spyinthesky

Daren, I am no Pompey apologist but, in my view, 11,000 at their place isnt bad bearing in mind the dire stuff the team plays. In all honesty I wouldn't have seen us do too much better at the Dell. Their supporters may pour scorn on our 'soulless bowl' but it attracts more paying customers as it is a decent place to watch football. It will be interesting next season as and when Pompey go down (and possibly struggle) They will be lowest ranked club on the South Coast and possibly behind Bournemouth in home crowds if Bompey go up and do well. Also there are often comments made by Pompeyites about empty seats at St Marys Back in their 'glory days' of the early 50's Fratton Park had a capacity of over 50,000 yet their highest average attendance was 37,000 at a time when most clubs played to capacity crowds. One year their championship winning side played to an average attendance of less than Hull City in the old 3rd Division!!!!

As Barry Sanchez correctly pointed out, the port has three rail access points, one in the Eastern Docks (via Northam and Canute Road past St Marys, and two in the Western Docks) Back in the 1990's East Anglian Railways looked at building a station just inside the Canute Rd Dock entrance to serve the Ocean Village/Downtown area but, more importantly to them, allow direct access to their core East Anglian market by a route avoiding the main London Terminii. The cost of electrifying the spur from Northam, building a (modest) station and pricing in the cost of this and surrounding land for taxis/cars etc never stacked up so was abandoned at an early stage. Meanwhile the Northam spur line is increasingly busy with regular, diesel hauled, car trains and the occasional cruise passenger train

I agree that the cost of a rail platform will not be cost effective Going off on a tangent how many clubs have or did have their own railway station? Hull City (at Boothferry Park) and Man Utd come to mind and Arsenal had an Underground Station renamed in their honour Also recollect that Bolton had a railway line at the back of their ground at Burnden Park

You can add Kevin Keegan, Peter Shilton, Ron Davies, Ivan Golac, Marian Pahars, Rickie Lambert et al to the list As the man with the wooden leg said ...'It's all a matter of a pinion'......

Interesting to see that leicester only got 8,000 for friday nights top of the table clash with Middlesboro Obvously conditions put a lot of people off especially as it was a TV game Lowest crowd of the season so far at SMS I reckon for a number of reasons

FF I dont think any one dobted Painey's ability. He was a class act, behind MLT and Channon in my opinion but nevertheless one of the best ever Saints players. It was interesting that Lawrie Mac got rid of him as soon as possible when he took over but it was fairly simple decision as Terry was past his best by then of course Terry is smart and so is Cortese in his own way. By choosing Terry as Club President he could pander, to some extent to the club's history (which otherwise is an irrelevance to him) whilst having a pliable and remotely located person in the post. btw there are always anecdotes about past players. The one I liked, as told to me at Ken Jones funeral last week (an emotional yet humourous event) was Terry Paine taking the mickey out of a rather inebriated Brian O'Neill who had rather a lot to drink on a close season tour and messed his trousers. Painey was relentless in his joy at Brian O'Neills misfortune Unbeknown to Terry, Brian had 'borrowed' Paine's expensive Tonic trousers so the tables were turned and Terry became the butt of everyone's jokes especially once O'Neill had sobered up!! and suffered from a weak bladder

Interesting that in all the pro Adkins articles in the Sports Echo, the only support given to the decision to change the team management comes from Terry Paine, the newly installed Club President. Of course all media comments have to be taken with a pinch of salt but, if reported correctly, it unfortunately follows a pattern that Terry has followed most of his life. A great player for the Saints but not well liked by his teammates, as David Bull's book 'A Constant Paine' will testify. Unfortunately he had an unfortunate reputation of toadying around Ted Bates and it seems 40 or so years on, he is one of the very few relics of the Saints past who is able to have a rapport with Mr Cortese but I guess that is relatively easy when you live in South Africa!!

Rod Liddle in the Sunday Times is worth a read too

Understand that there was certainly something going on at the pre season games A neighbour of Adkins told me that Adkins was annoyed that Cortese came into the Dressing Room at one of the pre season games and started to dictate on team selection This made the neighbour and a few friends put serious money on Adkins departure. Not sure whether they won the bet but one put £300 on Benitez so he lost!!

Prior to Xmas I heard from a creditable source that Cortese had turned down an offer for the club Not saying it was anything to do with a possible Russian link but, by all accounts, Cortese wants to be out of Southampton in the next couple of years I certainly want my team to do well but would be very uneasy if the owners came with a shadowy business background As far as we know the Liebherr investment is 'clean'

20 yellows and no reds so far this term Whats the betting the ratio per game increases significantly under the new regime btw Big Thank you to the Coaching Team who have been given their marching orders along with Nige

Unfortunately the wife pranged her car this morning, another vehicle ran into a fence opposite us and a delivery driver hit a lampost just up the road. Anyone else suffering? Car insurance claims people rushed off their feet, poor souls

Absolutely spot on

Wonder if the Saints censors will allow mention of Nigel Adkins in Monday's programme? Having pulled the end of season Southend programme a year or so back, expunged all mention of Alan Pardew's achievement and definitely refused to allow MLT's name to be used to advertise his attendance at the recent housing development launch in Woolston, it is expected that Nige's achievements may be airbrushed from history. As an aside, whilst very surprised and unhappy about the latest news, and other aspects of the club management, I think little will be achieved by displays of open hostility towards the Saints decision makers or the new team manager and especially the team. I feel very sorry for Nigel and his staff and also for Mr Cortese's children who live locally and may suffer a back lash from this as young kids can be quite cruel.

