spyinthesky

It was all down to an Aussie fan who was watching his first game at SMS. Dont think he has been back since and its all been downhill since then!!

Jaidi suggested some 'experienced' members of the U21 side were absent on International Duty. Anyone know who this might have included?

I think most/all people would agree with you However the question here is whether the attendance figure accurately reflected the number of people in the ground and whether absent season ticket holders were included, as per normal practice.

This is not an unusual event Happens all the time in football Anyone remember John Hartson trying to decapitate Eyal Berkovic at West Ham's training ground. Quite a few players tried to get a dig in on Terry Paine when he was at Saints and not liked by many of his team mates

Even the new born group this year are not up to standard

'Southampton move the ball about well but don't create much' as reported by the local Cambridge paper 469 at the game!! Our U21's won there 1-0 last season and Cambridge hadnt won for a month I blame Virgin Media. Nothing has gone right for this club since they have been involved

Cambridge Utd 4 Saints 0 Whoever is in charge ...OUT!!!

Really? The ground looked pretty full to me. Chelsea filled their end and even the Hospitality Boxes looked fuller than usual Appreciate it was a Sunday, the game was on the box and anyone who tried to get into town on Saturday along the grid locked Millbrook Rd might have thought twice about going yesterday. If the figure is correct it doesnt bode well for future, less attractive games. I dont blame anyone for not going especially after such a long run of dire home form. I will still go as a long suffering fan but dont look forward to the games now. Its a duty not a pleasure. It is appreciated that the club has been able to offer Lads and Dads reduction. However I reckon some sort of ticket initiative for those up to 21 and even 25 should be considered. Hopefully this is the age profile who will continue to support the club in a more vociferous way to make up for us pipe and slippers brigade who dont have the energy or enthusiasm of yesteryear.

What a fall from grace. One moment a top rated, English International with a decent value in the transfer market. Now not even to find a place on the bench as third pick keeper, presumably as this would incur additional payments to the player. Still whilst all players want to play, I guess receiving a very decent basic weekly wedge is a reasonable compensation.

Worrying thing is apart from McCarthy, who I understood cost around £1m (not £4.5m) when purchased from Palace as back up to Forster, the rest of the squad have probably seen their 'value' reduce since signing for Saints. some quite significantly. And this against a general increase in the transfer market.

There is more than a reasonable chance that we will start next season in the Championship. If so does that mean we have the option of not turning Danny Ings loan into a purchase? Wouldnt want him to go but would he want to stay and could we afford him?

Virgin Media must be thinking they are getting full value for their sponsorship money!!

I sent a renewal cheque off some time ago which has yet to be cashed!!

554 attendance!!!

Hit full in the face with a hot meat pie thrown by a rival fan when attending our 5-3 over Cardiff at Ninian Park on Boxing Day (?) in 1965. Still better off than one lad on our (Shamrock & Rambler) coach who got wacked by an iron bar and was semi comatose on the way home.

No place for the young well regarded central defender or the newly signed midfielder from a Swiss club?

Actually there was a Dock Strike in November 1976 when Portsmouth Dockers reneged on a deal not to accept ships from the fledgling Brittany Ferries service which had started in Plymouth. The NDLB Union agreed that if Brittany Ferries moved their service out of Plymouth none of the other South Coast Ports including Weymouth, Poole, Southampton and Portsmouth would accept it. The Dockers in the Portsmouth Commercial Port originally agreed then reneged on the deal and deputation from all the other ports, but primarily Southampton being closest, turned up in force in Pompey Docks to picket the gates. The Pompey Dockers had to call upon Hampshire Police to 'resolve' the situation and a number of Soton Dockers were arrested trying to storm the gates. One of those arrested was the brother of Bob Charles, who was the Saints Goalie in their Youth Club win over Man Utd in 1956.

I think this is a fair point. I think there was a table produced not so long ago that showed we were in the top 20 clubs in Europe when it came to revenue and players wages I reflected on this when we were struggling under Puel during our European campaign. There are regular accusations (and I am one of those questioning our transfer spend) about lack of player purchases. I dont think we do too badly on this. However we used to be quite good at spotting and nuturing talent. I dont think this is the case now and we have ended up with a bloated squad of pretty average players

Really? If so that is not a bad performance from our fans. There are quite a few seats near us not occupied by those who regularly attended in the past so will be interested to see if the seats have been taken by day trippers or new season ticket holders

I think I am not alone in thinking we have desperately missed a proper target man. Austin may have fitted the bill a few years back but he is a busted flush now Ings, Gabbi, Long are not target men but old fashioned inside forwards.

Any idea how many have been sold?

The worry is that it is not only the poor Prem results but we were taken to the cleaners by B/Mgladbach, outplayed in the first half v Ceta Vigo (when they had their first team on the pitch) and spanked by Derby. OK these were only pre season games but the pattern is there and there has been somewhere near £50m spent on transfers with no real sign of improvement at the moment As has been said consistently we have a bloated squad of quite average (at best) players, all on very decent wages and an owner who has mortgaged the club to pay for its purchase. I suppose these challenges are always going to face a club of our size and stature but I feel worse about the situation now (having experienced such a good upward trajectory in recent years) than when the club faced similar challenges in the past

Bit of a hypothetical question I know but would we have been better to have been relegated last year and had a clear out of overpaid and frankly average players than this season (which unless anything dramatic happens is going to see us go down to the Championship). If the worst happens this season some of our 'saleable' players are going to be worth less in the transfer market. At the moment I can see us struggling to get results against the poorer sides and being absolutely destroyed by some of the big teams. It will be akin to looking forward to going to the dentist before each game.

I am well disappointed. This side would not cut the mustard in the Championship Midfield will be overrun, central defenders with no pace and Long upfront!! God help us!! Yoshida omission is a strange one. Disappointed with Hughes selection. Hope I am completely wrong with my assessment!!!

Good news. Bad news - he's probably off soon!!