stevegrant

Didn't suggest that would be the case - I specifically contacted people I know at the club to see if I could pre-arrange something. Might still be possible, I'll hopefully find out in the next few days once they've got settled in there. No real rush as I won't be there until late on Monday anyway.

Expect easyjet would try to charge me another £50 to take them on board

I fly out to Basel on Monday, been told it's unlikely I'll be able to get any access to training during the week as the training complex is a "secure compound", which sounds rather sinister

If you'd placed a "to win" accumulator on each of the six games Germany have played, and followed Paul the octopus' predictions, you'd have got cumulative odds of 314/1

118/5, 6 down if Key doesn't return, 7 down if Khan can't bat either Potential innings victory, and having taken full bonus points, that'll be a massive lift.

I give it until the Bournemouth game before that gets reversed

Done by a Cork bouncer, apparently 64/3 now (effectively 64/4 if Key can't come back in)

While the figures on their own are utterly insane, I'm intrigued that a website that doesn't appear to have changed (in terms of its functionality) over those three years requires identical spending on "design and build" every year Every site I've ever been involved in has done the vast majority of its design and build before the initial launch...

As I'm a generous soul, I'd have probably done it for £1m a year, tbf...

The squad valuation was £38m, IIRC.

Seeing as the comparative striking options between Saints and Wednesday are being discussed, let's have a look at what's on offer: Sheffield Wednesday Akpo Sodje - 12 games for Wednesday last season, 0 goals. Two spells on loan at Charlton as well, 5 goals in 25 appearances (10 starts). Total: 5 goals in 37 games. Paul Heffernan - 11 games for Doncaster last season, 0 goals. 4 games on loan at Oldham, 1 goal. 11 games on loan at Bristol Rovers, 4 goals. Total: 5 goals in 26 games. Marcus Tudgay - 46 games for Wednesday last season, 10 goals. Total: 20 goals between 3 players in 109 games. Saints Rickie Lambert - 58 games for Saints last season, 36 goals. Also 1 game for Bristol Rovers, 1 goal. Total: 37 goals in 59 games. Lee Barnard - 22 games for Saints last season, 9 goals. Also 28 games for Southend, 17 goals. Total: 26 goals in 50 games. David Connolly - 23 games for Saints last season, 7 goals. Adam Lallana - 56 games for Saints last season, 20 goals. Total: 90 goals between 4 players in 188 games Even if you say the Championship is twice as hard to score in than League One (which it isn't, but we'll say that to make the numbers easier), Tudgay's equivalent 20 goals (the other two strikers scored all their goals in League One anyway) still doesn't get the Wednesday strikeforce anywhere near ours.

I'd agree, but let's face it, we'd all fancy a trip to Wembley again as an added bonus. The two don't necessarily have to be mutually exclusive.

Don't Wednesday have some pretty serious financial problems? Surprised the likes of Tudgay and Grant haven't left already, to be honest.

They won't be that bad, they've still got enough players to at least be in the top 10. Gary Doherty's a decent enough signing at centre-back, for example. If Colchester and MK Dons can get comfortably in the top 10, I'm sure Charlton will manage, even with their financial problems.

Where does it say "up to" on that article? While it's a good signing, credit where it's due, etc, I'm slightly surprised we've paid out £450k for a player who was signed on a free a year ago and only had a year remaining on his contract, particularly considering the hard bargain we drove with Southend for Lee Barnard.

Someone just beat you to it http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?23670-Frazer-Richardson-signed-from-Charlton

They did well to keep that one quiet. Good signing

There is a 60% wages-to-turnover cap in League Two (although as Notts County proved, there are ways around it), but the League One chairmen voted against it a while back, so it doesn't apply in this division.

I think he's coaching at Skonto these days.

I've just tried it online and the charge is now applied as soon as you add any tickets to your basket, so I would assume it was just a mistake which led some people to being able to buy online without the fee.

That's the thing that baffles me, the club have brought in the matchday surcharge to encourage people to buy in advance, but then bring in the booking fees that mean in many cases it's cheaper for people to take their chance with a big queue before the game than to buy in advance online where it's more convenient for everyone.

I must be missing the point here, but where has anyone complained at the season ticket pricing structure?

But he's not said "Markus has funded our spending this season, we're still a loss-making business". He's said that Markus has allotted funds for this "5-year plan" (let's not forget, certain people on here were adamant that there was no such plan not too long ago), which obviously implies that there is a pot of money that is available - I don't dispute that - but I would imagine that money won't be used while they can run the club self-sufficiently in League One. They'll have to spend more on players in the Championship, so that'll be when that fund comes into play, IMO.

That doesn't mean he's funding us right here, right now. With a midtable Championship wage bill, but a high-end Championship revenue stream (based on the attendances), even with the transfer outlay last season, we should still have been breaking even - particularly with nearly £1m made from the JPT final alone. Once we get into the Championship, that is when this "fund" might be required, as the transfer spending will have to be a bit more substantial.

I'd agree, but it seems the club doesn't, for whatever reason. I would think it's pretty unlikely that we'll be getting any big name club coming here on the 24th for a TBT game now, mainly as all the top clubs will have had their pre-season schedules packed weeks or even months in advance, which is a great pity from an anniversary-celebration perspective, and also I personally like seeing us tested against the top clubs in Europe, even if they do ultimately end up winning comfortably. We gave Ajax a very good game for 45 minutes last year. The only time we've been completely taken apart was against Lazio. Off the top of my head: Jan 2004: Bayern Munich D 1-1 Jul 2004: Chievo W 3-1 Jul 2005: Anderlecht W 3-2 Jul 2006: Panathinaikos D 1-1 Jul 2007: Lazio L 1-5 Jul 2008: West Ham D 2-2 Jul 2009: Ajax L 1-4