Rumours I know but: 1. Heard before Christmas that Cortese had turned down a bid for the club. Could it be that IF this info was kosher perhaps this MAY have something to do with future managerial arrangements 2. From a better source (via a builder working on Cortese's house), our Chairman does not expect to be here beyond 2 years

A fair assessment To me he looked Ok but not much else last season and a lot of people were taken in by his great goal (v Derby?) He was poor in the U 21 game v Man Utd recently and looke lightweight when he came on as sub v Chelsea but I guess that was a difficult game to assess. Can't see him featuring much in our squad going forward but, hey, that is what I said last year about Jason Puncheon!!!

Could be that the player was concerned about Liverpool being the Gun Crime capital of the UK A Local league player was shot before kick off at playing fields in the Liverpool suburb of Woolton and Stephen Gerrard's father had to employ a well known 'scally' to protect his son when he was being threatened by other local mobsters.

Reading the posts on the Villa game, I am impressed with the numbers at the game but sympathetic towards one or two comments from the more vocal supporters who are frustrated at the 'non participants' For many years I enjoyed regular away days but, as you get past a certain age, other considerations come into play and my away attendance is much more limited now. However when I do go, my legs won't take standing for the duration and I don't have the energy to shout and sing as was the case in my younger days. I wonder therefore if away ticket distribution, particularly for the big games, could be organised so that those who wish to sing and stand could be separated from those who sit and stare. I am a season ticket holder so choose to sit in the more 'sedate' part of St Marys. However I enjoy a good atmosphere and if anything that can be done to maximise youthful enthusiasm then perhaps something could be considered. Or would this be too difficult from an admin perspective? I suppose this is the drawback with all seating. Years ago, people my age could pay a premium for a stand seat, whereas the hard core support could congregate with their mates on the terraces and sing and shout to their hearts content.

Perhaps the gentleman was referring to (Sir) Henry Redknapp He was so well liked down there that the News was bombarded with requests to campaign for his Knighthood Even at an advanced age, I imagine (Sir) Henry could make the squad!!

Yes sorry about this I used figures sent to me which, on checking, seem to be way off the mark UK Tax revenue seems to be around the £592b mark with forecast expenditure at an expected £683b leaving a shortfall of £91b The National Debt, which we appear to have carried for centuries, is now around the £1.2 trillion mark. Even so the fact that all this debt is swirling round the world and the UK has been one of the worlds wealthiest countries with annual deficits got back centuries is hard to fathom

Put in a clearer perspective: UK Tax revenue £2,170,000,000,000 UK Budget £3,820,000,000,000 New Debt £1,650,000,000,000 National Debt £14,271,000,000,000 Recent Budget Cuts £38,500,000,000 Remove the last eight zeros and pretend it is a household budget Annual Family Income £21,700 Annual Family Spend £38,200 New Credit Card Debt £16,500 O/S Balance on Credit Card £142,720 Total Savings so far £385 Of course we are not the only 'family' with this problem. All our neighbours seem to have the same financial concerns including our 'wealthy relatives' across the water. It would be interesting to learn who has accumulated all the debt our friends and neighbours owe. There must be some people with big smiles on their faces but they seem to keep it well hidden Perhaps it is the Chinese family down the road

Heard a little whisper that they played a friendly against the KEVth Playing Field Cones and lost 1-0. The humiliation was too much to bear especially as only 10 cones were available due to cutbacks.

Always a shame to see empty seats but those who didn't go were fortunate to miss 45 odd minutes akin to sitting in a dentists chair!! However the crowd figure was the 4th highest of a day when a lot of 'well supported clubs' had surprisingly poor attendances. So well done for all those, like me, who had to endure one of the most one disappointing second half displays in recent memory (Leeds 4-3 defeat remains stong in my memory!!) Obviously there are a number of part time Chelsea fans in/around this area gloating at the moment but I remember seeing Saints wallop Chelsea 6-2 at Stamford Bridge back in the mid 60's and then going back to London in the 70's/80's when Chelsea played in front of 13-15,000 home crowds. So a lot of those following Chelsea nowadays are no different to the remote 'glory hunters' who latch themselves onto the likes of Man Utd, Liverpool etc. I hurt today but this only stores up emotions to doubly enjoy the times when the team do well, particularly against the so called 'bigger clubs'!!

If all the clues comes together the 53 yr old is a big Saints fan Still didn't Jason Mumford get a tug from the police recently and it doesnt seem to have finished his career.