Attendances this week?

[Big Ron fan]

Any idea how many are sold for Ipswich and Barnsley?

[CLOTH EARS]

I reckon tonights crowd will be 14.447.

[Weston Super Saint]

Tonight 15,589

[Oz]

under 15,000 as i have said before! maybe a point though

[alpine_saint]

Under 15K tonight, under 20K on Saturday.

[INFLUENCED.COM]

30k as some 'fans' have now realised our TEAM need their support !!

 

 

 

Carlsberg don't do attendance estimate's but if they did................................

[View From The Top]

30k as some 'fans' have now realised our TEAM need their support !!

 

We're not fans, we're customers!

 

Apathy has seriously kicked in though. None of the fellas I'd normally go with (bar 2 season ticket holders) can be bothered to go tonight or on Saturday. Variety of reasons given from can't being arsed, cost, Lowe, working (me)

[yorkie]

It is a sad fact of life that although football used the b-all and end-all of my existence, it's no longer that important.

 

Sure I still look for the results & go to games when they are close by, and up until last season tried to get down to SMS regularly - but there are a number of factors stopping me from going:

1) Cost - value for money?

2) My preferred standing position at SMS is now closed

3) The beer is sh*te at SMS

4) Did I mention cost?

5) I am a fan not a customer

6) I don't like being referred to as "one of the lunatic fringe"

7) The whole Saints experience at SMS is so sterile

I am nearly 50 and have an internet connection

9) SKYSports News tells me every blow

10) I get texts from mates telling me the score

 

Once upon a time the only way you could find out how the team was getting was by actually going. Now with current media options you can find out anywhere in the world at anytime. It's not as critical to actually be there - is it? Sure I'll go down the pub and watch SKY games, I'll have teletext in vision score flashes on, the computer is set to BBC vidoeprinter, as well as being on the forum - I used to love the matchday chat room experience with all the guys from overseas (and UK).

 

Football is dying - it's outpriced itself. I can still remember paying 2/- (10P) to get in at The Dell. I used to promise myself I would never pay more than a £10 to watch a game, then £15 and now Derby was £28! Enough is enough...I thought the team was meant to get better as the ticket prices went up - well it got a hell of a lot worse.

 

I'm almost happy to live on my memories...sure I'll spend £10 next week at Rotherham (glory hunter - I was there syndrome) but I'm making a stand - I am now going to refuse to pay more than £20 for a game - and that's still too much for the dross we've put up with over the last 3-years

[luke8588]

how about rather than worrying who else or how many are going to be, just get a ticket and go along.....

[surrey1saint]

Come on guys the team needs you to be there...COYR

[AndyNorthernSaints]

It is a sad fact of life that although football used the b-all and end-all of my existence, it's no longer that important.

 

Sure I still look for the results & go to games when they are close by, and up until last season tried to get down to SMS regularly - but there are a number of factors stopping me from going:

1) Cost - value for money?

2) My preferred standing position at SMS is now closed

3) The beer is sh*te at SMS

4) Did I mention cost?

5) I am a fan not a customer

6) I don't like being referred to as "one of the lunatic fringe"

7) The whole Saints experience at SMS is so sterile

I am nearly 50 and have an internet connection

9) SKYSports News tells me every blow

10) I get texts from mates telling me the score

 

Once upon a time the only way you could find out how the team was getting was by actually going. Now with current media options you can find out anywhere in the world at anytime. It's not as critical to actually be there - is it? Sure I'll go down the pub and watch SKY games, I'll have teletext in vision score flashes on, the computer is set to BBC vidoeprinter, as well as being on the forum - I used to love the matchday chat room experience with all the guys from overseas (and UK).

 

Football is dying - it's outpriced itself. I can still remember paying 2/- (10P) to get in at The Dell. I used to promise myself I would never pay more than a £10 to watch a game, then £15 and now Derby was £28! Enough is enough...I thought the team was meant to get better as the ticket prices went up - well it got a hell of a lot worse.

