Whitey Grandad

This wave is different from all the others. It’s moving downwards.

Why don’t they just buy variants in bulk from the Chinese? They can make them cheaper and in bigger volumes.

That go me thinking so I looked back over my payment history and I found these figures. I think they're correct. Some seasons benefit from a concession rate for old gits but this came and went. ----------------------------------------------- The Dell - Upper East Stand Centre - Front Rows Premier League 1993 1994 £248.00 Premier League 1994 1995 £286.00 Premier League 1995 1996 £292.00 Premier League 1996 1997 £306.00 Premier League 1997 1998 £340.00 Premier League 1998 1999 £374.00 Premier League 1999 2000 £425.00 Premier League 2000 2001 £889.00 Two seasons St Mary's - Kingsland Centre Row 'O' Premier League 2001 2002 (paid) Premier League 2002 2003 £486.00 Premier League 2003 2004 £476.00 Premier League 2004 2005 £521.00 Championship 2005 2006 £521.00 Championship 2006 2007 £493.00 Championship 2007 2008 £420.00 Championship 2008 2009 £420.00 League 1 2009 2010 £261.00 League 1 2010 2011 £300.00 Championship 2011 2012 £515.00 2012 2013 £676.50 Premier League 2013 2014 £709.00 Premier League 2014 2015 £737.00 Premier League 2015 2016 £737.00 Premier League 2016 2017 £737.00 Premier League 2017 2018 £738.00 Premier League 2018 2019 £660.00 Premier League 2019 2020 £661.25 Premier League 2020 2021 " Premier League 2021 2022 £929.00

That's true of course, but we have already been paying more for these views ever since we moved to St Mary's

There must be a Carrie On joke in their somewhere.

Strasbourg? Didn’t they also do Chambourcy?

Impressive work. Regarding the goalkeepers though it’s not enough just to distinguish between catching and parrying. Forster might well push a shot away but what is important is where that parry ends up. Pushing a shot around the post is not the worst thing in the world when compared to McCarthy batting it straight back to the opposition player with an invitation to have another go.

There used to be a lot in France. Perpignan and La Rochelle come to mind?

3) How did that work out for Henry VIII ?

I like him even more

Yet he couldn’t beat the Saints?

Great no-nonsense refereeing.

For the health of the pals and mates.

Not yet, no. It’s an obvious concern though and must surely have been factored into the gamble. Surely? If we were relegated they would obviously have to consider lower prices for the Championship. That might mean removing the padding so let’s hope they keep hold of the old seats In such circumstances it would be an interesting ‘sell’ trying to get their previous customers to come back. But then what would happen if, heaven forbid, we were immediately promoted back again?

Time to look to the future. His departure frees up wages for some promising newcomer.

And if it ever looks likely that rates are coming down they can always rush out some more tests and find some more infections Just one more month.. or two more maybe... perhaps three to be safe... Don’t they realise that some people are down to their last drop of lifeblood? The only reason to delay the end of lockdown is in the hope that a new variant turns up.

But doesn’t it make your skin go orange?

No intrigue intended or implied, I apologise if I have misled anybody. No, it’s not complicated, but what is perhaps hard to understand is why they would take such a gamble without doing diligent market research first.

🤫 I never intended to imply that any of it was secret, but perhaps the reason that he felt able to have such a discussion with me was because he felt that I was a model of discretion? He had done his research before calling and knew my background which meant that we were able to discuss the business reasons behind this plan freely and openly. So here’s my take on it. These views are mine alone and I wouldn’t want to misrepresent anybody. The club wants to make more money out of match day attendance and they consider that we have one of the lowest pricing structures in the Premier League. The central Kingsland is viewed as a premium location that is in high demand and they feel that it should be generating more income. That then raises the question of where that extra money is going to come from. When you strip it down this move is nothing other than a monster price hike dressed up with a bit of padding. So who is going to buy into it? Are the present occupants going to grimace and bear it, in which case they have succeeded in their heist, or are we all going to shuffle along and see these seats gobbled up by supporters from elsewhere in the stadium? In principle these seats can only be occupied by Saints supporters but are there several hundred out there who are so desperate that they are willing to pay a thousand pounds a year to watch what is on offer? It was clear from our chat that Mr. AC-J does understand the history and background of a club such as ours and understands my sentiments but my response was to quote Sir Humphrey Appleby and say, “Very brave”. The point is that if you consider that you are sitting in the best position in the stadium then any move elsewhere is a downgrade. Having moved from that position there is then no incentive to hang onto your Season Ticket from one year to the next. Friendships that have been built over decades have be trashed and if you let your ticket go you can always get always get another one some other time. Maybe. I feel that the club have concentrated on comparing Southampton FC with other Premier League clubs and have not considered how what they offer compares with other demands on our wallets. £2000 a year for two tickets would go quite some way elsewhere. You could get a fortnight’s all-inclusive cruise for that. Maybe membership of a golf club but I wouldn’t know. I’m not old enough to play golf I can understand the drive to get more revenue but there’s only so much juice you can squeeze out of a lemon.

Nah, got to be Pizza, surely.

At least he wouldn’t be playing against us

Amen to that. We are all brothers and sisters under the same blue sky.

Because that’s not my style, it’s not so much that I can’t, and I would have cleared it with him first. I would like to find out a little bit more about the background to all this. I know what the headline reasons are but I like to dig deeper.

There is some rule about shorts colour, it has to match the socks or something.

Thanks. Bloody iPad autocorrect!