We just need a win. How many fans of various clubs have said that over the years ? I have a feeling that once we win one, we'll be off and running and will string some decent results together. Again, I know this is a horrible cliche and only time will tell. Today we're at Stockport and they're in a mess as well and we really should be looking at making this the day when we get the elusive first win.
I'm out with the kids again but before I go, I manage to get the team news which is that Wayne Thomas is playing right back in place of the injured Murty which allows Lloyd James to stay in midfield. Predictably, Hammond and Trotman return and Saganowski starts up front with Lambert who is playing against one of his former clubs and he's already given an interviwe during the week explaining that he's going to be about as welcome as smallpox at Edgley Park.
It's one of those days when I really don't keep in touch with the game too much. For the first half it's text alerts so I've had nothing and it's 3.45. then, like the buses, there's two at once, 1-0 to Saints with a Lambert penalty and half time. I laugh to myself as I think of the cocophony of noise in the stadium as Lambert came up to take the pen, only then to realise that Stockport get gates of about 4000. Half time and I'm confident that this is going to be the day.
Time moves on and it's 4.30 before I catch up on the game again, we're still 1-0 up, we've dominated the game, hit the bar twice and the internet is telling me that all looks good. My mind wanders back to Paul Jewell on Tuesday night. As luck would have it, we get to 4.45 and the kids are amusing themselves quite nicely so I park myself on a bench and watch the updates come in on the BBC. 89mins, refresh, 90mins, refresh, 91 mins, refresh, 92 mins...
The BBC text updates are showing 90mins + 2:35 - Stockport 0 Southampton 1. I click to refresh the page one last time I hope... and this is what I get...
90:00+3:15 Neil Trotman is penalised for a handball.
90:00+4:19 GOAL - Carl Baker:Stockport 1 - 1 Southampton Penalty taken right-footed by Carl Baker and scored. Stockport 1-1 Southampton.
90:00+4:32 Booking Neil Trotman booked.
90:00+4:54 The referee ends the match.
There are some things that you shouldn't say when you're in a kids playground and 'For Fux Sake' is one of them. My kids by now were bickering with eachother so I dropped my usual indifference to this behaviour and 'RIGHT!!!, WE'RE GOING HOME". I had a rugby ball in my hand which we'd taken to throw about and I thought I may feel better if I booted it a long way... bang.... miles it went. None of my kids volunteered to go and get it...
Back in the car, Dave Merrington is giving it the large one on Radio Solent about the fact that it was never a penalty but reading between the lines, our penalty was a dodgy award too so we've dominated the game and only managed to score on dodgy pen ourselves. Alan Pardew then came on and you could tell he was gutted. We played well, the ref was the worst ever, never a penalty etc. I feel sorry for him - he's joined the shipwreck that is Southampton Football Club and he has five years of shite to try and sort out. I still firmly believe he is doing a good job and the aforementioned five years of shite are not to be sorted out in 5 matches.... it will turn but we as fans, have to be patient. Of course, this is one virtue that many are lacking, especially those who are younger.
-7.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Carling Cup Round 2 - Southampton 1 Birmingham 2
Cup fever gripped the town again - sort of - as Premiership Birmingham City landed at St.Marys. Saints were shorn of new signings Hammond and Trotman who were cup tied and Schneiderlin and Paterson who were benched. Thomas, Wotton, Murty and Saganowski started the game.
Again, here is the story of the game from the Dublin correspondent, watching Sky Sports in his B&B. Ed Chamberlin is presenting the show and he's a Saints fan. Paul Jewell is the expert summariser watching the Saints game and he's a bell end, a classic case of a decent football player / manager who is absolutely no good whatsoever at being on TV.
For the first half, all I'm hearing is 'It's all Southampton' which is encouraging but the lack of a goal to show for it is less so. 'Should have had a penalty', 'should have scored' etc etc. There are not as many updates from St.Marys as you would normally get because another featured game is West Ham against Millwall and it's all kicking off outside and inside the ground. Quelle surprise.
Half time comes and goes and Saints finally turn pressure into a goal from Lallana. 'Over to St.Marys with more news', says Ed. "Ehhhhhhh, Merty injured like and he don't steh down if 'ees net injered", says Paul in his best scouse. So, Murty is injured and replaced by Simon Midget Gillett which is a blow because Murty is solid as you like but it's nice to see Gillett on the pitch as he was one of the better performers in last years ultimately successful quest to get relegated.
"Ehhhhhhh, if anyone's going to score it'll be Southampton"... says Paul and five minutes later, Birmingham are winning 2-1. "Ehhhhhhhh, goals change games" says the insightful one. One last update as the final whistle goes and that's it, out of the cup, West Ham and Millwall, to the delight of the Met, have gone to extra time so the fans can spend another half and hour beating the crap out of eachother.
As far as Saints are concerned, it sounds like we played really well for all bar the last 10 minutes which is an improvement when you consider the relative strength of the opposition and the changes we had to make in the team. Out of the cup which is a shame but we have bigger fish to fry and that fish is caled Stockport County and we're at Edgley Park on Saturday to play another team who should really have started this season on -10 as well. They went into administration after us but because they got enough points last season, they had 10 deducted from their total then, rather than now so were in effect, not punished in the slightest. Good one...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/8222630.stm
Again, here is the story of the game from the Dublin correspondent, watching Sky Sports in his B&B. Ed Chamberlin is presenting the show and he's a Saints fan. Paul Jewell is the expert summariser watching the Saints game and he's a bell end, a classic case of a decent football player / manager who is absolutely no good whatsoever at being on TV.
