The9

I've heard it's red with white pinstripes. Turkish said. It's a bit like the current Umbro Sweden kit template then. Which has two pinstripes close together, then a broad stripe of contrasting colour.

If Newport County ever get to the Prem I'm still a Saints fan, though I will be pleased for them. The piddling 11,000 mainly plastic Newportonians who went to Wembley for the FA Trophy Final (they lost, I wasn't bothered) don't bode well for their future, though of the 8 of my immediate family who went to Wembley, 2 actually go to Conference matches on a regular basis, which shows the Wembley Cup Final effect quite nicely. We'll be seeing plenty of that kind of thing next season with people who don't care about "rubbish opposition" in the Championship, but REALLY care about "seeing Saints" in the Prem.

Pretty sure my ex (who was an ST holder for years) stopped going altogether by League One and has been spotted plasticking it up in the last 3 months or so. But then she could have been living in China for 4 years for all I know... Plus of the group of around 20 people I used to meet in the Eagle back in 2004/5, all but about 6 of us had stopped going entirely by 2009, and in the last few months we've regained around 6 back who I'm expecting to get Prem STs, plus a few others who will certainly be going on an adhoc basis. Of course there are other factors, some have families, some have work commitments they didn't have before, some are ill, some have moved away. Not me, I've got absolutely no sense of perspective and going to football completes me. .

Who are the 50 year olds then ?

It's rarely the same time every year, we almost always got an "end of season" kit launch with Lowe, nowadays nothing happens until July, and the two under Cortese so far happened in completely different ways and at different times. Last year's away kit went on sale in the week before the first match, which is extremely late by any standards - though at least it was before the season started, you've got to be rank amateurs to miss the start of the season with it.

It was a popular thread. You'll also note that due to its absence this year, there have been three times more kit threads so far.

Yes, but do you think we'll get more fans by selling affordable STs to a maximum of 30,000 people or by being decent / entertaining on tv to a massive global audience and having products they want to buy which are easily available to them ? The only threat to the massive global tv market shared by all Prem clubs is the Prem clubs themselves performing a huge U-turn and suddenly voting for clubs to have individual tv rights, and even Man U supported collective rights in the last vote. TV interest won't wane, the Premier League brand is unique and has a foothold everywhere as a market leader. All that will happen is that the Prem will just find new ways of delivering the Premier League to consumers who want to see it (eg charging for web streams). The threat to that global revenue is free illegal streams, and illegal streaming hasn't impacted on the global tv deals yet. Whether we sell 30,000 STs or not is irrelevant within the bigger picture, much more money can be made from building brand loyalty with the proportion of the other 6 billion people out there who might be seeing Saints again suddenly. Long and short of it, the fan in the ground is only the main revenue source outside the Premier League.

We don't need any proper fans at all to succeed, just a load of people buying Saints-related junk all over the world and pretending to like us when we win (they don't even have to do that bit). Match day attendance revenue pales into comparison to tv money, and the likes of Man U make shedloads more from global branding, which has nothing to do with match attendance.

No "might" about it, I know of at least 5 ex-Saints fans from 2004/5 who are suddenly Saints fans again, bearing in mind that basically everyone I know in Southampton is through football in the first place, because I have no family ties here and even come here for the first time until I was 18. Football is my main interest though, so I'll prioritise so that I get my ST.

Good point - though it might be worth roping in another adult who was getting one anyway in order to drop the cost overall, that way it would be £495+£100 for his 3 and £495 for the other person... with maybe some kind of sweetener for the random other adult pushing the cost up further slightly. Doing it that way has to be better than £42 on an adhoc basis if you plan on attending more than 12 home matches. Not that £42 for an adult and two kids is actually expensive...

We sold him to Stoke and he was perma-injured, just like he was before he signed for us. Good though he was, a long-term injury was a matter of time and we dodged a bullet.

I have moved on, not least cos my laptop flatlined about 11 months ago. White and red stripes? People spent ages arguing about that last season.

I notice you're not deriding "Jonno quick" though, that's a legitimate empirical measure.

That was the Bristol Rovers Way, it took us ages to catch on with that one.

How much is an ST for you and the two kids, given that one is free and the other £100 ?

Let's just say the last time we AVERAGED (statistical mean, FFS) under 10,000 in a season was 1935.

Just for the record, Sunderland have just announced they're moving to adidas with immediate effect - no Umbro teams in red and white stripes in the Prem next season, unless I've forgotten someone.

I don't think that would be very popular !

Nope. And it's not similar to any old favourites, if my source is correct.

Oi, firstly I DID go and find it, and secondly, I delivered precisely what you asked for. So if there's any fault, it's all yours for not defining your requirements adequately. The other thing majorly wrong with the table is that it uses both 2 and 3 pts for a win, so it's skewed towards successful clubs since 1981. That's if you ignore the massively misleading ranking by points irrespective of number of matches played as well, of course.

61st : http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/all-time-table I went to find it especially for you. Preston are 4th, Wolves 5th, Sheff Utd 6th... Notts County 15th. The one that really surprised me was Bristol City in 20th.

We're a lot lower on the all time English football table.

Bloody good job we've been winning loads of matches these past two seasons to keep the JCLs interested on a game by game basis. Adopting the "finishing near the top" policy in the League we're now in is going to cost hundreds of millions, so it's nice to know we can afford to be ignoring all these methods of maximising revenue.

To clarify "home grown" : - Clubs register a squad of up to 25 players, which must include at least eight 'home-grown' players, at the end of each transfer window. - Home-grown players do not have to be English; home-grown players are defined as those who "irrespective of nationality or age, have been affiliated to the FA or Welsh FA for a period of three seasons or 36 months prior to 21st birthday" - Clubs can supplement squad with unlimited number of players under the age of 21. - Changes can be made only during transfer windows, although in exceptional circumstances (eg goalkeeping injury crisis) moves could be allowed. - Players loaned to Football League clubs cannot be replaced, but can regain their spot on return to parent club. - Rules apply only to Premier League matches, not European, FA Cup or League Cup action.

Slip or not, what Adkins said related to "homegrown" players, not academy graduates. There is a big difference. As for the general question, academy graduates are better than transfers when the academy graduates are better than the players we could feasibly transfer in. Obvious, but there's no fixed standard for a youth player, just as professionals vary hugely in skills and ability too. There's no one foolproof route of acquiring the best players, but usually investing significant resources into developing young players is a cost-effective return.