| The Dell - Palace Or Dump 09:27 - Apr 12 with 1703 views | SaintNick |
Saw a thread on social media where someone was waxing lyrical about the Dell and another poster said that although he had some great memories of the place, that essentially it had been unfit for purpose for years.
I can see both points and have to say that although I loved the place, fact is that we remember the good times and forget the bad ones where we stood in the rain with 12,000 in the ground and a terrible home defeat
Whats everyone else's views |  |
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| The Dell - Palace Or Dump on 11:33 - Apr 12 with 1578 views | Bicester_North |
Depends what you want from a match day. For a young man the Dell was definitely better as you don’t care about comfort or the “match day experience” being enhanced, football was about the pub before and after and the social side as much as the match, and watching the team in shit conditions was just normal, and a good laugh on the terraces
I personally would give half my scrotum away to return to the days of the Dell, but fully understand why we had to leave.
St Mary’s was a good atmosphere the first few seasons meaning I didn’t miss the Dell too much, but since we got back up to the premier league it’s got more and more boring, or maybe it’s because we’ve got older and out of touch with the modern game and supporters. |  |
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| The Dell - Palace Or Dump on 11:42 - Apr 12 with 1558 views | Saintsforeverj |
I loved the Dell and miss it a lot. It's nostalgia, but was taken there by my dad as a kid. So many memories. We had to move to a new stadium as it was too small and the facilities weren't up to scratch, but it's what made it what it was, a proper football ground. Managed to sit/ stand in every stand. Loved the Archers Road stand. The atmosphere was intense and loud, better all round than at St Mary's. We all talk about the Chapel being quiet. Not the case at the Dell. The Archers sang but the Milton road end joined in too and all 4 sides in big games. Meeting the players in the car park, queuing for tickets at that tiny ticket office and that tiny club shop! Those were the days. Would love to visit the Dell just one more time. [Post edited 12 Apr 2022 11:44]
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| The Dell - Palace Or Dump on 12:38 - Apr 12 with 1497 views | Wints76 |
As much as I loved The Dell and the quirkiness of it, we had to move. If we'd got relegated during those latter years there, would we have ever got back? And selfishly, there's no way I'd have been able to get season tickets together for me and my 2 sons.
I used to love going to QPR as an away fan as well. Showing how times change, last time I went I was wondering how they were allowed to keep the away end upstairs open with the lack of space etc!
I first went to The Dell in 1982. Seems odd that I've been going to SMS longer than I went there. |  | | |
| The Dell - Palace Or Dump on 12:44 - Apr 12 with 1479 views | franniesTache |
| The Dell - Palace Or Dump on 12:38 - Apr 12 by Wints76 |
As much as I loved The Dell and the quirkiness of it, we had to move. If we'd got relegated during those latter years there, would we have ever got back? And selfishly, there's no way I'd have been able to get season tickets together for me and my 2 sons.
I used to love going to QPR as an away fan as well. Showing how times change, last time I went I was wondering how they were allowed to keep the away end upstairs open with the lack of space etc!
I first went to The Dell in 1982. Seems odd that I've been going to SMS longer than I went there. |
Another reason to love the dell, it kept the wools from the door  |  | | |
| The Dell - Palace Or Dump on 12:55 - Apr 12 with 1452 views | SouthSeaSaint |
As someone who started going to The Dell (mainly stood in the open Chocolate Boxes) back in the 1950's, I have many great memories of past times (plus some not so good)
However as someone who used to go to quite a few away games at the time, I always thought The Dell was a poor relation to many other stadia, especially when The Dell capacity was reduced to 15,000.
I never thought we would have a decent new stadium and have embraced the opportunity, as a season ticket holder, ever since.
When you think Rupert Lowe (for all his many faults) managed to get St Mary's built for £32m (ie equivalent to 1.5 Carillo's), I dont think we have done too badly.
