spyinthesky

ie Billy Sharp (off to Celtic?) Johnno Forte (free to Crawley?) Lee Barnard? Dean Hammond? Tadanari Lee? Aaron Martin (injured?) Possibly £3- £3.5m in annual wages for the 6 mentioned above In this respect possibility that only Billy Sharp and Tadanari Lee will have transfer values, likely to be reduced by their current contract benefits.

Osvaldo will undoubtedly cause problems during his time here and can't see him lasting 4 years that's for sure However he certainly has talent and hopefully this can be harnessed to ensure his contribution in terms of goals and team effort will outweigh his sendings off/suspensions and possible histrionics

We don't seem to have the skill to break down teams who put 11 players behind the ball To be fair we probably did enough to beat a Sunderland side showing little attacking enthusiasm yesterday and I wonder if we may struggle more against teams adopting a defensive line up at home in comparison to the 'better' teams who like to attack. We may also be better away from home against the 'lesser' sides I seemed to me that Sunderland's formation did not allow us to display the energy we normally display in breaking up opponents play and hitting them on the counter attack

Would have been nice to top the 30k but not too bad a crowd Sunderland normally fill their end so not selling their allocation was unusual (and their vocal support was surprisingly poor) As other posters have pointed out there were a few grounds which failed to reach capacity and crowds generally seem to be falling away as the ticket prices increase and there is competition from Live Streams I am fortunate enough to be able to fund a season ticket but would probably think twice about paying £35 on the day especially if I had older children tagging along The corporate side tickets are getting increasingly harder to shift, unless it is a top six game, and they are poor value As another poster has said, you get better value buying a few season tickets and entertaining people outside the stadium I know quite as few companies that have decided to take this option There are also a surprising number of long term season ticket holders who just cant afford to stump up the cash this year and will either select their games or watch from the pub Serious attention needs to be given to ticket pricing but, of course, we all know this but still want to see expensive players on the pitch

Understand Mr Cortese is currently having a big wall built round his house at Chilworth Wonder if he has upset someone? Italian clubs/Agents etc or, perhaps, these are bricks left over from the Staplewood development

I have to admit to drifting in and out of live games on the TV I also have to confess that whilst I am in awe of the extremely high level of skill, movement and passing ability provided by the top sides such as Barcelona, I often find this too good and therefore lose interest. However I watched the England v Scotland game for the whole 90 mins not only waiting for the arrival of SRL but also for the fact it was an interesting game Technical ability was relatively poor from both sides but it was an honest, 'British' game with number of mistakes actually adding to the interest. It basically reflected the game I was brought up on. The icing on the cake was the appearance of SRL and our household erupted when he scored. Shame that the last minute bobble affected his open goal opportunity otherwise we would all have gone into meltdown btw SRL really looks lean compared to when he first arrived from Bristol Rovers and his positive comments on the help given to him by all at SFC seemed heartfelt.

There is a post somewhere which gave a figure from a Wembley official (almost 52,000) of the number of Saints fans at the game I recollect that the attendance was 74,000? out of which Carlisle sold 18,000 Saints sold an official 44,000 and the remaining 8,000 or so were in the Sponsors areas and the FA members enclosure. It may well have been that the 52,000 figure was on the conservative side as there were no Carlisle supporters to be seen apart from their allocated area Incidentally some Pompey fans are comparing their friendly attendance v Charlton against ours yesterday, a couple of hundred different in Pompey's favour However our tickets were £18 for an adult whereas theirs, as I recollect, were 'pay as you like' with free tickets for sailors!! Perhaps another Pompey myth to add to the one about us cancelling the fund raising fixture a few years ago due to 'lack of interest' when the real reason was the proximity of the takeover

Pompey fans were boasting of a record attendance for league 2 Some Oxford fans suggested that there was also a record for the most fans leaving a League 2 ground with 15 mins to go!!!

