The9

It is Soccernomics (aka "Why England Loses" over here), I've also read it and it basically says that if you want to know who's going to win the league, just look at the wage bill. This of course is completely in line with football being a meritocracy, and a near as dammit free market in which wages reflect ability. The ability to get the most out of lower wages by identifying which skills are undervalued is of course a different book on a different sport, but we've mentioned it enough times recently for me to actually start considering researching what kind of statistical analysis of football actually takes place... and how Saints are bucking the trend - if indeed we are.

I had the pleasure of being in with the Watford fans for that (seeing as 3 of them are relatives of mine), didn't seem all that loud from where I was, but at least I inherited an inflatable FA Cup after the match which I took to the Final. Camara's goal was probably the loudest noise I've ever heard Saints fans make, the last 10 minutes of that match were pandemonium all around the ground.

Can't say I pay much attention to CL - though we have now had a first instance of a game being moved to a Friday due (partially) to a CL fixture as of yesterday.

MatchDay 5? Suppose it might not, depends if they'd prefer an extra day to prepare for us or an extra day for the League Cup the week after, I know what I'd be doing in their situation, but then they might be playing Tuesdays I guess. Fair enough that if we're out of Europe and they decide not to change it it COULD stay on the Saturday, I'll change it. Probably more likely to move to the Sunday for tv anyway though. As for post-SF L1 moving for the home game - they might be in the Europa League by then.

We should sticky this, I think it may be the first time someone's asked for information and actually had a useful response.

It was basically 2,000 people all grinning at each other whilst shaking their heads in disbelief for about 5 minutes. With hindsight the head-shaking this season would be disbelief that Davis managed to hit the target.

Ta, took me a minute, now edited to say "Nov" twice.

Interesting to see that the "screen printed" badges on all the training kit seem to use a scanned image of the embroidered version - they're also pretty decent quality - no melting into the lines on this, for a start - and technically, isn't this a new club badge? I don't recall any previous versions having the detail on the green part of the tree?

Koeman might not regard an offer under a certain value to be "serious", that doesn't mean the offer didn't exist.

And can't spell "predominantly" either? Or was that you?

To be fair to him, that's a difficult piece of multitasking when there's a match on.

Amazing how few Skate goals there are on this list. I'm guessing that's because most of the really crappy ones were for a limited audience only? I had the pleasure of arriving just in time for us to concede the penalty in the first Prem match, and arrived just in time for kick off for the match the season after that we really don't mention. But none of those goals really bother me that much - nor the ones in the Championship season home or away, nor the FA Cup game. Basically because they really don't mean much in hindsight, and no-one really dwells on them. There will be far more goals against the Skates in a list of "goals we've enjoyed most" though, which is an interesting psychological phenomenon if nothing else. In other words, "it only matters if we win".

Incidentally I hope the reason the Newcastle game kicks off early is due to the flight times from Newcastle to Southampton, or considering how long it takes to get back for a later kick off. If so, that would be very considerate of the club, and it's nice to think there might even be the remotest possibility that is the case.

Remaining "Saturday" League dates before Christmas that could (or will) be affected by Europe: MatchDay 3 is before Liverpool (A), currently Sat 5 Oct, but will move as they are already in EL Group stages - League Cup is following midweek so unlikely to be the Monday. MatchDay 4 is before Sunderland (A), currently Sat 7 Nov, could move to Sunday if we make Group stages (or Sun/Mon for tv) MatchDay 5 is before Man City (A), currently Sat 28 Nov, but could move as they are already in CL Group stages - League Cup is following midweek so unlikely to be the Monday. MatchDay 6 is before Palace (A), currently Sat 12 Dec, could move to Sunday if we make Group stages (or Sun/Mon for tv) If we get to the Knockout stages of the Europa League (assume all could be moved to Sun/Mon for tv unless otherwise specified). R32 L1 is before the FA Cup 5th Round (otherwise a free date) Sat 18th Feb so that FA Cup game won't be on the Saturday. R32 L2 is before Chelsea (H) so will move from the Sat 27th Feb if we are still in Europe OR if one of us is in the League Cup Final, and might also move if they're still in Europe (they could also be in the Europa League). R16 L1 is before Stoke (A) or FA Cup 6th Round, on Sat 12th March so that won't be on the Saturday. R16 L2 is before Liverpool (H) on Sat 19 Mar so if either us OR them are still in Europe that won't be on the Saturday. QF L1 is before Newcastle (H) on Sat 9 Apr so that won't be on the Saturday. QF L2 is before Everton (A) on Sat 16 Apr so that won't be on the Saturday. SF L1 is before Man City (H) on Sat 30 Apr so if either us OR them are still in Europe that won't be on the Saturday. SF L2 is before Spurs (A) on Sat 7 May so if either us OR them are still in Europe that won't be on the Saturday. We will, however, be stuck playing Palace on the Sunday 15th May before the Europa League Final on Wednesday 18th May, and the FA Cup Final on Sat 21st May.