 

I'm almost happy to live on my memories...sure I'll spend £10 next week at Rotherham (glory hunter - I was there syndrome) but I'm making a stand - I am now going to refuse to pay more than £20 for a game - and that's still too much for the dross we've put up with over the last 3-years

 

£20+ a ticket wont be a problem next season mate :-(

[Dicko]

Why do so many people stop going just because their mates have?

 

I've been to matches loads a times on my own

The season we got relegated, I drove to West Brom on my own.

 

Just get a ticket ffs

[Junior Mullet]

I've been a season ticket holder for the past few years but didnt get one this year on the basis that I didnt want my Saturdays to be so tied up.

 

I looked on the OS this mornign and saw tickets were £26 odd! I decided not to go tonight or on Saturday. It's too expensive for me given the current economics and the fact that as an alternative to one match I can play two rounds of golf or take my girlfriend and I out for a meal.

 

It's sad because I would love to go to every game that I possibly can but I'm just not going to pay those prices.

 

I am also finding it difficult to square the fact that last year I watched the nucleas of this team playing for free in the ressies most weeks. Don't get me wrong, I support the current youth policy but I just find it difficult to justify the cost of a ticket.

[itchen]

Can't go tonight. But I'm not boycotting and I'm not put off by our league position. It's combination of having a regular commitment on Wednesday evenings and not being able to afford two games in a week. And it's a school night so couldn't take my son.

[Boss_Hogg]

Just been to ticket office for my tickets for tonight and was told they have sold less than 13.5K for tonight so far.

[callysaint76]

13 thousand is terrible!

It really ****es me off that all these people won't go and then as soon as we win a few games will come crawling back and the money/lowe/not having any friends/ won't be an issue anymore

Stop making excuses, despite the fact that we can't score and can't defend it is pretty good to watch! get on down you lazy barstewards

[Big Ron fan]

Just been to ticket office for my tickets for tonight and was told they have sold less than 13.5K for tonight so far.

 

Presumably that figure includes quite a few season ticket holders who won't actually be there for one reason or another. Even with another 1,000 walk-ups, may struggle to have more than about 13,000 in the ground.

[Bon Call Night]

It is a sad fact of life that although football used the b-all and end-all of my existence, it's no longer that important.

Sure I still look for the results & go to games when they are close by, and up until last season tried to get down to SMS regularly - but there are a number of factors stopping me from going:
1) Cost - value for money?

 

Possibly you're only legitimate reason!

 

2) My preferred standing position at SMS is now closed

 

How pathetic, the view, and the fans are still there in adjacent parts, if you feel this is a real excuse then you really are a sad individual.

 

3) The beer is sh*te at SMS

 

If you want a beer go to a pub! The food is crap too, that is why I don't eat there!!

 

4) Did I mention cost?

 

Yes

5) I am a fan not a customer

 

No you're not, you are a customer, a fan would put aside such excuses like bad beer, can't stand where I want. Bet you didn't turn down the Cup Final ticket because it was in the wrong place.

 

A customer is driven by more than the support factor, they are driven by other market issues!!!

 

6) I don't like being referred to as "one of the lunatic fringe"

 

If the cap fits!! I wanted Lowe out too, I do not consider myself lunatic fringe.

 

7) The whole Saints experience at SMS is so sterile

 

How do you know? It is because people are not turning up that it is sterile, the fact is you are missing the best football we have played for 5 years regardless of the results.

 

 I am nearly 50 and have an internet connection

 

Well done, I see Tony Blair convinced you!

 

9) SKYSports News tells me every blow

Only when there is no Premiership or Champions League on, the CCC is a poor relation

 

10) I get texts from mates telling me the score

Once upon a time the only way you could find out how the team was getting was by actually going. Now with current media options you can find out anywhere in the world at anytime. It's not as critical to actually be there - is it? Sure I'll go down the pub and watch SKY games, I'll have teletext in vision score flashes on, the computer is set to BBC vidoeprinter, as well as being on the forum - I used to love the matchday chat room experience with all the guys from overseas (and UK).

