cambsaint

The squad is good when compared to other Prem teams outside the top five or six. We must be realistic and realise the very best players will always want to play in the very top clubs and earn top money' so we can only develop very good players and enjoy them for a few years. I was appalled on Sunday when after having Brighton under the cosh until the first excellent goal we allowed them back into it instead of going for it until we had a three goal lead. This must surely be due to instructions as I can't imagine all eleven players deciding to play safety first and sit reidiculously deep after going ahead. If Pellegrino doesn't improve by Christmas then he must go, and I have only very rarely thought this (except for Branfoot at al) before.

It used to cost five shillings, 25p to watch a game on the Milton. Using a multiplyer of 40 (based on a pint was 10p and is now 350p) this is only a tenner. Anybody could afford to go, and the young used to sing themselves horse. We are now boring old farts and not going to shout all the way through a match. Who has replaced us-certainly not like for like. The stands used to bang their feet on the highly inflammable wooden floors, and if you were foolish enough to look up your eyes were filled with dust. It made a lot of noise and under the stands was very hostile to away players and match officials. I remember that we really intimidated one particularly inept linesman. I don't know the answer, but the Northam could and should be improved. As a student I remember it being so crowded at a non-ticket Man U v Liverpool game they let adults in through the boys gates for half a crown-25p Unimaginable now! I can only get to occasional away games now and the away supporters are pretty vocal, but the Pompey gun song is sung far too often, and we don't and never have had many original songs. Embarrassing as it may seem when I first went, I had a rattle and a bike horn, and we still sang 2468 who do we appreciate.

I think the badge does its job well. However perhaps all EPL clubs should have a badge with a circle of greedy pigs with their snouts in a trough being kept warm by an obscenely large bonfire of money.

If it's really true that there is a bid of over £80 million then Saints would be daft not to accept it for an unsettled player. At a certain level pragmatism counts. Supporters should be pleased as long as it is used to reinvest in players and not just to part pay for the club purchase by the new majority shareholder.

I for one am absolutely delighted, three easy games to get to. Should be interesting and not too expensive.

His agent stands to make 7 to 10million on the deal. He must be desperate for it to go through. He is certainly the one keeping the press pressure on IMO. Saints would probably like to see a transfer request come in to save them £7 to 10million on the deal. May depend on whether VVD's agent can get a club to recompense both of them as well as pay Saints a huge fee. The moral of the story is that football at the highest level has been thoroughly corrupted by money and agents. It is beginning to smell like a huge cess-pit now. Personally the sooner he puts in a transfer request and goes giving us a huge profit, the better for us. I can myself supporting Cambridge United if the Prem carries on like this.

John McGrath Those of my age who watched him always run out last, wearing a shirt two sizes too small to emphasise his barrel chest, and his sleeves cut short to show his bulging biceps( Looked more like a bouncer at Winchester Lido Ballroom) than a footballer. Must have put the fear of ##### up most of the opposition. The perfect player for one such as myself not too gifted in skills to try to emulate. Must give Jimmy Gabriel his partner in crime an honourable mention, as the only player ever to have knocked down an opposing centre forward with one clean punch and got clean away with it because the ref and linesman were all haring up the field trying to catch up with play. Can't remember who it was but it was one of the cocky centre forwards like Frank Astle, who had the audacity to think they were hard. These two were the foundation of the celebrated "Ale House Brawlers" PS If anyone else with a better memory can remember who it was Gabby hit I'd be obliged. Think it was probably the 67/8 season.

He made the Telegraph team of the week, last week. Bearing in mind central defenders usually start to mature about 25, he looks a real prospect.

With the run in we have we will be luck to get 4 points, and could finish fourteenth or fifteenth. Puel seems to lack passion and enthusiasm. This isn't a trait shred by man very successful managers, and his stle of football seems to match his personality. Regrettably concluded that we need a new manager next season. The reporter in today's Telegraph suggested that Marco Silva may suit us. He certainly looks very promising.

