Miltonaggro

Cheers, I will let him know, needs cheering up after their recent managerial appointment.

Yes, that rings a bell Gemm, Chelsea and Leeds were always quite innovative. At that time I was further east, as in an eastern suburb of Soton. These days they would be more likely to find Chelsea 'fans' in the Forest and meet up for a 'pub lunch'. A common mistake to make is to think that threads such as these glorify football violence / hooliganism call it what you will. The thing is, as a number of posters have made very clear, it was ubiquitous, part and parcel of the game through the 70s and up to Heysel and Hillsborough. Of course, you could choose to avoid it, but you couldn't ignore it. This was true also, of life in general - at certain gigs, on picket lines, at the Top Rank, or in the city centre (for wearing the wrong clothes or liking the wrong music) you were often fair game. Much of the trouble was linked to youth culture and for a lot of kids it was a frightening and thrilling escape - any 'violence' for most was minor and transient (which is something I see in my working life now). These days we don't have youth culture, we have surveillance and consumerism...

Many thanks Fitzhugh, will tune in with pride to celebrate the life of a Saints superstar...

Agree with this, very class conscious and also a lot of fun, but excluded a large contingent of the general paying public. Found a piece written by said Leeds mate promoting said book, which is about his experiences, but given we are the same age are generic despite the 250 mile gap - tribal back then, right of passage and all that - here if original poster / anyone's interested: http://sabotagetimes.com/fashion-style/wish-you-were-here-memories-of-the-leeds-casual-scene/

Like all large port towns there was always an ability to surprise the 'Hollywood' clubs. As a kid in the 70s it could be quite a daunting experience, and a case of shrinking behind a large mush in a donkey jacket and / or being a mini Alan Wells. The eighties were much more stylised, with the archetype 'football hooligan' going from Neanderthal to devious Mod. There were some ding dongs at the Dell and some fun away games, also some surprise hidings (an away game at Stoke springs to mind) and police brutality (Leeds was good for that). A good friend of mine who served time for football violence offences was notorious with Leeds in the 80s and recently brought out a book, mostly based on old photographs taken at away days. I mentioned to him at the launch, how young and not particuarly 'casual' (well dressed) they looked, all late forties early fifties now - at the time we all though we were the mutt's. So, yes, Saints did have a 'firm' often supplemented by local hard cases, but mainly youngsters buggering about, just like every other city club...

Interesting statistic with Bridge is that he won 15 caps for England whilst with Saints between 2002-2003, and thereafter only 21 further caps when with Chelsea (and finally Man City) between 2004-2009. So had he stayed with Saints he would probably have got 50 plus caps ;-)

When asked about his successes as an international manager, Platini once said that you must always pick players on form, nothing to do with their age or club (at the time this statement was used to discuss Jimmy Case breaking into the England side whilst with Saints). In the past England used to do this, the 1966 World Cup Squad consisted of players from Leicester, Fulham, Everton, Man U, Leeds, West Ham, Spurs, Sheff W, Chelsea, Liverpool, Wolves, Saints and Arsenal, and the semi final squad of 1990, players from Forest, Derby, Rangers, Man U, Marseille, Spurs, Liverpool, QPR, Chelsea, Aston Villa, and Wolves - perhaps this should be pointed out to the myopic marketing mullahs that run the FA and tell Roy who he is allowed to pick...

Good summary.

Hear, hear! On the earlier incarnations all the insults were directed towards the Pompey visitors and occasionally the moderators (both subgroups who could look after themselves), the recent trend of flaming and wind up identities is a pain in the a*se. At least us old timers have opinions on Saints, usually optimistic too ;-)

Who'd have thought it back in the day, silk scarf tied to wrist, that we would be pining for the previous incarnation of an Internet message board! Justified though...

Mustard!...

For balance, has anyone met Guy Whittingham in Poundland lately, and found him to be a complete c*nt!...

This is sometimes known as a public outing! Lol...

To be honest the bell-end looked dedicated in the Premier League with all the tattoos and antics, imagine how dedicated he will look when they are in the f*cking Conference - World Super Fan!...

Good point, their maximum gate in the Premiership was around 18000, we'll have to pick up the other 2000 from the Bognor Brighton contingent to fill the stadium...

Get the **** in...

Of course, for they are born again...

Something we will have to get used to. The skates have been a total noddy club since the 1950s, apart from the recent nine year flirtation with the big time founded on debt and corruption which may yet see them cease to exist. At the moment there are probably about 10k of their knuckle draggers staying faithful to the cause, watch this drop when the are still in division four in couple of years time. The fair weather skates and border people will have to go to SMS if they want to see top flight football locally in their lifetime, so take their money. Remember now NC has got clearance for the expansion we are going to need to find 20,000 new punters...

Squeal like a pig Kenwyne...

Alan Sugar, or Richard Curtis...

Barry Bethel...

He was like that, Guy Askham. Nasty after a few beers too...

He looks a bit like Ken Monkou, tall rangy and powerful, if he's anything like as good that'll do for starters....

Apparently they are f*cking starving...

The difference between Saints and Brighton is... LMFAO