ericb

Roman gladiators and lions, maybe we can pay pompey fans to fight each other to the death and for each killing we put a tenner into their club

Decent ticket prices, proper fans, winning more than losing, kick off times at normal times, grounds i've not been too, a lack of plastics, atmosphere in the grounds, not having to listen to every **** at work thinking they're an expert on your team due to match of the day, less JCLs, not coming second. I'm sure there are more but those are the ones that stand out. Still we'll be in the top flight again so i'm sure that'll more than make up for it, it's not like i was bored fu.cking witless of the premiership by the time we went down last time...... Oh.

Fu.ck the fancy dress they're standing on the right on the tube there's no f.ucking excuse for that!

Fuc.king terrible news, not a surprise sadly but the Beasties were one of those acts that shaped a generation RIP

Not quite, the champions bit was a mistranslation but he did say we always sold out 30,000. The bit about loving him is less clear as he says that we like him a lot here (which to be fair a lot do) but that he's to humble to answer the question properly and he's not the king of the team. He also says he's happy that we respect him enough to allow him a private life but still know his name

That article is good read and it's nice to see our player talk of the access. Nice to see he has club in heart and journeys to bridge with fans he love.

Can't believe i'm using my last post for something that is fairly self evident, but we're losing our culture. Or more to the point we're selling it. More people should care about that but i don't think they do. Don't forget this is a culture that's given us music from Madness to New Order to Oasis and Blur. As a quick aside (since it's my last post) is it a surprise that football songs are so stale and bland now? It used to be the case that there was a proper sub culture tied up in it and you knew that if you stole from a certain type of band the majority of the ground would know where it had come from. We really are accepting football becoming another commodity, a lifestyle to be sold by sky and acted at, and that's a sad, sad fu.cking thing.

That rickie lambert picture with the red mist in the background and the flag slightly out of shot is going to become iconic isn't it?

This argument is incredibly circular, and people are using classic debatting techniques of changing the point & arguing the person rather than the subject, not too mention the new internet one of going for grammar & spelling rather than the point. A few things that i'd like to try and add (without getting into the circle) though; Firstly - fancy dress last game of the season was always fun but the big difference i think was that it was (let's be honest) a bit ****. The difference now is that there's so much effort made. Secondly - the point of Class, it seems to me getting dressed up to get ****ed is actually pretty working class. Any of us that've been to the darts will know that. Thirdly - the truly bizarre idea that not wearing fancy dress is in some way linked to violence. Straight away i should point out you've actually contradicted this point by saying lads in the 80's used to dress up for the last game and still get into rows. Second to that the idea that those of us who find it embarrassing want violence is beyond prejudiced. In fact for me the most important people in the ground are those in the later years that have supported us through thick and thin. Now my argument still remains, what we lose really is Soul (as noun if you like) since we are co-opting what little culture and fashion we have to an expected type of behaviour. We become consumers of the new breed of this football rather than shaping it ourselves - hence why i thought the Stretford end video was so good - and with that a very important part of this thing we love dies. I'm not saying everyone should dress the same, i'm not even slagging off those that wear colours, i just don't want everything to become a bland pastiche of what fan/terrace culture is about. And that is something i do think we're in real danger of in this country. Mind you i suppose it's symptomatic of a far bigger malaise in society, there are very few sub cultures left that haven't been branded and sold back, and it's why i'm so protective of this football culture because it is ours and it is special. Again i'll highlight german fan culture which is immense, powerful, loud and meaningful. But then germany in general seems to know how to get things right rather than sell their soul to the highest bidder. Oh and one last point, i do think this forum is the wrong place for this argument. Saints web has long struck me as a very strange place, you only need to look at the amount of people that seem to form opinions of the game based on what amounts to a giant spread sheet to see that it's not really a great cross section of society. So to cod psychologise myself what maybe we see here - older heads aside - is a place full of a certain type of person at school. The geek/outcast, for whom people like those that want the link between music/football/fashion that make up the side of the argument i sit on, are the enemy. The bullies. The people they felt ostricised them at school. That though doesn't mean they're right, but it does seem sad that they're happy to see the death of something so important to what is "more than a game"

That red and white cashmere one is lovely, bit pricey but still really classy (and that's my 3rd and final post wasted!!)

Obviously this thread has more than a touch of the wind up about it but there are some good points made. We as fans have given up a lot down the years and we're starting to resemble american football crowds these days in this country. Now call me a snob if you want but i'd much rather see us go down the German football route with the game being more about fans. Mind you there are many on here whetting their teeth at the idea of us becoming a global brand so maybe it's me that's out of touch and a little depressed about the state of fan culture in this country.

To be fair most people are getting lost in the fancy dress thing but as that video about the stretford end (cracking video btw) showed football in the this country really has lost something in recent years. I guess the thing with fancy dress is that it's an easy target as it shows the creeping "Americanisation" of the game that's been happening for a while now. Of course people are nominally right in saying that folk should be able to dress however they want but let's look at this honestly, when you watch on tv and see away support like United, Leeds, Spurs, Bristol City, Celtic or Rangers - lads, dads and even families but not normally in colours and nearly all standing - then look at the foam hand fancy dress brigade which would most of you prefer to see? Hell even my mum (in her 60's) commented on the Football league show by wondering why the hell they always interview the most embarrassing of our fans. Still on the flip side it's great to see clubs like FCUM coming through the leagues and maybe with time that'll be the difference, the franchises and brands will have their own "entertainment" league and those of us that want something a bit more meaningful, passionate and ours will pick up smaller teams with some soul. Oh and sadly it's only going to get worse next season, ticket prices will see to that. I just hope our first game isn't on TV as that'll have them out in force, instead it'd be nice to show people that going down to league one has made southampton football club a proper club, with real heart and soul. Rather than one of these corporate jokes that exists in the prem. I'm not however going to hold my breath on that one.

