I don't like Mondays! Joe the Saint's preview

Joe the Saint writes from Hythe, Hants: Probably the most ridiculous day of the week to stage a game from the point of view of the travelling fan. But it seems that the armchair viewer is deemed more important today than the turnstile punter. Perhaps the FA, Sky and the advertisters should insist that all Man Utd. games are played on a Monday night to guarantee the sorts of ratings that only soaps and Big Brother pull in nowadays. Mind you, the tv schedule following the matches could be thrown into turmoil if the magic watch owned by Sir Alex decides that five minutes injury time is insufficient to allow his latest reserve striker to equalise ...

On the subject of Big Brother, us Saints fans have our very own version of big brother here at St.Mary's at the moment. Unfortunately, he's more the Orwellian version rather than the exhibitionist loonies in a house version. The treatment of managers under his tenure has been nothing short of a disgrace. Including Monday's game, the last three games between the Addicks and the Saints since last season's 3-2 cracker at St.Mary's in December have seen three different managers in the Saints dugout! How would a top class manager like Curbs last under Rupert's regime? You Addicks should count your blessings. Most Saints fans probably haven't a clue who your chairman is (me included), but I'll bet every Charlton fan can name ours. Say no more ...

As for the match The Valley has never been a lucky ground for Saints. We haven't returned home with 3 points from SE7 since Boxing Day 1977. Having said that, a wave of optimism has suddenly come over me. Well, we don't have Shaka Hislop in goal for a start. Prediction? 1-1, which is about as optimistic as it gets at St.Mary's at the moment ...