up and away

The price of the season ticket in a lot of cases is not the biggest expenditure, it's all the add ons that go with that day out. If you live within a bus ride of St Mary's, a season ticket is not that bad value compared to alternatives. Anyone with a bit of nous would combine with one, two or several others to share a season ticket/s, it is so much cheaper. Football is a luxury and if you really wanted to do things on a budget then a small investment in Saints player is really good value. I feel sorry for those old folks where heating is a luxury in the winter, football will just adjust to the market forces and there is little to be done. But I really don't see a big change afoot, not when you have so many fanatics in this country. Ticket prices are a double edged sword, it allows team to compete for players and it will affect attendances. They tend to naturally gravitate to a mid position to balance both sides of the equation or the club just goes down through the tiers.

2005 by a mile. We had so many chances to avoid relegation it became embarrassing. Just the smallest amount of common sense or organization would have kept us up. It was something like 4 teams below 30 points come the last game and I can't remember a lower total needed to avoid relegation. So many blown chances and we were still in it until the final day, where we still could of got out of it. In 2009 we were dead in the water before we kicked a ball. We could not sell any players with exception of swapping a crocked Davies for Pulis and £1M+, could not give a lot of the high earners away, just a couple of loans who kept getting returned.

This is not about defending Lowe, but the effect Redknapp had upon our relegation and there is no one to blame but that satchel faced thwat. Lowe was completely out of the way apart from backing satchel face to the hilt with the amount of transfer money in the window, in excess of all the other teams in that fight put together. So when you make comments such as the above you are talking total ******. You can question whether Lowe was right to give all that money during that transfer window in trying to retain that premier position, because it left us with serious financial restraints the following season. Your comments may have a point the season after relegation, but during that relegation seaon satchel face never had anything but the full backing and support which dwarfed all other relegation candidates at the time. All Redknapp had to do was impart a very small amount of his managerial skills for our benefit and we would have stayed up, but he could not even do that. There were several games where just a modicum of managerial nous could have been employed that would have resulted in us staying up, but Redknapp did not want to be here and his whole demeanour affected his ability to do the job. You can rightly point the finger at Lowe before and after that end of that seasons relegation battle, but during that second half of our relegation season Redknapp had maximum backing, support and no interference. That was solely down to Redknapp alone where just the smallest of controlled thinking and execution would have kept us up. So many opportunities the list is endless, none of them taken.

What a total misrepresentation of history, even Stalin would had second thoughts on that one. That satchel faced thwat only took the Saints job because of his spat with Mandaric and regretted it from the first minute. When he was presented to the press and held out the saints scarf, if was as if someone had swapped his head for a beetroot it was that red. Just someone who half cared could have kept us up that season, the lowest points total on record to achieve safety. Managers are there to influene our players such to make those small differences, instead of hiding his head or running off down the tunnel to avoid the reality. Just installing some discipline from the dug out would of kept us up, but the whole show was a rabble going back to that twitchy faced fraud. Crouch being red carded for the final games was just the icing on the cake. Lowe gave Redknapp access to close to £4.5M in the January window, with bids in for Reid and Dawson at Notts Forest never coming off. You can blame Lowe for lots of things, but he had fook all to do with that. At the end of the day he got outdone by that tactical genius Bryan Robson, who never had a pot to **** in during the January window. As much as I don't blame Jamie, what use is a walking crock who could only deliver for half a game max. Yep he looked good, but that was about it and when you had a whole team of crocks the priority was to get someone who could influence games regulary, not now and then for 30 minutes.

The only way I can imagine Arsenal and ManU approaching Oxo or his representatives and commenting in public, would be if there are conditions within his contract allowing such. We know Fergie has spoken to Oxo’s representatives because he stated in public that the possibility of ManU being a possible destination had been addressed, obviously it was not seen as such previously. What I don’t believe is the high value being placed by contract conditions. These conditions would have been inserted on the insistence of team Oxo, so I really doubt they would have agreed to such a high value, you may as well not bother. What would make sense are conditions similar to Theo’s, where all stages of payment were laid out based upon initial amount and add-ons for various games played. It’s not unimaginable to see Cortese playing hard ball and in effect making that very difficult to happen without all the money being paid up front. There may be the possibility that Cortese can block the contract and demand any figure he likes, but I really doubt that and something that would be quickly sorted by a tribunal. I don’t believe the clubs value the player at anywhere near the figures being mentioned but that may well change if performances in the Championship live up to expectation. It’s a win-win situation for these clubs and not a big minus for Oxo. The Championship will be a perfect development field for Oxo and the clubs greatly reduce the risk of buying a dud by seeing those Championship performances. The only problem for Arsenal would be if he does decide to go elsewhere. There seems little doubt to me that the lad will be off if someone puts up the cash, but at least they are being practical should this not happen. Saints can’t hold out forever because there is only 2 years left on his contract and playing in the Championship at this stage of his career could well be the best development possible. As for Wenger being about to be shown the door someone needs to look at the comparison of transfer deals between Wenger and Ferguson over his tenure. The difference was something like £250M before Ronaldo (maybe after, can't remember exactly). The only reason Arsenal now have the ability to fight it out with the top boys in Europe is solely down to Wenger, something that will not go unnoticed even with a change in the boardroom. Absolutely staggering, unparalleled in the UK.

