The9

They haven't, they often didn't count cup aways previously. I've had to wait for later windows due to it a few times.

There can't be 1200 Saints fans with more than 7 aways last season I shouldn't think... I think people with 4 or 5 might possibly have a chance even if they phase it, not everyone is going to be able to go, and some will be put off by prices if they haven't already booked. If it's only 1200 it won't get past ST holders unless they specifically hold some back. If it's nearer 2000 I think any ST holders with more than 4 will be ok and it might go to a wider group. My main concern is not actually knowing how many I'm going to have that count, because the club changes the criteria all the time and also has and hasn't counted the first game of last season due to it coming before the cut-off calculation... and many many more. I have at least 7 and possibly 10, I think. Plus thanks to their policy on carers and my disabled mate being crap at allocating the numbers when we go with him, there are numerous other random factors affecting whether or not me and the missus might be able to get tickets in the same window, etc. They should really have a quick lookup so there are no surprises.

Didn't they take out loans to pay off the player debts "early" (remember, they were actually paying them about 3 years late, and on a slower schedule than anyone thought they would in the first place)? They no longer have the parachute payments either - but as they were meant to be ringfenced to pay off those debts that shouldn't make any difference. By my reckoning they have the same amount of money as they had the first season in L2, and the second season - but that's IF the player debt repayments came completely from the parachutes, and IF they didn't take on any other debts to make those "early" repayments - which I vaguely recall they did. The problems they're stockpiling are all of the ones they've had for years - old, expensive to maintain ground, poor training facilities they don't own, no assets, focus on short termism. They should be spending any spare cash on making their club a viable proposition in the longer term.

You mean "whose", right? "Who is country is this?" makes no sense. And as a pedant in my 40s who can't be arsed to watch an opinion on YouTube (because why would I care?) this is pretty much my contribution to the whole debate. With head shaking.

Oops, that'll teach me to scan read totals - even so, the only way they've managed to do it is by flogging the world's most expensive player (and that was 90% down to us and Bale anyway).

Has it? He seems to be exactly the same player to me, just playing more often because they're not as good as us. He was our third best DM, he probably still would be now. Having said that, cashing in and not having a third DM who was obviously slightly worse than the others but maybe better than anyone left, might have cost us a few places with the injuries we had on the run in.

I wanted him YESTERDAY, dammit!

Oops. See below.

Eastleigh. Ooops, sorry, was in Newport County mode.

I had the pleasure of getting a train from South Wales to St Mary's to collect my Bucharest ticket in person on a Saturday morning because they wouldn't post them out. Usual 2 hour train, took 4 hours one way via Eastleigh and bus replacement... went to the club shop to find they'd sold out of the UEFA Cup shirts but they found me one from player's stock! I managed to just about get back in time for the Wales match in Cardiff in the evening - and then had the actual trip to Bucharest (can't actually remember where I flew from!) all of 4 days later. Just getting the bloody ticket was an odyssey. Speaking of home shirts, no news from the club on a European shirt, and I know we're not allowed to wear striped backs, I wonder if they'll just produce some with red top halves on the back for the players, or if they'll try and wear the green kits home and away?

My main concerns with European matches are that if we get through, the PlayOff round draw is going to be the lunchtime the day after when loads of us will still be in the Netherlands! Still, that nearly happened this week with the 2nd Qualifying Round concluding whilst we were in Rotterdam.

I did the same, flights about £150 pp, return train about £25 pp, hotel was no more than £25 pp per night. Got somewhere in the vicinity of 8-10 aways last season depending on what counts, so happy enough with our chances of a ticket. Book getting there, worry about the ticket later, especially if you're 99% sure you'll get one.

Anyone who thinks they have the remotest chance of getting a ticket should have been booking something the second the draw was made. Waiting is just going to cost a heap o'cash as the price of travel and accommodation goes up. If someone is a borderline ticket case, there are plenty here investing a whole £10 in a home end ticket just in case - which is a much more sensible attitude than hoping someone else sorts it all out for you, to be honest. Ten quid spent ensuring you'll have a valid ticket to get in and can go and buy cheaper travel and hotels, or sit around waiting for the club to maybe provide a ticket package? No brainer.

Yeah, you'd have to be some kind of mentalist to sit around waiting to see if there are special Saints-branded tents for you in the Gelredome car park or something.

Do you mean the club's travel plans for fans, or the actual ticketing? They did say they'd have some kind of travel club thing, but when it's as easy as it is to get to, they might struggle to put together a competitive package. Also, there's every chance we've all booked the hotels.

I'd imagine they need something solid to support the sliding roof.

Thirteen seasons in the Premier League. It was already not called the Premiership by the time we got relegated from it, fwiw.

I used to use "couple" and "few" interchangeably as a kid, until someone pointed out the nuance, so perfectly possible he only thought it meant the same as "few". Also, even if he only stays 2 years, who cares?

You expected that immediately after being knocked back for our self-stated primary target that we'd just be able to switch to another player? Pretty sure there was an element of eggs in one basket with Alderweireld, and why wouldn't there be if we thought we had a deal already? There's a big difference between monitoring potential targets and the amount of detail and research that goes into actually signing a player. I'd rather we took our time to get the target right, the chances of all of our possible targets signing for other clubs in the meantime is pretty small. There's also the possibility we do what we did last year, and sign a big player on loan - and that will take that player becoming available first.

Nah, the worst he got was me taking the p155 out of his insistence on trying to hit 45 yard passes to the left winger which he was not equipped to do. His strengths were pretty much immediately evident defensively and he was more sound on the ball once he'd sorted his feet out. As far as the "is there any evidence we're interested in Van Dijk" question goes - well he plays in a position we need a player, there have been rumours for over a year, and he also fits our general profiling in that he's he's young, Dutch, and guaranteed to improve...

I'd say it's good that the Europa matches after the qualifiers are fixed kick off times, but in practice some of those were 5pm, so hardly ideal. Plus there's still time differences scattering matches all over the evening anyway.

Your lookout to make sure it is in your online purchases first. They've been doing the card-loading for a couple of years, haven't heard of any problems yet. Print at home tickets was the most recent innovation, and even that's been around for a year already. Not sure why the barriers would make any difference, people used to form one queue and go to whichever window was vacated whenever I was there.

I still haven't got a favourite seat into the 2nd year of using the system, because as a ST holder the only time I ever want to buy a match ticket is for someone else, and my seat is already allocated to me so I can't select it anyway. I was away for the FA Cup tie last season, the previous occasion I had to move from my seat (may have predated the favourite seat option anyway), and if ever there's a league cup tie we get a group booking somewhere different. Not that I'm particularly bothered.

I like this, it's an excellent level of silliness to go with their AWFUL attempted halved home shirt.

Agreed. Comes back to the crapola argument that Celtic players are rubbish. And we've already had the Forster, Boruc, Wanyama, Hooiveld argument. Still not sure Van Dijk is the solution, but we need to sign someone who might be, because I know Yoshida and Gardos aren't.