The middle of the league has concertina'd, and with a few games left every point is now very important. The difference in money between finishing eighth or ninth and fourteen or fifteenth is very considerable and amounts to onre reasonable player. Puel and Saints need to realise this and start playing more effectively and scoring goals. His interviews are stultifyingly boring and tiresome- are his team-talks similar? Some of the football we've played has been as well.

Some ridiculous over-reactions about the defeat today. A team of above average players assembled for very little money was well beaten by a team of world-class players assembled at massive cost. I thought tht as well as Kompany, De Bruine (apologies sfor spelling) was class, started most of the dangerous moves and also to my surprise completely stifled Redmond. One positive I thought Jack Stephens looked very good for a very young centre-back, I just hope he progresses well. Central defenders usually mature much older. I can only watch on TV, but apart from some abysmal Europa Cup games, this is the only time I have seen us completely outclassed. We have to accept that our realistic ambition is to win division two ie 6th to 12th in the Premier League, and try to win a cup and qualify for the Europa Cup. Only massive investment can change this. Realistically we punch above our weight, a relatively small City admittedly with an affluent catchment area, a medium size stadium and a club that had always been a lower division club until the sixties and was virtually bankrupt a few years ago. I think it is too early to pass judgement on Puel, admittedly a moderate start ,but he must be allowed to form his own team, if no better at the end of next season then we should probably look elsewhere. (I remember our most successful manager was hardly greeted with praise in his first season and Mike Channon took at least a couple of years to mature into a genuine international class player. Of course money has changed everything.

He looks ungainly and inflexible this season. I discussed this yesterday watching it on TV and I said I thought he had back problems, as he was so slow to get down to the ball. He is of course an absolute man-mountain, when he stands next to most players he dwarfs them. I don't recall him looking so slow and ungainly last season. in fact he used to be a good shot-stopper and in the England set-up. I think a leg problem would prevent him from playing but a niggling back injury would have the effect of slowing him down. The only other reason I can think of is that the analysts have realised that he is slow to get down to balls close to his feet and he is being deliberately targetted. However I think there is a physical reason for his lack of form but he is just fit enough to play. We'll know if he has an op in the close season. If not then he is just too big, inflexible and slow.

The guide dog would probably have got the decision right!

Goal difference is nearly always a very accurate indicator of final position. In the late nineties and early noughties when many seasons were a battle against relegation it was very accurate, and I usually knew how anxious I should be by our goal difference. Since I have discovered this it has been very accurate at predicting final positions. However there are a couple of teams this season that may prove to be an exception.

It is clear from this correspondence the football clubs need to take disabled and partially mobile fans more seriously. At the moment Saints class disabled fans as those receiving a very high level of benefit. This leaves a large number of fans with lesser disabilities that qualify for a blue badge, eg severe osteo-arthritis, mild angina and heart conditions and many others. Those over seventy may well not wish to be involved directly in the hurly-burly of many away fans, while being forced into sitting with them. This is not meant as a criticism, when I was young the same problem was usually solved by older fans choosing to sit in the stands and younger ones choosing to stand. It is an unintended consequence of all seater stadia. It should be easily able to be solved, either MK or The Emirates-I can't remember which, had a section at the top for disabled and an enabler. If clubs won't take it seriously then perhaps an association of less able fans should be formed to take legal action, this would have great sympathy in Parliament and the courts.

Not all disabled fans need wheelchairs. There many conditions which make it difficult to walk distances or stand for any length of time. I have a blue badge and can limp around.

Had exactly the same problem at Arsenal last year. I'm completely unable to stand for more than a few minutes. Arsenal steward understanding but could only ask if anybody would move. Several able bodied male louts refused, but a very kind man and his wife moved for my son and I and I had a front seat. From my experiences of Norwich, which I didn't actually attend as the club forgot to post my tickets and as I am very immobile didn't want to have to mass around getting them from the club. (In the event as Norwich supporters didn't turn up it would have probably been OK.), the club can ensure you get front seat tickets. Don't forget that after the recent bus ruling, club employees and the club probably have to make supporters move to accommodate disabled supporters. The High court ruled that a bus driver must make a passenger move from a disabled seat instead of just ask. The reason was that a woman with a push chair was occupying the disabled space and refused to move. After the ruling as I understand it (I'm not a lawyer so may be wrong) the bus driver must make a person incorrectly occupying a disabled seat move). This ruling probably has enormous implications for all football clubs.

