teamsaint

At this stage its just important to get up the table as quickly as possible. If we can get within realistic range of a play off spot, it will at least keep the last 10 games or so really exciting, which give the calamities of the last few years is about as good as we can hope for.

FWIW, if our best 4 or 5 players stay injury free, and we win a couple of key games, ( EG MK and Col u away) we might just do it. Worth hoping for anyway!!

Gotta say, I truly thought for ages that Dunc was the only one that went to all those games (or at least the only one I knew). As it turns out there seems to be more than one could have expected...on here alone. It stands to reason there are also (some 33 and half years on) some dearly departed Saints that went...and then again maybe one out of how many Saints use this site?? 1 in 10? 1 in 30? Who knows.

 

One thing for sure, not many Saints did the whole thing maybe only 60 or 80 at the very max. A fairly unique group.

 

Funny thing is, we only took about that many with 'Coombsie's Comandos' to Sheff Utd on Christamas Eve 1973...who went to that??

there is certainly a thread to be had along the lines of

"what is the loneliest you have felt at a Saints game"?

The least I have ever seen was on a Friday Night at Charlton in 1975 (I think). we lost 4-1. I really don't remember seeing any others, although there may have been some somwhere keeping their heads down.

Anyone else at that one?

Sadly on the cup run I saw only Villa home , and the Semi. But being at the semi was enough for me. What a day.

The virginian.

2nd place to

Tales from the Riverbank.

How many keepers did we go through in the season we signed Chris Woods on loan? I remember his second game, conceding 7 perhaps puts him in the bracket of one of the worst loans we've ever had...

I thought we had 5 that season too.

I want them to go down in the most heart breaking fashion ever. Like Sheff Utd in 94 ( I think it was, when a late goal at Chelsea relegated them) or like Man C, when they thought they were safe and were playing for time.

 

I want them to stage a recovery, winning 5 in a row to go 2 points clear of the drop zone, going into the last game. They're then robbed by a terrible refereeing decision in the last min, as a peno is awarded unjustly against them. They charge up the other end looking for an equalizer, but have a perfectly good goal disallowed for off side. Meanwhile West Ham score a dodgey off side goal in the last minute of their game, comdemning Poorsmouth to relegation. How funny would it be watching MoTD that night, all the pundits saying how unlucky they were,and what terrible decisions went against them, and there's nothing they can do about it.

problem with that plan is that some dodgy ex skate like , er lets see, Kevin Ball, will pop up and give them a dodgy pen in the dying seconds of the season.

Maybe they would miss it in your plan though.....................

re the semi, I was in the old stand , and my seat was £3.50 At that time we were paying about 50 p (kids) to stand at the Dell I think, I really had no idea a football ticket could cost as much as £3.50 .seemed like a fortune.

I'm absolutely certain I would have remembered if the time was wrong on the ticket, just don't miss stuff like that when you are 14.

Incidentally, I'm pretty certain Villa at home would have been pay on the day for terraces- because I was in the Archers surrounded by brummies- the upside being that I was RIGHT behind the goal where hughies equaliser went in.

I have to say that when we went 1-0 down against MK Dons, I knew we would still win it.

BUT...I still find it hard to remove that feeling in the pit of my stomach before every game telling me not to expect too much.

Thats what you get being a football fan. !!

still we have all to gain and little to lose this season, which is not a bad feeling.

Harding and Trottman are both now on 4 bookings, Hammond on 3. I spent some time last night trawling the FA site to find out whether bookings are 'competition specific' but no luck - anybody know? With Norwich coming up soon we need these two in the team.

are there any amnesty dates for bookings?or do they tot up right through the season?

there must be a good chance of boro returning to the second tier mediocrity for which they were a byword for decades.

Quite why, apart from a rich owner and a reasonable stadium , they were ever considered a big club is beyond me. As is the question of why gibson thinks they will pull big crowds in the CCC, unless they are top .They just don't have the support.

WGS may have bet on a bad one here, presumably hoping for a one season return to the top flight. and who knows, he might just be facing a tricky return to SMS next year!!

same as the phoenix league that Rupes was keen on- and there is good logic in it. It would be financially sensible for most of the "bigger" clubs outside the giants to have financial security.

It might be tough for those falling outside the 2 PL divisions though.

On a slightly different subject, why do four go up from L2 to L1, but only 3 from L1 to the CCC when they are all the same size?

he will make into a good player one day. Needs games now. In the old days would have been learning his trade in proper reserve team football.

interesting that in the 8 game form table the top 5 have almost identical records.

(Leeds Millwall Norwich Saints Colchester all W5 D2 L1)

What is a little worrying is that we are keeping far too few clean sheets- perhaps one reason for Wotton keeping a starting place? given the stats, not really sure if its working.

For all that, Swindon seems a long time ago now,and at the end of the season it might look an OK point.

They have issues.

We don't.

what we do have coming up is a long run of really winnable games. Norwich at home will be tough, but if we stay injury free there is every chance of a really productive 7 or 8 games.

