The Kraken

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).

Not necessarily, no. There's a chance we COULD have that, but we need to sell a lot more of the 2,300 odd savailable seats still on sale.

If there were a mad scramble for all games like this, that would be justification that we need to get on and increase the stadium size.

As per my earlier post; I don't necessarily disagree. But this game isn't at sell out, it doesn't look like it will get there either. Its touch and go whether we'll get more than 30,000 in attendance. Not a sell out. Do you think that still justifies it?

There isn't though, there's over 2,000 home seats left.

We already know it doesn't. In the top league, against the big sides, its never ever been in doubt that we sell out and could sell more tickets if the capacity were there. That's never been the issue. The issue is; what is a realistic and consistent maximum attendance? How many tickets would we sell for the top games; for the mid-range games; and for the lower ranked games? And is it financially viable to build a larger stadium to handle the popularity of the more popular games given the expected attendances of the mid-range and lower-ranked games.

I can see why the Man Utd game selling out could potentially be used for justifying that, of course. Why do you think having 2,000 unsold home tickets represents the same justification?

PST press conference with Comical Farmery.

Not necessarily. He just has to agree to the scheduled payments of them over the next 4 years.

All he has to do in that regard is meet the terms of his own CVA.

They're not exactly flying out then; I did the same on Wednesday and there were 2,700 available, 1300 or so in 43 and 44. With Wigan likely to only bring around a few hundred (in an available allocation of 1613) plus segregation, and with the corporate areas not sold out, there's a reasonable chance this could not reach the 30,000 mark.

I think there must be an element of enjoying the limelight of being ITK. Otherwise you wouldn't do it, surely? Hundreds of desperate tryhards constantly asking you "Has he signed yet", constant abuse from faceless wonders and all manner of idiotic accusations and requests for more and more information.

Unless the Trust's bid has changed significantly so as to remove the funding from the council, it is not a credible bid. The council will not provide the loan if there is another competing bid on the table. Therefore if the Trust have not plugged a £1.45M financial gap from their plans, and so long as Chainrai's bid meets the terms of the CVA, the PST's bid cannot be serviced. Colin Farmery is doing his best Comical Ali "nothing to see here" impression. But Portpin hold all of the cards here, and he knows it. The Trust need to first of all find the funding to match their bid. They then also need to get the players to renegotiate their settlements from £8m to £2M. Portpin on the other hand have agreed to £8M, so their deal is by far the best deal for creditors (which Tricky Trev is legally obliged to recognise). If Chainrai wants it, and if his terms meet the CVA, its his.