Tom & Gerry

At the time Tony Knapp was a big signing. It was something like £25k but it was a lot more than we had ever paid before and having got out of the 3rd Division it showed our intent to get to the 1st Division. It may not have been the bigest wow signing but it is certainly the first I remember. Also in those days going out and buying Burnside, Williams and Kirby in a few days turned us round when we were having a bad time.

I think you can - sometimes, and this was one of those occasions.

I think you can put too many new players in the team at once even if they are better players. The dilema is you put too many in and you lose the team cohesion you had last season and it takes until Christmas to gel but if you only make the odd change you might get more points up to Christmas but you won't be good enough overall. There has to be some sort of balance in between and I can see Nigel starting with a lot of the players from last season and gradually introducing the new ones.

Sounds like a great job to me. You get a big pay rise, lots of training but you don't have to do any work - Perfect.

If you are the sort of person who likes to panic then panic . It won't do you much good. I might start to panic a little if in a months time Kelvin is out with a long term injury and we haven't bought a replacement ( very unlikely I'd have thought). If it's only a short term injury then it doesn't really matter does it? Even if we were allowed 2 keepers we probably wouldn't get anything at Man City.

Wow, now I know we are back in the big time when our frendlies are on TV

That is why we should keep them, how will our new world wide audience know that?

It's a nice shirt. I won't be buying it as I refuse to let my love of Saints be exploited in that way and anyway I can't afford it - not so easy for parents and it's a free world if you want to buy , buy it .It doesn't make a whole lot of difference to me what they wear but for what it's worth I think they should stick to stripes. Yes for sentimental and traditional reasons but also for more longer term commercial reasons. In the short term a lot of people will buy the shirt but if you want to market yourself as a national and international brand surely the shirt is a good way of being recognised. Everyone can recognise a Barcelona,Real Madrid, Juventus, Man U , Newcastle, Arsenal or Spurs shirt but Saints? It changes every season.

Back in the day when a spase was a spade and the Premier league was league one they used to call these matches what they are - Public Practice Matches and you could get in for a couple of bob. £25 quid to see Saints practice, it isn't even funny.

I have no idea whether Nigel Adkins will be up to the job but he deserves his chance. As very few managers start their careers in the Premier league if someone with Nigel's record over the last 2 seasons can't be given a go then we will soon have a Premier league of just foreign managers.

Possibly, but being close to 65 is not exactly it. If anyone else has benifited I would be interested to know or is it just me?

I don't want to say too much because a loophole might get closed.

Did anyone of a certain age get a nice surprise when they logged in? Is that nice Mr Cortese showing compassion for loyal life long supporters or has there been a cock up?

Brought back some memories. In the game at West Ham that season Tom did a similar run from his own half but scored. I went to the game at York and you wonder why we oldies are amazed when people leave with 5 minutes to go and we are only 2 up.

You can have Balotelli and Tevez just give us your Rickie

You have to bear in mind that with the transfer window the way it is Nigel only gets 1 shot ( probably too late by January) to get in the right players and decide which of the present squad will make it in the prem. bearing in mind that many were playing in league 1 a year ago. So although I think we have the potential to finish much higher I would settle for 17th in our 1st season

I do love a happy ending. It would make a great book if anyone was brave enough to write it. I'd love to hear the views of some of the participants involved but there might be too many damaged egos and the lawyers might be kept busy with libel cases. At the end of the day my view is that Rupert Lowe couldn't raise the investment we needed so when he did hire a good manager (Souness, Hoddle, Strachan arguably Rednapp) they didn't think they could take the club any further and moved on. His alternative was a youth policy which whilst producing some great players, didn't produce enough to either build a decent team or enough funds in the transfer market. The alternative Wilde/Crouch gamble failed and we were left ruined. Then we got very, very lucky.

I've found the rules. Head to head - it only goes to another match if it can't be decided by that method. See point 9 http://www.football-league.co.uk/regulations/20110629/section-3-the-league_2293633_2125717#9

You mean some one will tell me. If we draw 1-1 and West Ham win 3-0 it will be pretty stupid for people to run on the pitch thinking we are up because of the head to head if as some suggest we have to play another game. I want to know.

I'ts ok saying be positive but you would expect the players to be prepared for all eventualities and so should we as fans. Anything can happen in a one off match with this much tension - we could have a player sent off early, Coventry will certainly park the bus and our record against the bottom teams isn't that great. So go to the match prepared to cheeer yourself hourse for victory but I'd hate to not know at the end of the game if we are up or not.

As one of those nervous fans I can tell you there is no pleasing us. We wouldn't want to support any other team. I suppose we should be careful what we wish for - we'd hate a boring team. But even those of you with ice in your veins that don't get too up when we win and too down when we lose can't have been lovin' it the last 2 times you've walked out of St Mary's.

I hate football. It happens nearly every April. There are normal people out there enjoying the Spring sunshine with not a care in the world and I'm as grumpy as hell. I apologise now to my friends and family for the mood swings they will have to put up with for the next 2 weeks. I know that life goes on and this has to be better than where we were 3 years ago but 2 Sundays from now I will be either crying with joy or utterly gutted.

Why do people think atmosphere and singing are the same thing ? Singing is part of the atmoshere and can add or detract depending on the loudness, originality, etc. All sports have their own atmosphere - at some total silence is part of it. IMHO it would be very boring and annoying if there was the same level of singing throughout a match no matter what the situation. The atmosphere should change according to the ebb and flow of the game.There will be moments of nail biting tension when the crowd will be quiet- just a buzz, periods when the team needs support and periods of joy and celebration. The most impressive part of the atmosphere in the last 2 home games has been the sound when we are attacking and have scored rather than the singing. Overall I thought it was a pretty good atmosphere last night but obviously not as good as the previous game.

The one I'm really,really looking forward to singing, Southampton are back, Southampton are back

History always repeats itself so it will be 1-0 to Saints just as it was 52 years ago, and later results will prove that to be the goal that got us promotion just like Brian Clifton's long range header did then.