For the first half, all I'm hearing is 'It's all Southampton' which is encouraging but the lack of a goal to show for it is less so. 'Should have had a penalty', 'should have scored' etc etc. There are not as many updates from St.Marys as you would normally get because another featured game is West Ham against Millwall and it's all kicking off outside and inside the ground. Quelle surprise.
Half time comes and goes and Saints finally turn pressure into a goal from Lallana. 'Over to St.Marys with more news', says Ed. "Ehhhhhhh, Merty injured like and he don't steh down if 'ees net injered", says Paul in his best scouse. So, Murty is injured and replaced by Simon Midget Gillett which is a blow because Murty is solid as you like but it's nice to see Gillett on the pitch as he was one of the better performers in last years ultimately successful quest to get relegated.
"Ehhhhhhh, if anyone's going to score it'll be Southampton"... says Paul and five minutes later, Birmingham are winning 2-1. "Ehhhhhhhh, goals change games" says the insightful one. One last update as the final whistle goes and that's it, out of the cup, West Ham and Millwall, to the delight of the Met, have gone to extra time so the fans can spend another half and hour beating the crap out of eachother.
As far as Saints are concerned, it sounds like we played really well for all bar the last 10 minutes which is an improvement when you consider the relative strength of the opposition and the changes we had to make in the team. Out of the cup which is a shame but we have bigger fish to fry and that fish is caled Stockport County and we're at Edgley Park on Saturday to play another team who should really have started this season on -10 as well. They went into administration after us but because they got enough points last season, they had 10 deducted from their total then, rather than now so were in effect, not punished in the slightest. Good one...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/8222630.stm
Monday, August 24, 2009
League 1 Match 4 - Southampton 1 Brentford 1
With all due respect to Brentford... when I saw the fixture list and saw some of the teams we'd be playing this season... I laughed. Leeds didn't make me laugh, nor did Norwich or Charlton but Brentford, Yeovil and Milton Keynes Dons... yep, mild hilarity. Oh, the arrogance of being a Premier League Club as recently as four years ago. I don't laugh now, instead I look at the league table and before the game, Brentford were 16 points ahead of us.
As you may have read before, I wasn't going to the game as it was my sons 5th birthday party and I was helping supervise 20 kids at a farm. The party was however due to end at 3 o'clock ut the kids were allowed to carry on playing afterwards. Both Dad and I had slipped the season tickets into the pocket because, as we said as we left, you never know... cold day in hell and all that.
2.55pm and kids are leaving and going home and my own kids are all off playing at being farmers and they're really not going to miss us are they? "We're going to the football" I stated nervously to my wife who responded with a knowing smile. Before any minds could be changed we were off, armed with boxes full of kids party paraphenalia and into the car and gone.
3pm and we were 5 miles away. Radio Solent on...." and Paterson is clean through, ohhhhhhhhhh". Death race across town was in progress, slowing only for speed cameras and traffic lights. I don't know the stats on which city has the most of these two enemies of the person who is late... but I bet Southampton is right up there. At 3.12, we're outside Ocean Village looking for somewhere to beach the car when with a shout of "THERE'S A PARKING METER!!!!!!!"... we were in. Three quid later, were hoofing it towards the ground, eventually arriving at 3.20.
The first half rocketed by unsurprisingly, with the round leather thing spending much of its time in the air. Jacob Mellis had a couple of nice touches and of the other new boys, Dean Hammond was putting himself about in midfield and was making a good fist of refereeing the game, chipping away at the ref... good stuff. Neal Trotman was enthusiastically throwing himself into challenges wth not a single thought as to where the ball was. His combative approach was meaning that whilst he was missing the ball, the Brentford forwards were getting cleared out and thus getting nowhere near the ball so I guess he was doing a job.
At half time I decided to listen to the fans around me to get their appraisal of the first half, especially the bit that I missed. They officially are .... morons. I don't care how old you are, there should be no confusion between a 6ft 2, 22 year old black man and a 5ft 9, 36 year old white man. Dumber (he of Dumb and Dumber mentioned in the blog on the Millwall game) was missing his partner in irritation today and was thus making up for it by showing off to a new friend... but with extra volume. I decided to seek the sanctuary of the toilet.
2nd half started and Saints made two substitutions. Mellis obviously wasn't impresive in the part of the game I didn't see as he was off to be replaced by Jake Thomson and Sitter Paterson was replaced by Saganowski to partner Lambert which give us a first taste of what would be most fans preferred strike force. Away we go... hoof, hoof, hoof.... crap.
Saints were playing the marginally better football and the ball was worked out to Lloyd James in the right back position about 5 yards inside the Brentford half.... he half looked up and crossed it over everyone and off for a goal kick. Utter garbage. David Beckham has a lot to answer for. Before Beckham, players actually tried to get to the line and cross the ball away from the keeper so a forward could attack it... then along came Goldenballs who whipped in the ball from further out and suddenly, no one can be arsed to get to the line any more. Fine, if everyone could bend it like Beckham. Sadly most people can't and Lloyd James certainly can't.
Amazingly. football did then break out on the pitch and a sustained passing move, keeping it on the deck, eventually found Lallana on the left wing, his cross was headed back across by Lambert and Dan Harding arrived to smash it in. One nil and the season is about to start. Here we go...
Brentford, not reading the script and having seen that keeping the ball on the deck was the way forward then put together their one bit of football for the day as their left back set off on a weaving run from the half way line. I would say that he beat four players and crossed it where it was headed in at the back stick. This would be true but it doesn't do justice to the inept defending that meant that none of the aforementioned four players even tried to tackle the guy. It was like watching someone dribbling round big red and white cones on a training pitch. Some people in the crowd actually got closer than James and Thomson who were particularly at fault, just standing there and watching. Naivety (sp!) and inexperience at it's worst.... bring him down, take the booking, we're 1-0 up with 15 to go...
