John Boy Saint

] The way Saints play is so precise that Jose has been designated scorer of the winning goal this weekend and to complete the sequence the synchronised player pile on bundle training had to be practiced, if only to find out how many players can climb aboard before he stops breathing!

Having one as a mate is too! .......................... So long as it isn't v Arsenal!!

JWP was interviewed on Solent post match on Saturday, very good by the way, you forgot he was 18 and thought he had been doing post match interviews for years. There was some comment made about how calm the dressing room sounded after the game, and he said that everyone in there was exhausted as they had put a lot into the game on the back of a good hard week in training but they thoroughly enjoyed it. Rickie was reported in the Summer to have had his 2 week holiday and as soon as he was back was in the gym making sure he was in top condition for pre season, he has also said himself that he has never been so fit and absolutley loving that fact. Putting those 2 snippets together it is likely that the players fitness is very good, but the exhaustion JWP was referring could be more mental due to the high levels of concentration to play the way we do, especially as at times v Fulham some of the interplay between Saints players appeared from the stands to be almost telepathic. As others have said above it will be interesting to see how it pans out over the next few months,

Having found myself in a position where with a little effort and inconvenience offset by being, ahem, slightly Sunderlands way next week, and being purely selfish, I hope we give this a go this year and put in a good performance. Chelsea at home isn't too bad and with who is left in it the League Cup has a bit of merit this year. Its how Mr Cortese sees it as apparently he wasn't too happy with Pardew going after the JPT as he feared it would impede our promotion chase, that said he did admit that the he throughly enjoyed the Final and was glad that we did get there afterall. But last seasons FA Cup v Chelsea we did just go through the motions of just turning up.

29 Guess I am a bit of a blunt instrument then. That is another nail in my coffin under the New Order ideal of Fans suitable to pass through the turnstiles at SMS, as is being muted in a thread on the main board.

I didn't say they had done much wrong but a bit of support from the Football Club in helping those individuals who will lose out through being well prepared, if only in name to get something back is far more powerful than a fragmented attempt by individuals who could be easily fobbed off! It's not like the headache that would be caused if we were taking the 8000ish Chelsea took to Arsenal, but then if those numbers were involved the decision to move the game would not have been taken so easily. - - - Updated - - - I didn't say they had done much wrong but a bit of support from the Football Club in helping those individuals who will lose out through being well prepared, if only in name to get something back is far more powerful than a fragmented attempt by individuals who could be easily fobbed off! It's not like the headache that would be caused if we were taking the 8000ish Chelsea took to Arsenal, but then if those numbers were involved the decision to move the game would not have been taken so easily.

Err last season the Britannia was like a Chapel of Rest until they had clawed back 2 goals and were in with a shout, it was only when Jerome spanked in a (hard to say but true) marvellous strike that you found out what all the fuss was about, until then it a Very very poor showing from the Potters fans.

All depends which way the wind is blowing on a given day. Gucci - Guilty Issey Miyake - Eau Fraiche Marc Jacobs - Bang i have some Dior sport but as the day wears on it's like someone in the blending department was having a laugh as increasingly it smells like you have been rolling about in the bucket of Half Time Orange skins. Also lurking is a bottle of common old Aqua Di Gio which gets a run out now and again, and Tiffany (The jewellers) Sport. All a bit different from the the days of Brut and Denim which seemed to give way to Aramis applied by the bucket full followed by Paco Rabanne which just needed the merest squirt to last a week. In Boots the other day I saw what looked like a new Yves Saint Laurent (dumpy bottle - blue writing) nicked a squirt and Mrs JBS said it smelt "ooo very nice", but then just as quickly it stopped working: ho hum!! Most of the time I just can't be bothered though.

I can understand why we would turn down a FairPlay place, Fulham got that a couple of seasons ago and from what I recall they were into pre qualifying rounds when everyone else was just into pre season, they did well but ran out of steam as a result

That sees the Stadium extension plans safely put away in a dusty filing cabinet in a small room deep in the bowels of St Mary's Stadium then!

Hardly a surprise just doing the bare minimum that they are obliged to do, but then if the Block 20 Eviction attitude of "f**k writing to them just let them find they ain't sitting there next season when they can't renew on line" is anything to go by Customer Services at Saints is an empty office with lots of mail pushed under the door. It would have taken no effort for the Club to say they would help to seek recompense for the additional financial inconvenience fans have incurred as a result. It's been done before Man City half price 1st season at CoM Stadium refund of Monies from the Steaua ticket overcharge. But then in society in general Football fans still all live in terraced houses, work down the Factory 5 1/2 days a week, and will never question anything that inconveniences them because a) they are thick & lazy b) they are creatures with a drug like dependency on supporting their team. However back to the game by some quirk of fate I can go as I will have been working in Dundee Tuesday, Dumfries Wednesday, then have to trundle down to Milton Keynes for Thursday AM, so if anyone was smart enough to get a hotel en route home out of Sunderland and they can't get their money back on their pre-booked room, PM me and see if we can sort something out.

