It all started with SMS

[offix]

I just can't shake this feeling that abandoning The Dell for SMS was where the rot started to set in.

Don't get me wrong, SMS is a beautiful stadium, but it lacks the character, the ambiance, the "soul" that was ever present in The Dell. SMS will never instill the kind of awe and fear in visiting teams that The Dell did.

But more importantly, SMS put us in a world of debt with a huge mortgage, and money is exactly what caused our demise. We will never know what would have happened if we had stayed at The Dell, but without the debt that we incurred by building SMS it is conceivable that we would now be (much) better off.

 

[La BoIS Saint]

I just can't shake this feeling that abandoning The Dell for SMS was where the rot started to set in.

Don't get me wrong, SMS is a beautiful stadium, but it lacks the character, the ambiance, the "soul" that was ever present in The Dell. SMS will never instill the kind of awe and fear in visiting teams that The Dell did.

But more importantly, SMS put us in a world of debt with a huge mortgage, and money is exactly what caused our demise. We will never know what would have happened if we had stayed at The Dell, but without the debt that we incurred by building SMS it is conceivable that we would now be (much) better off.

 

 

Trying to exist in the Prem on crowds of 15,000?

[JonnyLove]

What you mean we had a better chance of getting to third and being in the fa cup final whilst at the dell. No The rott started in the board room and that is where it still is

[Window Cleaner]

I just can't shake this feeling that abandoning The Dell for SMS was where the rot started to set in.

Don't get me wrong, SMS is a beautiful stadium, but it lacks the character, the ambiance, the "soul" that was ever present in The Dell. SMS will never instill the kind of awe and fear in visiting teams that The Dell did.

But more importantly, SMS put us in a world of debt with a huge mortgage, and money is exactly what caused our demise. We will never know what would have happened if we had stayed at The Dell, but without the debt that we incurred by building SMS it is conceivable that we would now be (much) better off.

 

 

It all started when they let families into the Milton and knocked down the Chocolate boxes.

We could get 31044 into the Dell before they started with their stupid rules about standing and making football a "family outing".

Clear as day.

Archers=Away fans behind the goals, better behaved Saints fans in the wings.

Under Stands Occasionals and people too fat for the Milton

Stands Old Folks, Toffs and Kids on Birthday treats.

Milton. Hard core -real fans

That was football, bugger sitting down and behaving yourself.

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

I just can't shake this feeling that abandoning The Dell for SMS was where the rot started to set in.

Don't get me wrong, SMS is a beautiful stadium, but it lacks the character, the ambiance, the "soul" that was ever present in The Dell. SMS will never instill the kind of awe and fear in visiting teams that The Dell did.

But more importantly, SMS put us in a world of debt with a huge mortgage, and money is exactly what caused our demise. We will never know what would have happened if we had stayed at The Dell, but without the debt that we incurred by building SMS it is conceivable that we would now be (much) better off.

 

 

This is perfectly true .

 

In the long run we had to move on from the Dell that's obvious , the real problem is that the new stadium and relegation came within a few years of each other . A 10 year gap between the two events and we'd had been OK . Timing is everything as they say .

[John B]

What you mean we had a better chance of getting to third and being in the fa cup final whilst at the dell. No The rott started in the board room and that is where it still is

 

That was in the old days before the Premier League which supports the bigger clubs getting bigger and the smaller ones getting smaller.

[70's Mike]

where we are and other clubs as well was always going to happen from the day the football clubs voted that the home side would keep its gate thus making the biggest clubs bigger.

Until their is a salary cap or shared gate money nothing will change.

[Fan The Flames]

We had to move, The Dell was just too small to compete. The loan is only £2.2m a year not much to service really.

[saintjinksie]

Trying to exist in the Prem on crowds of 15,000?

 

pompey, 20000? Thye havent done too bad. it has cost us more in relegation. Our biggest weapons in the last 20 years have been the dell and MLT. Both of them gone and we get relegated, says a lot imo.

[70's Mike]

pompey, 20000? Thye havent done too bad. it has cost us more in relegation. Our biggest weapons in the last 20 years have been the dell and MLT. Both of them gone and we get relegated, says a lot imo.

