Whitey Grandad

It's even quieter when it's closed!

When I bought my ticket there were very few seats available - and this with a crowd of 10,000 in a 32,000 seater stadium - because of course the directors' and Press seats take up a large area and no matter how much effort you make the number of seats there is limited. Just please try the view from M302. Call it excuses, call them poor supporters, it makes no difference. The club is a business and not a charity and needs all the income that it can get. We cannot afford to be fussy about who comes through the turnstiles. In my opinion, closing the Kingsland is a very misguided policy and results in reduced net income for both clubs. Next time, why not open the Kingsland and close the Northam?

I only offer the suggestion because in a couple of years time when I scale down my work I might be looking for a new challenge. You know the sort of thing... 'I have never sought public office but if my country were to call for my assistance I might find it difficult to refuse....'. I'm ok with a monarchy in itself, it's a lot cheaper than a republic what with all those elections and campaigning. Just think of the words 'President John Prescott, or 'President Boris Johnson' and see how you feel. It's all the royal hangers-on that annoy me.

Did she ever come back?

Not an excuse at all. The Shrewsbury game was an awful matchday experience and a few days before the game the only seats available were in the corners of the Itchen whilst the whole of the Kingsland was empty. You cannot blame people for not wanting to go to a game where they can't see what's happening. I feel very sorry for those young kids who were taken along.

But those 20,000 seats are not in the corner, they are always the last to sell out and for good reason. You might very well think it 'strange', but that is one of the reasons why these early-round cup games have smaller crowds, and I am not one for telling other people what to think or do. It's not a very complicated situation, if you close the best stand in the ground then you will get a smaller crowd. It was a similar situation when Rupert closed blocks 1 & 2 in the Itchen expecting that those sat there would be happy to move elsewhere. I know of several fanatical Saints fans who were so p!ssed off by the decision that they cancelled their tickets and haven't come back. The money from those tickets would have paid for the bounced cheque that put us into administration. Block 5's not too bad. Try block 11, row M seat 302. Then see if you ever want to do that again.

Absence of a monarch does not necessarily mean a republic. What's wrong with Benevolent Dictatorship?

That's nothing. I once met a chap who couldn't stop talking about the time he took his wife up the Amazon.

No, we tried that and it got us nowhere. I thought that he was worth his place in the team this season and when Lallana was out I thought that our squad looked a bit thin. OC has started well but I think it would be asking a lot to expect him to continue in this from through the winter months. I live in hope.

Would these be the same 12,000 odd seats that are empty at most home games?

I am being taken to task for explaining why so many long-term season ticket holders do not come to early cup games. The supporters in the Kingsland expect to have a good view of the game and that is certainly not true in the corners. The crowd figures speak for themselves.

Of course I read your post, that is only natural courtesy. Let's both agree that the kingsland will have a larger proportion of this type of supporter.

Including 'little old ladies' who struggle to the ground on two walking sticks and go to every away game home and away and who love their football, especially the Saints? Are they any less fans because of it?

Not really a problem until we get injuries or suspensions. Then what?

Don't you do that with all the women you see, Dog? I know I do.

The important question is: 'who is exploiting whom?'

Any idea of a date yet? I want to be out of the country please.

I really can't be bothered to argue.

Why, oh why, oh why?

So, a Saints fan is someone who has to put up with poor service come what may?

What? They have paid out season after season through thin and thin and you say that they aren't Saints fans?

Oh yes there are! The seat I had for Shrewsbury was worse than the away seats at Ipswich, Highbury, even Bristol Rovers. I was looking straight along the advertising hoarding behind the Chapel goal. I was getting a bad neck from twisting to the right and my view was blocked by everybody else standing up to try to see what was happening. I couldn't see a thing for the whole of the first half, so I moved up to the back of the Chapel.

Likewise

DNS stands for Domain Name Server. It's what used when you enter the website domain name to look up its current IP address. I sometimes have problems with some site but not others and changing the DNS can sometimes help. Its IP address is usually in your browser settings but if, like me, you're not clear about this then I should leave things alone and wait and see what happens.

DNS problems?