itchen

Not entirely;-) You seem to have turned a verb into an adjective.

Excellent performance by Saints. Bart only had one save to make (apart from his rather risky header outside the box). One of the most impressive things was that Phillips never seemed to be able to get the ball for long enough to be a threat. Our defence made him look very ordinary indeed. It wasn't all positive - Thomas's first few hoofs went straight to the opposition but he managed to get better and either passed to our players or kicked it out. And Surman kept trying to do too much on his own when a pass would have been better - but, again, he got over it. These are just minor quibbles. I couldn't get to the first Birmingham game so this is the first competitive game for me this season and I'll definitely be back for more. There's something special going on.

If you look at the Premiership table as well it will be worth a second can of Coke.

I expect he'd have waved his arms and shouted.

Bloody hell - lives in Liverpool with a Birmingham fan. Have you gone for the full range of whiny accents? (Ducks 'cause my wife is from Birmingham.)

No. But does every thread have to be "what way can I find now to criticise the club, Rupert Lowe, George Burley, JP, the stewards, the ticket office...?"

I'd say a) is certainly true - well the bit about Rupert being in charge anyway. Like any other club - even Chelsea's manager can only move with the consent of slippery Pete Kenyon and Abramovich. And Jan was Rupert's preferred appointment despite the wide support for keeping Pearson so I doubt b) is true. They both know the score (2-1 generally) and realise that anyone is for sale if the right offer comes in. 'Twas ever thus.

Of all the players to leave, KD would be the most missed unless BB gets much better or Forecast turns out to be a star. I hope this rumour isn't true but I believe the club is on record as saying Davis is one of the targets for sale if possible. Presumably we bought Forecast as cover for Bart so it makes sense (but only financially, not footballing).

I'm still optimistic - what's the point of not being this early in the season? I couldn't get to the Birmingham game but it sounds like we played well. I'm not expecting a good result at Derby - it's a pity that our first 3 fixtures are up against some of the strongest teams in the league. I'll be able to form a more realistic judgement when I've seen us play teams like Blackpool.

And that's just the journalists. Boom, boom!

I'm sure there's a meaningful point to this post but I can't see it. So our players are either "sh1te" and so we're stuck with them or they're up for sale? That's not really fair is it? Otherwise we'd never field a team even when times were better. By your definition, anyone any good would automatically be off elsewhere. We sold players (like just about any other club) when we didn't need the money and were doing relatively well. But just because a player isn't a transfer target for another club doesn't mean he's "sh1te". Any player has always been for sale at SFC if the price is right.

A steward you say? And on Friday too? Couldn't be more reliable.

Many people are advertised as appearing at Central Hall. As we know, they often don't turn up.

I think SMS has been used by some Christian sect or other. And I vaguely remember some other religion having a rally there (although I might have dreamed that).

Pleased to say my son (12) supports Saints and has never shown any sign of glory hunting. My nephews back in London also support their local team (Charlton) when I suppose they could quite easily have switched to Chelsea. I can't see how you can "support" a team you are only likely to see on the TV. You may like the way Man U play or enjoy laughing at Newcastle but I don't see how that makes you a supporter in any meaningful sense. I'd like to blame Sky but I remember back in the seventies there used to "Leeds supporters" all over South East London. Shame.

Dear God. Somebody made a mistake. It must be really annoying if you've travelled any distance to find the ticket office shut when it should have been open and I sympathise. If I were you I'd write a strongly worded letter to the club. But get it in proportion. It is a mistake and that's all. It's not a symbol of the decline of our great club (there are lots of those but this isn't one).

So could you explain what you are doing then? In what way are you not standing by? Are you leading a consortium to buy us out? Are you getting behind the team to encourage them to play us out of trouble? I'm trying not to be provocative but exactly what are you doing differently to the rest of us to be prevent our club from being "killed"?

They don't like each other. They only speak to each other on stage.

I like the way Phillips describes football supporters as "fickle". Of course, we're the ones who go and support other clubs at the waving of a fistfull of fivers. The players stay loyal.

Do they expect anyone to be at St Mary's tomorrow evening? I suppose there might be some time-share or wedding planning sales events. Even the SISA Central Hall meetings never claimed 1500 people.

1. I struggled to find the word "always" in his statement about Killer. It's kind of standard to have a substitute if you have doubts about a player's fitness. If the manager believes that it is better to risk a not-fully-fit player than to start with one who is not so good, that's his prerogative. He sees the players training all week, we don't. 2. I agree. But it doesn't change the fact that we need to sell players and some of those players will the ones that we, as fans, want to keep. It's a shame but just carping on about it isn't going to change the financial reality. 3. He's absolutely right. I like this telling it how it is style. It's in complete contrast to the "everything is OK, trust me" approach of George Burley and very refreshing and may cause our more senior players (those who are left) to think about their approach. It would be different if he were publicly criticising one of the kids in their first couple of games.

For once, Alpine is right in that this has always been true. But it depends on the size of the offer.

I don't think being drunk at 11:14pm is necessarily a sign of a serious drinking problem. I doubt if there many adults on this forum who have not been in that position - particularly in a hotel where all you've got to do is get in a lift to go to bed. I don't know if the rumour about Rasiak is true but I can see we have little choice but to get either John or Rasiak off our wage bill. As Rasiak hasn't played for us for ages and I prefer John's play anyway, this looks a good deal as long as we insert a clause that he can't play against us.

Too early in the season for our new team to get much out of this one I'm afraid. I predict 3-1 to Birmingham- but I hope I'm very much wrong.

Well Mr Caplen has now had his character thoroughly probed on this forum (deservedly or not). But surely the real point is that SFC has the right to refuse admission to anyone as long as they (the club) are not acting in a manner that contradicts the law (for example, by being racist or sexist). Whether their reasons for doing so would be enough to secure a criminal conviction is irrelevant - if they don't want him, they don't have to have him. They don't seem to want him. And as Mr Caplen says he doesn't want to go anyway, I wonder why this was thought to be worthy of a couple of minutes on BBC TV.