SO5 4BW

Tell them: We've been in the top division for longer than them - 35 seasons as against their 33 We've never been as low as the fourth division - they have Most of their trophy wins were lucky - the two championships were based on players they picked up during the war - when half the male population of footballing age was stationed close to P*rstmouth. And it was during the time of the maximum wage when teams were much more equal. Us coming second in in the league in 1984 on gates of 18,000 was a much harder achievement The FA cup in 2008 they 'bought' rather than won - anybody can do that - spend loads of money that they haven't got. In fact we should start a campaign to have that cup taken away from them - like they did with Marseille and the European cup back in the 90s after their financial irregularities We've had better players than them - an all-time Saints XI would wallop an all-time P*mpey one That bloody dock strike never happened! They're skates and we're not!

Roses are red Violets are blue I'm schizophrenic So am I

Agree that he's coasted for the last few years and maybe hasn't made the best of his talent - but I'll always love him for that celebration in front of the skates after he scored against them at Stamford Bridge!

What's a French mortuary assistant's favourite song? 'Zip-a-dee-Dodi, Zip-a-dee-Di'

Sherer's just has to be the best, but apart from that Bale's was the best that I can remember - bossing a second division game from left back at 16 - hmmm

Nick Holmes from his own half v Watford in the league cup 1980 Nobody remembers it because we lost the second leg 1-7.....

Alan Ball!

Good news about Cork - I thought he was our most influential player last season - Neil Mackenzie and, especially, Jimmy Adams had excellent years, and all the youngsters performed way above expectations but it was Cork's performances with the ball and as captain in the second half that turned a potentially awful season into a really good one. We certainly wouldn't have won the T20 without him - that last over in the final was a good as I can remember As a follow up to the last post - It'd be no bad thing if Cork was captain in all forms next year. I've never thought that Dimi was anything like captain material

Good news - above all because Adkins is the sort of manager who will (hopefully) stay around for a while - and what the club is crying out for is stability Some stats - in the twelve seasons 1999/2000 to 2010/2011 we've changed manager mid-season in NINE of them In those same seasons we've only had three single-figure finishes in the league. Any guesses which ones...? Or decades - 1960s 1 manager; 1970s 2; 1980s 2; 1990s 6; 2000s; 12. In many ways it really doesn't matter WHO the manager is (within reason - Gray, Wigley etc), so long as he STAYS All the best Nigel - hope you're still here at the end of your contract

Good thread! - the 6-3 vs United I couldn't make the game as I was at my wife's sister's wedding - in Manchester. Both bride and groom's families were big United fans. Me and a City fan were laughing our heads off at the reception as the scores were coming in - while the waiters spat in our food (probably) It doesn't just have to be the 'big news' though First win of the 'Great Escape' season in 98-99 was on Saturday 24th October - know the date as my daughter was born the night before. I was taking my boy to see his little sister for the first time just as the Saints were finally grinding out a win... And at the other extreme - going to the first game of the 95-96 season at the Dell vs Notts Forest - Matty scored a hat-trick but we lost 3-4. I'd just been to the hospice at Ashurst to see my Dad - who died on the Sunday 'Special place' is right- that often infuriating team is with all of us at through all the ups and downs of life (Phew - sorry if the above's a bit heavy - got a bit carried away there!)

Was just going to mention that Notts County game in 1982-83 - about as bad as it got in the early 80's. Two players in jail, out of Europe, bottom of the division after some really bad results including a 0-6 at Spurs. Woodward and McMenemy led the team out. Fantastic support all through Also - seeing the camera cut to Ted Bates and Bill Ellerington on the bench at Wembley after Bobby scored. A personal one - at West Ham in the runners-up season. One of their players has a shot - craning forward to see it - seemingly inevitably - hit the back of our net - only to see Nick Holmes chest it down and clear. God I loved that man...

Politically motivated move by a management under pressure. All the best Duncan, hope you win the dispute

http://www.rosebowlplc.com/news/neil-mckenzie-to-join-hampshire/ Excellent - a replacement for Crawley. Well done Giles White & Rod

Good signing - but do we know if this means Chris Tremlett will be leaving? - there were rumours of him going to Surrey

Can't believe nobody's mentioned Jimmy Carter's miss for the skates in the cup game at the Dell in 1996 - we were 3-0 up going into the final minutes and the Saints defence presented him with an unmissable chance. Which he missed. The whole ground (apart from the skates) were laughing - I turned around and there was this old boy behind me - who'd probably been going since Charlie Wayman was a lad - with tears streaming down his face it was that funny. We couldn't even give them a goal. Priceless

It was against Liverpool - who were European champions that season and the one English team absolutely schooled in the style of keeping possession Worthington did something similar in the build up to the winning goal at Fratton that season - the goal was in reverse - Worthington played the ball over his shoulder with his right foot for Armstrong to run onto and cross with his right, to Moran to put in with his left. Still sends shivers....