Worth remembering our improvement pretty much coincided with papa playing.

 

Don't think for a minute it is all, or even significantly, down to him - but believe his pace and unorthodox play has helped open things up.

I agree. He clearly has his faults, but this is League 1, we won't get many complete players even on our budget.

Despite some awful offside stuff, he DID provide some of our best moments in the first half.

He needs patience,coaching, and using as and when we need him.

You're overreacting.

 

For the first 15 minutes we were ok in a blunted game.

 

Then we were so-so, then we were ordinary. Then we gave away a pathetic cheap free kick.

 

Then half time.

 

Then until 52 minutes we were poor.

 

Then for the last 38 minutes we were very good.

 

HTH

spot on. The good news is that even though we played poorly for a while and conceded, the moment the subs came on we looked likely winners.

Don't really underdtand why we would now need a holding MF player in a 5 man MF, at least at home. I know its hard to change a winning team, and Wotton didn't deserve to be dropped, but we really ought to be confident enough to go 442 at home all the time. We don't know, of course, who's carrying injuries etc. DC may be less than fully match fit for all we know.

if we can keep injury free we have a run of very winnable games coming up- they really do give us a chance to charge up the league.

Also, surprised at the crowd figue. Apart fro gps in the Northam Kingsland corner, it was nearly full all the way round the Northam and Kingsland.

if the lad is 16 or under , £23 in the Chapel is the best deal.

I am concerned but not by Midlesboro'. West Ham are certain to dispense with Signor Zola in the next week or two as he can't turn it round and the excitement factor of his coming has now waned. He'll go to Chelski as a coach and who will replace him.... ?

 

One, Alan Pardew of course a ****ney lad who will run at the slightest ding of the old Bow Bells. He'll "be flattered" of course to be asked by such a famous old club and their desire for him to return, he will "always have had deep respect and affection for Hammer's fans" and so on and for sure will have "loved his time at Southampton" and "be sad to leave" but "a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.....

 

Realistically for a guy of his age and experience this is a one day one-way ticket back to the Premiership, not a five-year renewable option which he has at the moment.

 

No Brainer!

er, except that WHU could well melt down financially, and he could well get them relegated.

Whereas he can stay here, will have money to spend and will , with any kind of luck, be a hero here in 18 months time.

No brainer.

AP would be barking to go to smog town. With our new owner, and our better support,there is every chance we can be bigger than them in a few years time.

Plus AP has the chance at Saints to become a club hero. Up there he risks massive failure.

Would have thought Strach could do better for himself too.

Yeh, have heard it from a couple of people. One of which I used to work with in Winchester, but her parents lived in Norwich. How contrary to your post.

 

All this Southampton nostagia sounds like a basis for a Men They Couldn't Hang song.

Quite so. I'll try to put a link onto their website . If Paul can't conjure up a classic from all this stuff then he's losing his touch!!

What a truly great band they are.

football in England is expensive. You have to buy carefully if you want any chance of decent value. Even at full price a ST at SMS represents fair value . Tickets have always been more expensive in the south, and STs at conference clubs are close to ours in price.

And a matchday ticket in the Chapel is £19,(£10 for under 21). adult and child the same.

Now I like cheap tix as much as the next man, but in truth they have never been better value at SMS.

A lot of the pressure of previous home games has been removed now, so we good be looking for a fourth straight league win. I'm looking forward to it in a way i never imagined was possible to look forward to seeing Saints play MK in the third division.

agree completely. Looking forward to a game that will be a big test. It may well be very tough, but it IS a great chance to fire a warning shot across the bows of the top teams.

Love to see us really go for it. If we were to lose it wouldn't be the end of the world, but a good win could make a massive difference.

Going to be better than some run of the mill PL game against Bolton or Hull !!!!

Using the form over the last 6 games gives us a projection of 79.5 points to finish the season on.

 

At the start of the season,to hit the playoffs (based on the realistic 74 points) the run-rate as of game 13 would be 13.74 points. That puts us 5.74 points below the rate as it stands.

 

In case you were wondering we would have to win the next five games to get ahead of the start of season required rate.

 

Based on 74 points needed, less the eight we have, leaves 66 needed, divide that by the 33 remaining games and its a simple 2 points a game.

indeed . If we keep picking up 2 a game, (a big ask over a season its nailed on promotion form) we will get up among the playoff places.

If we can at least get within touching distance by the spring, should make for some great games.

proper 1960's "give peace a chance" type graffiti in the subways.

And the proper old bus routes. No 15 was the best, that was the one that took me from Swaything to the Dell !!

Target 1 is to get out of the bottom 4. Even with good results that is probably 6 games away (catching up with 20th at one point per game).

After we achieve that we will fly through the bottom half, as they are all so bunched up. (Hopefully). Probably 4-6 games to get from 20th to top half.

THEN we can start looking upwards at the playoffs, and even if that serves only to keep the season going, that will be great.

Even for these modest ambitions we need to stay largely injury free.