spyinthesky

Weren't we supposed to be interested in Vardy when he was with Fleetwood?

Seems a while ago that Mane was being rubbished by many after the Sheff Utd defeat

Mack rill Probably shouldn't say this but I reckon you are the sort of Pompey fan who a few of us on here would enjoy a drink with and exchange some light hearted banter You seem to have a sense of humour sadly lacking in some of your fellow Pompeyites Presumably your family were not affected by that nasty Dock Strike

Also, from the same organisers, a day at Windsor Races with one of our past (and least successful) manager's on 12 October £239 for the privilege compared to £90 for the Ronald Koeman evening However the ex manager in question will bring along the family pet to explain her part in her master's success and will also be available to offer advice on relatively complex financial matters and respond to texts and twitter feeds. No cats allowed though.

9th May this year Also 3 Queens were in together last year and also 2012 Not an irregular event

If you had the choice of one player from the England squad to improve Saints line up, who would it be?

Will be interesting to see how the figures change post January window Any one know what the figures were for Jan 2014?

It is good that a few Celtic fans have come on here with a decent and reasonable view However I guess there will be thousands of them cheesed off about continually losing good players to a medium sized English club fortunate to have a big wedge of Premiership cash to call on

I agree with you Like the 2 tiers Apparently cost to build was £50m compared to ours at £32m Also it seems the capacity can be increased to 45,000 with the addition of an extra tier, hence the high roof line However all these 'soul less'!!! stadiums aren't a patch on the old fashioned grounds full of rotten views, rotten timbers, under powered floodlights, third world toilets, cooking fat in the pipes etc etc... according to certain myths, of course.

I wonder if we would still be chasing VVD with such vigour if the deal for Toby A had been completed? Presumably not unless we could have signed Toby for the mooted £7m and we could have taken a more hardball line with Celtic on the fee for VVD

Agree with the Chelsea hospitality experience Top rate food etc compared to St Marys and also heaters in the stand roof to keep out the cold!! Guess the price at Chelsea is pretty high although the £50-£60k + Vat per Box at St Marys is not at all cheap. However I think most/all hospitality guests are interested in the game at St Mary''s Was amazed at how many people remained in the hospitality areas during the game at Stamford Bridge and of those taking their seats a fair amount of them (particularly women and kids) seem to be more interested in looking at mobiles and/or tablets than on watching the game Didn't like the hospitality at Old Trafford where we sat behind glass and had the 'atmosphere' piped in.

Apparently 'All Sold Out' according to yesterday's programme More than 20,000 (no reference to actual number) Highest number since 2004!! I suppose the club makes more money by selling more expensive tickets on the day but, conversely, is it better to get money up front especially if results don't match expectations? Seems that only about 15-20 of the 47 executive boxes are taken.

Norwich, not seen as a hot bed of football However for a smallish provincial city, they sell out every home game and have good numbers away They deserve respect for bringing 3,000 ish to St Marys for an early KO that is live on TV Well done for that especially as it is a long journey back after a walloping btw one of our old targets, Gary Hooper, looked a pound or two overweight when he came on

The good thing about Stoneham in my mind would have been its symbolic presence right next to the M27 so millions of cars and passengers would pass it every year and it would have advertised Saints to all and sundry. As mentioned in an earlier post perhaps the best location would have been on the Pirelli site (now West Quay) which was mooted in the 70's However both Stoneham and West Quay only had plans for 25,000 capacity Whatever we all think of the Lowe era it was during this period (and with the help of the local Labour Council and two MP's - and I am not making a political pitch here) the new stadium was delivered Without this we could still be at the Dell, possibly languishing in the lower leagues like our friends down the road

And of course the Pompey News backed by any number of fans and locally celebrities ran a campaign to get a knighthood for the wonderful Henry Redknapp and even suggested including the now discredited Peter Storrie!!!

