Matthew Le God

Why am I sticking up for Brighton?

Well even if it was produced on a Playstation 2, it did the job is was meant to do - fill up orders for the posh seats.

Des disagrees...

He'd cost a lot more than £1m. In any case, Aston Villa apparently want him to replace Brad Friedel and according to Peterborough director of football Barry Fry, they made a bid (though Villa deny it).

You are making an unfair comparison... - Saints were at the Dell whilst in the Premiership playing some of the best teams in the world. - Brighton at the Withdean in the 3rd tier playing against 3rd tier teams. - You really can't compare the Dell with the Withdean. The Dell was out of date, but the Withdean is something else! It would put off a lot of fans. - They have sold 14,000 season tickets because spec wise, the Amex is one of the best stadiums in the country. New stadiums = rise in interest. Poor views of the pitch like this do not attract large numbers of fans no matter how well you are playing... What makes you think they have no cash? They have an extremely rich owner that just funded a £95m stadium and is funding a new training ground.

They have already sold 14,000 season tickets for next year. Add larger Championship away followings and larger walk ups wanting to goto Championship games at a proper stadium, plus corporate seating and they won't have a problem selling tickets for their 22.5k stadium. If anything it may be slightly too small for them.

You have lost me, I was responding to you saying Saints weren't the favourites to go up with Brighton this season.

Why do you think otherwise? http://www.bookies.com/football/england/league-one/promotion/

And you continue to take quotes out of context.

But if Saints won the league(which admittedly is very unlikely now) then that would mean that they were more consistent over 46 games than Brighton and would deserve to be Champions as they earnt more points.

Cherries drawing

Only if they get the most points, which they probably will. But if they don't get the most points, how would they "deserve to go up as Champions"?

Such vagueness with the wages makes me doubt the credibility of your source. That is a huge range of £10k.

You missed Brighton, who would lose 6 points and still have to play Saints.

Saints had a lot more going for them than Argyle do. St. Mary's, Staplewood training ground, larger fanbase, Jackson's Farm etc etc. Thus a more attractive business proposition for investment.

This didn't help... http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/pafc/argyle/STEPHENS-SAYS-FULHAM/article-3372562-detail/article.html

Obvious you didn't travel over from Austria to watch the Walsall game. Saints played very well! Yes they didn't score, conceded a goal and lost. But to say they "didn't turn up" is nonsense. Attempts on target 3 Walsall - 11 Saints Attempts off target 4 Walsall - 9 Saints Corners 6 Walsall - 12 Saints Saints also had most of the chances/corners/possession etc at Charlton and had a 89th minute goal wrongly ruled out that they could do nothing about due to officials making error. I could name plenty of games over the years where Saints haven't "turned up". But the two you mention certainly wouldn't be included.

Playoff winners and their positions in the last 4 seasons... 2009/10 Millwall 3rd 2008/09 S****horpe 6th 2007/08 Doncaster Rovers 3rd 2006/07 Blackool 3rd

Last League Game - 7th May Play off final - 29th May I would rather Saints used those 3 weeks to prepare for the Championship, signings etc, rather than being unsure which League they were in. A playoff campaign may mean Saints miss out of players.

Taking this back on topic. For those wondering what Dale Stephens is like, where he plays, what foot he uses, is he any good etc etc. If you use your Saints Player login/password, you can see the entire 90 minutes of the Oldham vs Sheffield Wednesday game from 2 weeks ago here... http://www.swfc.co.uk/articles/20110310/first-half-oldham-v-owls_2264101_2312979/0,,10304~2312979~1,00.html Dale Stephens is number 20.

Hypo also forgets that the gap in TV and money from the Football League between the Championship and League One is about £4 million per year (not to mention lower advertising, away crowds, sponsorship etc in League One). Look at Saints player transfer net spend in the two seasons since the takeover and add the £8 million it would have had if in the Championship compared to League One for two years. You can then see just how much the club has been spending relative to those in the league above who have had the additional £4m each season.

And at no point have I found your answers to my points to be adequate. Address every point I make in post #219. Three people have already said I raised some good points against your arguments, you have yet to change my mind on them with your answers. If you make a good rebuttal I am more than happy to agree with you. However at the moment I have a number of issues with some of the stuff you keep saying, as shown in post #219.

The rebuttal of an expect debater! You made numerous claims which I have then pointed out why I think they are wrong and all you do is...

He was an established Championship player for many year on a free transfer. Signing on fee, agent fee and significant wages apply. Was one of Preston's highest earners and one of the reasons they wanted to sell him due to financial problems. If he was not "rated" by S****horpe, why did he play 27 Championship League games between August 2010 and January 2011? For both N'Guessan and Forte, how many minutes on the pitch of live action have you seen them play to make a judgement? Not games, minutes. Serie B is a higher standard than League One, and Guly was a key player for a promotion winning side. You also seem to think he didn't cost much. Loan fee, transfer fee, signing on fee, agent fee and significant wages to attract him to move mean it is a big deal for a League One side. You really think the money based on appearances is the reason he hasn't played? It was £125k upfront, with roughly the same again for appearances. A tiny figure! Dan Harding has been in better form, so Dickson hasn't been in the squad, it is as simple as that. He has played nearly 100 games at Championship level, a high earner at Charlton and League One right back of last season. I doubt his wages, signing on fee or agent fee was cheap given he also cost £450k - a significant amount for a Football League transfer. Scored 10 goals from midfield at this level from central midfield, vice captain at a young age and tracked according to the media by clubs like Everton and Leeds. At least it seems you may give him a chance. I hope... ____________________________ You continue to post comments like this, ignoring that Saints have already spent heavily on the squad in the last 20 months, so don't need to spend huge amounts. The squad is already largely in place. You also ignore other factors involved in deals such as agent fees, signing on fees etc. Significantly you also ignore the multi million pound upgrade to Staplewood. Finally Lallana, signed an improved 4.5 year deal. He could have left in the summer and gone to a Premier League club. The club however showed him enough ambition and finance to back that ambition to get him to sign for 4.5 years.

Earlier this month... "Skysports.com also understands that Charlton have made an enquiry for Stephens, while a number of Championship side are also thought to be readying moves, with Leeds amongst those also keen. Stephens has also attracted attention from Premier League sides Everton, Bolton and Wigan." http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12874_6793708,00.html