VectisSaint

Replying to my own post is a bit sad, but just read the OS, sounds like Stephens might be available today after all, which is good news.

Although no-one said it officially it was quite clear from the comments from NA at the time that it was likely to be the rest of the season or at least not far off. I think also that we probably would not have gone in for Stephens if Spiderman was close to a return. What I really want to know is whether Stephens is also out for multiple games, because if he is we are back to the situation of only having Hammond & Chaplow (OK, and Gobern), think it was quite clear that NA considers Chappers out of form.

Then there was Nathan Dyer, suppose getting it wrong occassionally is to be expected.

So change one of the scores you predict and then the outcome will be different.

Actually the table to me shows exactly the opposite of what the OP thinks. It shows that we compete, without being dirty. yes we commit fouls, but they are generally not dirty fouls otherwise we would have more yellows and reds. I am quite pleased by this table, it makes me think that we are not the pushovers we have often been in the past. It also shows we are well-disciplined at the back only to have conceded 3 pens, and 1 of those was Oxo's at Posh which was shown clearly not to have been a pen (in fact 2 of them were in that game). well done Saints, competitive, well-disciplined and fair.

Pathetic rubbish. It is well understood that it was Cortese's idea to buy Saints, not Markus', but his friend markus put up the money. If as you say Cortese is an employee he is not in it to make money for himself. What he is actually doing is making money for Southampton Football Club so that we never again get in the feckin mess that the ruddy-faced **** before got us into. If the so-called Cortest tax wasn't in place, then the ticket prices would be higher, simple. At least this way we know what a proportion of the money goes on, its called transparency. As for singing about him, quite frankly most songs are cringeworthy, but if people want to show their support for the guy that actually came in and saved us from the abyss then thats their choice. If you don't like it don't join in, and be a grumpy git like me.

We had one of those before, I would hope we learned our lesson.

Agreed, they travel a long way for this almost every year, nice to see them get it this year after we "withdrew" in the early stages. Good send off for Eddie Stobart as well. Must have seemed rather empty this season at Wembley.

Maybe they really meant to say "magnificent travellers support", takes a bit of effort towing those pikey caravans up to Reading, especially if its horse-drawn.

Losers

Jelle van Damme - knobhead

24 appearances for Donny in 2 seasons, only 3 so far this year, shows he really isn't ever going to make it big. Not much of a loss really though I thought it was not good at the time.

It sounds today like Coventry are in imminent danger of going down the same route at the end of the season, with no-one really interested in financing them. I think they will end up in a far worse situation than us very soon. In the end administration worked in our favour, it could have been worse, we could have been relegated and not gone into Admin.

He has been on the Board since November. Anyone still wish that we had been taken over by SISU? Looks to me like that was a close call that we were lucky did not work out for us, at the time many people thought we had seriously lost out. I suspect Coventry are in serious trouble.

Little did we know that the start of the following season would be so poor and that we would part company with a decent manager after a few games, then have an awful run under the caretaker, which has defined our season (meaning we did not compete for the title). But still although we may not have played champagne football (indeed some of our displays of late have been quite poor), nevertheless our manager has a win percentage of well over 60% (I think its 62 but can't be bothered to confirm) and the likelihood is that we will be promoted. Hardly a step backwards, but maybe not as much of a leap forwards as most of us anticipated a year ago. If we get promoted, no-one (except Lardy) will care though.

Details from the GRO index, doesn't include the exact date of birth but basically sometime between 1 Apr and 30 Jun 1989. So, don't believe his date of birth either on Wiki or Soccerbase. Name: Dale Christopher Stephens Date of Registration: Jun 1989 Registration district:Bolton Registration county:Lancashire

1900. 4-0 Bastards.

Hardly simple-minded and thoughtless, actually a measured response based on the facts that since he signed a contract he has played very few good games. Your view that he will look sloppy when he has an off-day or when the match doesn't really suit him is just waffle. So he will only play well when it suits him and when he is feeling 100%, what a load of tosh. Next you'll be making sure he is looked after by Human Resources because he is precious. Fact is he has been poor more times than he has been good since he signed, 2 good games in that time IMHO, and only one of those in the League. You are of course absolutely right that he is a great asset as we don't have an alternative at the moment - the corollary is that he knows he is in the team and therefore doesn't feel threatened by poor performances week-in, week-out. Bloody good job Hammond stepped up last night, someone else that a few weeks ago (v Swindon) looked like he couldn't be arsed, last night got off his sick bed and played a stormer by all accounts, all credit to him.

I remember the Orient game, ****ing brilliant night. I also remember a Luton game, but not sure it was the same season - was it just after the Millwall riot (at Luton) and we were kept in and pelted with bottles and stones that rained in from above the fencing? My memories of Luton was the worst possible place I have ever visited, and I have kept that memory to this day - evil **** hole.

Why not? Here goes, sticking to the theme We've got the best pitch in the land We've got the best pitch in the land We've got the best pitch in the land And our groundsman hates ****in Pompey

And the Gas are now beginning to pick up points as well. Seriously, you really cannot read anything into these results. Apart from Charlton of course the teams we played away we are now playing at home (and vice versa), several games were pre-NA and so on. Maybe Orient was a better result than we thought at the time. I really think we should have the mentality to go into every one of these games believing we can win (without the complacent look that we seem to have sometimes, such as 1st half yesterday). Toughest games out of that lot, Orient (A) and Brighton (A), hopefully we can get a draw in these.

As you say cringetastic (assume thats a bit like cringeworthy), especially as the last lame line has to mention Pompey. We must be the only club in the world that mentions our little rivals in chants more than we mention our own name, sometimes it really is embarrassing. Is that the best we can come up with? He comes from Italy and he hates Pompey, pathetic.

Factor out the games pre-NA and we are now over 2 points per game (60 from 29), 62% win rate in the League.

I'd be ****ed off too if someone snaked me from behind