teamsaint

the government and their friends in the city(and beyond) would laugh themselves stupid if they could be bothered to read this thread. They try to divide and rule us, and we are more obliging than the poopey defence on a trip up north. Really, try to work out who the real enemy is...clue, its not teachers, or hard pressed workers in fear of their jobs in the private sector.

well, I have no issue with Coldplay other than that I don't enjoy them...as you can tell I did at least give tham another chance....well 15 minutes at least !! as you say, no point in cyber squabbling..... things I enjoyed that i hadn't seen before.....two wounded birds were fun,Janelle monae likewise, Omar souleyman interesting(for a bit anyway). Didn't mean to offend on the Coldplay thing....should learn to to keep the invective for the poopey thread !!

So, to make clear...I watched some of Coldplay's set. I really didn't enjoy it.Hence my comment. If people really only follow bands because they are cool they are missing out. From where a lot of people stand U2 are pretty uncool. I went off them a long time ago...but I am happy to admit they played perhaps the most exciting show I have ever seen , back in 1980 at the Lyceum. Would this thread really have been better if only people broadly agreeing with the OP had joined in? I read it as a general Glasto thread, and offered something positive, if perhaps a little tongue in cheek, about another act, as well as having a contradictory view on Coldplay. thats how it goes, isn't it?

i thought this was a discussion forum !! Differing opinions are the point aren't they. Not p***ing on anybodys enjoyment, just expressing an opinion. It would be very boring if we all had the same taste. Can't really understand why what I said was SO offensive. Last years I saw Hazel O'connor at a festival, and I didn't enjoy her show, but I actuallt DID enjoy the fact that lots of people there clearly loved it. So I went off for a beer while they enjoyed it.No problem. As it turns out, go! team were a bit average.. but so it goes. But please do tell me what would make me a better person, apart from agreeing with everybody on forums.

coldplay are boring in a genuinely epic way. They are everything that is wrong with rock and roll. hope the go! team get shown...they were ace a couple of years ago.

reckon empress /imperial road would be around a 20 minute walk.

Our stadium is more than adequate to sustain successful PL football, ie solid mid table . If NC is seriously aiming for the next level, Champions league, the level at which we might conceivably need a much bigger stadium, he is deluded, or is planning to spend many 10's of millions of pounds of other peoples money, in fact probably 100's of millions. There are only 2 games in town, PL and CL. CL is beyond bigger, better supported clubs with bigger catchments and history than us. solid mid table PL can be achieved on gates of 32000, just ask Fulham, bolton Stoke.. and US !! Get back to the Pl and prices will rocket (again!). Get the place sold out for every game and the y will rise again. Rather easier than trying to massively expand or move.

it cuts both ways. If NC and NA want a player, or to talk to one, there are plenty of ways of letting the player know with out asking the agent nicely if he would mind. Agents might not like NC(or lots of other chairmen) but they want to do deals.

seriously though....even during our best years in the top flight it was never difficult to get a ticket as a member. I never had a ST at SMS in the Pl and I NEVER missed a game because I couldn't get a ticket through normal channels...my usual route was a fax on the morning they went on sale. If we get back to the PL there probably is scope , theoretically, to expand the capacity a bit...but talk of a 45k stadium is, in my view, nonsense. villa fail to get close to selling out on a regular basis, (with cheap STs too) and they are bigger, have a huge catchment, and frankly have a better history than us. The same can be said of a few other clubs. Talk of us competing with the best in europe is also fanciful. there are two levels..safe PL, and champions league. to get to CL level you have to have massive team investment, and a fan base to help fund it... and in england you also have to compete with clubs like Liverpool, Newcastle, citeh, everton, villa, spuds. NC may be aiming high, and all power to him for that,but saints have a "natural" level, and that is, at best, safe upper mid table PL. The odd wonder season maybe, but that is the reality.

a central question in these thing is, " who wants these changes, and why?" We are told that we cannot afford certain things, but who is telling us, and what is their motivation? We have sky high youth unemplyment, loads of graduate underemployment, yet we are pushing pension ages up and up, while our youngters accumulate sky high levels of debt. There are agendas in operation here.....its the whole country that needs to wake up, not just public sector workers. The rich(and especially the very elites) are getting richer, and they are not sacrificing. Everybody else is paying......

but it won't be commercially sensible if people are priced out, and there are 7000 empty seats at SMS...... which there will be at most games this season. A lost customer is a lost customer.

