MarkSFC

If you cant make Saturday games because of work then more then more than likely you work in retail, leisure, or service industry, which won't mean you are any more likely to be free on a Bank Holiday Monday!!

Couldn't agree more, brilliant character who can play football!! Please sign him AP!!!

I was in Block 202 and despite it being mixed and just into the Carlisle section it was mostly Saints and we were singing quite alot! However I did mention to my mate on the day how quiet it seemed from the Saints end. His GF who was with us is a Villa fan and she commented on how surprised she was that we were not louder as we have a good reputation apparently!! By the by, she said Villa fans are crap at singing!! Anyway from where I was sat it seemed a mixture of lack of singing and poor acoustics. A few other mates were in top tier behind the goal and thought it was quite good.

Went to Silverspoons as was meeting people coming from different parts of the country so seemed good option last week. How wrong was I?!!! I wrongly imagined a well run and spacious club feel based on the COYR website advert. For a rennet entry I was paying for the "promised" plenty of bars and extra staff. They had three bars in the main part with only three people serving at each, so they had 9 people to serve potentially two thousand people! You do the math! They did open a cans bar but ran out within an hour!! The music was ok a bit of a mix for all ages but poorly DJ'd. The sound level was too loud because it didn't really get fans singing! They also said in their website that did was available and I didn't see any! And they also said on the tickets that ex-players would be in attendance. Although this wasn't my reason for going in there I didn't see one nor were any introduced, at least between 1030 and 1240 when I was in there! Another very bad illingsworth event!!!! BUT all of the above made no difference to my day, it was a brilliant day to be a Saints fan, had brilliant seats 50 yards from ML and NC, spent the day drinking (slowly!!) with mates and even though my train was delayed for an hour on the way home. seeing Saints fans take over Waterloo was great! Getting off the first train into Waterloo in the morning and everyone singing was a spine tingling moment for me! I was wondering what the staff and police were thinking!! Amazing day, amazing atmoshphere, and hopefully the first of many trips to Wembley!!! just don't go to Silverspoons or any COYR event!!!!

I'm in block 202....seems to be just into Carlisle territory so hope wearing my colours doesn't annoy the stewards!!!

I once saw a tv program about touts and if I remember correctly, you are not creaking the law if you "charge an administration fee on top of the face value". It's then upto the buyer whether they are happy to pay it!! The seller should I believe disclose this admin fe when selling but who has ever heard a tout saying words to the effect of "£100 for this £40 ticket which includes my admin fee"!!! It's interesting! Can't believe anyone in this instance would be too agrieved at your generosity! How much did you raise?

Agree with your remark concerning first point. Maybe it's a conscious effort to publicly leave the past in the past to minimise association with those who do not need to be mentioned!! In regard to costs I would be amazed if the host families suffered any expense, i'm sure they will be suitably compensated!

Using words like "exciting new initiative" to describe what is effectively a re-launch of a well established practice throughout football, but has probably been wholly ignored since the lodge was established is merely marketing speel. I'm notsure where in the article SaintClark you read about saving money. And why does that matter? The important thing is that the club do what is best for the youngsters in supporting and devoping them. You could also put this move in the positive column for "building contact between club and fans" (for want of a better phrase!). A positive move and just the start of NCs plan fir making our academy the best in the country.

Why?? Merely returning to what appeared to be a very successful part of developing our young players and helping their transition from their home to living and working away. I would guess people like LeTiss and Shearer would advocate this?!!

Breaking News on Echo site that HMRC are challenging their administration! Brilliant!

I hope for YOUR sake YOU are NOT a coach or leader of people!! ONLY when its MATHMATICALLY impossible for us to MAKE the play-offs should ANYONE give up. IF Pardew had this attitude then you'd probably slag him off for giving up!!!

Thanks Block5, "conditioning" is absolutely the challenge to overcome for most. Some however are happy in that state! I wonder sometimes whether the perennial "negative/moaners" ever actually go to a game because surely even they can't deny the positivity in the stadium now and the unbelievable high you get when we score! Or do they sit there and critique the move preceding the goal?!

