the mick channon windmill

The population of a city and its surrounding catchment area has everything to do with how many supporters a club has, regardless of who that club is. Take Saints for example, they are the club that represent the city of Southampton and why local people feel proud of their team. Football clubs are the heartbeat of the local community. Saints may have many supporters throughout England and all over the world but there is a reason why they support the club and that normally goes back to connections they have with the city. For example they were born in the area and moved away or parents were from there etc. There are obviously exceptions to this but other than the huge clubs who have glory hunting fans everywhere most clubs draw their fanbase from the city they are based and surrounding catchment area.

Jeff Kenna Yeah i didnt like the way they took him, shearer and flowers from us. They also tried for le tissier but he apparently turned them down. Its hard to believe Blackburn won the league in the mid 1990s. It will be almost impossible to achieve that again and the success was never sustainable. The thing with Blackburn is the town has a population of around 80,000. Southampton has a huge catchment area so if we got back to the premier league we could quite easily pull in crowds of up to 50,000 for certain games especially if we were performing well on the pitch

I dont see how any genuine sane saints fan cannot be excited by what is happening to our club at the moment. Think back to a little over 2 years ago and remember how depressed we all were and the feeling of despair and anger at watching our great club that we love dying in front of us. Think back over the years to the chairmen we have had in place that due to their lack of vision and neglect of our club have led us to protest in the ground and march through the city in a desperate attempt to do something to change the fortunes of the club so many care about so passionately. I can remember the day we signed kevin keegan who as we all know had been crowned the European footballer of the year for the previous 2 seasons, i can remember when we won the fa cup and the effect that had on the city, i can recall finishing runners up in the league playing great football in 1984 and remember the pride i felt when le tissier was turning down various clubs offering much more money to show loyalty to southampton fc. These events along with all the other great moments i have enjoyed over the years being a saints fan however do not rank as important as the day Markus Liebherr and Nicola Cortese walked into our club with their vision. What they saw was the potential of this club, with the stadium, size of the fanbase etc. Of course Cortese is not responsible for scoring the goals on the pitch but he has been responsible for identifying the talent to make this happen. This includes the right manager for the job and the right players to get us back to where we belong in the top division. It is clear that Cortese has been bitten by the football bug and genuinely cares about southampton football club as a fan. He is a successful businessman who could clearly be off on other probably more financially rewarding projects but is getting huge enjoyment from what he is doing here. We have proven we can be a top 6 club in the top division, we were doing it on a regular basis in the early to mid 1980s. Of course football has changed since then but so have we. Back then we were restricted by the size of the dell. Lawrie McMenemy used to call us a big club playing in a small container. He also commented on our passionate support saying that in his homeland of the North East they danced in the street but in Southampton they care just as much about their club but the fans dance in their kitchens! I have spent some time living in the North East myself and used to go and watch both Newcastle and Sunderland and I can honestly say that the depth of loyalty and passion of Southampton fans is on a par. And of course much closer to home we often had to put up with people saying how great the Portsmouth fans were during there spell in the premier league...... where have all these great fans gone now Cortese has a vision for our club and unlike crazy chairmen like Michael Knighton and George Reynolds it is very realistic. With the right planning and structure that Cortese is putting in place there is absolutely no reason why we cannot go back to competing in the top half of the top division and getting back into European football. There will of course be doubters but sadly in life some people are just born naturally negative and depressed. These people who question Cortese's ability to lead us back to being a successful Premier league side also probably doubted his willingness to splash out on players. Yet we invested in Lambert and Fonte etc with the sort of money most teams in the division we were in at the time spent on the whole of their squad. These same people probably questioned his ability to hang onto our top talent and yes while we have sadly lost Chamberlain we have kept hold of Lallana who i think is a more important player to us right now and every player that was nearing the end of his contract who we wanted to keep has signed a contract extension over the last few months because they want to be part of what is happening here. These doubters questioned when Cortese brought in Nigel Adkins but he has delivered us a team that won promotion playing great football. These doubters then said this team would not be good enough for the championship and Cortese needed to invest in the squad. That investment has been shown in Cork and Fox especially but what both he and Adkins identified was this team was largely good enough to win promotion again and a large part of that was the team spirit that has been created. There are still people who are unhappy with Cortese because he has charged people to park in the car park to avoid people exploiting the club by parking there all day for free and walking into work in the city. Some are upset that great players and managers of our past are not given free tickets despite the fact that fans and even the chairman has to pay, this is a business after all. Surely it is better to focus on everything great that has been achieved since Cortese has walked into our club and remember he has delivered on everything he has set out to achieve to date and lets look at the the championship table and see who currently sits proudly at the top. Lets enjoy this time and lets look forward to the future because the plans and ambitions of our chairman are very exciting and achieveable. I feel blessed to have Cortese as our chairman and wouldnt swap him for anyone.

