The trip to pompey in December will be a "Bubble Game" according to letters received by some season ticket holders today.

Some Saints season ticket holders have this morning reported receiving a letter from the club informing them that the game at Fratton Park on 17th December will be the first M27 Derby to be classified as a Bubble game by the police.

This title refers to the the way that away supporters will have to travel to the game and has been used at several other derby clashes throughout the country the most notable being the Newcastle V Sunderland fixtures.

In simple terms it means that away fans will only be able to travel to the fixture by means of official coaches run from St Mary's and that match tickets wont be issued until the coaches are underway.

This enables the pollce to isolate ALL away fans in one area and effectively wrap them in a bubble.

In theory its an ideal method, it not only reduces down Police manpower, but concentrated them in one area, it also means that they can prevent any supporters from travelling by other methods because f they arent on the official coaches then they have not got match tickets.

However there are some who feel that this forcing them into arrangements that arent convenient, particularly those who live outside the Southampton area, one Saints fan living in Ryde has already commented on the message board that instead of a short trip across from Ryde to Portsmouth, he now has to travel to Cowes, ferry to Southampton and then coach to Portsmouth, a significant round trip when as the crow fllies he is probably no more than seven miles from Fratton Park itself.

There are also those who point to the excuse for letting Millwall fans out straight after the recent game, that to keep them in would be an infringement of their civil liberties, if thats the case then surely forcing supporters to travel by this method is even more so.

Overall though after the trouble at the FA Cup game at St Mary's nearly two years ago, its hard to argue against these draconian methods too much, many would argue that whatever measures taken by the police, no matter how drastic they may seem, are still better than the disorder that occured at that game and indeed the cost of policing the City for long periods before and after the game.       

Photo: Action Images via Reuters