spyinthesky

Based on 2011 comparative conurbation population is approx. as follows Southampton 254 Eastleigh 79 Bishopstoke 20 Bursledon 7 Hedge End 25 Botley 3 Ashurst 3 Otterborne 3 Fawley 14 Hamble 5 Kings Worthy 5 Marchwood 6 Netley 6 N Baddesley 7 Romsey 16 Winchester 46 Hythe 20 TOTAL 519 Portsmouth 205 Gosport 71 Fareham 42 Havant 45 Lee 7 Stubbington 20 Waterlooville 64 Horndean 47 Denmead 6 Emsworth 19 TOTAL 526 So allowing for areas not included and assuming the likes of Locksheath and Whitely are 50/50, there is not too much difference between the two catchment areas However it is noticeable that Portsmouth is the most crowded city in the UK with 5,100 people per sq kilometre which is 20 times higher than the UK average I suppose this explains, to some degree, the aggressiveness and inter breeding traits!!

I am no supporter of the archetypal Pompey fan (Scummer hater/ proponent of myths) but I do recognise that their potential support is similar to us/Brighton The problem they face, with their current 'Fans Ownership' profile is the finance conundrum. They have no chance of improving the very basic 'facilities' on offer at 'The Old Lady' without external financing Interesting that more than one lower division manager/owner has said that the upper echelons of English football will be out of the reach of lower division clubs due to the massive financial advantage Prem clubs will have even if they are relegated, due to the increased compensation package available to relegated clubs

There seems to be two different points of view amongst the 'Fratton Faithful' it seems 51% want to 'Rip Up' through the Leagues to their 'Spiritual Home' of the Championship whilst building a 35,000+ capacity stadium (no 'Soul Less' bowl but a re jig of Fratton Park) whilst maintaining their 'Fan Ownership' arrangement The remaining 48% want to stay in the Lower Leagues where the enjoyment of 'Proper Football'/'Character Grounds' take precedence over the Money Grabbing excesses and 'Plastic Fans' of the Premiership

Paul Williams was on Radio 5 Live tonight bigging up Pochettino (fair play to Poch as he has done well at Spurs) Didn't realise that PW is on the coaching staff at Notts Forest (is Danny Fox still at the County ground?) Have heard from another source that Jason Dodd is taking over as Head of Sports at Winchester College, replacing another ex Saint, Lew Chatterley

I have a lot of sympathy for Refs (although this is not always the case when Saints are on the receiving end) but have to say Spurs have benefitted from 2 dodgy pens ie v Man City (A) and Leicester (H)

Yesterday Turnbull and McCarthy - both played full 90 mins for Swindon and Wycombe and seem to be regular fixtures at both clubs Lloyd Isgrove - subbed at 61 mins for Barnsley Ryan Seager - subbed at 71 mins for Crewe Sam McQueen - subbed at 51 mins for Southend I guess it is more likely that a forward will be subbed rather than a defender but our youngsters don't seem to be getting the game time you would hope their talent would deserve. Hopefully they will progress but the example of Gallagher and Stephens doesn't bode particularly well. Wish them all the best of luck whatever happens.

If there was a European Super League would the broadcasting money follow this leaving the English National League clubs with far less revenue?

I was on the ski slopes in Austria at the time and was told the news by a group of Watford fans we met there Of course I didn't believe it and it wasn't until I saw a copy of the Daily Mail the following day that I knew it was true Remember going to a presentation at the Guildall (organised by the Daily Express??) when Lawrie Mac said that Keegans signing was just the start of the 'Grand Plan' Keegan was a very good player for us Shame he couldn't have stayed longer

Talking to an Orient fan today he said that the O's were very much the better side on Saturday He also reckoned the floodlights were 'dodgy' ie 2 pylons were working with supplementary illumination provided by lights hung from one of the stands Surely this cant be right!! Wasn't there significant investment in 'Championship' standard floodlights?

One of the first men's Boutiques I used to frequent was Gran Moda at the time of the Adam and Eve club (late 60's/early 70's) Think this was either in East Street or more likely Hanover Buildings

Is Aaron martin still there?

One of the Pompey forums derogatory mention was made of the 'plastic' MK Dons stadium ('prefer surroundings of the 'decrepit ' Old Girl!!!!!!! etc)_ No atmosphere etc (fair enough) compared to the 'cauldron' which is Fratton Park... 'where the fans contribute so much to home results'..... Interesting then that a recent Sky Report shows that, if I remember correctly, Pompey have the 62nd best historical home record whilst Saints, in comparison, are 17th Another Portsmyth???