I tried to find you on the pitch after the game Darren but you were lost in the mellie, was hoping you'd pop down the alex for one after as it's been some time. Hope everything's good with the job btw mate. Definitely had a thought for your mum when that whistle went, such a shame she wasn't there to see us back up.

Was my first game too, can't say i really remember a massive amount about the details of the game but it got me hooked and i've been going ever since!

That was the point i went from hoping to believing, as important a game as MK Dons last year yet so many nancied away from it because it was scary Millwall. Gotta say when i look back at this season that's going to be one of THOSE games you look back on i think.

The mongs in the facepaint/wigs/fancy dress are pretty embarrassing but to be honest it's part of our support and if they've got no self respect then that's their fault. Personally i'm going to go to games as i always have, have a few drinks, make a fu.ck load of noise and then avoid all those mongs after the game as best i can.

It's the obvious reaction to success, a lot of us have put up with a lot of sh.it (and a lot of great stuff too) and if we're honest feel a touch bitter about those that abandoned us after the prem and are just re-appearing now. The flip side is that the rational part of me wants every nipper in the city to be red and white and to see the stadium packed out each week but i can't help but be a bit peaved at some of the bandwagon jumping that goes on (stupid i know). Still couple of seasons in the prem and it'll all be forgotten anyway since the JCLs won't be JCL anymore (if that makes sense?)

York is a blinding night out, loads of women there and some awesome pubs. Also the locals have a much better attitude than the backward dins in Leeds. I've been to Leeds a lot and seen trouble every time. Proper backward northern hole that one.

Sweet sorted my ticket and travel, going to be a trip and a half as i have to come down from london just to get a lift from southampton then back the same day and up to london again for work on sunday. Mammoth but worth it, would feel a right cun.t if i wasn't there after everything the players have given us this season

I like their manager but they really are a tinpot club. Some of the most plastic fans of any team i've ever come across, even more so than pompey. Plus reading the place is a dull ****hole.

Is that right? I might look into that then since it's always an option, i'd rather be sleeping on a bus back having been there than watching in a pub any day of the week! Especially since i've never done 'Boro, think it would be my 16th away this season too.

I desperate to do this one but need to be at work on the sunday so can't stay over, right pain since i can't find any trains back the same night

I've got no problem with them to be fair, i've heard them interviewed and they're from manchester and go to every game. It's people like a friend of mine who's from Hydrabad but "supports" chelsea and goes through this god awful "banter" with his other friends who support man u etc. Non have ever been to a game yet all are some kind of super fan cause they own the shirt & watch them on sky

Surely fulham are the epitome of dull? They're so boring they've even got a neutral section in their ground.

Got to say this is a top thread and i'm definitely in the camp that is really non plussed about the premiership. Maybe English football was like German football i'd be more excited, looking after the fans; genuinely competitive; cracking atmospheres; encouraging youth development and local lads playing. Unfortunately it's not, as others have said it's a rotten fu.cking corpse of the game i first started going to in the 80's. When you hear commentators talking with almost pride about the fact only four clubs have one the thing it sickens me. When i see plastic scousers/mancs/chelsea/gunners (delete depending on where you live or work) it angers me. When i have to put up with their fuc.king clueless sh.it that they spout about the lower leagues i feel like slapping them. When they start claiming that they support their club in the same way i do i walk away laughing at the pri.cks. The lower leagues have been a blessing for us as a club, i've gone on record here before to say it's given the club it's soul back. The away days have been immense at times and when you see 200 hartlepool fans coming down on a tuesday night for a game that means fu.ck all to them you realise why we do this crazy thing. As for those saying what do Swansea Norwich fans think? Well i've chatted to quite a few Norwich fans this season and whilst they like playing against the top sides most fu.cking hate the "experience" of a match day. It's been sanitised, they have matches shifted around, they've been shafted by ticket prices away from home and they everyone and their gimp who has access to a sky box having an opinion on their team (whilst forgetting that they used to play in Europe & are hardly a small side). I really, really wish the premier league would fu.ck off to be honest. Honestly i couldn't care less about the English league not being the best in the world, what good has it actually done most of the 92? I want the game back to a state where we can compete again, and by that i don't just mean saints, but sadly those days are as good as over. I'm not certain but i've got a feeling that after the best part of 30 years following saints i probably would be disillusioned to the point of not going anymore if we spent too long in the premiership. Sad thing is if i did i'm sure some mong would take my place & the game would get that little more diluted and dull. Veering off topic slightly i noticed on Friday that we had the first glimpses of the premiership, for probably the first time since we went down i saw a family (i assume) in the northam i'd never seen before, all of them in the new kit holding megastore bags & two of them (probably in their late 20s) with their faces painted. If that's the price for success i'm going to get very bitter very quickly, especially as Cortese is already talking about us becoming a "global brand". I mean FFS have you seen those ****ing mongs on youtube from india etc singing Arsenal or Chelsea songs!? I'm in no way bigoted (hell i've called Charming man out on it a lot of times) but ask yourself honestly do you really want this for our club? Just watch this video a few times and then really seriously think if the premiership is what you want? Cause when i see this kind of crap i don't want it in football at all, let alone our club