JRM

anyone still in any doubt about whether or not to make the effort for this, here is a pic of Hartlepool beach to tempt you (not sure if link will work) http://www.freefoto.com/images/9906/03/9906_03_5---Seaton-Carew--Hartlepool_web.jpg COUNCIL officials in Hartlepool are celebrating after scooping an international beach quality award. A prestigious Blue Flag has been awarded to Seaton Carew in recognition of its high standards of water quality, cleanliness, facilities, safety, and management. It is another huge boost for the town's image as a tourist destination, following on from the announcement that it is to host the world-renowned Tall Ships Race in 2010.

yeah it could, although weirdly the train to Bescot Stadium stops at Witton and Aston so we'll be sharing a train full of Villa fans and maybe some Hull, although doubt either team will notice saints are playing that day, there must be a few occassions when Villa are at home to Spurs or someone like that and Walsall at home to Millwall etc.

The cheapest deal left looks to be £47 return Southampton to Birmingham New Street. There were some very cheap Virgin train deals going up from London, but as they go on sale 12 weeks prior to the date you need to move fairly quickly to get a bargain. If you plan to go by train to any away day other than london have a look on thetrainline.com or any of the rail operators websites rough 11-12 weeks in advance, usually booking 2 singles is the best bet for a deal. There should be some advance deals on sale soon for Exeter.

I know it's not a competition, but it would be interesting if saints did something similar to EnglandFans and gave a "cap" for every away game attended, with tickets purchased against the Season ticket / membership number recording sales. Online profile would then show how many with max caps, and each category down. You could then see roughly home many did every game and so on. Also if anyone on here has contacts at the club can they please get them to amend the stats page of saints programme to include the "away" attendances next to the match attendances, most other clubs in this division do this now, and Stockport even did a page of analysis being very proud of their 139 that went to Brighton away.

I think there are plenty of tickets to go round for this, but if we beat Brighton and Norwich might just sell out. Anyone catching the train up worth checking out the 4 for 2 group save deals, think it might be restricted to going via Clapham Juntion - Watford and train from there rather than taking the tube. Although you can get a group save to London with travelcard then another group save return from Euston to Northampton. Driving looks easy enough with the A34, M40 and A43 only roads needed between southampton and Northampton taking 2 hours. Does anyone know are they selling one stand first then the other, or will be have a choice of behind the goal or on the side?

I predict we will only sell 2000 tickets for this, probably still be on sale on the day of the game. Quite a few are making the effort for Hartlepool away the Tuesday before and Walsall away the weekend after. Would be great if we sold the lot though.

Exactly. The Northam is "sold out" as in you can't buy any more tickets there, but the stand certainly wont be full, we only have up to block 42, so blocks 43, 44, 45 will be empty and Charlton will have about half a block and will make no noise whatsever. The Itchen main is sold out, but a huge chunk of the Itchen is the executive seats which will have nobody in at all, and seats are still available in the Itchen Chapel corner. They said Kingsland were selling well and that is why block 33 had been opened, with other blocks to follow depending on sales + pre-match.

Just called up to get my ticket, Itchen sold out (except for Itchen - Chapel corner which is available) Northam sold out as is most of the kingsland - Northam corner. They have now just opened block 33 in Kingsland as well which is closer to the halfway line and will keep opening more blocks in the Kingsland as others sell out. With a large walk up on the day we could see almost 3 stands full which will be good.

I don't know why they don't open Northam blocks 43 and 44 for home fans as well and move along the netting / segregation down on the concourse, clearly would be a popular area to go, they are opening the turnstiles and refreshments stands of that stand anyway, with the angle of the cameras in the Kingsland stand and Charlton's tiny away following it will look like only the Itchen is open to people watching on tv. Will be interesting to see how the other games go on Tuesday night, i hope Northampton beat MK Dons and we get them away in the JPT area semi final as it's about time we got them in a cup draw

Had a quick look on the charlton website and it is just reporting the total attendance and does not mention the number of away fans, however, judging from the tv coverage i would say there was about 200 Charlton there (at the very most) split between behind the goal and a few in the seats on the side. I can't see them bringing more than 300 on Wednesday night with it being on tv, quite a funny guide to "southampton away" apparently we play in an out of town ground which isn't near many pubs - http://www.charlton-athletic.co.uk/newsview.ink?nid=35089

Think it will depend on if we are still in the Cup and who we play the week before in round 2, but this is the sort of game we should be able to take loads to: - good away end behind the goal, low roof plenty of noise - a ground that very few Saints fans would have been to before. - Prices are not too bad at £18 - Decent train links. Cheap deals available going up from London Euston via Birmingham New Street on Virgin, or CrossCountry from southampton which also calls at Basingstoke and Reading. Trains go from New Street to Bescot Stadium station which is right next to the ground.

