Matthew Le God

For those that think it isn't going to happen listen to this from 37 minutes onwards... http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/8565914.stm Or read the fan dinner threads by Spudgun, LadySaint etc? http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?26889-Dinner-with-Nicola-Cortese Or seen Cortese meet actions with words by building a state of the art training ground and category one academy? http://web3.newforest.gov.uk/planningonline/acolnetcgi.gov?ACTION=UNWRAP&RIPNAME=Root.PgeResultDetail&TheSystemkey=173436

If you think it isn't going to happen and is just idle fan gossip, I'm guessing you haven't listened to this from 37 minutes onwards...? http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/8565914.stm Or the fan dinner threads by Spudgun, LadySaints etc? http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?26889-Dinner-with-Nicola-Cortese Or seen Cortese back up words with actions by building a state of the art training ground and category one academy? http://web3.newforest.gov.uk/planningonline/acolnetcgi.gov?ACTION=UNWRAP&RIPNAME=Root.PgeResultDetail&TheSystemkey=173436

Why didn't Saints? Many games sold out, and the average was over 30k every year in the Premier League at St Mary's (including the relegation season). Had St Mary's been for example 46k when Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City, Tottenham etc turn up do you think sales would never pass the 32k mark? Saints have had 30k+ attendances whilst being a League One team with League One players, to think it wouldn't be higher if Saints had Premier League players in their squad and were playing a Premier League team is more deluded than any of the pessimistic fans are accusing me of being.

That is the point of hypothetical. Saints have been a top 8 side as recently as 2003, so is it really that hard to imagine? Football infrastructure is long term and the club will aim to benefit from any capacity increases of many decades. Football can change a lot in that time, just compare the top flight today with that of 20 or 30 years ago.

Imagine Saints were in the Premier League having previously finished 8th the season before, with a owner that was investing in the team (unlike any other point in Saints history) and that St Mary's had a capacity of 46,000. The larger stadium would allow for more flexible pricing structures and cheaper tickets in some areas of the stadium. Of course there are many other factors involved (such as when the game is, if on TV or not, state of the league at the time etc), but have a guess how many would go to each of these games... Man Utd = Arsenal = Chelsea = Liverpool = Sunderland = Tottenham = Man City = Newcastle = Everton = Aston Villa = QPR = Wolves = Stoke = Fulham = Bolton = Norwich = Blackburn = West Brom = Wigan = Then work out the average for the 19 games = I find it hard to believe anyone can seriously argue it wouldn't be more than any of these averages... 2004–05: 30,610 2003–04: 31,699 2002–03: 30,680 2001–02: 30,633

What happened to the positive hypochondriac of 25th May 2011? http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?30430-Some-interesting-Cortese-info

A little flawed logic there. Have you considered the club didn't need to do much in 2010/11 transfer wise, because it was so successful with transfers (and the agents concerned) in 2009/10? The club had no need to rebuild during 2010/11 as it did in the 2009 summer window and January 2010 window. The squad was already largely in place, as shown by it achieving promotion.

How do you know that?

Well if the club used the same policy with agents since the summer of 2009, it achieved success in the market from 2009 to 2011. So why not using the same strategy from 2011 onwards? Yes, you may not get some players, yes you may **** off the odd agent, but it it is a very big player pond and if you really want a quality player and have the cash there is plenty out there.

again... Irrelevant if Saints ended up with another player that helped acheive the clubs goal of promotion for a price it felt was appropriate, rather than an inflated one with large agent fees attached.

I think you will find the club is now in a higher league, and thus closer to its target than it was 12 months ago.

Irrelevant if Saints ended up with another player that helped acheive the clubs goal of promotion for a price it felt was appropriate, rather than an inflated one with large agent fees attached.

Since the takeover in Summer 2009... Joined the club José Fonte Guly do Prado Lambert, Rickie Butterfield, Danny Seaborne, Danny Martin, Aaron Puncheon, Jason Stephens, Jack Stephens, Dale Barnard, Lee Harding, Dan Connolly, David Forte, Jonathan Hammond, Dean Chaplow, Richard Jaïdi, Radhi Dickson, Ryan Richardson, Frazer Papa Waigo Otsemobor, Jon Bignall, Nicholas Antonio, Michail Signed a contract extension or pro deal Lallana, Adam Doble, Ryan Lallana, Adam Bialkowski, Bartosz Davis, Kelvin Dean, Harlee Isgrove, Lloyd Reeves, Ben Hoskins, Sam Robinson, Andy Jaïdi, Radhi Connolly, David Chamberlain, Alex Not to mention numerous other youth team players joining the club and/or signing pro deals. Pretty much all these things would have been done with agents! So Nicola Cortese hasn't done that badly with agent considering it all resulted in a promotion and a strong squad to start as a base to work from this summer for a Championship campaign.

tbf you don't have to live in Burnley, to play for Burnley. Lots of nice places to live nearby and very close to Manchester.

There is no "might" about it, he is definitely a football agent. - He writes for the Daily Mirror. - He advised Football Manager when they introduced agents into the game and is friends with the MD. - He is followed by over 15,000 people on Twitter including many football journalists and people connected to clubs.

Twitter

That isn't evidence.

Argonauts

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10280~2380415,00.html http://www.portsmouthfc.co.uk/LatestNews/news/Southampton-Games-Switched-To-1pm-2260.aspx

Evidence for this statement Nick?

Plus you are based in Winchester, which is the hub of all Saints transfer action.

Have you forgotten how Wikipedia works?

You don't build category one academies, state of the art multi million pound quality training grounds etc etc in order to hang around in League One, the Championship, bottom half of the Premier League or mid table in the Premier League. If that were the case they'd settle for a lesser development of the academy and Staplewood or leave it how it is. These aren't just words from Saints owners, they have started to build them. The stadium and developments around it will likely follow in the next few years and planning for these have already been mentioned in the local press and by those at the fans dinners. Many Saints fans have yet to overcome the pessimism of years of things like Branfoot, Lowe, relegation, administration. Cheer up and enjoy the ride!

I think you will find lots of clubs do that. Peterborough for example next season are building a new away end... Would you say the same to Cortese, he is the one planning it, not me? I'm sure he hasn't taken the decision lightly as it is not his money. Unlike you or I he isn't plucking potential crowds out of the air and not basing them on at least something in way of the Saints current fanbase, he has access to the ticketing database etc and can build a picture of potential demand. Once again, resulting to petty insults about computer games.

Just look at Wolves for example, they are increasing Molineux up to roughly 37k over the next few years and potentially to 50k. UEFA rules mean clubs need to maximise turnover, stadium capacities - maybe with pricing structures to help are one of the best ways for a club to increase revenue. Nothing in Wolves attendance history of the last 50 years suggests they are a bigger club than Saints.