 

QUOTING POMPEY IS NOT A GOOD EXAMPLE they are in bigger debt than us

[pilsburydoughboy]

pompey, 20000? Thye havent done too bad. it has cost us more in relegation. Our biggest weapons in the last 20 years have been the dell and MLT. Both of them gone and we get relegated, says a lot imo.

 

Ticket sales of under 20000 and the money from the premier league and Sky tv money and PFC are still on the verge of going bust.

[saintjinksie]

QUOTING POMPEY IS NOT A GOOD EXAMPLE they are in bigger debt than us

 

my point is they have been in the prem for 4/5 years and won the fa cup with a 20k stadium. we did fook all with a 32k stadium and are f*cked beyond belief and going into 3rd tier of english football.

[70's Mike]

my point is they have been in the prem for 4/5 years and won the fa cup with a 20k stadium. we did fook all with a 32k stadium and are f*cked beyond belief and going into 3rd tier of english football.

 

but the difference is Gayboy pumped enough money into the skates that their income was the equivalent of a 50k stadium

[lordswoodsaints]

I just can't shake this feeling that abandoning The Dell for SMS was where the rot started to set in.

Don't get me wrong, SMS is a beautiful stadium, but it lacks the character, the ambiance, the "soul" that was ever present in The Dell. SMS will never instill the kind of awe and fear in visiting teams that The Dell did.

But more importantly, SMS put us in a world of debt with a huge mortgage, and money is exactly what caused our demise. We will never know what would have happened if we had stayed at The Dell, but without the debt that we incurred by building SMS it is conceivable that we would now be (much) better off.

 

 

i think you are right to a degree but i also believe that we would have been relegated a lot sooner if we had stayed at the dell.we had problems when we were at the dell and moving to sms got rid of a lot of those problems but we gained a whole new set of problems which probably helped in our downfall and the financial problems we have today.

nobody really knows what would have happened if we had stayed at the dell but i would have them days back at a blink of an eye.for me sms is not home,i have never felt entirely comfortable there and probably never will but we had to move on i suppose.

[John B]

my point is they have been in the prem for 4/5 years and won the fa cup with a 20k stadium. we did fook all with a 32k stadium and are f*cked beyond belief and going into 3rd tier of english football.

 

If we had played Cardiff in 2003 instead of Arsenal we might have won the cup.

[chuz]

I miss The Dell. But some of the best moments I have experienced at football matches have come at SMS. To name but a few

 

- Crouchie's goal against The Skates from the pen in the FA Cup

- Camara's goal against Norwich to make it 4-3

- Matty's testimonial (especially at the end)

- The games against Leeds and Southend at the end of the play off season

- My son's first ever Saints game

- The game against Newcastle at the end of Sturrock's season (3-3, one of the best games I have ever seen)

 

The problem is not with SMS but with the stuff that has happened off the park to get us to where we are.

[John B]

i think you are right to a degree but i also believe that we would have been relegated a lot sooner if we had stayed at the dell.we had problems when we were at the dell and moving to sms got rid of a lot of those problems but we gained a whole new set of problems which probably helped in our downfall and the financial problems we have today.

nobody really knows what would have happened if we had stayed at the dell but i would have them days back at a blink of an eye.for me sms is not home,i have never felt entirely comfortable there and probably never will but we had to move on i suppose.

 

SMS is like any other Stadium and has no real advantage for the home team the Dell was unique with the fans so close to the play.

[brmbrm]

Disagree strongly, Offix. there's debt and there's debt. Borrowing to build a bigger stadium, get bigger crowds and hence more income is an investment rather than just crapping the money away. Arsenal is a good example. SMS was necessary.

 

The rot started, i reckon, with a lack of ambition in the prem, buying cheap moderate players who, with a bit of bad luck in the relegation season, were not up to it.

 

Now we SHOULD be in a great position for tempting a takeover: cheap to buy, nice, modern stadium, able to fill it, decent "franchise" area with no local competition (ahem). But of course then there's the corporate structure which trashes most possibilities - just puts people off to begin with IMHO.

