mikee

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.