Starting to warm to him!!!!....... does that mean you still have doubts about him being the best man for saints?

OMG man, why are you so negative??? Firstly why is it a big IF that we will achieve promotion, we have got a superb team at the moment playing some fantastic football and sit top of the league. Secondly if we do achieve promotion why do you question are managers loyalty??? I know for a fact that he absolutely loves this club and the area and is overwhelmed by our huge passionate fanbase. We are bigger than half the clubs currently in the premier league anyway...... Nigel and this squad would be remembered as legends for getting us promoted back to where we belong. What is happening at Saints at the moment is something very special and I am sure Adkins has no thoughts of leaving the building at all.

There were very valid reasons for us failing to win Lague one. The first season we started on minus points remember and had a new manager who was rebuilding the team. The second season got off to a disaster and we messed things up at the start until adkins was appointed. The fact is teams could not live with us in the second half of last season. Yes it was a weaker league but i dont think this team has anything to be scared of and as i say i fail to see what any team in this legue has to offer that we cant

I believe we will finish in the top 6 and possibly get an automatic promotion place. I hear a lot of people saying we are not strong enough to get promoted and will settle for mid table in our first season back in this league. I really do fail to see what other teams have got that we are lacking however. Lallana, Fonte, Lambert, Cork and Chamberlain would walk into almost any team in this league. This is backed up by a very strong squad with strength in depth in every position with the likely addition of a new centre back and possibly another forward. What we also have is a winning mentality and there is a buzz about the club. The likes of West Ham and Leicester who people keep mentioning do not have this and it is not something that comes overnight. It can take time for a team to gel, no matter how good the players in that team are. We have a great stadium and very large fanbase and our crowds will almost certainly be in the top 8 in this division. I agree that this is a tough league this coming season and there are around 12 or more teams who could realistically claim to have a chance of promotion. When your combine our quality playing squad, winning mentality and fanbase i fail to see what any other team in this league has to offer that saints are lacking. It will be an exciting seaon hopefully ending with Saints back where they belong in the premier league

If we could keep hold of Chamberlain it would be a massive statement of intent. He is without doubt one of the best young talents in English football and he is only going to get better. He is such an exciting player to watch and can produce that bit of magic to help us back to the premier league. Fonte, Lallana, Lambert, Cork and Chamberlain would walk into almost any team in this league along with a few others in my opinion. This current squad will surprise a lot of people in this league and the momentum and winning mentality combined with the buzz about the club at the moment should see us challenging in the top 6. Ever since I can remember other clubs have always thought they can just help themselves to our best players and it has really hurt in the past as these players have been sold. I applaud cortese for throwing the fax offer straight in the bin in January and refusing to sell. If he can manage to keep hold of him even for another season the message that would send to our supporters and to other clubs would be loud and clear. The value of Chamberlain is almost certain to increase over time as I firmly believe he will continue to improve and become an even better player as he develops. If the worst does happen at some stage and we sell him the price is likely to be more than it is now maybe a lot more. It will be sad if we ever do have to sell Chamberlain but the blow will be softened if at that point he has helped put us back in the premier league. Come on Alex please stay with us, surely helping a team to another promotion and the buzz of that has got to be better than playing for Arsenal reserves. If you have decided you want to move to a so called bigger club do it in a year or two when you have shown your talent here week in week out and can walk into another clubs first team and not get lost as just another squad player.

I remember at the time wanting Redknapp to get the job and couldnt understand why he didnt get it. He had done really well at Bournemouth and he had declared his interest in the position at Saints. Our history could have been so much different had we got Harry and not given the job to Branfoot. Towards the end of Nicholl's reign in charge we did start to play some exciting football due to the talented youngsters coming through our youth system (Wallace, Shearer, Le Tissier). Expectation levels had been raised so high though by the Mcmenemy era that Saints fans had a genuine belief and desire that we should be challenging for major silverware. It is because of those expectations that nobody was really that upset when Nicholl left and we presumed better times would come. Branfoot was not a popular choice from the beginning however and he went onto become the most hated manager in the history of the club........ with good reason

