Saints v Pompey League Cup game 2003

[Pamplemousse]

 

If anyone fancies some evening entertainment, the EFL youtube page is kindly showing the full game of this. I was there and haven't seen back the minute's "silence" for Ted Bates before this.

[Noodles34]

Minutes silence a disgrace.  Don’t think any other club would have been like that. Scum bags. 

[sibster]

Great memories (Apart from the minute's "Silence" but you'd expect no less from the pondlife to the East) but I do wonder what became of the striker who scored our 1st goal on the night, his name was Baettie according to the tv graphics...... 😂

[Lee On Solent Saint]

I remember the game well. You could actually feel the hatred in each part of the ground. 

[Ted Bates Statue]

39 minutes ago, Noodles34 said:

Minutes silence a disgrace.  Don’t think any other club would have been like that. Scum bags. 

It wasn't long after this incident that football moved towards applause instead of silence to commemorate someone's passing. I don't have many past examples to compare it with but I always assumed that this was a bit like Charlie Austin's Parklife moment helping to usher VAR into English football.

[Maggie May]

Thanks for sharing. Marsden was a fantastic little player for us, wasn’t he? So unfashioned but so integral. We sorely miss a player like him these days. 

[niceandfriendly]

Thanks for posting Mr Mousse. Totally forgot Srnicek and Sherringham played for that lot. 

Also forgot that Telfer ever played for us in Central Mid 😐

[TheMidfieldGeneral]

The Joiners 😇

[LGTL]

Probably the best game at St Mary’s. The result was even sweeter after the way those cunts acted during the silence for Ted Bates.  

Edited 28 June, 2023 by LGTL

[Chez]

never been so angry at a football match as that night. Fucking disgraceful the way the minutes silence for Ted wasn't observed. So glad we stuffed them on the night.  

[bpsaint]

My first south coast derby that match. Remember the weird buzz and sense of anticipation in the air on the night of that game that I’d never experienced before, it was fucking brilliant. Like Chez said them booing the silence really made you angry to the core, which whilst not being welcome it did add to the hostility and charge in the atmosphere. Beatties goal really helped relieve that tension in the air, great celebrations to be involved in.

[Turkish]

Pompey had quite a decent side to be fair. SOme good players although all past their best. Sheringham, Stone, Berger, De Zeeuw (could do with someone like that now) Smertins, Yakubu, all very good players. You could make a case that individually better than us, but we were a really good team back then. Hardworking, organised, hard to beat with a solid spine and in Beattie had a reliable goalscorer, the exact opposite of what we were last season.

[Green]

What a night that was. My first south coast derby was the FA Cup game in '96, it never lived up to my expectations, the portsmyth support with my own ears and then the stroll in the park that followed.

The night game really did have an edge - it might have been that I was just too young to have noticed it in 1996 but it felt very different in 2003. 

We beat them in the league again that season and I think that was the high point before it started unravelling, Sturrock took over a bit later and we lost the return league game 1-0. I remember thinking that was a pathetic showing from us at their place but nothing compared to the next season under Redknapp. I don't think I'll ever have it in myself to forgive the players for that game. 

[Noodles34]

Beatles iconic omage

[Noodles34]

Might watch this tonight. As someone mentioned, Telfer in midfield. I’ll give him marks out of 10 and let him know tomorrow as I’m playing golf with him. 

[Turkish]

Cant believe that's nearly twenty years ago. I seem to remember that it was a pretty comfortable victory, Pompey didn't threaten much and although obviously nervous never thought they'd score once we went in front. I am told it was also a great night off the pitch as well as dozens of pompey fans were competing to set a world sprinting record whilst one of their celebrity hooligans spent the next few weeks with his wrist in a bandage.

[Noodles34]

Watching it now. 25 in and typical derby game. All action and no real quality. . 
dint know why Abramovich was yheee and why both managers in the stands? 