Football is dying - it's outpriced itself. I can still remember paying 2/- (10P) to get in at The Dell. I used to promise myself I would never pay more than a £10 to watch a game, then £15 and now Derby was £28! Enough is enough...I thought the team was meant to get better as the ticket prices went up - well it got a hell of a lot worse.

I'm almost happy to live on my memories...sure I'll spend £10 next week at Rotherham (glory hunter - I was there syndrome) but I'm making a stand - I am now going to refuse to pay more than £20 for a game - and that's still too much for the dross we've put up with over the last 3-years[/quote]

 

The problem is that fans demand success and better players and the skewed market place driven by the PL says that even average players like BWP get £8k a week. Imagine how much a decent player is on. Fans want a nice stadium and in your case a perfect view, that costs money too. I would fully understand your position if it is just cost but it sounds to me as though you have other issues.

 

Evrything in this world costs something and you get very little for free, wrong, maybe, but that is reality.

[Saints foreva]

Why do so many people stop going just because their mates have?

 

I've been to matches loads a times on my own

The season we got relegated, I drove to West Brom on my own.

 

Just get a ticket ffs

 

I will be going on my own for the rest of the season now because my mate who sat next to me moved his season ticket because we had a stupid arguement that he caused..

 

THE *****..

 

COYR

[View From The Top]

13 thousand is terrible!

It really ****es me off that all these people won't go and then as soon as we win a few games will come crawling back and the money/lowe/not having any friends/ won't be an issue anymore

Stop making excuses, despite the fact that we can't score and can't defend it is pretty good to watch! get on down you lazy barstewards

 

 

 

Saints have lost fans that they won't get back in a hurry as it's too easy to get out of the habit of going and when it's been a while people baulk at the cost.

 

You also assume that they will come back when we've won a few games but B'ham at home should have been the perfect indicator of the things to come.

 

The happy clappy "Saints are my life" types better get used to it because.

 

• Cost is putting people off big time.
  
• Lowe has effected attendances as people won't go when he's there.
  
• It's a team of kids who have recently been out bullied by men live on TV.
  
• People have lost interest.
  

[Norm]

[/html]

 

The problem is that fans demand success and better players and the skewed market place driven by the PL says that even average players like BWP get £8k a week. Imagine how much a decent player is on. Fans want a nice stadium and in your case a perfect view, that costs money too. I would fully understand your position if it is just cost but it sounds to me as though you have other issues.

 

Evrything in this world costs something and you get very little for free, wrong, maybe, but that is reality.

 

 

Wow! I bet you had a 'hardon' as you wrote that. There you are Yorkie, blasted with both barells of Bon's shotgun.

 

Mind you, I'm in the same camp as my 'Learned friend' from Pocklington.

[cambsaint]

The management of Saints have yet to realise they are competing for an ever decreasing leisure pound.

Lowe must be aware more than most of the macro-economic situation. Does he think Saints are immune from it.

What is better 13K or so at £26 or 25K at about £15.

Only the hopelessly fanatic and well off will pay £26 to watch a team that hasn't got a hope in hell's chance of promotion and is almost certain to be relegated.

Then consider the economics of life in Div 3 (old) and 10K crowds with a ticket price of 10 to 15 pounds.

I would have laid any odds on Saints going to the wall long before Lehman Bros and AIG. If they can go under anyone can.

It appears that a club can no longer survive even at CCC level on fanbase alone. Even to survive at this level you either need very low overheads or a rich and foolish sugar-daddy.

I don't claim to know what the answer is, but I am not going to pay even an oldies' ticket price and a full price one for my newly graduated and hopelessly impoverished son to watch Saints get beaten more than a couple times a year and then it'll be at Norwich and Ipswich.