Brentford decided then that they were happy with a point and Saints decided that hoofing the ball forward aimlessly was the way to go. The last 15 minutes were pretty uneventful and so it petered out into another home draw. Still on -8. At this rate we will be on 0 points by Christmas.
On reflection, the shape of the team was a lot better than previously with Davis, Trotman, Hammond and Lambert providing a decent strong spine to the team. As it stands we are now in need of a winger who can get past people and deliver a cross. There is a uniform lack of pace in the side so maybe a quick striker needed as well. Also, creativity is lacking so Schneiderlin and particularly Lallana need to step up. That's what you're in the team for boys and if you don't start soon, I would expect some bench duty.
Anyway, Brentford 8 points, Saints -8 points. Not laughing. A positive end to the day though because I went home and no one had missed me.
As you may have read before, I wasn't going to the game as it was my sons 5th birthday party and I was helping supervise 20 kids at a farm. The party was however due to end at 3 o'clock ut the kids were allowed to carry on playing afterwards. Both Dad and I had slipped the season tickets into the pocket because, as we said as we left, you never know... cold day in hell and all that.
2.55pm and kids are leaving and going home and my own kids are all off playing at being farmers and they're really not going to miss us are they? "We're going to the football" I stated nervously to my wife who responded with a knowing smile. Before any minds could be changed we were off, armed with boxes full of kids party paraphenalia and into the car and gone.
3pm and we were 5 miles away. Radio Solent on...." and Paterson is clean through, ohhhhhhhhhh". Death race across town was in progress, slowing only for speed cameras and traffic lights. I don't know the stats on which city has the most of these two enemies of the person who is late... but I bet Southampton is right up there. At 3.12, we're outside Ocean Village looking for somewhere to beach the car when with a shout of "THERE'S A PARKING METER!!!!!!!"... we were in. Three quid later, were hoofing it towards the ground, eventually arriving at 3.20.
The first half rocketed by unsurprisingly, with the round leather thing spending much of its time in the air. Jacob Mellis had a couple of nice touches and of the other new boys, Dean Hammond was putting himself about in midfield and was making a good fist of refereeing the game, chipping away at the ref... good stuff. Neal Trotman was enthusiastically throwing himself into challenges wth not a single thought as to where the ball was. His combative approach was meaning that whilst he was missing the ball, the Brentford forwards were getting cleared out and thus getting nowhere near the ball so I guess he was doing a job.
At half time I decided to listen to the fans around me to get their appraisal of the first half, especially the bit that I missed. They officially are .... morons. I don't care how old you are, there should be no confusion between a 6ft 2, 22 year old black man and a 5ft 9, 36 year old white man. Dumber (he of Dumb and Dumber mentioned in the blog on the Millwall game) was missing his partner in irritation today and was thus making up for it by showing off to a new friend... but with extra volume. I decided to seek the sanctuary of the toilet.
2nd half started and Saints made two substitutions. Mellis obviously wasn't impresive in the part of the game I didn't see as he was off to be replaced by Jake Thomson and Sitter Paterson was replaced by Saganowski to partner Lambert which give us a first taste of what would be most fans preferred strike force. Away we go... hoof, hoof, hoof.... crap.
Saints were playing the marginally better football and the ball was worked out to Lloyd James in the right back position about 5 yards inside the Brentford half.... he half looked up and crossed it over everyone and off for a goal kick. Utter garbage. David Beckham has a lot to answer for. Before Beckham, players actually tried to get to the line and cross the ball away from the keeper so a forward could attack it... then along came Goldenballs who whipped in the ball from further out and suddenly, no one can be arsed to get to the line any more. Fine, if everyone could bend it like Beckham. Sadly most people can't and Lloyd James certainly can't.
Amazingly. football did then break out on the pitch and a sustained passing move, keeping it on the deck, eventually found Lallana on the left wing, his cross was headed back across by Lambert and Dan Harding arrived to smash it in. One nil and the season is about to start. Here we go...
Brentford, not reading the script and having seen that keeping the ball on the deck was the way forward then put together their one bit of football for the day as their left back set off on a weaving run from the half way line. I would say that he beat four players and crossed it where it was headed in at the back stick. This would be true but it doesn't do justice to the inept defending that meant that none of the aforementioned four players even tried to tackle the guy. It was like watching someone dribbling round big red and white cones on a training pitch. Some people in the crowd actually got closer than James and Thomson who were particularly at fault, just standing there and watching. Naivety (sp!) and inexperience at it's worst.... bring him down, take the booking, we're 1-0 up with 15 to go...
Brentford decided then that they were happy with a point and Saints decided that hoofing the ball forward aimlessly was the way to go. The last 15 minutes were pretty uneventful and so it petered out into another home draw. Still on -8. At this rate we will be on 0 points by Christmas.
On reflection, the shape of the team was a lot better than previously with Davis, Trotman, Hammond and Lambert providing a decent strong spine to the team. As it stands we are now in need of a winger who can get past people and deliver a cross. There is a uniform lack of pace in the side so maybe a quick striker needed as well. Also, creativity is lacking so Schneiderlin and particularly Lallana need to step up. That's what you're in the team for boys and if you don't start soon, I would expect some bench duty.