If people to whom unfair things are happening stuck together, and fought for each other more, perhaps things would get better. rich people (like politicians and football club owners) like us accepting and putting up with bad things like price rises. Usually at the same time they are being profligate with our taxes or ticket money.

ringwood winchester Canterbury guildford Chichester Poole(these days)

why is it not fair? you have your choice of seat at one of the four top teams in the country for £450, and , marketing ploy or not, you can get A ticket for £260. and why is the Fulham comparison unfair? £380 in central London for PL footy......I think plenty of people would see that as a better deal than £370 in the chapel for NPC footy, 23 games or not. And you can have as much as you want on citeh or fulham selling out more than we do next season !!

If people like you are thinking like that then the club should consider themselves to have made some misjudgements. anyway, you can't give up, because you give the most reliable assessments of matches I don't get to. Although i still don't agree with your negative view of Lee Holmes !! I suggest that Norwich have it right, and that saints have over estimated the attractiveness of NPC footy.

you can buy a Value gold at man city for £260. for this you get into every game, but the ticket is where the club choose. Man city are in the CL next season, and they are the cup holders. (and incidentally regular STs are £450). A ST at Fulham , NEW, not renewal, can be yours for £380.. Fulham are in the PL and in central London. now I know there are plenty of places where STs are worse value than Saints....so I think this boils down to the value the club puts on the loyalty of its core customers. In the case of Saints this appears to be a fairly low value.....and if we get back to the PL, those who deserted us in 2005 will be able to come back , pay big bucks that they have had at least 7 years to save , and sod the rest of us. Shame, at a "family" club. Ask QPR fans how it works, if you are unsure.

i would have thought that real Saints fans would want as many other Saints fans at matches as is possible. Championship football is not the stadium filler that the PL is, judging by our attendances over our 4 championship seasons. (23500 average in a playoff season). The REAL laws of supply and demand kick in when there is shortage. People who want to spend a good chunk of their income on supporting the Saints are not the problem here. WE, the supporters, are the lifeblood of this club. and we will be here long after those currently making the decisions have gone. We would be stronger sticking together, not being divided and ruled.

well if that is the case, then one answer would be to limit the more generous concessions to specific, less popular area of the stadium. it seems to me perfectly reasonable for the club to maximise its income from premium seats, while keeping and encouraging its loyal core support by offering cheaper deals in the less popular areas.

There are very big increases for certain groups.(37% in Chapel). Fact. There are teams in the PL in the south (Fulham ) which have STs at under £400. Fact. a season ticket may be a luxury purchase...but many of the people who make that luxury purchase have supported(financially) the is club for years/decades.Fact. If I can find 2 other people to switch to supporting citeh, and prepared to buy a "value gold" ST at eastlands and share petrol, it would be cheaper than 3 average STs at SMS. (and some other teams , TBF). Fact. I won't be doing this, obviously. Fact. when I am treated as a "customer", and not an endlessly loyal supporter(over 40 years), I behave as a customer. if I don't renew my ST, which i probably won't, i will certainly not spend more money on match tickets than I would have on the ST. Fact. the club lose out if I don't renew. Fact. when we were in the PL, I never has a ST, and I NEVER failed to get a ticket, when i wanted one. Fact. SMS will have at least 7000 empty seats at most matches this season. (probable) Fact. I am really disappointed by these rises.

you can buy a new (not renewal) ST at Fulham (premier league central London) with several areas available at under £450, and some at £380. there ARE clubs that are worse value(Leeds AFC Wimbledon), but ours are steep in comparison to many.(villa from £340) £25 minimum for a walk up will make me think twice on what I can spend the money on.Ticket to see us play donny or posh, or £25 worth of CDs ?

and when we have been convinced that its worth getting into personal debt to buy stuff like season tickets, we know that the people at the top have really got us where they want us. income tax...tithes in another era. One can only hope that one day the criminals in the western worlds central banks will get their just deserts. Perhaps the long term recession they caused , and that we are suffering, will cause us all to wake up...... One of the biggest richest economies in the world, and good , reasonable priced housing, pensions, and quality healthcare are all things we can only dream of, or remember fondly from the past. And don't get me started on the artificial food shortages and price rises , and their effect on the worlds poor...

keep a sash for away..yellow with blue sash?

lets just hope for a couple of extra days off. Celebrate?.............

on the A36 north of salisbury there is a section of 30 limit, which becomes 40 for about 100 yards, and then returns to 30. If you wanted to design limits to trap people, you couldn't do better.

bet if you did a poll of fans of league teams, the playoffs would get a high level of support. The system need to allow for enough movement between divisions. in a 24 team league its possible that 4 up and 4 down would be better. ( why are there 4 down from L1 but only 3 down from the NPC). The playoff system also need tweaking in favour of the 3rd placed team...although that wouldn't have saved huddersfield. anyway, bad luck to hudders....awful to not go up with 87 points, but if they are good enough they will get out next season..iMO they need to lash out some cash on one class striker.