It should stay as 3pm as still advertised as that, plus I have booked a greyhound coach down so will be annoyed if it does. I think the club are also doing a special ticket for this game £10 for an adult and child so good results between now and then could see 30k I reckon

Disagree mate, without checking i'd be prepared to bet on average they take more away than us. they have 200 away season ticket holders. they have sold out in advance for stockport away, when we start selling out games like that north of watford i'll start getting excited.

I think you are getting confused between JCLs and "big game" fans. Think the points between made above were valid, everynow and then we get away games that every comes out of the woodwork for. All of us love taking huge numbers away, but those of us that do every away game would just like to see it happen a bit more often. We probably have the 3rd best away support in this division after Leeds and Norwich.

I've heard rumours of a £1 in the pot strip pub, somewhere near the station I think, the quality of this establishment could be a key decider in doing this fixture, so has anyone ever been there? and do the birds belong in the flying scotsman or the griffin ?

Not been before but booked on the train and noticed that the service from New Street to Bescot Stadium stops at Aston and Witton so could jump off there and drink in the Cap'n'gown or whatever it was called we used to drink at Villa Park for old times sake , Villa are home to Bolton that day though so maybe not. away end look decent to me though http://www.footballgroundguide.com/walsall/ whole end behind the goal, low roof, should be a decent atmosphere "Away supporters are housed in the Dains Stand at one end of the ground, where around 2,000 away supporters can be accommodated. There are a few supporting pillars at the front which could impede your view. The good news though, is that even a small amount of away fans can really make some noise and make a good atmosphere"

hahahahahahaahahah a day out on the MK Dons bingo bus, surely the most souless experience in football, mostly the usual bunch of social rejects you'd expect on a travel club, but special mention to these gimps in the ground with the stupid hat who looks like he got dressed in the dark likewise his chubby mate, and there are a few older people there, surely they didnt start following football in the last 6 years? who did they support before?

exactly, I think RedWillie is the moron jumping to conclusions there. far more likely there will be trouble on a dark friday night which will be harded to police.

Also had to laugh at the use of the term "olympic gallery" does that mean you can see the 2012 stadium from up there? or do they actually mean you sit a bit higher up then everyone else for £35 it should be impressive.

that sounds like a really rubbish deal. £25 for a carvery lunch with no drinks included to sit in an area of the ground with no atmosphere? leave it out. Pie in the ground £2.50 - sorted.

saints support in general is full of soft weedy geography teacher types so I for one am grateful we at least have a few fans who can stand up for themselves when away teams come to town and throw their weight around. From what I heard on the day the Yeovil group were the ones who kicked off in the pub and once outside kept coming back for more, it sounds like a couple got caught and that is unfortunate, but this should not be made out to be a completely unprovoked bullying attack

If they don't give us more then aim for the home End, East stand which is the same stand as the saints fans (but home section) if you look on their website. If that is also unreserved seating then just keep buying tickets in their bit (East stand) and create an unofficial extension of the away end.

If they don't give us more then aim for the home End East stand which is the same stand as the saints fans (but home section) if you look on their website. If that is also unreserved seating then just keep buying tickets in their bit (East stand) and create an unofficial extension of the away end.

It wont quite be like Dellhurst but we could certainly have half of the crowd, look at this weekend as an example, Orient were at home in a London derby against Brentford, there was a crowd of 4,781 of which 1,457 were away fans, so only 3,324 home fans. It sounds like our 3000 tickets will be sold early this week, so if we were able to get more or loads go in the home end we should be able to match if not better the home support!

Well when i spoke to them earlier the 2500 was nearly gone and they were getting another 500 in, best to give them a call to find out the latest