Anyway, Brentford 8 points, Saints -8 points. Not laughing. A positive end to the day though because I went home and no one had missed me.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
League 1 Game 3 - Swindon 1 Southampton 0
First the good news - another player has joined. Dean Hammond was signed today from Colchester and once again, a need is being addressed as he's a central midfielder. The bad news is that he could not be in the side tonight against Swindon who started the season with a 5-0 defeat and a 0-0 draw. So, they hadn't scored so far. I'm sure that every fan of every team feels that their side is the one which all opposition teams or players break their bad streak against... well I promise you, no one does it quite like Southampton.
Alan Pardew tinkered with the side with Lloyd James reverting to right back to replace Murty who had a pie strain. Shockingly, Ollie Lancashire has been picked instead of Chris Perry, which in my book is a major black mark against the manager because, as I've mentioned before, he is useless, the proverbial chocolate teapot. Jacob Mellis came into the midfield alongside the holy trinity of Schneiderlin, Wotton and Lallana who all have major defects in their game that stops them from being decent midfielders. Todays name out of the hat to partner Lambo was Matt Paterson, the quickest but least experienced of the options available.
Again I'm in the Dublin B&B but I have found text commentary from the BBC website which is not great but better than nothing. The best thing about this is that it auto refreshes, meaning you avoid the condition known as 'F5 thumb'. John Paul McGovern shots wide for Swindon, says the BBC. Corner to Swindon, says the BBC. Headed goal by Sean Morrison, says the BBC. Swindon 1 Southampton 0. Remember what I said about Swindon not scoring... well it took them a whole eight minutes.
Another 5 minutes of auto refreshing and it's all Swindon so I turn my attention to the Celtic v Arsenal match on the TV. Celtic are like the Saints in that they haven't got a clue of how to be effective. I'm not sure Arsenal have a goalkeeper playing as I haven't seen him yet. Text alert, half time, 1-0 down.
At half time I get a Skype message from Pompey Dave reminding me that we are still on -9. I call him to pass on my best for Portsmouth's relegation struggle and he takes great delight in reading out the BBC text comentary on the game and generally taking the piss. 'Lloyd James? Is he one of yours, big black bloke with a name like that ? etc etc'. Not good, I'm still on the call midway through the 2nd half and we've still not even got close to scoring. It's reads like it's really really poor again and 1-0 is flattering us.
The minutes tick by and he belief that you have that you will score a goal is conspicuous by its absence. Booking for Paul Wotton for unsportsmanlike behaviour, says the BBC. I bet I know what happened there. I bet a Swindon player passed the ball, got substituted, went to the dressing room, had a bath, got dried, put his suit on and came back out to sit on the bench... and then got hit by a Wotton special.
More bookings and more nothing and beep beep, text alert, another defeat. So now, even if we didn't have the 10 point deduction, we'd still be in the relegation zone. My optimism for the season has not evaporated as yet but if Huddersfield was a reality check then this was a slap in the face. Huddersfield will be near the top this year whereas Swindon will be bottom 6 and it sounds like we hardly had a shot. Not good.
Brentford at home on Saturday and my guess is that new boy Hammond will come in for Wotton in midfield and hopefully Murty will be back. I'd like to see Saganowski up front with Lambert but if our midfield is shocking again then it wouldn't matter if we had Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo up there.... and guess what, I can't bloody go... as I have to go to a farm with 20 5 year olds. Happy birthday my son.
PS - There will be no league table published on this site until we have more than zero points. We're last by miles and that's all you need to know.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
League 1 Game 2 - Huddersfield 3 Southampton 1
I admit it. I was optimistic going into this game and I should have known better. After all, we have just beaten Northampton from League 2 so why did I think we were going to go to a tough away game and win.... As is my life, I wasn't at the game and I wasn't even in front of a radio. I had given my kids the choice of what they wanted to do today and they had chosen to go swimming..... in Portsmouth.
Portsmouth were of course, playing at home so I had to be careful regardng the traffic. I timed it so we didn't have to sit in a queue of traffic with all the inbreds and I put the peg on my nose at the end of the M275. So far so good. Now the problems... I've got the text alerts thing on my phone but of course, Sony Ericsson haven't invented an underwater phone so that's tucked in the bag. 3pm, 3.30, half time, quick look at the phone, 1 alert, half time Huddersfield 0 Southampton 0. OK, not bad... I'm sure we'll run away with it in the 2nd half. 4.30 and I sneak another look and I have 5 texts. I'm thinking 3-2 to us at the worst...
Text 1 - Huddersfield 1 (Rhodes) Saints 0
Text 2 - Huddersfield 1 Saints 1 (Lambert) - Get In my son!!!
Text 3 - A text and 2-1 to us I expect....., no, it's a joke about Michael Jackson
Text 4 - Huddersfield 2 (Rhodes) Saints 1 - what!!!!
Text 5 - An equalizer surely!!! No, it's the same bloody Michael Jackson joke again.
Misery. Bearing in mind where I am, with a load of tattoed bodies wearing Pompey shorts for swimming trunks (and the men were grim as well).... it couldn't be much worse. It gets worse though and we eventually lose 3-1.
Got home, read the reports, we were rubbish and 3-1 flattered us. At least the Skates lost which I put down to my presence in their city.
Saints have another away game on Tuesday, this one against Swnidon Town so a bit of local-ish pride at stake, so Alan Pardew has 3 days to sort out the soft mentality which, despite an encouraging first two games, is still there. Maybe another signing to go with Chelsea loanee Jacob Mellis who came on as sub today. No doubt the "want it all now" contingent of Saints fans will have meltdown on the message boards tonight and for that reason, I'm not going to log in.
Bit of a reality check today.......... Still on -9....
