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Comment | Great Saints FA Cup Quarter Final Games Part 2 1976
at 09:51:12
This game lives long in my memory. I went with my best mate, my dad, his dad and one of his dad's mates, sadly all 3 of those older gentlemen no longer with us.
My first recollection is that my mates' dad had put a bar of chocolate in his back pocket and unknowingly sat on it all the way to Bradford, not surprisingly, he was wearing it by the time we got there.
Having parked in what we hoped would be a safe place, we got in the ground a while before kick off and immediately sensed a very toxic atmosphere. The terrace was partly areas of clinker and broken concrete, ideal missiles for what took place soon after. First of all, the Saints fans were entering through the turnstiles to be met by either Bradford or Leeds hooligans and being attacked one by one so having no realistic chance of defending themselves. We were told that tickets were available on the day to anyone who wanted one. Great idea that one!!
My next memory is of a "Party 7", hideous stuff, looping its way from their lot to ours and back again until it eventually emptied itself .
The bit I can still picture as clear as if it was yesterday is this lad of about 14 picking up a lump of concrete and launching it down the terrace at a mixture of fighting fans and coppers and hitting one of the boys in blue squarely behind his ear. He went down very dazed and my dad tried to point out the kid who threw it to other coppers but in the mayhem, he got away.
There were 2 young Bradford fans near us, about 12 years old who were clearly terrified so we looked after them until the end of the game. As you say, Nick, there were no rules in those days and you took your life in your hands if you didn't watch out. Pleased to say, it's very different now. |
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Comment | On This Day In History - 19th May 2001 The Greatest Goal Ever !
at 14:02:22
My eldest son and I often reminisce about this moment. A matter of seconds before MLT scored, I turned to him and said "Do you think there is still a special moment to come?".
We looked at each other in amazement seconds later as we joined in the mayhem. A moment never to be forgotten. |
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Comment | New Date For Trip To Watford
at 11:21:06
If anyone is wanting a ticket, there were 5 on the website. I have just bagged 2 so a pair and a single showing at the moment. |
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Comment | Saints V Bournemouth The Verdict
at 12:48:45
Agreed the fans in general were great but stand up the 2 in row W block 35 and hang your heads in shame. Hoedt put a ball into touch whilst under pressure. No problem really, he conceded a throw in no more. Up jump these 2 shouting abuse at him. Myself amongst others advised them shall we say but no they are right to do this. I noticed abuser no 1 didn’t even applaud when Tadic scored his second. A skate in disguise I reckon. |
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Comment | Could Saints Bring In A "Cheeky" Loan Deal !
at 18:09:07
PB. WAC. You seem no more likely to spot a talented footballer than a fillet of wet fish heading to slap you right between the eyes. With so called fans like you, who needs JCL's? |
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Comment | Saints At Bournemouth The Verdict
at 13:51:24
Well said Geordie Saint. There is far more to managing than just keeping a player on because he is playing well. Boufal was playing well but what would everyone say if we went down to 10 players?
To give you a clue and I hope my eldest son will forgive me for quoting him, with his excellent lip reading skills and knowledge of the finer details of the French language, he was able to accurately translate what Claude said as Boufal came off the pitch. For those of you who don't possess the same skills, it went along the lines "You can knock off the bottom lip stuff sunshine, if you hadn't dived in the first half and got booked you would still be on the pitch you bellend." |
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Comment | Saints Able To Handle Tough Schedule Due To Squad Building
at 12:07:29
I think the point that Nick is making is that we continue to build and improve, steadily and sensibly. Social media and the likes of these message boards is full of those that seek the immediate solution. Football, like any other sport is not like that. I for one would much rather see the steady improvement that we are showing with solid foundations and a decent looking superstructure.
Some of the younger lads are without doubt not ready yet but if they aren't given their chance they never will be. |
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Comment | Saints At Inter Milan The Verdict
at 13:03:50
Patience is indeed a good start to describe where we are and what we can achieve.
Journey would be my word to remember Milan by. Not only the journey there and back which was great and poses the question "when is a general strike not a general strike" the answer being of course, when it's in Italy! As my youngest son said, the Italians are so laid back, they can't even be bothered to not go to work!
I think those of us who are life long Saints fans, 49 years in my case, appreciate the journey we are on at the moment. Those with shorter memories can't quite get that we aren't going to win every game and trade old experiences for newer better ones. We are moving in the right direction and improving year on year. Just look at what Inter won the year we won the JPT and you will see what I mean.
This road trip was the number one for me, best ever by a mile. It gave us the sort of showcase for our club that we have always wanted. The city is beautiful, the Duomo cathedral in particular, very easy to get to and get around in and to see Saints shirts every way you looked was something we should all be very proud of.