I am a fan, but am also a customer and my hard earned money has got to last me twenty years (if my dodgy heart holds out that long).

 

Actually after writing this I am almost glad that Lowe is Chairman-it should be a very difficult time for him and be payback for the shedloads he milked when we were in the Prem until his giant ego mismanaged us to rel

 

Cambsaint

[surrey1saint]

13 thousand is terrible!

It really ****es me off that all these people won't go and then as soon as we win a few games will come crawling back and the money/lowe/not having any friends/ won't be an issue anymore

Stop making excuses, despite the fact that we can't score and can't defend it is pretty good to watch! get on down you lazy barstewards

 

Nail on the head mate!

[Norm]

The management of Saints have yet to realise they are competing for an ever decreasing leisure pound.

Lowe must be aware more than most of the macro-economic situation. Does he think Saints are immune from it.

What is better 13K or so at £26 or 25K at about £15.

Only the hopelessly fanatic and well off will pay £26 to watch a team that hasn't got a hope in hell's chance of promotion and is almost certain to be relegated.

Then consider the economics of life in Div 3 (old) and 10K crowds with a ticket price of 10 to 15 pounds.

I would have laid any odds on Saints going to the wall long before Lehman Bros and AIG. If they can go under anyone can.

It appears that a club can no longer survive even at CCC level on fanbase alone. Even to survive at this level you either need very low overheads or a rich and foolish sugar-daddy.

I don't claim to know what the answer is, but I am not going to pay even an oldies' ticket price and a full price one for my newly graduated and hopelessly impoverished son to watch Saints get beaten more than a couple times a year and then it'll be at Norwich and Ipswich.

I am a fan, but am also a customer and my hard earned money has got to last me twenty years (if my dodgy heart holds out that long).

 

Actually after writing this I am almost glad that Lowe is Chairman-it should be a very difficult time for him and be payback for the shedloads he milked when we were in the Prem until his giant ego mismanaged us to rel

 

Cambsaint

 

 

Standby for muck and bullets flying your way! The post's will start like this, "You're not a 'Real' fan blah blah".

[yorkie]

Standby for muck and bullets flying your way! The post's will start like this, "You're not a 'Real' fan blah blah".

 

Norm

 

Nice to see you are still browsing the forum and adding your wisdom.

 

I honestly believe the club has lost all it's soul - and the enjoyment we got from going to matches has gone for ever at SMS.

 

The away days are still fun - but I used to really love the day out at SMS. I guess the whole thing died last season with all the back-stabbing and finger pointing.

 

Many good people did not renew their STs - not because of Lowe but they have genuinely fallen out of love with football. We all seem to have better things to do with our time and money. Even once blinkered me finds a weekend in The Dales supping proper beer with the missus seems infinitely better than a drive to SMS - it's just too much effort.

 

Everyones a better fan than me...and do I care?

[graemeread1234]

Come on guys the team needs you to be there...COYR

 

you're being to positive, are you a Sunderland fan?

[Saint Mikey]

Errr. Whoever thinks that if we get relegated ticket prices are going to be £10-£15 - you are highly mistaken. Brighton charge £26 for a home ticket and that's at a very poor excuse for a ground. Prices might come down £2-£4, that's about it.

 

Not that it will affect us though, as we'll be staying up!!

[Bon Call Night]

Wow! I bet you had a 'hardon' as you wrote that. There you are Yorkie, blasted with both barells of Bon's shotgun.

 

Mind you, I'm in the same camp as my 'Learned friend' from Pocklington.

 

Well if your interested - no I didn't. I just think the bad beer, can't sit in the corner stuff, along with those who stay away because of Lowe are the people damaging our football club more than Lowe, Wilde or Crouch.

 

I don't care how camp you are - if it is a money issue then fine, I am struggling myself at the moment and will miss a few games because of it but that is the only excuse I will offer.

