sandwichsaint

Villa don't have a sponsor either. In terms of ****ing contests I suppose it depends on the time frame you look at and the the variables of past performance/current performance/past, present and future crowds, current backing, likely long-term backing etc etc I've followed football and Saints since the mid 60's (first game v Sheff Weds at the Dell 1967, most recent game v Gillingham on Saturday). Clubs that are 'bigger' than Saints: Man U, Man C, L'pool, Everton, Arse, Chel, Spurs, Leeds, Villa, Newcastle, Sunderland Same sort of size: Forest, Derby, Wolves, West Ham, Palace, Sheff Weds, Norwich, West Brom Saints are 'bigger' than: Fulham, Burnley, Hull, Cardiff, Ipswich, Coventry, Middlesborough, Leicester, Blackburn, Wigan, Pompey! Brum, Bristol City, Stoke, Sheff Utd These don't even come close: Charlton, Millwall, Swansea, Plymuff, All IMHO of course!

Ian Storey-Moore? BWP?

Boring! Let's start a thread where we all slag off players that aren't good enough and I'd wager to say that some posters won't ever have seen playing. Move on, we can afford better now and I have no doubt that over the next few months AP/NC/ML will be acquiring better. We can take it as read that Pullis, Lancashire, Molyneux have no future with us at the sort of level we are aiming at; much more to the point is where and how we strengthen. A new RB is essential, beyond that it's all up for grabs. No reason at all why this season's squad would not win this league next season (barring injury to Morgan or RL), fortunately we can do better than that; we are one of the few clubs at any level who are in a position to strengthen pretty much as and where we want to.... happy days.

Will Wagon be wheeled for 'conspiracy' now? Or is this just be good ol' threatening behaviour? I'm finding it hard to keep up with all the legal niceities (sp?); where do we all stand 'legally' with offering vague unspecified threats and arranging to meet in certain locations, via 'electronic media'?. More to the point; does anyone have any good old fashioned inside intel on the 'prospects' for Saturday? I know for a FACT that Kent OB have mobilised good numbers for Saturday, Gillingham are pikey chav scum and very territorial with it.

I'd quite like Leeds to stay down - excellent awayday/weekend - and guarantees two 'big games' next season. They also keep the profile of our league higher; if you take away Norwich/Charlton/Leeds you will halve this year's media attention and profile, and the remainder looks pretty anaemic. Take those three away and we will be everyone's Cup Final, home and away. Stay down and they are likely to lose one or two of their better players, and there's always room for two teams at the top! I'd get rid of Norwich, Millwall and Swindon and take our chances with Leeds and Charlton, with our set-up and backing we really shouldn't be fearing anybody at this level. Of the potentially relegated sides only Sheff Wed look like they could challenge in the top 6, I also expect Brentford to do well next season and maybe Brighton too if Poyet continues there.

If you do nothing else today ... click on the link above! Though probably best not do it if you are eating or have just eaten; at last JPFCW comes clean!

Stu, you're always mildly entertaining but you do your case a grave diservice with your hyperbole on this one; are you still in the 70's and 80's? I've seen about 10 homes and 10 aways this season and I've not seen any of the procedures that you claim that 'every constabulary follows as a minimum'. We're Cat C innit? (or A, I forget which one is the hardest ...) and I've seen Millwall H and A, Leeds A, Gills H, Charlton H and A, Pompey H, etc ... hang on a minute ... we did have your 'routine' procedures at Millwall A as I should imagine does every other team, but the days of lock-ins and mass marchings-to-the-station are (thankfully) long gone. Green Street-ers might wish it was different but the reality is that the 'ordinary fan' can travel H and A with minimal interference and inconvinience. Doesn't alter the fact that it was a monumental (deliberate?) boob by the OB to let P fans out at the final whistle but that in itself no way absolves our brave boys for taking responsibility for their own actions and let's hope that anybody who was silly enough to be filmed rattling fences and throwing windscreen wipers gets a sensible and proportinate sentence. PS Stu, why don't you bring your lads to the Gillingham game? How old are they? I'm sure they'd love it and we'd have another 2? introduced/indoctrinated into the faith; go on, you know want to.

Not really bothered who dunnit but a big 'thanks' to whoever did! Admin was the best thing to have happened to this club in a long time, where would we be now without it?

Spuds to be the new West Ham? We could do a lot worse than Dawson/King/Huddlestone/Jenas/Lennon/Crouch/Defoe (tho obviously not all at the same time). You have to hand it to sack face - give him a cheque book and he seems to deliver.

PlasticFantastic me up. Regular crowds of 40k? Capacity of 50k? Sell 30k STs at the (much higher) prices needed to sustain a new-build stadium and premier Lge/CL football? It's certainly a different sort of 'next level'...... anybody seen my jester hat and face paint?

