cambsaint

Although I don't see many games I'm a little worried. Reading we should have lost; Coventry turned the tables on us and Bristol beat us and according to all reports dominated. All the other managers will be watching and it looks as if we have a weakness agianst being closed down aggressively, and against pacey forwards. If we are serious about promotion this year then imo we need to try to buy a couple of class players in Jan, pref a good central defender and a fast attacking midfielder. If we get up then they are even more necessary. I hope this doesn't appear negative, but we must guard against complacency-this team isn't the finished article.

Due to ill health this was the first match I've been to for a couple of years. My son drove me and I remembered that the first ever Saints away game I went to was Coventry away in the FA Cup in about 1964 or 5. I thoroughly enjoyed it -except for the squeaky bum bit after they equalised. We were surprisingly complacent at the start of the second half and a better team would have made life much harder. I loved the passing moves and the individual skill, but I would like to see us buy another attacking player with pace in the Jan window. The "Top of the League" chant was very good and I've never been able to hear that before! A civilised ground with good stewards, and what an excellent way to get free parking-buy six bottles of wine at 25% discount in M&S before the match!! All in all a great day out after a difficult year.

Norwich-is virtually sold out on season ticket sales alone and was in both div1 and the Championship. Its a relatively small city with a large elderly rural surrounding catchment area. When we can sell 23to25k seasons then we should consider enlarging.

If you look at Saints record of bringing top class youngsters through we probably are second only to Man Utd. during the forty odd years I've been a supporter. There have always been many richer clubs with apparently bigger and better catchment areas. Of course we can't live with the City zillions but we can carry on doing very well indeed!

The true level of the gross mismanagement that Lowe presided over can be judged by just how many ex-Saints players are still playing well in the Prem, five years on. Any half decent manager could have rescued us, but Lowe insisted on a series of no-hopers. He failed utterly to realise that a good manager provided with adequate funds is the only key to success in the Prem! He thought he could break the system and broke the club instead!

O'BRIEN - Leeds reject (aged 23) but managed 180 goals in 6 seasons. Could score from anywhere with either foot. Good with pens. I only watched O'Brien for his last two seasons; but will never forget his pens. No subtlety just a run and might kick and in my memories they always hit the stanchion leaving the goalie helpless. Unless your MLT thats te way to take a pen! I remember talking to somebody who played golf with O'Brien and apparently he always gave Paine the credit for most of his goals, apparently saying that he just had to run where they had trained and the ball would arrive inch perfect! I don't remember Hollywood looking that innocent!

In the early sixties when I and all my mates started supporting Saints, it wasn't the first choice of many living in Winchester as Saints were in Div 3 Sth, and Mobtown were in the second division and their days of infamy were still fresh in the minds of many older men. Nearly all of the football supporting masters at Peter Symonds were Saints supporters and some attended regularly. In those days probably at least half of Wintonians supported Mobtown (PS slang for P****y). Fortunately Ted Bates took us from success to success. My son was born in Aylesbury but I'm glad to say supports Saints and Hants CCC. Also Winchester is approx 12 miles from Southampton and approx 25 miles from Portsmouth. In the days before the M3 and M27 it usually took at least three times as long to get to Mobtown than Soton. Another useless piece of information-when Soton was blitzed some of the shops in Soton temporarily moved to Winchester and a friend told me that PeterSymonds was used by Winchester boys in the morning and Soton boys in the afternoon-they used to spend their afternoons watching the tanks unloaded at Winchester before being taken to the old bypass and readied under camouflage before being hidden ready fort transportation to France on D-Day. In the days of old ford prefects and the like we very rarely went to Mobtown and if so only to Southsea.

I think he has done an amazing job. It took a bit of time to sort things out and create his team, but since then the results have been incredible. Ten games ago we were worrying whether we'd make the playoffs, we had one of the hardest run-ins possible and lost one away to Rochdale. (2 points and the best goal difference in the division and one of the best home stats in all leagues tells its own story. We have been consistently top of the number of shots for some weeks. I salute all of you, I only wish my health allowed me to get to watch Saints. I can still remember going mad during our last two promotions when I was a young man. I wish I could have been there but health problems prevented that, but a hopefully successful treatment on my prostate earlier this week, and the fact that next season I hope to be closer and will get to see a few home games again. I'm also planning to retire back to God's own county; so please keep up the good work, and take Saints back where we belong!!

Over the course of a season Goal difference is an amazingly accurate indicator of final position. We have the second best in the division, we lead the table in number of shots, and are first or second in most of the important stats. Our major problem is a very difficult finish to the season, most of our opponents are in the top ten. However given our propensity to mess up against to rubbish and play better against better teams this may not be such a bad thing, at least most of our opponents will want to win and not just shut up shop with a mass defence. I hope our manager and players have a more positive attitude than most of the supporters. We are at least as good as any team in the division, and can certainly play better football than any of them.

Lowe had two massive problems, he didn't understand football but thought he did, and he couldn't get on with football managers. If we had found a good and stable manager and Lowe left him on his own, albeit with a strict budget,we'd still be in the Prem, after all most of our ex players still are.