Re Comparative Attendances Since both clubs entered the Football League in 1920/1, Saints have had a higher average home gate on 54 of the 88 seasons Our lowest average crowd was 9,064 in 1932/3 whereas Pompey recorded a figure of 8,269 in 1994/5 but seasonally adjusted this converts to 37,082 which coincides with their best ever average in season 1948/9 (note this was in a ground with a capacity of 52,000!!) Note also that in the 88 years of this comparison, Pompey had a larger capacity stadium for 74 years In more recent times ie since both clubs ended up in the same division in 1960/1 (ie a period of 55 seasons) Saints have recorded higher home league attendances for 52 seasons!!!!! Oh and the tickets for the Reading game ranged from £2 to £10 - a fair incentive

VVD seems to have pace and the ability to pass with two feet. However he doesn't seem to be particularly 'physical' or 'switched on' Really hope I am completely wrong but he seems to me to be a defensive version of Gaston Ramirez On a separate tack both the Celtic and Malmo fans create wonderful atmospheres.

Not for the first time I had to explain to a fan of another club that the term 'Scummer' was made up by Pompey fans in the 70's and has no relevance at all to a mythical strike breaking Southampton Company of Union Men. In fact it was Portsmouth Dockers who 'black legged' in the mid 1970's. It made me think of other 'myths' that some Pompey fans have made up without any facts to back them up. A few come to mind. Feel free to add any others. 1. The Liebherr family were war criminals 2. The so called 'Fans Charity' game was cancelled due to lack of interest. 3. Alan Ball 'loved' Pompey more than us 4. Saints don't have 'proper' supporters like John PFC Westwood!! 5. Saints fans never tried to assist financially during the John Deacon era when Pompey was going through one of its regular financial meltdowns 6. Pompey have won more competitive derby games against us. 7. Their average home crowds have consistently been greater than ours. 8. We used to average less than 10,000 at the Dell. 9. Historically Pompey have finished ahead of Saints in the League a greater number of times. 10. Pompey has more 'potential'!!! 5. Since both clubs entered Pompey have finished above Saints more times than

Much as I consider myself a long standing (and often long suffering!!) Saints fan, I don't have a particular issue with Celtic fans viewing us as a smallish provincial club. In comparison to Celtic and Rangers we are and so, to be fair, are almost all English clubs apart from perhaps Man Utd and Liverpool. It seems rather strange that, in recent years, Celtic have been viewed by some as a Southampton feeder club (and of course we have Steven Davis from Rangers too) Actually I'm quite proud of that

Is BT Sport only accessible via an App?

And they never got close filling their ground when they won the two League titles just after WW2 Average of 37,000 in a 50,000+ capacity stadium with a load of sailors in town and a fair amount of Saints fans travelling down (no suggestion of the SCUM union story then of course!!)

I suppose the question being considered by Kat and her advisers are: 1. Is this valuation reasonable and should consideration be given to putting the club on the market (presumably all clubs are on the market in some way)? Allowing for the Liebherr's initial and ongoing investment, presumably there is a decent capital gain if the report's valuation is correct. 2. Should more be spent on the squad to prevent the spectre of relegation, especially as there are greater benefits from the new and improved TV deal? 3. Should the strategy follow the current line of obtaining a decent return on top ranked (and dissatisfied) players and trust in the Black Box, Youth team and Les Reed to bring in suitable replacements at cheaper prices? 4. The danger with options 2 & 3 is that relegation out of the Prem will reduce market valuation but I guess the club is not really looking at this scenario at the moment. If things do go pear shaped before January, it will be interesting to see what resources are used to improve things in the second part of the season

It should be noted that US Business company Forbes also did a similar exercise covering major European clubs and their valuations were rather different. Not sure where Saints ranked in that one

Apparently this is to do with land valuation, consistent profit and lack of debt Comment was made about Liverpool's valuation increasing when they complete their new stand and increase corporate activity However Spurs have a new ground in prospect so they will increase potential matchday revenue by over 60% In % terms Utd have increased their perceived value by 74% in two years, Man City by 126%, Chelsea & Spurs by 60% and Liverpool by 50% Newcastle are down 20% In comparison Saints are up 350%!!!

Tom Markham who, apparently, advises clients on the value of League clubs has produced an updated valuation list of Premier clubs. Saints who were second to bottom of the 'valuation list' in 2013 (only just ahead of Wigan) have seen their perceived valuation rise from £57.5m to £259m, the largest increase of any club. So I guess Katarina is well pleased with the family's investment However it does mean that the likely purchase price is well above the maximum any of us are likely to win on the Euro Lottery Other selected values are: Man Utd £1.8 billion Arsenal £1.1 " Man City £907m Chelsea £826m Spurs £710m Liverpool £537m Newcastle £221m Everton £206m