Some of the posts on these boards seem to consider the position of Pompey at the end of the season to be as important as our own, in other words, it doesn't matter where we finish provided Pompey are below us. This made me think a bit. After Pompey managed the great escape a few seasons ago, I swore I would never let my satisfaction with a football season be dictated by the form of one of our rivals. So here is another hypothetical question for you; we finish two places above Pompey, but would you choose 1. We are 7th, they are ninth or, 2. We are 20th, they are 22nd and hence are relegated. I would prefer the former, as I think that shows real progress for Saints. Would some of us prefer that we had a poor season, if it meant our rivals dropping into league 1? Maybe someone will post an equivalent post on the Pompey board, where no doubt we will be referred to as "them down the road" or the deck chairs, as many Pompey posters seem to be unable to type Saints for some reason!
Thanks for that Jen, but actually if we finish say, 8th that would be a good result for us. If Pompey made the play-offs, it shouldn't take the shine off that, but might it?
I get more pleasure out of Saints doing well then Pompey doing bad. So i'd guess i'd rather we finished 7th and they finished 9th. Although ideally us finishing 7th and them finishing 22nd would be perfect.
Obviously our success is more important and I'm sure every Saints fan would feel the same way. If we were to finish 2nd and Pompey finish 1st, I think we would all be delighted. Pompey finishing above us would be a minor annoyance, but very insignificant in relation to our own progress.
Playoff final. I'd like to see us get knocked out of the cups early. I'm a miserable git I know, but I really would rather focus on the league. However if the scenario involving us in the F.A. Cup final involves us going up anyway, then that - beating Portsmouth is for me, nothing but a nice bonus.
I only care about Saints. As far as I am concerned their club and its fans are a minor irritant and I am quite indifferent to what happens to them other than I hope that they continue to be deeply envious of the way our club is run and resourced compared to theirs. I still maintain that for Saints to have a successful season we have much more important teams to worry about. PS I will still take every opportunity to annoy them though.
There isn't much difference between us finishing 20th and 7th, neither placing gets you anything special or guarantees anything for the next season. So I would take finishing 20th and them going down every time. Especially if we had a hand in their relegation. i.e. its between them and Coventry for that final spot, and if Coventry win it sends them down. Give them a taste of their own medicine when they played West Brom on the final day and all turned up in West Brom shirts and cheered goals against their team. In fact, if a coventry win would send them down, and it was 1-1 going into stoppage time, I would be seriously annoyed if we didn't do our best to lose.
I am not expecting miracles this season, hopefully a solid consolidation with a push upwards next season, it is very frustrating at the moment with the complete lack of feedback from the club, the OS has mostly a lot of nonsense about other clubs but nothing about ours. I trust NC and NA to get it right but just a little bit of information would keep me encouraged about out future progress.
I don't see what information people want. We know the price of season tickets and when they will be availiable, pre-season fixtures are announced as they are arranged and we know when the kit will be released. Do you want the club to comment on every bit of transfer speculation, or do you want to know whenever an offer or enquiry is made, and how much that offer was. Perhaps the club should release details of our transfer budget and wage budget for the forthcoming season. In fact, I personally wont be happy until I get a daily phone call from Nicola updating me on exactly what he has done, a call from Nigel telling me exactly what happened in training and what players he is tracking and another call from AOC to update me on how his move to Arsenal is going. Actually, that's a bit harsh. Alex can send a text, cos I know how much kids love these mobile phones nowadays.
I've booked the open topped bus already (Adkins is driving, Cortese is the conductor). It's a formality.
The blue team down the road are a complete irrelevance to me; except for the two matches we have lined up in the league. Not interested; don't care if they come above or below us; whether they stay in business or fold - all that matters is we have a good season of consolidation and hopefully finish in the top half with promotion the season after.
i think the majority of us care more about our end position in the league than beating the skates, it is the complete opposite for them, shows the difference in mentality between the fans.
Interesting thought. I would tend to agree that ultimately Saints position in the league is the most important thing. Although if Pompey struggle I can't say i wont be laughing
