spyinthesky

Duncan Yes I can see how this comment could be misconstrued. It wasn't meant the way it appears to have been read. I suppose the most frustrating thing about Man Utd is the amount of their 'support' emanating from outside the Manchester metropolitan area and it seems I poorly articulated this point. My apologies.

I have yet to see the recording of the match but I have received an unexpected amount of texts and emails from a variety of sources (all neutral) complimenting the team on its performance and the fans for their support. In the reports I have read in the papers today this theme is underlined in the press reports. eg The Times ..'Southampton attacking their hugely vocal support, kept storming forward, chasing the equaliser. Redmond had a volley athletically saved, sending up the Saints volume. A couple of stewards in our section said they were mightily impressed with the colour from our end (credit to the club for the scarves) compared to the drabness of the United end. Also we were talking to a trio of the Mets finest after the game and they said how refreshing it was to be able to police fans who were generally good humoured and well behaved and not 'part human idiots' (their words not mine) as was often the case by supporters of certain clubs. The most noticeable difference between the two sets of fans was the family make up of our group (lots of Dads with kids and wives/partners) whereas the vast majority of Man Utd fans were early 20's or middle aged, overweight and drab. There was quite a few foreign looking/foreign sounding Utd followers who presumably have been attracted by the chance to follow a successful team whilst having no particular affinity to the area where the club is based. However I suppose this is no different to the Arsenal/Chelsea/Liverpool's of this world. I suspect there were quite a few Utd supporters a bit disappointed that some of their provocative comments and chants were not challenged by Saints supporters leaving the game. No doubt it could have got a bit hairy leaving the ground if we had won, just as it was, in my experience, in 1976 as Utd fans seem to have a large sense of entitlement. Whilst disappointed that we lost, I am really proud of the team, the club and the supporters just as I was when we left the San Siro after a game we really should have won in Milan. We may not have won yesterday but I feel sure our stock within the football fraternity in this country and beyond has gone up another couple of notches. Lets hope we can maintain the upward rise. Well done to all!!!!!!!!

Not one foreign player 12 English 4 Scots 3 Irish 2 Welsh 1 N Irish

Correction, I looked up George Best's entry in Wikipedia. He actually made his debut as a 17 year old the previous September v WBA and started more regular appearances after the Xmas fixtures, so he was very likely to start in the Cup fixture at the Dell. All I can really remember about the game are the two Saints goals, the one from Chivers being a real cracker, and the mistake from Tommy Traynor that allowed Man Utd to score the winner. We had been knocked out of the Cup the previous season by Man Utd at the semi final stage at Villa Park

There has been a bit on the TV recently about a new film on the life of George Best,(for the youngsters on here - one of the most talented footballers of his generation. He would have been even more of a superstar these days) One of the clips shown is, I am fairly sure, from the Saints v Man Utd 3rd round tie on 4 Jan 1964 at the Dell which Man Utd won 3-2 following a late winner, after Saints were up 2-0 at HT thanks to goals by Martin Chivers and Terry Paine. Saints were in gold shirts and black shirts on the day and I am sure Tony Godfrey was shown in the clip hence the recognition of the game. 29,164 crammed into the Dell that day. If my recollection is correct, it is odd that this clip is shown in the film as I am pretty sure George Best would not have featured in the game

Jim Steele was a decent player on the field notwithstanding his mistake v Anderlecht in the QF of the ECWC. Have met him a couple of times off it and he didn't come across as one of the nicest people in the world. All that said, it is a shame the club does not appear to generally welcome ex players.

Steve Thanks for this it gives the results a bit more perspective

Anyone see the BBC2 Documentary about the Russian Hooligan Firms last night? It is understandable that the BBC would make the threat of violence more likely against English fans but for anyone who is considering going over for the competition the situation does seem rather worrying. I am sure it wont be just the English fans who will be targeted, I guess the Germans and Poles and possibly the Dutch will need to be very wary but there does seem to be a very worrying resurgence of Russian nationalism inspired by Putin and his cronies. Unfortunately, if the comments made by some of the Russian 'fans', especially by the guy who spoke very good English, it was the British hooligans in the 1970's who were their inspiration. We are now seen as soft, overweight, drunken reprobates whereas the Russians are in the gym working out and getting ready for combat!!

