Jackie@home

Surman was part of a badly managed squad and club - that doesn't make him a bad player. If anything he was trying too hard when everything was collapsing in our relegation season, with no experienced players to help him through. He had a a great season when we got in the play-offs, scored a few goals and had the most assists. Some people overrate some of our current squad because they are only seeing them against League One opposition and they are being properly prepared for matches and better managed. The test will be whenever we get promoted - Puncheon didn't make it at Plymouth, even though they were one of the worst teams in the Championship. There are plenty of players dismissed as crap when they were at Saints currently successfully playing at a higher level than we are - they are being better managed. Surman would be outstanding at this level, I have no doubt.

The last place they would interview Hughes would be at the club. NC is definitely not that stupid - credit him with a bit of discretion. Hughes's knowledge of League One football is zero - one of the main reasons they appointed AP in the first place was because he already had experience throughout the divisions and achieving promotions. Why would it suddenly be better to appoint someone without knowledge of the teams and players they were up against? As for Keegan - he doesn't even know whats going on in the Premier League, let alone our division. Apparently he hadn't even watched a match for a couple of years before turning up at Newcastle asking for Ronaldo. Proper managers rather then celebrity managers turn up with a shopping list of players suitable for the job in hand. Pardew's transfer record is as good as we could possibly expect. I'll be fuming if NC gets rid of him.

Ricky is obviously AP's blue-eyed boy, who plays every game and is constantly praised by Pardew. He also says that he can play up to Premiership level. Pardew would have no problem getting a job with this season's record of either 80 or 83 points without the deduction. Who do you think he might bid for, if he turned up at any higher league club? The whole coaching set up is based around people he knows and recommended - starting again would be crazy.

He's only stopped playing 5 years ago. Just shows you how being fat ages you. If he carries on like this, he'll turn into Larry Lloyd, the fattest ex-footballer I've seen. (You have to be old enough.)

It's a bit of a tired cliche, isn't it, this idea of real ale drinkers being the beard and sandals brigade? Perhaps we just have more respect for what we put in our bodies. The only thing I would ever buy from St. Mary's at the moment is a bottle of water. As for food, what about the outrageous idea of selling some decent sandwiches, or is this too healthy and avantgarde? As for the beer, I'm sure Hopback have developed another version of one of their regular brews which is made for easier serving - I've seen it in the Wyndham in Salisbury.

Hearing the reception AP got on Sunday when he lifted the cup, it appears the disgruntled, unhappy supporters are very much in the minority. Talking to the crowd around me in the Kingsland, with hundreds of years supporting between them, they have enjoyed this season more than they have for years. We've hardly seem them lose and have scored lots of great goals. Most people are excited about next season and anticipating it being even better. The people who seem to get the most depressed are those who aren't at the matches. AP has got teams out of this league before. He's had plenty of relevant experience so should be given next season at the least.

I'm sure AP must think sometimes - if only they'd the bought the club a couple of months earlier and brought me in straight away, I could have got us up first time round and saved myself a lot of stress and agro. Of course he's happy, but he's been in the game a very long time now and knows how quickly things can change. Think what happened to him at West Ham - he was a Steven Gerrard performance away from winning the FA Cup in the best final for years, but they didn't cut him much slack at the Hammers when his team hit a bad patch of form.

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He just hasn't got the right voice for shouting out the names - his voice cracks up halfway through Ricky Lambert. Needs a booming voice like Kris Temple on Solent for it to sound right.

Just compared the Championship with League One table - 6th in Championship Cardiff have 49 points. Everyone in mid-table has a chance of making the play-offs. League One, Huddersfield have 58. Last play-off place in League Two - 51 points. It's probably to do with the strength of the sides that went down last year, combined with the teams that expected to do well, like Huddersfield and Leeds, have continued to keep their form going.

In most seasons, you would expect teams around the 4th - 8th positions to be much less consistent than they've proved to be. It's Leeds and Charlton who've got the jitters lately, whereas it would have suited us for it to be Swindon and Huddersfield. Nothing to be done about that, just the way it is.

