spyinthesky

If you are a 'non committed' football fan in this area and, as an adult, you wanted to take two teenagers to St Mary's it would cost around £114 In comparison, at Fratton park, it would be approx. £48. Plenty of difference in playing standard, quality of stadium etc etc but quite a marked difference

The situation at St Marys is being reflected in grounds elsewhere. You could more or less guarantee a sell out at every Premiership ground a few years ago and attendances in the Championship were also very strong I guess regular full houses are only guaranteed at Arsenal, Man Utd, Spurs, West Ham, Liverpool, Chelsea and Norwich Even Newcastle are failing to sell out every week (understandably!!) As a season ticket holder, I too wouldn't worry if there were deals for late comers provided march day increases aren't added on, £100 or so for a Dad to take two teenage sons to a game would be too much for me. The availability of free TV streams in Pubs will only affect attendances more Perhaps if the game survives in its current format, perhaps we will all be watching our favourite team on the screen screened live from sanitised stadia with massive advert back drops and filtered in crowd noises. Still, on a positive note look how far the game has come since the 80's when hooliganism was rife, grounds were outdated and crowds were pathetic compared to now

Unfortunately I have to agree with you about Soton being somewhat of a cultural backwater, although I like living here. However I would be interested to learn how Civic leaders would get their hands on the money that is 'rolling in' from the cruise business. Soton council puts no money (or effort) into the cruise business nor does it receive any direct benefit. The cruise business has been built up by private enterprise/investment and the returns benefit a number of commercial entities. I think the only direct benefit to the Council is possibly through business rates

Ratings Davis 7 At least three decent saves. Poor kicking Chambers 7 Got forward well. Some decent crosses. Badly out of position once Fox 6 Steady Cork 6 Started well. Fell away a bit second half Yoshida 7 Decent game Hooivelt 6 Reasonable display Ward Prowse 6 Did OK. One or two uncharacteristic misplaced passes Davis 8 Thought he was our best player. Neat and tidy throughout. Plenty of energy Guly 6 A sympathetic rating. Possibly a 5. Ramirez 6 A stunning goal but generally poor Lee 6 Ran around a lot with little end product

Gaston scored a quality goal and lifted one sublime pass over the defence in the first half. Apart from that he was generally pants all night Thought their left footer Emannuel-Thomas looked more of a threat at times Shame really because Gaston looked the real deal on a couple of occasions last season, particularly first half at home to Everton

Gaston scored a quality goal and lifted one sublime pass over the defence in the first half. Apart from that he was generally pants all night Thought their left footer Emannuel-Thomas looked more of a threat at times Shame really because Gaston looked the real deal on a couple of occasions last season, particularly first half at home to Everton

Oxford Brasserie used to be good Not Southampton but had lunch in the White Horse Hotel restaurant (Silks?) in Romsey recently and that was good

I really do hope that the feedback from here gets to those people at the club responsible for ticket pricing policy. I want to be entertained on the pitch but a lack lustre match day atmosphere is not good for the experience of watching football and also can't really help the players. Like the Cat I wont now buy a programme or purchase from the wonderful array of food and specialist beers on tap in the catering centre.

I went down to get my ticket this morning Ticket office well staffed but I was the only one there. Doesn't bode well for tonight. I have to say, as a long standing Saints fan, I was rather put out in having to pay an additional £2.00 to buy my ticket on the day of the match and for a couple of seconds thought about saying 'Stuff it' and walking away I have never waited so late in the day to buy a match ticket but had been trying to find someone to go with. There are 8 in our group but I am the only one going I was also mildly irritated by having to provide my season ticket details (again can't remember being asked this before) but do understand the disciplines. However my details couldn't be found initially so had to wait around until the computer came up with the information. I then was concerned about having to pay for parking. Not a major issue but an irritation All in all I left feeling rather dispirited by the experience but perhaps that is more an age related thing allied to 50 years or so supporting the Saints!!!!!!!

The whole Saints /Pompey rivalry was pretty low key until both sides met up in 1960/1 (ie for the first time since the late 1920's) when Saints were promoted from the old Div 3 and Pompey relegated from Div 1. Until then quite a few Saints fans used to watch Div1 football at Fratton Park when Saints were away. Pompey were without question top dog in the region for over 30 years. However in the 54 seasons since 1960/1, Saints have been the dominant team for 47 years and, in fact, will have recorded a higher attendance in 51 of these seasons (assuming we don't fall below Pompey's average crowd this year!!) This is quite a damning statistic, as far as the Pompey massif are concerned, as until 2001/2, Fratton Park had a higher capacity then the dear old Dell. The whole bad feeling situation really goes back to the 60's and for the vast majority of current Pompey fans, they have had to face the fact that Saints have been dominant in every aspect of the game apart from the seven seasons from 2004/5 to 20010/11, and even during this time our crowds were higher than theirs in all bar one season

Only 5,000 sold at this late stage!!! Embarrasing Shows whoever decided the ticket pricing policy is not in touch with reality I thought Bristol City would bring a good following but they have only asked for an initial allocation of 1,000 and not sure how sales are going. I think we may struggle to make 8,000 although the result today may help. I do hope that if we progress and get another home tie some degree of realism will prevail

After todays unexpected and most welcome win at the League leaders, I wonder how many this will add to the attendance on Tuesday night? Still think the club have got the pricing wrong. I will go at £18 but would have taken all my family at £10 a pop so £40 plays £18 That said really looking forward to watching MOTD tonight. Well done Saints but potential banana skin v Palace.

