suewhistle

You sound a bit like Marvin the paranoid android. Joking aside, is the season ticket THAT more expensive this year? If you really want to go couldn't you work in a pub one night a week or something like that?

I'm currently abroad but if/when I move back it'll certainly be time for a new car. Perhaps I'd better get one of those 80mpg extra-urban jobs for a pootle across Europe every now and again. It's certainly good to dream, even if some people on this board like to come down on you like a ton of hot bricks for thought crime.

Carrick Rangers, from memory, so at my age an inaccurate one!

'Tis in The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/may/29/burnley-southampton-jay-rodriguez

Hope the celebrations go well! Enjoy Italy, plenty of football news in the papers here at the moment!! Don't think Pompey ever threw a match... ?

Well, we are dipping the knife in poison and then twisting it _ever_ so slightly once it's in. D**n good fun I say, now my earlier sympathy has gone out the window. I'd still buy Mack and Mero a consoling pint though...

Just had a look at that article. I know Wigan and Reading have benefited from Premiership income and parachute payments, but to have us down at only £5m to spend is stupid. I know crowd numbers won't be as important as before but we have much healthier attendance figures and aren't paying off debt. I suppose Wet sham will be as eager to stay at the top next season as they were to get promoted, but that's purely survival instinct for them at the moment, given their debt situation.

Apologies if this has been posted but there is an article in Teh Grauniad about Premiership targets: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/may/28/premier-league-transfer-targets. Their comments on us show they must be reading here; they've certainly identified some of our needs accurately..: Southampton _Managerial situation_ Six years ago, Nigel Adkins was S****horpe United's physiotherapist. Now, he is a Premier League manager, after masterminding successive promotions. He has credit in the bank at the club. _Money to spend_ The executive chairman, Nicola Cortese, said he wanted the club to become self-financing in the Premier League and reliant on homegrown players. _What they need _ Pace out wide, support up front and extra quality in centre-midfield; top‑level experience and a few more numbers. They may face a fight to keep Adam Lallana, the skilful midfielder. They must win it. _What they will realistically get_ In the words of Adkins 'a certain calibre of player … players that are better than we've got'. Targets Matt Jarvis (Wolves), Jay Rodriguez (Burnley), Scott Dann (Blackburn), Kevin Doyle (Wolves), Thomas Ince (Blackpool).

But what bills? Surely no sensible supplier would be dealing with them for other than cash?

I'm relieved I don't have a horse, missus or telly for that matter!

:-) Hope it goes well, but you haven't answered the question.. Platform or GD? As it happens, I reckon Platform before and GD after.... I'm so looking forward to the first game....

Ta! So Bank Holiday weekend at Towersey in The Three Horseshoes playing whistle and flute or Saints away... difficult choice!:-) Edit: not horeshoes!

Shhhhh, you'll start the cynics off on one. This whole discussion is one illustration why we need a bigger ground. At the moment the club need to maximise revenue, but I'm sure they realise they also need to start recruiting fresh young blood for the future, and at current capacity and prices that's difficult for many. Anyway, it's just reminded me I need to get on to my mate in Soton to remind him I need a ticket for the first match of the season and to book a place on his sofabed.. A skyping I will go....

‘You have got to be careful, you cannot get in too many young players under the age of 24 because you would have to pay compensation.' No Appy, but if the club had their own academy and hadn't got rid of the yoof you wouldn't have to pay compensation, would you? See Southampton for an example of playing young, inexperienced players..... I don't particularly blame MA, but they are in a hole of their own making.

I live abroad and when I come over in the school hols in August I normally trek the country and see friends and Saints away - last year a Barnsley ticket with no problem buying on the day, the year before Huddersfield etc. Having said that, I may well also be in the market for help this August as the Premiership can be a different kettle of fish. When do the fixtures come out as I need to plan, and so do my friends in various parts of the country....?

Not a bad idea, and if you wanted to they'd make a great prezzie for the right person. Don't think they'll be too many problems getting rid of them next season. I agree with Orange, for some of us £30 is an amount to think about. Sometimes I wonder what sort of meal I could cook at home for that price (let alone the money saved in the pub and for transport): decent bottle of wine (£10-12), smoked salmon, black Bream from Littlehampton, some venison, diver caught scallops. Good chance of a **** afterwards in the right circumstances! As it is when I get the chance I spend it on a ticket and pints with my friends... I suppose when they get the decent sized ground ticket prices will come down a bit.... Dortmund have an 80k stadium and loooowwww prices for some tickets, but look at their commercial and special hospitality offering: http://www.bvb.de/?%80%99Y%1B%E7%F4%9D Christ! I agree with Dune!

