up and away

Playing for trophies at young age has been the biggest restriction on youth development in the UK. Happily that point is now understood and we are not left with youngsters who were biggest in their age group or who could kick the ball the furthest, Gone are adult sized footballs for the younger leagues. Nowadays less competitive games, far more focus on individual skills and positional / team requirements. I doubt you will see players who have been through the top Academias having one foot only good for standing on.

Cortese has always said that they will establish the club in the Premier then do all the marketing to see if a bigger stadium is justified. It's never been a leap without looking. The other point that has been demonstrated under Cortese is that we will not be going the discounted ticket route, that has stopped, It's impossible to go cheap as time extends, it's a no brainer. I do know they are going really big after the corporate side, where they feel the greatest increase of revenue can come from. From what I have seen and experienced of the Liebherr suite they have a good chance alongside a good product. The facilities are getting better and better with very few **** off factors and all they need is the product on the pitch and the match experience to get this to work. The greater the matchday experience becomes, the greater the acceptance of higher prices for corporate with a trickle effect all the way down to the bottom. Cortese strongly believes he can get the increased stadium capacity to work, something I have been doubtful about. He's got things so right up until now that I am not going to argue the toss. I feel all it would take in the near future would be a couple of good seasons similar to having with WSG and the momentum looks unstoppable. Everyone gets drawn in by success and those couple of WSG years would really give the momentum to all.

OK. I'll accept your 7K on the Kingsland. I think your 3K on the Northam/Chapel is way out, and I'll explain why. In the original incarnation of the stadium it was possible for 8K extra on the Kingland, and 4K on the Chapel and Northam. That assumed that seats on the Northam and Chapel would go back as far as the Kingsland extension. In the new design, they clearly don't. I was thinking along similar lines myself, just how many extra seats can we get in the Northam/Chapel? But I thought it would be at least 2500 each, otherwise the cost per seat would be disproportionately high. I assumed 8000 for the Kingsland as previously but that can vary with the corporate boxes. Corporate being the area the club are really targeting at maximising our revenue streams for the future. You are not going to fit out the Northam/Itchen with corporate so that may have something to do with the height of the roofs?

Pretty sure they have more than conceptual drawings, not the finished detail but sufficient to put a good costing against. Cortese has laid out his intentions, after 2 years and looking established in the Premier would do all the market research and decide yes or no. Not 100% given because funding will have to be found and I would not guarantee the Liebherrs backing this, yet other alternatives could well present themselves. Pretty sure the concept has been passed through the Southampton city council where they commented everything would be done to keep the stadium within the city. By that I understood that any planning restrictions for the increased gate would not be an issue.

Rooney has been a major disappointment for a long time in International football, no difference here. Milner has not set the turf alight but that RH side looks a lot more compact than Ashley Cole does isolated at many times.

good point also, would like to know the reasoning why reading are ahead of us now and have a bigger budget? Reading were definitely ahead of all the Championship with that run of difficult games at the end. Something they achieved with ease, whilst the rest of us huffed and puffed. Adkins did a remarkable job holding it all together against some injuries and losses of form from key players. Given their Russian has a decent budget to play with, I don't see us leap frogging them unless we invest more (which I doubt). West Brom is a difficult one to call and will come down to Clarkes man management skills, because as a coach he has been far better than a lot of the managers he has worked for (In the Premier). Hodgson will have left things set up nicely, so already a step or two ahead and I can't see him not improving upon that squad.

We have virtually zero Premier experience in the team and management so there is good reason to be concerned. It would not surprise me if the size of this task had a lot to do with Adkins mini melt down after we beat Coventry and gained promotion. If we start buying players with the known capability of doing a job in the Premier the better it will be, because at the moment we just have optimism. Looking back at Rodgers and Lambert last season and the teams they had, we should be optimistic. I would rate Adkins above both of those and look where they finished. Based upon that and the hope we stay clear of injuries and the confidence not getting splattered early on, I think we should be ok. Adkins is not faultless and made several mistakes along the way but always progressed and became a stronger manager along the way. He fills me with so much hope the job he has done with Saints, I doubt I would want him changed even if we were to get relegated. As long as he learns and improves as he has done, he will do for me. We need to find three teams that we can climb over to ensure safety. Reading I doubt will be one of those clubs, already ahead of the game on us and with what I expect a bigger transfer budget. If Wigan keep Martinez, I don't see them as catchable when you look at all the injuries they came through last season and their final form. It's possible the loss of Rodgers and Lambert will be good for us, but there does not look like any easy pickings out there at present.