I have got 2 seat tickets available for the Brentford end which I am selling as a pair for £40 each. I bought these tickets from a Brentford supporting friend as an insurance policy in case i didnt get tickets for the saints end. I have been lucky enough to get tickets for the saints end now and would like these tickets to go to a genuine saints fan who has not been able to get hold of one for saints end. The tickets are seat tickets and on the side very close to the saints end. My mate who is a Brentford fan tells me this area is normally filled with family types and away fans will be fine. The £40 I am asking for the ticket is more than face value but before anyone starts having a go at me for ripping off a saints fan let me point out a couple of things. I have had to drive up to my mates place in West London to pick up these tickets as due to the public holidays couldnt risk the post and I also had to pay him extra for going out of his way to get these tickets for me. If you are interested please text or call me on 07407 803090 and i will arrange to get the tickets to you

I have got 2 seat tickets available for the Brentford end which I am selling as a pair for £40 each. I bought these tickets from a Brentford supporting friend as an insurance policy in case i didnt get tickets for the saints end. I have been lucky enough to get tickets for the saints end now and would like these tickets to go to a genuine saints fan who has not been able to get hold of one for saints end. The tickets are seat tickets and on the side very close to the saints end. My mate who is a Brentford fan tells me this area is normally filled with family types and away fans will be fine. The £40 I am asking for the ticket is more than face value but before anyone starts having a go at me for ripping off a saints fan let me point out a couple of things. I have had to drive up to my mates place in West London to pick up these tickets as due to the public holidays couldnt risk the post and I also had to pay him extra for going out of his way to get these tickets for me. If you are interested please text or call me on 07407 803090 and i will arrange to get the tickets to you

Very well worded Halo, great post that i am sure sums up the feelings of the vast majority of our large fanbase I hear many people currently saying they are so proud to be a saints fan again. The truth is though as fans we have always been proud of our club that represents our great city. What we now have is the joy of watching a good team again that is winning matches after so many years of hurt and its fun to be a saints fan again. It has been really painful to see our demise from the heady days of the early to mid eighties and soul destroying that we could see things spiralling out of control under Lowe but despite the protests and campaigns to get rid of him we had to watch as things went from bad to worse It was a sad day in the history of Saints when we went into administration but strangely i felt a sense of relief. I felt we had hit rock bottom and hopefully something good could come out of the situation and the only way was up after the mis-management of the Lowe era. Every day i used to log onto the internet hoping that somebody with money and a vision would be interested in buying us. Surely with a very large fanbase, stadium, history and potential we would be an attractive proposition. When our new owners strolled into St Marys all our prayers had been answered. We could not have wished for a better owner and the man with the vision that talked our hero into buying this club was Cortese. To be honest i could never quite understand why Cortese wasnt always held in the same esteem as Markus as lets face it without Cortese Markus would never have rescued us. Thankyou Nicola Cortese not just for what you have done during this transfer window but everything since you came to our club. You have given us hope and belief to go with our pride of being a saints fan. You have a realistic vision of success and you understand the potential of how big this club can be. I'm sure it will give you a tremendous sense of pride and satisfaction achieving it. Lets get on the bus and enjoy the ride back to the Premier league where we belong, we all deserve it after the years of pain we have been through.

I think there will be more than that at kitty O'sheas and in the ground. I'm sure there are other Brisbane Saints who have read this post and will be there but not necessarily responded on here. For whatever reason there are a lot of Saints fans in Brisbane, the majority being people ex Southampton who have moved over here but also quite a few Brisbane born fans. Ive certainly watched Saints games on tv here when there have been well over 20 Saints fans in 1bar in the city centre alone. Anyway i will be at Kitty O'Sheas on Saturday around 5.30 proudly wearing my Saints shirt.

Oh pack it in will you, cant you understand that if it wasnt for Cortese then Liebherr would never have got involved with us. For goodness sake man wake up and stop being so petty, I mean seriously Cortese is taking us forward and giving us hope which is something we havent had for many years. He has big plans for our football club and given his track record is likely to succeed. Why do you have to always find negatives in the situation. I suggest you calm down take a deep breath, close your eyes and remember where we were a year ago. Also think about the pain that we had been going through for years leading up to when Cortese and Liebherr took over. Also try and remember a chairman that has ever shown as much ambition and has the resources to back it up as our new owners. Cortese is a wise businessman with a track record of delivering success. It would be unfair of me to judge you as i dont know you Dune but im guessing you haven't been quite so successful in the business world and havent got the pulling power to attract such a rich and powerful owner to our club. Perhaps it might be wise to leave it to an expert, he is doing a pretty damn good job up to now. We are now one of the richest clubs in the country with owners that are actively trying all they can to bring success to our famous club. These are ambitious successful people we are talking about here who have seen the potential of Southampton Football Club and are clearly enjoying what they are doing and are emotionally involved and attached to Saints. And your suggestion is to get rid of the very man responsible for saving us and showing this ambition. Words fail me

