mikee

Was also thinking of this. Only concern is with one train an hour which is coming in from Birminhgham - it would be a bit of a downer if the train is full on arrival at Denham. Anyone have experience of this route and chances of this happening?

I disagree, the league table does lie - it says we have won 47 points when in fact we have won 57. We will definately finish within 10 points of the playoffs and could still make them, even with the 10 point deduction and poor start. Surely this proves that Pardew is doing an amazing job and that those slagging him off either have a personal problem with Pardew which is clouding their judgement or are too stubborn to change an opinion formed over those first ten games.

I am satisfied that Pardew, the team and NC are ambitious enough to want to be as successful as possible as quickly as possible and therefore we as fans should be content to sit back and enjoy the ride. I have 2 issues with those fans who use ambition as a smoke screen for impatience: Firstly they are putting even more pressure on the team than there already is - surely this is not the role of a supporter - what happened to the concept of the 12th man? This also leads to a mindset that any slip up is unacceptable which causes some peoples support to become negative rather than positive. Secondly, they are robbing themselves of the enjoyment of seeing our decimated team slowly but surely rising from the ashes and developing into potentially something very special - maybe even a team to rival the Lawrie Mac era. This is the most fun I have had supporting saints since 2003 and I am certainly not going to allow my enjoyment to be spoilt by a very small minority of fans who in my opinion seem to take everything Saints related just a little bit too seriously and have become totally obsessed with results. I can appreciate the imparience from those that may not be around a lot longer to enjoy the success that I believe will follow but i also know 2 people who are so chuffed to be going to see Saints at the new Wembley this month as they never thought they would get the chance to see that in their lifetime. With the foundations that we know have in place for success I really do think it is time to go back to just being fans, supporting the team and enjoying seeing them develop and grow into potentially a real force in English football. Personally I think this team is learning all of the time and will not repeat the mistakes of this season next year and i fully expect that we will achieve automatic promotion, probably as champions so there really isn't that much to complain about surely?

For me they are more like McDougall & Boywer. Both fantastic goal scorers in their right and not what you would think would work as a partnership but it works because they are both so good, both in terms of quality and workrate. Ormerod, for all of his effort, was never in the class of Barnard but I can see the connection between Beattie & Lambert or even Beattie and Barnard. AP certainly knows how to assemble a team that is strong in all departments and is a great mixture of youth and experience. I can't remember the last time I saw a Saints team without a single weaklink. And they work so hard for each other which is the sign that the team spirit is what you would want. I just can't wait for the next game!

WHat, the Judean People's Front?

Colin Clarke was one of my all time favourite Saints strikers and was IMHO a much bettere striker for Saints than Alan Shearer. In fact I vividly remember when Shearer got a hat trick on his debut v Arsenal that CC laid on all of his goals in a very unselfish gesture to a kid making his debut. The man was quality and knew how to score a hat trick as well. As far as crowd is concerned, I expect we might endup with about 45,000 tickets (35,000 plus additional 10,000 from Carlisle allocation) as I would expect Carlisle to take around 25,000. I think it would have been more if this was not their 5th appearance in the JPT Final. Great to be going to the new wembley for the first time - and as a Saints fan - I don't care what the competition is, these days don't come around very often in the life of a Saints fan.

for me a trip to Wembley with Saints would really make this season a great one. So.... 1. JPT 2. Playoffs - would be number 1 if guaranteed final place 3. Beating Pompey If we achieve reaching Wembley on the 9th then we will go into the Skates game with a lot of confidence.

I really shouldn't bite because you really aren't worth it but your hypocrisy is beyond belief! Your post above reflects just how many of us feel about you when you feel it is OK to ram negative drivel down our throats and try to bring us all down to your sad level - now it seems you can't even bare to allow others to enjoy what for most of us is a well deserved and long overdue purple patch in Saints form. It really is pathetic.:mad: Anyway... back to my happy place:smile:

I don't think the formation is the key as we can beat teams with 4-5-1, 4-4-2 or 4-3-3. the problem from my perspective is that when we play 4-5-1 the main tactic seems to be to hoof the ball from Davis to Lambert and look to pick up the second ball. When we change to 4-4-2 we start passing more which makes this formation seem more effective, but IMHO it is the change in tactic that has made the bigger impact and there is no reason why we can't pass the ball more when playing 4-5-1. Maybe this is what Pardew is referring to when he says the players aren't playing 4-5-1 the way they have been coached.