Stronger than last year? maybe! What I am sure of is the Premier leagues is going down hill fast.There was a time when we would get 3 teams into the last 4 of the CL, not any more. Equally it was far more difficult for a Championship side to remain in the Premier after promotion, not any more.

Well, it seems abundantly clear that they were not consulted at all, otherwise the club would not have displayed it in the friendly game that they did. Which also suggests that their reaction to it caught NC by surprise too.... It's even possible the family were aware prior to the flag being displayed. Just on the day the effect it had over whelmed certain members of the family that Cortese thought it best to keep under wraps for the near future. The flag was done for all the best intentions, just that the effect was too much when the family were still grieving. This may just come down to the massive size of the flag but I would imagine the flag will become acceptable given time. A sorry conclusion to a good intention, no need to point fingers at what was done in good faith.

For what ever reason the flag caused distress with the Liebherr family in attendance, I don't know if that will fade with time but it seems crass to display it given the emotions it causes within the family.

What absolute crap. All we needed was one goal either scored or not conceded, with so many opportunities to do so. As a manager there were several opportunities to influence matters and he failed miserably. All Crouch had to do against Everton was take the ball into the corner and we would have survived. No discipline from the players, even Crouch getting himself sent off for vital games not to mention Prutton. The hiding down the tunnel against Arsenal when they started to make a come back, just how can you have an influence when you hide from what is going on the pitch? The small fact he had £4.5M handed to him in the January window and Bryan Robson was just left with his **** in his hand and nothing to collect it in. What we needed was a coach who could get his message across to the players and give us an edge. What we got was a manager who would just bring in different personal and see what difference they made before moving on else where. Bagpuss can certainly motivate players when he wants to and his eye for talent is pretty sound. But that's it and when you go into his other skill sets everything just goes to the negative. He can't coach and his tactics even at Spurs are still just as bad. There was a time at Saints where our corners would result in more of a threat on our goal than it would the opposition, unbelievable! Bagpuss by his own admission is as close to illiterate, innumerate that you could imagine in this day and age. You can only big up a player so much before they can't fail to detect the buffalo breath. For any chief executive the realisation must come far quicker where a short term fix has a shelf life of open prawns on a summers day. I can just imagine Levy with a massive spending budget for the coming season having serious concerns about putting that into twitchys control.

On the flip side; if they can afford not to offload him, they can potentially get a decent season long loan fee for him and then see where they are next year. If Butland plays well in the Premier League, and indeed goes on to actually play for Enfland, his stock will have risen massively and he'll likely be worth significantly moe than the £3M approx that is being talked about now. At that point Birmingham will have the option of recalling him if they gain promotion to the PL or selling him for a much higher price. Can see your point in the other post but not here. For this to work Birmingham need to find a Premier club to take him on a decent loan deal for the next season (which would always be accompanied by a buy clause) and to actually use him for the season. No Premier club is going to take all the risk without the rewards.

I cannot see the logic in Birmingham loaning him out next season, unless on a very good deal which would appear unlikely. Birmingham have financial issues and in Butland a source of capital. Birmingham will either use him or the money from his sale. It just makes little sense for Birmingham to go for another loan now the player has value. As to what happens next, only someone with a good knowledge of the lads character will be able to provide some clues, along with what offers are received by Birmingham. I am reasonably confident that Saints have made an offer from some of the feed back and I don't believe the lad would get a better opportunity else where for playing. I would expect him to get nigh on equal status to Kelvin with definite opportunities for the season. I don't see a better opportunity for the Premier though I expect he will get a full chance at a Championship club. Bearing in mind he is only proven at League 2 level, he's got a lot to prove to himself and others higher up. If he were cautious about his future it would make a lot of sense to stay at Birmingham or go to another Championship club where he will be given an opportunity, though the Saints deal looks very attractive. What does concern me is that we would be going into a Premier season with Kelvin and Butland. Butland would be a good signing just as J Rod has been, but it hardly fills me with confidence that we really know what the Premier is all about. A big risk without known Premier experienced players.