To be fair I probably could have written it better. To clarify what I was trying to say was that, if given the choice at the start of last season, most Leicester fans would have happily accepted the chance to win the premiership and compete well (so far) in Europe if this meant the possibility of relegation this season . Hope this makes better sense as I definitely not a new generation of premier league fan, I was at the Dell when Len Wilkins played his last game before retiring to live in Canada. (bet very few on here remember Len Wilkins!!)

I guess tonight's results put our disappointing Europa league performances into some sort of perspective Sparta Prague lost 4-0 at Rostov and Be'er Sheva lost 3-1 at home in their 1st leg ties

A very fine example to all of us who follow Southampton FC and are proud of our city

I have never seen Caceres play, don't know if he is fit or whether he will do a good job for us but feel rather put out that he hasn't signed yet

Whilst, like most supporters, I was disappointed not to have progressed into the knockout stages, I wonder if our often abject performances turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The prospect of more injuries to our already depleted squad and the likelihood of playing away in Turkey the Thursday before the League Cup Final would not have been great preparation and an even bigger drain on the wallets of die hard fans. I wonder how Leicester fans view their forthcoming European ties? I would assume most of them would not trade their success of last year (and indeed in Europe this year) against safety from relegation this season.

With hindsight probably this valuation is too low bearing in mind continually inflated transfer figures, so willing to take the flak. However as I assumed we reportedly paid a relatively low £5m to buy him last year,his wages are fairly high and he has had another lengthy injury, I assumed there might not be too many clubs willing to take a risk. Hopefully you will forgive me for my poor assessment. As a regular at the Dell and SMS for well over 50 years time does take its toll and, of course, I have no idea how Football Manager and all the modern tools of the trade work. Best wishes.

Appreciate any info on car parking at SMG for away games? I guess there will be a lot of demand and wonder if it is possible to book. Is it £5.00 for the day?

According to a reliable source his fee was: Euros £17.5m (approx. £15m) plus Euros 200k after 10/30/40/50/75 appearances = Euro 1 mill Euros 500k after 12/20/30/40 goals = Euro 2 mill So at his current strike rate Les and Claude will be instructing teammates not to pass to him before the end of the season However if Manolo is as prolific as we all would hope his transfer fee could end up at around £17.5m

Assuming we stay up (and much more confident after yesterday) then (assuming contract terms/wages etc etc): Keepers: Forster/Hassen/McCarthy (Taylor free) Right Back: Cedric/Piet (Martina £500k?)] Left Back[/b] Bertrand/McQueen (Targett £3m) Defensive Midfielders Romeu Big/Athletic b**ggar (£15m) Central Defence New CD (£15m?)/Stephens VVD (hopefully)/Yoshida (Gardos - Free?) Midfield Hojbjerg (Claisie - £6m?) JWP (Isgrove - Free) Davis Tadic Sims Hesketh Forwards Gabbiadini (Austin - £3m) Boufal (Rodriguez- £8.5m) Redmond (Long - £10m) Gallagher Big Target Man (£15m) Seagar So £45m to spend versus £31m incoming. Net spend of £14m Futures of McCarthy and Reed to be determined

One of the many good memories of 76 was driving back along the M3 (much shorter length of motorway then) and seeing the 'South Coast Manchester Utd Supporters' coach broken down on the side of the road with a lot of forlorn looking Utd supporters standing around and having to put up with joyous Saints fans gesticulating and offering friendly advice on their way home.

Begs the question, if we had got smashed 4-0 today to make our bad run even worse, I wonder whether the remaining tickets would have gone? Fortunately there is a feel good factor after yesterday. Just a real shame about VVD missing out

Good summary Bit harsh on JWP I think In my opinion worth more than a 4

Love the first comment Remainder not so sure about!!!

Apart from first 10 mins we were completely in control Bit like Bournemouth but even more comprehensive

Not too much contentious to deal with but thought he was excellent today

Will be interesting to see how many coaches make the trip. I think there were 105 for the JPT final We went up on the Greyhound service that day. No longer running

Glad to see that, after all the problems they are having with SISU Coventry supporters will enjoy a day out at Wembley for the Checkatrade Trophy. I guess there will be a decent turnout of their fans but would be surprised if they got near our 51k+ figure There were only 11,000 at the Ricoh for their semi final game v Wycombe but that is understandable bearing in mind the crap hand Coventry supporters have had to face in recent times.