ant

Soz peeps, fully intended to show but was out until stupid o' clock into Saturday morning and somehow conspired to pass out until 2pm(!) It was all I could do to jump in and out of the shower, jog to Bedford Place, grab some chips and march to St. Mary's for 2.58pm. D'oh! I'll be more organised next time, fo' sho'. Glad to hear a good time was had by all in attendance. Usually some bloody nice beers at the Southwestern Arms...

All depends which festivals you go to. Some of the mid-sized ones eschew most of the downsides you've mentioned. Sonisphere (when it's on) even alternates time slots between the main two stages so that you don't have to miss a band on either. A lot of the less mainstream festivals also give you more space to play with in the campsite and proper facilities. Bonus being that they're generally nearer the £100 mark than £200+ and still feature plenty of decent-sized bands. Currently got Hevy Fest booked in (it's set on the grounds of a historic mansion that has a freaking zoo!) and am contemplating Download. Also went to Takedown Festival at Southampton Uni a couple of weekends ago which was bloody brilliant and a bargain at £40. Last year did Sonisphere and ArcTanGent in Bristol, which was a very pleasant surprise. Just avoid Reading/Leeds if you're over the age of 20. Went every year from 2005 to 2010 and by the end I was fed up to the back teeth of the school leavers (very clearly being let off mummy and daddy's leash for the first time). When you get to the last night and people are putting occupied tents onto fires, pulling down telegraph poles and fighting riot police you know it's gone a tad past 'high spirits'...

Fair chance I'll pop my head in. Not sure any of my mates are going to the Burnley match, bloody plastics

Dunno, perhaps that's the case more recently. Certainly in the lower leagues I can recall several fantastic midweekers - though granted the extra games per season meant they were a lot more regular. Agree that it wasn't necessarily vociferous on Tuesday, but the positivity (as opposed to the stadium audibly groaning every time a pass is misplaced) was evident. Shouldn't do, but demonstrably does. If I had to fathom a guess based upon where I 'sit', it'd be that the spread of those willing to sing is more vast when JCLs/plastics (delete as preferred) are in the ground. I'll happily try to get stuff going on my own, but if there's nobody in the vicinity to pick it up, there's only so much you can do. Really is only relative. Atmosphere's been simply dire at times this season. Even getting half of the Northam singing OWTS for a few minutes felt like a victory.

Well, quite. Perhaps a little perspective filtered through. Mind you, midweek games often feature more positive atmospheres. Probably a correlation between that and the lack of day-trippers (who'd do that for an evening game?) Less impatient people that want instant success and get irate when they don't see it.

Very much so. Was surprised to hear Block 43 piping up and starting some of the chants. Normally I look across and see a load of people sat on their hands, with the sort of steely gaze that suggests they've almost got somewhere else they'd rather be. Welcome change - more of this sort of thing!

Less fans in the ground, less glamorous opposition; louder support. Funny that.

Bloody hell, that's concerning! Maybe it's necessary to do a bit of vetting beforehand

Zzzzzippp. In retrospect, let's just say "I'm on POF, it's not all bad".

Muse - Citizen Erased. Seems thematically kinda apt; plus it's probably my favourite song and everybody would have to wait an awkward 7 and a half minutes while it plays. Job done.

"Howard’s Arse" means "prison". "One nil at half time" means "food". "Woggy coconuts" means "air breaks". "Gazza" is a "gas coin", used as currency for cigarettes. "Plank sanction" is a one-for-one fag exchange. "Sue my chin" means give us a fag, I’ll give you two next week. "Buff my pylon" – give us a fag, you owe me two, so I’m letting you off the other one. "Don’t buff my pylon" – switch over the telly. And lastly, very important this one: "Portillo" means "Look out behind you". Learn the language, better communication.

Or: Badge kisser but left, Mark Clattenburg's right, Adam Lallana, He changed overnight. But yeah... Bang up for giving him abuse, though I'd rather spend the majority of my energy roaring Saints on.

Excellent work, sir. That all tallies with my sources (which strangely don't have any information for Chris Johns either). When it's written like that, it's interesting to see quite a few young players have contracts expiring this Summer. Would've been even more without the recent flurry of contract announcements. Wonder how many more will be secured?

Fair point. I prefer just to show all options and rejig as necessary, but that's a good shout for anybody that simply wants to download an image and use it as-is.

In the absence of any native wallpaper content being posted, use the Search Tools (underneath the search bar) on Google Images. Click the 'Size' dropdown and select 'Larger than...' and '2MP (1600x1200)'. It doesn't work that well with a search for "Southampton FC", but put in "Pelle Tadic" for example and you get a range of massive resolution images. Often it seems that newspapers upload the full quality agency images sans watermark. I'm currently using THIS image on my work iMac. It's about twice the resolution I needed! Should be easy enough to crop to the appropriate height/width proportion, or you can let the your operating system give its best attempt.

Wow, feeling pretty flukey now. I left Bitterne at 9.50pm and was back in Alton (NE of Winchester, S of Basingstoke) by 10.35pm. Must have got a jump on the M3 as it was clear when I got there

It's not 2008! Believe me, wanting more than a fumble is a major advantage on there these days.

Fair point, I'll come say "hi" next time What a charmer! In it for the long game, not a quickie. Apologies if that's not banterific enough.

I contemplated dropping in, but it would've been really awkward if there was only the three of you as I don't think I've chatted to any of you on here! Ended up having a drink with a lovely lady that I've been chatting to on POF, so rest assured I made good use of the time.

Exactly that. One little run at the big boys and already we're acting like entitled brats.

Web/graphic designer at a digital agency just outside Southampton. Pretty self-explanatory, I should think.

Good shout. I'm amplifiedant (at) gmail (dot) com.

I've been tasked with getting a ticket as a surprise birthday present. Can't really ask the person in question for their customer details for obvious reasons... Got my own and several other ST numbers but they're no good until Thursday. Any customer numbers available that have been used to buy tickets this season but aren't season ticket holders?

Yep, seats were virtually disappearing in front of my eyes as I was attempting to book. Hopefully there'll be a little more of a buzz in the ground than there was against Ipswich.

Nothing new at Old Trafford.