Great stuff Any idea how this can be forwarded as an email attachment I have put in web address as an email attachment but this only relays sound and no pictures

FWIW I watched Matt Targett play for the U21's v Man Utd last January and thought he was average However have seen him pre season v Sholing and Eastleigh and he seems bigger and more assured He played CB v Eastleigh and didn't look out of place. Sturdy lad with pace and a sweet left foot Possibly a better defender than Luke Shaw at the same age but less attack minded There was another v young looking left back who looked decent v Eastleigh

Agree with this The new manager at Eastleigh has his team playing a bit of football in comparison to his predecessor's (Ian Baird) long ball game All the 'seasoned pros' ie Martin, Barnard, De Ridder, Lee, Forte and Sharp did very little (or nothing) to enhance their reputations. The young lads who came on as replacements added far more zest and movement than the old guard The pre-pubescent group of Saints supporters were a bit of an embarrassment as, I think, was the sparse crowd of 508

To be fair it was their U 21 Squad so a good comparison will be to see how our U21's get on at Eastleigh tonight However Mr Allen managed to take positives out of the 3-0 home drubbing by Charlton and it was noticeable that Bournemouth were short of several 1st teamers when plucky Pompey only went down 2-1 at Dean Court (as was)

To be fair it was their U 21 Squad so a good comparison will be to see how our U21's get on at Eastleigh tonight However Mr Allen managed to take positives out of the 3-0 home drubbing by Charlton and it was noticeable that Bournemouth were short of several 1st teamers when plucky Pompey only went down 2-1 at Dean Court (as was)

Looks like dear Rupes is on a downward spiral He supposedly purchased Garforth Town and reinstated his old mate Simon (25 year plan to reach the Premier League) Clifford. Looks like that has all gone pear shaped. Garforth now relegated to some Yorkshire Junior League, Clifford gone, and Rupes position and investment uncertain. Rupes really needs to rock up at Pompey to try to assist their ailing cause!!!!

See that plucky Braintree Town, who eked out a 0-0 draw with the mighty Pompey were so overwhelmed by the game that they gave up the ghost in the next fixture and were walloped 4-1 at home by little old Colchester Town, albeit a League One side of some standing

Whilst welcoming Victor to the fold, will he be able to get into the following list? 1. Ivan Golac 2. Marion Pahars 3. Antii Niemi 4. Michael Svenson 5. Claus Lundekam 6. Anders Svensson 7. Ronnie Eklund 8. Hassan Kachoul 9. MLT (stretching a point here and if accepted he would be No 1!!) 10. ?????????????

In the annals of Saints history, two questions 1. Who signed Forren? 2. Who signed Delgado (and his mate Cheber Chala?)

Didn't the Pompey based coach firm who bought out Coliseum have the Saints coach contract? The new team bus must have cost at least £500k to buy so the cost per trip may be around the £8-£10k mark

Anyone remember Gran Moda in Hanover Buildings which was the place to clothes shop prior to Squires?

Quite liked the RB who played first half (was he Callum Chambers but did he come on 2nd half?) Unfortunately the match programme was full of a few errors so not sure who exactly was who

Was enjoying a decent lunch time drink and snack in the Pilgrims at Marchwood when in came three 1st team squad Saints players all neatly dressed in training gear, presumably after finishing a training session. I was amazed that they were all unfailingly polite to the staff, sat quietly enjoying a soft drink and left after 30 mins. This is not the sort of behaviour I have come to expect from Saints players that I knew from the past and certainly different from the days when certain first teamers used to inhabit the pubs around The Dell or the Malthouse out at Timsbury and used the excuse of downing several pints in close succession as a way of rehydrating

Agree with Cat. U21's dominated the match and could well have racked up double figures Finishing was rather woeful at times and Sholing's replacement keeper made two excellent saves 2nd half. For those with an interest in fashion Cortese was stood by the dug out in a blue suit whilst Pocch was casually attired in black track suit with white edging. There was a big coaching staff on hand including Jahidi. Les Reed mentioned that they had all the paperwork sorted for the little lad who went to Liverpool (cant remember how to spell his name) but he changed his mind at the 11th hour when the rival offer came in. Will be interesting to see how the U21's perform when they step up a few levels against Eastleigh btw the new shirt, as sported by a few in the crowd of 360, is more disappointing in the flesh than as shown in pictures.

Anyone know when the TV games will be announced?

Two of us plan to go Bit of a different experience to last year when the game was played out in winter like conditions and the car park area was a quagmire!!