Nordic Saint

He is a top class international striker. That's 5 goals in 12 games for Italy and 23 goals in 68 games for Saints. The top Italian clubs are all going to want him but it would be very hard for us to get a replacement as good. Fonte and Cedric both got their 10th caps for Portugal tonight too. Saints players could be some of the stars of the Euros this summer.

The team now is the best in that period so we really should consider current players. Best: Fonte Lambert Bertrand Van Dijk Mane Worst: Osvaldo Ramirez Delgado Hooiveld Fox

Yes, as history has shown us, any club can: Huddersfield, Preston, Burnley, Wolves, Nottingham Forest, even Portsmouth. In 50 years' time, the top clubs will be completely different from now. Last year the naysayers, were adamant that the only clubs that could possibly win the league this season were Chelsea and Man City and no other clubs' fans should even dream of trying to compete with them. Any that disagreed were called 'mongs'. There are some right, miserable pessimists about: fully paid up members of the ever so 'umble, I know my place, brigade. Some Chelsea and Man City fans were probably saying they had no chance of ever competing with Man Utd and Arsenal not so many years ago. I'm looking forward to seeing Saints take their turn as a top club. We very nearly did it in the 80s.

There aren't many clubs with season tickets as expensive as ours. The club sets the price to just fill the ground, and you could argue they've got their pricing exactly right as we have averaged more than 30,000 in all of our top flight seasons at St Mary's. It's not just about the money though, is it? If it were, we'd only need a capacity of 100 as long as we filled it with billionaires. Football is tribal and the big tribes ultimately prevail. It's all very well trying to stay a small, non-threatening tribe which never grows, but the trouble is, if we do that, some ambitious, expansionist tribe will one day take over our territory. It's what happened to us in the 1920s when Portsmouth built a much bigger stadium, while we stood still. We suffered from that lack of ambition for the next 50 years.

Hands up. Perhaps I did lay it on a bit thick with that post, but I get the impression, perhaps wrongly, that a few of our fans, by no means all, don't view Mane quite as fairly and objectively as they ought to, when he looks to me like one of the best players we've ever had. I'd be as gutted to lose him as I was when we lost Channon, Shearer and Keegan.

That's great news, especially with Koeman staying too. Really looking forward to next season more than any other I can ever recall.

Let's be blunt about this. If Mane had the physical appearance of Clasie, he would be being universally hailed by Saints fans as one of the best players ever to play for the club and NOBODY would want him sold for any amount of money. Conversely, if Clasie had the physical appearance of Mane, he would be getting called all the insulting names under the sun by just about every Saints fan and would be labelled as having a poor attitude.

He could be the next Jason Puncheon, showing occasional flashes of brilliance and making a point of scoring in games against us.

He's played centre back for Arsenal in the Champions League, he's the current England U21 centre back, selected by Gareth Southgate, and he already has 3 full England caps, including one game where he replaced Stones at centre back. That's pretty successful for a youngster, who's only just turned 21. But, you are right, he more often plays right-back and he alternated with Clyne at right-back for us, and also took his starting place in one England game. To be honest, not many centre backs from our Academy have played for England so he is fairly special. But, the fact he gets played in 2 positions may hinder his progress and like our other youngsters who've been sold to Arsenal, his progress seems to have stalled. There were media reports that Koeman tried to bring him back here on loan last season.

Looking at the online seating plan, I'd estimate around 22,000. http://tickets.saintsfc.co.uk/PagesPublic/ProductBrowse/VisualSeatSelection.aspx?stadium=SM&product=ST1617&campaign=&type=S&productsubtype=&productIsHomeAsAway=N

Although Jones is good, Middlesbrough's Acadamy has probably produced the best 2 young centre backs in the last year: Ben Gibson and Dael Fry. Either one of them could well play for England in the future. Pity we couldn't have got one of them in exchange for Ramirez.

Saints' current Young Player of the Year, Alfie Jones, is a centre back, and probably the best prospect currently in our Academy.

Fulham fans will be very happy he's not coming back to them. I'll be disappointed if we're stuck with him for another year. His long-term shoulder injuries mean he's nowhere near the player he once was. His kicking and positioning are still good but he can't make diving saves. He survives on his past reputation. I can't recall him making one good diving save for us, which is pretty poor for a Premier League goalkeeper. His spell in goal probably cost us a top 4 place last season.

I assume what he wants to hear from Les Reed is that he is not planning to sell a couple of our best players every year. Mane will be the real test as his contract runs until September 2018 and he seems happy enough to stay so there is no need to sell him this summer unless it's all about cashing in on him as soon as possible, and Koeman knows that.

Mane seems very happy at the club. The problem may be that the club is getting keen to cash in on him, as his transfer value has soared. They do seem to sell one or two of the most valuable players every year and maybe this is part of their financial plan, and also one of the reasons Koeman may not want to extend. However, even if they would prefer the money, they'd be better off waiting another year or two, as he is is improving fast and his value could double again. From a personal point of view, I think Mane is one of the most exciting players I've ever seen play for Southampton and I'll be very sad to see him sold to a rival club. Real Madrid for 40 million in 2 years' time, I could accept.

Rose is a reasonable attacking player but an awful defender. If he played for Stoke rather than Spurs, he'd be nowhere near the England team.

Clattenburg is keeping United in this game.

Rooney looks a real liability so far. He's slowed down the United attack and given the ball away to Palace in dangerous areas. United's best hope of winning would be to sub him as soon as possible. Let's hope he doesn't play for England in the summer. But I still hope he scores because we really need United to win this game.

Thanks. Yes, I was. My apologies to Ron and Colin.

No, existing season ticket holders could change their seats, but brand new buyers couldn't buy season tickets. On Monday, they will go on sale for the first time to members. After that, they will go on sale to non-members.

According to the official site, season ticket sales are up by a thousand on this time last year, with more than 90% already renewing. But, the really big increase is going to come next week when new season tickets go on sale. I predict they will sell out very quickly so should the club raise the limit of the number they sell? This would probably ensure every home game next season is sold out but it would limit the number of new fans who could come to individual games. Pity we don't have a capacity of around 40,000 which would be just about right at this stage of the club's growth.

Totally agree. If he really wants to go, and let's hope he doesn't, we should not sell him until the January transfer window.

Let's hope that Liverpool fans don't riot after the game to try to get all other English clubs banned from Europe. They cost us a European place that way in the 1980s.

Just seeking reassurance here. Is it 100% certain that Liverpool winning tonight will not stop us going straight into the group stages of the Europa League (if Man Utd win the FA Cup, of course)?

A few facts to get things started: The last 2 season have seen the 2 highest Premier League finishes, 7th and 6th, and 2 highest points totals, 60 and 63, by any south cost team. Next season will be our 40th in the top flight in the last 50 years, which is more in total than we have been in any other division in our entire history and 7 more than any other south coast club. This season was our 12th top 8 finish and 14th top 10 finish in the last 50 years. Next season will be our 9th in Europe, which is 8 more than any other south coast team. We have had an average home gate in excess of 30,000 in all 8 of our top flight seasons at St Mary’s. Next season we’ll play our 119th league and cup game (189th if you include all competitive games) v Spurs, which is more than we have played against any other team in our history. 34 players have been capped for England while playing for the club.