John B

I saw the Charlton away game in December then went on a trip through Asia Australia and NZ with no internet I had to follow the results through reading Newspapers in such places as Bangkok Kula Lumpar Singapore Bali Perth Sydney Cairns Alice Springs Wellington and Auckland returned to see the Orient and Spurs matches and will be at St Mary's on Saturday. Also saw us go down at Everton in 1974 when we won 3-1

Last season the team scored 84 League Goals With three games to go this season the team has scored 77 League Goals

I totally agree with you and agreed with you at time. However I was concerned that small shareholders staff and local small businesses would suffer I did not care about the banks or large shareholders. By going into administration the club eventually can gain an advantage that is of course why there is the ten point deduction whether that is enough we can only speculate

Yes I agree we are a large club and Southampton is a large city compared with rivals like Yeovil Brentford etc and with the money spent we should be getting promoted whoever the manager is. However I disagree with you about cheating we did sort of cheat spending money we did not have and going into Administration so losing 10 points and finding ourselves in League 1 which I must admit I have quite enjoyed for a couple of years. Now that we are out of Administration we are I think in a much better position than we would have been if we had not got ourselves into Administration and whether that is particularly ethical is open to debate as we can now spend more money on players as we have nothing outstanding on the players. Being a large club in League 1 means that we should accept that the smaller ones will want to beat us like we wanted to beat Arsenal Chelsea Man U etc but we should not belittle their stadiums and aspirations I like the idea that fans support Tranmere and not Liverpool and Everton and support Hartlepool and not Newcastle and Sunderland

I remember both promotions quite well going to Leyton Orient both times and watching the boring draw between Saints and Spurs in 1978 which got us promoted I will be at St Mary's in May to see us get promoted against Walsall I do have a vivid memory of the 1966 Div 1 game with Man City because in those days there was no crowd segregation and there we lots of Man City fans in with us at the Milton Road End. For some reason half way through the game some of their fans got wound up put knuckle dusters on and told us to stop cheering for the Saints. None of us had any experience of this and duly shut up

Just looking forward to 7th May to celebrate my third promotion but we have done really well with three of the four or so Premier League standard players not available in recent games

At the start of the seaon I thought the team assembled by Pardew /Cortese would be promoted and that any reasonable manager should be able to get us promoted after Pardew left although the poor form with Wilkins in charge was a worry Likke you have said on numerous occassions our squad has cost loads compared with many others

Although Adkins has done OK it is really Pardew's team I think he did really well in getting Butterfield Hammond Harding Fonte Jaidi Barnard and Lambert to join SFC and without them I doubt we we would be in the position we are today

The best result for years in fact I cannot remember a better win for years

I agree but we now need more ponts than I thought and there is less room for error if Huddersfield win today

Why lock a perfectly good thread I would have thought the play offs were more likely now for us than they were an hour ago Pressure mounting on our team now I think

I am beginning to think that we may well be in the playoffs I was quite confident that we would get to second place but with injuries and Huddersfield winning it is a possibility unfortunately that we wont We do need to get at least a point at Brighton who have not been beaten at home all season I believe

Strange that both Davis and Harding are in the players team of the year

Exactly we had a hiccup a few weeks back lost to Walsall and drew with Hartlepool but still came back strongly We just dont seem to be able to stay unbeaten for over ten games . Still very likely to get promoted no need to worry at the moment thats all

All season we have had a good run followed by a couple of dodgy results we never seem to put a really long run of good results together. Of course we may comeback tonight but there is no reason that we can put another run of results together starting on Saturday and get promoted

Yes totally agree We need to play it tight for the first 30 mins perhaps

Well his first touch was dreadful on Tuesday perhaps it is better when I am not watching

In general his first touch lets him down otherwise I think he could be a top striker Spurs I think let him go. But he has been very good for us so I am pleased he was signed

We will get enough points to get promoted automatically Huddersfield and Peterborough know we have the momentum and will be planning for the play offs especially if we win at Rochdale

I think Barnard is an excellent League 1 Striker and will probably be a good Championship Striker He would be even better if his first touch was better as would have been James Beattie Whilst watching the game on Tuesday I noticed that Barnard on quite a few occassions lost the ball because of poor ball control On the otherhand Rickie Lamberts first touch is extremely good

Although the Stadium looked pretty empty and there was no atmosphere where I was 20k Saints supporters was a pretty good figure

Buying a 33 Year Old Goalkeeper who is on a continual slide down the Leagues I dont think is a good idea. Like all goal keepers he can make terrific saves but he lacks consistency

Yes I totally agree I have always been sceptical about SFC being a regular top team in the PL without massive cash injections. With regard to the accounts the wages seem to be high but we did have a clear out of players last summer so I think the accounts for the year ending this June will give a better idea how well the club is being run financially and if OXO is sold the figures will probably look very goodb

Man U and Liverpool play in Red Chelsea Pompey in Blue Stoke Sunderland Southampton play in Red and White Stripes

I am sure you are right that he had to make one save but I dont recall him making any. Cannot remember many shots either although one went well over the bar in the last few minutes. A good solid performance from the Saints with no onereally outstanding and no one really poor. Just thought that RM was not Guly's best position but he scored and made a goal so he did a very good job The atmosphere in the Chapel was poor especially as promotion is so near good noise from the Northam though