A nice wave to be riding at the moment, although we got use to it on the rise, as a Saints fan of many years it is very pleasant to see such a good start especially when such a start puts us in with the "big fish" of the league, which is a vastly different place to the last time we started so well. Alan Hansen made me smile on Saturday night when looking at the upcoming Arsenal fixtures, "then Southampton at home, which will be a difficult game". Arsenal at Home - Southampton - Difficult - all in the same sentence!...... Pinch me!!!! After so many records against teams we had done well against over the years were given up so cheaply when we dropped from the Premiership, it was very nice to comprehensively extend a 78 year record of Fulham not winning away at the Saints for another year!

+2 MP commented recently that he was very impressed with his versatility, and enjoys the fact that he can use him in a number of roles. Unless I had my eyes closed in other games, or wasn't paying attention, it was interesting that at times he dropped into the right back position allowing Clyne to become the right winger with freedom. His deliveries from corners is very good, 99 times out 100 he easily beats the 1st man and for defenders it's like he has delivered a scalding hot potato right into the mix.

Really Senderos scoring higher than Dejan and Jose, jeez second half he played like Jol had nipped into Weatherspoons enroute to the game scanned the few Fulham fans in there then did "Ip dip dog sH1t which one is it" and stuck IT in defence!

"Ref you are in charge on the pitch, will you please tell my team mates to pass the ball to me!!".

I thought the reason most fans lap him up is the fact that when the chips were really down he put his hand in his pocket to pay wages of ordinary staff. Yes he was in with Wilde, yes he made shares shortfall up to oust Lowe in the Wilde takeover, but when Wilde stepped away From what I remember Crouch got a grip of the bull****. The bloke had money, is a Saints fan, I don't think even he really wanted to be where he ended up.

With reference to the bickering that seems to have broken out above this, and this applies perfectly here: Sat in the Chapel this evening during the second half a voice could be heard 4-5 rows behind - "Will you stop bloody moaning, we are 2-0 up!!!!!". To the game: I thoroughly enjoyed that, the communication and understanding between the players at times was unbelievable. Rather bizarrely the conversation over a few ales pre match was about the times when walking over the Northam Bridge after yet another winters afternoon dire performance when we were on the slide, first half we did ask each other if were really watching the mighty Saints or had we taken a wrong turn. Excellent stuff........... And has been said already please can the Poll include the vote option of: ALL OF THEM

Seems like the fight to the final whistle is also being drilled into the nippers too.

Quick get the frozen peas out of the Freezer for Alpine. I thought Turkish and my little discussion regarding the Pasty got a bit Spicy, but Wow Sue has just cut through the carp and taken a penalty kick at, sorry, With Alpines Wedding Vegetables!!................... Oucheee!!!

Luton just need a new Stadium!! Drove past Kenilworth Road the other day, wow from the outside it looks like someone kept dumping piles of bricks in the car park and someone else thought that the best way of getting rid of them was to just add them randomly to the original structure. But until they return to full time league Football and it's upper levels it serves the purpose perfectly well.

Oct 26: Fulham (h) W Nov 2: Stoke City (a) W Nov 9: Hull City (h) W Nov 23: Arsenal (a) D Nov 30: Chelsea (a) D Dec 3: Aston Villa (h) W Dec 7: Manchester City (h) W Dec 14: Newcastle United (a) L 17 points................ Pigs fed and ready for take off

Cripes! The Premier League have brought that ruling forwards a weekend.....!!

That must be a new Premer League ruling coming into force on the 14th Dec just to stop us getting too carried away: going all the way to Newcastle and losing in a 2-2 draw.

That would keep everyone on their toes!! 1st Programme of the season in the Junior Saints section they asked Big Jos: "which would you prefer to fight?" "A Duck sized Horse? or a Horse Sized Duck?" the printed answer from the Jolly Dutchman: "Duck Sized Horse, because it wouldn't be able to kick me in the Nuts!!". So there are people out there working in media prepared to ask these cutting edge off the wall questions.

In the days when we were at the Dell and freshly into the old money 1st Division (=Premiership) at the back end of the 70s entrance fees for Boys was 90p, not sure what growed ups paid as I wasn't one. The average gate as we closed in on promotion the previous season was c21,000. The following season back in the big time and not doing too badly against more household named teams we still averaged c21,000 attendances with the odd 22,000+. This was at a time of terraces but the fencing of the Archers and I think the benches had been put in on part of the East and West stand terracing so the capacity was around 28,000 but we regularly fell short of capacity, promotion season the capacity was 30,000. +/- Just maybe we are around our natural attendance level and 32,500 was a correctly judged capacity for SMS after all. Lowe even said that only a prolonged run of sellouts would put extending the stadium on the agenda, and that was when we were going well and heading to and FA Cup final under WGS.