Ha ha ha - you really are joking aren't you? In the unlikely event that you're not - when did the hoofing era stop then? I loved Matty's couple of hoofed clearances in that sky game against Newcastle in 1993....

I think the main problem was that the mindset was that we could win the cup and probably qualify for the UEFA cup, but the league wasn't really on our radar. Twice that I can think of we chose cup over league - the game against Forest at home was rearranged so that Steve Williams could serve a suspension then rather then miss a cup game. We lost. Against Everton away Lawrie rested Williams, Dennis and Worthington (I think!) as they would have missed the next cup game if booked. We lost. All part of having a small squad I suppose - although by the latter part of the season Golac & Curtis were both quality additions to the regular XI No doubt that it was our best ever season though - and the reason was that it was the only season when we had a decent defence (only time less than one goal conceded per game in the top flight). People have happy memories of the Keegan/Channon/Ball team - me included - but the '84 team was better because of the likes of Mills, Holmes, Wright and the incomparable Shilton

I saw my first game in 1968 and Ron was THE hero to anybody in the area who was a Saints-mad kid at that time Ron - the thoughts of all Saints fans are with you and Chris, as they were with your own illness a while ago

Agree with most of the above - Adams player of the season, but a close run thing with Pothas. I think when NP finally retires (hopefully not for a while yet) we'll see him as one of HCCC's all-time greats. Anybody know about Mendis's availability next year? A poster on BBC's 606 said that we only had him for 4 weeks at the start of the year and 4 weeks at the end, with Tahir perhaps filling in the gap? Also - the BBC are reporting Simon Jones as a done deal - great if we can actually get him on the field. But does this now rule out a move for Kabir Ali? Anybody itk?

Slightly off the topic of this particular match but what do people think about Dimi's captaincy in general? I think it's becoming obvious that he was the wrong appointment when Sir Shane left. He shows no sign of 'growing into the job' as I hoped he would, he's not got any obvious aptitude for captaincy, and there's his breaks for the IPL which don't exactly give the message of 100% commitment to the HCCC cause. Pothas is the obvious alternative - any others? This has been a fairly sucessful season - but I can't say that Dimi's captaincy has been a major factor!

It would be a good time to take him now - the weather is still good and we're (hopefully) likely to be winning more home games now. I took my boy when he was about 5 - but to a game vs Charlton at the Dell in January. A 0-0 draw in the cold and he spent half of the match with a shocked expression - looking at me thinking "Is this really what you do for fun then?" He thought ripping the Dell pitch up after the Brighton game was good though. I had to explain that this was not a usual way to end the match Now he's 14 and solid Saints, despite living 40+ miles away, despite his mother's family being MU-supporting Mancs (there are some), and despite the fact that we're bottom of league one! We've started going to games together and it's his interest, coupled with the removal of Lowe etc that has rekindled my love affair with SFC!

The start of the 2003 cup run - Tottenham at SMS,live on the BBC. 4-0 and people coming up to me for days after saying 'I saw your boys on the box - great that they stuffed Spurs' Also live on the beeb - Liverpool on a friday night at the Dell in 83-84 the best (league) game of our best season - 2-0 with two spectacular Danny Wallace goals

Just back from Basingstoke - absolute gutless display by Hampshire. We made their lower order look like world beaters. Very quiet in the field - no way should Dimi be captain of anything. God how we miss Pothas, who is the difference between our form up to and including Lords, and in the last few weeks. Tremlett needs to leave as he's going nowhere at the moment and doesn't seem that bothered about it. Sussex won today so if we lose (very likely) we'll be in the bottom two. Three of our remaining five games are Durham/Notts/Somerset, so we'll do well to stay up here - what a let down. Second whinge - the atmosphere at the ground. Now I'm all for applauding opponents -centuries, particularly good strokes or catches etc. But every Yorkshire boundary (and there were a few) was clapped a bit too enthusiastically. Now I know there were some Yorks fans in the crowd but the bulk were presumably Hants fans. No way would you get that sort of non-partisanship at a northern out-ground in a relegation scrap. It seemed that all the good citizens of Basingstoke wanted was a jolly good game in the sunshine

RIP indeed. Obviously the first thoughts are with his family but from a purely football point of view it's touching that this many heartfelt messages are on the site of a team that he never managed or played for - and I'm sure that this would be replicated across the football community. The really sad thing is that I can't see this sort of thing being replicated fifty years down the line - from todays generation of players there'll be a lot of rich old men but very few who are as well loved or respected. A shame.