spyinthesky

Presume there must have been two of them on the climb?

My random memories of Big Ron 1. Never really heard of him when he signed for £55,000 in 1966 2, Singing along to the refrain 'Da Doo Ron Davies, Da Doo Ron Ron, on away trips 2. Most remembered goal? Ironically a right footed thunderbolt (he always favoured the left) in a last game of the season win over Villa 1967. Think the ball stuck in the stanchion. He scored 4 that day and was denied a 5th due to a dodgy offside 3. Greatest opponent? Mike England when he played for Spurs. He and Ron had a great tussle at White Hart Lane one year (I think we lost 5-3 but Ron won the individual battle) 4. Most difficult opponent. recollect it was probably Billy Baxter of Ipswich. Smaller than Ron but also a good leaper. 5. Off field recollections of Ron? At the Metro/Top Rank surrounded by adoring women (B*****d!!) 6. Last recollections of Ron? Turning out for Wessex Hotel in the Soton Sunday Morning league as a centre half. Great memories and the third recently departed Saint, after Ken Jones and Kevin Moore

West Ham renewal prices: Kids from £110 Adults from £620 Executive Box from £26,500 + Vat Lounges from £7,250 + Vat Greenwood/Lyall Bar £2,100 + Vat

Exactly. There are plenty of European teams who would make the list. It was interesting to see the attendances last weekend in the top English, German, French and Italian Leagues The average crowd in the Prem was 35,400, in Germany 49,300!!!, Spain 26,600, Italy 21,400 (how their crowds have fallen) and France 21,000 In Germany the home crowds were: Augsburg 30,112 B Dortmund 80,645 B M Gladbach 54,010 E Frankfurt 51,500 Freiburg 24,000 Hamburg 57,500 Hanover 49,000 Nuremburg 46,157 Stuttgart 51,020 Some serious crowds there presumably attracted by new stadia and cheap ticket prices

Reference to the clapper distribution was one of the things in Poyets email rant that got him suspended!!

Well done Brighton. Topped the home attendance list for last season with a home average of 26,373 However failed to beat ours of 26,419 from the previous season. Good effort nonetheless Meanwhile Saints have now finally overtaken Pompey in the all time (ie from League entry) in 1920/1 in the overall home average attendance over 86 seasons. Saints 17,557 Pompey 17,377 However over 86 seasons Saints have recorded a higher home attendance on 51 occasions which shows our dominance and loyalty especially as Pompey had a larger capacity ground for all bar 12 of the 86 seasons and, in fact, could only average 73% of capacity when they won their two League titles!!

White track suited man was in handcuffs after the game by the refreshment counter under the Itchen Stand being interviewed by a uniformed policeman. Presumably he will get charged for entering the field of play and perhaps get a banning order. He was daft to do what he did but perhaps a word in his ear may have been the best punishment on the day. Fair play for the rest of the fans for keeping off the pitch. Wonder if those Stoke fans responsible for setting off the flares were nabbed?

Don't think any one knows quite how much the loan from Vibrac (based in the British Virgin Islands) amounted to. The £30 odd million is the debt to equity figure arranged by the Liebherr Trust which, presumably means that if the Trust was to sell up this would be the minimum selling price they would look to achieve. Saints are not alone in getting cash in this way. Vibrac have recently loaned £16m to Fulham, £13m to Everton, and £60m to West Ham (who are in shed loads of debt) QPR borrowed £15m from Barclays in Hong Kong and Swansea a mere £3m from Lloyds. It is likely other clubs have taken out 'Pay day' loans (often at 10% Interest rates) set against future TV and Season Ticket earnings. Smaller clubs are also indebted in other ways eg Pompey have to pay back a Council Loan of over a £1m in the near future

Brought back some pleasant memories of the Cardiff Final I thought Saints fans were excellent on the day However for those of us fortunate enough to be at Wembley in 1976 you can times the Millennium experience by a factor of 10 at least, possibly 100. The lead up, the Final, the return home, Channon's testimonial on the Monday followed by the hottest summer of the century, all fabulous and I hope one day it can be replicated especially for the younger fans

Any one know exactly which players were at the awards? Presumably most/all of the First team squad but would that also include Ramirez and Fox who have no further part to play this season. What about the likes of Richard Chaplow and others who are unlikely to be here next year?

Potentially more worries for (Sir) Henry Redknapp and Tony Fernandez especially if M. Remy spends a bit of time at Her Majesties Pleasure

I have heard from a couple of sources that Cortese does not see himself being in Southampton for a lengthy period (one suggested reason is that his wife has not settled too well here) However I have always been reassured by comments he supposedly made about having other investors lined up to take the club forward. I am not particularly keen on the way Cortese treats people in general but have to give him credit for guiding the club to the position it occupies at the moment. Most of us were looking for more progress next year and this may well be prejudiced by uncertainty. A period of stability would be nice but the portents don't seem to be that encouraging. I posted a hypothetical question a week or so back asking whether the owners might now look to sell the club as a decent profit could be realised from the sale. Perhaps the Liebherr family Trustees are, indeed, looking at this scenario. Problem with this we just don't know who is out there looking to buy into a football club. Just look at the chaos at Fratton Park caused by dodgy chancers.