Not sensational news, but very interesting all the same. Just think about it, what other clubs give their manager a contract extension after 3 months when they already have one for a few years? Bearing in mind that that our position and performance at that time does not guarantee automatic promotion, Cortese must have seen something special that Adkins can bring to his vision. Contract extensions don't necessarily tie a manager to the club longer, but they do show the manager that he is wanted as part of the permanent set up and a valued member of the club. That's very good man management from Cortese, especially when Adkins only really showed how good he was far later in the season. It also indicates that there was a big difference between Pardew and Adkins in Cortese's eyes. I was concerned that Adkins had not moved his family down as yet, but the backing from Cortese so early goes a long way in helping matters. Adkins has gone out of his way to state how Cortese behaved impecably during the contract negotiations with S****horpe, later quoting several times on their great working relationship. So maybe there was no hype in those comments and they are both working very closely and from the same page.

If I remember correctly, it would be the Kingsland, capable of 8k. With the Northam and Chapel capable of 5k each. the Itchen cannot be expanded. The council has indicated that it will bend over backwards to keep the stadium within the city, so I believe the planning issues can be smoothed over. I would imagine the club could just do one side first and see how demand settles out, then do the other/s should gates indicate a further demand. Personally I would guess that 40k would be ideal if we are successful. The club will require planning guarantees that an option for further stands will be nailed on should the first be successful, otherwise you could be far better off building a new purpose built stadium elsewhere.

I believe he would have gone in the last window should any top club have been prepared to buy him out of his existing contract. We know Arsenal tried, but must be short enough for Cortese to hold them at bay. You don't want any of your better players to leave because it is impossible in the near future for Saints to ever have a player like Walcott, Bale or Oxo, without them coming up through the youth ranks. It's nice to see the Chamberlains being practical and accepting the situation when you consider the lengths Jones did to leave. My optimism of him staying is tempered by the reality that the better he does, the quicker he will be off. Cortese can only fend them off to the limits of the contract and once his performances meet that value, he will be off. Playing in the Championship next season will be very good experience for the lad and give the vultures a far better perspective of the players worth. The only way we will get to keep him is if his performance don't rate the hype, but I still don't see any new contract being acceptable. Interesting to see we have replaced Terry Cooper at long last and a fistful of money spent wisely in this direction could make a massive impact to getting into the Premier. So even if we lose Oxo, this cloud will definitely have a silver lining. Getting that automatic spot has allowed us to move quickly to establishing our needs next season and I would imagine the club would do something similar towards a DOF should we get into the Premier.

IMHO the only reason Oxo did not leave in that January window was because Cortese would not budge from Arsenal having to pay the maximum, something they were not prepared to do. Mark was happy to say previously that he was staying at Saints, but the only thing we got out of him then were that the numbers being talked about were staggering and what a good club Arsenal was. What's going to happen now I don't know, but when the lad and his family are now saying positive things, it has to be good. Whether because of Cortese'e expected stance has an influence I do not know, but any contract renegotiations or the lack of should tell us all we need to know. I get the feeling either team would have been equally poor for progressing the lad, he basically needed to be at a club where he would get a game every week where mistakes would be over looked and the onus was on Theo making and scoring, irrespective of how selfish that became. Doubt if that would have worked for any club in the Premier, but certainly would have in the Championship. Theo came into the game late on and I feel he has an important aspect missing on the mental side of the game. With all his talent he is absolutely clueless in certain situations, far better to those he has regularly been exposed to on the wing. When I have seen him played up front in the middle he always looks like a rabbit in the headlights, unable to create space even with that abundance of pace. He always gravitates to the position where the ball is expected, irrespective of how many defenders are there already or takes up a no mans position that loses either way. Rather than take up a position where he has the best chance of scoring should the ball come to him. He needed to go out every weekend and fill his boots until everything became second nature to him. Admittedly Arsenal never helped where he was so enamoured with those around him his only thought were others rather than himself.