[70's Mike]

Disagree strongly, Offix. there's debt and there's debt. Borrowing to build a bigger stadium, get bigger crowds and hence more income is an investment rather than just crapping the money away. Arsenal is a good example. SMS was necessary.

 

The rot started, i reckon, with a lack of ambition in the prem, buying cheap moderate players who, with a bit of bad luck in the relegation season, were not up to it.

 

Now we SHOULD be in a great position for tempting a takeover: cheap to buy, nice, modern stadium, able to fill it, decent "franchise" area with no local competition (ahem). But of course then there's the corporate structure which trashes most possibilities - just puts people off to begin with IMHO.

 

 

ONE BIG difference between us and the Gooners is that there shareholders are individually wealthy and have not sought to make their wealth from the football club.

 

basically the reverse takeover gave us a corporate structure built on financial sand and relegation blew the sand away

[John B]

ONE BIG difference between us and the Gooners is that there shareholders are individually wealthy and have not sought to make their wealth from the football club.

 

basically the reverse takeover gave us a corporate structure built on financial sand and relegation blew the sand away

 

Our major shareholders individually wealthy so why are they trying to make money out of SFC.

 

 

I think the major shareholders lost control of the club when Hone etc were invited in and instead of planning for the future without parachute payments planned for the future with a takeover being completed.

Edited 27 October, 2008 by John B

[um pahars]

Disagree strongly, Offix. there's debt and there's debt. Borrowing to build a bigger stadium, get bigger crowds and hence more income is an investment rather than just crapping the money away. Arsenal is a good example. SMS was necessary.

 

I would agree.

 

It was different from the type of borrowing that Leeds undertook (i.e. they spent it on players and wages) and as you say it was an investment that had a chance to pay for itself.

 

There was always a risk abut servicing the debt if we went down, but on the whole I think it was a good decision. As someone else mentioned, going down so soon after completion was not in the plans, but I don't think you can knock Lowe et al for building SMS.

[offix]

Nice to see real discussion, without the usual vitriol. Thank you all.

Some good points are made on both sides. Like I said, we'll never know what would have happened.

 

With regards to the part of the discussion that deals with atmosphere, I just want to share with you what I felt the very first time that I saw Saints in SMS.

I already lived in the USA, and my wife and I flew over just for the weekend, just to see the match. It was my first "live" match in many years (thanks again Norm for the tickets).

 

I was full of anticipation, as this would be the first time I would see SMS. As we walked to the stadium, and turned the corner where I got my first glimpse of SMS, my eyes filled with tears like I was a little girl. I felt so proud that "my club" had come this far, and could have built such a gorgeous stadium.

But once inside, as the match went on, I cried again, because it was all so impersonal. Something was missing. The crowd is so far from the pitch compared to The Dell! The closeness of The Dell, the fact that you could hear every bone crunching tackle at The Dell, that you could see the expressions on the face of the players, hear their voices, see their sweat, feel their determination, all that is impossible to experience at SMS.

 

I know, that part has nothing to do with the current predicament (I still think that the expense of building SMS started our demise though) , other than maybe that "fortress Dell" would have made it a little harder on some of our opposition. But it might have some effect on the attendance numbers, especially from long time fans who still fondly remember those days in The Dell. It is harder to feel the bond with the team, especially when the results are as bad as they are now, and with the shenanigans on board level.

[so22saint]

I miss the Dell loads to be honest - I'm typing this next to a block of the Milton concrete my old man mounted on some teak when it got knocked down. The Dell was almost unique in the closeness of the fans to the players, and I think it made the place stronger than Anfield in the effect it had on the players - especially the big time charlies. I remember reading a stat that said the second half of the last div 1 season we had the best home form in the league and recorded only 2 less points than Leeds who won it.

 

Anyway, having said all that, the rot was due to too many mediocre players - and that was due to 10 managers in 10 years, each new man buying 11 of his own men only to see Benali, Dodd, MLT, Lundekvam retain their places and most of the new boys to end up on the bench or in the reserves - didn't we get relegated with 45 players or something?

