spyinthesky

David I am another long serving supporter In my early days in Division 3 South and after 1960 in Div 2, we were an attractive side, full of goals, playing in a compact ground with very basic facilities and a relatively small core support. My generation was brought up on tales of the disappointments our elders felt after the failed promotion campaigns in the late 1940's and there was little expectation of reaching the nirvana of Division 1 or winning a trophy My Dad, who supported Saints from the time they joined the League in 1921 until his death in 1996, would have been delighted to see where Saints are now, playing in a modern stadium where the view is great, the pitch is pristine and supporters are protected from the weather. From my perspective I am happy to feel confident that the team can hold its own in the Prem with a good infrastructure It is also good that many more youngsters are seen around town in Saints kit rather than the Man Utd/Liverpool/London clubs shirts My

I agree with this I can understand Champions league, or the realistic prospect of, will attract players but I guess the main draw will be the players weekly wage and the additional wedge a players agent will obtain as an 'Arrangement Fee' plus the profile of playing in one of the world's top leagues

Scummer Jason McCarthy gets a hat trick!!

Talk Talk?? Charles Dunstone has quite a few business interests in the area, particularly property, and has had a couple of his boats refitted here (including 'Shemara')

interesting comments by a number of Pompey fans complaining about West Ham's financial advantage/taxpayer rip off etc regarding the Hammers Olympic Stadium deal Stones/Glass Houses come to mind!!

As well as McCarthy there are big doubts over Baines, Barkley and Lennon for Saturday's game

Hands up here Watching Kirchhoff on the TV during his early performances for Sunderland he seemed awful Lately however he seems a very decent player well regarded by Mackem fans I know Wouldn't mind him here

Just think there is a reasonable chance of Saints, AFCB and Brighton all playing in the Prem and Eastleigh joining Pompey in Division 4 (aka L2) next season Wonder what are the odds of that happening and, if it did, what would be the scale of meltdown with our historical/hysterical rivals if Eastleigh ended up in a higher position in Div 4?

I have both Loakes and Samuel Windsor Loakes are better quality but Samuel Windsor best value for work Make sure you always keep your shoes polished

Had a quick look on the Leicester Forums General comments are * Saints a very decent side * Simpson their MOTM especially for his 'save' * Foster played very well * 50% reckon that Leicester were fortunate to get away with both penalty shouts * They all seem very confident of winning the League now (why wouldn't they be?) Apparently they have gained the equivalent of 91 points from the same stage as last year when they were 7 points short of safety They also seem to have won 18 points more than any other team during this period * They were very appreciative of the Saints fans singing 'Your going to win the League' after the game.

Have it on good authority that Pompey Youth used to use a separate training facility along Stoneham Lane and there were problems with paying the hire charge The then youth team coach, Andy Awford,eventually had to pay by cash in advance to ensure they could continue to use the pitches

Apparently season ticket sales were the highest for 10 years this season. Any idea how many were sold?

Went up on one of the 106 coaches containing Saints fans (the Greyhound service that no longer operates) and the amount of red and white traffic on the road that day was most impressive. Understand that the trains were rammed that day too and there were quite a few foreign cruise passengers on Soton Central who were wondering what on earth was going on. Scenes inside Wembley were great and when you think that the attendance was 74,000. Take out 18,000 tickets sold to Carlisle fans (a fair turnout as they had to be on the road very early in the morning) and a couple of thousand 'neutrals' this leaves 54,000 saints followers in the crowd and it would have been more if Wembley had allowed Saints to have more tickets I reckon we could easily have sold 10,000 or so more

Good spot. Didn't realise that This reminds me of the fact that I went by myself to the game and sat in the Chapel end for a change as I had to be away quickly Remember it was a really cold night and I was watching the final minutes from the exit but was able to see the equaliser and then, with many others return to the bowl to see us win the penalty shoot out 6-5 I think

Wasn't there a game in the early rounds where we were close to going out (V Norwich?)

Last game of the season away to Man City and we would not have gone up if we had lost 6-0 Think Malcolm Alison was the Asst Manager (to Joe Mercer?) at Maine Road and he spouted off that City would beat us comfortably (it ended 0-0) similar to his bellicose statements when he managed Palace when we played them in the '76 Cup Semi Final Remember waiting to hear the result on the radio then we went up to the local pub for an under age drink to celebrate!!

I know its old news but there are a lot of us with genuine affection and respect for Nige and SRL for their contribution to Saints success story. Wonder what next season has in prospect for both of them? Possibility that Nigel will part company with Sheffield Utd who seem likely to miss out on promotion again, which won't go down well with the club owners. Likewise SRL will presumably leave WBA and perhaps end up in the Championship where I reckon he will do well in a decent team Best of luck to both of them On a separate matter interesting to see that two of our loaned out central defensive players ie Stephens and Turnbull were on opposite sides in the Coventry v Swindon game at the weekend (both of them had played regularly at Swindon in the past) a game that also featured Aaaron Martin

Based on current form and RK's playing system would possibly look something like: Forster...............(Skelelenburg) Martina.............. (Cedric) Fonte..................(Gardos) VVD Bertrand Romeu................(Claisse) Wanyama Davis.................(Ward Prowse) Mane Pelle..................(Austin) Long..................(Rodriguez) So, on above basis, no place for other players regularly included in the match day squad ie Tadic, Yosida, Targett, Juanmi, plus two keepers This would all be subject to form, fitness and system but whatever formation used it shows that when all players are available we have a reasonably strong bench, which has not always been the case in recent years.

The Royal Society suffered a huge financial loss in the 17th century when it decided to publish Francis Willughby's lavishly illustrated but unpopular 'History of Fish' The loss was so great that they were unable to finance publication of Isaac Newton's 'Principia' which proved to be one of the most important scientific texts in history Publication was underwritten, out of his own pocket, by astronomer Edmond Halley who was clerk of the Royal Society at the time. Unfortunately, following publication, the Royal Society could no longer afford Halley's salary and he was paid off in unsold of 'The History of Fish' Shades of what happened around 350 years later down the road with the 'Fishy Few' and 'History' !!

'The History of Fish' The Royal Society suffered a huge financial loss in the 17th century when it decided to publish Francis Willughby's lavishly illustrated but unpopular 'History of Fish' The loss was so great that they were unable to finance publication of Isaac Newton's 'Principia' which proved to be one of the most scientific texts in history Publication was underwritten, out of his own pocket, by astronomer Edmond Halley who was clerk of the Royal Society at the time. Unfortunately, following publication, the Royal Society could no longer afford Halley's salary and he was paid off in unsold in unsold copies of 'The History of Fish' Shades of what happened around 350 years later down the road with the 'Fishy Few' and 'History' !!

Wonder if anyone in the insurance business has an idea of the annual cost of insurance cover for the club is likely to be. The increasing value of players impacting on the cost of injury, and particularly, travelling cost must be substantial Presumably clubs use specialist insurance brokers rather than use the meerkat comparison site!!!

Horses also crop and fertilise the pitch before returning to base

Correct 60's in body Much younger in mind

Good post