Crab Lungs

OK, so I've been thinking this for a while now but I wondered exactly just how big a club can Saints be - and what exactly is there current size in comparison to other clubs? As we all know, if we ever do return to the Premier League then we are likely to see the ground near-capacity, even possibly at capacity for many of the fixtures but how far can we go beyond that? What is our real potential? So, I've comprised a tiered list of the clubs in the country which take into account recent and historic attendances. In brackets are my estimations of their potential to reach a particular tier (for example, West Ham has the growth potential, if successful for a continued period, to reach Tier 3 and so on.) Also worth taking into account the catchment area and the local competition. If there is no significant potential to be a "bigger club" then I have omitted the bracketed areas. From my estimation, I cannot see us ever being as big as Tier 4 clubs, though assuming we do return to the PL, we will maintain our Tier 5 status. I hope this makes sense... and would be interested to here other peoples perspectives/perceptions on this! Tier 1 Arsenal, Man Utd, Liverpool. Tier 2 Man City, Newcastle. Tier 3 Chelsea, Spurs. Tier 4 Everton (3), Aston Villa (3), West Ham (3), Sunderland, Nottm Forest (3), Leeds (3). Tier 5 Wolves (4), West Brom, Southampton, Sheff Utd (4), Leicester, Norwich, Ipswich, Sheff Wed (4), Derby. Tier 6 Birmingham (5), Fulham, Stoke, Cardiff (5). Tier 7 Coventry, Middlesbrough (5), Crystal Palace, Bolton (6), Blackburn (6), Reading, Portsmouth (6), Bristol City (6), Hull, Huddersfield (5), Brighton (6). Tier 8 Swansea (6), Watford, Millwall (7), QPR (6), Burnley, Charlton (6). Tier 9 Doncaster, Barnsley, Blackpool (8 ), Wigan (8 ), Preston (7), MK Dons (7), Carlisle (7), Plymouth (7), Bradford (7). Tier 10 Notts County (8 ), Peterborough (9), Swindon, Gillingham, Oxford (8 ). Tier 11 Bournemouth, Bristol Rovers (10), Exeter, Brentford, Leyton Orient, Tranmere, Oldham (10), Walsall, Chesterfield, Port Vale (9), Rotherham (9), Southend (10). Tier 12 S****horpe (11), Colchester (11), Yeovil (11), Bury (11), Crewe, Lincoln, Northampton (11), Shrewsbury (11), Stockport, Wycombe. Tier 13 Hartlepool (12), Rochdale, Aldershot (11). Tier 14 Dag & Red, Burton Albion, Cheltenham (13), Hereford, Morecambe, Stevenage (12), Torquay (12). Tier 15 Accrington, Barnet, Macclesfield.

Bridge has been awful ever since his injury at Chelsea...

:lol:

Would hate us to do one of those. Millwall are always bitter but Blackpool are getting massively above themselves as well.. one season in the PL...

Spencer Trewethey or something?

:lol::lol: Watch some highlights of his games. He's up there with Djimi Traore and Paul McShane in the "mugging a living off football" category

Y'see, this is what annoyed me about our fans being accused of being arrogant. I've never seen such rubbish from our lot... and all this within minutes of being relegated

Any team who are reliant on Green in goal and Tomkins in defence deserves to be relegated. Terrible players.

Ron Noades as well, at Brentford, IIRC

I think that was Chester (again!) possibly? Vaughan's son?

Barry Fry (Peterborough), Graham Turner (Hereford).... the nutter from Chester City? Not quite owners I believe, but chairman-managers...

For me, they're revolting. Well, the WBA one is boring, the Sunderland one makes me want to vomit (the collar, the back of the shirt etc)... Hudders is minimalistic, but smart. I'd love us to keep white shorts/socks to go with it too, though that'd be ripping their kit completely off!

I can only hope it's near Huddersfields, the others are horrendously ugly

Lol. Bet the Met aren't too happy. WHU, Millwall, Portsmouth and possibly Cardiff all hanging around... should be some interesting games in the capital with potential for pwoper bovva.

Better late than never!

Unless we're extending SMS for 10,000 plus, it really isn't worth it for Champions League Football. I mean, sure, an extra 4,000 on the gate would help but in reality, the real money is from the TV revenue, not the gate revenue. Assuming we ever realise those lofty ambitions!

How does one become a scout?

Equally deserving of this emoticon:

...and I can't believe this even has it's own Wikipedia page? If this dreamers confabulation has one, surely we all should have one too? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsmouth_Dockland_Stadium One of my favourite parts; £600m, generated by "the sale of supermarkets" and reclaimed land that doesn't even exist? Seriously?

Just found this on my computer

Massive LOL at how "picky" they are about players. "Oh, he's not good enough" attitude, hypothesising about bringing in more 'quality' players that other clubs could seldom afford and an amusing line about how they'd even accept Marlon King at Fratton (but the author does emphasise that he wouldn't like to see him in a Pompey shirt... yeah right). Nothing ceases to surprise me with that disgusting lot.

This. And people still blame Davenport

Firstly, they have to be good enough but equally as important is that they have to be ready. Sadly, the last batch we blooded were given a harsh, crash course in the Championship because of our financial situation, with most of them neither being of the required standard and/or ready for the rigours of the league. Coupled with the fact they were thrown into a side which was low in confidence and struggling and it was always destined to fail. Not their fault by any means, but the environment has to be correct for them to flourish. In contrast, under Burley (like last year), we were able to blend Best, Cranie, Bale et al into a side that was winning, competitive and settled; mirrored by Chamberlain's emergence this year. Thankfully, from my observations, it is at this moment in time. The squad is of a good standard, high on confidence and is ably supported by other graduates of the youth setup such as Lallana and Chamberlain. If we do have players good enough (and I suspect we do), we have the luxury of being able to bring them into an established team in a less pressurised situation, where, I'd like to think, they'd fit in pretty seamlessly, assuming the academy teams play in a similar style to our first team. The academy is one of the most exciting things we've got; I personally cannot wait to see the next graduate break through!