MarkSFC

may I refer you back to my thread in mid Sept?!! http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?25298

Whether they had been to football earlier is irrelavent. Trying to pass this (alledged) offence off as football related is wrong. Even if the incident was between two saints fan and one tranmere fan it's not "football violence". Under the suggested logic in the article " anyone who's been to the game" and on the same night (or early Sunday morning) who chooses to get into a fight will be deemed to have their offence rated as football related. Doesn't make sense does it?!!! Violence that ensues in a ground or within a certain distance of the ground AND within a certain time of the game should be the definition of "football related". Equally "organised" fights between the moronic "yoof" and others should only be regarded as "football related" if their is definitive proof...i.e. Email, phone calls etc etc!!

Last summer Pardew said that staying here would give Lallana (and others) the chance to put "titles and trophies" on his cv not just a few noughts on his bank account. He stayed and won a trophy. If he'd gone to Spurs say last summer almost certainly he would have spent sone of the season out on loan somewhere and maybe similar to Surman get a move. However, I think he's alot better than Surman. Assuming we go up this year he is likely to stay and I would think that one season in the Championship would be fair to both sides. After that if we don't go up immediately I wouldn't blame him for moving to the Prem. At that point he will be 23/24 which will be a good age to start out in the top division. He would also be " a winner" and that will count for a lot. In essence I think his move up the leagues and any move away will be determined by and mirror our success over the next few years.

Good idea as long as they have enough staff on to ensure very quick service. Obviously plenty available from other areas. Also minimises the "downtime" between pints after the game! The downside is the choice of pint!!

The council seem to have their own vision of the riverside from OV through to Northam, the Beach idea for one. With the Woolston redevelopment up and running I suspect the view of the other side of the river as it stands won't make the Woolston venue "prime" real estate but with a redevelopment along the stadium side would make it more desirable. I'm sure the gravel merchants and other businesses could find another venue with the right incentive so the whole riverside could be a very exciting development which Saints could surely be a major part of. The stadium I think should be between 42&48k. Big enough for major competition, and big enough for a spike in attendances. We averaged over 95% capacity in the prem, some of that missing % taken from the neccessary sectionibg off in the Northam. With proper development that could be removed. I honestly think that when we get back to the Prem we will again average 30k plus but with room for 42-48 wr would average over 40. With bigger capacity comes more away fans too so upto to 4800 in league and 7200 in the cup. This means roughly 10-14k more than a capacity game now. We know we have significantly more than 50k who actively watch Saints so I think this is far from unrealistic. And obviously the opposition will be quite good in the main. I also hope the stadium redevelopment increases the hospitality facilities in order to generate more as Arsenal in particular I believe make more from that than the normal crowd. I could be wring but in sure I read that somewhere!!! Anyway, we aren't likely to need a 60k stadia mainly due to the density of the demographic in and around the city but we certainly can sustain 40k crowds in the prem.

Tesco used to only sell groceries. Now they sell everything virtually. It's all about entanglement with one company. If Southampton is just a football club do you think they should never hold any gigs, hire out their facilities for conferences and corporate do's either? This type of vision from Cortese will ensure that the club has every possibility to be totally self-sustaining AND compete in the Prem. Without the Leibherrs money and investment over the coming years we will just be a football club who if the Leibherrs money ever disappeared would then become just a run of the mill team possibly yo-yoing. 4-5 years of infrastructure development in the ground, the team, the training facilities and a "saints village" type of development coupled with the inevitable "burst bubble" in the Prem and we will be very well placed to be a real competitor. Exciting times, not just for a year or two!!

35 games left...5 groups of 7. 15 points from each run of 7 will give us 90. Should be enough for top 2!!

I suspect some arrangement will be made based on Saints getting promotion this season in which case another 2 years maybe with other caveats in regard to Prem and if we fail to go upethos season he is free to move(subject to the usual compensation).

Definitely the toughest game of the season but not a benchmark game for the season. Regardless of result I am 100% certain we will be fighting Huddersfield for top spot before winning by some margin!! Think we will win next weekend though despite their win yesterday as their form hasn't been great.

Not commissioned by Saints though is it?!!

