stevegrant

More likely the 6th, as the evening of the 5th is the Charlton home game.

Fair to say my first touch isn't anywhere near as good as that anymore

Bournemouth is understandable as we are their nearest club geographically. Brighton's is just bizarre, I can only assume it's bitterness dating back to 1977 when us and Spurs played out a tedious 0-0 draw on the last day of the season to ensure we both went up, with Brighton the team missing out.

We had 3300 last season.

Evening all, Having originally believed the club weren't running end-of-season pitch events this season, I got a call last week to tell me that, in fact, they are, so we've again got the opportunity to play a game on the hallowed turf at St Mary's. Unfortunately, the cost has gone up a bit from last year, so that means that, should we get enough interest to confirm the game, the cost will be as follows: 90 minutes: £270 45 minutes: £135 There will be 6 90-minute slots in both teams and 10 45-minute slots (5 in the first half, 5 in the second half). If you wish to participate, please email playatsms@saintsweb.co.uk with ALL of the following details: Forum Username Real Name Email Address Age Preferred Foot (left, right, both, two left feet, etc) Up to three preferred positions in order of preference (options: GK, RB, LB, CB, RM, LM, CM, ST - each should be self-explanatory) 45 or 90 minutes (also say whether you'd be willing to accept the alternative) The deadline for applications is 5pm on Tuesday 5th April, and payments will be due within two weeks of that date (i.e. by 5pm on Tuesday 19th April). Full Members will be given priority if the event is oversubscribed. If anyone has any questions, please either PM me or post below. Good luck

Sold out, apparently!

Why would someone buy a car before checking how much the insurance was going to cost?

I'm not surprised in the slightest. The BBC - as with the vast majority of other broadcasters - has gone downhill rapidly over the last 10-20 years. They seem to take a really bizarre and contradictory stance on things, they'll imply in-depth knowledge in their audience when they should be providing the knowledge and clarity themselves (as in this case), and yet imply stupidity in their audience by going into some things in minute detail when it's completely unnecessary as the audience already knows what they're talking about.

Still bitter about 1977. That's the only conclusion I can draw, really.

I'm not convinced it's quite as sinister as that. This season, they have been receiving season ticket funds (paid for by card) from Barclays on a pro-rata basis as each home game is played. That means that a month with only one home game (as they had in December because of the crap weather) leaves them rather short in terms of cashflow. Most clubs' season ticket holders will generally renew at the earliest opportunity in order to make the biggest saving. If Pompey can persuade the vast majority of those to pay by cash or cheque (i.e. methods that see the money go straight into the bank account of PFC Realisations Ltd), they've got all that cash up front and don't have to worry too much about the pro-rata releasing of credit card funds over the course of the season. Of course, this could all backfire horrendously if the fans decide they can't/won't renew with cash or a cheque and will wait for the second sales stage and pay by card. Of course, the card merchant will take a percentage of all transactions anyway...

Usually for away games, the club doesn't have much (if any) control over which tickets you're allocated. The home club will often specify in what order tickets are to be sold/distributed.

I'd never heard of it before, but it seems as though the Football League takes 3% of all gate receipts. Whether it applies across all three FL divisions or not, I don't know, although I would be very surprised if it *only* applied to the Championship.

I don't think people are moaning about the sponsor, per se, more that quotes attributed to the chairman heavily hinted at a household name. As a result, it's understandable that many might be somewhat underwhelmed. Personally, I couldn't give a toss whether it's a big name or not, as long as the deal is bringing the right sort of money into the club.

Interesting line in there: Good to see that they took into account all potential costs when they drew up the season's budget...

I guess it's possible that Barclays (or whoever - think it was Barclays this season) have said they'll only take card payments for season tickets under the same restrictions as this season, i.e. they'll release the money to the club pro-rata. The club have therefore gambled that the majority of STHs will renew in the discounted period, and that if they all pay by cash or cheque, they've got all the money up front rather than having to wait for most of it over the course of the season.

I'd also like to know what this levy payable to the Football League's all about...

I'm most intrigued by the fact that credit card payments WILL be accepted for non-"early bird" ST purchases. Seems very odd.

There are international games on the 26th and 29th, hence the game being called off in the first place...

The proposed academy ruling will never come to fruition. The most interesting thing to come from Late Kickoff tonight was that on the East Anglia version, Dion Dublin claimed that Norwich have agreed a deal of up to £3m for Craig Mackail-Smith, which includes him joining them on loan immediately. If that's true, while I'd be disappointed to have missed out on signing him in the summer, it gives us a massive boost for the rest of this season that the team I see as our main rival for second place have lost their best player.

Thought I'd pick this up again... Since I started the thread, every team's played a further two games. Rochdale lost both, so I've removed them from the list, and replaced them with MK Dons. Brighton, Saints, Peterborough, Huddersfield, Dons and Orient won both games, while Bournemouth lost both. Bournemouth's stumble puts us in second place in terms of results since the new year: Brighton 2.43 (34 from 14) Saints 2.14 (30 from 14) Peterborough 2.13 (32 from 15) Orient 2.07 (29 from 14) Huddersfield 2.06 (31 from 15) Bournemouth 1.94 (31 from 16) Taking those scores and putting them into the remaining games (bear in mind we've got games in hand over everyone except Brighton and Orient, the latter probably only fighting for a playoff spot realistically anyway), the table would finish something like this: Brighton 100 Saints 87 ----------------- Peterborough 85 Huddersfield 83 Bournemouth 80 Leyton Orient 80 ----------------- MK Dons 78

It's on the to-do list, but as it's pretty time-consuming, I'm afraid it's quite low down that list. Depending on which browser you're using, there are ways of turning off images, styles, etc. In Firefox, install the Web Developer Toolbar, and on there there are options to disable CSS (the colour scheme and layout, essentially) and images.

How do you know we "leave all the others alone"? You have no way of knowing whether a user's been given an infraction unless that person reveals it themselves.

Considering your proficient use of the "report post" button, usually because you simply just don't like the person who's posted, I really wouldn't be complaining about people reporting your posts.