I couldn't agree more and this is really what prompted my OP. I read through this site virtually every day but almost every post seems to descend into personal agendas/negativity or just plain drivel! Don't get me wrong there are some very well informed and articulate posters on here as well as some very good debators with some excellent and interesting views. The trouble is, most of the time the people who shout loudest (so to speak) and have the most to say are usually the most negative, disruptive and insular people. It gets very boring scrolling through their posts. Wouldn't it be great to read more good things, and have more thought provoking debates?! Bundles of humour would be better than the showers of despair!

So discuss.........

For someone with over 4000 posts to their name, you'd guess they would have mastered the art of debate and discussion by now rather than trying to put others down with supposed insults and so called funny repostes. Why don't you say nothing until you have something positive, constructive, or worthwhile to say? You may enjoy it!

LOL!

Interesting comment, have I hit a nerve? At no point did I say "accept everything no matter what". This is not my view at all. You have immediately vindicated my point by missing the point entirely. By mentioning my number of posts I can only assume that you think commenting loads and "loudest" is what counts. I wish you every success with that.

It absolutely amazes me how some people on this forum can be so negative about all things Saints so much of the time. For the only time in my short period of supporting Saints (35 years and counting) we actually have on the evidence so far at least, an owner who is very wealthy and wants to invest his own money - and not borrow - and a CEO who has a very robust, positive, forward thinking, and customer centric strategy. We also have a manager who is extremly driven, recognises the huge opportunity he has been given, is very open and honest, articulates his views very well and is finally, mainly because of the lack of preperation he had at the start of the season and because of the stupid transfer window, shaping his own team. As well as this their is money being invested in the training facilities, and a clear message from Nicola Cortese that he wants us to be leaders. And yet despite all these extremely positive actions which from what I can tell is not replicated any where else in football currently are there STILL people who moan? You are like the kid at Christmas who got the expensive toy they moaned about all year but then moaned that they wanted it a different colour. We are THE luckiest group of football fans in the world right now IMHO and rather than be decisive and negative with your comments why don't you CHANGE just like the club has and look forward positively and excitedly to each and every game over the next few years? This club has new people running it, new players and basing your expectations on previous incumbants is folly. Ok, we may not make the play-offs this year but considering everything that happened in the summer and the lack of time AP and NC had, I think even of we finish within 10 points of 6th, getting to the final of the JPT (and hopefully thrashing Carlisle!), having a decent run in the cups and only losing to Premiership teams, can definitley be regarded as succesful. Positivity breeds success and even when you need to look at what is not great, looking at it in a positive manner is what allows development and this is how successful people and teams make that happen. So, e.g. Questioning whether AP will be here is a negative question and one that if left to fester "could" create doubt in his ability which actually in the cold light of day is clearly very good. Sure, if we fail to achieve championship status by the end of next season then that's different, but I truly believe that we are at the start of what will turn out to be the the most successful and exciting period in our clubs history, so if YOU ARE MOANING and NEGATIVE NOW, WHAT IS THE POINT of supporting Saints?!! I for one would say keep your opinions to yourself for now and sit back and enjoy the ride!!

I love you bro....

all booked mate...when we getting a beer this week?!!!

Brilliant..I am flying to Dallas on 15th Feb so was going to miss it!!

I think you both miss the point.......sure 6k or so are paying but if you want another 4-5k minimum in the stadium I think the club needs to drop the price. As for our prices being worse, again thats not the issue its about attracting more fans into the ground. Its easy to get 10-12k (or whatever the figures are) at Orient, Oldham, Suthend etc, etc but getting 25k plus in League One from a supporter base that needs re-building, the prices need to encourage that. The "base" is now about 15-16k and will grow, how quickly it does that is down to mainly pricing imho. Even "special offers" for the casual supporter would help....e.g. buy 2 games and get one half price...thus meaning an outlay of £55 instead of £66. There are many different ways of marketing the tickets ( and not really effecting the "value" of a season ticket), but we'll see!!