I was there, with my Dad, in the mid 60's after we had just come up to the old Division 2 when we won 1-0 in an evening game at Anfiled, as I recollect, not long after beating them 4-1 at home. I don't remember seeing (or hearing) any other Saints fans in the ground and my Dad and I were looked upon as something special by the Liverpool fans. They thought we were really keen to have travelled all that way for an evening game when, in fact, we were staying not far from Anfield with relatives Again, if my memory serves me correct, the prices for Boys entry for the earlier Liverpool home game had increased by 50% from 1/- to 1/6d and a lot of us in the Boys queue were unaware of this and quite a few didn't have the extra 6d to get in. Luckily I was able to get a message to my Dad who came down to the turnstile to pay the extra entrance fee otherwise I would have been stuck outside. Happy days!!

2) John PFC Westwood 3) The Pompey Myths (Dock Strike which never happened/Cancellation of the Fund Raising friendly through lack of interest etc etc) 4) The Pompey News high profile support for a knighthood for 'Sir' Henry Redknapp (some fans were also calling for Peter Storrie to be honoured!!) 5) Playing in Pink 6) Doing the Conga 7) Taking any amount of our 'cast offs over the years' (At least we paid a fee for Barry Horne!!!) The Japanese goalkeeper 9) Losing to lower league Leyton Orient in front of 3,000 or so 10) Welcoming any number of dodgy owners including the banner over the bridge welcoming someone who didn't exist. 11) Corps Ho 12) 3 admins 13) Being one step away from Non League Football 14) Losing any recent local young talent to a 'proper' football club 15) Brent Geese 16) The Pompey Harbour Drome 17) Training in the Southampton Post code area for many years 18) Players preferring not to live within the PO post code 19) A fans song with only three words 20) Portsmouth once being in the County of Southampton

Great comment!!

Suppose that's what you get for 20p!! All in all not bad value though

Piece in the 'I' today about the U21 League have promotion/relegation from next season. Article also mentions arrangements abroad where reserve sides play competitively in the lower leagues and it also discusses the possibility of Prem clubs having 'Feeder Teams' With regard to the latter there have been attempts at this in the past and I remember reading about Everton (when they were as top club) having an association with Tranmere many years ago. There were also suggestions of us having similar links in the past with Bournemouth but with their Championship set up and financial backing, I suppose the most relevant local lower league club to become a feeder club for us would be plucky Pompey!!

This could be interpreted another way ie: Points gained 31 Points not gained 83

According to the News the new regime has agreed to pay all creditors owed less than £2500 in full Any one know what the total outlay will be and will it be 100% of the original debt or 2p in the £ (or whatever) of the original debt?

And yet the Pompey News reckons Guy and Co are looking to bring in more players as the Board has increased his budget!!

As an old timer reminds me of the original chant Aye aye yi yi Forsyth is better than Yashin Ron Davies is better than Eusebioooooo And you're in in for a thrashing Oh the memories!!

Can you but this direct from Permanon? Isn't it very expensive and you have to ensure the preparation is correct before the stuff is applied?

Talking to someone the other day about 'Detailing', something used to protect top of the range cars Apparently, if done correctly, is far better than the paint protection offered by dealers Not sure what the cost is though

Also bear in mind that Pompey have never averaged more than 37,000 at home, even in their most successful days This is a stadium which had a capacity of over 50,000 in the early 50's In one year their average attendance was a few hundred over Hull City who were in Division3 Don't forget also that, at this time in the early 50's, there were thousands of sailors in the naval port and quite s few Saints fans used to go down to Fratton to watch Div 1 games To be fair though Pompey are relatively well supported in the lower leagues Similar to what Luton are to Non League football.

Not sure of your motives in posting this but I have a degree of sympathy with your view. Now and then I have to justify to myself why I spend a good deal of time and money watching prima donnas fail to live up to my expectation I blame my old Dad who got me interested in the game as a youngster and, growing up, all I looked forward to was kicking a ball around and going to the Dell once a fortnight. Many of my long standing friends are associated with the game in some way and, in business, it has often helped develop relationships with people. Following Saints has probably given me more negative feelings than positives but, boy, do the occasional good times make up for it. The past few years have been comparatively good times but I know somewhere in the not too far in the future my allegiance will be tested However I am too much an ingrained Saint to give up the obsession