You'll be happy and saying "I told you".

unbelievable.....boycott needed I think

From a conversation about ticket prices in general the other day with someone, I just thought I would gauge opinion on here as to some ideas I/we thought about. The main question is: Should the Football League and Premier League bring into force some sort of formula in order to control prices to some extent? The way we thought it might work is if they were to take into account the following aspects (in no particular order at present); - Average salary within X miles of stadium - League - Seated / Standing - Covered stand / not covered - Number of seats per toilet - Quality/Rating of stadium - Level/Rating of customer service - Capacity etc...etc... Also, could ticket prices and therefore revenue from ticket prices have some baring on the salary budget for each club? Would/could this make it fair up and down the leagues and provide some level of control? i.e. the rule might be "a maximum of say 60% of ticket sales (based on a capacity figure) can be spent on salaries ( including bonus). Hospitality, Sponsorship, Retail, Player Sales and any other revenue stream would pay for infrastructure developments, other employee salaries and player purchases. The reason for this would be that the success of the team and the brand will drive bigger increases in Hospitality, Retail, and Sponsorship than just attendances and therefore when you are successful you have "extra" money for better players and expansion and when you arre not so successfull you still have the money to pay the wages. Of course its not that straightforward but hopefully you get the gist of this.......I welcome any thoughts on the matter!!!

As do Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea, etc etc. It's more acurately a list of football owners.

At the bottom it says not!

Chaplow then!!

Oh yeah! Thanks

On a one off basis Im not too bothered. I expect Lallana will be given a free role in a 4-4-1-1 type of system with Punch (or holmes) up the left and Chamberlain up the right. Everyone else as started v Bournemouth. Guly for me showed he could play the target man role at least on an ad-hoc basis for 20-30 mins of a game on Saturday. Although it didnt come off he had one moment where he chased his own flick on which very few strkers do or can. And his touch looks better than Rickies. I do hope that Barnard is available but wouldnt be worried even if hes not. It do hope to see a loanee striker though soon!!

should be able to...

I like your ideas...there seems to be some interest council ways of improving the area along the river so who knows. It would be good to have a really good venue right on the doorstep of the stadium - although not sure what the police would think - and a proper "sports bar" is seriouslt lacking in this city! Havent been to the Emirates yet so thanks for the info. wasnt aware of that sounds great!

Players are much fitter, the game is quicker so almost inevitably there are going to be more injuries. Serious ones may still be much the same, it would be good to see some real stats because now we get to hear about every single injury because there ate cameras at every single game! My memory is letting me down slightly but didn't Mark Wright break his leg in the collision with Shilts in the semi-final with Liverpool in 83/84? As for stopping it I've always thought that maybe there should be a "penalty system" in place for the purbatrators of injuries in the following manner. If for example defender tackle attacker ( be it fairly, without malice or otherwise) and the attacker breaks his leg the defender automatically gets a suspension say 6 games. If deemed deliberate - however that was determined - then further punishment could be added. The scale would then role down e.g knee damage 4 games, ankle damage 2 games or something like that, I think this would improve the standard of tackling and decision making on the field but also add some fairness for "unlucky" tackles.

I hadn't really thought about it since the sad passing of Markus but if it's "the Leibheir Family" who own us now, we are even more wealthy than before!! Of course wealthy in regard to the owners rather than profit making ability of the club but that how they want to measure it!! I'm intrigued "holepuncture" what's this Saints village you have un mind?!! I also agree with them spending the vast majority of their money on infrastructure projects. Those will be their legacy.

Our attendance of "only" 26,289 ( though it would be a bit more!) was as the title says the 4th best in English football today. Only 3 games in the Prem were better attended and the closest Championship game was Ipswich/Leeds with 23,105. Bet that hasn't happened often!!

Exactly. Suspect their "yoof" are too young to remember.

no we don't. We do care when another clubs chairman talks bs and attempts to undermine our club. To us this was just a.n.other game on the way to the Championship. To you it was your cup final style day out at the best stadium in the league. Anyone who fights at football (or anywhere else for that matter ) is unwelcome and whatever side they are on should be banned for life. If it's true that one of our stewards has been hurt by a Bournemouth fan then I hope the club is able to convict them appropriately. Roll on next season for "our" derby.