[Master Bates]

I forgot about dickheads dive 🤣

[Noodles34]

5 minutes ago, Master Bates said:

I forgot about dickheads dive 🤣

The keeper?  Oh you mean Westwood. 😂

Edited 29 June, 2023 by Noodles34

[Noodles34]

Atmosphere is something else though. The good old days eh. 

[Noodles34]

Surprised on how many empty seats there are though. 

[Master Bates]

8 minutes ago, Noodles34 said:

The keeper?  Oh you mean Westwood. 😂

The keeper atm

[Master Bates]

2 minutes ago, Noodles34 said:

Surprised on how many empty seats there are though. 

I had to sit in the Chapel that game. It was like I was an alien.

[Noodles34]

If our current lot had half the spirit these guys had we wouldn’t have been relegated 

[Ted Bates Statue]

6 minutes ago, Noodles34 said:

If our current lot had half the spirit these guys had we wouldn’t have been relegated 

I remember similar complaints of lack of spirit within our squad in 2004/05, which featured most of the above players. However, I'm probably stating the obvious when I say that if we had someone of Niemi's calibre, we could at least have had a chance of staying up.

Back then I think it's fair to say we seriously missed Michael Svensson's presence in defence, but also Marsden who left before the season began and retired due to injury shortly after.

[The Cat]

Just flicked through it.

Was an awful game, no flow, very few chances for either team. Not as many nasty challenges as you might expect from a derby.

Atmosphere in the second half was pretty poor. Not much singing going on at all. 

Delgado came on near the end and and showed some nice touches.

[Monk]

Enjoyed that. 

 

My god I wanted Delgado to be decent back in the day. He looked horrendous in that cameo with the exception of a flick. 

Edited 29 June, 2023 by Monk

[John Boy Saint]

Posted  this more than once before when this comes up - so sorry for repeating myself.

My memories from that night were firstly the atmosphere before kick off was crackling, all the naughty evicted Northam boys smeared across the stadium. But one thing remains cemented in my head We were in the Family corner in our usual seats, pompey chimes would go up, and the universal reply from 3 sides of the ground would be fired back “f**k off pompey, pompey f**k off” louder and louder every time. Like I say I’m in the family centre with the wife and our 2 girls - up go the pompey chimes again, and again the response goes back louder than the last. As I’m standing there taking it all in, out the corner of my eye I see a little finger pointing,  only to  turn to see my nice 9 year old daughter stood on her seat joining in and belting out “ f**k off pompey - pompey f**k off!!” - I was stood with mixed emotions, 1st being omg we are with many of the other nice families we sit with every week what must they think of us, on the flip side I’m bursting with go on girl. 

[Whitey Grandad]

8 hours ago, John Boy Saint said:

Posted  this more than once before when this comes up - so sorry for repeating myself.

My memories from that night were firstly the atmosphere before kick off was crackling, all the naughty evicted Northam boys smeared across the stadium. But one thing remains cemented in my head We were in the Family corner in our usual seats, pompey chimes would go up, and the universal reply from 3 sides of the ground would be fired back “f**k off pompey, pompey f**k off” louder and louder every time. Like I say I’m in the family centre with the wife and our 2 girls - up go the pompey chimes again, and again the response goes back louder than the last. As I’m standing there taking it all in, out the corner of my eye I see a little finger pointing,  only to  turn to see my nice 9 year old daughter stood on her seat joining in and belting out “ f**k off pompey - pompey f**k off!!” - I was stood with mixed emotions, 1st being omg we are with many of the other nice families we sit with every week what must they think of us, on the flip side I’m bursting with go on girl. 

I blame the parents.

[Fabrice Fernandes no.1 fan]

15 hours ago, Turkish said:

Pompey had quite a decent side to be fair. SOme good players although all past their best. Sheringham, Stone, Berger, De Zeeuw (could do with someone like that now) Smertins, Yakubu, all very good players. You could make a case that individually better than us, but we were a really good team back then. Hardworking, organised, hard to beat with a solid spine and in Beattie had a reliable goalscorer, the exact opposite of what we were last season.