I'm sure most people who used to live in Southampton and grew up watching saints play will be wishing they were there today. I moved to Australia around 7 years ago and whilst it is a great place to live every saturday during the football season is torture. It's not just the football, it's the whole buzz of the day i miss, meeting up with mates having a beer, watching the game then a few more beers either celebrating or drowning the sorrows. The away trips are something i really miss. Without doubt being away from saints is very hard, is it enough to make me give up my life here and move back to Southampton...... tempting but not at the moment.

this guy is quality, i have a mate who is a season ticket holder at brentford and he has been raving about him for a while now. He also told me a couple of months ago that he knows someone in the club who has told him that a few championship clubs have been sniffing round after him but he has his heart set on signing for saints. Harding was my player of the season behind lambert and lallana last season and it would be harsh to drop him but perhaps there is room for both in the team somehow. If not the competition will do the team no harm at all and if dickson is better then get him in the team ahead of harding

Agreed, i would hate it if pardew was not here next season. But if the worst happens and he is sacked, however crazy and unfair it may seem we need to accept it. Our new owners are ambitious and want our football club to be successful. You would struggle to find a saints fan who does not want pardew as our manager and he has done a great job this season given the situation he walked into. If for whatever reason however our owners decide he is not the right man (and who knows what goes on behind the scenes) then we need to try to move on. Lets remember where we were a year ago and where we are now. None of this would be possible without cortese. For some people to say that they are getting ****ed off with him because they have heard he can be rude to staff or comes across as arrogant is madness. Cortese is a very intelligent and successful man and we are very very lucky to have him at our club. Pardew in my opinion has proved he is the right manager for southampton and can take us back to the premier league. Lets just hope things work out and both are here for many years.

Our downward spiral of the last 6 years or so has resulted in us being in league 1 but lets be honest we are way too big for this league and thats not arrogance its a fact. The same can be said about a few other teams in this league so whilst we find ourselves here due to a number of bad decisions by our previous chairman over the years we certainly dont belong here. Personally I think this season has been quite fun visiting new grounds and could stomach another season in this league if it comes to it but want us back in the premier league asap. Southampton is a premier league club in terms of stadium, fanbase, history, training facilities etc and now we are builing a squad fit for the premier league again. We will soon be back where we belong this is just a temporary and very sad period in the history of this great and very proud football club

the c'mon you reds chant is my favourite but have to agree its generally not sung with the same passion than in years gone by. the chant would normally go up from under the east stand at the dell and at times would catch on to all parts of the ground. Am getting flashbacks now of midweek cup replays under the dell floodlights and the spine tingling moment when the chant would go up as we prepared to take a corner....... come on you reeeedddddddddsssssssssssssssssss!!!

i used to travel on foleys coach and they were always good days out, it was good to be able to leave earlier so you could have a few beers. There was no real alternative when he stopped, i went on a coach that was organised by steve grant i think (i could well be wrong there). Used to pick up in shirley and a few other stops around southampton, had a flag at the back saying the 12th man. Anyway that was ok and used to leave early to allow a decent amount of drinking time upon arrival but wasnt in the same league as foleys though. Not sure whatever happened to this coach but i dont think its running anymore. I think there is definetely a demand for a coach service like you are suggesting. A lot of fans travel by minibus, car or train who would be interested im sure. Its likely saints away support will continue to grow with the exciting football we are playing so there will be a market. Ive organised a few minibuses myself over the years and i know how frustrating it can be when people let you down, which will happen but the days out ive had with saints on away days have been the best days ive ever had. Good luck with it.

surely there will be someone technical who can supply a link for this game for us overseas saints fans, other live games have had links put up for us this season....... so come on someone pleaseeeeee

Dave Hunt and Mark Ganley RIP, top blokes who loved the saints

It certainly did but then again that was the way football was back then, especially at big important games like this one

Did it show the whole match? my vague childhood memories of this match were Lawrenson and Hansen fouling Danny Wallace evey time he got the ball or attempted to go on a run. Not dirty fouls but being held back or nudged off the ball slightly, they were all over him that day. I remember going to that game being absolutely convinced we would lose and the writing was really on the wall when Mark Wright broke his leg. I think we had one real chance to win it right at the end before extra time when Andy Townsend went on a long run of the pitch but shot off target. Mind you I also remember being convinced we would beat Everton in the semi final 2 years earlier, when we had the best saints team I ever saw. It still hurts to think about that day at Highbury over 25 years ago.