Matthew Le God

Yep, Egg is making himself look foolish by contradicting himself.

Make up your mind! Earlier today you said this... Which suggests you do think Wolves are relevant. And you call me simple! Try not to contradict yourself too much!

Wolves announced this whilst they were in the relegation zone and said it would go ahead regardless of relegation to the Championship. They were hardly "established in the Premier League" at the time. If you call for Saints to "have evidence", what evidence do you think the professionals in charge at Wolves used? It is not me being "simple".

You make this too easy! The capacity of Molineux during early stage of construction of the Stan Cullis Stand was circa 24k as they had to knock it down. Poking Fun's post was ill-informed (as are you) and it certainly isn't talking "overwhelming sense" as you describe. Poking Fun even describes Wolves as comparable to Saints. So why don't you want to compare them if you think he speaks with such "overwhelming sense"?

So because Wolves aren't Saints, they don't need the same levels of evidence in order to expand their stadium?

Why isn't the Wolves redevelopment relevant? Why do you complain about me "going on" when I raise a question you can't (or don't want to answer)?

80 points has been the level of 3rd place in recent history... 2010/11 3rd place 80 points 2009/10 3rd place 79 points 2008/09 3rd place 80 points 2007/08 3rd place 75 points

So what evidence do you think Wolves used to increase to 36k (and have future plans for 50k)?

No, this is what Jez Moxy said in the press conference to unveil the plans for Molineux. There were going ahead with them regardless of relegation or not and have nearly finished one stand already and are using bits of it on matchdays at the moment.

Lots of improvements to the match viewer this year, plus footage of Saints in FM12...

You've lost me as to how those teams are comparable or the stats are relevant. Most are smaller clubs and have seen huge rises, those that haven't seen large rises are restricted by stadium capacity. I wonder what evidence Wolves based their decision to increase capacity to 36k, and have future plans for 38k and then 50k.... They were going ahead with this regardless of relegation last season.

It answers all of your points, and you haven't tried to make a rebuttal of any of them. Plus, how can you have evidence of more than 32k averages in a 32k stadium?

So why in 1995/96 when they won the 2nd tier did they average 17,504 in a 22,000 stadium? So then why do many of the teams I listed offer many away teams more than 3,000? It is inevitable a larger stadium leads to more away fans for some games and more "plastic" home fans. Ah...the petty insults return.

Waiting lists Sunderland had 10k season ticket holder and no waiting list before moving to a 42k (later expanded to 49k) Stadium of Light. They were also struggling in the years leading up to the move from selling out a 22k Roker Park. Waiting lists as a condition is a nonsense. Fans complaining they cant get in We had that last time in the Premier League. Even had it in League One against Walsall (yes was a promotion party but essentially was still a 3rd tier fixture). Will possibly even have it later this season vs Pompey and if a promotion campaign heats up. Match tickets selling out quick Happened last time Saints were in the Premier League for a large number of fixtures. Upturn in economic conditions Stadium improvements are exempt from new financial regulations and now in some ways is a good time to expand if the Liebherr's have the capital, as construction is cheaper then when the world economy recovers. Away teams wanting more tickets Do you not think Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, Man City, Newcastle, Man Utd, Liverpool, Everton, Aston Villa etc would love to bring more than 3,000 fans to St Mary's and could quite easily do that.

As I asked Egg, what evidence would you want if you were Cortese in order to justify an expansion?

So what evidence would you want if you were Cortese in order to justify an expansion?

So you think the difference in attractiveness of a fixture between one against Bolton and one against the current (at the time) Champions of the country Arsenal is possibly just 100 people? Does common sense not tell you that is unlikely?

I think you can apply that to more than just me in this thread.

So if it is a sell out of 32,151 like it was against Arsenal in 2003, you think not a single other person in the world wanted to go to that fixture if a larger capacity meant more tickets were available? Similar numbers were going to games at St Mary's that season against Norwich, Birmingham and Bolton, do you not think a tie against the Premier League Champions (at the time) Arsenal is not vastly more attractive as a fixture?

- Segregation leads to varying reduced capacities on a game by game basis. - Not all games sold out, but many did. Indicating there is a demand for more seats.

Saints are currently averaging 23,941 in the Championship, which is very good and is currently only behind West Ham and Derby County. It is likely to climb higher than that after boxing day and New Years home games, last home game, Pompey, Brighton, West Ham etc fixtures. Saints are currently averaging more than Leeds United, Leicester City and Nottingham Forest. All of which are big clubs, Leeds have a 40k stadium themselves. Once in the Premier League the season ticket holders are likely to return to similar levels and a 7k leap and the demand will also increase.

Why is four years of 30k+ averages and many sellouts in the last decade in a 32k stadium, not evidence in your eyes?

Yes, but if we knew the team had a good chance of being in the top half then more would want to go. Plus as the season went on and the fanbase could see it was going to be a struggle a lot of the "glory supporters" would not turn up as often. Yet the walkups still led the club with roughly 21k season ticket holders to average over 30k.

For a large part of the season (if not all of it) you had a good indication it wasn't going to end well. People still turned up though and the average was 30k+. Even the season ticket holders when buying in the summer would have known the prospects weren't great going into that season.

I didn't at any point say it would be large numbers coming from Devon and Cornwall. You are just putting words in my mouth now.