If Foster has a problem, it is that a man of his immense build cannot get down quickly to balls on the ground near him. He is usually an excellent shot stopper otherwise. Perhaps he is being targetted with low ground shots. Davis= the criticism is laughable, although I can only watch on TV, this gives one a more analytical and probably better view than at the ground. Saints have been on TV many times this season and I and the match analysts have a very high opinion of him.

Clutching at straws I know, but perhaps VVD's injury is healing better than expected. Only logical reason I can see for not getting CB cover in.

Living over 150 miles away, and having not been to many games in the past few years due to three serious illnesses inc prostate ca, although son and I have had memberships and being a fan from early sixties and made most games work permitting until I moved away for a new job, I regret that I shall presumably miss this one. Its a pity as Wembley has good blue badge facilities and I could actually get there. I have fond memories of watching the last League Cup Final with my late father, he didn't go to many as he couldn't stand and worked most Saturdays, (another reason I can't go to matches as I can no longer stay with my parents- I used to make a handful of home matches every season when they were in Winchester). I'd love to watch this one with my son but haven't got much hope of doing it. And I agree that it is very unfair that away matches aren't taken into consideration as that is the reason son has membership and I had apart from this year when I had a knee replacement, which meant there wasn't much point,as I have only just become mobile again.

The tension in the second half reminded me of 1976, waiting for the whistle. young Sims run was brilliant for such a young player and Long remembered how to score In the words of Claude--"Fantastique" repeated about 10 times in a minute or so.

Perhaps not great biy definitely "Fantastique". He was obviously delighted in his interview as I lost count of the number of fantastiques he said.

The old memories that stand out for me are the transformation of the streets around Highbury from working class to million £ ++ houses for the metropolitan wa88kers. In about 67 when we even saw a lady in apron and hair scarf polishing her doorstep red after a match while avoiding Arsenal thugs by going a roundabout way to Finsbury Park. In 64 my cousin took me to Burnley, and to a rural Winchester lad it looked like the dark satanic mills of a Lowrie painting, as did Blackburn in 67. Not sure that they have changed much except the mills have closed to be replaced by warehouses. For a birthday I and my son watched a European Cup tie in the Eternal City Rome, my favourite city in Europe. IMO nowhere can beat it, and superb public transport. I rather liked Blackpool FC where an uncle retired to in the early sixties. Stoke before the evil witch ruined the Potteries was an interesting place from an industrial archeology point of view, with the pot banks, coal mines and steelworks all nearby. Norwich and Ipswich are quite interesting places, Norwich more so, but if you look above the modern shopfronts in Ipswich you see some excellent architecture. In the sixties the Dell would probably have been interesting for away supporters with views of the docks and ships funnels as you walked to the Station. Also much closer to the City Centre than most. An interesting post, but in my away going hay-day you spent too much time avoiding the home team's thugs to enjoy many views.

Badly bruised heels and feet can take a long time to heal and are very painful, as I can personally verify. When young and fit I bruised a heel and couldn't walk properly let alone run or play any games for a whole uni term Even with the intensive care and physio a pro footballer will get a badly bruised foot may take weeks and the foot is very complicated with many small bones that can break easily I'm amazed Vardy got away with it as on TV it looked like a deliberate hack, with no chance of getting to the ball !

I certainly don't think he's out of his depth. It may be that either other clubs find the diamond too easy to defend against, or that we don't have the right players to make a success of it. I will however be very upset (to say the least) if we don't bring a specialist striker in this window. We need a short term fix for a striker and a central defender. The long term can be dealt with in the summer.