Ok, yes, games are set until Chelsea away (which could be Sun October 4th or Monday 5th - without looking into it further [checking if other Sky/BT games have already been announced - EDIT: ONLY TV GAMES UP TO END OF SEPTEMBER] there are no European games the week after - but there are the week before [Group stages Matchday 2 for CL and EL] so it'll move from the Saturday date if we make the group stages - it might also move anyway if Chelsea want to shift it). Our first Sat 3pm game is Sep 26 against Swansea, first away is West Brom Sep 12th.

Even if TV games are set, our participation (or not) in Europa League Play-Off Round and Group Stages can still change games before then. Give me a minute and I'll get back to my spreadsheet of potential changes.

Yeah, it was like "well, they'd have scored soon enough anyway" or "it wasn't a close game so it doesn't matter". It was bloody close until their massively offside goal meant we were shell-shocked into conceding another one right afterwards.

Come to think of it, the older I get, the better it is... it drags me out on a Friday night when I'd otherwise be doing stuff all. Previously it was a problem because I'd already be going out and it would eat into that time, but come to think of it, that doesn't happen any more. As for Sunday football, agreed that it's rubbish as I have to be in work on Monday.

Oh yeah, that one was annoying - didn't go to that one and had the full pleasure of watching the hundreds of replays of Nasri being miles offside. I even took a screenshot somewhere to illustrate the point - even if it came off the bloody defender he was already miles off from the pass before it. Or something like that, there was no justification for it from the officials anyway.

Ooh, good shout with the Lambert goal, that was us realising we weren't as awful as we thought we might be in the Prem (shortly followed by losing at home to Wigan... ). In terms of "amount of time celebrating a goal", I'm fairly sure all the goals against Coventry, which led to a dancing-on-the-tables-downing-champagne party at Varsity, a completely blatted trivia machine win at 11pm in the Winston, and a subsequent Promotion Party BBQ at our nearby flat when it chucked it down all day but still went on until about 4am when we finally drank every drop of alcohol left in the flat, mostly in one glass, was probably the longest pure celebration time... In my head it also lasted pretty much until the moment above. Oh yeah, and scrolling up, Fonte against Brighton, that was abso-fudgeking-lutely fan-bloody-tastic after all their tossing around with the music choices before kick off, narkiness about Adkins in the official programme, time-wasting, ball-boy removal, the absolute hatred for Adkins from every corner of that bloody awful ground, plus the last minute nature of the goal, the players running a small marathon just to get to the away fans, and... well, yeah, getting hammered for the next God knows how many hours in various pubs in Brighton too.

From the responses so far you've all taken "worst" to mean "most upsetting/disappointing/annoying" in the context of result or season. I prefer to consider it in terms of aesthetically horrible or just bloody stupid without context. In which case I am proposing the goal when Paul Jones decided not to defend a bouncing near-vertical sky-hoof on his own goal-line. Lambert's winner at Swansea in 2013/14 in the last minute off his shoulder about half an inch out was equally unappealing but I liked it a lot more.

The best thing about being in the Europa League is not having to play a Friday night game, the worst thing is barely getting to play a Saturday afternoon one. FWIW, Aston Villa v Man U is opening the season on a Friday - they're claiming it's being West Midlands Police rejected the Saturday date and Man U have a CL match the following week so they "couldn't play on Sunday", but I'm fairly sure we all know it's so they can get a baseline on Friday attendance prior to the televised games on Fridays starting in 2016/17.

LONDON OXFORD STREET!!!!!!!!!!!! That's a new day for replica kit sales right there. I am also amused that if I wasn't off down the Megastore in half an hour that I could have picked up my new shirt at Gatwick just before flying to Munich for Salzburg next week.

Uh-oh, last time I heard such a damning indictment of a signing was Ajax fans saying Jelle van Damme was "clumsy" when I spoke to them at Euro 2004 just after we signed him. They weren't wrong. He also loved a hoof. As for Lovren, that's not the shirt, that's Fonte organising. I'd have him back in a second, provided he was dirt cheap. He could be the new Kevin Davies.

As discussed earlier in the thread, £10 if you bought in advance or £20 on the night - hence the sell out from people not wanting to pay twice the price, and worrying others would get in first due to the much cheapness. They also announced their team in advance - but not until it had already sold out.