 

bag of ****e.

[um pahars]

But once inside, as the match went on, I cried again, because it was all so impersonal. Something was missing. The crowd is so far from the pitch compared to The Dell! The closeness of The Dell, the fact that you could hear every bone crunching tackle at The Dell, that you could see the expressions on the face of the players, hear their voices, see their sweat, feel their determination, all that is impossible to experience at SMS.

 

I understand what you're saying and many would agree.

 

My solution would have been to have made more of an effort to personalise the stadium. I'm sure as fans we could have come up with many ideas of making us feel more at home there (and maybe we still can).

 

PS At least we have a definitive singing section in the Northam, many Clubs haven't even managed that in their new grounds.

[offix]

I understand what you're saying and many would agree.

 

My solution would have been to have made more of an effort to personalise the stadium. I'm sure as fans we could have come up with many ideas of making us feel more at home there (and maybe we still can).

 

PS At least we have a definitive singing section in the Northam, many Clubs haven't even managed that in their new grounds.

 

Yes, those fans are the best in any league!

[ooohTerryHurlock]

It all started when they let families into the Milton and knocked down the Chocolate boxes.

We could get 31044 into the Dell before they started with their stupid rules about standing and making football a "family outing".

Clear as day.

Archers=Away fans behind the goals, better behaved Saints fans in the wings.

Under Stands Occasionals and people too fat for the Milton

Stands Old Folks, Toffs and Kids on Birthday treats.

Milton. Hard core -real fans

That was football, bugger sitting down and behaving yourself.

 

So our problems are caused by Scoussers! I can see RL trotting this one out!

[Papa Shango]

pompey, 20000? Thye havent done too bad. it has cost us more in relegation. Our biggest weapons in the last 20 years have been the dell and MLT. Both of them gone and we get relegated, says a lot imo.

 

We didn't have either of them in 2002/03 and we finished 8th and only lost two home games. Our relegation had **** all to do with the stadium we were playing in.

[ooohTerryHurlock]

I understand what you're saying and many would agree.

 

My solution would have been to have made more of an effort to personalise the stadium. I'm sure as fans we could have come up with many ideas of making us feel more at home there (and maybe we still can).

 

PS At least we have a definitive singing section in the Northam, many Clubs haven't even managed that in their new grounds.

 

The first mistake with the new stadium was the poncy naming rights -simply calling it the New Dell - would have brought a massive link to the history of the past - The stands should have been - still could be named after great players - all discussed before -

 

The problems that led to our previous relegation (first one for 28 ears or so?) were caused by a medling chairman that fire a manager without giving him a chance - destroing a pre season - then appointing a head coach - that would prepare the side whilst the chairman picked the side and bought the players - then leaving it too late to sack/replace head coach before getting a proven manager in - but not giving him enough time to get us out of the sticky stuff. Ring any bells - I think we are up to the point where by we leave it too late to get someone else in to help jp out! Some people just don't learn by their mistakes!

 

Finally the debt on the stadium - with the money generated from the premiership, sky, gate revinue, cup runs, merchandise, player trading - how is the debt still so big? It only cost £32 million to build and we had at least £5million from the sale of the Dell? I think there are still a few questions that need answering!

[offix]

We had to move, The Dell was just too small to compete. The loan is only £2.2m a year not much to service really.

 

But it's not just about the current debt. We spent a heck of alot more on building SMS. Wikipedia actually states the following:

 

"Construction started in December 1999 and was completed at the end of July 2001, with work on the stadium itself and improvements to local infrastructure cost a total of £32 million."

 

That is what I am talking about when I say that our financial demise started with the expense of building SMS

[Fan The Flames]

I thought the £2.2m a year covered the whole debt, which was the shortfall of the sale of the Dell and naming rights.

 

I agree that the designers missed a trick and I too was stunned with the outside and disappointed that the closeness had not been replicated. One of the first design meetings should have been to distill the essence of the Dell and try and capture that in the new ground. Closeness to the pitch and steeper stands would have done it for me, but we got an off the peg jobby, still that kept the costs down.