Comment from Sunderland forum 'Desperately hanging on at the end against SOUTHAMPTON!! 'we were outplayed for most of the game by a team with inferior players' Mind you glad that Sunderland were without their 2 main strikers. Lost my chance of £8k in bets (placed against a worse case scenario) but happy that saints are more or less assured of a another season in the top league

This is the man that a significant amount of Pompey fans (including at least one local MP and the Pompey News) were promoting for a knighthood not so long ago (quite a few were also looking for an honour for Peter Storrie!!)

I think you are pretty spot on with your timings and comment on social change I used to travel quite extensively to follow Saints as a teenager and also occasionally used to watch top teams in London and around the country without any hint of trouble. Can remember odd individual fights in the, non segregated, terraces at Cardiff and Plymouth during our promotion year (to the old 1st Div) in 1965/6 but nothing too dramatic. However the first mass violence I recollect was when Chelsea arrived for an early game in our first year in Div 1 and they mob handed took over the Milton Road end. It was a bit of a culture shock for us younger supporters Around about this time Pompey fans came visiting for John Hollowbread's testimonial and there were scuffles then too and I think this may have started reciproical bad feeling by some Saints fans towards Pompey. (Interesting to note that when Jimmy Dickinson, the old Pompey stalwart, played his last game at the Dell he got clapped onto the field by a guard of saints players and a great reaction from the Saints fans. Compare this to the Ted Bates game at St Marys) Culturally terrace aggression was a progression of mob violence started by the Teddy Boys in the 1950's and continued by the Mods and Rockers in the mid 60's and early 70's. Bank Holidays in seaside resorts at this time was carnage with what could be described as mass riots going on

I used to go to school in Fareham and there was no animosity between Saints and Pompey fans then My Dad used to regularly watch Saints but would occasionally go to Fratton or Dean Court as did many others My first recollection of ill feeling was the 1960/1 game at Fratton when our young mascot (he was about 14 and used to run round the pitch in club colours with an ols Aitre raid rattle) had running track dirt thrown in his face by some Pompey fans. I think their 'Sailor Boy' mascot didn't cover himself in glory either. After this time the crowd violence thing started to take shape in English football but most Saints fans were slow to dislike Pompey, as there had been a generally good disposition towards the team from Saints fans whereas the Pompey lot seemed be upset that their team's predominance (since the late 1920's) had been lost to the emerging Saints from the 1960's onwards it is noticeable that since 1960 Pompey have only finished higher in the League in 7 of the 53 seasons and have only had a higher average league attendance in 3 of the 53 seasons!! That has intensified the bad feeling down the eastern end of the M27

I thought there was a professional restriction If Costco apply this to the letter surely this will restrict their membership numbers

Presume any one can join? There appears to be certain occupation limitations for non trade members

Another pessimist here!! Got 150/1 with Betfair a few weeks back (subject to maximum bet limit) Also got money on elsewhere at 80/1 and most recently 66/1 with Ladbookes Another one who wishes not to be paid out but if the worst happens I have my season ticket paid financed for the next 10 years or so!!

I wish I wasn't a card carrying pessimist but it is a burden I have faced all my life I did a predictor after the West Ham game and had us a point from safety so thought the margin of error was tight enough to risk a gamble when the odds were 150/1 against I have now nearly £8k awaiting me if Saints go down, a bet I sincerely hope I don't benefit from

Hopefully Luke Shaw will be back asap but according to recent reports his ankle is in a cast and unlikely to return until last game of season, at best. So how will the Manager seek to deal with this?. Possible options: 1. Move Yoshida to RB and Clyne to LB and bring in Fonte (presume favoured option) 2. Play Fraser Richardson at RB and move Clyne across (FR is OK at Championship level but perhaps a bit out of his depth/rusty at Prem level?) 3. Play Jack Cork at RB etc (Cork is a vital ingredient in midfield and has struggled at RB, Chelsea cup Tie etc) 4. Keep Clyne at RB and recall Dickson (don't think for one this will happen, and dependent on loan terms etc but Dickson possibly no worse than Fox, has a left foot and is reasonably pacey) 5. Play Forren at LB (likely not quick enough as would be the case with Hooivelt)

Lambert £1m Boruc Free Schneiderlin £1m Cork £750k Clyne £1m Davis £500k = £4.25m versus Ramirez £12m Mayuka £3m Fox £1.8m Forren £3m = £18.8m Possibility that three of the latter four may one day prove their worth but cant help thinking we may have seen the last of Ramirez and possibly Fox after yesterday

I noticed this and assumed the person referred to wasn't the 'real' Cas Pennant who is supposed to be a Hammers fan Perhaps the Pompey Trust are looking to revisit their 'history' a la 657 style

Got to say one or two good ideas in amongst all this. If they can keep up the momentum then fair play to them and assuming a successful season in Div 2 then this is likely. However I have been involved in a few organisations run by enthusiastic individuals and there are always fall outs which sap energy and enthusiasm of even the most committed people. The Trust may well be a good blue print for other clubs but it is just as likely to fall apart at the seams especially if next season does not live up to expectation

For us 'oldies' what about Bob Charles, Southampton's answer to Fatty Foulkes the famous keeper at the turn of the 20th century