Matthew Le God

Anyone else going to it? A very cheap, Saints related, evenings entertainment!

Police advise. Hampshire Constabulary didn't want to deal with that game plus New Year's Eve revellers on the same night.

Should be a good evening against last season's finalists, lots of very promising players in Jason Dodd's under 18 squad. Pay on the turnstile, unreserved seating in the Itchen stand. £5 for adults £3 for concessions

Not that cursed...! 1st January to December 26th (and possibly to the 31st December) 2011 not a single league defeat at St Mary's.

So you think in the next 25 games it will see something like... Played 25 Won 3 Draw 4 Lost 18 ??? As that is what it would take to have come 17th last season when you consider the points we have already. ffs Dalek! Either you are insane or on a pointless long term wind up (or both)!

For once I agree with CB Fry. Also Dalek has never commented on this... - Last season the 17th placed team had 56 points from 46 games. - Saints currently have 43 points from 21 games Dalek2003, do you really believe Saints won't be able to get more than 13 points from the next 75 available in the remaining 25 games? Saints didn't need to spend huge amounts in the summer as the squad was largely already in place. This has been shown to be correct given Saints are top of the league and top scorers in the League so far. Yes, one or two signing would be nice in January just to make sure, but the squad is already very good within the Championship.

They would have to win by 6 goals at home to Barnsley to overtake Saints before we play Pompey next Sunday.

3-0 and down to 9 men!

West Ham down to 9 men!

I agree, it does sound like he is implying another club. But it is Barraclough saying it, not the journalist.

St Mary's sold out recently for a game in the Championship. It was an an all time club record crowd! Do you not consider that relevant? A game in the Premier League against a number of clubs is more appealing than a Championship game with 22 Championship players on a Tuesday, Champions League evening. Yes, West Ham in a top of the 2nd tier clash are a big draw, but not as much of a draw as Saints with Premier League players, internationals etc of their own playing against some the biggest sides in the world.

They are the words of Ian Baraclough, Nigel's former player and coach at S****horpe, not the journalist's view.

I agree, they are. But a lack of a waiting list or a small waiting list does not mean that a capacity increase isn't required.

How do you know this?

No you didn't. You said "the only thing it lacked was capacity". You didn't say the capacity should be increased, you just said it lacked capacity. In any case to say The Dell with more seats would have been a good stadium and is the "only thing it lacked" is nonsense. It was lacking many of the things we now have at St Mary's and take for granted. Plus there simply wasn't any room to expand at The Dell site.

Why are you so wrapped up with waiting lists? Other clubs that have expanded weren't bothered by them, why should Saints?

- We sold out The Dell, you say I'd have a basis of an argument to expand. - We sold out St Mary's, you say we don't have a basis of an argument to expand. Make up your mind!

If Saints were still at The Dell they'd probably be a lower Championship side (or even a League One side) indefinitely with little hope of improvement in the future and wouldn't have attracted Markus Liebherr to the club. Yes, they survived for 27 years in the top flight with an average position of 12th in that time, but it is unlikely Saints would be able to maintain top flight status for long or regain it if they were still at The Dell in modern football.

Would that not count as a researcher?

How many times do we have to go through this argument? The Man Utd game earlier this year is a complete irrelevance. - The Man Utd game wasn't a Premier League game. - It was in the FA Cup - We all knew before hand Saints would rest players and Man Utd would put out a reserve team. - The Saints team was one of League One players, not Saints Premier League quality players - It was live on terrestrial TV. - It was connected to the Carlise United game so you had to buy tickets for both, it would cost an adult circa £57 in total to sit in the Itchen/Kingsland. Despite all that, the game had the highest attendance of the FA Cup that day. It was even higher than Everton vs Chelsea!

How can Saints sell more than 32k tickets for a 32k stadium? They were talking about expanding and had every intention to do so but didn't for reasons outside their control - i.e. a World Cup vote! Leeds cannot fill their stadium as well as Saints whilst in the Championship. Leeds can fill their 39k stadium whilst in the Premier League, follow it through and why can't Saints sell more than Leeds in the Premier League if St Mary's were bigger when they can in the Championship already?

Some of the casual fans for games against Bolton, solely because it is a top flight game, a lot more of the casual fans for games against the big sides.

Saints have evidence they can sell out their stadium. Follow through your own logic! Saints are averaging more than Leeds whilst in the same league. And they were planning to expand, as we previously discussed. But it collapsed when the world cup bid did. Had we had the world cup in England, Leeds, Milton Keynes, Plymouth etc would still have been left with the larger stadium after the tournament.

Fans give a match character. Not a stadium. Goodison Park still has pillars obstructing views and other appalling sight lines. Is that good character?

When have I said Saints would sell 44k for a game against Bolton?