Matthew Le God

Chamberlain will be on the bench at the very least.

I didn't say I agreed with the West Ham case (certainly not the £40m council loan), just the concept that a larger stadium means the easier it is to reduce prices, give free tickets to schools to attract future fans and give very cheap family deals etc. Saints also wouldn't be imposing themselves on anyone like West Ham are with Leyton Orient. But if the Liebherr's are going to fund any expansion (or if needs be a new stadium) themselves, I don't have an issue with that. A larger stadium will help gain a larger fanbase through ticketing schemes.

Cortese said in the BBC interview they are already looking at expanding St Mary's and if not possible they would build a new stadium. Any new stadium would have to be alot bigger than 32,000 to make it worth while, and any expansion he has in mind would be to a similar capacity. According to those at one of the fans dinners, Cortese believes through research the club have done that Saints can get 45k averages in the Premier League and would require a stadium larger than 45k to achieved that. Unlike at any other time in the clubs history Saints look like they may end up in the Premier League with an ownership with real resources behind it. Rupert Lowe never invested in the team or club and still saw St Mary's average over 30k in every season in the Premier League including the relegation season. A Saints team in the Premier League with investment in the squad from the Liebherr's, is a more attractive proposition to go to St Mary's than what Lowe ever did. Just look at what West Ham are planning with the Olympic stadium. A 60,000 stadium compared to there current 34,000 stadium and will make ticket prices extremely cheap as they have the number to play with. The more seats you have, the easier it is to reduce prices, give free tickets to schools to attract future fans and give very cheap family deals etc etc. I think we will see a stadium expansion happening relatively soon. Cortese is a very ambitious man!

No, next summer.

Use http://www.footballforumfinder.com http://upthesaddlers.com/bb/viewforum.php?f=2&sid=df48884943e05e2da8daeb5d5a4e7a29

1,400 of the 1,700 allocation sold so far. http://www.saddlers.co.uk/page/News/0,,10428~2352376,00.html I think they'll sell the remaining 300 tomorrow, which should mean one of the largest attendances at St Mary's, as long as there isn't much in the way of segregation.

I doubt they would sell him for that when they turned down bigger from Norwich a few months ago.

Good idea.

Well we have had circa 30k for a few games as a 3rd tier side and already shown in four seasons in the Premier League the club can support averages of 30k+. So it isn't 20k extra you are looking for, it is about 10k (some of which would be taken up by larger away allocations).

Initially 37,000 and possibly later up to 50,000. Work begins this summer.

Nope, they are going ahead with it regardless of if they stay up or not and is costing them £40m+.

Rupert also didn't invest any money in the team to make it an attractive proposition to watch. For the first time in 125 years Saints have ownership that is investing significant amounts in the club.

The larger St Mary's gets the larger the away end becomes and more Premier League away fans will come. A 50,000 St Mary's could have 7,500 away fans for a cup game and 5,000 for a League game, so you would need 42,500 - 45,000 home fans to fill it.

Saints have already shown they can sell out for "those kinds of game". Hence why between 2001 and 2005 they averaged over 30,000 each season.

I didn't say we would.

- Previous games against Man Utd between 2001 and 2005 in the Premier League have all sold out. - Saints fans also knew Man Utd would put out a weakened side in the FA Cup, Saints also rested players unlike they would if it were a Premier League game. - They were also watching a League One Southampton side, not a Premier League Southampton side. - The linking of a game to Carlisle made tickets on the day cost £57, which is off putting for many. If as you say a Premier game against Man Utd was linked to another, it would be a more attractive linked game than Carlisle United.

Roughly 45,000 possibly up to 50,000 might be about right and is apparently what Cortese said at the fans dinner. No chance they would fill it every game, however they could get close for games against Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea and Man City. Then you have other attractive games like Everton, Villa, Newcastle, Sunderland. That is 10 out of 19 games and may make such a capacity worthwhile.

Forest and Leicester both averaged 20k in the 3rd tier.

Leicester and Forest didn't.

Forest didn't. Not many though is it? How many current Premier League and Championship teams could average 22,000+ in the 3rd tier? Looking at current average attendances, I'd say 14 (not including Saints)... Man Utd Arsenal Newcastle Man City Liverpool Chelsea Sunderland Villa Everton Spurs West Ham Leeds Norwich Derby

Same happens to every club if they drop through the league. Man Utd wouldn't get anywhere near their current 75,000 average if they were in League One. Only a handful of English clubs would average 22,000 in the 3rd tier like Saints have though.

You are wrong... Average Premier League crowd 2010/11 = 35,000 Average Championship Crowd 2010/11 = 17,000 Average League One crowd 2010/11 = 7,000

It may be an old-chestnut, but it is certainly a correct chestnut. A 32,000 capacity stadium simply isn't big enough for Saints, hence why Cortese stated in the BBC interview last year they have plans for expansion. Teams like Hull City and Wolves are planning for expansions that make their stadiums bigger than St Mary's... http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/news/Undefined-Headline/article-3515816-detail/article.html http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2010/12/08/molineux-expansion-could-begin-in-april/ I'd imagine Saints will also reveal plans in the next couple of years.

This thread should be renamed the Goldilocks thread... - Most people in this thread have set their sights far too low and show none of the ambition for the club Nicola Cortese clearly does. - A few people have set them far too high and are in cloud cuckoo land. - A tiny number have set them just right.

Along with a lot more home fans at St Mary's next season, we will see a huge rise in the away fan contingents with Championship clubs regularly bringing 1,000's, rather than the 100's that some League One clubs bring.