 

I have not lost sight of what I enjoy and that is watching 11 guys in red and white stripes representing SFC with passion and pride - I dont give a sh1t as to who is in the boardroom once the whistle blows and that is why I enjoy it. That is how I started watching football - not knowing who the chairman was, but I could recognise a Saints player from the other end of Hampshire, that is what mattered.

 

Yes it is expensive, yes I would love it to be cheaper, but we are representative of the price for football in this league so I guess it is a fair price. Whether dropping the price by a tenner would compensate it self I don't know - you would need a clever economist to tell you that.

 

But I do know that if you drop the price by a pound you need to get another 600-800 people for that, so if you drop it a fiver do you thibnk we will get another 3000-4000 people?

[Norm]

Well if your interested - no I didn't. I just think the bad beer, can't sit in the corner stuff, along with those who stay away because of Lowe are the people damaging our football club more than Lowe, Wilde or Crouch.

 

I don't care how camp you are - if it is a money issue then fine, I am struggling myself at the moment and will miss a few games because of it but that is the only excuse I will offer.

 

I have not lost sight of what I enjoy and that is watching 11 guys in red and white stripes representing SFC with passion and pride - I dont give a sh1t as to who is in the boardroom once the whistle blows and that is why I enjoy it. That is how I started watching football - not knowing who the chairman was, but I could recognise a Saints player from the other end of Hampshire, that is what mattered.

 

Yes it is expensive, yes I would love it to be cheaper, but we are representative of the price for football in this league so I guess it is a fair price. Whether dropping the price by a tenner would compensate it self I don't know - you would need a clever economist to tell you that.

 

But I do know that if you drop the price by a pound you need to get another 600-800 people for that, so if you drop it a fiver do you thibnk we will get another 3000-4000 people?

 

I had thought that as I only have three posts a day, I wouldn't bother to reply. But as you wrote such a fair and reasonable reply, I will use my third post on the following,

 

 

I understand why Yorkie and Offix wrote what they did today. These are two long standing Saints supporters and fans, both long distance at that. Offix in USA and Yorkie in that hotbed of sin, Pocklington. Both worried at the demise of a club they have supported for donkeys years. I would not for a moment question their love of Saints but feel the same 'pain' as they do. I took my grandson to see our last two home games and it cost me nearly £40 per game and both of us left feeling that we could have put that to better use.

 

I don't know anything about you BCN and don't doubt for a moment your love for Saints. You have taken a different 'tack' to my pals above and I can only say that I respect your point of view. I wish I had the same feelings towards Saints as you and others but somehow and somewhere the fire has gone from my belly. I'm not knowledgeable enough about the 'facts' to lay blame at anyone's door and have no ready made answers but I really do hope we survive and prosper but I have my doubts.

[wadesmith]

Norm

 

Nice to see you are still browsing the forum and adding your wisdom.

 

I honestly believe the club has lost all it's soul - and the enjoyment we got from going to matches has gone for ever at SMS.

 

The away days are still fun - but I used to really love the day out at SMS. I guess the whole thing died last season with all the back-stabbing and finger pointing.

 

Many good people did not renew their STs - not because of Lowe but they have genuinely fallen out of love with football. We all seem to have better things to do with our time and money. Even once blinkered me finds a weekend in The Dales supping proper beer with the missus seems infinitely better than a drive to SMS - it's just too much effort.

 

Everyones a better fan than me...and do I care?

 

I kinda feel the same mate. I stopped going last year for the first time in 16 years...and found that I didnt miss it. I can still listen to it on the radio, whilst spending time with my little girl, or doing something else. The biggest problem saints would have with me is that even if we started winning & Lowe f*cked off I still wouldn't go back, i've just seem to have got bored of it. I still love supporting the team,but I can't be arsed to go anymore. I even find myself doing my pre-match pub ritual with my mates sometimes...but then leaving them& going home at three o'oclock.

[rpb]

S

[*]It's a team of kids who have recently been out bullied by men live on TV.