For those of us going up without tickets - I have just checked the website and an article dated today says that there will be a cash turnstile in the South Stand. See you there

But you can buy tickets on the day - just from the ticket office not the turnstile - same as at St. Marys.

missed out on tickets on Tuesday - they sold out with me about 15th in the queue! 3 of us now going to go up without tickets unless any come up in the meantime. If we have to we will get tickets in the home end - probably South Stand and then hope to get transferred into the one of the many empty seats in the East Stand - I don't really understand why they can't sell more of the seats. ANyone know where Saints will be drinking beforehand - probably best chance of picking spare tickets in the Saints end? See you all up there.

I was also about 20 yards or so behind the incidents that took place. This incident was completely avoidable. I could see the scuffle at the Alfred and there were a couple of police there to stop it kicking off. Rather than getting the Yeovil yobs out of the area, the police decided to leave them to walk off on their own - they continued to shout abuse as they walked off and were subsequently followed by some Saints yobs. The police decided to leave them to it for some reason! Before it all kicked off near the traffic lights, a police riot van drove straight past what was now a reasonably large group mouthing off to each other. Me and my mate couldn't believe it and less than a minute later it turned into a punch up. Now the police want us to their job for them because they couldn't be bothered on the day. I have noticed that whenever teams like Cardiff or Burnley are in town, the police are nowhere to be seen. I don't know how much Saints pay for policing but they are not getting their moneys worth. I can understand witnesses not wanting to get involved as I don't trust them not to hand out banning orders to people merely in the vicinity.

I don't have any sympathy for Saga. WHen we needed him at the start of the season he wasn't interested - despite new owners, manager, outlook etc. It is only the lack of interested parties that keeps him here and I am disappointed that he wasn't able / willing to start afresh - like we as fans are doing. If Saga had been interested and put in the effort from the start, I doubt that Pardew would have needed to go out and get another striker. But now that he has, i would much rather have a hungry and determined Connolly playing for us than Saga whose heart is not in it. In fact I find myself resenting Saga for taking the money and not putting in as much as he could for us.

I can't help thinking that this whole thread is a bit premature and i hope it doesn't turn into an anti climax now that we are all excited!

I have previously been torn between building this year and looking to go up as champions next year or going all out for the playoffs this year. It is pretty obvious Pardew wants to win trophies but if we did manage to scrape into the playoffs this season via sixth place - the winning mentality and momentum created by that would, IMO, mean that would win the playoffs. This would give Pards the trophy he is looking for plus the added bonus of a day out at Wembley and our first piece of silverware since 1976! Therefore I think we should go all out for that 6th place - if we do fall just short then it will still have been a good rebuilding season. With the current squad and resources to improve we can certainly hold our own in the Championship and I would much rather we consolidated at that level than League One.

Move and split up our vocal support, hand out fliers etc????? Wouldn't it be easier to just come out and start warming up at the Northam end and playing towards the Chapel in the first half!! This is what we always used to do and I have no idea why it changed.

I remember it well. I had managed to manouvere myself to right behind the goal and loved the image of Beattie celebrating from inside the goal through the netting - a bit like that famous image of the nigerian striker, who later joined Everton - from the world cup in the USofA.

took my 4 year old son to the Charlton game during our relegation run in last season as I was worried he might not ever get to see the Saints otherwise. To this day he still doesn't know we lost 3-2 and absolutely loved the crowd reaction when we scored. This season i have taken him to the Carling cup matches. One tip for you - ask for an aisle seat as I can guarantee he will probably want to go to the loo every 5 minutes! Woulkd recommend the family section in the Chapel as kids have a great knack of making friends with anyone around them and this seems to add significantly to my sons enjoyment of the games. Can't tell you how proud it makes you to hear your son singing Saints songs!

I don't think that Markus just flies in on game day and then straight back home. The reason I say this is that I was having a lunch meeting at Oxfords on Thursday (before the Yeovil game) and both Nicola and Markus were a couple of tables away and seemed to be locked in deep discussion. Now they could have been assessing the Swiss / Italian chances for the downhill world cup this winter but I suspect they have much Saints related business to sort out and it was good to see Markus spending more time in this neck of the woods. Just before they left, nicola made a quick call and 30 seconds later a blacked out van arrived to whisk them away. It was also interesting that there was no fanfare or fussing either on arrival or departure - in fact you almost felt that the staff at Oxfords had no idea who these foreigners were.

Hurry up and book now - only one seat left!!!!

This has the hallmarks of the Strachan appointment-except I am more excited about this than I was with Strachan. Think it will turn out to be an inspired choice. I also felt that Strachan had a tendency with us to bottle it on the big games - such as the cup final (and preceeding league match) where as Pardew has a track record of relishing taking on the big boys and attacking them. Will be interesting to see how quickly he can stamp his authority on the team. Good first major decision by the new owners which is also encouraging.