Bourne Valley Saint

One of the best days of my life. I was only 17 and didn't drink so remember it very well. I went up on a coach from Salisbury which went via Downton, Totton and Southampton. I did a lot of the away games that season and all cup matches bar Villa away in the replay. I remember as we were leaving Southampton in a convoy of coaches there was the chairman of the Southampton branch of the Man Utd supporters club waiting at a bus stop for his coach (he had been on local telly that week as a United fan in Southampton). Fair to say that he got plenty of stick as went by with hands gesticulating through the side and rear windows! We got to Wembley early and as others have said the gates weren't open so we had to wait on the steps leading up to the turnstiles. I kept my ticket in my sock because of the threat of muggings by the United mob. They were everywhere and were a nasty bunch back in those days. We were waiting on the steps in growing numbers (I was in section D9 - the ticket cost £5.00 by the way)) and every so often United would lead a charge up the steps and we would have to retreat to higher ground. Most who had got there early were either too young to drink, female or families but that didn't stop their yobs having a go. Anyway, after about half an hour of intimidation a Saints fan (I was told his name but wont mention it on here) came strolling though the United bunch at the bottom of the steps shouting "Southampton" "Southampton" and barged and shoved his way right though them and not one Utd fan laid a finger on him. His mates followed and then we all joined in with the singing and the whole atmosphere went from one of anxiety and lifted to one of "We're going to enjoy this and F**k you man Utd". And did we ever enjoy it. We had the upper tier and there were United in front of us. There was a regular barrage of missiles being chucked to and fro all game but we had the height advantage and could also see it coming whereas they couldn't (unless they weren't watching the match). The atmosphere was fantastic and Saints fans sung themselves raw and when Booby Stokes scored, well, the euphoria cannot be put into words. it was as good as it will ever get supporting Saints. Getting back to the coach was a bit dodgy but I made it OK but others weren't so fortunate. The journey home along the M3 was amazing with every footbridge filled with cheering fans and scarves all the way back to Sutton Scotney where our coach stopped at the Saddlers Arms. I phoned my mum up to collect me and take me straight back to Salisbury as I wanted to watch it all again on Match of the Day. A brilliant day and that one fan will always stick in my memory for being the catalyst to stand up to the United hooligans and enjoy the day.

"Cedric whips a mean uncontested cross into row 22 of the Chaple. Not seen any other professional footballs achieve such a feat." That act of total incompetence summed up yesterday's performance in a nutshell. He had time and space to deliver a perfect cross and he completely f****d it up. To be fair to him though, he wasn't the only useless clueless incompetent on the pitch. There were quite a few others who ran him close for that accolade. Boufall's inability to find a team mate with one single pass, Bertrand's persistent passing into the Itchen, Hoedts bambi on ice imitation resulting in an early goal against, sideways passing and lack of mobility from the whole lot of them instead of trying to create and put pressure on, etc. It was as bad a second half performance as I have ever seen ..... and I've seen a few. Not one shot on target from a side that knew it was in the bottom three prior to kick off. What do we do well? Answer - Implode. Not many other teams could throw away all the hard work and experience, that got Saints from L1 to European football, in less than 2 seasons. If it was a crime then the board would rightly be branded as criminals!! As a fan it is very hard to take

Looking at all the empty seats on Wednesday, it would appear that the protests have already started!!

Excellent summary as usual. I think that you should apply for the manager's job when it inevitably soon becomes vacant. There is more passion in your articles than in any of the performances by the team and management so far this season. We are utterly clueless and rudderless. Even the U23's with half the players that many are calling for (me included) to be playing for the first team lost to Fulham U23's last night. We are totally f***ed at present and there is nothing about the club at present that fills me with any optimism. The family silver has been flogged and we are left with make-do Ikea!

Jack Stephens was on loan at Swindon last season and the one before. He doesn't need to go anywhere else at the moment. He is doing just fine right where he is.

I went to the FA Cup Final in 1976 and the one three weeks ago. The atmosphere in the ground between the two sets of fans in 1976 before the kick-off was fantastic. Three weeks ago it was impossible to tell if anyone was singing as the PA was screaming out music right up to kick off. Why do we have to have such a racquet? Do the people in charge of these venues think we are incapable of creating an atmosphere?

Stephens has done very well since circumstances brought him to the fore. VVD and Fonte were obviously first choice at the start of the season but Yoshida and Stephens have more than adequately filled the gap. Of course mistakes are made but they haven't made many. Losing the ball in midfield seems to be more of a problem at the moment. Stephens looks comfortable with the ball at his feet and his team mates seem happy to pass to him. We're fortunate to have such talent progressing from the academy and long may they continue breaking into the first team. We were unlucky not to get a point yesterday - the team are playing well and with confidence and will IMO only get better. I hope Stephens keeps his place at least until VVD returns, or beyond when perhaps he will play alongside him.

