JRM

I agree. I wish we could have a bit more of a european fan culture, going to games would be much more enjoyable, when i looked at our support yesterday far too many were content to sit there in complete silence, almost on the verge of falling asleep. I've been lucky enough to watch a lot of games abroad places like Red Star Belgrade, Fenebache, FK Sarajevo, Poznan, Hamburg, and their fans never use small attendances, boring game, no away fans, from stopping them making the best atmospheres i've experienced. Going over for Marseille v Real Madrid in a couple of weeks, always wanted to see the stade velodrome in full voice.

Depends what you want really, for a good view probably the East as that runs along the side. End behind the goal was sold first so will be full, side stand not sold out so guess you can move around and sit/stand with mates as long as the stewards don't try to force everyone to use their allocated seats. Good pics on here http://www.footballgroundguide.com/northampton_town/

That is a slow defence, I think we might struggle actually, could be a replay which isn't what we need at the moment.

any update on how many sold? hopefully topped 2000 now

If that end holds 950 there is no way there was 300 empty seats, 1/3rd of the stand, every block was used, and despite a fair few seats being empty I reckon is was 750 minimum, if not closer to 850. The 635 might not include those that paid on the day.

Watch (& listen) to this mate, when was the last time you heard Saints "oh when the saints" as good as this

It was still fairly cringeworthy mate. I only did Melbourne and Sydney on the last tour but that song got used a bit too much. Cant beat a bit of "Everywhere we go" with Jimmy.

Can't disagree with any of that really. Tomorrow night will be good. Hopefully our Russian Saints brothers can install some CSKA / Dynamo / Spartak songs to add to our range.

you know what i mean, the type whose passions are excessive recycling, and eco-friendly holidays rather than getting on the beer and singing at football. Nothing wrong with that. But explains why our support is not as vocal or creative as the Man Utds, Spurs, West Ham etc.

Quality, it looked like a good flag and the randomness of it probably would have impressed the Norwich fans, if you were in the Northam how did you get your flag over there? If you are going to Hartlepool (which I think I read somewhere) try and put it up in the ground wouldn't mind getting a picture of it. Will keep an eye out, do you all look like Nikolai Valuev?

what are you actually saying there? we don't have a passionate support, we do have a poor song selection and ones that could be decent get drowned out by excessive clapping, just the way it is. Our vocal support is better than the Fulhams / Charltons etc, which is something i suppose.

I think we are a good side, but not as good as some people were saying a couple of weeks back and we wont make the play offs this season. I've seen every league game this season apart from Southend, and after seeing a lot of improvement building up to MK Dons at home we've dropped back a bit. Probably finish about 12th.

not a criticism, just an observation, we have a far smaller percentage of blokes and more weedy student types / meak looking bearded geography teacher types and women than a lot of clubs, plus our poor song selection so its hardly surprising we don't bellow out anthems as well as other clubs. just one of those things. I think the Northam was better in the early days of st marys. Occassionally our vocal support at away games can be good when there is a big turnout, watford last year for example. hopefully Hartlepool will be decent. on another note did anyone see the Russian saints flag in Itchen corner? my eyesight isn't good enough to see what was written on it, but looked good.

I'd say you're pretty much right there. Far to many of our 'songs' involve clapping, and looking around a lot of people seem to do that without singing. there is no "st marys roar" We don't really have the right type of fans to create good atmosphere. I've said it before, Spurs sing "oh when the spurs" much much better than we sing our version, leave out the clapping and slow it down.

Went to Minsk for the England game last year and would happily go back again, decent birds and good drink up, not sure about the food though!

you could just call up and have them posted, would save enough on petrol to drive you to Northampton!

your more likely to get Notts County out there, but i'd be up for it. Might buy up some factor 50 next time i'm in boots just in case.

Good to hear. I am expecting a late rush for Hartlepool after we beat Norwich, the end holds 900 so if we can get 700 up there with people paying on the day should be a decent atmosphere. Northampton goes on general sale next week and I would imagine quite a few have held back waiting to get tickets with mates who are not season ticket holders. On the basis they sold the end behind the goal first that stand must now be full.

This should be a straightforward bid for Saints / Council to make, the ground was even designed for expansion requirements, and any shortfall in accommodation requirements could be easily solved by parking a cruise liner in the docks. Proven history as a city and a football club and fits the hole in the map of grounds spread across the country. Games in the football and Rugby world cup would give huge international exposure for the city to sell itself. I noticed solent university even had advertising boards at the England v Brazil game in Qatar so they could even chip in a few quid as a sponsor.

Yes. When I spoke to the ticket office when I bought mine they said they had instructions to sell block by block, one stand first, although the lady on the phone said she didn't know which stand they were starting with. The end behind the goal holds 800, side stand is 1800, it will be quite embarrassing after the fuss their fans made over us having more tickets if we only take 1500

the temptation of Svarstad away would be too much. Attendance of about 200 and half-time entertainment strolling onto the pitch for a kick-about. somewhere like Latvia would be good. Skonto Riga away.

Does that include away fans? If it does then it's not really a great attendance, considering MK Dons game was 21,387 (inc 1000 away) I think Norwich will bring at least 2000 so we should be aiming for 23-24k. Hopefully there is a decent walk up on the day. Any news on how many sold for Hartlepool and Northampton so far?

The club don't normally decide pre-season trips until April - early May, or certainly in the past it has not been made official until then, would be good if they did go somewhere different for once, have done trips in 2001 to Feyenoord, 2006 Sweden and 2007 Norway. Scandinavia in the summer is superb, Switzerland would be good play a couple of small sides and maybe a bigger one to keep it interesting. Even playing 2nd division teams in Scotland would be ok. Not sure if the Ibiza tournament still goes on but that would be good.

agreed, a lot of the time it is just noise, people seem incapable of actually singing football songs properly and makes our support look poor (vocally). The potential for atmosphere is good, but when I look around in the Northam there are far too many people who just don't get it. I would appreciate it if people could take some time to study versions on youtube of Spurs singing "oh when the spurs" slowly. sounds so much better than our rushed clap clap clap version. Also Liverpool's Torres song to the same tune as Lambert song. Man Utd's away support should also be studied and something we should aspire to be like.

It is £9 Adult in advance if season ticket holder. http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/TicketNews/0,,10280~1879422,00.html and they are opening the whole ground so you can buy your usual seat.