A great performance, slightly marred by AP's interview afterwards. Something was up. and I don't think it was the usual sub=standard questions from a Solent interviewer - I hope it wasn't Cortese.

Wouldn't be suprised if they release details directly after the Wembley final, when they hope to find us all in a positive mood about our team and ready to part with our cash after another pay day for many of us at the end of the month. I think David Luker will want to get Wembley done and dusted before starting on season tickets, if he is allowed to do so.

Difficult choice. Got 4 £44 ones in the middle tier (238-232). Really wanted to sit nearer the halfway line, but might have ended up far too far down next to the pitch with a crap view - my husband will moan either way, if he doesn't get the best view in the stadium. Anybody got any experience of the views from different sections of Wembley?

Just looked on the online site - can't see any for sale in the £58 bracket blocks 227-231. Have these sold out already???

BBC Five Live unbiased reporter just said that Norwich weren't in it. Norwich were definitely the best side we've played this season, so this is a great result. First time all our new signings have had some time to train together then play together - looks good for the rest of the season. I'm sure Pardew would have liked to have played more attacking football away from home at times, but the injury to Connolly scuppered his plans. This will do Barnard's confidence a lot of good, as he builds a partnership with the main man.

We'll be playing as many games this season as the teams that go to the final stages of the Champions League. All the top managers juggle their squads when they have such a packed programme, including Alex Ferguson (I think he hasn't put out an unchanged team for about 100 matches, they were mentioning on Radio Five the other week.) The days of the 80s and playing the same 16 for the whole season have long gone. What Pardew is doing looks pretty rational to me - after all, he sees them every day in training so knows what kind of condition they are in.

I hope we go for a percentage of any sell-on fee for Patterson, if the deal happens. The club's certainly made a few mistakes over the last few years in letting players go that are now still playing in the Premiership or Championship.

The biggest whingers are the people who don't go to matches. Seeing as we are on telly about 3 times a season, they just cannot know what they are talking about. I dismiss anyone's opinion who was not at the match as their opinions are not based on evidence.

Sperm John, as anyone from Poole could tell you, Poole and Bournemouth are 2 separate towns; it does not follow that as you come from Poole you will support Bournemouth. My father has lived in Poole all his life but has never been to Dean Court - he watched Saints and Poole. There were quite a lot of people years back who moved from Southampton to Poole with their jobs in marine engineering and brought the tradition of supporting the Saints with them, both my grandads included.

Up and Away, that will depend on how we do when we, eventually, get back in the Premiership. At present, we have absolutely no way of predicting what gates will be in a few years time. I can't see that there are that many more claims on your money than 10 or 20 years ago. Apart from my internet connection, which fits well with watching football, I'm still spending my spare money on the same things I did 10-20 years ago. I don't think Illingsworth should be moaning about gates, though. There is a recession on, after all. There are plenty of people who just can't afford it at present. Also, all Premier League clubs attract spectators who just want to watch top flight football - there is no reason why we should be any different.

Forest certainly haven't been playing like that this season. Davies has had some money to buy better footballers, and it shows. Just proves that most managers only play this way because of lack of resources - the majority will change their style if they can. Even under Branfoot we once won 6 games in a row, but we don't look back on it with fondness because the football was so dire - our gates were v. low at the time also.

John B, there is not one team in the league, Premier or Championship, who gets 31,000 for boring, hoofing long ball. All the teams that play in this way are the teams with amongst the smallest gates for their division. Besides, at this level of gate you are attracting the neutral who just wish to watch a good game of football - we wouldn't attract them with the Boothroyd style.

Colchester might get away with these tactics at League One level, but you know that when you move up through the leagues the officials are stronger and don't let them get away with it to the same degree. It's success can only be limited and it's certainly not what I want to watch. You wouldn't get 31,000 at St. Mary's for that kind of football, even if we were third in the table. The annoying thing is that we are all supposed to be playing to the same rules, but you certainly notice a difference when you occasionally get a top-flight ref and these tactics get stamped quickly.

Absolutely brilliant. Walsall had only lost at home to Leeds before and were on a great home run. We are now the leading scorers away from home.