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It should be the first 40,000+ attendance of the season then

Molson Coors, yes. They own a cavalcade of mediocre alcohol brands (with a few notable exceptions).

Wow, that white and turquoise one is a blast from the past. Remember picking that and its shorts/socks up dirt cheap at the end of one season from JJB in Basingstoke. Got the goalie top from the same era at the same time - the first and only of those I've owned: Can't have cost more than £30 for the lot. Realised yesterday that this year's home shirt is my tenth (first was the one used 1995-7). Have only sporadically had the away ones though, when they were top-notch or reduced. It's a shame that you can only buy our apparel from two physical shops these days, it used to be fun hunting out bargains or finding long-abandoned stock.

Yes, I suspect that Nigel is already aware of his ideal starting XI and that's enabling him to experiment. That said I'd be mildly surprised if the lineup isn't more stable tomorrow night. If my first statement in this post is wrong then there's not much time left to narrow it down, but I believe in Nige.

Haha perhaps, but I don't think you're going to be making the queues any shorter if everyone's stood there gawking at the barmaids!

We're going to have sign another completely-off-the-radar player by then, and one that's been talked about/rumoured fairly heavily.

Those days are past I feel, wasn't really my game

Depends what you class as a 'kid' I guess! I'm only 24 but ale is my first choice at the bar if available. Pulled plenty of pints at proper pumps (nice alliteration) while at uni as I worked in the Student Union pub and there were weekly guest ales.

I imagine that all of them p*ss off at least one person, probably easier just to write out everything that's sung! There's definitely a couple that grate on me but I do my best to remain magnanimous and ignore those. The worst 'songs' will die out eventually, yeah?!

Bootiful, thanks. I did try Google, in case anybody was wondering

Almost entirely off-topic (well, the talk of third kits reminded me actually), but does anybody remember our third from around 1995-6? It was a sort of creamy/ecru and blue effort but I'm pretty damn sure it was never used in a match. Been trying to find an image or photo of it for a while.

It would have to be a hugely significant development to unsettle Lambert surely? In the post-Plymouth away interview he seemed very emotional about the chance to step up to Championship-level football and as mentioned, has signed a spanking new 3-year deal. No doubt in my mind that this is b*llocks, but of course football and speculation are inseperable bedfellows.

Germany now isn't it? Tried a bottle of that as well yesterday, it seemed bland but inoffensive.

Well I would consider myself to know a fair bit about ale, but I don't expect there will ever be decent beer; alcohol's a nice distraction at half-time and/or before the match but it's never a reason to go to football! Personally just plump for the least cr*p option - I've never had anything other than ****-poor beer at any football ground! In Molson Coors the club's contracted a company that don't really 'do' any ale (bottled or otherwise), so you can say it's sneaky to label it one, but if the first pint was a sting then it's easy to avoid in future...

Holmes played on the right against FC Biel too and provided a couple of assists. Adkins was evidently continuing that experiment.

I don't think any incentive would've actually packed out the stadium though. The promotion celebration match after the last game of the season was free for all and didn't fill half of the ground. All in all the attendance was fair and roughly as expected.

Indeed, if I drink at the ground this season it'll be Saints Ale.

True, but (at risk of copy/pasting what I said in another thread) on the plus side it tastes a lot better than the other watery sh*te they sell at the ground and it's a full pint... To be fair any 'ale' that has to be chilled and comes out of a tap rather than a pump is going to suck, but can you really see them installing all of that and luggling kegs between the bars when it runs out? Doesn't really fit with the conveyor belt nature of service so the queues would be even bigger.

Yes. Essentially they created an enclosed section outside the front of the Kingsland stand which was the only way to enter. You gave your ticket stub at the North or South side of this enclosure and were then able to walk around that paddock (which is where the funfair, band and burger vans were) and in/out of the stadium as you pleased.

Perhaps, but on the plus side it tastes a lot better than the other watery sh*te they sell at the ground and it's a full pint... To be fair any 'ale' that has to be chilled and comes out of a tap rather than a pump is going to suck, but can you really see them installing all of that and luggling kegs between the bars when it runs out? Doesn't really fit with the conveyor belt nature of service so the queues would be even bigger.

The fact that we're back to this level is enough for now (a great two seasons' work considering where we could be post-admin), but it's great to know that Markus' vision is being carried out so doggedly. Also nice to see that we have a chairman who's more human than some will give credit, as well as being able to bust balls when it's in the interests of the club.

Well from what I saw... Cork looked assured enough, distributed well and linked up nicely with Connolly for the first goal. Oxlade-Chamberlain... The only way you could possibly tell how much he was arsed today came across in his performance - and he gave as much as any of his teammates. I'll give you that point on Jaidi, but he won't be playing week-in, week-out. Plus a 'better standard' than League One is a pretty wide term as most leagues are. The Holmes experiment didn't work today, but did against Biel. Hardly conclusive. Doble didn't really see much of the ball. The delivery wasn't there for him so he had to come deep. Jury's out on Jonno. Still doesn't deserve all of the stick he gets mind. Amazed at the explicitness of the quoted conclusions from watching our players for a mere 45 minutes against vastly different opposition to that of the Championship. Agree that Bart looked assured, but he wasn't really tested. Would have been very interesting to see him between the sticks for the second game.

I'm not sure it's right to chastise those who didn't go really. I thought that the attendance (7-8k by my estimation?) was fair and everybody that was there seemed up for the occasion. Support during the Bilbao game especially was surprisingly good and at times almost louder than some of our home crowds last season There were plenty of mitigating circumstances as listed above that meant that fans couldn't go or legitimately chose not to. I especially agree that it was poor timing for many, but I guess pre-season isn't exactly the longest period so what are the club to do if they want to hold such a cup? Instead I'd rather congratulate those that made it happen. From my point of view the format worked well: we got to see Saints against higher-level opposition with some interesting results; the games were faster paced than I'd anticipated and therefore less dull on the whole; there was some added value with the extra entertainment put on which made it a touch closer to an event than merely another friendly. Clearly it wasn't going to be for everyone, but most of the attendees I saw or talked to seemed to be having a good day. The club really ought to be labelling future annual events (should there be any, I assume there will) as a 'celebration' rather than memorial. That's exactly what it was - a day to fondly celebrate Markus. An optional extra-curricular to paying your respects on matchday if you will, rather than an emotional blackmail affair. TL;DR version: It was a lot more worthwhile than any other friendly/warmup match I've ever been to and a decent afternoon's entertainment all-round. The tribute flag looked brilliant. There were a few! Somewhere between a dozen and twenty for each team that I spotted, unless there were more that weren't sat with the main groups. Most of the Bremen fans seemed to wearing stuff that said "Schottische Werder" (had a flag with the same thing on it), so presumably travelled down from Scotland. Was a few characters in their midst and a weird arm-wavey thing they did at set pieces that the Northam soon picked up on and copied.

Usual Oxo really, dangerous and a class above at times. Looked committed and certainly didn't appearing to be 'protecting' himself - got clattered a couple of times when he could've backed out.

Perfect answer to the question posed, in my opinion. With regard to the section I've put in bold above, I too am not convinced that all of the 23 or 24 first team players we currently have are of the quality to push for a starting place without injuries or suspensions. However, they'll be incredibly useful as backup, subs or for when the sh*t hits the fan. If we can comfortably afford to maintain a large squad we'd be mad not to. Even with the shortest of FA Cup/League Cup or (whisper it) play-off runs it could be a 50+ game season don't forget. Sure, you can sign players in January but it'd be better to do so because we choose to - not to buy any old cr*p because our hand's been forced.