The Kraken

Amen to that.

Not really, no. Adkins hinted a few weeks ago he wanted to bring 2 goalkeepers into the squad; so KD's place is hardly assured.

Frank, you're missing the point. Myself and many others have never, ever dismissed the possibility of expanding. In the future, when its proven we should do so, when current capacity is nowhere near big enough. Not build it now/next year, and then create new pricing structures to fill it. That's been shouted down by "Dell-sized mentality" accusations from various corners, so its no use playing the abuse card, that's gone both ways. I know that I've previously posted on a number of occasions before that we should look at attendances over 2 or 3 years in the Premier League and make a decision on expansion from that, and been shouted down for it. "That's too late, why wait that long, we've got historical data", all of that. That's why this debate is ongoing.

I think we'll bring in 1 or 2, but that it will still leave us short of areas that we really needed to improve on (rather than spending £6M on a striker who isn't allowed to play up front).

Indeed. If it was just 1 or 2 players that we're short of, I'd be concerned but less so. 3 or 4 players short with this long to go, you have to worry about what we're going to bring in (if anything).

So predictions made 3 weeks ago are valid, but predictions made now aren't?

As I said, it wasn't just those blocks. Throughout the ground there were swathes of empty seats, despite showing as completely sold out online. I'd be surprised if the attendance figure published was the actual amount of punters throught the gates, even BBC commented that the match was "sparcely attended". Most bizarre.

So you're saying we don't need the players our manager has said he wants?

If you're struggling with this then good luck moderating this place after our next two games (if results don't go our way as perhaps expected).

Blocks 1 2 and 3 all sold out, apparently. Yet huge gaps in there, not just 1 or 2 seats here or there who hadn't bothered to show up. Same in the Chapel down the front. Very bizarre.

That's Guly's "problem". He'll work well with an attacking full back who can get beyond him. He'll cut in well and keep things moving. But he absolutely won't be an attacking threat down the line, and therefore play gets condensed and predictable. The same on the other side with Rodriguez, and with Fox not able to commit as far forward. Compare it to swansea (who we're trying to emulate) and today they were superb with Routledge and Dyer on either side getting the ball, attacking the full backs and stretching play.

And it rained today too.

I'm quite staggered by the seeming change in opinion/benchmarks (which will clearly be denied).

Still at least 3 or 4 players from being a competitive side. After today, 6 days to get them in. We've still only made half the amount of new signings that last season's promoted sides made. we're getting to the point where we're going to have to make signings that are a gamble, akin to Jos Hooiveld. Worrying times.

A 29,604 attendance would have looked brilliant in a 50,000 seater stadium.

Personal opinion, but even against Wigan I was expecting more. We didn't sell out the home allocation after 7 years of people talking about being back in the top division. Games against Man United etc are a given for a sellout (though I'm still interested to see what the corporate area sales will be like). If this game was in the middle of the season I'd have been slightly disappointed with the attendance but not too bothered. Coming in the first home game and on such a wave of euphoria, I think it was pretty disappointing.

Nonsense.

Pretty poor attendance figure, all things considered. First game back in the PL, feelgood factor all around, Saturday 3pm kick off. And we couldn't make 30,000. Disappointing to say the least. Wigan returned around 1,500 tickets, which obviously went to Saints to put on sale with at least a week to go until the game. As it was, we wouldn't have sold out just the regular number of home seats when the away side take their full allocation. A lack of external marketing doesn't help the club; the only medium advertising the fact there are tickets remaining is the OS, and non-diehard fans don't go there very often. The lack of external marketing in the local papers and on local radio is surely a factor in this. But maybe some just have to face facts that filling a 32,689 capacity stadium is a hell of achievement for a club our size, and we should look to do that consistently before lustily looking to the stars for somewhere bigger.

Simply not good enough. One paced and lacking in invention, we didn't have enough in the locker to break them down and got punished at the other end. Massive wake up call that the squad isn't good enough.

Bloody hell; that's wraps up a terrible day. Hopefully a bit of a wake up call too.

Yep, really disappointing. I was hoping I'd be able to get away and get to the game but it wasn't to be. The online ticketting was certainly showing most seats as sold (for instance blocks 1 2 and 3 all sold out). They clearly aren't. With so few Wigan fans in attendance this will be below 30,000. Good start from Saints.

Irrelevant anyway, as there's plenty of seats still available for sale in the Itchen and Chapel stands. As unappealing as Wigan are, I'm surprised we're not closer to selling out at least the regular home seats by now, if not the extra ones returned by Wigan. Opposition aside this was always going to be a popular game. Still, 3 hours to kick off, we'll see what the walk up is. My prediction is a crowd of 30,498 with Wigan contributing less than 500.

A quick search shows more than 1,000 still available in blocks 43 and 44 of the Northam, and around a thousand also still remaining in the normal seats of the Itchen and Chapel stands. Corporate sales are an unknow quantity, but there may also be opportunities for you to sing "where were you eating your prawn sandwiches when we were sh*t?".

* something about Cortese and a boat *

No, and no. The only season we consistently got sell outs to home fans was in season 2003/04 (predominantly because that year had the highest level of season ticket sales after a cup final, and 8th place league finish, and the prospect of a European campaign).