moonraker

He said he won’t send them to Ukraine, anon NATO member, you cannot extrapolate from this 5hat he won’t if a NATO member is attacked.

Yes, if you believe in honouring agreements , oops we have Bojo in charge and he has no honour at all.

Basing your knowledge of NATO member states military capability on Trumps rankings does not merit serious consideration. NATO does need the USA but do not so easily dismiss the capability of other countries militaries like Trump very arrogant.

You suggest that some in NATO are more “equal” than others. If the major military powers in NATO reacted as you suggest that would play directly into Putins hands, not only sacrificing a NATO member but also underwriting his rhetoric on the corrupt west.

In 1939 Hitler banked on the UK and France not honouring their commitment to Poland. Putin is nothing if not a survivor, he will weigh very carefully any attack on a NATO member against the will of NATO members to honour article 5. I do not pretend to understand the warped mind of the likes of Putin, but he will also have to weigh the risk of internal revolt, and this I think may be a greater concern for him.

I especially disagree on Spike Milligan, if only for his appearance on Room 101 when he not only put his house in but also the City of Portsmouth.

Everton were terrible, we also made it hard for them they couldn’t handle our intensity. Only minor downside, we should have 5 or 6.

It’s poor game, WH look lost

Started school in 62 and definitely had closures at the beginning of the 63 snow. Mainly because it was village school and teachers could not get there and we had kids bussed in who also could not get there. My secondary school also closed a couple of times due to inaccessibility caused by the weather.

I have not created a ranking system, just stated some of the things that would be obvious to anyone creating a business plan for stadium expansion. As you I am sure well know such an ambition would require a lot of research and analysis, and alongside a ranking a weighting would be applied, I am sure with your apparent superior insight you could do that. You, I, nor anyone else on here has empirical evidence as to whether an expansion would result in notably and regular increased attendance, but I for one like to believe that the club can grow, as has been said so many times we all have an opinion on these things and my differs from yours.

John sorry for your loss. I do not make every home game as I do not go on my own, so only go when other family members are available, one lives in Cambridge the other here in Bath. We normally make 8 or 9 home games and a couple of aways a season.

Because I am a Saints fan. I also watch my local non league team, Bath City and Bath Rugby, and occasionally go to Brizzle Rovers with a couple of mates, but Saints will always be my priority. I know I am fortunate to be able to afford to enjoy all of this.

I do not believe there is a single super metric for assessing our potential for bigger attendances. Whilst I accept that a healthy season ticket waiting list would add to the body of evidence for potential increased attendances it is as you state one of many. Taking any criteria in isolation does not further the discussion. That being said I think there are three others that in my view carry similar weight as season ticket waiting list; Catchment area, on field success (subjective in its own right) and historic trends. My view is that whilst we cannot claim exclusive attractiveness to the whole central south and south west, we do, I would contend, offer more than all the other clubs in these areas, the vast majority of clubs (in the prem) who have increased their capacity have seen a corresponding increase in attendances, our current on field performance is very encouraging, and for a club of our size we are as established and stable as a prem club could ask to be. So in conclusion there is not a single super metric, as a business the club need to assess all of the evidence (metrics) to assess the potential for growing our attendance and weigh that against the increased potential for commercial growth.

Waiting lists as has been argued above are no indication of future potential. How long was the waiting list when we were at The Dell? We now have an average attendance double our Dell average, many said 25000 was enough, well we built 32000 and in the main whilst in the Prem they have come.

I never stated we could attract Brizzle fans, but up to Bath we can. In the 80s I used a regular coach from Bath always full. There was also a pub in West Lavington that acted as a ticket agent band ran a coach. Build it and they will come.

Ipswich has about half the population of Southampton. I gave reasons why Bristol's club struggle with support. If city could establish themselves in the prem they would in all likelihood, but for their stadium 27k, double their attendances.

Of the teams you reference only one is premiership side, Bristol as is much of the West Country is as much a Rugby area as football, 4 of the top 5 Rugby clubs for attendances are in the West Country, there are also a lot of "plastics" possibly i would contend because neither of Bristol's two clubs have been able to break out of the Lower leagues.

By your parochial criteria Everton and Liverpool should only be attracting crowds of 25k ish. I live in Bath and know a couple of dozen saints fans here, and i don't go out looking for them. Saints catchment is pretty big, their is no real competition to the West or North West until Bristol, Brighton are the nearest competition to the East with the exception of plague island. I believe we could easily build a 40k crowd if we were to continue to play attractive and entertaining football.

Never doubted that Jack was a premiership player, yes he has had a few dreadful moments, but he is an intelligent player who has passion and the ability to wind up opponents. He was excellent when he came on today.

Sad news, condolences to all of Minsk's family and friends.

Shout for Stevens great performance so far

United continuous fouls need to be punished

United are a better team than spuds, we need to adjust, their counter is very dangerous

Our next manager is not on that list

Amused by the wording of the BBC article “Armstrong's goal pipped Harvey Elliott's strike, the Liverpool teenager marking his return after five months out with a fine goal in their 3-1 win over Cardiff City.” He more than pipped him with 33% more votes.