I've seen Lambert easily handled by the bottom clubs of the Championship. We get round that by throwing more players forward until free space has to come. But if that had no guarantee of working against the bottom clubs from the Championship, I really doubt it's going to be default starter for the Premier. We have potential but until J Rod, without the pace. If J Rod were to be are only main forward signing. I would have preferred the likes of Yakubu. Don't get me wrong as I see the possibilities in J rod, just not prepared to throw all the eggs in one basket for the Premier. What comes as a concern given Butland being the other player we have made a bid for, nothing to underline the ability to stay in the Premier. If Adkins pulls off the same trick as he did last year in pre-season then I doubt we will have problems, but he can only guess what is expected in the Premier.

. I think that even if it wasn't priority, it was too good of an opportunity to turn down i think. He was available at a price that will only rise over the next few years and was seen as more of a clever investment i think. Now thats sorted, we can spend more time getting the right players for other positions. JR was obviously a top target and now we can work through a shortlist for other positions and do some more shrewd deals. IMO we still have no player with the ability to do a job in the Premier. We have potential but nothing to hang your hat on. Whether j Rod will be seen as a good deal will mainly come down to having forwards that can cut it in the Premier. I can't see that as yet, just the possibility. I still believe we have a definite need for a #1 striker for the Premier.

But of course you're right because anything is better than playing for a club like saints. Typical reaction id expect to being wrong. I didnt say it was the right move for Foster, Carson and co or joining Saints would be a mistake, in fact even with my saints bias i would say Saints are a very attractive proposition for a player. However you stated it would be a Strange move for a promising Keeper to Move to a big club and bench warm (although there is a good chance Butland would be loaned out if he did) Given the fact that that is what virtually every promising young keeper in England has done for the past 10 years then actually it wouldn't be Strange at all would it. Wouldn't say you are wrong, equally not enough to say you are right. You are correct in what has gone on in the past but I would argue the "success" of that experience means it is less likely now. What happened with Foster and Carson made it look like there was no direction to their careers and hardly an endorsement of going to a big club, then to be loaned out. One very important point is that Joe Hart looks ensconced as England goalie for many years to come, so any other goalie wanting to make a dent here will have to be playing regularly. So I doubt he will be going any where as a long term #2, otherwise he is not going out on loan. So the main consideration after money is going to be a move where he believes he can play regularly at the highest level. This can go either way, even a stay at Birmingham could make sense, his aim prior to the England call up. For Saints this is a big risk, marginalised by Kelvin. If we have made the offer it appears too good to be true for the lad, something that hits all the right buttons. We are not talking about anywhere near a true England #3 but someone who has a bright future, currently a good League 2 goalie.

If the player did not want to come down here then it could easily fall through, but I can't see any indications of this, just a reluctance to move so far away. Once he has a look at the area and has a chat with his ex team mates I reckon that will be put to bed. Just as with Cork last year, this is a massive step in the lads career and he will want to make sure he gets everything right, so a 1 to 2 week pause would be expected. If J Rod turns us down it could easily mean Burnley having to take less of a fee, but that would mean things dragging on after the season has started. J Rods value will be dropping as time goes by, but I would expect that to impact on J Rods slice of the fee he would normally expect, possibly to the extent of the difference between the two fees. At the beginning I thought Everton would be interested in J Rod, but equally I can't see the move going quickly or paying the most. They have so much work to do to clear the financial decks that the season could well be underway before they were capable of making a move. That I imagine would make a player very nervous about stalling too long, especially when he looks at what happened to Beresford, hardly a good shake of the whip' Because there is such a positive history in Saints wanting the player and being very quick out of the blocks, we may have done enough to pip Everton who will not be able to react anywhere near as quickly unless Kenwright has found some investment. All of this will be flying through the lads head at light speed every waking hour and it would not surprise me he would want to get it all cleared up and in place for when pre-season training starts. If he gets in for a full pre-season he gives himself the best chance of making a success of the move.

