JRM

not sure about the nightlife in Hartlepool on a Tuesday...... looks like it might be worth trying to get back to Durham or Newcastle after the match to make a proper trip of it. i expect us to sell out for this one, and have a few in the home end

I doubt there will be any decision on this yet, the group have not bought the club, so they will have no authority in decision making on pricing etc. They can begin working on it behind the scenes, but realistically it will be another 2 weeks. Would be great to have cheap prices combined with optimism to get 15k, not sure if we could do it though

Away grounds that currently have terraces = Brentford, Yeovil, Bristol Rovers - that is it i think, unfortunately peterborough are going up as that is the best away terrace in the league, however coming up from League 2 we might get Exeter and Dagenham who also have terracing for away fans. Can get away with standing at every away game anyway as long as enough do it..

there could be an interesting collection of clubs in the conference next year, could have Luton Town (league cup winners '88), Oxford United (league cup winners '86?) and AFC Wimbledon (born from the FA Cup winners '88), all team capable of good support and relatively recent history of top flight football.

did you see the old woman on sky sports news last night who had gone down to the ground and donated £500 on cash!!! crazy, just crazy, she looked about 80, and what is going to happen to that money? go towards Bradley Wright-Phillips $8k a week so he can go out on the ****? that goes for the majority of the squad. Just hope if the club is taken over that people like her and re-paid as a gesture by the new owners!

spot on mate. If they had their way English football will eventually end up like American sports where there is no terrace culture, just families wearing official club merchandise from head to toe eating hot dogs and shouting wooo! when something exciting happens. standing up, singing, shouting & swearing is all part of going to football. As long as there is a family centre etc there should be room for people who just want to sit there in the quiet to have their option as well.

There is no way we would get a fine. Virtually every all seater ground in the country has an area where a section of the fans stand, and the ones that don't only tend to be the clubs who have rubbish support and no atmosphere anyway. I have definitely noticed an increasing number of grounds where the stewards only act on standing if it occurs in areas where most are sitting. The "no standing" legislation wasn't properly thought through at the time, and the obvious discrimination towards football fans (e.g, ok to stand at Rugby, concerts, etc) has lead quite rightly to fans treating it with no respect.

it is a joke, south west trains were an absolute mess this morning, at woking station they had no idea what trains were going and when, nothing on the board, and the advice was still best not to travel....... a lot of our support rely on getting the train etc. going to be easily the smallest crowd for a competitive game at st marys in terms on the number of people in the ground. Feel really sorry for Sheff Utd fans contemplating the drive down and late night drive back.

Sad really, Poortvliet was a top bloke, with a genuine approach, as seen in visits to pubs. A real shame that things never went right for him, no chance of Wotte turning things around, now lets see how much responsibility Lowe takes for this appointment in the continuing soap opera.

Will Killer be back ? We could release a t-shirt to celebrate...

They do now - Carling Cup Semi Final 1st Leg is the Tues / Weds after we play them, fingers crossed they have to play spurs only 48 hours after us and field as weak a team as possible!! At least that will give us a chance.

it's all part of the the fun of the away days, I suggest whoever collects the most section 60s over the course of the season is presented with an award on the pitch at the last home game of the season, which could be a framed section 60 ? to be fair swansea was the worst place for this I have ever seen.

Looks only 1000 will travel then, which is a big drop on last year. They're not that well supported anyway. Interesting that they are all being told to drink in the Square Balloon ! http://www.bcfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10327~1442118,00.html

we could even go close to selling out for this one, only a couple of hundred seats left out of an allocation of 1,171 http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/articles/article.php?page_id=10784

at least we're not Newcastle, this press conference is hilarious, Kinnear is having a breakdown already http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/newcastle/3124831/Listen-to-Joe-Kinnears-Newcastle-press-conference-and-read-it-in-full-Football.html

to be honest mate, as a season ticket holder, i think i'd rather walk into the coventry game buzzing with a big crowd and a loud atmosphere than be greated by the sight of another half empty ground. Would imagine most are the same rather than look at other fans with resentment for getting in a bit cheaper than i did !

"QPR have been given 4000 tickets for the game at the Madjeski later this month. (Also on sky)" this is what Palace had as well, so looks like if we want 4000 tickets we can.... and considering it is only just 1 hour direct on the train and probably the closest thing we have to a local derby surely we can take that. Loads of town centre pubs, with taxis / football special buses going from the train station.

2327 is the normal away allocation, although on the highlights it looked like they gave palace more than the usual half a few weeks ago http://www.readingfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/SeatingPlan/0,,10306,00.html i notice they have a offer on where if you buy a ticket for Burnley and Doncaster at home you get a free one for QPR at home.... again something for saints to think about to boost attendances for the less popular home games

We should do this for Coventry at home on a Tuesday night at the end of the month..... with a couple more wins and a promotional offer it could be just the push people need to start going again, and once in the habit of doing so it might help us push back up towards 18k

i'm looking forward to our first game back in the premier league (if that happens) when we can spend all game singing at each other "where were you when we were ****" as we sung at other clubs over the years!

but you can't pin the blame on the fans, if you dish up sh*t people won't eat. Obviously Man City have a bigger fanbase than us, and they are a bigger club, I would say Norwich are possibly the best example of a club who have been through some poor years and are still getting consistently better crowds than us.

I think the point of the original post though still points to the number of fans who have "jumped ship", whereas Man City's support stayed fairly consistent as was undoubtably a factor in helping them eventually rise back up the divisions. There are definitely quite a few saints fans who scramble around for excuses for not going, then get upset at fans who still go regularly portraying themselves as "better fans"... which of course they are, sticking with the club through thick and thin. There is no shame in not going though, and i agree with a number of reasons posted on here for not doing so.

that's fine, as long as those who no longer go acknowledge that they are just not as loyal as the 14k hardcore who still turn up, as opposed to bringing out the same old excuses for non-attendance. One thing is for sure, you enjoy the 'good times' more having gone through the bad.

Fair play for the excuses, I understand that not everybody can afford it, or spare the time, but ultimately Southampton just isn't enough of a "footballing city"... there are plenty of teams who have fallen lower than we are who continued to pick up decent support. At the end of the day, the fact remains there are plenty of people who are prepared to go along and watch premiership football but in times like this when the going gets tough it seperates the men from the boys, perhaps some will admit that rather than money etc it is just that they're not that much of a fan. The atmosphere wasn't great last night either, it's a real shame that the Itchen North closed, and looking around the Northam last night there are just too many people who stand there clapping along with gormless looks on their faces rather than sing! we could do with a couple of better anthems though rather than just the endless clap along red&white barmy army songs!

to be fair, Leeds crowds are good for the division they are in. And it is their 2nd year down there, although winning always helps. Forest and Wednesday also got good crowds when in that division. I can't really blame people for not going, but it is a shame that we can't get 18k minimum for the smaller games, rising to 25-27k for the bigger home games.