The Kraken

This is of course correct. Turkish's response is I'm sure aimed at the likes of MLG and co who have consistently stated the need for a much bigger stadium, right now. MLG himself has previously stated that now is the right time to get building a new super stadium, and even that it should have been built to coincide with the start of our first season in the Premier League. Most people recognise the need to prove demand first and get a really good idea on what the level of demand actually is. And most people won't rule out a bigger stadium in the next few years if the level of support justifies it; they're just loathe to doing it right now and relying either on spurious figures that are 10 years old as evidence, or a leap of faith that "build it and they will come".

Yep, agree very much with this. The bottom half of the Premier League has been filled with mediocrity for a number of years; that Swansea and Norwich have done so well is testament to the fact that they actually gave it a go and went for victories instead of the typical park the bus approach. There's really not a great deal between 10th place and 20th place in the Premier League. I think we need to strengthen quite a bit this summer to be good enough, but I also think we will do that, and as a consequence should be aiming for mid-table as a form of consolidation.

And you're stuck in seeing what you want to see. I'm all for ambition and growing as big as we can, which IMO will (perhaps within 5 years) include increasing the size of stadium to around 40K. Which should see us comfortably mid-table Premier League level and upwards. I just have a limit on how far on from there I see us going, and while I hope that the sky is the limit logic dictates to me otherwise. So, well done for taking a completely incorrect assumption about me and trying to use it to suit your argument.

Ta. Remember it now. Its a bit of a "what if" statement rather than a statement of intent, to be fair. I'm sure many will disagree and use it as evidence of the CL 5 year plan though. Not exactly definitive though, is it? If you were in the Champions League, would you pay the necessary wages to the players to keep you there? I might consider it. So not a "hell yes, if that's what it takes, that's what we'll spend". Not a "we owuld have to, if we have those sorts of ambitions". Just an "I might think about it".

I don't think you understand. He turned down £50K p/w plus a bonus payment of £500K from West Ham. I'm going to go out on a limb here and presume he's on a bit more than that at Newcastle.

Demba Ba turned down £50K a week plus a £500K bonus from West Ham in order to join Newcastle. But that probably isn't really a lot for Saints either.

Just so that we can clarify here. I can (kind of) remember Cortese alluding to challenging at the top of the table. But what did he ACTUALLY say about it. What are there quotes actually attributed to him about becoming a Champions League side? Not "it was along these lines", what did he actually say, and to whom? I'm not denying he said it, its just we've had nearly 17 pages attributed to some quotes which may say one thing and may say another.

Which ones though?

We should put it in the 5 year plan to be one of the top 4 clubs in the country to be willing to try out footballing technology.

What apparatus? A pitch and a goal? We're being used because we're the closest appropriate stadium to where the Hawkeye system is being developed.

The thing in the goal looks more useful than Tommy Forecast. Sign it up.

Possible, but I'd suggest pushing it. Certainly a decent aim to have of a 5 year plan starting from now though.

As I said; I think we'll sell out a lot of games. Especially the early season games, and due to the fact there's a feel-good factor at the moment that is unprecedented for some of the younger generation. I am interested to see how attendances hold up throughout the whole season; particularly against the sides such as Wigan, Fulham, West Brom, Stoke etc against the likes of which we often didn't sell out when in the PL last time round. Its a different league now, with a different economic situation. I also think ticket prices could have a significant effect, so we'll see what happens.

I reckon Brum could do this....

Depends how true their money problems are. All rumours, but some I've heard are that they need to cut back even if they do go up and may look to offload some of the higher earners. In which case they could struggle a bit.

Agreed, can't see beyond West Ham going up.

If it is true then Brum getting dumped out is good news, as we'll be more likely to be able to prise him away.

To be fair, previous history is no guarantee we will sell out this time round. I tend to think that we will, but basing attendances solely on historical data from 10 years ago is not 100% reliable. I say that because the Premier League has changed a fair bit even since 2005. TV coverage of games has increased, and there are less and less Saturday 3pm kick-offs with the advent of the Europa League. Also, bid invites are going out for season 2013 onwards where the amount of televised games will increase further still, which could impact upon actual attendance figures. You only have to look at Everton (who will show an average attendance figure of around 33K for this season) for evidence that some clubs are experiencing a downturn in the attraction of a matchday ticket.

i think you'll be fine, no-one will pick up on that.

I reckon the reason the secret tunnels are not documented is because they're, you know, secret.

So you agree with him that its no longer a working man's game? That its only about a day out for the family and the corporates? I think I might have to disagree with that, if I'm honest. Working young men are still very much a primary target market for football clubs, and forever will be. Even corporate seats are aimed at companies and the working man. Seems a strange strategy to cut out that source of potential customer.

Ha ha, what??!! Working class young men are no longer a key demographic when it comes to frequenting a football game?

No, but what we do know is that Cortese has continually said that the club will be run self-sustainably. If that's the case, I'm just wondering where this funding you speak of for the team (not the infrastructure) is going to come from. Because we would clearly need quite a lot.

So we will have ambition and large wealth (comparitive to our peers) to invest in the playing side this time round then?

Ah, well we didn't have any ambition back in the 80s Turkish. If we'd have had any ambition back then, we would have tried to sign the European footballer of the year. Oh, hang on... Er, its not a like for like comparison. Or something.