ant

Notwithstanding minor individual differences, this thread summarises to a pretty decent manifesto. The 'brains' in charge would do well to heed it. We know the club monitors this site. Even if they only see us as customers, their customers are showing the will to accept a pretty low bar for satisfaction.

Again, I wasn't chanting anything those around us weren't. You're pally enough with the group behind and they were the same. Martin was perfectly happy to make snide, barbed remarks about the fanbase. Did he really not expect to get anything back?

I took up that seat in 2010-11, actually. And I wouldn't say my chanting last night was incongruous.

Last night was actually quite fun, in a way. Bit like a leaving party for a colleague that overstayed their welcome. The fanbase was almost wholly united - and in fine voice. Making it very clear that just because Martin needed to go, we're Saints through and through. Hilarious that Martin waved when asked by the crowd. 😆 And quite indicative that even with the tide against him, he never did 'get it'. Unfortunately it says a lot that he slunk off at the end. Thanks for the promotion, Russell. And almost nothing since.

The Northam doing the goal music celebration after Fernandes' disallowed goal is a level of gallows humour that I didn't credit our fanbase with. Genuine highlight of the night.

The crowd has arguably been too mellow 'til today, but very much turned tonight. I was just just about too young to see Branfootball in the flesh, but yeah... Not seen a manager survive many matches with that level of vitriol.

Certifiably moronic. Again. He's not learnt by the 10th time; he's never going to learn. Go. Please.

"It's not just about the results" applies to under 9s football, not the top end of the game - where 'elite' athletes (allegedly) go toe to toe. If we humour for a second that it's not about getting points on the board, then our matches must surely be judged as entertainment rather than sport. And given my first thought as we lined up for the second half against Chelsea was "fucking hell, is there really 45+ more minutes of this?" Well...

This point's particularly pertinent. It's almost 2 years ago that I sat across from Ankersen as he claimed that: a) Sports Republic's recruitment to date wasn't the problem; b) That the players were not being poorly managed. We were told, po-faced, that the board had equipped Jones with the "tools" he needed to succeed. It's scary how few lessons have been learned since. If they double-down in January the long -term effects don't bear thinking about.

Take Walker-Peters & Fernandes out of these predicted lineups and you're looking at a bang-average Championship side. Yet another Summer of rebuilding. Yet another Summer trying (and failing) to clear the dead wood... Fun, this.

I'm not ITK, but it doesn't seem unrealistic that he had a clause in his initial contract which was triggered upon promotion. If that's not the case then yes - the decision was reckless at best.

Especially bizarre given Celtic had a far superior chant that we could've wholesale nicked, as we usually do. As Turkish said, somebody made the link. RE: the Onuachu chant, this stuff has been going on for years. Always about black strikers (Lukaku, Toney, Gnonto at Leeds, Diallo at Sunderland, and more before them). Plus it's a shit chant anyway.

Rob Stiles is from Waterlooville and lives in Denmead - or at least did around the time my brother was dating his daughter! But I suspect that means he's more likely to be blue than red...

Just realised this comes exactly a decade after we faced them in the same round of the League Cup at their place. Pelle's no-look top-bins goal from 25 yards... Long's first Saints goal... Crouch going mental and getting sent off. What a night. Bloody miss Koeman's squad.

Yeah, it absolutely was. And there was another edge to it with the unbridled hostility any time West Brom dared touch the ball. Goosebumps thinking about it. Suspect the suits thought it was something they could recreate on the regular. But an atmosphere like that is driven by the occasion; the stakes. You can't fake it.

According to this article, Wade Elliott - the very same that was a 'dead cert' to sign for us at one point - now scouts for Sport Republic. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/ckg23yj959ro

I was going to facetiously say Aaron Martin. Googled him, found he's retired and (being two years his senior) I just feel sad now.

Ooh baby, Do you know what he's worth? Ross Stewart is allergic to turf.

You can say all you want about concentrating on the league, but they've got until Saturday before we play next. Given the number of new players in our league starting lineup, wouldn't it make more sense to put out a team closer to that, in order to give them bonus time to gel? This seems the worst of both worlds, i.e. the likes of SAA are missing valuable game time whilst we're not learning anything of tangible value for the rest of the season.

He played for Andy Crosby at Port Vale, which is a nice little link to our past.

Sort of. Brewed by the Asahi-owned Fuller's. So no, really.

Probably a good deal for all parties where Meghoma is concerned. No clear pathway for him here. A lot of money for us for a player with under a year left on their contract. Minimal risk for Brentford (relatively, in terms of modern fees). How we got to the point where £10m is 'minimal risk' is another issue entirely...

I've been in the same spot in Block 42 for a dozen years, so feel reasonably qualified to comment. The talk about following the away fans was definitely just talk. All the old faces were in situ. Half-expected some movement to the other Northam blocks given they were open for business - but I guess folks are set in their ways. The atmosphere was decent until kickoff-ish. Some looked pretty confused about the flag going up over us. 😆 But yeah, once we got going it was more or less the same as it ever was. Louder when the players were doing something and quieter when under the cosh. The way the safe standing bars are put in makes it harder to pass any (ahem) larger guys - or for them to get past you. It was strange looking over to Block 43 (and what I could make out of 44) and seeing fans standing but silent. The fanzone is what it is. Not for me but seemed popular. Was pretty bloody annoying that people were still filtering back from it on the hour mark, mind. From what I saw the fanzone had a similar effect to designated away pubs. That 'loud in the Spoons, quiet in the stands' dynamic where the gobby fans blow their loads too soon. Getting away at the end was unnecessarily annoying, as there's less room behind the stand and we all have to leave at the breaks in the perimeter. It's early days but ultimately most changes appear for little tangible benefit.

Keeping the Northam fan zone open until 9pm is optimism beyond belief. And even if it does work, as somebody that runs an independent pub (sourcing & serving the best local & national brews) I question why the club deserves yet another slice of the pie. Especially when only serving macro slop. If it were building upon last season's guest bar setup (predominantly provided by Dancing Man) then fair enough - that'd be some welcome support towards local commerce. But it's all so transparently 'stack 'em high; sell 'em not so cheap'. Sticking a couple of bands and DJs on doesn't change the fact that the club clearly sees you as a walking wallet.

Depends how serviceable the existing debt is and how bad the repayments have got on our loan(s). The £10m net isn't yet the correct figure because it relies 'if' of shifting those players. Current net spend is circa £75m. And even if we DO clear those at end of contracts/wantaways/dead wood, we probably need to spend further dosh if we've any realistic hope of staving off relegation. Transfer business is clearly not done. Brings home the current futility of trying to compete in the Prem, IMO.