Portsmouth were of course, playing at home so I had to be careful regardng the traffic. I timed it so we didn't have to sit in a queue of traffic with all the inbreds and I put the peg on my nose at the end of the M275. So far so good. Now the problems... I've got the text alerts thing on my phone but of course, Sony Ericsson haven't invented an underwater phone so that's tucked in the bag. 3pm, 3.30, half time, quick look at the phone, 1 alert, half time Huddersfield 0 Southampton 0. OK, not bad... I'm sure we'll run away with it in the 2nd half. 4.30 and I sneak another look and I have 5 texts. I'm thinking 3-2 to us at the worst...
Text 1 - Huddersfield 1 (Rhodes) Saints 0
Text 2 - Huddersfield 1 Saints 1 (Lambert) - Get In my son!!!
Text 3 - A text and 2-1 to us I expect....., no, it's a joke about Michael Jackson
Text 4 - Huddersfield 2 (Rhodes) Saints 1 - what!!!!
Text 5 - An equalizer surely!!! No, it's the same bloody Michael Jackson joke again.
Misery. Bearing in mind where I am, with a load of tattoed bodies wearing Pompey shorts for swimming trunks (and the men were grim as well).... it couldn't be much worse. It gets worse though and we eventually lose 3-1.
Got home, read the reports, we were rubbish and 3-1 flattered us. At least the Skates lost which I put down to my presence in their city.
Saints have another away game on Tuesday, this one against Swnidon Town so a bit of local-ish pride at stake, so Alan Pardew has 3 days to sort out the soft mentality which, despite an encouraging first two games, is still there. Maybe another signing to go with Chelsea loanee Jacob Mellis who came on as sub today. No doubt the "want it all now" contingent of Saints fans will have meltdown on the message boards tonight and for that reason, I'm not going to log in.
Bit of a reality check today.......... Still on -9....
Think of those less fortunate
I love this picture. It is a slightly amended picture of Dr Sulieman Al Fahim. A pot to piss in is not pictured because he hasn't got one.I salute whoever was the photoshop genius who came up with this. I have an interesting relationship with Portsmouth in that I lived in Portsmouth country (Waterlooville to be exact) from ages 8 to 23 so consequently, I have a lot of mates who are from the dark side. Great lads and lasses all of them but for every one of my Pompey mates, there are those who revelled in the nearly going bust experience of the Scummers (that's us). At the time they had a lot to laugh about as they had won the FA Cup, played in Europe and had a squad chock full of internationals. Sure, Fratton Park was still a dump but it was big enough for their fanbase (thinly veiled swipe there). Also, they had been taken over, or so it seemed, by Dr Sulieman Al Fahim and they were going to being 'rolling in Arab Billions' as one email from one of my mates put it.
Three months later and the takeover hasn't happened and times are desperate. The players have gone, the banks who loaned them all the money in the good times all want their money back (whoever saw that one coming!?!) and the current owner seems more content with asset stripping than preparing for a new season.
The prospective new owner doesn't appear to have enough money to make a difference and for the life of me, I can't see why this is still going on. It's so similar to the Pinnacle farce that we went through and all it's doing is wasting time which they don't have. What is very amusing is watching the Pompey fans come up with reasons as to why the takeover is stalling. The latest is that the car park behind the ground is the issue. The current owner wants to keep it and won't sell it to the good Doctor who needs it to turn around the ground and rebuild it. Does this mean that a car park could derail England's bid to host the World Cup where Fratton Shed is scheduled to be one of the venues? What a load of shit. The good (fake) Doctor says that all is going OK and it will go ahead but he has this spokesman chap who just kills any credibility. This bloke said that Diego Maradona was going to quit his post as the Argentina manager because of the irrisistable lure of Fratton Park. Some people actually swallowed it and four world class players were coming with him. You couldn't make it up. Smoke and mirrors and delaying tactics.
Here are some facts... the banks want their money back.... the clock is ticking... the current owner isn't going to pay it... the prospective new owner hasn't go the money... if Dr Who pulls out then there is no time to get anyone else in before the loans have to be repaid.... tick tock tick tock.
My position is that I don't want them to go out of buisiness, I really don't but I would like to see some pain. I would like to see points deductions and relegated horribly and a big slide down the leagues. Does that make me a bad person? I'll live with it. On the other hand, maybe I'd like to see the takeover happen as the farce has the potential to get even funnier with Dr Al and his Director of Misinformation in charge.
There are a couple of things I just don't get. When Leeds went down the pan, they'd gambled on Champions League income and when they didn't qualify, it all unravelled. Pompey never had a prayer of the Champions League so how did they think they'd ever sustain that level of spending on sub-20k gates? Also, I assumed that the Gaydemak family must have been doing well for themselves and were funding all this but it appears that it was just borrowed money. As a fan, I don't suppose you care where the money is coming from when you have a load of good players on £50k plus a week... would the average Pompey fan swap the FA Cup win for financial stability... I guess that depends on how it all plays out.
In many ways, if you look at the short term, they've overspent more wisely than us... they overspent by loads and won the FA Cup, we overspent by comparitively a lot less and got relegated twice. Long term however, we did get a new ground out of it which makes us more viable. Our pain is over however (may be a bit premature saying that as we are 9 points adrift in League 1) and I feel that theirs is just beginning.
