M271

IMO Saints being back in the top English League is where they need to be financially and for the quality of football, it gives the Club, fans and city the status and world exposure of which we can be proud. However I am not as fixated by this as some who get season or match tickets depending upon which league we are in rather than supporting the Saints whatever (difference between League 1 and EPL attendances). I love the excitment and specticle of playing the big clubs but going to Championship/Div 1 sides at places like Barnsley, Oldham, Tranmere etc does have a back to football roots and true England in the raw feel about it. The games weren't any less exciting just a different level of football, so I wouldn't say that it was better in the Championship just different. Off Topic: I do think that free to air TV Channels such as ITV and the Football League are 'missing a trick' by letting Sky the televise Football League matches with a 3 year contract of £195m (£65m a season), there is a big potential audience without subscription TV access who would readily tune in to watch regular live football and this would promote the standing of the Football League and ITV audience numbers. But I guess people more knowledgeable than I have done the analysis of this and not seen it as financially worthwhile.

We should be taking full allocations for all away games except maybe Hull midweek or may be Newcastle or Sunderland, the ticket office must know what the likely demand is. More supporters acting as the 12th man could be worth a quite a few points during a season.

I like the type of player that Punch is and the type of football that it brings i.e. running at players, high energy/tempo, not scared to have a shot from distance (not always on target!), we'll gloss over trying to take on 1 too many players at times. He probably scored the most memorable goals last season after SRL. However IMO he will at best only be an impact sub which he could probably accept but with the amount of mid field players now available I presume that he would not be satisfied with not even being on the bench for some matches. If he felt or was told that this was the likely scenario this season he may initiated a loan move (if this loan rumour is true).

What about a lucky tie with a bulldog on it!! Or maybe they are not that lucky.

It would be a good gesture and wouldn't cost much in the scheme of things. A quick calculation with 'top of the head' figures (those in the know please correct) 22,000 season tickets x average of £400 (including childs concessions etc.) = 8,800,800. If they increased prices by 3% (inflation) then it would net them only another £264,000. If prices were frozen less would be likely to cancel and more may be tempted to get a season ticket, resulting in more up front money to the club.

"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that." reported quote from Shankly. I once hurried my wife out of A&E cos Saints were live on sky!! She's never let me forget this.

The positive to take out of our stuttering end to the season is that Poch and Cortese will have seen the strenghtening and improvement that needs to happen to move us to the next level. If we has comfortably fininshed mid Table if only 5 of 6 points more then they may have been complacent and stuck more with what we have got.

But if they do .................

I seem to remember it was even higher than 24 (maybe 27?), we are not going to turn every lead into a win but if we could half the amount of points given away i.e. an extra 13/14 points it would have put us this season inbetween WBA in 9th and Liverpool in 7th.

Totally agree, Wigan know the script for these sort of games!

Will the lucky nuns work for Swansea or only for the Saints?

A few weeks ago I'd managed to convince myself that the bad memories from earlier in the season such as Stoke coming back from 3 - 1 down, Wigan last gasp equaliser, Man Utd last gasp win, QPR and Sunderland lose at home were of no consequence. Unfortunately these could still come back to haunt us. West Brom have really come into play in the run in against us, the table would look so much better if they had at least drawn with Wigan today, I fear that Norwich will beat them next week. Unless we get more than point in the next 2 matches Norwich and Newcastle only need 1 win, Wigan win 2 out of 3 and Sunderland 1 out of 3 (goal difference could change) to overtake us, yes it has to be a lot of results going against us but looking at it team by team not that unlikely. Saints always put us through the wringer, I was looking forward to having a more relaxed end of the season. We are Southampton we do it the hard way.

1) I hope that Sunderland play like this against us, there mis-placed passing has been so noticeable. 2) Wigan won't win 3 out of last 4 (or win 2 and draw 2) or will they? Really don't want to go into match against Stoke not MATHEMATICALLY safe.

Not too high when we win, not too low when we lose. Sorry under new regime, no es demasiado alta cuando no ganar demasiado bajo cuando perdemos.

Story of a lot of our season, play well early and dominate get 1 or 2 goals up then let the opposition back in it. There must be something in the way that we play that gives the opposition hope and not roll over. I expect this to follow the normal script and more points conceded from a winning position.