Obsessed?

I thought the stadium was pretty good, much better than I expected in some respects. The walk up from the tube on Olympic Way side was pretty cool, loads of food outlets that seemed to be in line with 'normal' prices. The turnstiles and searching were pretty standard and the escalators were cool - the seats, general lay out, and leg room was excellent. We were right at the very back of 540 and the view was much better than I imagined, could clearly see the whole game and I managed to call the hand ball for the penalty from where I was sat! PA was complete cack where we were but that's pretty much par for the course - concourses were pretty big but there did seem a limited number of loo spaces (whats with the cubicles?) but I didn't notice queueing to be any worse than usual. At the end of the game I got from the back row of 540 to street level in less time than it takes me to get from the back rows of blocks 35-36 out of SMS! (and no stupid footbridge to queue over!). Tubes back into London seemed to be well organised and I easily caught a train from St Pancras a full hour earlier than I had allowed for. I don't really care what the food in the corporates is like, and anybody who relies on the stadium for food etc can expect to be ripped-off - it's what they do! I paid £24 for my seat (same as I paid to sit in the rain at MK the week before) and I thought that was excellent value; programme was also very good for £5 too. All-in-all I was pleasantly surpised and I thought Wembley was 'fit for purpose'. Where did the money go? That's a whole new ball game - same place as all the money in this country has gone in the last 10 years - out of the pockets of ordinary people and into the pockets of the rich and the bent - HTH!

I thought the atmosphere was very 'mixed', loads of colour and flags which was great; there were a few too many jester hats/face painters/coloured-red-and-silver wigs/viking helmets for my personal preference. I was right in the back three rows in 540 behind the goal and there was certainly some really good singing from all sections of the ground including us - there was also a lot of sit-down bingo bus types around me and a number of people who didn't seem to know the names of any of the Saints players. Guess that's what you get when you sell two for a season ticket? Sorry for any Saints fans that couldn't be there - clearly there were at least a couple of thousand who missed out and have been to 5+ games this season who didn't get near a ticket under the allocation system used. It was a really good day out and so pleased for ML and AP, loved Wotton's reaction (I really can't believe the marks he's got on some of the match threads - we went into the game without our best midfielder - he came in and did a job - we won - 4!-1 - at Wembley!! - people still want to have a go ...). Pre-match on Baker Street was good, stadium was excellent, transport links were much better than I anticipated, just don't think it was an 'awesome' atmosphere, 'good' but not 'awesome'.

Pedant alert! (surprised that one has got this far down the thread) And I'm sure I would be quite capable of putting in a decent shift in those circumstances; supermarket trolleys just have to be collected and stacked and it's simply unprofessional to be thinking about other 'stuff' at the same time.

Stupid answer - the bar code in the ticket points to either full price or concession - full price will trigger a green light and you walk on in - concession triggers an amber light and the stewards will look to see if it is being presented by an u16 or an over 65. Fairly confident you will not be able to swipe a children's ticket and breeze on in... unless of course it's 'busy' and/or the stewards take not a blind bit of notice of doing their jobs properly! All the above IMHO and completely made-up but I figure that's how it works ... HTH.

Tube details - this appears to be the definitive word http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/livetravelnews/realtime/by-date.aspx?offset=3 Set the date to Sun (duh!) - coloured-in lines are closed/disrupted - greys are normal service. Metropolitan Line - Kings Cross (St Pancras) to Baker Street (6mins), and Baker Street to Wembley Park (13 mins) for me. Sorry for the late notice but I have 2 spare tickets from Canterbury West to St Pancras on the new fast train (50 mins) leaving at 08-20 and return from London at 18.30, I bought a saver 4 thing on the off chance of picking up 2 xtra tkts but that's not happening. FREE in exchange for a couple of pints and if anybody can use them

I said there was 'far less hoofing', if I'd had said 'there was no hoofing' you would have a point. So can I repeat, there was far less hoofing than at for example Brentford, Wycombe or Millwall (and certainly Swindon last week!) - there was still plenty - and we scored from two of those situations - mathematically 30 is less than 60 - in fact it is half as much!

plus 1! I LOL'ed at those on here who compared it to Wycombe and Brentford; true it wasn't a very good game but it was an excellent come-back by both the manger and players from Tuesday's choker. I was rather apprehensive on the way up wondering which Saints would turn up - how many players' thoughts were turning to Wembley and avoiding injury and suspension? I needn't have worried at all - we looked committed and determined from the very first whistle - nothing wrong with winning ugly - after the game Ince complaining on local radio that we 'had bullied them' - great! - music to my ears! There was far less hoofing (from Davis and Fonte principally) than there has been in many of the previous games and much less route one onto Lambert's head - five more of these performances (Wyc, Bre, Mill, Exter, Tran) and we would be very tidily placed now.

