Welcome Jay. You have made a brilliant choice as within the next five years you'll be collecting a Champions League Winners Medal! But be aware that the North-South divide is real. Some things you'll notice: Beer prices Prices for eating out The climate One of these is a good change. Get used to the people. Southerners are a bit odd, but honestly OK. They can appear a bit cold, but it's all a front. The one huge difference to any club you could have joined - the fans. We are a cynical lot. We've lived on promises all our lives. We've had a few ups and lots of downs, but we are genuinely loyal and just love anyone who'll run through brick walls for our team. James Beattie and Brett Ormerod are but two northern lads who discovered this. And now, of course, we have Sir Rickie. He's loved for his goals, of course, but also because he wears his heart on his sleeve and plays every game with passion. If you want a role model for how to be loved at SMS look no further. Good luck, young feller. I can't wait to see you play.
That was a honest and fairly accurate appraisal. Not sure about Southerners being emotionally cold. We can get pretty inflamed, but after so many years of putting up with limited ambitions, and being that South-Coast club, we tend to make sure our heads rule our hearts. However, just a whiff of success in the distance, and we show how people how to turn up. Hence, in any Final, we are the loudest, proudest and crucially... in tune..!
The first post is almost as if 'Lambo is a Scouser Rejoice' is writing a letter to Jay Rod. Lambert in Behind Jay Rod and Sharp = Goals Galore?
This is a self-appraisal based on 35 years of living in the North! There are cultural differences. To a northener, Hampshire folk can come across as disinterested just as for me when I first moved up here I thought northeners were just plain nosy. I know from experience that northern "warmth" can be superficial, and that the apparently cold southerner is simply giving a new person some space to fit in. I hope I also make it clear that I love the passion, commitment and humour of Saints fans (especially the mad lot who travel) and that once we've taken to a player he'll be adored forever. Liverpool fans give Torres real abuse, yet he was apparently the darling of the Kop at one stage. Yet Brett Ormerod, by contrast, could return to SMS with another club and get a standing ovation. It's simple really. If JR gets his head down and shows us he wants to play he will be treated better than he would have been by the fans of any other of the so called interested clubs. Oh, yeah, and he should read not 606 to get the views of thinking fans!
Good article, I also agree with SS, a good appraisal, and we really are a special club! Jay seems a decent lad, and indeed just the sort that should fit in. Weather goes a long way in my book. He'll soon learn to love the toasty South. Beer is an issue, not that I would encourage young Jay! I find that in general Ale is cheaper and better.
BS. If anyone's like Northerners, to use that definition of 'Northern', it's certain Southampton fans (believing myths they've made up about us, not about themselves).
Optimum word here being myths obviously. Certainly there was quite a bit of Myth making from the Pompey side was there not? True though all water under the bridge now though.....or is that too a Myth?
I lived up North for 5 years and loved it. I met my wife there and still in contact with several lads from there. It did take me about six months to understand what they were saying though and some I never did get to understand!
What myths are we talking about? I'm talking about the myth that Portsmouth fans genuinely and seriously be the best fans in the world, a myth that's often promulgated by Godders and one or two others and is something I rarely see promulgated by any Portsmouth fans.
Sorry mate but on the old 606 it was almost a daily thing for a little while, especially during our very bad time.....true it was only the likes of your friend and mine SB3 and the likes, but it was kept up for quite a while. It also started when we moved over here in the beginning although it did not last so long. Mind you we too have our myth makers as you say, I think if I'm honest all teams do don't they?
The climate is certainly one of the good things about the south. We're getting warm rain instead of cold rain.
I hate going north. Set off from the Island in a t-shirt on a sunny day and arrive in Southampton and need a jumper. The rain is a bit of an equaliser.
We all create "myths", Godders. It is part of our self-identity. After so many years away from the South I still see myself as a southerner. As I have already said on this thread, the so called "friendliness of the north" is as much a myth as the "cold southerner". I don't buy either myth. I've got some truly great friends "up north" but equally I have friends who'd do owt for me down south. BUT the fact remains that the culture is different. Southerners are more reticent, in my experience. I hope Jay, as a young lad moving south, is aware of that and doesn't feel like a fish out of water.
I feel it may be a good thing that Billy has also moved down in the last six months - another Northerner playing down south for the first time. The two lads can strike up a good rapport based on mushy pea's and black pudding, as well as trying to out-score each other in the Premier League! (Thinking about it, none of our strike force are from near the South, guess the best forwards are Northern...) Exciting times all round - I'm sure Jay will adjust just fine if we get off to a good start - good time to sign with the whole summer to get used to the South also.
Well, I have always said to Northeners, "listen Pal, for me up north starts at Winchester" Leaving aside the unmeasurable differences the climate cannot be argued. I remember taking a rail trip only to Birmingham a few years ago ( yes, I know that's the midlands) in the spring. As I looked out of the windows the daffodils gradually disappeared from the gardens like a time-lapse nature film in reverse. St Godders should be careful of taring all Pompey fans with the same brush. We all know who used to come here on the wind-up and the "superfans" theme was merely one of his many angles of attack.
