Matthew Le God

Tal Ben Haim is going to be the highest earning 3rd tier player ever in the history of world sport with his £36k p/w wages.

Tal Ben Haim is going to be the highest earning 3rd tier player ever in the history of world sport with his £36k p/w wages.

It was never going to be a straight red due to the covering defender, however it is one of the clearest yellow cards you will ever see. How he didn't get a second yellow I don't know. A game changing moment from the ref.

One game will be on Sky, the other on the BBC.

Reasonable chance it might not reach the final day if Leicester can get a draw or win on Monday at the King Power Stadium.

More dangerous not to have a keeper on the bench.

They will have to pay Ben Haim £36k p/w week if they are still going in League One, which is even funnier.

Not really, Cortese has mentioned expansion in press interviews and at fans dinners.

Trevor Birch interview from earlier today... http://audioboo.fm/boos/765622

You have such a way with words and contradict yourself constantly. What a charming individual you are!

Says the man that continuingly brings up my researching for Football Manager in a bizarre attempt to belittle me? You have never explained why Cortese talks about expansion being very much part of their Liebherr plan in press interviews and at the fans dinners? Just like spending £15m on the training ground and category one academy was. Cortese is not a man of hollow words and backs up his ambitions with results and resources. I think you are going to have to eat humble pie relatively soon.

The BBC and Sky will each show a game.

Sunderland moved to a 42,000 stadium when at the time it was announced they only had... - 10,000 season ticket holders - averages gates of 16,000 - second tier of English football Saints are currently... - 16,000 season ticket holders - 26,000 average gates - second tier of English football Before you go to your normal response of "were aren't Sunderland", look at the post of yours I just quoted, you are very general in it talking about what is the "be all and end all" for football clubs (not just Southampton). You contradict yourself!

It is all relative, hard for teams to have a Jimmy Case type of player in the modern game.

He is out of contract in the summer, it is likely to go to a tribunal due to his age. So they aren't strictly "selling" him.

Just challenging what seems to be a commonly held view that Schneidelin is some kind of French pansy that doesn't tackle anyone and just likes to spray 40 yard passes. Schneiderlin is by far the best defensive tough tackling midfielder we have.

I'm guessing you are referring to Schneiderlin as the "quality on the ball" and Hammond as the "tough tackler". Schneiderlin is Southampton's defensive midfielder, he is often deployed just in front of Hooiveld and Fonte and is a very good tackler and then sets Saints going with his range of passing. As Adkins said yesterday, he will be a top Premier League player.

Expanding the stadium will help Cortese achieve other components in the overall plan, they are interconnected and isn't a simple matter of doing one then moving on to another. Just like the spending of £15m on Staplewood will help other areas of the club i.e. recruitment of players at first team and youth level.

I answered all of your points in posts #103, #110 and #120 In those posts I asked you a number of questions which you still are yet to answer. It really isn't that hard to break down posts into quotations like I did in #103, #110 and #120. Would be interesting to see you reply to all of them.

Would be a lot easier if you answered my replies point by point like I do in quotations! Listen to the interview. What evidence did Rupert Lowe have when we were at the Dell? That it was selling out each game? Well that is what we had at St Mary's between 2001 and 2005. It is also what we will have in 2012/13. Heck, we even have in the Championship, our last 4 games of the season have been soldout. That is a very naive way to look at it. The phrase you used was "We have a much lesser catchment area than most other clubs". Putting aside for a moment the poor English, you still haven't even come close to justifying that statement yet.

Dragon's Den is the real world. Yes it a TV show, but they are still venture capitalists doing real deals and all venture capitalists would look at how rivals in the market are doing. Looking at Wolves, Reading etc makes very good business sense. I used Dragon's Den as a reference because people would be familiar with it, it is still relevant. Do we? Justify such a statement. Why is it not equally "pie in the sky" to say Saints couldn't average 40k? Against sides similar to those you list Southampton have sold out before. If you can sell out that means there will be people left disappointed. Saints sold out in those games with Rupert Lowe as chairman not investing in the team. No they didn't. That £33m was the total figure of investment by the Liebherr's from 2009 to 2011. It includes the cost of buying the club and everything else the Liebherr's spent. Have you listened to the interview with the financial officer at the club? http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17547804 I suggest that you do listen to it as you appear confused by the £33m. 50% of that money has gone on things that will increase future revenue, some of the rest has gone on things that are assets that have increased in value. The £33m is an investment, an investment that should Saints be promoted in the next 10 days will be a massive bargain.

Why is it meaningless? Have you ever seen an episode of Dragon's Den? On numerous occasions they question what the competitors to the contestant's businesses are doing. It is entirely relevant for Saints to look at examples of expansions at other clubs to gage how it might work for them. Isn't it? Given enough time it would be, plus it raises the profile of the club, helps attract sponsors, players, fans and other revenue streams. Also it adds to the value of the company. St Mary's was originally funded by a mortgage and the chairman at the time put very little if any money into the club himself. Cortese/Liebherr don't do debt, the club is debt free and things are paid for outright. Did we not need a £15m expansion of Staplewood and category one status? That was announced whilst Saints were in League One, being constructed whilst in the Championship and not funded by debt. Explain why Cortese contradicts you then? Have you listened to the BBC interview I linked to earlier? (listen from 36:00) http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/8565914.stm Have you heard the feedback from the fans dinners?

That game was a home end sellout, the empty seats were in the Bolton end. How do you know they wouldn't have sold 40k? Plus that was in a season where Saints were terrible and were relegated so hardly an attractive proposition to watch. If Cortese establishes Saints as a top half side again more will want to come. If 30k turn up to watch a poor Saints side soon to be relegated against an unglamorous side like Bolton, more than 30k will come if Saints had some decent players to entertain the "plastic" fans.

You have taken that completely out of the context it was written in. I was replying to someone that brought up away attendances.

See my point re the Bolton game you used as an example.