Hard game to call from lots of different perspectives but ultimately a very comfortable and very well-deserved victory; it can't be easy for the players playing in that extraordinary half-built stadium,in front of a very small crowd of non-fans. LOL at the comments what would it ever be like if they get it finished (possibly for the world cup?) - have to say it has the potential to be a top-class stadium and I thought the high level open-plan concourses were very impressive, and the comfy seats(!) - maybe I was too hasty in writing off the possibility of us moving to a new super stadium? but with a very big BUT .... the traffic when you build a new stadium on the periphery and don't put proper transport links in ... absolutely horrendous... a crowd of 10k and still had time to pop into ASDA after the match for a bite to eat ... and still queued to get out the car parks a full 40 mins after the game. And no PUBS! Don't do it Saints!! I thought we put in a solid away performance with no hang over from Tuesday night, AP clearly has the backing of the players and we piled into MK for the first 10 mins, the rest of the first half was very forgettable but we stayed with it, kept our concentration at the back and on the day Lambert was the difference between the two teams (and their comedy keeper). Anybody listen to their local radio after the game? Ince saying 'they were the better team'(!), 'Saints bullied them' (great, I loved hearing that one), and 'the ref cost us the game', totally deluded; they are a one dimensional team with very little flair or ability, I am embarressed (concerned?) as to how they can be above us in the league table, shows just how inconsitent we have been. KD 7 - solid, some welcome short distribution and a couple of smart saves near the end. DH 8 - looked comfortable at RB though missed out twice early on when he couldn't deliver from outside their full back, compensated well, a really solid performer at this level. JF 7 - excellent reading and mobility always kept him one step ahead of the limited opposition he was up against. I didn't think it was a penalty - the defender's leg was planted and JF just eased himself over it - could have stepped round him and still maintained possession. DS 6 - not convinced yet, incredibly weak in the air for his size and I was expecting far more of a ball-playing defender than we've seen so far. JM 7 - solid game, prob the best game I've seen him have for the first team, comfortable defensively and had plenty of energy up and down the pitch as well. JP 4 - very weak game, first touch was poor, took the wrong option far too many times, often caught in possession - trying too hard or not trying hard enough? DH 5 - totally eclipsed by Schneiderlin, where's the player we bought from Colchester? Excellent in his first 10 games, hasn't seemed to do very much at all since he's been captain, shame to say it but it's a key area we need to strengthen for next season. MS 8 - another really solid game, one of the key players for us next season, irreplacable at this level. AL 4 - I'm a massive AL fan but he's just not done it recently, possibly since the Pompey game? Couldn't blame if he was looking towards the Prem though his contacts on here seem to say otherwise - possibly his new puppy keeping him up at night? LB 7 - spikey, combative, gave it his all but nothing really fell for him today. RL 8 - still not totally convinced about the roaming role he seems to have adopted since LB came into he side, far too often he's working miles from their goal (who does he think he is, Rooney?), surely he would be better occupied tying up their CHs and creating room for Punch and Lallana to get wide and for our midfield to play higher? Took his goals well. Third was awesome, you could see what was on before he received it but to execute it the way he did was pretty sensational. Subs were all a bit of a nothing: Waigo seems to have lost his way again and is getting little pitch time, Connelly had a couple of nice touches and would be great to see 45 mins next Sunday, Wotton got stuck in and helped to ensure a welcome clean sheet. Wasn't the best game of football you'll ever see but glad I went; half an excellent stadium, probably the weirdest football experience you'll ever see (stadium announcer and 'build up' the closest I've ever been to an 'american-style' sports experience - hope we don't have all that ballacks at Wembley next week). If we'd had 5 more of these sorts of performances over the course of the season we would be well on our way to going up ...... booo!

That's me! A last minute change of plan and memories of Tuesday wiped .......... MK 1 SFC 2 (would be nice).

Posties schitt Ticket office schitt Industrial action on mars (possibly) Get over yerselves innitt My two from the first day of linked sale came last Tuesday; David Luker can have my babies anytime he wants.... luving the posts 'bought one for the missus but she can't make it now'. LET'S BRING BACK A MEMBERSHIP SCHEME NEXT YEAR!

King of sole? Jacket's on and see you all(?) at MK tomorrow..... I (always) expect us to win! MK 1 SFC 2 .... possibly.

No ones taken me up on this in the match thread, but was anybody else impressed by Swindon's Ferry? He seemed to combine high energy with excellent technical ability - I haven't got a clue who he is or what his background is or if he's usually that good but I thought he stood out at this level.

