mikee

My backup plan for a ticket is to get one via the hotel concierge and is the main reason I booked into a decent hotel. Phone the concierge and ask for a ticket with your extra blanket.

relieved to get a ticket having already booked hotel and flights - reckon there could be around 1,000 tickets left for non season ticket holders

personally i think winning the Euros has changed Fonte's outlook and ambition. He has had a taste of the glory of a major trophy and desperately wants more but realises that this will not happen at Saints. Can't really blame him but it is a real kick in the teeth for us fans who have to stick with the club regardless of ambitions!!

The difference is that those teams still manage to win things every now and then despite selling their best players whereas for Saints it is stopping us from winning anything.

It depends what our ambitions are: if we are happy to keep rebuilding every 2 years and be seen as a stepping stone to bigger things then the current strategy is fine; if we want to try to establish ourselves as a contender then we need a manager who sees SFC as a long term plan - like the boards 5 year plan - and will sell that vision to players rather than "come here for a season or 2 and put yourself in the shop window for a big move". It would be interesting to know which approach the club favours.

Very true.... Koeman saw us as a stepping stone and I am sure that he has sold the same strategy to the players he has signed as well. Any replacement big name manager will be the same. Perhaps this makes someone like Eddie Howe a better option as he would see us as a long term project?

So when your old man said be a pompey fan - what did you say?

2 that immediately spring to mind are Wijnaldum & Shaqiri who would have been affordable but have instead strengthened our rivals. Particularly Wijnaldum as he is the goal scoring attacking midfielder our side is screaming out for. I was shocked that we didn't go in for him given our dutch connections.

Personally i applaud the attempt to be more attacking with a 4-1-3-2 formation rather than a 4-2-3-1 and this is perhaps where we need to go longer term to be more offensive. The issue is we do not have a good enough defence as it stands to play this way and I suspect the formation change is more about Clasie being injured than anything else. I am sure that we will now see a consistent 4-2-3-1 with Wanyama and Romeu as the 2 holding players and Davis as part of the forward 3 as this helps us to press and defend better. But I look forward to seeing a successful 4-1-3-2 formation in the future as it will be a sign of progress.

nothing about the game or ticketing arrangements that I can see on the website. anyone have any info on tickets?

this is the problem with the amount of money in the game now - it overrides the principles of a football club in most cases. It is a shame we let money cover up what would in any other walk of life be considered gross misconduct and an instant dismissal. Is it any wonder that players are in the main a bunch of ***** and see themselves above the law. I was a bit shocked when we let Gaston go on loan last season as we didn't have anyone like him in our squad - and still don't have a no10 type of player - but he didn't seem to do anything at Hull or even force himself into a struggling team so unlikely to come back to us and be a world beater.

ridiculous that a 50 year old man gets a lump in his throat reading that...but there you go.

I have to agree with this. He also had several great chances to put a ball over the top for Mane to create a 1 on 1 with the keeper but failed to get any of them over the centre backs. You have to admire his attitude and commitment but in the premiership you also need skill and composure.

Strange to think that in the same timeframe Spurs have made even more money from our academy than we have!!

Top post! This inspired me to burn all of my MLT videos / DVD's and my old saints shirts - particularly satisfying seeing the '76, '84 and '03 shirts go up in flames. Might even boo the team tomorrow now I am a proper fan.

Contrary to many posts on here I would have thought Koeman will be delighted with the current situation and the opportunity to bring in his own players. The fact he seems to be OK with it - based on what he has said so far - leads me to believe he feels that we need better players to improve on last seasons position. All very exciting if that is the case. I accept that things look bad right now and play into the hands of the pessimists but we are only half way through the turnaround. It would be good though if the club could give us some reassurance that this is the plan as this would stop a lot of the negative feeling that is dominant at the moment.

Almost as long as you have had your bed wetting job. The difference is that I don't smell of **** all the time!!

it is a change of regime - new Chairman, Manager, Board etc. People who were affiliated with the past regime want to move on and the new regime are OK with that so long as they get top price as it allows them to rebuild the team with their own men. Perfectly normal, it is just unusual to have regime change after such a successful season.

i find it quite ridiculous that Lambert leaving is being used to bash the board. If anything it shows the opposite, that they care about Saints and the feelings of their key employees. Lallana and Shaw are different but in both cases we got a good price for 2 players that wanted to further their careers. Unfortunately Lovren doesn't seem to have any morals about contracts but i am hopeful that Morgan can be convinced to stay.

If you took the finance option - like I did - then pretty sure you can cancel within 7 or 14 days - not that I will be doing that. All finance agreements have a cooling off period.

One of the reasons that Poch has been able to play his system is the willingness of the players to work as hard as they do. If he went to a top team do you think the superstars he inherits would be so willing - it will be like AVB at Chelsea. Yes we need Poch but I also think he needs us as well. This is his BEST chance (providing the financial backing is there) to see how far his philosophy can go. It is the perfect storm and both parties would be foolish to quell it in my opinion.

No - I think Ramirez did that!

I would say that Lambert is up there with say James Beattie or Steve Mortan in terms of influential strikers although his England exploits have made him much more popular amongst neutrals. But there is a long list of players between him and MLT - Paine, Channon, Ball, Case, Golac, Dennis, Williams, Shearer, Wallace, Wallace, Dodd, Wright, Shilton, Niemi, Flowers, Nicholl, Holmes to name just a few of them.

I feel sorry for the guy that counts them all! Although he probably gets one of those silver clicky things that bouncers use.

Agreed. Lallana has been tiring in games recently but should be able to do some damage coming off the bench - probably a better option than Lambert from the bench. Jos played well last time out and Fonte is coming back from a knock. Hardly bizzare.