CB Fry

I'd have said the world famous "race for eighth" is pretty blimmin' exciting in itself but if you want to ramp it up with added thrills fill your boots.

Including what Adam said to the ref.

People forget where we were three years ago or four or whatever. What year is it?

I can remember the radio, TV and papers going absolutely overboard on "The Race For Eighth" last season with all that hype around Swansea, West Brom and the other team.

This is just the flip side of the other thread. A bit of "I don't care about the cup" stuff on that thread, so thought it worth looking at it from the other side. Our last League game is Man U at home. Lets say if we win we go eighth, draw we stay ninth and lose we drop to tenth. That's our final day nail-biter. Can anyone explain how that is an attractive prospect? Does anyone really care? 9th or 8th? How exciting is that, really? How much coverage will it get us? What prospective players would care either way? And please no one even bother mentioning the x million difference between 8th and 10th prize money. Not a reason to care.

What is our other priority? We're not going down and we won't finish sixth, so I struggle to work out what else is so important.

You were having a pop at people for "giving up on the league" in January the other day. If you think us incapable of beating a "big club" in a one off game where on earth do you think we can finish in the league?

This. People deriding the FA Cup while at the same time wetting their pants over the hotly contested battle to finish eighth or ninth in the league. Wow. Riveting. Who needs Wembley.

Will there be a stream for the Burnley game, though? We get streams of league games because there are broadcasters round the world showing every PL game. Unlikely this will be the case for FA Cup third rounds, especially as ours is fairly dull tie. I doubt there will be a stream.

Bang on. The fact we are 9th despite having a dreadful run shows just how special our start was. We will have another run of good form in Feb/March/April and we will finish around about where we are now. Happy days. Cup run to cap it all off nicely. Treasure these days I say. It's Saints, it'll be fleeting.

Oh Dalek you are so funny. Can just imagine you are chuckling away at that pearler. Do your routine about a completely ridiculous points target we need to stay up. 46 is it now? Oh, how we laughed.

How come Liverpool seem to spend between 30 and 60 million on new players every single season then? When do they settle down and reduce their spending. Must be soon as they, like, didn't have a Championship squad to start with. I understand the net spend thing well enough to know it is pretty irrelevant to this discussion, as its only purpose is there for you to make out we can make top four on the cheap.

Buying those two have got us to solid mid table. If we want to get into top four we are going to significantly invest. Say spend 30 to 60 million a year like Liverpool have done despite having a better squad than we have had to start with. Or spend 100odd mil like Spurs have done this season despite having a better squad than we have had to start with. And yes, net spend is irrelevant here - as Liverpool's consistent spending show, regardless of who they may have sold. Happy to help.

So, to get into the Champions League we need to at least consistently match Liverpool's spending which is around 30-60m quid a year, yes? Not spend 15m a year like Strawlock is suggesting?

So are you saying Liverpool need to spend more than we do to get into the Champions League? Explain that, I must be one of your idiots because I would have said Liverpool's starting point would be ahead of us. What with them finishing miles ahead of us for the last five seasons and stuff.

Ninian Park sized mentality.

Nice to see Dalek trolling MLG into submission.

At the moment - mid table, possible cup run, influx of young players, a couple of expensive signings - we are basically as revolutionary as McClaren era Middlesbrough. We're doing great and as well can be expected but let's lay off the football revolution bit.

Net spend is only relevant if we are talking about balancing the books. We're not, we're talking about competing "with the big boys" - your words. So there are clubs, like Liverpool spending between 30-60m a season building their teams. And there is no sign that spending is going to reduce anytime soon. So what I said we need to do was right. Cheers for the info. Laughable you think Saints will at some point get to a summer where they say "actually the squad is fine, no major signings needed for our push to the Champions League". It's just fairyland.

Newcastle and Everton are unlikely to ever make the Champions League. Not sure where you are getting your numbers from but one look at one club shows Liverpool spending £50m, £59m, £50m, £85 and £38m over the last five seasons, so I question your factoids. And they ain't troubling the Champions League in recent times are they? And we are in year one of the New TV deal with spending by clubs like us and Cardiff at new levels. That's the level of spending we will need to keep pace with the big clubs. And we will have to overinvest as most normal players given the choice would pick a big club not us.

How many teams have broken into the Champions League and then made "smaller and smaller outlays"? In fact, how many have moved from mid-table, to eighth, to sixth to fourth by making "smaller and smaller outlays"? Jesus Christ I cannot believe I have even bothered to reply to such nonsense, Strawlock.

Pretty sure the ambition is more than just get to the Champions League. It's Champions League with half the team from the academy. So MP will be expected to deliver that with a squad not dissimilar to the one he has now. Not convinced we are going to be spending £30-50m in every single window. So MP has to step up from current levels of performance to achieve that ambition.

Being that you don't believe our current squad is capable of finishing top half of the table and competing in the FA Cup (a feat achieved with a far less lavish Saints squad not so long ago) gawd knows how you will react if we actually do get into the Europa League. Lee Barnard getting a run out in the group stages, presumably as you fret about the league. And, seriously, if we want to have a "real good go" at the top four next season, then where we finish this season will be irrelevent. To have a "real good go" at the top four, we will need to spend £200m next summer, and the players that come wouldn't give a toss whether we finished 10th or 6th. You are placing far, far too much value in league placings and their significance beyond the season it occurs in. Sorry, I will stop this train of thought here as it is supposed to be the build up thread. (I think this theme is probably unavoidable, though)

Without needing to mention 7th is unlikely to get us a European spot, and even sixth might not (it didn't last season). And we ain't finishing sixth. FA Cup should be a massive priority for clubs like us - with a decent draw we can get to Wembley.

Lighthouse is being deadly serious. Chief cheerleader of the "Saints cannot possibly compete in two whole competitions" refrain. Might get relegated see, just like we did under Strachan when we got to the final, remember?