scdean

i know many of you are saints fans of old, who have grown up in the uk and now spread the word in your new home countries. i would be even more interested to hear about recruited fans and where they are from. My dad was born in Hampshire and then moved to Australia. I was born and raised supporting the saints against all the odds... namely anyone one who didnt give me grief for liking soccer in the first place, were all united fans. and what about those fans who have now started to support us since our rise from the dust. im sure we have a few Kenyan fans now with VW coming to us, as well as maybe some Japanese and/or Polish.

hahah, yep. the comments just add to it. Is this kind of publicity good for them do you think? developmentally... and does it make it harder for us to hold onto them? (i think if the kids are smart, they will look at chambers, reed and friends and see they have a chance of moving forward here. a quick textie to jack rodwell et al will surely tell them that a "big move" isnt always what its cracked up to be!!)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2521833/After-Walcott-Bale-Lallana-Shaw-generation-Saints-players-making-themselves.html

I'm over from dubai visiting family n would love to take my dad to the game.

Does anyone have one or two tickets for today? ! PLEASE

good call Dellman. maybe i will repost this wit ha different slant. hopefully we produce a successful england team though, rather than an under performing one.

agree with all of you. as i said in the OP, i was bringing this to light, but dont agree with it as such. we do put more long balls forward this year than last, but as mentioned, this has been against teams that play similar ways and sit back. i enjoy our passing game, but sometimes feel we are good at using this to move into the midfield, but then we arent cutting edge enough to get it into our strikers' feet. Osvaldo is brilliant in tight quarters when in the 18yard box, but we dont get him in that position often enough. i dont think that he is all that quick but we seem to put balls (be them long balls or through balls) out in front of him too much. get the ball to his feet. and just on another note re VW. he is menacing in defence, but my god he is horrible with distribution. as someone said before "get the ball off 'em Victor, n just give it to morgan". i read that one of the scottish managers laughed when he heard that celtic had 'conned' someone into paying 12m for VW. he said that 'yes he would win the ball for them but they would just sit back n wait for him to give it back'. here's hoping he fixes that part of his game, then he WILL BE a beast.

Just read this from http://www.football365.com/faves/8950254/F365-s-Top-Ten-Best-Decisions-So-Far we pass it around a lot at the back, but apparently when it comes to going forward now, we just lump it up there. I don't necessarily agree with this report, but I do wonder if we need to get the ball to SRL and Ossie's feet more. thoughts? report below..... 4. Southampton - pragmatism and practicality Whilst Southampton gained significant plaudits for their style of play last season (both under Mauricio Pochettino and Nigel Adkins), the fact remained that the Saints survived relegation by a mere five points, struggling largely due to a defence that conceded as many goals as bottom-placed QPR. Whilst defensive personnel (namely Mayo Yoshida and Jos Hooiveld) looked of inadequate ability, the suspicion was that such individuals had been left exposed by a strategy that was pleasing on the eye, but often less than effective. This season, prettiness has been replaced by pragmatism, and no other Premier League team has played as many long balls per game as Southampton. Part of this is clearly an attempt to utilise the aerial threat of Rickie Lambert and Pablo Osvaldo, but it is also an acceptance that passing things from the back is not always a viable tactic. Southampton have not been particularly pleasant to watch at times, but are sitting in fifth place having already gained more than a quarter of last season's points total. A defence that has conceded two goals in six games is now the basis for success, rather than its undermining.

Cheers guys. Yeah I am very familiar with old bar nasti. Didn't realise u guys used it. Can't believe they let us Take over the big screen for saints games. That's gold. See u there on sat. COYR

Hi guys. what pub are the Dubai saints using for watching matches this season???

agreed.... the bristol and mostly the hearts shirts are uninspiring crap!!! i think if we want to be a "big team" then we shoudnt be 'buying off the rack' as it were. having said that the away kit usually is, and i am quite a fan of the black kit with the white V. very nice

its nice... the red is a little bright. what about with a deeper red. almost blood red?! i would like something traditional for the home kit, but quite open to something kinda 'out there' for an away kit. not horrible 80s business like liverpool's, but maybe something a bit more Risqué ??!!! maybe something like what the french teams have etc. thoughts??

Maybe something like this.....http://www.footballshirtculture.com/fantasy-kit-design/fantasy-kit-design/saints-13/14-home-5-21907.html#joomimg

Rework of the sash.... http://www.footballshirtculture.com/fantasy-kit-design/fantasy-kit-design/saints-13/14-home-1-21892.html#joomimg

Rework on sashhttp://www.footballshirtculture.com/fantasy-kit-design/fantasy-kit-design/saints-13/14-home-1-21892.html#joomimg

http://www.footballshirtculture.com/fantasy-kit-design/fantasy-kit-design/saints-13/14-home-1-21892.html#joomimg Not horrible Would people take this over a plain red kit?! DiD I read somewhere the kit would be announced july 1st? I hate how we are always behind others with releasing it. If ManUre n chelsea etc can release by end of the season, then why can't we?! Know the change in supplier probably held it up this year, but I always remember seeing everyone else's kit before ours. ANYWAY, excited for the release.

http://www.footballshirtculture.com/fantasy-kit-design/fantasy-kit-design/southampton-home-2013-14-21072.html another 'training shirt' type leak.

i lived in germany for three years in frankfurt. loved going to bundesliga games. eintracht frankfurt were going well til christmas my last year then went down by end of the season. they still had full stadium every week. you could buy a (plastic) pint outside the stadium and take it all the way through the gates past security up to your 'seat' (standing terrace). all for about 20-25quid. you cant understand the songs too much but the sheer passion is enough to get your to shout along with them. it really is a great experience.

awh.. go on 9er... give us a look mate. I really hope we go with an 'Ajax style' kit. Either the timbers above or the reverse

Obviously I would type better than the rubbish above. Ha.

Crabby, I would love to be a part of this. I have tried t oPM you, but if you could email me on s.dean_gwa@gemsedu.com that would be great. I have been having an Amateur/enthusiast attempt at sports writing for football and cricket of late. hope to hear from you