes it was you who drove me there and back to Walsall and it was the worst away game i have been to thanks to a dearth of drinking partners.