david in sweden

YES well done MICHAEL POKE. OK - he's no longer a lad (23?) but has been at the club since he was 10, and gone through every age group, Academy, Reserves and First team. He's had some tough football down in the Conference but more real football than the other two " understudies "; " Bart " and Forecast. He's done enough to stay on our books, but with four keepers at least one should go, (as there are also Academy lads coming through). Michael should stay.

he's jumping off the Itchen Bridge !

Your suggestion is good, Docker ...but what happens when you end up in mid-season (as Saints have several times in the last 10 years)....with ALL 5 strikers injured at the same time..forgot season but it was early Strachan I think) or last season with SIX central defenders injured at the same time..not to mention the effect of suspensions and disciplinary measures ..oh and that other factor....players being " off -form ".......and all this when their is no open transfer window. Ay least years ago , you could go out and buy someone mid-season if you had a serious injury/ performance problems Saints did it several times, most famously season 1962/3 - and several times in Lawrie Mac's time. I agree - The idea of having huge squads is a joke - but many top clubs have players with shirt numbers above 50..and even higher-where are all those players?..and what are they doing every week. Some clubs just buy certain players so as to stop their rivals from having them. Man.U / Chelsea seem to buy every loose-footed midfielder around just to keep them OUT of other peoples teams, and only use them as subs. in case of injury, or for a 20 min.run-out when they're 3-0 up ! Disgusting! I agree with the general tone of this thread but most people in (any profession) want recognition in their wage packet (sorry - salary cheques). Most players have agents - (who also want bonuses) because many players don't have the financial acumen to handle anything bigger than hamburger money - even when they get paid 20/30/40K a week. It's a vicious circle. Every club needs a " Jack Walker ". He sold the family steel business for £300 million in the early 1990's when he retired, and invested in the club he supported as a boy. In his case BLACKBURN. He bought every top player the manager (Kenny Dalglish) wanted..( it was Alan Shearer,Tim Flowers and Jeff Kenna from Saints) ...and won the Premier League title in 1994/5. One of the few times one of the big four - didn't win it. For the rest of us - it's just bl**dy hard work on shoestring economy every season..and hope you can get a Walcott /Bale every other year. All this on a squad of 16 - sorry it won't work. Especially when FIFA /UEFA bring in the rule on 5 home players in every squad. Arsenal and Chelsea find it hard to select English players to sit on their bench sometimes, and it's meant to be the ENGLISH Premier League...no wonder we have such a mediocre National squad.

Maybe we need a few more poker players on our next Board ?

(thats the O.T. text of course) but.. drinking my morning cup of tea out of one of many Saints mugs to choose from I find myself looking at the one for season 2004/5 ..our last season in ........the Premiership. Man.utd, Arsenal, Liverpool , Chelsea, Everton yeah, yeah, but whats this..Charlton Athletic, Norwich, .....aren't they also League 1 clubs now ? ...also Crystal Palace.......now a CCC side......and West Brom. The perennial trampoline club... up and down and up and down **....... Middlesbrough, well their as good as down..and the mighty Newcastle.. hovering on the brink....seems that despite Saints' desperate situation there are quite a few other clubs on the brink of .......disaster! .........and only 5 years ago ....How (indeed) are the mighty fallen!

I admire your efforts to find a good solution Crab Lungs, but which divison would this "team " play in..Premiership ..or League 1 ?

Really ? that's a pretty radical statement on your part .. .......are you sure of your facts ...or are you just guessing ?

also cost Reading a play-off place ....and a manager! (Saw in a BBC interview that Steve Coppell re-iterated that Reading failed because they lost so many home games..tell me about it, Steve) and only won one of their last nine at home. I watched their home game v. Brum on cable TV and they were truly awful! In over 50 years I can't recall such bad home form as we've shown this season. In the past,The DELL (and to a lesser degree SMS) have been a good hunting ground for us - I can even recall days in the 1960's when we won 16/17 home games, and regularly scored 50-60 home goals (once ..even 70 goals in a single season). OK I know thats long ago , but ? We've always accepted that " we didn't travel well " and rarely had more than 3-4 away wins in a normal season. Of course times change..but so few wins in home games is beyond belief, and not just the defeats but all those drawn games, too. Studying the stats. (as I'm inclined to do ) we got around 23 away points (as good as some mid-table sides,) even Preston managed to get a play-off spot with 23 away points ! So what happened to us.? Can't see how we can blame the fans..(O.K there could have been more of them at some games) but to play the same teams twice in a season and still lose so many at home games must be unprecedented! WHY ..is SMS so un-inviting ? Thoughts or ideas anyone ...?

Well Phil, Don't you have anything more cheerful to write about on a Monday morning ?

so would I . They might be easier to beat than Leeds ....or MK Dons !

I always like to see South Coast sides in the leagues. Whichever league. Not that we meet that often, but after the enormous amount of coverage on " London clubs " and the more successful northern teams - it's good to see " more local teams " get a mention. It also creates more interest for derby games in the South / West Country.

Sounds like the first step on a slippery slope - doesn't it ? Will I laugh ...? depends where we are in 18 months time.

AGREED ..we haven't played AFC B for 50 years (in old Div-3 South) but I think, many Saints fans have a soft spot for them ..even if they were moved into the next county some decades ago.

Hopefully the Council may get SMS. The facilities are top class for this type of amenity and it must be put to good use for the other 335 days of the years when Saints AREN'T playing matches there.

