the difference being that most of us would probably take 16th next season if offered it. For Villa it was a disaster and their manager got sacked. What does that tell you about their squad?
what we should do is speculate now on what both teams squads will be in September, as theirs is apparantly going to get weaker and ours is going to get stronger. Then we decide who is better.
No it doesn't Why would a manager give a f*ck what one clubs crowds were 7 years ago against another ones today when deciding if he was going to join them?
Crowds bigger than we can possibly achieve at the moment due to our unambitious chairman not having the ground expanded in time for the Premier League. So there is one.
Do you think the following would get in Saints squad?
Shay Given
Alan Hutton
Stephen Warnock
James Collins
Stephen Ireland
Jermaine Jenas
Charles N'Zogbia
Marc Alrighton
Fabian Delph
Stiliyan Petrov
Darren Bent
Gabby Abonglahor
Nathan Delfonso
BUT BUT BUT they only averaged 33k in a 42k stadium. Everyone knows the first thing a new manager looks at when deciding to join is their attendances v capacity.
For all the "I want Adkins here for 10 years" talk. The fact of the matter is if we struggle people will be questioning if he is up to it and some will want him out. That's how it is.