The9

Why preferably not on tv? It's going to be on a Sunday (or Monday for tv) anyway.

And finally: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher/2009/06/secrets_of_the_fixture_compute.html West Ham, it turns out, are paired with Dagenham and Redbridge. But for reasons of revenue Southend request they do not play at home on the same day as the Hammers as they believe it impacts upon their attendance.Football League fixtures officer Paul Snellgrove, Glenn Thompson of Atos Origin and FSF president Ian Todd with the actual fixtures computer Southend, though, are in Essex, as are Colchester, so they cannot play together on the same weekend. Colchester share stewards with Ipswich so those two clubs also request they do not play home games on the same weekend. Transport links dictate Ipswich and Norwich do not play together on the same weekend either. In other words, when West Ham play at home can have an impact on when a club as far away as Norwich (108.8 miles) play their home fixtures. And there are 12 other professional clubs in London.... the games either side of an FA Cup fixture should not both be away from home. These might include issues such as potentially sensitive fixtures being played on the opening or final weekends of the season and derby fixtures taking place in midweek. - which obviously contradicts the "maximising revenue" stuff from the FL, so their opinion on this may have changed since 2009...

Certainly wouldn't hurt to have 3 early homes with the Europa League PlayOff round matches around the middle/end of August. Then again, that means more aways later when the games could be more important. Depends who we're playing of course. PS that sequence wouldn't change even if we did play them, one of us would be home and one away.

Some more up to date stuff from the Football League: http://www.football-league.co.uk/news/article/2015/behind-the-scenes-at-the-football-league-compiling-the-fixture-list-2487748.aspx As well as the yearly festivals and other events, we have the Rugby World Cup this year - how has that affected the fixture list? We've got numerous clubs involved with the Rugby World Cup across all leagues, not necessarily hosting games but being used as host cities, and that will have an impact on their local infrastructure. Exeter is one, and Cardiff is another. There's been a number of requests from the Rugby World Cup organisers, who we've been liaising with for a couple of years to make sure we can get the games on at our stadiums, which is in the clubs' interests, and in the World Cup organisers' interest that they can get their games played on schedule. As always there are a number of clubs refurbishing their stadiums over the summer, which has had an impact around the opening set of fixtures in particular. Those clubs ideally want to buy an extra few days at the start of the season by playing away first, just in case they have a slight delay in building work. (Could be relevant to Bournemouth)... we also have a responsibility to maximise clubs' revenue. We try to ensure that local derbies and the other high profile fixtures are played on the best days possible, so as many fans as possible can attend. - usually not midweek, but also not in summer when people are away, or the last game which is well attended anyway Each of those requests has an impact on not only that club's fixtures, but the club they pair with, and if they're in a multi-club policing area, then those clubs also. In the West Midlands, for example, one date request will have an effect on all six clubs within that area. It's a case of knitting together a web.

Here's the bit about Leeds rioting from the Parliamentary record: http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1990/may/08/football-violence-bournemouth Saturday a second division football match took place at Dean Court, Boscombe, between Bournemouth and Leeds United. I understand from the chief constable of Dorset, whom I have asked for a full report, that there was serious disorder in the town over the entire weekend, mainly involving Leeds supporters. To date, 104 arrests have been made and criminal damage totalling around £40,000 has been reported. Many police officers were hurt, and 12 received serious injuries. The scenes of violent disorder witnessed in Bournemouth were absolutely disgraceful. I extend my sympathy to all those police officers who were injured and to all the law-abiding people who suffered as a consequence of the behaviour of vicious hooligans. Once again, the police had to bear the brunt of a ferocious attack, and conducted themselves with great courage and professionalism. In other towns also, they had to cope with hooligan behaviour. Serious disorder was anticipated by the police at Bournemouth and repeated requests were made to the football authorities to reschedule the fixture, the first such request being made as long ago as last June. It is for the football authorities to explain why they did not respond positively to those requests. I have called in both the Football League and the Football Association to discuss the matter, and I will be seeing the league later today, and possibly a representative of the Football Association. It is high time that the football authorities heeded rather than ignored sensible advice. ...I agree that the Football League has to accept its responsibility and I suggest—I hope that the Home Secretary will endorse this suggestion—that we cannot wait until the last day of the season, when promotion and relegation have to be decided, and when matches have to kick off at the same time, for obvious reasons—[HON. MEMBERS: "Why?"] Because it would give clubs an advantage or a disadvantage. It might be more sensible to ask the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Football League to meet at the beginning of the season before fixtures are published to make necessary changes then rather than wait until trouble is imminent. I hope that the Home Secretary will endorse that suggestion.

Also some interesting stuff here: http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/football/football-news/how-201516-football-league-fixtures-9455917 Why would a club want a home or an away game on a certain date? It doesn't matter really, does it? Clubs must get their requests signed off by police, and must be for good reason. Usual instances include wanting an away day so as to not clash with a local music festival, event or conference. For instance, Coventry City FC are unlikely to have a home match on the August Bank Holiday weekend due to the Insomnia Gaming Festival taking place at the Ricoh Arena across the three-day weekend.