Bit off thread but who plays 11 a side Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday Football nowadays? No one I guess. Couldn't get enough games when I was younger

I have fairly strong memories of Tommy Mulgrew playing as a No 10 for Saints in my very early days as a Saints supporter. Recollect he had quite a wavy hairstyle and an unusual gait when he ran. Seem to remember one occasion when he took the full force of one of the old (and probably wet) leather footballs in the nuts and went down shouting in agony. Unfortunately as a young kid I found this quite funny which, of course it wasn't, as I found to my cost later in life!!!! RIP Tommy

Agree with all this Lallana may not have acted in the right way when he left but, as far as I am concerned, I enjoyed his contribution as a Saint and would be more than happy to let Byegones be Byegones

Will be interesting to see how Pompey get on against Bournemouth Reserves this Saturday I thought that perhaps our squad players/second string would give Pompey 1st team a decent game, and perhaps they would, but familiarity/teamwork often [pays dividends over technically better individuals Eddie Howe has a tricky decision to make Bournemouth should be good enough to avoid the drop but he needs a degree of certainty set against the prospect of a decent cup run Hope they wallop the plucky Pompey team

Provided everyone is fit: 1st Choice ..........Bench ............ Squad Keepers Foster.................Stekelenburg ...Davis/Gazzaniga Right Back Cedric........................................Martina Left back Bertrand....................................Targett Holding Midfield Wanyama............Romeu.............Reed Central Defence VV Dijk................Yoshida............Gardos/Stephens Fonte Midfield Clasie................ Ward Prowse......Juanmi Davis................ Tadic................Ramirez Forward Austin..................Pelle................Rodrigues Mane...................Long All subject to formations etc and assumes Yoshida will provide full back cover but shows strength of squad and number of decent players who are unlikely to feature in the match day activity.

Interesting to compare how many ex Saints Youth are currently playing in the professional game Just off the top of my head Bale Walcott Ward Prowse Targett Baird Reeves Oxlade Chamberlain Mills (Matt) Mills (Fish) McGoldrick Poke Cranie Gobern Best Blackstock Lallana Martin Surman Reed Gallagher

Charlie Austin £4m 0r Jon Jo Shelvey £12m Know which one I would go for

Wonder if the initial fee is £4m + add ons or a straight £4m up front Seems a decent price notwithstanding possible injury/fitness problems There was some suggestion a month or two back that he had bought property at Hythe Marina Could be true!!

Interesting debate Has any English club been fined over FFP? All sorts of sanctions were threatened on QPR and more recently Bournemouth Don't believe any real sanctions have been applied but could be wrong

Re Davis I thought he played very well Was his 'goal' offside or not Not shown on MOTD Whatever it was a terrific finish

If we worst was to happen and we did get relegated, I wonder how many of the current squad would remain at the club? Undoubtedly Ronald and team would go More or less all of the current squad, apart from a few of the fringe players are likely to be on weekly salaries in excess of £20k and therefore likely to be too expensive to keep with drastically reduced revenue The likelihood is that the average wage of our top 20 players is £30k per week so you could see most/all of these depart. A guesstimate of their combined transfer market value is around £150 million. If these figures are realistic the club should be in a relatively healthy state to start again in the Championship with a new squad and manager if there is a reasonable investment in new players with the ability to win promotion. However there is no guarantee of success and would Kat look to take 'profits' knowing that if promotion back to the Prem was secured it would take a fair old wedge to build the squad back up to compete again at the top level.

I'm going mainly because I have always gone to watch Saints - possibly from a misguided sense of loyalty started at a very early age However I can well understand why some Saints fans, particularly the younger generation who have enjoyed a fairly positive spell of success, feeling a bit let down by the current situation. I think anything over 25,000 at the current level of 'despair', even at attractive prices, will be fairly good. Also with important home League games coming up in close succession, I would be tempted to give fringe players a go. I do sympathise with those who believe we should always play our strongest team but staying in the Prem is the major thing these days and it is difficult to see our current team progressing too far in the Cup What a turn round though from last year where we were relatively confident of beating Palace in the 4th round. This time I would put us down as underdogs

Presume Boro don't fancy him He hasn't started many times for Boro