 

In hindsight the move is a millstone around our necks, but it was one that had to be made. You have to develop your ground at some stage and historically this has always caused clubs problems. Maybe there needs to be FA grants available or tax breaks to help clubs through these periods.

[Graffito]

"the rot was due to too many mediocre players - and that was due to 10 managers in 10 years"

 

My view as well. Too many poor appointments and too many mediocre players. The two things are linked.

 

The move to SMS was a good positive move but I agree with another poster in that the club should allow the fans to personalise the ground.

[Um Bongo]

St Mary's Isn't Beautiful. Look on the outside. We can't even afford to clean it, just mould all over the walls.

 

I do miss the Dell but feel we had to move.

[CB Fry]

But it's not just about the current debt. We spent a heck of alot more on building SMS. Wikipedia actually states the following:

 

"Construction started in December 1999 and was completed at the end of July 2001, with work on the stadium itself and improvements to local infrastructure cost a total of £32 million."

 

That is what I am talking about when I say that our financial demise started with the expense of building SMS

 

 

Errr - surely the £2.2m per year is the debt repayments, ie the mortgage.

 

So its not more. It is what it is. A mortgage. And £2.2m, even in our current plight is not gigantic money.

 

You can't say our demise started with building SMS because noone knows what would have happened had we not built it. I doubt, for example, Mr Hoddle would have come here in the first place if we had no stadium on the horizon. No-one can say, but I doubt it.

 

What you can say is if we hadn't have built it and gone down anyway - lets look at all relegations from 1997 and call it 100% likely - everyone would hate Lowe for not building a new stadium and people would still be *****ing about it now.

 

Remember, everyone was building stadiums at the turn of the century. Not joining in was not an option.

[um pahars]

So its not more. It is what it is. A mortgage. And £2.2m, even in our current plight is not gigantic money.

 

I think we may even have renegotiated this and agreed some sort of holiday on the loan.

 

£2m (or maybe £1m now) isn't gigantic money, but I would temper that by saying it did increase our ongoing cost base and infrastructure costs (rates, maintenance, upkeep etc etc etc).

 

You can't say our demise started with building SMS because noone knows what would have happened had we not built it. I doubt, for example, Mr Hoddle would have come here in the first place if we had no stadium on the horizon. No-one can say, but I doubt it.

 

What you can say is if we hadn't have built it and gone down anyway - lets look at all relegations from 1997 and call it 100% likely - everyone would hate Lowe for not building a new stadium and people would still be *****ing about it now.

 

Remember, everyone was building stadiums at the turn of the century. Not joining in was not an option.

 

I agree, and don't really tink we had a choice as the option of maintaining the status quo just wasn't fesible IMHO. We had to take the plunge.

[Weston Super Saint]

Trying to exist in the Prem on crowds of 15,000?

 

Pompey?

[Dalek2003]

It all started when they let families into the Milton and knocked down the Chocolate boxes.

We could get 31044 into the Dell before they started with their stupid rules about standing and making football a "family outing".

Clear as day.

Archers=Away fans behind the goals, better behaved Saints fans in the wings.

Under Stands Occasionals and people too fat for the Milton

Stands Old Folks, Toffs and Kids on Birthday treats.

Milton. Hard core -real fans

That was football, bugger sitting down and behaving yourself.

 

The Archers was the place for Home fans wanting to give it all to the away fans. I wouldn't say this was the place for the best behaved fans.

[Window Cleaner]

The Archers was the place for Home fans wanting to give it all to the away fans. I wouldn't say this was the place for the best behaved fans.

 

In your day perhaps. Ask the senior fans here though.

It was the "Milton Boot Boys" never the "Archers Boot Boys"

I'm sure some saint's historian will be able to explain to us the reason for the shift in the hardcore support.

Probably because of the family enclose and the demise of the chocolate boxes;

[Scummer]

I must admit, I often wonder if we could have redeveloped the Dell, maybe getting it to a 25,000 seater and retaining some character. I wonder to what degree that option was explored.

[Dalek2003]

In your day perhaps. Ask the senior fans here though.

