St Louis

Thanks all. A quick complaint to eBay and I got a refund (and to keep the unoffical programme). Ive been to a few La Liga and Bundesliga games and never found a programme, maybe its more of a British thing?

Thanks, but I already have your fanzine Its help with the official matchday programme I need.

Random question.... but did any of my fellow Saints happen to buy an official matchday programme whilst at the San Siro? I bought one on eBay (for £13.95 inc P&P) and its turned up looking very fake! Its only got 8 flimsy pages and is really bad print quality (feels shiny, but a poor print and not all aligned). The (Dutch) guy I have bought it off is adamant its legit and that he bought it at the stadium, but i'm not convinced. I have raised it as an issue with eBay, but he is asking for me to send proof in a picture that his isnt real, but showing him what it should look like. So I wondered if anyone would be so kind as to confirm if there's is similar or even upload a pic on here of there San Siro programme? Thanks so much in advance! This is a link to the cover that ive been sent: http://thumbs.ebaystatic.com/images/g/jjwAAOSwpLNYBIHJ/s-l225.jpg

Its a weird one right now, it feels like a big transition season (Puel will do great given time) but I do really think our defence is too good for us to go down. The bottom 4 have all conceded 20+ and we've only conceded 12 so far. But because we dont score enough, we will continue to lose the odd game against the likes of Hull, as we will get punished from time to time (we've only scored more than 6 teams) for not taking chances or making possession count. I dont think the original poster deserved to be shot down like he was either, as we are nearly a third of the way through the season, and like it or not we are only 3 points above the drop zone. So although I think we will be fine and finish mid-table, we do need to watch ourselves and go on another little run (having won only 1 in our last 5).

Personally it felt a little weird that we had lost a game, even against one of the 'big boys', so I think this shows how far we have come as a club. We have been on a fantastic run, the whole squad have been playing well, the manager has us playing a great style of football... can we just brush this one under the carpet and move on for now, no need to panic

Sorry I kind of misread this thread I'm just saying that yes the Delap 2 goal thriller at Highbury was definitely the 2004 season, but maybe not the mystery second bicycle kick match.

It was definitely the 2-2 draw at Highbury in 2004, as I was (unfortunately) there and remember it all too well... http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/3947349.stm

You a big fan of Shearer then?

We aren't traditionally (or perceived as) a Top 6 club though. We massively over-achieved last season and to come anywhere near that this season would be an even bigger achievement (more quality players have left, new manager, new system, unlikely Liverpool & Chelsea, etc will be as poor) I do agree with you on the West Ham thing though, everyone in the media speaks about what a great season they had last year, and talk as if they were the big achievers after Leicester.

Really interesting article, thanks. Interestingly I heard a journalist on the radio the other day talking about how special Boufal is as a player, and that Saints had basically pitched themselves as the club for him to 'enter' the Premier League, progress and adjust as a player and then move on to one of the big boys in a couple of years (whether that was speculation or fact, I'm not sure). But it looks and sounds like we now accept that this is the way of modern football, but instead of burying our heads and ignoring the economics of it all, we embrace it. I for one am glad that we are a club that accepts this and because of that are always prepared for the next exile. I think this is one of the reasons we are a really attractive proposition to the most promising up and coming players who are destined for the top one day (probably) like Van Dijk, Forster, Hojberg, Boufal, etc.

Personally i preferred the shirt with the plain red back, as did the people sat near me who I also heard giving their verdict

I just know Tadic wouldn't have signed, and that several others were unhappy too, so I'm speculating a little but it's great so many players have committed to the long term when they maybe wouldn't have before the managerial change. My source is a senior director in the club btw.

I can't claim to know whether certain players would or wouldn't have signed (aside from Tadic who I know would have left had Koeman stayed), I do know for a fact that there isn't this unrest with the new regime that people are speculating about. I'm sure if we are still struggling after 10 games then maybe there will be unrest in the camp, but we are 3 games in!? First game of the season always throws up odd results, then we lost away at Man Utd after playing well and then a poor draw at home to Sunderland. Maybe we are on a slippery slope, but we don't know that for sure after 3 games, and a new system will take more than 3 competitive games to adapt to, this isn't a Football Manager game.

Are we really just giving our managers 3 games these days? I'm not suggesting they were good draws, but we have only lost one of those three games! Come on, let's give the man and his methods a bit of time. FWIW I happen to know that the squad were very unhappy towards the end with Koeman and he wasn't popular amongst the squad, and general feeling in the squad is much better now, so much so that the core have signed new long term contracts (which several wouldn't have done under the old regime!)

I don't think our results would have been any better had Koeman still been here but without Pelle and Mane. I really don't think we should be judging the manager after his first 3 games, but we can judge the squad and it's seriously lacking in quality and goals right now.

I think it just tells us fans that he's definitely here for this season at least! We all know that player contracts mean nothing these days, apart from that the player gets a nice payrise in return for us being able to sell at a premium. Its a win-win as someone like Shane Long earns more money this season than last, and if a club come in for him next summer we can demand a higher fee than if his contract was running low (a la Wanyama)

Great news for the club, he is our most creative player by far. I know from a very good source within the club that he and RK had a very strained relationship towards the end, and if RK hadn't left then Tadic intended to. Sadly the other snippet I have is that Fonte is taking some convincing as there is genuine interest from both Everton and Man Utd, and he is mulling over his options.

I really like that, but their away shirt in the background looks awful!

Well that was pretty conclusive that he will be sniffing around our players. My dislike has just risen.

My word we get some c*cks on the site these days.... you must be fun at parties mate! I apologise to you unreservedly for the typo, please forgive me for being a mong!!?

It's interesting that when you look on Oddschecker, they have Roberto Mancini at 33/1 as the most popular bet to date for our next manager. Unless I've just missed it, I'd not really heard his name muted. Probably because he manages Inter and its unlikely, but strange that they've had more interest in that bet than any other. http://www.oddschecker.com/football/football-specials/southampton/next-permanent-manager

10 years ago a group of 15 of us went out to Madrid for a lads weekend to celebrate my brothers 30th birthday. As part of the surprise celebrations I took 15 different Saints kits from over the years with me and on the day we all went to watch Real Madrid v Malaga at the Bernabeu, I made EVERYONE wear a Saints shirt (no matter who they followed) and thankfully they all did. I also presented my brother with a 10 foot Saints flag to take to the game. After a day of too many cerveza's we attended the match and sang Saints songs throughout, all proudly sporting our stripes! No idea what Beckham, Owen, Zidane, etc made of it We had loads of people come and speak to us and loved what we had done, but at the end of the game we stuck around for photos right up in the stands, and as we posed..... a chant of 'Play Up Pompey' came from two of the Real Madrid stewards stood on the pitch! To this day we don't know whether they were Skates, or Spanish and with a great knowledge of English football rivalries! Was all good humoured though and a great weekend.

Done, good luck with the project Matthew.

I also had to do a quick Wiki check...