Carling Cup Round 1 - Southampton 2 Northampton 0
Northampton at home in the Carling Cup and where am I ? Dublin, that's where. I'm in a B&B with an intermittent internet connection. I am pondering an investment in the the new Saints Player service in order to hear live commentary and watch the highlights etc but a quick look on Saintsweb forum reveals that it's a pile of technical issues so it's an evening of hitting the F5 key. Lambo makes his debut in place of Saganowski who is away with the Polish national team which is ironic as most Polish nationals are in Southampton. Also in the side is the walking disaster that is Ollie Lancashire comes into defence in place of Chris Perry who is getting his walking frame replaced. Ollie was a hot prospect two years ago but he has been shot to bits by 'Too Much Too Young'.... too many games before he was ready and in a struggling team to boot. Could Lambo score more than Ollie would give away...?
F5, F5
28 minutes, F5, Lambert 1-0.... get in!!!!!!
F5, F5, F5 (x 50 odd), F5, computer crash, no connection, re-boot, F5, F5, F5
Lallana 2-0
A win, in the first week of the season. Doesn't matter that it was against a League 2 side managed by one of our former disasters, Stuart Gray.... Lambert scores, Ollie keeps a clean sheet, the world is a good place.
Who have we got next, Huddersfield away, big game...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/8197835.stm
F5, F5
28 minutes, F5, Lambert 1-0.... get in!!!!!!
F5, F5, F5 (x 50 odd), F5, computer crash, no connection, re-boot, F5, F5, F5
Lallana 2-0
A win, in the first week of the season. Doesn't matter that it was against a League 2 side managed by one of our former disasters, Stuart Gray.... Lambert scores, Ollie keeps a clean sheet, the world is a good place.
Who have we got next, Huddersfield away, big game...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/8197835.stm
Lambo, First Blood
It has become an increasing annoyance to me but no surprise that many Saints fans were already complaining that thing weren't moving fast enough. We have "only" signed two free transfers and "we've not spent any money" being the most common complaints. Well, we've just paid £1m-ish for Rickie Lambert from Bristol Rovers... a proven goalscorer in this Division (29 last year). Fantastic, I'm chuffed as nuts with this.
Lambo (as he will surely become known) was a player mentioned by many but there was no definite link to him and then there he was, holding up the shirt. I like the way that Alan Pardew operates in that he identifies a position where we're short and then fills it (rather than the Burley method of identifying that we need a centre back and then buying a midfielder) but equally, I like the way the new regime operate in that they obviously back his judgement. Welcome aboard Rickie.... I'm gutted that I miss your debut through work.
At last, a proper centre forward... the first since James Beattie.
Lambo (as he will surely become known) was a player mentioned by many but there was no definite link to him and then there he was, holding up the shirt. I like the way that Alan Pardew operates in that he identifies a position where we're short and then fills it (rather than the Burley method of identifying that we need a centre back and then buying a midfielder) but equally, I like the way the new regime operate in that they obviously back his judgement. Welcome aboard Rickie.... I'm gutted that I miss your debut through work.
At last, a proper centre forward... the first since James Beattie.
League 1 Game 1 - Southampton 1 Millwall 1
The waiting was over and the first game was here and there was plenty about our line-up to give us cause for concern. No worries in goal though where Kelvin Davis had decided to stay with Saints despite being offered a bench warming contract at West Ham. The defence looked strong as well with Graeme Murty having signed on a free transfer at the age of 43, Chris Perry still going strong at 48, Wayne Thomas astoundingly actually passing a fitness test and another new freebie, Dan Harding who I knew little about. So far so good.
Midfield…. Oh dear. Two wingers who have never played in those positions with Lloyd James on the right and Adam Lallana on the left, augmented by Paul Wotton, the worlds slowest man (by the time he makes the tackle, TV are usually showing the action replay) and Morgan Schneiderlin, a 19 year old French whizz-kid who in his first season with us had provided no whizz at all.
Up front we had want-away striker Marek Saganowski – a strange player who obviously has ability but at times, has problems applying it and Matt Paterson, another kid whose career highlight to date was booting a Man Utd player and getting sent off. The subs bench – a good indicator of the strength or otherwise of your squad – consisted of seven players with an average age of about 13 and a half.
So plenty to worry about there and now to the other tradional first game worry. I took my normal seat in the Kingsland and wondered who would be sitting around us…. Will the incredibly irritating bloke and his mate (Dumb and Dumber) still be sat directly behind you ? Will there be a 30-stone salad dodger in the seat next to you ? Will the girl with the enormous personalititties be sat anywhere in sight? The one thing that you can guarantee in the Kingsland is that the people round you will be old. As it turned out, I’m 40 and the youngest by far, my dad is 64 and the next youngest. The ancient bloke who was next to me last year is missing, presumed dead. He is replaced by a sprightly youngster of about 70. All in all it is what I expected and it is five minutes to kick off and Dumb and Dumber haven’t turned up yet…. But there are two empty seats. Oh joy, here they are.
Last year I ignored him all season aside from one incident. I remember it because it was particularly rare in that it involved us scoring a goal. We scored via a scuffed shot and a deflection etc but it went in and we all went mad except for Mr Dumb who looked sad and whined that ‘it wasn’t a very good goal’. I got Tourettes at that point. So anyway, he’s back and I have vowed to not put up with it this year…. The first load of BS is getting both barrels.
Away we go and the mighty SFC are looking ok. It’s a physical game and Millwall look a half decent side but we are competing well and trying to play when we get the chance. Talking of chances…. There aren’t many until Schneiderlin tries to chip the keeper from 45 yards who backpedals like a madman and shovels it over the bar. It is altogether different from last year in that we have a defence and they are all playing well. Murty is a bit of a pie man but a good player, Perry reads the game brilliantly, Thomas provides the grunt and gets stuck in winning tackles and headers and Harding is very very solid. I like what I see. Half time, 0-0, quite happy.