Sure it needs a bit of a freshen up but overall I wouldnt want to go back to the privations of The Dell. | | | |
| The Dell - Palace Or Dump on 13:22 - Apr 12 with 1419 views | Number_58 |
I had some amazing times at The Dell and I wish we could've redeveloped it somehow, but I always felt the 'special atmosphere' tag came more from the closeness of the fans to the pitch than from the noise and atmosphere from the crowd, which could on occasions, be pretty quiet and subdued. One of the worst things we did at St Mary's was putting the front rows of seats so far away from the pitch (I think Rupert sold us a bit of a pup when he claimed that this was due to some UEFA regulation - he never did like Europe). I wonder if Mo Elynoussi and one or two other players might have tried a bit harder on Saturday if they knew they'd be spending a good deal of the match literally inches from an angry mob of their own supporters? |  | | |
| The Dell - Palace Or Dump on 13:34 - Apr 12 with 1383 views | Sadoldgit |
| The Dell - Palace Or Dump on 13:22 - Apr 12 by Number_58 |
I had some amazing times at The Dell and I wish we could've redeveloped it somehow, but I always felt the 'special atmosphere' tag came more from the closeness of the fans to the pitch than from the noise and atmosphere from the crowd, which could on occasions, be pretty quiet and subdued. One of the worst things we did at St Mary's was putting the front rows of seats so far away from the pitch (I think Rupert sold us a bit of a pup when he claimed that this was due to some UEFA regulation - he never did like Europe). I wonder if Mo Elynoussi and one or two other players might have tried a bit harder on Saturday if they knew they'd be spending a good deal of the match literally inches from an angry mob of their own supporters? |
It certainly was a dump, but it was our dump and the atmosphere was brilliant. Teams didn’t fancy going there and as said previously, the close proximity to the fans made it very intimidating. We clearly needed to move to something modern and bigger and whilst St Mary’s is a much better stadium, it will never rock like The Dell did. |  | | |
| The Dell - Palace Or Dump on 15:01 - Apr 12 with 1338 views | Chesham_Saint |
Agree with most of the recollections above.
One thing though (and I’ll probably be lynched for saying this) but the name ‘The Dell’ always sounded a bit effete and wimpish to me… |  |
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| The Dell - Palace Or Dump on 17:50 - Apr 12 with 1244 views | grumpy |
| The Dell - Palace Or Dump on 15:01 - Apr 12 by Chesham_Saint |
Agree with most of the recollections above.
One thing though (and I’ll probably be lynched for saying this) but the name ‘The Dell’ always sounded a bit effete and wimpish to me… |
The Dell = Small Valley.
I don't think many found The Dell ' a bit effete and wimpish' particularly in the early 70s. |  | | |
| The Dell - P mybalace Or Dump on 20:25 - Apr 12 with 1164 views | saint68 |
It was a tired and dilapidated mess, but it was ours and we made it a nightmare for the visitors..loved it and had so many fantastic days/nights there..it served us proud but its day had come and fair play to Rupert for stealing a deal of a new stadium..but my fondest memories of any Saints games still exist from The Dell.
Archers Rd..my favourite haunt and the characters that assembled there are in many ways still my friends and a good few have passed away sadly since...even the old battles between the Shirley Warren Boys and the Thornhill boys made up for some seriously dour displays back in the eighties. And the away contingent would look on bewildered..but that was the southampton way back then [Post edited 12 Apr 2022 20:26]
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| The Dell - Palace Or Dump on 20:53 - Apr 12 with 1118 views | DellHero_Would |
First season 78 79. I remember getting through the crowd in the Milton as a 10 year old to lean on the advertising boards “let the nipper through” haha.
Last home game of the season running onto the pitch waiting for the players to appear…FA cup games under the lights standing at the Milton watching the coppers after the final whistle sit in a line to stop us running onto the pitch, then running around into the East stand and onto the pitch.
Moaning about the price going up to 8 quid to stand in the Milton late 80s from memory…
[Post edited 12 Apr 2022 21:01]
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| The Dell - Palace Or Dump on 00:16 - Apr 13 with 952 views | TripleNiemi |
Would go back to the Dell tomorrow |  |
| Ready and waiting to mop up those European places...... |
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| The Dell - Palace Or Dump on 10:45 - Apr 13 with 829 views | saint901 |
The Dell has good memories for me both as spectator and player. (I was part of Hampshire school boys teams and later a few local league finals there).
It was however very tired by the time we moved and whilst I miss The Pensioners where we had our pre match beer, as I've got older and my kinds have left home, I find that being near a decent pub pre/post match is not important and that St Mary's can be a complete PITA to get to.
But nostalgia is not what it was and just like we don't miss kids dying of measles, we should not hanker after the past when it was plainly not as good as what we have now. | | | |
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