Turkish

Did they have your size this time?

So you are telling us that if we cant give away enough freebies to schools and families we still need a 50k stadium due to the legions of west country folk driving the 3.5-4hrs to St Marys to watch Man United?? You need to stick to championship manager son.

You could get to Birmingham almost as quickly from Devon and Cornwall as you can Southampton and there are 3 clubs in that area, so clearly not.

I actually do know the answer. How? Because my wife was working at the ticket office at the time, pretty first hand evidence i'd say. Our waiting list for season tickets during 2001-05 was the grand total of Zero, none, nil. Despite Rupert suggesting a cap of around 25k IIRC, we never reach that figure. For the big games, Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal etc the numbers turned away, enquiring for tickets after sell outs were also very, very low, "rarely more than a couple of hundred". So this suggest that a stadium of about 32k, where demand was rarely much higher, no waiting list for season tickets, is about right for us at the time. So now you say we expand St Marys up to 50k and the millions upon millions that would cost to then give way tickets for free to schools, reduce the price in deals to fill the spaces that you say the mass demand by the paying public requires. Can you see how foolish that sounds? Until we have a waiting list of season ticket holders around 8-10k that will PAY FULL PRICE to ensure that the millions and millions of pounds required to expand St Marys is going to see an ROI then it is an utterly pointless exercise.

What part of 40k as an aim are you having difficult understanding?

Oh it's 1995 now is it, not 1982? Do you not think that sunderland and Saints put a little bit of effort into what size of a stadium they will need before building it? Looking ar potential fan base, historical evidence etc. Or did Sunderland build one and spend all those extra millions just hoping they'd get somewhere near to filling it, using the logic that Chelsea got 12k back in the 80's and they can get 45k now, why can't we? Do you not think Saints might have just done the same? bTW I'm still waiting for you to answer my questions regarding the size of our season ticket waiting list and regular fans lock outs between 2002-05. Seeing as how you demanded a response to your question earlier.

Realistic as an aim dinlow. For the same reasons as the others lad whose name I can't remember now said.

Is it ad compelling an argument as we can get 50k because I think we can,imagine it? Maybe just maybe there a reason why saints have never had a stadium bigger than 32k?? Could it be that we've never needed one perhaps? Didn't you famously once quote that Chelsea only used to get 13k years ago and look at them now to support your claims we could get 50k? It seems crowds from the past only apply when it suits you.

Ahh Sunderland, good example. Isn't their record crowd at Roker Park 75k or something. Evidence of a huge potential fanbase compared to Saints record crowd at tthe Dell of a huge 31k. evidence? Well Id like to see a history of crowds in the past to suggest the fan base is there, 75k like Sunderland once had would be good. Waiting lists for season tickets when we peaked in 2003, how many disappointed fans had their faces pressed against the gates trying to get a glimpse of the pitch after being locked out in that period, come in there must be thousands of them, surely a few must post on here. I can't see a single shread of evidence that we can get crowds of 50k other than you saying you can't see why not.

I would agree 40k is realistic as an aim, but some are saying 50k regularly, which would make us the 4th best supported club in England. There is not a single piece of credible evidence to suggest this is possible.

Ahh, this famous imaginery line again. Where we are tucked away in the south east corner. Underneath a line which also includes areas as far away as Yorkshire in terms of miles and encompasses the whole of Wales. Any reason why these areas would be full of Southampton supporters?

Forget Corteses vision and drive. Forget dreaming of the champions league. Forget Chelsea only getting small crowds in 1982,that we sold a game out once in 6 hours when Brett Ormerod was playing for us, being contained by the Dell a chairman that didnt invest etc etc. Do you really believe a club in a city like of Southampton, can be one one of the best 5 supported clubs in the country, which we would need to be to get crowds of 50k a week. Overtake the likes of Tottenham, Aston Villa, Everton with their history, size and fan bases.

That's it then, because we sold out one game quickly 8 years ago during our beat period in 20 years we better call the builders in.

Obviously not, but I bet we didn't turn away even a 4 figure number for Man Utd. In fact i know for a dact we rarely turned away anyone. I repeat, even at our "peak" in 2003 I never met ANYONE who failed to get a ticket if they really wanted one. Now you answer my question. What was our waiting list for season tickets like in 2002-05?

Can you confirm how long the waiting list for season tickets was 2002-2005 please. That is always a good indication of if you need to expand the stadium, Tottenham have a case to redevelop WHL to the 56k as their waiting list is around 13k in a 36k stadium.

How many were we turning away? A couple of hundred tops i'd imagine. I certainly never heard of anyone not getting a ticket that wanted one, no stories of waiting lists or turning away thousands weekly. What makes people think we'd suddenly have 18,000 disapointed fans each and every week even if we go from finish 8th-12th every season in 2002-14 to the dizzy heights of 7th-10th every season in 2014-18 And your point about Liverpool is relevant, they are a huge club, much bigger than us why and how are we suddenly going to become as well supported as them?

When we were in the premier league and the only club in the area with the imaginery line throuogh Birmingham and London up there, were finishing in the top half, reaching cup finals and playing in Europe we just about managed to sell out most weeks. Can someone please come up with one good reason why now suddenly in the same sized stadium we will be turning away 18k every week. The previous reasons of Chelsea only getting 13k in 1982, Fulham get 25k and they are next door to Chelsea, Liverpool get 40k and they aren't very good at the moment and it being possible because they said man would never climb Everest didn't convince the doubter last time round.

Chelsea have got a huge catchment area and they only used to get 10k in 1983.

Wasn't one of the reasons given as why we could easily fill a 45k stadium week in week out because of the huge catchment area we have?

:lol::lol: LMFAO!!! You're not wrong there mate :lol::lol:

YOu may mock but i doubt any champions league club has issues with their PA system. This is what we aspire to be and getting the basics right is half the battle.

I agree. This has never been satifactory. For club that considers it facilities to be of premier league standard i have to say much of it is far from it. I mentioned the big screens on sunday but this coupled with the PA system are threatening to distabilise the SFC juggernaught. I bet Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool dont have their fans so discontent with the match day facilities. It's difficult to enjoy the matchday experience when there are so many things overshadowing what the players are doing on the pitch.

Seattle here i come FFS!!! It's next week i'm going though mate, she'll have a week to get the prison smell off her before i get anywhere near it.

Radio 5 said last night she is already writing a book and has a deal with a publisher. She may also get compensation for wrongful imprisonment, I know some have over here. No doubt there will be plenty of documentaries and a film. Financially she'll do well out of it.

this story cant be true, we have been told on here only a few weeks ago the mirror just make stories up.