Best laugh for me was when our metro train was invaded by about 50 fans, singing all of the songs. The looks on the locals faces were like they expected to be murdered or worse but they soon realised that this was not a bunch of English hooligans but proper fans just having fun and were soon, to their credit, joining in!
We can look forward to more experiences like this as long as we use it as an experience to build on. We won't loose many playing like we did and with players gaining experience, it all looks positive as far as I am concerned.
Our journey continues............. |
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Comment | Saints New System Will Suit European Competition
at 13:57:08
UAE thanks for that and glad peace has broken out! I too was a bit taken aback by your initial forecast of relegation which, given the early part of the season we are in, I felt was way wide of the mark.
As far as my comment about not finishing as high this season, my view is that Chelsea now that the charming physio and the less than charming manager are no longer a distraction and Manure, even though they have said less than charming manager in charge won't be as bad as last season (even though United finished above us).
Add to that the ridiculous level of luck and dodgy refereeing that is helping the big boys on their way (as if they needed it) Like Citeh in the last minute with an own goal off of the nose. Chelsea in the last minute when Costa shouldn't have been on the pitch and the disgraceful decision on Saturday makes finishing above the 2 Mancs, Chelsea and thearse a very tall order indeed. Add to that and much as it grieves me to admit, Liverpool, Spuds and worst of all Everton will all be strong. I don't see a wild card at the moment and I think we will come good very soon, especially if Boufal lives up to expectations so all in all 7th would be very good indeed, 6th and above would be excellent.
We are possibly a bit short on squad given the demands of the Europa cup and home competitions and a few injuries could stretch us.
Anyway, that's my view and I am sure we are all looking forward to tomorrow evening. Have a safe flight and don't be late -:) |
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Comment | Saints New System Will Suit European Competition
at 08:58:45
UAE, no insult intended and I apologise for any offence. As for my location, I am now in my 49th year of following the Saints as a season ticket holder except when finances dictated otherwise so geography is not an issue as far as my allegiance is concerned. Good on you for making the effort and yes, of course I will be there.
As far as your somewhat premature appraisal of our season, you only have to read the comments above from the likes of pintesizedsaint and el santo to understand where I am coming from. I have seen more than enough bad seasons in my time to be absolutely sure that this won't be one of them. The players that we have are way too good for that. After last season, we all have massive expectations but the likelihood is that we won't finish as high as we did last time but look at the positives, Europa cup group stage and what I believe to be 3 quality signings. Lets look at things again when 10 or 12 games have been played and the league table takes on some meaning. |
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Comment | Saints New System Will Suit European Competition
at 17:15:57
Where do these so called fans come from? I guess the heat is affecting your judgement in the UAE? I also guess that you don't actually get to see the games to make a reasoned and sensible judgement. The likes of you need to start to understand how the beautiful game works, it's not like FIFA 16. |
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Comment | Travel Packages To Israel, Milan & Prague Available !
at 13:58:15
Don't be so sure stmichael, a friend of mine went to Prague recently. The cost of living is ridiculously cheap by UK standards. Mind you, I reckon SFC fire is talking about hotel only as the cheapest flight return on skyscanner is £178 direct or £124 with one stop. All we need for Milan is a decent allocation. 7k should do it. |
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Comment | Watt View ! Is Saints Squad Strong Enough ?
at 10:40:26
Vanmans, you must have been at 2 different games to the ones I saw. Both Watford and Sunderland were battered for large parts of those games and on any other day, both would have been 3 - 1 home wins. Yes I agree we need to start hitting the net rather than shooting at it and this will come in good time but writing us off after 3 games is so modern day, must win everything by October, Johnny come lately thinking. |
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Comment | Watt View ! Is Saints Squad Strong Enough ?
at 10:30:27
Sonic, your point is a very valid one. I have experience closer than I would have wanted to ACL ruptures as my son suffered just such an injury which curtailed his basketball for a complete season while he recovered physically. What none of us realised was the extent to which his playing ability had been affected as well. When he eventually got back to full physical and mental fitness, he too found it difficult to get back into his first team. He plays at national level so the parallels are there and, coincidentally, he had the same surgeon as JayRod. Interestingly, my son took the "out on loan" route by playing at a much higher age level which was excellent for the physicality but a lower ability level which resulted in him dominating games and hey presto, confidence, strength and ability all returned in a fairly short time period.
The way I see it with JayRod is that he can take one of two routes which should lead to the same result. Route 1 is a loan period of maybe 2 or 3 months with a decent Championship team, the parallels to my son's recovery are obvious. Route 2, given the number of games that we have coming up is he stays with us and gets decent game time. Route 2 is the one for me, he is way too good a player for another team to benefit from. |
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Site Scores| Forum Votes: | 2 | | Comment Votes: | 26 | | Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 28 |
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