spyinthesky

How many are missing from this list? Tyrell & Greens Plummers C & A Owen & Owen (previously Mayes) Bourne & Hollingsworth Co -Op (the old biggish one opposite St Mary's Fire Station) Co-Op (the newer one now occupied by Littlewoods) Couple smaller ones in St Mary's Street (can't remember the names) As a kid I always though Debenhams was huge but at 3 stories this is a tiddler compared to Hudsons Dept store in Detroit. Until demolished this was 17 stories, had 51 elevators and carried over half a million items. It was also the largest building ever to be blown up when demolished in 1998 Supposedly it produced the\worlds largest flag at 235 x 104 ft (wonder how this compared to the flag produced for the opening of St Marys?)

Bad move Stu Scrap prices are underperforming the market at the moment Better off flogging them on Ebay. I would have bought one for Spy Towers

The Saints signs put up on the Lordshill/ Romsey Rd roundabout have finally disappeared after a year. Think one was forcibly removed (nicked) whilst the remaining two served to remind many of us of the club's rebirth. Anyone know if the Council removed them? Presume they were there without permission.

Seabourne reminds me a bit of Richard Dryden. Keen and strong but not quite up to the mark. Agree with a previous poster who said that Seabourne is AP's least effective signing. Thought he was rather lacking when playing for Exeter here at Xmas. Still most managers reckon that if they get 4 out of 5 signings right they have done well!! S

Hats off to the Tangerines I say Don't think they have paid out any substantial transfer fees, have a wage bill similar to ours and have, within their ranks, Brett Omerod and Jason Euell who most Saints fans reckon weren't good enough for us. A three sided ground with crowds around 8,000 and yet knocking on the door of the Championship Play Offs. As a complete aside, many years ago when I was a nipper, Blackpool had a duck for a mascot and it used to waddle around the penalty box chasing a ball with it's owner before the game. Probably was a better finisher than some of the players I have seen over the years!!

Does he put out his best side in all 4 competitions and possibly end up with a fall from grace after a successful Cup run (a la dirty Leeds), or does he field weakened side in the Cups and concentrate on the League? Guess he will have to agree targets with Cortese pre season but I think we all know where NC's priorities lie

I was at the Liverpool v Bruges European Cup Final at the old Wembley Liverpool must have had 90,000 fans+ in the 100,000 attendance Same as Man Utd v Benfica in the 60's

Boris Yeltsin? Famed for overseeing corruption, economic collapse and social problems within the Russian Federation. With these credentials would fit in well down the road!!

Isn't that the (regularly ****ed, cant remember his name) ex President of Russia to the right of MM?

There was a lady on Radio Solent this morning who said her family caught the 8pm train back from Waterloo and didnt reach Wareham until gone 1 PM Wonder what unsuspecting 'civilians' who fancied a day out in London made of the situation at Central. Wasnt there a cruise ship in port on Sunday? Wonder if many of the passengers were hoping to get home via train in the morning?

Likewise went Greyhound. Bit worried about the 0900 hrs departure but at Wembley in good time. Comfortable, free newspaper and of course the onboard bog!! Would certainly recommend again

The Wembley figures show that the Saints fans attendance was greater than the record crowd at Fratton Park during their heyday of the 1950's. In fact there were probably more like 53,000 Saints fans at the game so the Fratton Park figure was comfortably exceeded So yet another bragging right over our friends down the road

Used to be the best in the country Not a patch on St Marys now

Have heard from a contact at Wembley that their stats show 51,594 Saints fans in a total crowd of 73,476. On top of the 44,000 tickets sold for the main body of the Stadium almost all the corporate boxes were occupied by Saints fans including some in the Carlisle section. They estimate 180 coaches from the Soton area but no info yet on mini bus numbers Wonderful turnout and unlikely ever to be beaten by Saints (or possibly other clubs) Fair play to Carlisle too. 22,000 tickets sold to a relatively small city some 6 hrs driving time from Wembley.

Have seen quite an upsurge of colours on display around the area which always creates a buzz. Would be good, on the day, if those travelling up to Wembley by road could show their colours en route. However the forecast is for rain so likely to end up with a soggy scarf or flag. There are 96 coaches departing from St Marys and approx another 50+ private charters so there should be a decent cavalcade along the M3 I know the JPT doesn't have the same kudos as the FA Cup but the occasional banner on the Motorway Bridges would be nice, perhaps including a good luck message for our friends along the coast when they make the same trek the following weekend.