 

Although I agree with many of your points, I don't think this is right. The 'kids' put themselves about well and got stuck in with some tasty tackles, they did against West Ham and Birmingham too - they lost because they lacked experience not determination.

[Guest Hacienda]

Although I agree with many of your points, I don't think this is right. The 'kids' put themselves about well and got stuck in with some tasty tackles, they did against West Ham and Birmingham too - they lost because they lacked experience not determination.

 

Determination has nothing to do with it, they are simply not strong enough.

 

I've yet to hear a SFC fan complain about the effort these lads have put in.

[Weston Super Saint]

14960.

 

The lowest crowd since the Dell

[Delmary]

14961 included 1031 away fans.

[Dicko]

Let's face it, we are not a big club

 

Forget the Premier League, we don't deserve to be there

14961 is embarrassing and utterly pathetic

[ottery st mary]

14961 included 1031 away fans.

 

Lowey and Wildey to have a rethink together then agree to put Cowan in charge with full control and a lot of fans will return. Lowey does not understand that he will never bring most of the fans round. The football strategy has to change now or they will not come back anyway.

 

Is the attendance the true figure as the ground looked two thirds empty.

Maybe season tickets are counted and they do not attend.

[Saint Fan CaM]

Are 16,000 people wrong? We are now back at the point where we could all fit into the Dell once more....nice U turn Lowe.

 

I know a few people who refuse to pay the same money to watch kids. And watching the shambles in the 2nd half tonight who can blame them? If this carries on I will not be renewing my ST and I suspect many more will not either - gates will crumble next season further and they'll close a stand.

 

I can tell you something else - if Lowe sells any of the decent youngsters prior to the end of the season, I will never set foot in St. Marys again until he's gone - that will be the last straw - I don't care how broke Lowe says we are...that's his problem as Chairman to sort out and if he doesn't then HE has failed.

 

Rant Over...

[Um Bongo]

Are 16,000 people wrong? We are now back at the point where we could all fit into the Dell once more....nice U turn Lowe.

 

I know a few people who refuse to pay the same money to watch kids. And watching the shambles in the 2nd half tonight who can blame them? If this carries on I will not be renewing my ST and I suspect many more will not either - gates will crumble next season further and they'll close a stand.

 

I can tell you something else - if Lowe sells any of the decent youngsters prior to the end of the season, I will never set foot in St. Marys again until he's gone - that will be the last straw - I don't care how broke Lowe says we are...that's his problem as Chairman to sort out and if he doesn't then HE has failed.

 

Rant Over...

 

Personally i blame the people for not turning up.

[Papa Shango]

Let's face it, we are not a big club

 

Forget the Premier League, we don't deserve to be there

14961 is embarrassing and utterly pathetic

 

Load of ********. The Prem has plenty of clubs with worse support than us (Wigan, Portsmouth, Bolton, Fulham, Blackburn etc) You can't expect us to get 30,000 crowds with the rubbish on show at the moment.

[saintrich]

 

 

14961 is embarrassing and utterly pathetic

 

 

What about 14916?

[Bon Call Night]

I had thought that as I only have three posts a day, I wouldn't bother to reply. But as you wrote such a fair and reasonable reply, I will use my third post on the following,

 

 

I understand why Yorkie and Offix wrote what they did today. These are two long standing Saints supporters and fans, both long distance at that. Offix in USA and Yorkie in that hotbed of sin, Pocklington. Both worried at the demise of a club they have supported for donkeys years. I would not for a moment question their love of Saints but feel the same 'pain' as they do. I took my grandson to see our last two home games and it cost me nearly £40 per game and both of us left feeling that we could have put that to better use.

 

I don't know anything about you BCN and don't doubt for a moment your love for Saints. You have taken a different 'tack' to my pals above and I can only say that I respect your point of view. I wish I had the same feelings towards Saints as you and others but somehow and somewhere the fire has gone from my belly. I'm not knowledgeable enough about the 'facts' to lay blame at anyone's door and have no ready made answers but I really do hope we survive and prosper but I have my doubts.