Maybe a bit hasty, but I would easily write this one off. That is not to say the lad is not that bad, but I am having difficulty seeing something special. This is one position where I believe it will be the easiest to add far batter than our current options to our squad, there are a lot of decent players available if you have the cash. From the lad who came down with Preston to someone like O'Hara who could come within our sights, I am sure we can do far better.

With Lawrie, this will be as close as it gets to a perfect world, that is more than acceptable to me. Looking at things the other way you could say similar about Cortese and that would not be far adrift. The policy of no guaranteed free gifts to ex-employees has certainly bent a lot of noses out of shape, but combine that with the removal of all politics and that goes a long way to building the bond throughout the club we now have. Lawrie has employed these two points to the maximum in the past, glad he can make do without.

I seem to remember several tight games where we have been fumbling around for the key and Guly has come along and picked the lock. The biggest difference Guly has brought to the team is the ability to unlock a stubborn defence, even when we have not been playing at our best. We have a core of players in Fonte, Lallana, Guly, Oxo and Connolley that will have no trouble cutting it in the Championship and the rest are not that far behind. Guly has issues, but if you just play him about the front with limited defensive responsibilities, he is a gem. If we can bring in 3-4 real quality players, goalie, centre back, midfield and #9, there would be enough fill to get us straight to the Premier.

Why not listen to them all and come to your own informed opinion? When you have the lad, his mother and father all say he is staying, albeit with a few things to sort out, that is about as nailed on as you can get. I don't think Cortese will let this opportunity slip by so we must have an excellent chance to retain him. All those quoting Mark now should repeat any comments he made during the window, where apart from "the numbers are staggering", just would not comment. The open courting of Oxo in public by Arsenal and ManU was astonishing, culminating tn Ferguson commenting that he had cleared te air with his father about ManU being a viable destination. When you consider that during all this time Cortese kept remakably checked, I can only come to the assumption that Oxo's contract had conditions which would automatically allow him to leave should they be met. Otherwise I just cannot imagine Arsenal and ManU would behave in such a manner, nor that Cortese would remained so checked. You then have to ask how those contract details got into the open, but with just the ability to light the blue touch paper should be enough to figure that one out. I believe he did agree personal terms with Arsenal in the January window. Why, becasue I remember seeing an article carrying an exclusive that personal terms had been agreed and Wenger stating that we will have to see if we can do a deal with Saints now. Anyone can put the words exclusive against an article, but a vary high percentage of the time this comes from direct quotes from someone pertinent to the negotiations. So why did he not leave for Arsenal? I would assume because Cortese stuck to the absolute limits of that contract, not budging an inch. And at the end of the day, Arsenal were not prepared to pay that amount. So why the turn around? I don't really know but would guess that an immediate move away from League 1 looked very attractive and the Championship looks a whole lot better. Then consider if you are moving to Arsenal, where within all that mountain of talent do you fit the lad in to get a game? It's absolutely brilliant for someone like Oxo to go to the likes of Arsenal, but only if he is going to get competitive play. If Arsenal were to pay top dollar that is a very good sign he would feature, the lower that value becomes, the less that becomes a possibility. I am just grateful the lad is staying, but we should get an idea about where things are heading from any new contract or the absence of such.

I don't believe we do intend to sell Oxo and this is Adkins way of getting him to feel part of the team. But I don't believe we can stop him from leaving if an offer meets up with the conditions in his contract. Oxo has 2 years left on his contract and it will do him no harm to play in the Championship. It just comes down to whether any club is prepared to pay full whack, so there is still a fair chance he may stay.

I believe there is enough public knowledge out there to readily counter that Cortese’s intentions were to sack Pardew, irrespective of events. You don’t even have to be itk to work it out! The biggest piece in this jigsaw that has to be hammered into place with a 10lb hammer and router, how would anyone know that Cortese intended to sack Pardew at some later point? Unless someone actually heard these words from Cortese’s mouth, how can it be anything but speculation? If anyone is going to seriously suggest that Cortese spread this about months in advance, when in all other instances we have not heard a mouse fart from that direction?

I think there are a few other aspects to the flag and why I believe it could be one of the more important gestures fans have made over the years and why it could be so right for this occasion. Saturday is going to be a tribute day for Markus and I doubt there will be a dry eye in the house at the end of the day and that's just amongst the fans. The emotions within the directors box for the family and friends will be ratched up even higher. If any have lingering doubts about the budget for that extra special player or two, events on the day could have a major influence, with that flag holding centre stage.

