The Kraken

We finished 8th in 2003 but qualified for Europe by being FA cup runners up. We finished 8th in 2014, Euro spots only went down to 6th. 2015, 7th got us entry into Europa league quali rounds. 2016, 6th got us into Europa group stages. 2017, 8th got us nothing, Euro spots went down to seventh.

Fair enough. I agree there are very many factors that contribute to a potential for a bigger stadium. But, for me, the two biggest ones by far are (1) having more fans who want a season ticket than there are season tickets available and (2) monitoring home ticket sales and seeing how quickly games sell out. There are other variables such as club success, ticket pricing etc but these are just contributory factors to the two metrics I mentioned. Off the top of my head there are 4 PL clubs who are going through the process of stadium expansion / move: Liverpool, Everton, Leicester, Leeds. A quick google tells me that all four of those clubs operate a season ticket waiting list. So it kind of highlights the importance of that metric IMO. I should point out that I’ve always thought Saints might be able to accommodate a bigger stadium under certain circumstances, I could potentially see a growth up to a stadium size around 40k. We’re not there now IMO, and it’ll be interesting to hear if our new owners have any intention of upgrade in size, though I’m not expecting it soon. But, yes, there’s always hope of ‘doing a Leicester’.

Out of interest, what metric can you suggest is a better one for expansion than a season ticket waiting list? Of course, there are very many factors that need to be considered together. But, in your opinion, which one metric do you think is the most pertinent? And, are saints hitting it now?

Sorry, can you explain this one please, Dirk? I don’t quite see the relevance of this arbitrary line. Let’s say I say live in Wrexham. Or Cheltenham. Or Bristol. What tangible benefit do Saints have here?

Love this analogy 👍

Ffs, yet again you’ve shown yourself up with having a dell-sized mentality. We don’t need to reduce prices like you say, we need an EasyJet-type layered pricing model. It’s not rocket science.

A spot on assessment of MLG, always has been. Although the original descriptor by Viz was always blunter but better: “Mr Logic, he’s a pain in the arse”.

That quote was really quite disproportionate to the whole interview. having heard it, you have to say that overall it was a thunderingly impressive interview with Martin Semmens.

Read up, already been addressed and acknowledged per the post by CBFry.

I take it back. Obvious who they are talking about. And I’d be very pissed off if I was a Brentford fan.

It would be the immediately obvious choice but not sure the one theyre actually talking about. Firstly it would be massively disrespectful for us to be saying that it’s fine for us to talk about getting him. Secondly, it would mean that the Dragan group would be immediately directing recruitment, when in actual fact they’ve said that they’ll rely on the existing managerial group to run the club as they see it. I’m not saying it won’t happen, and it would be a very good appointment, just not convinced the club would talk about a potential Frank appointment in that way.

🤣 Now that would be a name that you should be afraid of saying out loud when considering our future manager.

Maybe, it’s just the “it’s not something to be scared of talking about out loud” comment that grabs me. Perhaps I’m misreading that but it seems like you wouldn’t say that about someone working somewhere else. In any case, I’m not concerned at this point, I trust the current setup to put in appropriate succession planning.

Suggests it’s not someone in employment at another club. Kitzbichler?

Amended it for my take. As Ralph stated afterwards and also Paul Scholes, United are a side that just have no team ethic at the moment. In possession they’ve got an abundance of talent and will always be a threat to score. They just don’t have th3 desire or responsibility to work as a team properly when they’re out of possession. I remember when Nigel Adkins and in turn Pochettino and Koeman came in. Within a game or two it was obvious to see what the players were doing differently. How they set up out of possession. When and where they pressed. How to set up to move the ball out of defence. Sometimes the changes were only small but they were noticeable. There’s none of that with United, they’re still just relying on the sum of their parts.

This was me in Southampton centre with my cousins for Saints 4 Liverpool 1, there was loads of us! Also, +1 for Bruce Hornsby and the Range

Don’t quite see how ours is so low. Aside from the goal we had a few gilt edge chances. Che Adams in the first half, if he doesn’t slip it’s a tap in.

Tbf I can see why that City one was given. The Maguire stamp, less so.

Quite enjoyed the “he’s gonna cry in a minute chant” that went up for Fernandes when he was having a major whinge about the Pogba foul on Livramento.

RIP Minsk, one of the original brigade from the early days.

Got us out of some sticky situations.

Slightly harsh to criticise him for Sancho’s goal when he was sat on the bench at the time.

Very glad his performances are on the up. As recently as the Swansea game I expressed reservations about him, I thought he was poor again that night. He’s definitely going in the right direction though and has been very impressive in the past few games. Long may it continue, it’s obviously much nicer to have a proper lefty playing at left back.

Initially I thought it was right in the corner, but it wasn’t. That said, I thought the best thing about the save was not just stopping the goal but doing so well to scoop it well away to safety, perhaps why it ended up looking so dramatic.

Just like to point out that Saints’ entire first XI today cost almost exactly the same as Paul Pogba. United had 2 players who came through their youth system (McTominay and Rashford). They had 8 players who all cost more than our record signing. And Cristiano Ronaldo.