 

I kinda understand you point of view, and living less than a mile from the ground does make things a little easier for me.

 

My first season of watching Saints was the season we got promoted, I then had a League Cup final, several years of watching them in Europe and finishing in the top six, even runners up. But probably from the end of the Chris Nicholl era saints have been going backwards for me. With the occassional blip under Strachan we have not been a good side.

 

Like you I am happy to debate the Lowe, Wilde whoever issue, and I think we both know that mistakes were made when we were relegated and since. However I do fail to see the point in the stay aways using Lowe being there as a reason.

 

I suspect losing the fire is down to who we are playing every week, it is not the same when the seasons big game for us is Birmingham and Reading rather than Mnachester United and Portsmouth.

[CLOTH EARS]

Saturday v Barnsley the crowd will be 15.254.....slightly better than Ipswich.

[Scudamore]

Saturday v Barnsley the crowd will be 15.254.....slightly better than Ipswich.

 

I'll bet you it isn't

[trousers]

I reckon tonights crowd will be 14.447.

 

Nice guess. Care to predict a takeover date?

[Weston Super Saint]

under 15,000 as i have said before! maybe a point though

 

Oz, do you do lottery numbers?

[Long Shot]

I kinda understand you point of view, and living less than a mile from the ground does make things a little easier for me.

 

My first season of watching Saints was the season we got promoted, I then had a League Cup final, several years of watching them in Europe and finishing in the top six, even runners up. But probably from the end of the Chris Nicholl era saints have been going backwards for me. With the occassional blip under Strachan we have not been a good side.

 

Like you I am happy to debate the Lowe, Wilde whoever issue, and I think we both know that mistakes were made when we were relegated and since. However I do fail to see the point in the stay aways using Lowe being there as a reason.

 

I suspect losing the fire is down to who we are playing every week, it is not the same when the seasons big game for us is Birmingham and Reading rather than Mnachester United and Portsmouth.

 

 

It may not matter one jot to you who is in our boardroom but I would suggest the fact that most of us thought along those lines when the reverse takeover happened and that is one big reason we are in the crap we are.

[VectisSaint]

I suspect losing the fire is down to who we are playing every week, it is not the same when the seasons big game for us is Birmingham and Reading rather than Mnachester United and Portsmouth.

But the big game of the season was hardly ever Portsmouth, thats why it is one of the least frequently played local derbies in the country.

 

The reason everyone placked into the Dell for every home game was because, whether football was good or bad we used to win at home more often than we lost. You went along to The Dell expecting us to win, no matter who the opposition were. OK sometimes we got beat, or had to settle for a draw, but in general our home form was what kept us in the top level. It was an enjoyable experience going to The Dell. Sadly, St Marys has become somewhere where Saints find it difficult to win, whether we are in the Prem or the Fizzy Pop. In the end people start to vote with their feet when they become disillusioned with going to SMS and not seeing the team win regularly. For crowds to return in reasonable numbers (and taking into account what level we are at) St Marys needs to become a fortress again.

[itchen]

Are 16,000 people wrong? We are now back at the point where we could all fit into the Dell once more....nice U turn Lowe.

 

I know a few people who refuse to pay the same money to watch kids. And watching the shambles in the 2nd half tonight who can blame them? If this carries on I will not be renewing my ST and I suspect many more will not either - gates will crumble next season further and they'll close a stand.

 

I can tell you something else - if Lowe sells any of the decent youngsters prior to the end of the season, I will never set foot in St. Marys again until he's gone - that will be the last straw - I don't care how broke Lowe says we are...that's his problem as Chairman to sort out and if he doesn't then HE has failed.

Rant Over...

 

OK he can't sell players if they're any good, he can't play a team of cheaper young players because people won't pay money to watch them and the ticket prices are too high anyway so that he can't put those up. How do YOU suggest he stops us from being broke before the bank pulls the plug?