TBF Lambert buried one against Huddersfield that Ron Davies would have been proud to call his own -and from an immaculate cross from Puncheon in the orthodox RW-on-the-byline position. Agree though that he hasn't done this as much as some people seem to think (two reasons - we haven't had that quality of delivery very often and secondly he has often been forced a long way from the danger area, as he was for most of Tuesday's match culminating in him crossing from wide left and Lallana(!) trying to head it in from about 8 yards and with the goal gaping - needless to say AL never looked like executing that one). We don't seem to have much method to develop play into the wide areas and then get RL and LB working in the box as a pair - IMHO the centre mids are too often paralell with each other and both of them 20m short of where one of them needs to be - the best midfield performances I saw this season were prob Southend away (Wotton played holding and MS played an awesome attacking free role in a 451) and Pompey where Lallana tucked in and ran himself into the ground in support of MS and DH who both had good games. Can't think of a game where MS and DH have really dominated offensively in a 442 (Hudds was obviously good but that was more about the front 4 with Punch, RL, LB and AL all on fire that night).

What a diff a couple of weeks makes - two weeks ago I drove down on a Tuesday night to see Saints absolutely smash play-off hopefuls Huddersfield by 5 goals to O; WE'VE GOT OUR CLUB BACK, IN AP WE TRUST, HOW HIGH UP THE CCC WILL THIS TEAM FINISH? It was that good I almost happy-clapped all the way home. Same scenario yesterday but what a difference; Saints were never really at it the whole game with no sign of the positive flowing football we saw a couple of weeks ago. Why were we hoofing long from the very start? If we are going to play MS and AL in the same team then we need to play football, with our feet, on the ground. If we are going to try to route-1, hoofball our way out of this league then we may as well get rid of the likes of MS, AL, Papa etc. and replace them with muck-and-bullets, identi-kit, lower league drones (how krap was their number 4 yesterday? The lumbering oaf in front of the back four, and they won the game!). Have to say our players (our manager?) bottled it big-time yesterday, we were clearly scared (!) of Swindon's pace and passing ability and decided to lump it from the start rather than play them at anything resembling football. Harding and MS both had solid first halves but most of the rest of it was scraps and dross - once again we failed to take our chances and this is becoming a familiar refrain - in a lot of the games I've seen this season we have created pleanty of chances but we seem to need 8 or 10 chances to score one goal! Strange as it may seem as we have scored plenty of goals and have a very positive GD, AP's number 1 summer priority would appear to be 'finishing' - there will be plenty more games like last night and if we are serious about automatic we will have to battle for scrappy 1-0s and the occaisional 1-1 when other teams 'park the bus'. I though MS had a reasonable game last night but he missed three totally presentable chances in the first 45 minutes if any of those had gone in and it would have been a different game and prob a different result (shades of Lallana who TBF does have a decent midfielders strike rate but who also often scuffs and mis-hits when he could do so much better). Have to say Swindon made much the better use of half time, as if to say, that's all they've got? we can get something here tonight boys. And that's exactly what they did, they got on the front foot, passed it and frustrated us, and waited for Saints to implode which they duly did - haven't seen it again but it was a comedy goal we gave away, Fonte unopposed in the centre circle following an attacking corner turned and passed back 40 yds to KD who made a right hash of it from which we never recovered. Saints huffed and puffed last 20 minutes but the subs seemed to be rather random, Connoly looked good straight from the off but Waigo and James had very limited impact. All-in-all same old, same old; KD's shot stopping is second to none (Brentford away anybody?) but his all round contribution on night's like yesterday is limited at best. WT is whole hearted but not very good, he was given the run around all through the first half and could have been booked twice. Fonte and Jaidi are rock solid against hoof ball teams - less comfortable when the opposition play football and try and play through them, Harding is solid and one of the players we missed mid-season (did AP really have a spare 6 games mid-season to look at Mills at LB while Harding sat on the bench?) What was Puncheon on? Hopefully that's a one off because he has been very good previously; AL has had an outstanding season but last night was prob the weakest game he's had this season. MS was our best player last night, Hammond much less so but he looked lively for the first 20 minutes, are there fitness and injury issues there? RL was very well policed and forced to do most of his work a long way from the danger area, and Barnard bustled and bristled but to no great effect. Best player on the pitch was their number 30 (Ferry? the guy that got sent off) - he never stopped working for his team in attack and defence, he did the dirty jobs well and then always had the composure to produce something with the ball, I lost count of the number of chipped and rolled balls he played in and around our back four, a sort of Division 3 Fabregas if I may be so bold. Swindon were a decent side down there (decent manager too) and I for one wasn't surprised by their performance last night, they were gutsy, determined, organised, - everything we weren't on the night. Let's hear no more of the pl--of-- word for the rest of this season, for me they went at Colchester and Millwall, with a final nail hammered in at Exeter (Wycombe was just an embarrasing footnote). On this showing AP still has it all to do to gain automatic next year, I'd guestimate somewhere between 4th and 8th looks more likely at the moment but will that be enough for NC?