Seeing the back of the net bulge after Long hit the shot was pure bliss. I cant remember a goal celebration like that since May 1976 or maybe Pompey 1984. The fans were magnificent, even though the tension was unbearable at times. To be able to relax (even Saints of old would be hard pushed to mess that up) for the last two minutes and sing our hearts out was the icing on the cake. And what a great place to celebrate the victory - in Matthew Street until the early hours watching live music with a large number of very happy Saints fans. If Carlsberg did away days ........................!!

If Koeman hasn't decided yet, he ought to take a look back the last time Everton poached a manager from a high achieving unfashionable club. Mike Walker managed Norwich to 3rd in the Prem in 1994 and got them into Europe. Everton just had to have him as they were a massive club that just needed a tweak or two. They only stayed up the previous season due to some dodgy Wimbledon goalkeeping and influential Far East betting syndicates). Two years later he was back at Norwich in (what is now) the Championship and Everton were still ****. If he does go, it will be one of the most crass decisions a football manager has ever made. I thought Ron was a better man than chasing the cash.

Putting more money into an already grossly over-inflated pot just so that players and agents can become even wealthier!!!!! Certainly not. Putting more in so some of these tossers can earn more than £50.000 + a week - joking! For what they are paid and what we are paying/have paid, they should be able to perform at the top level already. There was something pleasantly refreshing about the FA Cup last weekend. Watching teams form outside the Prem showcase their talents with a lot of the players earning an annual salary significantly less than some of the mercenaries earn in a week. Teams such as Oxford, Eastleigh, Exeter, Wycombe, (I wont mention the P word), Peterborough, Shrewsbury, etc. playing football with a passion and pride seriously lacking from some of the higher profile sides. Even watching Liverpool's youngsters was refreshing. I'm not daft enough to think that these days will return any time soon but I am certainly not prepared to pay any more into a game that is being destroyed by the ridiculous amounts of money already swilling around. Rooney on £300,000 a week - what's he done this season to justify that!!!!

Wanyama rarely, if ever, acknowledges the fans - even those stupid enough to chant about "The Mighty Kenyan". At least Tadic, Long, JWP and plenty others acknowledge us at both home and away games. His performances this season have been way below what is expected, if not in terms of skill then in endeavour. His performance at Norwich showed complete disregard to his teammates (who were already under the cosh thanks to Mane's stupidity) and to the 2500 fans who made the long and difficult (by train for us at least)journey. For the amount of money he's on per week (probably more than most on here earn in a year!) you would think he would show some responsibility. In answer to the original question - give me a good reason why he should not be booed. Please don't say it puts him or the team off as he couldn't give a flying **** and I'm sure his teammates feel the same as we do.

The plane has well and truly crashed and some bright spark needs to start sifting through the wreckage, find the black box and discover the cause!!!

A good summary of the game and our current predicament Glen - as usual. We hear a lot of self-praise from within the club about the Saints way of doing things, be it from having their own mattresses during overnight stays in hotels, being collected by the team coach from the local airport, dietary gurus, training gurus and the highly secretive Black Box. Well, I reckon a good night in a Budget Hotel, sitting on a bus all the way up and back and less pampering of their egos might waken them up to the task ahead - that of turning things around, playing with commitment and heart and ultimately survival in this division. As for the F***ing Black Box, the plane has well and truly crashed and some bugger needs to start sifting through the data to find the reasons why!!!

I'm sure that by being consistently overlooked and made to feel superfluous he is quietly becoming hacked off and this may reflect in his performances for the U21's. He did not let us down when he played last season and I for one as a paying spectator would rather see an academy player given his chance rather than some overpaid mercenary who wants to F off as soon as an agent comes calling!! Also, give Seagar a chance. He cant be worse than Pelle or Long are at the moment. Spurs gave Kane a chance and look what he did!! Whilst we're at it, bring back Stephens and Isgrove and give them some experience before its too late!!

Griffo - Your comment "Don't need people like that supporting us. They don't add anything to the support. Hope she's put off for life". That just about sums up the mentality of some of you so called fans who think it acceptable to shout out the word C U N T in a stadium with lots of kids around. That's one 10 year old fan who wont be back in a hurry. Booing Lallana after all he did for our club continues to show how pathetic some of you are. We must have come across as a right bunch of knobs on national telly last night. Singing about Pompey when playing Liverpool - how ****e. Our support is atrocious and I was at City on Saturday and our support was again awful. We're ever dead quiet or abusing opposing players/teams. Very rarely constructive. I sympathise fully with the original poster.

1500 tickets unsold at £50.00 each = £75000.00 maximum loss. 2 weeks wages for one player. An extra 1500 fans there might create a better atmosphere. Its one of our more local games and is on a Saturday for once. Hardly a huge gamble is it FFS!!!

