Matthew Le God

Well as soon as the "sold out" sign went up on the electronic board and on the website, why would any sane person try to buy a ticket from the ticket office?

I'm sure you have previously conceded Saints would get higher attendances than 32k for some games. That would result in a higher average attendance and more income. A stadium improvement is for the long term, if St Mary's went upto 44k in 2015 it would probably be similar in 2035. Lots of game in that time to bring in extra revenue plus the value of Saints as an asset goes up if the infrastructure is improved. And as I said that is nonsense. Even games against the smaller sides sold out without reaching general sale. If the brought tickets before it sold out, of course they wouldn't have a problem. It is only once it sells out you have a problem, and St Mary's did, on many occasions against big and small teams. In any case, how do you know it wouldn't be improved (I'm guessing you mean in quality of other areas), just expanded? Why does an expansion of infrastructure not mean a higher sell on value for the club? If you run a B&B and build another room and rent it out, you get extra rent, plus if you sell the B&B you can sell it for more than if you didn't have the extra bedroom.

The last time Saints played Bolton in the Premier League at St Mary's in midweek the home end sold out!

If the stadium is improved, the value of the club goes up. They recoup the money when the club is sold. They also benefit from higher average attendances up until the point it is sold. It wasn't "easy" to get tickets for a number of the lesser Premier League matches. Many sold out, some didn't even reach general sale.

Did I say it would be easy? No I didn't. Did I compare getting from 68th to 21st with 21st to 5th or 4th? No I didn't. What I said was that his ambition and the resources required to achieve those ambitions have so far been met. So why should you doubt him heavily when he reveals further ambitions? He has done little to cause people to questions he has the resources to match ambitions so far. Never in the history of the club have Saints had owners with both ambition or the resources to help achieve those ambitions. Rupert Lowe for example was never really that ambitious with Saints and he didn't invest anything of note into the club. We have entered unknown territory of a Saints owner with ambition and resources. Rupert Lowe achieved a cup final, 8th place finish and 30k+ averages under his tenure without investment. Lets see what Cortese/Liebherr can do with investment...

You keep going on about "turning fans away". That simply wouldn't happen and didn't happen last time Saints were in the Premier League. Saints sold tickets to season ticket holders and members, for some games it didn't even reach general sale before it sold out. Once a game is sold out you don't need to "turn away" people because there are aware there is nothing to buy. What do you count as "compelling evidence"? Why wouldn't they see a return on it? It adds value to the club for the point in the future that they sell it on. If it did cost £36 million, the stadium could well be in place for decades to come. The money would be recouped by the club. In any case £36m is small change to a billionaire and as it is the estate of Liebherr owning the club it may have been his wish to see his money used to improve the future of the club and its infrastructure.

How is that relevant? The point is, a number of people have proved you wrong as they have stated they struggled to get tickets. You also forget that in the Premier League there was a membership scheme for Saints. Some games didn't even reach general sale! Are you suggesting every Saints fan was either a season ticket holder or a member?

He knows the financial backing available to him, we don't. If he said this, he has shown little reason to doubt his resources don't match his ambitions so far. Saints have gone from 68th in England when he took charge, to 21st in England in two and a half years. They are building a training ground that wouldn't look out of place at a top 5 side. Why bother with that level of investment if you don't aim to compete? They could have built a cheaper one but decided not to. Why do you doubt Premier League football wouldn't see a return to 30k+ averages at St Mary's. The 7 year gap means little, as soon as the Premier League is the product the casual Saints fans will flood back. Just look at the West Ham game for example. A tuesday night in the second tier against a relatively glamourous side and we have an all time club record. There are a number of more attractive fixtures than that should Saints be promoted and have a team of internationals of their own to watch.

There you go Turkish!

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?