Yeah, that was me, based on the Leeds riot there back in the 80s EDIT: It was 1990. There's an article out there somewhere, I'll try and dig it out. Here it is: http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/news/news/2013-14/jun/how-the-fixture-list-is-compiled.html There are the "golden rules" of sequencing. In any five matches there should be a split of three home fixtures, two away or the other way around. A team will never have more than two home or away matches in a row and wherever possible you will be home and away around FA Cup ties. A club will never start or finish the season with two home or two away matches because it would be unfair for a team to finish with two aways, especially if they are looking for points. Around the Christmas period, if you are at home on Boxing Day you will be away on New Year’s Day or the equivalent date and we will also try to maintain a Saturday home-away sequence throughout the season wherever possible. Most clubs will have a partner club that they cannot clash with. There are the obvious ones - Manchester United and Manchester City, Liverpool and Everton - and then when you get into London it gets a little bit more complex and less obvious. For example, you have got the likes of Dagenham & Redbridge and Leyton Orient, who wish to be away when West Ham United are scheduled a home match. Last season, for example, there was a requirement from the Metropolitan Police not to play high-profile matches until after 8 September because of the Olympics and Paralympics. We look at whether we have got clubs from the same area travelling on the same trainlines across the Football League and the Premier League on the same day. We want to avoid having various "pinch points" on the rail and road network. We also tell the computer to try to minimise travel on Boxing Day and New Year's Day.

I'm going to guess we'll be home to Leicester. They usually feed at least one of the promoted teams to the top 6... so Watford v Liverpool and Everton v Chelsea. Bournemouth to play Stoke away. This is all guesswork. Decided to run some random fixture pairings which means that when one of these is home the other will be away: Newcastle/Sunderland Everton/Liverpool Man Utd/Man City WBA/Villa Stoke/Leicester Watford/Chelsea Spurs/Arsenal Saints/Bournemouth West Ham/Palace leaving Norwich/Swansea who are out on a limb and left over. They could go with West Ham/Norwich but I vaguely remember than when West Ham are home, it's something mad like Southend are away, Colchester are home, Ipswich are away and Norwich are home, so that wouldn't work... Anyway, it won't be Bournemouth.

I think somewhere in the back of his head is Clyne's awful performances for the U21s a couple of summers ago, but there comes a point where you have to look at what he's proved since then.

He made a bunch of overlapping runs off the ball and never got a pass, probably our best player that day dealing reasonably well with Vardy's tireless running too (even so, about a 7/10 at best).

He's been average at best for 2 months and hasn't been getting forward anything like as much since January. Weirdly this is with the exception of the Leicester away match when he was pretty much the only Saints player who was putting any kind of effort in. He's certainly one of England's best 3 right backs though, I'd question the logic of picking Glen Johnson ahead of him now, Henderson isn't a right back, and Phil Jones is barely a footballer. Which leaves the Calum Chambers debate - and he can't get enough games to be considered when there's someone who is ahead of him. After that it's guff like Walker of Spurs when he's fit and playing Smalling out of position too.

Terrible shame for Portsmouth, already being out of the League Cup in mid-June on the day of the draw, whilst we don't even join it until the 3rd Round.

Well... Keegan's England beat Germany in Euro 2000. It's worth considering how often they even PLAY a World Cup winner - they played about 2 a year from 1994-1999 and only Spain and Germany draws in Euro 96 (or a win and a defeat if pens are included), Italy in 98 Qualifiers and Argentina in WC 98 were even competitive matches, so basically one a season - and of those all were draws except one defeat to Italy.

It'll make life impossible for those matches for the people without one, that's for sure.

It is a bit of a gamble, but the Europa game will be a Thursday night and midweek games are even worse than opening day ones due to people working who can't get there in addition to the usual summer holiday impact. I wouldn't be surprised to see the club offer a home Europa League season ticket allowing them to debit you for every round, though that would be pretty advanced for them. I'm just looking forward to the ructions when they announce the criteria for the home and away EL matches, given that they'll have to go back to last season for qualifying number of games and as it's a cup game everyone will have to physically order the ticket(s)... at least they have the option of selling tickets for the tie on the date, rather than the opponents... they could easily shift 25,000 of them now even without the opposition being known. Come to think of it, it's not that likely there will be a big away attendance for a lot of the potential opponents, so we could have a block or two (43/44) more Saints fans in there.

I'm going and so is the wife. Though she's not on here, thank fook. Up to Gatwick the night before, fly to Munich in the morning of the tournament, hour or so on the train to Salzburg, tournament (45 mins v Valencia and then 45 mins v Werder or RB Salzburg, night in Salzburg, train back to Munich on the Sunday afternoon, spend Monday in Munich and home that night).

Have we just signed another striker to play in attacking midfield?

No, I'm a ST holder and I don't think it'll give me anything over that. I look forward to the other 3,000 responses to this.

It's my go-to for all silent speaking news.

"Silently speaking to the players" is one hell of a skill. I'm getting "horse whisperer" type images here, with Koeman taming the wild Wanyama and leading him to drink. Water. From a pond. This is all kinds of wrong.

Just. Stop.

Also, if I was weighing in with the pedantry and referring to appearances for the club they came through at (which admittedly isn't the argument, but is relevant to how useful they might be to Saints), Walcott only barely made 13 starts in the league for Saints (and 8 subs). Bale made 40.

Hmm, let's think, and how are most of their teammates at the age of 14 doing, even considering that they were one of the most-widely talked about groups in Saints Academy history? And what about every other club's 14 year olds from that season? All full of the stars of their U15s, or with one, maybe two having made it?

They will not learn.