I think the matchday pricing is hindering "casual" attendance. Quite rightly season ticket holders got a good package this season, with the single Adult average of about £15 per game. As someone who can only attend a few games (as Im so lucky to work in retail!) the matchday price of £22 or £25 depending on where you sit is a little steep.It hasnt stopped me attending a couple of games so far, and nor will it, but Im sure its a big reason for others. If it was £19 or £20 I think pschologically more people would find that affordable. Only minor criticism of the new regime so far!!

Calling for Pardew to be sacked is ridiculous and would be counter-productive anyway. All those who truly believe it would be best to change the manager, I am sure have no "management" or "coaching experience". Look at the facts. AP took over a club in absolute turmoil just under 3 months ago. In that time he had to assemble his own coaching team, a completely new scouting set-up, as well as recruit, organise, and galvanise a football team. Those players who were left at the club (and still are) are either "kids" still learning their trade or professionals who had suffered the disaster of last season. Dealing with, and coaching the mental side of any sport or business is sometimes tougher than the physical actions. AND it takes LONGER. Having listened to Alan Pardew (and NC) at the Forum I have no doubt whatsoever that he is the right manager for our club for a very long time. He comes across as someone who is comfortable in his role in the sense that he knows exactly what he wants and how he is going to achieve it. You can be the best coach/manager in the world but you ultimately rely on other people and their ability and most impoortantly thier attitude. In football it is difficult to just chop and change people around because of the transfer window system. Therefore, as AP stated he is still getting to know and understand his players and this takes time, time that he and the club had a damn site less of than every other club in our division. Most of the teams have been "building" for two or three seasons, and we are playing catch up in more ways than just the 10 point deduction. It is time for ALL fans to realise and accept that this is a medium to long term project here, firstly to get back to the Championship and compete in it and then into the Premiership and beyond. Apart from building the first team up again, the business is being built up again, and unlike a start up business, many things have to be understood and changed before real progress can be established. We are lucky because we have a great stadium, and training ground and in many respects a great set of supporters. So many clubs do not have anything like our facilities and maybe never will!! It occurred to me recently that maybe our fanbase suffers from division because the "old hardcore" of Dell Fans has been complemented by a "new hardcore" of St Marys fans (ones who maybe never went to The Dell) and as such the new hardcore fans have "grown up" so to speak on the Prem and FA Cup glory of early 2000's and unlike the old hardcore, were/are not ofay with the fighting spirit mentality and togetherness factor that we did have at The Dell. These points are not meant to disrespect any individual fan or section of fans, merely an observation of why it seems to me that there is a distinct lack of patience, realism and vision amongst many people, especially on here. Just like AP is re-building our football team and NC is re-building our football club, we the fans need to be re-built to some degree. The pain of the last few years can only go away with a united fan-base who trust the new owner to put into his business the right people for the job. In time we can and will succeed and we will once again savour the Premiership and Europe BUT it will take time. One thing that apparently helped in ML's purchase of the club was the fans. If those same named people start getting impatient and argumentative and vocalise their wishes for change - yet again - then what does that say to the decision maker? There are only two scenarios under which I would want AP to go and that is if after 5 or 6 years we are not in the Premiership or god forbid we get relegated this year, and even then I would not be too sure, but you never know unless it happened. So my conclusion to my rather long post is that some how we the fans have to leave the bad past, the ill-feeling, and the natural urges to panic, in the past and look to the future positively, passionately and pro-actively. We must get behind the club and the team and the individuals and give them no excuses for failure. We must show the footballing world that we are brilliant fans who inspite of adverse times will still support their team and club as well as any other group of fans in the world would. COYR!!!

Why the **** should we empathise with the skates? Their start to the season is the best thing ever....the few skates I know have in comparison to the last 3/4 years gone very very quiet!!! Its brilliant!!