10 mins into the 2nd half and we take the lead, a throw in, a bit of head tennis and Matt Paterson scores his first goal at SMS. He looks as surprised as we all do and runs to the crowd like a man who has not been practising goal celebrations in the mirror. After jumping up and down for a minute I listen in to Dumb and Dumber who are moaning about not expecting it. Jeezus. Sadly, the celebrating Kingsland Standers around me had not had time to pop their artificial hips back into place before we conceded a penalty when the ref decided that two half fouls equalled a full foul. Tv replays proved ‘inconclusive’, which means they proved he was totally fucking wrong. Never mind, up cam the Millwall right back and Super Kelvin saved it… and the rebound. Buoyed by the reprieve, we switched off and failed to clear two successive corners, more head tennis, goal, 1-1. Bugger.
The rest of the game was exciting without being real ‘edge of the seat’ stuff and I personally never felt that either side was going to score. We utilised our strong bench as three subs came on brought the average age of the team down to about 15 and on about 80 minutes, the traditional very annoying Kingsland exit started where you have to stand up as a continual stream of walking frames go past.
Overall, I’m quite happy and would have taken a draw beforehand. Millwall lost the playoff final last year so it’s safe to assume they’ll be one of the better teams in League 1 this year. The team looked promising and there were some decent performances from quite a few (Schneiderlin being the pick of the bunch I feel) and the team shape looks good which again is a symptom of having a competent manager as opposed to a moron.
We are now on Minus 9 – it’s a start.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/8192333.stm
Midfield…. Oh dear. Two wingers who have never played in those positions with Lloyd James on the right and Adam Lallana on the left, augmented by Paul Wotton, the worlds slowest man (by the time he makes the tackle, TV are usually showing the action replay) and Morgan Schneiderlin, a 19 year old French whizz-kid who in his first season with us had provided no whizz at all.
Up front we had want-away striker Marek Saganowski – a strange player who obviously has ability but at times, has problems applying it and Matt Paterson, another kid whose career highlight to date was booting a Man Utd player and getting sent off. The subs bench – a good indicator of the strength or otherwise of your squad – consisted of seven players with an average age of about 13 and a half.
So plenty to worry about there and now to the other tradional first game worry. I took my normal seat in the Kingsland and wondered who would be sitting around us…. Will the incredibly irritating bloke and his mate (Dumb and Dumber) still be sat directly behind you ? Will there be a 30-stone salad dodger in the seat next to you ? Will the girl with the enormous personalititties be sat anywhere in sight? The one thing that you can guarantee in the Kingsland is that the people round you will be old. As it turned out, I’m 40 and the youngest by far, my dad is 64 and the next youngest. The ancient bloke who was next to me last year is missing, presumed dead. He is replaced by a sprightly youngster of about 70. All in all it is what I expected and it is five minutes to kick off and Dumb and Dumber haven’t turned up yet…. But there are two empty seats. Oh joy, here they are.
Last year I ignored him all season aside from one incident. I remember it because it was particularly rare in that it involved us scoring a goal. We scored via a scuffed shot and a deflection etc but it went in and we all went mad except for Mr Dumb who looked sad and whined that ‘it wasn’t a very good goal’. I got Tourettes at that point. So anyway, he’s back and I have vowed to not put up with it this year…. The first load of BS is getting both barrels.
Away we go and the mighty SFC are looking ok. It’s a physical game and Millwall look a half decent side but we are competing well and trying to play when we get the chance. Talking of chances…. There aren’t many until Schneiderlin tries to chip the keeper from 45 yards who backpedals like a madman and shovels it over the bar. It is altogether different from last year in that we have a defence and they are all playing well. Murty is a bit of a pie man but a good player, Perry reads the game brilliantly, Thomas provides the grunt and gets stuck in winning tackles and headers and Harding is very very solid. I like what I see. Half time, 0-0, quite happy.
10 mins into the 2nd half and we take the lead, a throw in, a bit of head tennis and Matt Paterson scores his first goal at SMS. He looks as surprised as we all do and runs to the crowd like a man who has not been practising goal celebrations in the mirror. After jumping up and down for a minute I listen in to Dumb and Dumber who are moaning about not expecting it. Jeezus. Sadly, the celebrating Kingsland Standers around me had not had time to pop their artificial hips back into place before we conceded a penalty when the ref decided that two half fouls equalled a full foul. Tv replays proved ‘inconclusive’, which means they proved he was totally fucking wrong. Never mind, up cam the Millwall right back and Super Kelvin saved it… and the rebound. Buoyed by the reprieve, we switched off and failed to clear two successive corners, more head tennis, goal, 1-1. Bugger.
The rest of the game was exciting without being real ‘edge of the seat’ stuff and I personally never felt that either side was going to score. We utilised our strong bench as three subs came on brought the average age of the team down to about 15 and on about 80 minutes, the traditional very annoying Kingsland exit started where you have to stand up as a continual stream of walking frames go past.
Overall, I’m quite happy and would have taken a draw beforehand. Millwall lost the playoff final last year so it’s safe to assume they’ll be one of the better teams in League 1 this year. The team looked promising and there were some decent performances from quite a few (Schneiderlin being the pick of the bunch I feel) and the team shape looks good which again is a symptom of having a competent manager as opposed to a moron.
We are now on Minus 9 – it’s a start.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/8192333.stm
Friday, August 14, 2009
Pre-Season... What the Fialka is Going On ?
Having said I wouldn't dwell on the past...
Pre-season has been the normal run of the mill one for Saints….
