Matthew Le God

Makes it worth expanding then.

Do you struggle to take Cortese seriously? He is the one spending time and money planning for a 44k stadium, not me. Do you not think he has more information available to him than you or I? I think the chances we will see an announcement concerning a stadium increase or even relocation relatively soon considering what Cortese has been saying already.

If Saints are promoted and increase capacity, I think it will be unlikely they would play Pompey again anytime soon!

I find it hard to take seriously someone that thinks if a club can sell out a 32k stadium against Bolton, Charlton, West Brom etc, that it couldn't sell a lot more against Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs, Man City etc. You massively underestimate the interest raised in the region and beyond of playing such sides at Premier League level from casual fans. The interest level for a fixture against Bolton is not even close to one against Man Utd. They would not have the same attendance if the stadium capacity wasn't limited at 32k. It is odd you think Saints have a capped support of 29k fans max in the home ends and even if they fill that against a small side, no more will turn up against a bigger side.

Quite why you needed to start another thread for this I don't know! In any case as I said to you earlier... Between 2001 and 2005 a huge number of games sold out including those against the lesser Premier League clubs. People wouldn't even try for tickets as soon as the sold out sign went up. So they wouldn't have tried to purchase tickets for them to be classified as "turned away". That doesn't mean they didn't have an interest in going if the capacity was larger.

Between 2001 and 2005 a huge number of games sold out including those against the lesser Premier League clubs. People wouldn't even try for tickets as soon as the sold out sign went up. So they wouldn't have tried to purchase tickets for them to be classified as "turned away". That doesn't mean they didn't have an interest in going if the capacity was larger.

So when Saints sold out to teams like Bolton, Charlton etc in the Premier League and when they sold out to Man Utd, Arsenal etc in the Premier League you think the same number of people that wanted tickets, couldn't get tickets and those numbered a mere "handful". Bizarre!

Nonsense.

You make this too easy for me... The same could still be found to be the case with Pompey. How do you think your summer spending spree was funded? Antonov gave the club £10.8m to keep it going. Is it solvent without such an investment? No, as the admin has said they only have enough to keep it going short term. Were the funds used to keep Pompey going legally obtained? The Lithuanian/Latvian authorities don't think so... Nonsense. The Football League's insolvency rules were created in 2004. Southampton Leisure Holdings was set up in 1997. Please explain how they tried to cheat rules that wouldn't be written until 7 years in THE FUTURE!!! Have you seen the breakdown of the other CSI companies earlier in the thread? A number were created suspiciously recently, most of them are tiny and don't provide CSI with any noteworthy income. Southampton Leisure Holding had many companies under it, a number of which had nothing to do with football. The Football League didn't care, their rules are open and they act how they see fit.

Interesting how Pompey fans never mentioned the number of time both clubs won the Southern League before they were allowed into the Football League in the 1920's. Pompey 2 times Saints 7 times Both teams were competing against each other for that title as were unable to move into the Football League. In any case if you think a businessman will be swayed to buy Pompey because of a pre war FA Cup win, two league wins 60 years ago and an FA Cup win against a Championship side funded by money they couldn't afford you are deluded. Legitimate businessman will decide whether or not to buy a football club on things like... - cost (Pompey have huge debts and legacy issues) - fanbase size (currently Pompey averaging 10k home fans) - infrastructure (Fratton Park is small and out of date, the club has no training ground of its own, a poor academy setup) There are plenty of clubs that have more potential than Pompey that could be brought and improved for far less than it would cost to turn Pompey around. Even Bradford in League Two offer more than Pompey do to an investor and despite being two league lower and near the relegation zone they are getting similar number of home fans each game. Why buy Pompey when you could buy Bradford for less and they have a lot more to offer? You have to question the motives of any "businessman" that turns the chance to buy one of those club and buy Pompey instead. Hence why Pompey have had an endless string of crooks running the club since 1999. They are caught it a loop that is very difficult to get out of.

Legally Southampton FC didn't go into administration at any point. Mark Fry wasn't the administrator for the club. Andrew Andronikou and David Lampitt seem unaware that Southampton Leisure Holdings had non football related companies (like CSI does), that didn't matter to the Football League though. Pompey have had £10.8m put in (possibly stolen from Lithunain/Latvian bank customers) to keep them going and improve their squad, when that runs out they have admitted they can't fund themselves. Insolvent? I think so...

You are averaging 12,181 in 2011/12. 1k to 2k of which for most games is away fans. So this "passionate fanbase" you speak of is only around 10,000 Pompey fans. How many do you think you would average in League One if you were relegated? Saints had 21k on average in the 3rd tier of English football. Pompey in the Championship have 10k home fans, so in League One it will be far less. It seems you have been taken in by the media myth that Pompey have "passionate fans".

Last time I played Championship Manager was in 2004. Can you give an example of when I wasn't able to separate the two? My source was right about Jack Stephens, I have no reason to doubt he won't be right about this. If you look at post #27, georgeweahscousin has heard the same.

Yes, that the story is from 14 years ago! 16th December 1997... http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football-former-rock-singer-and-american-property-tycoon-seek-portsmouth-talks-1289169.html

Hopefully on the day he actually signs, this thread can be used for sensible discourse.

Do they go to sea in a beautiful pea green boat?

Do the "serious cats" eat the "curious owls"?

I'd guess he is asleep. But I don't want to sound like I stalk the Southampton youth team.

The youth team had a christmas meal and a days paint-balling today. Bonding all ready for the big FA Youth Cup match on Monday at St Mary's. He recovered from his injury and has been back playing/training with the youth team and development squad.

I haven't kept fully on top of owl/text communication.

Yes really!

Undersoil heating doesn't provide the light grass requires in the winter months for long periods in order to photosynthesise. This new lighting system does.

Same source that told me that Jack Stephens was going to sign, believes Sam Gallagher is soon to sign for Saints in the next few weeks. Sam is a winger/striker, highly rated by the Plymouth coaching staff and still only 15. Not huge news I know, but fun to be itk again!

Cox and Saints aren't mentioned in that article.

Jack Stephens, Luke Shaw, James Ward-Prowse and a number of other players didn't play in that game some on international duty, others played recently for the under 21's and were rested. So a few under 16's played against Pompey and fringe players from the 22 scholars Saints have. It was far from the best Saints XI so Pompey can't gloat too much. Gape only came on as a late sub btw. Steve Mowthorpe, Matt Young, Jordan Turnbull, Bevis Mugabi, Conor O'Sullivan (Dominic Gape 78 ), Daniel Bowman (Aaron Ward-Baptiste 65), Harrison Reed, Jason McCarthy, Gregory Ariybi (Omar Rowe 55), Joe Curtis, Jake Sinclair