The old cliche that we could play for 100 minutes under Strachan (especially in the cup run) and then when he was gone barely made it past 80. 

Watching this game back Beattie looked fired up for this one, what a striker he was. (I have a personal theory that if Beattie had gone to Euro 2004 in place of Vassell then we would have won it)

[Turkish]

14 minutes ago, Fabrice Fernandes no.1 fan said:

The old cliche that we could play for 100 minutes under Strachan (especially in the cup run) and then when he was gone barely made it past 80. 

Watching this game back Beattie looked fired up for this one, what a striker he was. (I have a personal theory that if Beattie had gone to Euro 2004 in place of Vassell then we would have won it)

I remember Strachans preseasons were running, running and more running. We were a really fit side. He also used to talk about possession football as propaganda football. He'd be considered a dinosaur in the new world of stats and turnovers but he team was effective and would beat the 2022/23 team comfortably.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

23 minutes ago, Turkish said:

I remember Strachans preseasons were running, running and more running. We were a really fit side. He also used to talk about possession football as propaganda football. He'd be considered a dinosaur in the new world of stats and turnovers but he team was effective and would beat the 2022/23 team comfortably.

The very first Saints team put out in 1885 would comfortably beat last season's pathetic bunch. 

[John Boy Saint]

28 minutes ago, Turkish said:

I remember Strachans preseasons were running, running and more running. We were a really fit side. He also used to talk about possession football as propaganda football. He'd be considered a dinosaur in the new world of stats and turnovers but he team was effective and would beat the 2022/23 team comfortably.

Most of the players hated the pre season runs, especially on the sandy beach runs north of Edinburgh, last place had to go in the sea. Everyone did all they could to stick with one player - Paul Telfer - No one could beat him. Marmite to many fans but there was no doubting that he had a good engine and could run for miles. Like you say they were super fit. 

There was a season stats page in the matchday programme, and one stat was "the number of goals you missed leaving 10 minutes before the end" our number was pretty high.  Before WGS Mrs JBS use to say "I hate how the atmosphere changes negatively in the stadium when the clock rolls over to 80 mins" she was right. Under Strachan the last 10 minutes were often the best.

   

[Noodles34]

Spoke with Telf today about the game. He doesn’t even remember it.  🤦🏻

I tell you , you’d never meet someone so uninterested in football. 
He said he happily train all week and not play Saturday. 
 

Then I beat him in golf. 😂

[John Boy Saint]

3 hours ago, Noodles34 said:

Spoke with Telf today about the game. He doesn’t even remember it.  🤦🏻

I tell you , you’d never meet someone so uninterested in football. 
He said he happily train all week and not play Saturday. 
 

Then I beat him in golf. 😂

I friend sadly no longer here, big Coventry fan, use to go out socially with Paul and his wife - he always said,  like you say he had no interest it was a just a job, when he clocked out football was left hanging up in his locker, until he clocked back in.

[spyinthesky]

I watched the whole game on the recording.
Good atmosphere and lots of commitment.
However skill level, compared to the modern game was limited.
Lots of hoof ball and passing pretty diabolical from both sides.
In my opinion only four players would stand a chance to get in to last years team ie Claus, Svenson, Niemi and Beattie.
Perhaps Delap as his throw ins were infinitely better than the current excuses which generally give the ball back to the opponents. 

[Lighthouse]

14 hours ago, John Boy Saint said:

I friend sadly no longer here, big Coventry fan, use to go out socially with Paul and his wife - he always said,  like you say he had no interest it was a just a job, when he clocked out football was left hanging up in his locker, until he clocked back in.

I think there are a few players who don’t really enjoy it and it’s just a job for them. Batistuta was one player who basically said the same.

[BILLYDO]

Three days before this game I had a heart attack although it was yet to be diagnosed but despite a few chest pains on the way to the ground it was one match I wasn’t going to miss. Atmosphere electric. Absolutely loved it. 