It was the "Milton Boot Boys" never the "Archers Boot Boys"

I'm sure some saint's historian will be able to explain to us the reason for the shift in the hardcore support.

Probably because of the family enclose and the demise of the chocolate boxes;

 

I'm talking about the late 70's to early 80's

[Window Cleaner]

I'm talking about the late 70's to early 80's

 

Nope , think the Milton was still the place at that period. Could be than the

'balance of power" was shifting though. The family cage changed a lot, can't remember when they took away the choccyboxes though.

[once_bitterne]

Pompey?

 

The only way to survive with a tiny capacity stadium in the Prem if yoy have a rich sugar daddy financing the club to run at huge losses like Pompey and Fulham.

 

In case you didn't notice, we have never had this luxury so we had no choice but to leave the Dell.....

[SaintRichmond]

Trying to exist in the Prem on crowds of 15,000?

 

 

The Dell was great, but could not be developed to a modern Stadia

 

There was nothing wrong in the concept of St Mary's

 

Two Major Mistakes ...

 

1) Not getting the Stoneham project, which would have been a Multi purpose complex

 

2) Proceedin with St Mary's as a STAND ALONE project. The result of that is all too plain to see. The Team are not performing well, the Fuhrer in charge is as popular as Bubonic Plague, and Attendances have plumetted, along with Income

 

Other than the Anual Bon Jovi Concert, it cannot attract other Income, so the Great Business Decision of that is now coming home to roost

 

Lowe IS a bit like The Fuhrer ........... HE could not accept the obvious until the Russian Tanks started to bombard the Bunker

 

Mein Kampf 2

[Window Cleaner]

I must admit, I often wonder if we could have redeveloped the Dell, maybe getting it to a 25,000 seater and retaining some character. I wonder to what degree that option was explored.

 

The Dell wasn't "developable".

[Scummer]

The Dell wasn't "developable".

 

In what way?

[Window Cleaner]

In what way?

 

If I remember rightly it was something to do with it being boxed in by residential areas and main roads. You'd have to ask the experts about it.

Someone in town planning or surveying. BTF perhaps?

[um pahars]

Nope , think the Milton was still the place at that period. Could be than the

'balance of power" was shifting though. The family cage changed a lot, can't remember when they took away the choccyboxes though.

 

The change came about in the 1977/78 season.

 

At the start of that season two important changes were made.

 

Firstly, the East section of the Milton Terrace and one of the chocolate boxes were designated as The Family Centre (something like a 2,000 capacity) which obviously changed the make up of the Milton Terrace.

 

Secondly, that season The Archers was designated as the port of call for away fans, so rather than trying to take the home end, away fans were shepherded to their own section. As a result, the vociferous element of our support followed them to the Archers.

 

I remember the first segregation in that season was a line of coppers half way along the Archers Road and I can clearly remember when Bristol Rovers played that season that looking from the Milton there was blue to the left, red to the right and a line of hard pressed dark blue/black in between trying to keep the two colours from merging!!!!! (This was replaced by proper segregation at the end of that season).

[stevegrant]

I thought the £2.2m a year covered the whole debt, which was the shortfall of the sale of the Dell and naming rights.

 

I agree that the designers missed a trick and I too was stunned with the outside and disappointed that the closeness had not been replicated. One of the first design meetings should have been to distill the essence of the Dell and try and capture that in the new ground. Closeness to the pitch and steeper stands would have done it for me, but we got an off the peg jobby, still that kept the costs down.

In an ideal world, we'd have probably implemented both of those. However, there are now regulations which have to be adhered to when building a stadium, one of which I think basically means that the stands have to be a certain distance from the playing area to enable an ambulance to drive around it in case of an emergency, and another limits the gradient of the stands so that it's not too steep.

 

If you look around the country at all of the new stadia, I don't think I can think of any which have any sort of "character" which makes them stand out from the others. I'm sure it won't be long before every stadium in the top two divisions are built along the same soulless "flat-pack" concept, simply because it seems to have been proven to be the most cost-effective way of doing it.

[SaintRichmond]

The change came about in the 1977/78 season.

