Ken Tone

I take it you gave them the impression at the meeting that you thought most fans would like this idea? How would those currently with STs in Kingsland South or the Chapel be winners? I don't know what sort of age you are or how long you've been going to matches. I'm 56 and have been a very regular match-going football fan for 39 years. Part of the pleasure for me is meeting the same regulars sitting around me. Moving fans around in a major way like this will upset all sorts of casual friendships. It will be like starting at St Mary's from the Dell all over again.... and for what .. a bit more noise. Is the atmospherer now so rubbish? K.

Exactly. Why do they think the northam end became the noisiest one in the first place? Supporters went there when St Mary's opened *because* it was next to the away fans. Moving away fans will just move home fans too. If away fans are moved to the chapel/kingsland it will upset a lot of the ST holders in the Kingsland (and say what you like about the kingsland, I reckon it is where the majority of ST holders sit) Boring old farts like me, with a ST currently in Kingsland South, will not want to be next to the away fans, especially as seats around me will gradually fill up with younger, noisier fans who will want to stand throughout the game, blocking my view or forcing me to stand too etc. Eventual result -- Chapel/ Kingsland South become as the Northam and Itchen North are now. No net change, no solid end of home singing support, just a lot of loyal fans upset. Meanwhile the police control room/viewing point above the current away fans would need to be moved (HOW?) and the arrangements for away coaches changed. Where would they park? There's far less room near the kingsland than there is by the northam. Away fans will be further from the station, making it harder for the police to control and shepherd away any large stroppy groups if there is troub;le. I'm sorry. It sounds lke a really half-baked idea to me, with little understanding of how English football crowds work. K.

If it weren't for that 'pen-pusher', we might well not have a club now. K.

If they are paying Utaka £80k a week as reported , and bearing in mind that a year or 2 ago their wage bill was reported as being the 4th highest in the premiership, I doubt that £1.6million will even cover a month's wages. £1.6 million for a month is approx £400k a week = only 5 Utakas. Or to put it another way, squad of 40(?), £1.6 million a month = average wage of 'only' £10k a week, and they are clearly paying way above that. And that ignores all other monthly costs such as Storrie's £2 million a year salary, interest on all those 'short term loans', etc. Which of course is both how they 'bought' the FA cup and stayed in the premiership, and also why they are skint. K.

Well if Gillett recovers the form he had with us last season, when at times he was our best player, there could be worse news TBH. Let's face it if we signed a new midfielder, apparently on form, currently playing regularly in the CCC, most of us would be pleased, and that does describe Gillett. He did ok for us when he came on against Ipswich .. nothing special I know, but ok. K.

If the media's latest rumour is to be believed perhaps we all need to wear Libyan army uniform? K.

Once again, Minty, you post sense. But I fear your hope may be forlorn. K.

Maybe it isn't just that the income is better than expected (though I am sure that is so.) Maybe Liebherr is also finding that he enjoys playing with his new football team more than he expected to? After all this is apparently his first venture into the game. Perhaps he's enjoyed the matches at St Mary's and is now prepared to put in more money, more quickly, than he was at first? K.

You do realise that 'home-grown' does not mean bythat individual club? Just means English or Welsh ---or more likely foreign , but bought by Arsenal when they were 14! "The definition of home grown is trained for three years under the age of 21 by somebody in the English and Welsh professional system." The only weird thing is Scots excluded, presumably because they have a separate league. k.

Perfectly valid argument, but personally I think there is a slim chance that Patterson will make it that high .. admittedly maybe only a 1 in 20 chance, but a chance. To put that in perspective, I never thought that highly of Cranie, Blackstock or Best who are already better than I thought they'd get! Mills I did rate. K.

I know very little about Barnard other than he's scored goals this season, but not really in previous seasons , and he is 25. Sounds like a good signing for the short to mid- term. Patterson on the other could just, maybe, perhaps, with a following wind, really be the deal of the decade for southend. k.

As far as I am concerned he already has ended his career in England. K.

Me too will be good one day K.

It's without precedent, so who knows for certain? Hope you're right but don't see why it should be so. K.

And to answer my own point, I read somewhere that Antonio actually sees himself as a striker rather than a winger. Might work quite well one day when he's got more savvy. He's big and strong enough. I've nothing against Lisbie (other than that he always seems to play well against us!) but isn't he another Connolly really? K.

Not sure Ricky needs anyone to compl-I-ment him LOL And seriously what we need is maybe someone who could cover for him if he's injured, not just complement him when he is playing. For what it's worth Solent this morning quoted Pardew as dismissing the speculation, saying Lisbie was 'just a friend' K.

Ref was indeed poor, and Gleeson should have been at least booked for attack on James that got James booked. Is the JPT like some other competitions so that we have to have the same ref for the second leg? K.

Sorry mate, nothing personal, but you are quite simply wrong. Antonio isn't the finished article, I agree. But he's only 19 and was playing non-league last season; he has lots of potential. Last night he played really well apart from a couple of poor crosses in the first 15 minutes or so, and even then he had after all got into the position to make those bad crosses, when maybe other players wouldn't have got there. He's got pace, physique and skill. He hasn't yet got a consistent football brain. He may turn into a top player, or he may not. As someone else said, remember how much stick Kenwynne Jones got at first here. ..a similarly raw player learning the trade. We'll get some good games from Antonio and some poor ones while he is learning. Last night was a good one. K.

BUT ..... a) Aftergoing into administration, they would be certain to be in the CCC, so less attractive to sheiks or anyone else for that matter. b) (unlike us) they'd still have a small out-dated stadium, with crowds limited to 20k at best c) Gaydamak still owns all the land around the stadium, just not the stadium itself. So no major re-development can happen without his agreement, and he is owed £28 million. Anyone buying the club out of admin faces paying him in full or never building a modern stadium. We were a good bargain buy in admin because Herr Liebherr got our big modern stadium for about half price in effect. Not so for Portsmouth. Whoever buys them out of admin faces problems even then. K.

Isn't the most likely scenario that they have a firesale of players, which ought to get them just about enough cash to stave off the tax people and the worse of their creditors? £10 million in transfer fees surely isn't out of the question and that would make HMRC happy I presume. They've still got some good sell-able players. They'd then get relegated for certain, but would plan to try to survive in the championship, having (they'd hope) got rid of the highest wage earners in the firesale. Result - they end up like about half of the championship clubs, still heavily in debt but just about keeping their financial heads above water ...cf Crystal Palace, Watford, etc ... not well-placed to attempt another promotion back to the premiership for many years to come and maybe, or maybe not, getting relegated to L1 and then maybe beyond. Would suit me more than them going out of business to be honest. More fun to see them suffer slowly over a decade or two! Especially when we nick a promising youngster off them one day for a pittance, because he wants to move to a bigger club. K.

Think I'm going to have to rely on being a ST holder to get my final ticket (if needed!). 7pm is just too early for me .. just made it for the last round, but it was touch and go, and with the official parks being all to pot, it was not a pleasant experience. Hate getting into the ground after the game has started. k.

What game was that then? ;-) K.

quite K.

Not so sure. The 7pm kick off makes it very diffficult for people like me to get there after work. When I got the FA cup tickets I said as much to the ticket office, and the bloke replied , 'lots of people have said that'. I thought the 7pm k.o. in the earlier rounds was to encourage kids to take up tickets in what would otherwise be a low crowd, but now it seems it is more to do with TV. Do we know yet whether the home leg is on TV btw? K.