I am pretty sure Pardew never had Cortese’s full backing at the back end of last season, otherwise Cortese would not have been considering his options to what was on offer if he replaced Pardew. I don’t believe there is anything to suggest that Cortese only made his move following Markus’s passing, unless Cortese felt it was in line with his wishes. Cortese had such total control even down to the smallest of details and Markus never interfered. There was a very strong rumour that Markus made a comment in the director’s box that Pardew should be gone. That is the only snippit I have ever heard that may of come from Markus. Whether true or not, I am sure that filtered back down to Pardew. At the end of last season I believe Cortese reviewed his options, then met with Pardew, cleared the air over what had happened previously and gave him his full backing for the season ahead. I doubt Pardew was brimming with confidence at that point, but I firmly believe it was Cortese’s intention for Pardew to see out that coming season. When the Echo went into overdrive implying Pardew would be sacked, Cortese took the exceptional step for him of going public to deny this. The only reason he was forced to respond to this was if he failed to give Pardew full backing he could easily decide to be off and all those plans made for the season ahead would have to start over again after a new manager had been found. It is that staunch defence of Pardew to those rumours which is key to me. Cortese just does not go that route unless paramount. Then Pardews sacking, which I doubt anyone would suggest was planned with someone waiting in the wings to fill his boots. Cortese commented at the time that he fully understood the negative effect this could have on promotion this season and a position he would never deliberately place the club in, unless he believed it to be unavoidable. Here you just have to decide for yourself whether Cortese would have taken such action, bearing in mind the consequences and their importance to Cortese. I believed Pardew was sacked for damaging the players during pre-season against the express warning from the medical and coaching staff. Others have pointed out they believe there was a little bit more to things, staff being threatened with a bloody nose should they poke it in where it does not belong, the comment that the Bolton cup game was not a priority, but that it was treated as such,etc. But I still feel if we had won all those early league games and the team looked in good form, Pardew could have lined up all the secretaries down at Staplewood and he would still be in a job. Without doubt Pardew had the look about him of a dead man walking, but nothing came out from Cortese, only Pardew. I believe Cortese was sure in his own mind, but Pardew was not so sure what was going on in Cortese’s head.

Though not directly aimed at me, I can assure you that I do not view your posts as attention seeking. My only difference is that the information passed along is sometimes based upon the opinion of the source and that objectivity sometimes goes out of the window when repeating such a thing. There has been more than one occasion in the past where you have just posted the facts where I have fully supported your position and thankful of the information, even where others have attacked you. This comes down to one thing alone, which you feel I am equally guilty of, objectivity. The rumour that Cortese would be sacking Pardew irrespective of events just lacked total objectivity to me, unless you envisage a Hitler like figure going through the last days in the bunker. You were representing the view that Cortese was prepared to risk this whole season based upon some bizarre relationship with Pardew, that changed from time to time irrespective of events? I say that lacks objectivity to everything we know so far of Cortese and his admitted belief that this set back our promotion push for this season. I can fully understand how the Pardew rumour got off the ground as Cortese looked at the possibility of replacing Pardew. I can further imagine that this would have unsettled Pardew to a certain degree, but that was his own fault when he went into print in the programme notes of prioritising the cups, against Cortese's expressed instructions. But that was well sorted before pre-season and Pardew had Cortese's full backing, even when other members of staff complained to Cortese that Pardews methods were doing more damage than good in pre-season. I far prefer Adkins over Pardew, but that does not prevent me from readily accepting that Pardew could have got us promotion this season. Pardew made errors, one of which would have been enough to sack him for me, even though I thought he was capable of doing the job. It's possible Pardew could have been the better candidate for getting us out of the Championship and into the Premier, we just do not know. But one thing I feel very strongly about is that Cortese was prepared to risk this whole season because he was uncertain or playing mind games with Pardew, it just does not stack up with everything we know? In the past I expect we have received some information from the same source, you directly and myself second hand. Luckily I have had someone who could peel the expected spin from it's known viewpoint to extract something of value, even though giving the unabridged version. I know we will never agree on these matters and will just leave it at that.

This is never going to detract from my belief that Cortese is the greatest force of good we have seen for the club for a long time. But I have a lot of respect for Nick Illingsworth and his views, nigh on identical to what happens on the pitch. Some of the things Cortese and Illingsworth do and say don't get my full backing, but that never happens in real life anyway. I would like to see Cortese put out the olive branch on this one, even without knowing the reasons behind what kicked this off.