 

At the start of that season two important changes were made.

 

Firstly, the East section of the Milton Terrace and one of the chocolate boxes were designated as The Family Centre (something like a 2,000 capacity) which obviously changed the make up of the Milton Terrace.

 

Secondly, that season The Archers was designated as the port of call for away fans, so rather than trying to take the home end, away fans were shepherded to their own section. As a result, the vociferous element of our support followed them to the Archers.

 

I remember the first segregation in that season was a line of coppers half way along the Archers Road and I can clearly remember when Bristol Rovers played that season that looking from the Milton there was blue to the left, red to the right and a line of hard pressed dark blue/black in between trying to keep the two colours from merging!!!!! (This was replaced by proper segregation at the end of that season).

 

At that time, the "Plan" was to turn the Ground around by 90deg, and the first stage of that was the Redevelopment of the Milton End ..... the second "Phase" was the Archers Road end, but then some people got "cold feet" ........ the Council rejected the plans because they said the high side of the development would encroach ove r the line of the road .... ( even though it was still taller than the buses that passed by. ....... The Dell Board chickened out, and did not appeal, and went for a lesser option, thus negating the plans to "turn" the ground

 

At that point, Mc Menemy, who had been Championing the "project", lost heart with the people who ran The Dell, as he could do no more

 

Not long after that, he went to Sunderland

 

During that period, I said that if McMenemy could not get us a New Ground, then no one could

 

Years later, along came Lowe ... a 200% Businessman, but a 0% Football man

 

RIP Saints

[Roman]

Or…

 

Supporting Southampton is a psychological condition associated with agoraphobia. In the Dell, this was no problem, as we were all sandwiched in like happy sardines, even for the crappiest fixture. And when SMS opened, we were still fine, because we were in the Prem and the relatively palatial seat next to us was taken.. As soon as we were relegated though, A few empty seats started to appear. One of the loudest, but at the time indecipherable chants from the Northam was: ‘ooh, empty air, scary as ****, I’m leaving.’ The emptier the stadium became over the years, the more the agoraphobes ran screaming out of the turnstiles (And you thought it was the football? Wrong.)

 

Southampton fans also contain a higher than usual number of professional advisors. So during the annual visit from David Beckham, for example, he would be given detailed advice on bedroom strategy vis-à-vis Posh. This advice could be offered confidentially because Becks was so close. At SMS, the helpful advice to opposing players had to be shouted, thus preaching doctor/patient confidentiality - hence it has declined precipitately.

 

Finally, and most damningly, moving to SMS caused Le Tiss to retire. He knew that at the Dell, if someone had the temerity to tackle him during a spot of energy-saving ball-juggling, Benali would be along within a few minutes to launch said tackler into the crowd. Since the fans were so close to the pitch, there was always a cushion of about a dozen hairy-arsed fat blokes to land on. But as soon as Le Tiss saw SMS, he knew Franny couldn’t kick the extra 10 metres to the fat-bloke cushion without limbs being misplaced. So in the interests of safety, Le Tiss retired.

 

Our decline in attendance is thus explained by the absence of agoraphobes, sex therapists and tethered bands of fat blokes waiting for people to land on them.

 

All true.

 

I would have added the bit about the duck-hunting Hockey-Mom Chairman who took us over and relegated us twice - but that would have been just unbelievable.

Edited 28 October, 2008 by Roman

[OldNick]

Offix I dont know why you moved to the Usa but it may have been to improve things and have a better life in comfortable surroundings. We moved to a new stadium where there was a modicum of civilisation , where the kids and women were safer and the facilities better.Of all the things we should not regret is the new stadium.

I have played different sports over the years and one thing that I notice is that the kids are not interested in joining clubs/teams with old facilities. The old fashioned clubs have started to lose out to the the Hampshire/ David Lloyds of the world.

Yes the Dell was superb in our memories but that didnt stop Gearge Best taking the p### or Ian Wright scoring hattricks and us taking some real beatings.

It is down to the fact we got relegated due to a lot of factors at that time.

The stadium is not the reason for our demise