We had been deducted ten points the tail end of the season before for falling into administration. Barclays - they who pour countless millions into the Premier League - pushed us over the edge because we were approximately sixty grand over our overdraft limit. We had managed to be relegated twice on one week, once by the deduction and once by the more conventional method of being shite. Despite our pathetic attempt to dodge the bullet on a technicality, the punishment was applied this season because we managed to go into administration a week after the deadline (cheers Rupert!).
Then, the board was kicked out by the Administrator who then tried to sell the club to the Pinnacle Group whose 'Money Man' was Micky Fialka, a nice Jewish taxi-driver who lived with his mum. When it came down to it, not only did he not have a pot to piss in but also didn’t known where to buy the pot from in the first place, nor how to undo his flies.
With time running out, players leaving left right and centre and a very real threat of going bust, a saviour from Switzerland call Markus Liebherr was found and we were saved. A proper manager, Alan Pardew was appointed and as he went about his work. He differs from our recent managers in a small but important way:- he actually knows what he’s doing which is pleasant change from the collection of incompetent morons we’ve grown used to. Pardew then, in a move that again smacked of competence, signed a couple of players in Dan Harding and Graeme Murty, to fill positions that had not had a suitable occupant for about three years. So, optimism returned in spades and 11,000+ season tickets flew out of the ticket office, including one for me and one for my Dad. All good things come to those who wait....
Bring it on!!!!
Pre-season has been the normal run of the mill one for Saints….
We had been deducted ten points the tail end of the season before for falling into administration. Barclays - they who pour countless millions into the Premier League - pushed us over the edge because we were approximately sixty grand over our overdraft limit. We had managed to be relegated twice on one week, once by the deduction and once by the more conventional method of being shite. Despite our pathetic attempt to dodge the bullet on a technicality, the punishment was applied this season because we managed to go into administration a week after the deadline (cheers Rupert!).
Then, the board was kicked out by the Administrator who then tried to sell the club to the Pinnacle Group whose 'Money Man' was Micky Fialka, a nice Jewish taxi-driver who lived with his mum. When it came down to it, not only did he not have a pot to piss in but also didn’t known where to buy the pot from in the first place, nor how to undo his flies.
With time running out, players leaving left right and centre and a very real threat of going bust, a saviour from Switzerland call Markus Liebherr was found and we were saved. A proper manager, Alan Pardew was appointed and as he went about his work. He differs from our recent managers in a small but important way:- he actually knows what he’s doing which is pleasant change from the collection of incompetent morons we’ve grown used to. Pardew then, in a move that again smacked of competence, signed a couple of players in Dan Harding and Graeme Murty, to fill positions that had not had a suitable occupant for about three years. So, optimism returned in spades and 11,000+ season tickets flew out of the ticket office, including one for me and one for my Dad. All good things come to those who wait....
Bring it on!!!!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Southampton FC and Me
I was born in Southampton and my Dad brought me up as a Saints fan from as early as I can remember. The first game he took me to was, believe it or not, at Fratton Park and to make it even funnier, we were in with the Pompey fans on the North Terrace – Mick Channon 89th minute, 1-0, Pompey relegated. All this didn’t mean a thing to me as I was only 7 years old. All I remember was asking exactly what "Channon is a wanker” actually meant.
Two months later we won that FA Cup thing and I assumed that we must therefore win something every year and that we were indeed the greatest team the world had ever seen. I’m still waiting for the next trophy win of course and as for being the greatest.... nah! My 2nd game was the Charity Shield at Wembley and on my 3rd, I finally made it to The Dell.
Since then we’ve had promotion to the 1st Division, League Cup final, FA Cup Semi Finals, 2nd in Div 1, European trips, Kevin Keegan, Alan Ball, Peter Shilton, Matt le Tiss to name but 4 (and we’ve had some shockers as well), 27 years in the top Division despite many relegation battles, a new ground, another FA Cup Final…. And then we fell off a cliff.
The idea of this blog is to go from this point onward. I'm sure I'll delve into the past from time to time but the recent history of the club has been shite (quite frankly) and I want to leave it behind and besides, I don't want to get sued by Rupert Lowe. Talking about about the recent past is akin to talking about former relationships in that no good can ever come of it.
I've been a season ticket holder since 1988 and was a regular attendee at home games before that when Dad's finances allowed. During the late 80s / early 90s I did a lot of away games but as life has moved on I'm almost exclusively home games only and now, due to work, I miss the midweek ones.
So.... here we are, 33 and a bit years from April 1976…. League 1 Minus 10.
Two months later we won that FA Cup thing and I assumed that we must therefore win something every year and that we were indeed the greatest team the world had ever seen. I’m still waiting for the next trophy win of course and as for being the greatest.... nah! My 2nd game was the Charity Shield at Wembley and on my 3rd, I finally made it to The Dell.
Since then we’ve had promotion to the 1st Division, League Cup final, FA Cup Semi Finals, 2nd in Div 1, European trips, Kevin Keegan, Alan Ball, Peter Shilton, Matt le Tiss to name but 4 (and we’ve had some shockers as well), 27 years in the top Division despite many relegation battles, a new ground, another FA Cup Final…. And then we fell off a cliff.
The idea of this blog is to go from this point onward. I'm sure I'll delve into the past from time to time but the recent history of the club has been shite (quite frankly) and I want to leave it behind and besides, I don't want to get sued by Rupert Lowe. Talking about about the recent past is akin to talking about former relationships in that no good can ever come of it.
I've been a season ticket holder since 1988 and was a regular attendee at home games before that when Dad's finances allowed. During the late 80s / early 90s I did a lot of away games but as life has moved on I'm almost exclusively home games only and now, due to work, I miss the midweek ones.
So.... here we are, 33 and a bit years from April 1976…. League 1 Minus 10.
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