Matthew Le God

Football is a long term business. It might be a 14 year payback, but so what? Higher income in those 14 years will help will FFP and allow Saints to spend more money elsewhere. Stadium improvements are exempt from the FFP regulations. 1) Will Southampton FC still exist in 14, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 years time? 2) Will Southampton still likely be at St Mary's in 14, 20, 30, 40 years time? 3) Does having a higher gate income help in an age of FFP? 4) Would having a larger stadium and averages help grow the fan-base as more people can watch the big games they want to see? 5) Would the club likely see a rise in other revenue on top of ticket sales?

I'll refer you to the same thing...

Why have Wolves built a new stand? Why have Brighton added 8,000 seats to the Amex? etc etc Football is long term, if Saints built a new tier on the Kingsland it would still be used in 20 or 30 years time.

What are you using to determine what is an "acceptable price"?

Would either of you like to see point a) happen soon? If not, why not?

I'd like them to... a) look to redevelop the land around the stadium like the images Cortese commissioned show b) start with an additional tier on the Kingsland Okay, you may not agree with a), but would you rule out b) as a means of creating new revenue streams in an age of FFP? b) doesn't require the club to sellout regularly in order for it to go ahead. St Mary's gets lumped in with Coventry's, Middlesbrough's Derby's, Leicester's etc in terms of stadium. If Saints had a development like those Cortese commissioned it would help raise the profile of the club which may have knock on positive effects elsewhere for the club.

Had Cortese got his way we may have expanded, but a lot has happened with the running of the club in those 3 years as you well know. We now have new people running the club, so that is a factor why it hasn't happened. However the owner remains and the current chairman isn't doing anything to rule it out. In fact he has been positive about the possibility (dependant on attendance triggers) on a number of occasions now.

Yes, to both. So what? Do you agree that Saints at present will likely sell out those 7 games and possibly some others this season? It is the other games that drag the average down to circa 30k, but the average would rise if the max attendance for the more attractive games was bigger. West Brom won't sell out a 40k St Mary's, but Liverpool, Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea would and if they did the average would rise even if only 29k turned up for the less attractive games.

It is extremely relevant as it is looking at what a rise in capacity would do to the attendance. Okay, rising to for example 40k isn't going to see games against West Brom get anywhere near max capacity, but the average attendance will still rise as the more attractive games will get close to that figure. It also helps grow the fan base long term as more people can see the bigger games. Hard to tell as we don't know the exact details of the attendance triggers Krueger refers to. For example how many sellout outs over what period he would need to see.

Probably not a good idea to take the **** when you can't spell the word correctly! Also you keep saying "Chelsea in 1984" as something I've said. I actually talked about Chelsea in the mid 1990's, not 1980's - before they had investment. You however love to take things out of context.

With the Saints team as they currently are... St Mary's is too small for games against Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Everton, Spurs, Chelsea and any big cup games. Other games will also sellout if near to Christmas, last home game of the season or if Saints are doing well. Even if you just take the 7 teams I've mentioned as sellouts; a 40k sellout for them instead of 32k and similar attendances to what we currently get for the other 12 home games would still see the average attendance rise.

Are you suggesting 17,690 for a non-competitive game is poor? How is that relevant? Saints aren't in League 1 any more, the standard of opponent and Saints team we see at league games is significantly better now. If the club did as Saint_clark suggested and had German level pricing of £10 to £15 for Premier League level football then yes, I think we would sell out every game in the Premier League.

Shane Long appears to be fine for Saturday after Tim Krul punched him in the head and he was apparently taken off at half time due to potential concussion... Shane Long ‏@ShaneLong7 36m New boots ready for Swansea at the weekend, bit of me these!! #tiempos #saintsfc

There is a British embassy in Senegal, but as Ghana is a member of the Commonwealth and a former British colony and Senegal isn't then I'd guess the Accra British embassy is more substantial than the one in Dakar and easier for him to sort out his papers in Ghana.

Southampton FC ‏@SouthamptonFC TICKETS: Following unprecedented demand, #SaintsFC’s allocation for next week’s #CapitalOneCup game at @Arsenal has now SOLD OUT. Southampton FC ‏@SouthamptonFC #SaintsFC will be backed by more than 5,000 fans at the Emirates Stadium next Tuesday. Thanks for your incredible support.

Utterly, utterly, utterly bizarre! But to be expected with your post history.

Its depressing if you always (and with you always means ALWAYS) look for the negative. This thread is based on something that isn't true, a read of the article it is based on shows that. The BBC were unable to comprehend the article and gave a very poor summary which distorted it to say something it didn't. "It will happen" - why on earth would Koeman want to leave Saints to go to Newcastle? We'd be better off if this thread was locked by the mods to stop the likes of alpine_saint having panic attacks and slitting their wrists.

The opening post of the thread isn't true. Read post #5 and cheer the f**k up... http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?51774-Koeman-linked-to-Newcastle-(During-the-summer-sort-of)&p=2051356#post2051356

Thread ends (due to BBC f**k up).

The BBC haven't read the story correctly and have given it a very misleading link on their website... http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/gossip/ But the actual article on the Daily Star website says no such thing... http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/399727/EXCLUSIVE-Newcastle-line-up-replacements-as-pressure-on-Alan-Pardew-grows So the Daily Star say if Pardew had gone in the summer then Newcastle would have considered Koeman, they do not say he would be in contention now he is at Saints if Pardew was sacked. The BBC need to hire some people who are able to read English and comprehend it. It is the BBC you need to aim your "drivel" claim at, not the Daily Star.

It was actually 41 passes.

None of us have even seen Alderweireld or Mane play at all for Saints, let alone giving the other new players a good amount of game time before writing them off compared to those they replaced. The only player I'm confident won't be an upgrade... is Bertrand for Shaw, but even still he's been very solid so far.

SaintsfcCop ‏@SaintsfcCop 5h Please leave plenty of time tomorrow due to extra traffic from Southampton Boat Show #saintsfc @NUFC