[Rut]

Beattie's opening goal that night is one of my all-time favs.

Had to check this and yep - we hadn't scored a goal for the previous 4 games.

1 Nov 2003. Man City H L 0-2
8 Nov 2003. Bolton A D 0-0
22 Nov 2003. Chelsea H L 0-1
29 Nov 2003. Villa A L 0-1
2 Dec 2003. Pompey H W 2-0

I went to all those games (t-shirt not a medal please) and it had been a bit depressing. Talk in the pub pre-game was positive though. We've been saving our goals for tonight. Hadn't we.

Drank in the King Alf from early afternoon. Usual talk of Pompey in town and then about 5pm-ish someone heard that Pompey had just attacked the Joiners. The Joiners? That ain't even open on match day... Well it was that day if you knew the right people. The sort of people who invited Pompey to come and say 'hello'.

2nd hand it was that a mob of Pompey were strangely allowed to roam unopposed (by SFC or police) through town to the Joiners to 'do the scummers' - unaware that every nutter from Southampton was waiting for them. The pub emptied - Pompey didn't like what they saw and most of them legged-it. A few stayed and Saints just laughed at them and told them to fuck off. Nobody got badly hurt. Rumours that Southampton old bill knew who were in the Joiners so were happy to let Pompey go there (they stopped them going elsewhere quite easily). Was def suspicious that they let them get all the way down there...

20 years on - any good first hand stories from this incident? What really happened? Did anyone actually get nicked?

As the evening drew in more match goers stream past the Alf - including tons of Pompey. Lots of bravado from both sides. Alf ended up closing the curtains (it was that bad man!). Police everywhere. Atmosphere was proper old-school.

Block 42 was given to Pompey that night. My season tickets were in 41 on the aisle of 42 - didn't get moved so ended up right next to them. Hostile was an understatement. I swear some of them were foaming at the mouth as they stood there offering out any 'scummer cunt' who wants it (behind a thick line of police and stewards of course). Praps these tough guys should have been at the Joiners earlier on... 

When Westwood made an appearance from up the back somewhere he was greeted with a raucous 'you can stick your fuckin' bell up your arse'. Of course this just made him rattle it even more. Great to have a cartoon character to give abuse to - but I bet he secretly loves it when everyone is chanting 'Westwood is a wanker' at him. Craved attention. Got attention.

Total genuine (not like the 'for the camera' shit of today) mayhem when Beattie scored right in front of us. I think everyone ended up about 20 seats from where they were before the goal.

Don't remember there being too many incidents after the game. A great night.

 

[EssEffCee]

My first ever derby. Will never forget the level of anticipation and buzz in the air on the way to the ground. Nor the amount of hate that seemed to spew from every corner of the ground. I also recall finding it odd that so many around us had left their kids at home and some STH's didn't turn up at all. 

Forgot how short the 'silence' was cut the horrible scumbag cunts. Couldn't even have been 30 seconds. It definitely raised the temperature levels a bit. 

One of the top 3 games at St Marys easily I reckon. I certainly can't recall more noise at kick off for a game. 

Almost forgot to mention but Beattie cupping his ear to them cunts after scoring the opener is an iconic celebration.. 

 

Oh a slightly unrelated note hearing Peter Brackley's voice makes me unbelievably nostalgic for Pro Evo 4 😂

Edited 2 July, 2023 by EssEffCee

[Streaky]

On 29/06/2023 at 17:36, bpsaint said:

My first south coast derby that match. Remember the weird buzz and sense of anticipation in the air on the night of that game that I’d never experienced before, it was fucking brilliant. Like Chez said them booing the silence really made you angry to the core, which whilst not being welcome it did add to the hostility and charge in the atmosphere. Beatties goal really helped relieve that tension in the air, great celebrations to be involved in.

My first derby too. Not sure I've seen that much hatred at a game since. The lack of respect from pompey had everyone in the northam absolutely seething including me.