Played well first 25 minutes but we don't have an answer to teams that press us and deny us midfield space, we can't always expect to be allowed to play our passing game. When teams turn up the pressure we start misplacing passes, mis-controlling the ball, panicking, going down blind alleys etc. We need to find ways of gaining the initiative again. Although today to be fair we were up against the Champions of Europe and FA Cup holders but this also seems to happen against lesser sides. Good sides seem to be able to 'turn up the wick' when required. Hopefully Fonte's injury isn't as bad as it looked.

Really ? They only made any noise when they came back to 2 - 3. I have to say that when they get going at least the whole ground sings, but it doesn't happen very often. I remember Blackpool away 4 years ago that seemed louder to me but again only for short bursts.

See link, I think that Stoke fans are bidding to take over from Man Utd fans as the most blinkered bunch of t0ssers. Every forum has some numb heads (including this one!) but they seem to have a disproportionate amount!. I was at the match and have to say that overall a draw was the fair result, our mistake was trying to play their game and defending deep in the last 15 minutes. I agree with others that when Guly missed his chance to go 4-1 up the people around me looked at each other and said that it would be a decisive moment, as it proved. http://oatcakefanzine.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Potters&action=display&thread=205192

Mine came quickly, this time! Ordered online on Friday 14th Dec and arrived in the post on the following Tuesday. Have you checked your online account transactions? although I have read that some people have had accuracy problems with this. Did you print out your transaction details or your email Purchase Confirmation?

Apparently Cameron is suspended due to an earlier yellow card when playing for Houston in USA. Stoke fans don't sound so confident without him and Shawcross: "A defence on paper of Shotton Huth Upson Wilko, doesn't look great. Luckily football isn't played on paper"

I did this for my microsoft running machine: 1) Could not shut down so had to hold down on/off button 2) Switched back on and was given option to start in safe mode, if not given option restart again pressing F8 key. Safe mode only starts vital necessary software so stops infection loading. 3) When started in safe mode all icons are bigger in size, select microsoft start button on bottom left of screen 4) In search box type system progressive protection, files either come up automatically or push search button (depending on system version) 5) Delete the files showing (see names below) 6) Now to delete infected registry key type regedit in search box again and 'drill' down to registry keyname showing (see below, and delete). I didn't find the 'uninstall' one only the 'runonce' one 7) Restart computer in normal mode, mine was OK after this. See instructions below from this website: http://blogs.mcafee.com/mcafee-labs/system-progressive-protection-another-form-of-fake-av Files dropped on the victim’s machine after infection: •%Desktopdir%\System Progressive Protection.lnk •%Programs%\System Progressive Protection\System Progressive Protection.lnk •%AppData%\[random]\[random].exe Registry entries to be removed: •HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce “[sET OF RANDOM CHARACTERS]“ •HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\System Progressive Protection\ Removing this rogue AV is comparatively easy. Dropped files and registry entries must be deleted. The malware blocks many of the victims’ applications but not Internet Explorer. They can still get online to seek help from antimalware websites:

Not using these streaming sites again for my Microsoft intenet explorer set up, previous seasons seem to have been OK but for the Arsenal and Everton game have picked up virus/malware. Today have spent the last 1.5 hours deleting a 'nasty' called System Progressive Protection that tries to get you through continual pop ups to buy scam antivirus protection, and 'takes over' your computer. My son on Apple Mac running safari was unaffected, again ! I'll be watching with him in future.

Website now showing Everton tickets sold out except for obstructed view, wonder if the club will request some more tickets?

This morning I'm trying to buy Everton Tickets online and when I logon it shows the Everton tickets available (not Paddock as sold out), but when I go to buy them it says there is an error. It does allow me to buy home tickets though. Interestingly the buy button for other matches shows a 'cart' symbol on the button but the Everton one does not. Is anyone else having this problem?

Just seen on Saints Player Adkins (Ramirez) interview from yesterday, "7 or 8 will be away on International duty and will get back together a few days before the Arsenal game". I guess it comes with the territory of being in higher leagues and better players. This will bring fresh challenges to Adkins and the backroom team when coaching the squad and preparing for matches.