Gabriel McGrath: Certainly no angel, would strike fear into any forward.

Bobby Stokes-Thanks (for the memory)

I would have thought that you would need to be paid to stay in Peterboghorror. I lived in a pleasant outskirts village for ten years before moving to Cambridge. I only go when absolutely necessary, can't abide the place. Stamford is nice though, as are the many of the surrounding villages.

It is very unfair to judge a manager on results gained with his predecessor's team Judge Adkins on his results with his own team. I think (and fervently hope) he'll be a great success.

The blame is attached to one person alone -The absolute Lowest of the Lowe. His incredibly stupid and egotistical mistakes are too many to list. His insistance on knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing. His managerial instability, and look at the number of old Saints players who weren't even our best still playing in the top flight. The only funny thing is that if he'd kept us up the ruddy faced duck murderer would have made millions! Ther's still hope though -when Adkins gets his own team together we'll go places.

I was in Manchester in 1967 and watched Best Charlton Law and Crerand at Old Trafford. George Best was without doubt the most gifted player I've ever seen, his skills were incredible. Le Tiss would have been the second. Paine was much underated, his ability to provide superb service to a number of different high scoring forwards in a relatively moderate team never got the credit he deserved. Unfortunately like many other sublimely gifted players he failed to be a complete player, and you have to ask if gifted but flawed players (like Le Tiss) are really great. Although I never saw him the flesh Franz Beckenbauer is probably the most complete player in my lifetime, his skills were superb, his leadership excellent and he won rather a lot of important cups for Germany. One of the best defensive players I ever watched was Dave Mackay, harder than steel, skilful in the tackle, good reader of the game and superb distribution. The best goalie Peter Shilton- I swear I've seen him turn in the air and keep out a certain goal.

I was in Manchester in 1967 and watched Best Charlton Law and Crerand at Old Trafford. George Best was without doubt the most gifted player I've ever seen, his skills were incredible. Le Tiss would have been the second. Paine was much underated, his ability to provide superb service to a number of different high scoring forwards in a relatively moderate team never got the credit he deserved. Unfortunately like many other sublimely gifted players he failed to be a complete player, and you have to ask if gifted but flawed players (like Le Tiss) are really great. Although I never saw him the flesh Franz Beckenbauer is probably the most complete player in my lifetime, his skills were superb, his leadership excellent and he won rather a lot of important cups for Germany. One of the best defensive players I ever watched was Dave Mackay, harder than steel, skilful in the tackle, good reader of the game and superb distribution. The best goalie Peter Shilton- I swear I've seen him turn in the air and keep out a certain goal.

Regrettably I can't get to matches due mainly to my health and the distance. I followed Saints from the late Div 3S days of the early sixties. The money in the game means we cannot compare performances. For instance Paine and Channon would be like Bale or Walcott snatched away long before their potential was realised. However one fact concerns me greatly about the start to this season and that is only one league goal from three games.Our inabilitry to score must be laid at AP's door as he is responsible for tactics, training, fitness and motivation. We know the players have the ability, what is holding us back must either be in the minds, mutual understanding or fitness. All the responsibility of AP. I am not calling for his head quite yet, I have confidence that he will get it right, I think he is as good as we're likely to get, but he MUST get it right immediately. ( Unless we gave Martin O'Neill a massive 5 year contract and a big budget and let him build and grow his own team.) Come to think that is exactly what Pardew has got.

If I were A P I'd be very worried. I suspect a certain N Cortese has probably less patience than most of the fans, wants value for money and a good return on a vast investment and will 'Whack' AP very shortly if no improvement. I'll leave it to him.

I think the club should play the Cup Final Hymn-Abide with me - followed by two minutes silence then Glory glory.. from the fans.

Hi I paid by cheque the first year. I don't have or want a Paypal A/c. I am prepared to pay by good old fashioned cheque in the post. Can I still do this? Cambsaint

If It's true it is ludicrous and potentially disatrous. Pardew may not be a good Prem manager but he's plenty good enough to get us there. Who else is out there both proven and better. If it happens then we are back to the Lowe IQ school of Football Management. Perhaps though he has been set the targets I've set him: Automatic promotion by end March, over 100 points, undefeated in the league, good FA Cup run and retain Johnson's Paint Trophy; or get the sack. Maybe he thinks the bar has been set too high, and complained!!

I don't post very often, but over the years I have found that goal difference over a season rarely lies. I'm very happy with Pardew's performance this year and IMO we were damned lucky to find a proven manager. I hope he stays takes us to an all-time points record promotion next year and lays the foundations for our return to the Prem in about three or four years. (No point in going up before you're ready unless you want a thoroughly depressing year in the top league." Cambsaint

Great Result; I hope that we get into the play-offs on Goal Difference. Then it'll be difficult but the momentum would be with us for the most incredible promotion ever. Keep the faith. Cambsaint

Good Grief Turkish; at first I thought you were referring to a famous rugby song we used to sing at Uni when in the coach to inter-uni matches. Cambsaint