That's what i see....if it's a major development, then it's either bad news or good news - it can't be a major development if he's stuck in between good news/bad news. He's been waffling tosh for days now. we had a deadline on Thursday...last week....etc etc. I think he's lost, and he's trying to dig up stuff and clutching to straws. You would naturally expect things to develop as they are going at present and it would not surprise me for things to take a couple of weeks, even if he does sign. He's got a firm offer from Saints and will want to exhaust all other avenues before making a decision. Saints won't wait for ever but he will have decent leeway before we start chasing alternatives. Just go back to the Jack Cork deal last year and look at that time scale, things just naturally go into limbo for a short while until it comes to the yes / no.

hard to say who would join us and that includes Green, but how about Craig Gordon or Jussi Jääskeläinen, both out of contract. I would suppose you could throw Robinson into that group, so there's enough out there that it does not seem that great a concern at present. Only Saints fans would rate Kelvin above these and I would find it very difficult to believe Kelvin would be selected on merit against any of these. The one area Kelvin has to address is control of the 6 yard box, that's what gives the others the edge for me. I will concede that Kelvin looked the best for a while in the last handful of games but I have seen too much previously to even start to forget. Green suffered a bit this year but a lot of that I would put down to his defence. I can see a case for Green coming to Saints, but that looks like a lot of salary for someone who is not light years better. Personally I can see more possibility in signing the likes of Butland. A chance definitely but always with Kelvin to fall back on. And if Butland delivers the promises, we really have made a big stride forward. So why would we be linked to Green? Well with all those possibilities on the GK front, it makes a lot of sense that his agent gets his name out there and in the mix.

Clyne may even come to Saints but there is absolutely no leverage to link Aaron Martin to the deal. Palace have no say where Clyne ends up and equally any deals will be done for the best of both Saints and Palace from their respective ends. There's no possible sweetners available here for Clyne, maybe others.

This could easily happen, because Chelsea told him as much before he signed the contract. The next question is how good is this 20 year old who will not get a look at the first team for 18 months? Looking back through the highlights from his club games makes me believe Chelsea have this about right. Full of possible promise but in no ways nailed until he becomes a far more complete player.

I don't believe you need to worry too much, a good player but no where near the hype being thrown at him. When he signed for Chelsea in January, he was told he was staying in Belguim for the rest of the season, then being loaned else where for the following season, without even a sniff at the Chelsea first team. Magical right foot that likes to cut in from the left side (we'll have to play him alongside Lallana and forget about defending that side), Not so clever if shown down the line or starting on the right, but does have some very good close control. I can see him scoring a couple of wonder goals in the Premier, then just being shepherded into mediocrity there after. I am pretty sure Chelsea would love him to come to us, but I cannot see it making any sense at all unless it is with an option to buy. If we buy J Rod I see very little sense in a loan for Saints and goes directly against everything we are trying to do. What would make sense is having him as an option if the J Rod deal were to fall through.

The Walcotts were far more ruthess in Theo getting a move to Arsenal. They stated he was going and when, it never dragged on like Chamberlain. Equally they insisted Arsenal paid a fair price which was extremely good in this day and age.

I can easily see him coming happily to Saints, whether that will be a good thing for us I am not so sure. Looking at the standard of England goalies, with many better not even wanting to be considered for England. If you start your reference at Premier goalies rather than England goalies you start getting a better perspective. Just what top club or even Premier club will give him the opportunity? I expect if Saints were to sign him it would be on the basis of a straight fight between him and Kelvin and he's not going to get near such good odds else where.

I don't normally do friendlies but this was the best I have experienced. Watching the different styles of play from 3 teams was very interesting though I doubt Rangers will add to that this year. One thing they will add to is the crowd and it would not surprise me to see more Rangers fans than Arsenals. I believe we only had about 10k last time? One thing I am concerned about this time is alcohol fuelled trouble, because there is a lot of opportunity with this format for multiple refills, exasperated by any elevated temperatures. Just little groups of opposition fans last time, all in together and well behaved. I think they should do something about the drink otherwise I can easily see this one kicking off. If you have the money and they do the same deal as last time with the Liebherr Suite, it's well worth considering. Because of the format you get the opportunity from the Liebherr suite to mix with the opposing / home players and staff.