Matthew Le God

He'll have to be careful about answering tweets like that in the future for competitive games, as Adkins won't like team info made public.

He made it up then.

At no point in the video does Cortese say that. Complete fabrication. 14th/15th isn't really "mid table". Saints achieved 8th, 10th and 12th at St Mary's with Rupert Lowe in charge and not investing hence the 20th in the last season of Premier League football at St Mary's. Liebherr/Cortese are clearly investing, hence multi million pound category one academy and training ground that wouldn't look out of place at Chelsea/Man Utd. You don't do that to remain in the bottom half of the Premier League. In any case why do you think "in reality at best we're a 14/15th Prem club"? Only 10 current Premier League teams averaged 30k+ last season, Saints did every season whilst in the Premier League (including the relegation season). That is a good indication of size.

What makes you think that?

Like the BBC/Saints player interview with Adkins broadcast live yesterday and the article about the interview posted on the OS this morning? http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10280~2400360,00.html

Name some teams that weren't close to averaging capacity before moving (like Pompey at the moment in a 20k stadium), that then had a big increase when they moved stadium? As a Premier League team, of course Pompey would need a new stadium, circa 26k - 28k (possibly 30k max) and improved corporate facilities to generate revenue. But as a Championship or League One side, a new stadium won't get Pompey's average over 20k, no matter how new and sparkling it is. Little in their attendances suggest otherwise.

Steve De Ridder now mostly Tweeting in English. An interesting insight into the De Ridder household...

Bums on seats (over a reasonable period of time to judge) is really the only way you can gauge levels of support. Claiming to be a "fan" and not going to games is irrelevant really.

Which is less than the number of season tickets at St Mary's, and includes 2k/3k away fans at Fratton Park. So the real number is between 10k and 13k Pompey fans on average for a Championship campaign.

Why did Pompey have 13k home fan attendances in a 20k stadium for Premier League games in the relegation season? Saints were relegated in 2005 and still managed to average over 30k that season. Both teams were hardly an attractive proposition to watch in the respective seasons. As recently as the 1990's Pompey were averaging 9k in the 2nd tier of English football. Last season you wee back to 12/13k Pompey fans for many home games. A 10 year old stadium like St Mary's isn't the sole reason why Saints got 10k more in League One. The novelty of St Mary's went a long time ago. The fanbase is simply much larger.

JPT Final - Saints sell circa 50,000 and could have sold many more FA Cup semi final/final - Pompey have empty seats at Wembley when allocation was much smaller (50% of the JPT - 25,000). - Same stadium = Wembley - Same year = 2010 - Saints at a minor trophy final against Carlisle United - Pompey playing in the most famous domestic cup final in world football against Chelsea and semi final vs Tottenham Odds were actually in Pompey's favour given that you had a Premier League team, were playing Premier League teams and the competition is far more prestigious. Yet still failed to sell out the allocation.

Adkins said Lambert "felt a little twinge in his back" in interview with BBC Radio Solent and Saints Player. No mention of the word "spasm".

No-one said that.

We were two league below you, playing Walsall, Wycombe and Yeovil etc and still had more than you did against many Premier League teams (and large numbers of away fans at Fratton Park).

1) Saints didn't play Espanyol yesterday. They played Werder Bremen and Athletic Bilbao. 2) Both Lee Holmes and Jonathan Forte are left footed! So what makes you think they were on the wrong sides?

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/companydetails/0,,10280,00.html

How many of the 19k at the Pompey vs Chelsea game were there to watch Pompey? There were around 3k Chelsea fans in the away section and from what I have heard a lot more brought tickets in the home sections. Getting from London (or wherever in England a Chelsea fan lives) to Pompey is a lot easier than from Bilbao or Bremen to Southampton. btw if you insist on looking at friendly attendances, Saints "relatively recently" had over 28,000 for a midweek, winter friendly. In any case, friendly attendances mean very little, it is the bread and butter of the league (and competitive cup games) where you see true fanbase sizes. And Pompey fail on a monumental level in comparison, do you not agree? Will also be interesting to see how many Pompey fans goto the Barnet League Cup game, compared to how many Saints fans goto the Torquay League Cup game in early August...

I don't think a Pompey fan is in a strong position to comment about that! In fact you are in an extremely poor position. Last season in the Championship Pompey were getting between 12k to 14k home fans. Saints were getting over 20k in League One. Saints will probably have more season ticket holders this season, than Pompey have an average crowd (including away fans at Fratton Park). Pompey at home in the Premier League... Pompey didn't always sell out a 20k stadium. Got 16k for some games in the relegation season. Pompey away in the Premier League... Southampton away in League One Average away following of over 1,700 Saints fans went to watch 3rd tier matches. Southampton at home... It seems you have been sucked in by the media myth about Pompey support! One man with a bell, or renditions of "Play up Pompey" doesn't make a fanbase! They actually have to turn up to games in numbers regularly!

If he was there, he'd have been in the Itchen stand. The public were in the Northam and mainly the Kingsland.

Use the official Saints facebook then.

Sports psychology, put them in a Brazil kit for away games, they may think they are playing for Brazil!

They were giving updates of that game on the official Saints Facebook page.