Wonder if any of the following 'names' will be in the crowd on Sunday. Crouch Corbett Wiseman Askham Macmenemy Lowe Cowan Salz Richards Frost David Walcott Bale Baird Surman Some of these are more deserving to be there than others but would be interested if individual past loyalties still remain despite the passage of time

Cant see any mention of Eugene Bopp in the Pompey valuation list. Understand that Paul Hart's son, who acts as agent for the well known ex Crewe star, thinks he is a big star in the making

As Dubai Phil says there will be a lot of players available in the summer. If finances allow we should try to sign Championship players if possible Here's my suggestions Keep: Get Rid Davis Perry Harding Gillett Puncheon Wotton Jaidi Holmes Lambert Forecast Fonte Lancashire Hammond Thomson Barnard Murty Schneiderlin Pulis Lallana Antonio Bart Molyneux Seaborne White Ostemabor Oxlade-Chamberlain (seems to be rated) Uncertain: Thomas (depends on his wages requirements) Papa (probably worth a punt but only if any transfer/wages costs are manageable) Mills (say 60/40 keep him on the basis he might improve) James (can fill in at FB or midfield but his lack of pace a real consideration) Gobern (not seen enough of him lately to judge progress) McGlaggon (ditto) Connolly (class player. Big question mark against fitness. Keep on a pay per play basis?) Based on the above probably need another fullback/central defender, two or possibly three midfielders (one of whom who is a 'schemer') and at least one striker, possibly a target man who could deputise for Lambert

Anyone applied for expensive tickets and received lower value ones? If so have you received the refund on the ticket price yet?

Defences were less organised in the time of Derek Reeves and I would rate Lambert ahead of him However Ron Davies's achievement of regularly topping the Div 1 (ie Prem equivalent at the time) scoring charts makes him hard to beat Davies was brilliant in the air but not as good a footballer as Lambert. btw Derek Reeves joined Saints from Bournemouth Gasworks who were a decent non league side in the mid 1950's. I also saw Reeves score all 5 in a 5-4 win over Leeds in a League Cup game in the 60's (which finished at 10.15 as the floodlights failed)

Avram Grant has got the Blue Few in a frenzy of platitudes by announcing, via the Pompey News, that he will contribute towards the wages of staff. He doesn't say which staff he will support or how much the contribution will be but the bloggers on the Pompey News site have fallen hook line and sinker for this very fishy PR stunt

also heard that the club had somewhere in the region of 30+ Mercs on lease from a local dealer. They have had to go into storage until the Administrator sorts out the lease obligations. Presuming these are club officials cars, rather than players, who qualified for such a motor? Think Storrie runs a top of the range Merc (still?) and I suppose the kit man must have qualified to run alongside his handsome salary & bonus totalling a reported £70K!!

Presume after the linked ticket games v Leeds & Huddersfield plus a small away contingent added to a 'burst bubble syndrome, there could possibly be the lowest crowd of the season next Tuesday for the Monkey hangers

Cinemas from memory One at top of East Street Odeon ABC/Forum Classic Gaumont x 2 in Shirley (one still remains as Bingo Hall, the other just up from the Shirley Pub x 2 in Portswood (one remains as a Bingo Hall) x 1 in Swaythling x 1 by Cobden Bridge x 1 in Bitterne (either on site of Bowling Alley or Sainsburys) x 1 at Northam (turned into Southern TV) x 1 at Woolston x 1 at Netley Possibly one at Totton Pubs/Cinemas/Department Stores/Bus Stations/Record Shops all gone/disappearing

Fred's daughter standing as a Tory Candidate for Gosport. First of all doesn't use her married name. Must assume she thinks associating with the ex Director of PFC, friend of the Krays and 'International TV Celeb' will give her a degree of gravitas and pull in bucketful of votes from the Daily mail readers in Gosport To enhance her image, poster sites have be showing her beaming face with one or two enhancements (ie crows feet removed/teeth straightened and whitened) Anyone on here able to do a proper job on her publicity material ie give her Uncle Fred's comb over??