We'd all like to be sure that everything is above board ..and to my knowledge no-one has suggested that Pinnacle, or any other offer ISN'T reliable. I would guess that in this sort of deal, you don't go around and broadcast your every move to the media until the ink is dry on the contracts. The idea of having MLT as a figureheard is very good. To Saints fans, MLT is a legend in the club, and has a easy job to communicate with the fan base. The problem with Lowe & Co. was that they didn't have a " football face" to front their activities, and therefore people were suspicious from the start. OK - one new stadium later and a lot of managerial changes later we've learned that. Having someone like MLT as DOF would help things gell better for the new owners to relate to " customers " ( the fans ). Obviously, making sure that there is good security for the new deal is precisely why Mr. Fry is there in the first place. Otherwise the same situation may crop up in another couple of years. It takes a lot of trust on all sides to strike a good deal - it's not JUST about money. MLT is putting his reputation on the line by allying himself with Pinnacle and so he must trust them - hopefully we can, too !

¨ CRAB LUNGS ! What a very pleasant read...I can hardly believe it's you. Gone ..is all that criticism and sarcasm (sorry-dry humour), a new revelation and the spirit of the real fan. There needs to be many more like you " signing the pledge." ..as someone said in an old movie once: " let's hope he doesn't sober up tomorrow and revert to his old self." Nice post CL.......COYR !!!!!

Maybe there's no-one left on the staff ...who can update the OS !

.......I guess because for most of that time we were in different divisions and the clubs hardly met at all.

Whoa ! ...take it easy, you've found another 3 good things he did for the club. that makes six. Carry on like this and you'll have people feeling sorry for him...!

Pompey's chairman is trying to sell the club...most of their top players will leave this season, I can't see them surviving two more seasons in the Prem. before they come down..Don't think they'll want to invest in a new stadium now.

Perhaps they got a tip from " a Dutchman " in the club...? A win-win situation. At least we get a better deal that cheating Swansea are trying to sqeeze us on, and Dyer would get into a decent side in the Dutch Premiership .

HI Chris... Thats the big problem of course. The prospect of 10,000 -15,000 gates won't bring in much income, and it will be two years minimum before we can get out of L1 - especially if we start with -10 points. It needs someone with deep pockets - even if we do have young players on low salaries for a year or two before eventual promotion. Leeds haven't had it so easy in that position. best regards David

Duncan made the point that 100 years ago we were two of the best teams around at the time and Saints had a far superior record against both Pompey and Spurs. When the new leagues were created in 1921, Saints moved up from Div 3 South to Div 2 and stayed there for over 30 years. Spurs and later Pompey moved up to Div.1 ...so the " derby games " were few and far between. Spurs were a bit if a yo-yo side in the 1930's and we played then often then, but derby games v. Pompey only occured in Cup matches. As someone else stated it wasn't unusual for fans to watch Saints one week and Pompey the next - there seemed to be little antagonsim between fans as the clubs rarely met, and many wartime players had played for both sides at one time or another and were good friends. Fans travelling to away games in those days was not as common as now....few had cars, very slow train services, etc.. no extra busses at the grounds etc. In short - our closest " top class " opponents in the 1930's / 1940's were Spurs, and that was (my Dad said) the big game of the season, and many travelled to London for the famous game at WHL in April 1949 which saw Charlie Wayman score Saints goal (won 1-0) with a gate of over 69,000+ but Wayman was injured and didn't play again that season, we went into freefall and missed promotion by one point. The rest I wrote about earlier. In the 1960's there was no Spurs, but Pompey had been relegated and we had several seasons of " local, but not very friendly " derby games. Football hooliganism was rife, and our derby games with Pompey were all out war sometimes. Young winger Terry Paine was at his peak, but marked (literally) in derbies by Pompeys LB Roy Lunnis. A 6' 4" ex-marine, he wasn't noted for his skill but his hard play. He stood head and shoulders over TP - who wasn't afraid of a punch-up, even from the likes of Lunnis, and there were a few bookings / sendings off. The on-the-field violence naturally spread to the fans. Hence the dislike of Pompey that wasn't there before, but the memories and the ritual hatred (sadly) continues to this day. The three matches v. Notts Forest (a good Div.1 side then) were legend. I saw the Dell (1st replay) when we came back from 0-3 ..with only 17 mins. left ..to 3-3 ...but couldn't finish the job even in extra time. The 2nd replay had to be a neutral ground, and Spurs failed to realise the interest in the game which was a midweek replay between two clubs far from London. There were some "locals" in the ground, but varying reports say 25,000+ Saints travelled to WHL for the evening kick-off. There were no extra trains, and many more travelled by car to London. Spurs didn't have stewards for all the turnstiles - many of which remained locked, and long queues formed outside those that were open. Some people didn't get into the ground until half a hour after the kick-off and late-comers were still arriving even after HT. The official gate was: 42,256 but it was estimated that there were several thousands more listening outside who couldn't get into the locked areas of the ground when those that were open were already full to capacity. The game of course was a classic. Saints carried on where they left off the prev.week and took Forest by storm. Two goals in 5 mins. before HT (2-0) and three more in the second half saw us run out 5-0 winners. M.O.M was Saints midfield dynamo Ken Wimshurst played his best match ever, scored a goal a great goal and Burnside and O'Brien got two each. (The SF game at Villa Park v. Man Utd was a great anti-climax. neither team could put two passes together and M.U. won 1-0 when Denis Law scored, after missing a cross into the box with his head, the ball fell to his feet and he had two goes at it to beat the grounded Reynolds in the Saints goal.) Ah !.. memories, memories....

could well be Neilson, but ...it's at a time when we had SANDERSON as sponsor ..which seasons were those I wonder..might give a clue..