Matthew Le God

When you say "midfield general", what qualities are you looking for? Schneiderlin's role in the Saints team is as a defensive midfielder, sitting just in front of the centre backs, breaking up attacks and then passing into the attacking players or switching play. Some think he can't tackle, but he is actually extremely good at winning back possession and dictating Saints play from a deep role. He didn't look out of place against Man Utd, doing exactly this in January in the FA Cup.

Why do people believe employees hired on a part time basis for crowd control would be kept informed of potential player transfers? Michael Owen is out of contract in the summer, so how can he come to Saints on loan?

A very well deserved pay rise to reflect his status as a first team regular starter probably.

Because Saints have a large squad. Extremely unlikely N'Guessan will be signed by Saints and I think Saints could get better than Stephens (who may have just been cover until Schneiderlin was fit). Schneiderlin today showed he is a class act in a defensive midfield role.

Schneiderlin, Chamberlain and Lallana form the basis of a very good midfield at Championship level.

Then why did Adkins say he will be a big player for Saints next season?

Nigel Adkins said before the game Alex has been training for a while and that Lallana and Chamberlain are going to be key players for Saints next season.

http://www.sports.ru/en/football/95425584.html The Russians seem unaware of the CVA... "if we buy it today we buy it without any debt whatsoever"

Just missing from that list is Chris Nicholl, who i thought did a great job in the five years he was in charge after Lawrie left. We will get to see him tomorrow, as he on the Walsall staff. In the 36 years from 1955 to 1991 Saints had 3 managers, in the 20 years from 1991 to 2011 Saints have had 20 managers! I wonder what might have happened if he wasn't replaced by Ian Branfoot...

If they are soon to be free agents but contracted to clubs in England he isn't allowed to talk to them yet, it would be illegal to do it without the clubs permission. You can talk to foreign based players from January, but domestic players only 6 weeks before their contracts run out at the end of June. So that time hasn't arrived yet.

Anyone that believes in a "Manager of the Month curse" or fate, are superstitious idiots of the highest order.

If Saints really are playing Durham on 19th July I doubt it will be the first team, more likely a Southampton XI using development players and the under 18's like they do every year against non league teams. The first team will probably be abroad at that point of pre-season.

Their average attendance is 3,800, so selling 1,700 for them is like Saints selling roughly 11,000 tickets for an away game. I think 1,600 tickets is quite good really and is over 3 times their highest away following up until this point.

Middlesborough have run out of parachute payments from their time in the Premier League and have already stated they are making large cutbacks to the wage bill this summer.

That is a photoshopped version of the Sunderland shirt.

The loan rules in the Football League may be changing in June, so that you can only have 4 loan players in your match day squad. This may screw Pompey if they want to boost numbers in their squad with loan players like they have this season.

No-one outside of the club/Umbro etc knows.

We can't see that. You need to actually put the image on here. Extremely unlikely someone would have access to it though.

No reason why you couldn't rename Britainia Road and the main training ground building.

A few people have started threads about renaming St Mary's, a stand, a corporate suite or a statue next to Ted Bates. I don't think any of those are appropriate. However what may be, would be to rename the main building at Staplewood training ground after him. My idea... The Markus Liebherr Pavillion...(After all, he paid for it. )

The Markus Liebherr Pavillion...After all, he paid for it.

Well the OS say he might... "Alex Chamberlain could return to the squad." As did Nigel Adkins in interview to BBC Solent.. #saintsfc Manager Nigel Adkins has hinted that Alex Oxlade Chamberlain could play some part in last league one game v Walsall. I expect he'll be on the bench.

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!