Ooooo... dangerous talk trousers. I used to be a business systems analyst doing user needs and CB analysis. As a result I have a - hang on, where's the box - a Nokia 1112!;-) Looked into getting a smart phone but don't actually NEED one, and with my well known propensity for losing and breaking things decided the CBA was against it. Phone calls and texts are vital (and cheap) however ["Platform Tavern or Junction?"]... It would no doubt be fun to have a smart phone, but nobody is paying for or subsidising it so it can wait (and Italian telecomms prices don't encourage). As for DP's last question, worrying... he only wants to know to boost his post count on a certain thread!;-)

Of course they don't trust the future. Current policy is destroying both demand and _confidence_. On a personal consumer level I've always been cautious and never assume income streams and as a result I've a low income but no debt whatsoever. I've got a basic guaranteed income and other discretionary stuff, and I never spend until it's safely in the bank. [Just remembered I need to chase an invoice!]. Other people have been more optimistic, and over-optimism fuelled the boom and these days I never assume a flash-car driver can actually afford it! Of course there's also the wider global perspective these days. But as people have pointed out here, some small companies are expanding. In addition expansion isn't just about adding head count, it includes premises and machinery, and at the moment the banks aren't lending, the private venture capitalists want more than a pound of flesh and interest rates don't reflect bank rate but the fact that the banks are rebuilding their balance sheets at our expense. With temporary contracts, agency staff and contractors, labour is in fact one of the most flexible resources in the whole equation. If you want effective full-time and longer term employees the businesses will have to take some responsibility. Remember, the issue is about the bad employers as well as the bad employees. The current regulations allow employers the chance to vet staff over a reasonably long period (as well as employ short term staff) and afterwards get rid of staff via DUE PROCESS. The latter is always difficult. In your anger you might want to drown the little scrote who stole your bicycle but fortunately the rule of law means you can't. I could go on longer about the economy and employment situation here in Italy and how they impact upon each other, but it would take too long. Suffice to say that an insecure work-force in an advanced economy doesn't make for growth.

Haaaahaaa.. Or Italy, heeeheeeee... More familiar with the latter as that's where I live, but I was genuinely laughing when I saw that bit. Cheaper land for France, and cheaper to drink yourself into oblivion in both, but lower overheads and better business environment?! Just to add a bit of non-personal experience: http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings

Well, I can agree it can be banned as long as all men involved in an unwanted pregnancy are castrated and then have to take care of the baby...

They can employ whosoever they want who fits the role, they can give them a probationary period, but they must have adequate reason for sacking them. They can also employ agency staff if it's a temporary work peak. If they've taken enough care to recruit the right people it shouldn't be an issue, and if it is they will just have to take similar [or more] care in dismissing them for appropriate reasons. By the end of my time in a large company I was demoralised and depressed and more importantly bored: I probably wasn't very productive and didn't get anywhere trying to get a transfer. I was so glad to get out and now I'm an enthusiastic and (I hope) effective teacher. In a small firm I doubt the situation would have got as bad as my issues would have been more visible and I probably wouldn't have been as bored, what with the variety a small firm can offer. As people have pointed out bosses can be incompetent and irrational, particularly small firm owners. If you look at teaching forums you'll see plenty of case histories of good teachers really appreciated by colleagues, parents and pupils who were victimised in other schools on somebody's whim. This is altogether a bad idea and would be jusst another blow to worker and business confidence. If the government really thinks this is a major issue in what is already a flexible labour market in first world terms, they should think of other strategies than trying to become a second class economy. How about a small business HR advice service if it really is as big a problem as they say. Frankly a far bigger problem at the moment is the lack of working and investment capital, but the policy is all of a piece with the destructive, negative and self-interested policies of this despicable government.

How can't they? They've got to have _some_ players... All cheapies from the youth/reserves, and even if too late trying to do what we did.

I think it still is, I immediately thought of the man that Brett de Bank at Monte Carlo... I can't be arsed to google to see if he's real, but maybe that's me being cynical in the face of experience.

Yeah, I don't remember if you've said anything about 1, but yes, you answered exactly as I thought you would. It does beg the question about the trust guys: surely they know they're p**sing in the wind? When Saints when under it was in the face of a gale, but Pompey are facing force 11 or 12 and the boat was never seaworthy when it left harbour! As you realised 2 wasn't a wind up question, but your reply is quite interesting. What does constitute a club for us fans? It may not be Pompey, but there's not much of worth to hold onto there, and by that I mean the ethos, the spirit of the club, which has frankly been stolen.