The Kraken

I must have missed the part where he said we're definitely going to expand, and that we have all evidence to hand that we need a much bigger stadium. Could you paraphrase exactly what he said in this regard for those of us that didn't catch it?

Its his roundabout way of saying that we now have further evidence that we're in immediate need of a 50K stadium.

At least FC has the courtesy not to write a half page diatribe about it.

First I knew that it was permanent was a back page spread in the Echo, of Wigley convincing everyone that he wasn't just a caretaker. I still wasn't sure whether it just some elaborate hoax.

I think Stuart Gray was worse. His record from taking over to the end of the season was atrocious; he kept his job by beating (I think) Man Utd and Arsenal, but their seasons were pretty much over by then, they rested players left right and centre and their players treated it as a walk in the park. Lo and behold, by the next season we were back to true form of being utterly sh*te until he got the gun. Wigley's appointment was just utterkly bizarre; and it wasn't until he took to the press to say "no, really, I'm the full time manager here; I've been given the job" until it actually sank in that it wasn't just some cruel, sick joke. Edit: Just checked it. Gray took over when Hoddle left, and inherited a team that had just had 7 straight league clean sheets and 5 straight league wins. Gray's first 7 games in charge saw 5 defeats and 2 draws, before those 2 dead rubbers against Man Utd and Arsenal somehow convinced Lord Lowe that it was a good idea to continue to keep Gray in charge and let him spend £4M on Rory f*cking Delap.

Is it f*ck :lol: You've always been an overtly negative bed wetting bore, whatever division we were in. The idea you've ever been or will ever be satifsied with Saints and not whinging like a spoilt 6 year old is as improbable as it is laughable.

Wow, Birch really has got some work to do to get those costs down! They'll still have the high earners such as Halford, Kitson, Mokoena, Norris, Varney and Kanu on the books. In addition, while they're claiming Ben Haim will leave, its only his agent touting him around. If he does go, it can't be until the transfer window opens on June 9th, and it may well be some time after that, if at all; and who wants to saddle themselves with a 30 year old for £36K per week? Pini Zahavi didn't get rich by throwing money away, so I can't see the benevolent side of him being exposed if he can't find a suitor to match TBH's obscene wages.

Yep. So my question has been: "If as you say: - Trevor Birch has indicated the money will run out by the end of the May - But the window for selling players does not open until June 9 - On top of that the Football League AGM is on June 2 With that in mind, how can the club continue to run if it going to be insolvent?"

Of course it feels better. But its no more or no less an achievement, just because the overall order of results are different. I'll happily see us stagger over the line if it means we go up. Aside from how long my nerves will hold out, I'll take any sort of promotion as a massive achievement.

Our destiny is entirely in our own hands.

Why is it in any way different to the reflection of form of us and Reading at the start of the season, compared to now? We came flying out of the blocks, Reading pretty much tripped over. Any form of promotion is a victory; attachin hollowness to it is just an excuse to look for misery.

Ooh, well done Mr Pedant. Yes, that's clearly what I was suggesting, well done you.

Are you really that verbally incontinent that you can't keep control of your emotions on an internet forum? Christ, there are some precious folk out there.

Not so much, no.

Tell me about it. Seeing you meltdown and cry into your pack of biscuits every other week is a chore in itself.

Simple maths right here. Beat an already relegated side = promotion. Lets face it; if we can't do that, we probably don't deserve to go up.

You can change it around when you have a player who can come in and perform better than the current incumbent. Martin IMO is weaker than Fonte, and also succeptible to mistakes; therefore would not have been an improvement. Which highlights why, particularly if we go up next season, we probably need to enter the transfer market.

Exactly. Whines like a little girl about the merest hint of abuse yet loves to give it out. Fat tw*t.

You really are quite pleasant when you're so morose, aren't you chubs?

Fonte was pure, pure quality in League 1. In this division, he's shown glimpses of that but been found out too often. Jos, I like him as a player, but in truth has also been caught out more times than he should have been. Add in Richardson & Fox who are great going forwards, less so in defence, and it adds up to a defence that can definitely be improved upon. And will need to be, if we do manage to clinch promotion. I wouldn't be surprised to see at least one of that pairing replaced if we go up.

OK, so you think we should do something to increase commercial revenue, but can't say what. Fair enough. Kind of puts in into perspective that its a lot more difficult than just saying "make more money", doesn't it. This is why its a massive decision (and perhaps gamble) on whether to expand. There's not a huge amount else that can be done with football stadia. They can't be converted into the next West Quay. A lot of clubs have tried having bars/restaurants incorporated into the stadiums, but it really hasn't gone much further than that. and you have to feel that's because a number of club owners have done cost-benefit analyses and worked out where the main revenue streams are. Its not as if there's some invisible untapped market just waiting for us to tap into it.

There's no harm in applying for planning right now. I'd be somewhat surprised if SFC hadn't already completed at least preliminary designs on a possible expansion; in fact I'd be surprised if this hadn't have happened a year or two ago.

And that's the whole point; we wimply have ot wait and see if it will be commericially viable. It may well be, or it may well not be, but one thing is absolutely certain: right now we have no idea one way or the other.

It can't. You only have to notice the uproar seen on here in seasons past, from ST holders when SFC tried discounting individual match tickets. It led to an attitude of "well if they're going to consistently reduce the price, there's not a lot of point in me paying up front for a season ticket that in reality doesn't actually save me that much/any money."

Once again you're getting excited and lapsing into a "build it and they will come" mode. Where is the commercial sense in building a whole new row of corporate boxes when, last season, we failed to sell half of the ones we currently have? If not boxes, then what other revenue-making schemes should the expansion encompass?