We have always had our differences but I have always thought of you as being genuine. The one thing where I disagree with you strongly is over the interpretation of information and the majority of the time it is not even your interpretation. Often we get the same information, with just the spin taking things in opposite directions. One that sticks out being that Lowe was picking the team under Poortvliet by giving the manager a list of players he could use and could not use. Now I fully accepted that Lowe was doing this, but based upon playing bonuses and costs because of our precarious financial position, not because Lowe was picking the team on his own ego driven FM agenda. With Cortese the belief that he sacked Pardew irrespective, I find ludicrous. Cortese knew full well when he sacked Pardew the negative effect that would have on our gaining promotion this season and fully admitted as such when this was done. To try and imply this was definitely on the cards, irrespective of events just does not come near to standing up to logic. You were clear that you were passing on information from others and that included the opinion. But when you pass that on as such, you are placing yourself alongside that opinion and that is where these differences arise. I fully agree Cortese is not everyone's cup of tea and I would prefer some of his actions never to have happened. But overall he is such a greater force for good for the club that all the negatives pale into insignificance in comparison. He is very driven, extremely hard working and his focus can let the niceties slip by too easily. I am sure many of the staff have difficulty working with him because of his high demands, as someone said to Oldknow "so basically he was a hard task master without interest in gossip?". There is no ego with Cortese but a forceful drive to push Saints as high and as quickly as possible. Now I see this as a very good thing as a Saints fan even allowing for his peccadillo's. Even if you see this as a fatal flaw, what viable alternatives are there? He could put us back where he found us tomorrow and we would still be better off, there's just no practical reason not to get aboard the bus. The greatest difference I have seen in a long time at Saints is the total unity throughout the club, from fans to all areas. This is mainly down to Adkins, but Cortese has not been a barrier to this happening and his firm stance that politics has no place within the club is a cornerstone to this approach.

I am 100% sure I know how good Connolley is and the main reason why our strike force of Ricky and Lee has to change. The dynamism and invention showed by Connolley makes us a different team, what I don't know is how many games we will get out of Connolley. If the medical staff are uncertain and we can't negotiate a suitable deal even for those 25% of games, I would let Connolley go and bring in someone very similar or better. That would mean no guarantees for Ricky or Lee, depending upon who we can get in to provide that mobility and nous. That may sound harsh, but what Connolley has shown is what we have been missing. Ricky could easily up his game and get things back to previous and we will be in clover, equally Lee could work wonders alongside a more mobile partner. A very difficult conumdrum for all three players, one I will gladly leave to Adkins.

Adkins was not my first choice, but definitely my first choice from managers I believed we could get to come to Saints, so a practical first. I would pick Adkins every time over Pardew, Adkins learns from his errors and when things are not going well and most importantly, he can actually get the players to do what he wants, whereas Pardew struggled through the whole season with that. There were a couple of things that Adkins let go on too long, exposing the flanks to easy attacks and not rotating players enough for the volume of games, but at the end of the day he sorted all that out and the resolute display we gave in grabbing that automatic spot with both hands was extremely professional. It's going to be interesting now to see how he does in the Championship but i really have to thank him for getting my belief in football back again. Under Burley I really struggled with the fact their was no empathy from the player to the fans, now the whole club is more atuned with the fans then ever, something Nigel has brought about. One other good point, he gets the manager of the month award without the curse being the last month, well done Nigel.

MLG is the Saints researcher for Football Manager (published by Sports Interactive aka SI). If MLG is saying that it's the genuine twitter account of an agent that advises SI I'd be inclined to believe him. Note that he doesn't say that he believes what this twitter account is saying, or that he agrees with it, he's just supplying what information he can, so wind your neck in. Note: I am not saying the guy is not an agent, but what sort of statement about Cortese was that? Very professional. So wind it out of your own personal echo chamber. He fears for Southampton this summer? The only real fear we have is if Cortese buggers off, not if he stays. Cortese puts an offer on the table to clubs and they can either take it or like it, if they don't take it they know Cortese will pull it at any time that suits the club. So any one who believes that Cortese is going to get a better deal by being liked needs their bumps felt. So some tin pot agent, more than likely the son of some hasbeen is not given the tme of day by Cortese, yippy fookin do. And if you are trying to say this is a class top agent, wtf is he doing posting crap like this on twitter?

Whoever, what credibility do you have when you are spreading stuff such as this about. You may as well pin the font of all knowledge on rocketswannie and have done with it. Why these muppets do this and what gratification they get is beyond me, more than likely because they have been told to **** off when trying the same act down the pub. I love all these muppets that line up behind such crap, a distant cousin of the no smoke without fire brigade for anything that lines up a tenuous view. What's the worse Cortese can do, put us back wkere he found us? Whilst in the mean time enjoying a very nice bus ride.

I thought the adverts on here for the "fish pedicure", were a bait trap by our fishy friends for those residing beyond Fareham. Or maybe they have set up a genuine business and are trying to expand, not realising things are slightly different outside of the goldfish bowl.