I was at West Brom on Saturday and the support was poor. I looked around at our fans and the majority were middle aged (including myself), many were female and there were plenty of kids. There weren't a lot of 18 - 30's types who traditionally start the singing and make the most noise. I will always join in singing to support my team but will not sing bloody Pompey songs and nor will most of us oldies - it has no relevance, is tedious and to be honest is embarrassing. I agree that most of our iconic players have departed and our repertoire is somewhat limited as a result. The fact that by far the loudest song of the day was directed at a West Brom player is testament to this. I don't know what the answer is - I do my bit of singing as do a few (but by no means all) of my mates. People have paid their money and can do what they like with their hands and vocal chords but I really don't understand how you can call yourself a fan if you cant even be bothered to applaud, let alone shout. Everyone is capable of making some noise, everyone comments on how great an atmosphere it was when we do, so why don't we do it more often? So many just sit there like mannequins. We have had good away support over the years that I have been following Saints (40 years!) but just lately it has gone flat. There is no doubt that poor performances on the road (no win in our last 9 Prem games I think) have a bearing on this but we really should be better. Maybe football has irreversibly changed and this is what we're stuck with. Our home support is pretty good compared to most other Prem teams but unless fans make a big effort to orchestrate themselves, as Palace did and are now creating a cracking atmosphere at home games (as are Leicester - but they are winning most games), I cant see it improving.

The Sunday Times had a column listing the fixtures for clubs with CL ambitions (i.e. 4th place as the top 3 are pretty certain) - the list showed Man Utd, Liverpool and Spurs!!! Not a mention of Saints. However on a previous page (from a different journalist) they showed the run in for all clubs in the mix for the top 7 places and had to show Saints!

Who was the Saints player rolling around in supposed agony having lost the ball in their half (second half of game) and feigning injury until he realised the ref wasn't giving anything so eventually bounced back up? He looked a right knob. We're quick enough to moan about play acting, unsporting behaviour and time wasting from our opponents but we were guilty of all three last night.

A bloody stupid idea!! Players come and go... just deal with it. Anyway. how about showing Adam a bit of appreciation for all that he did for our club. I'm sure he could have left when we were in L1 but he stayed and significantly helped us to get back to the top flight. I cant believe how bitter and twisted some of you are on here. Yes, he could have departed with a bit more tact but so what? I was gutted when he left but I wish him well and will not be booing him on Sunday.

Any news on how Cody Cropper is?

"Unless we play 352: Forster Fonte Alderweireld Gardos Clyne Bertrand (as wing backs) Morgan Wanyama Davis Tadic Long Pelle" I know the refereeing has been poor lately but even the ref should spot the numerical advantage in that selection!!

A couple of seasons ago at Salisbury City (to be called Salisbury FC from next season!) they had a parachutist landing on the pitch. Only trouble was he had missed his intended landing strip at Old Sarum and the game was still in progress!! Seem to remember something similar at the Dell years ago when they were supposed to land on the pitch at half time or before the match (cant remember) and one ended up missing the stadium by quite some distance!

Our support at Arsenal, Burnley and Sheffield was diabolical. Supporting your team isn't just paying for a match ticket and sitting in your seat (or standing) - a neutral can do that. IMO support is classified as giving encouragement and backing to your team by applauding, singing, chanting, whatever...... Not just turning up. I'm 56 and have been following Saints for years and our away support has got steadily worse over the years - not the numbers but the atmosphere. So may people just stand silently as if they were watching a neutral match not involving your club. I put plenty of effort into backing Saints when I follow them away (and mostly at home) but I am not going to join in with meaningless songs about Pompey and telling our hosts that their support is effing sh*te. A few renditions of OWTS and other player or club related songs are far more likely to encourage mass participation from our aged band of followers - the average age of which has definitely risen as the cost of travel, food, tickets, etc is expensive and generally the younger fan with more important commitments (children, mortgage, etc.) is reluctant or unable to spend such sums. We are not very good en masse at getting behind our team when we are losing. However it does work both ways - the players have got to show some commitment and not just go through the motions as happened on Tuesday night. I don't blame our fans for their lack of vocal backing on Tuesday. We could have sung ourselves hoarse and it wouldn't have made any difference - the team were pathetic, ill-disciplined and incompetent.

To the tune of New York New York by Frank Sinatra Villa used to sing it for Dwight Yorke Probably far too many verses for us but here goes - Start spreading the news He's playing today He wants to be a part of it Jack Cork Jack Cork Those leather bound boots Are dying to score Right through the very heart of it Jack Cork Jack Cork Those little town blues Are fading away He'll sign a brand new contract Jack Cork Jack Cork And if he can score from there He can score from anywhere It's up to you Jack Cork Jack Cork