Sour Mash

Heavy snow forecast on the bbc website for Birmingham this morning.

Well I know someone who went to the ticket office this morning to buy a Chelsea ticket and asked for a Villa one on the off chance and was sold one - they didn't mention if it was a "return" or anything like that. How did your friend try? On-line?

They were probably the better team in the first half and Benteke should have put them 2-0 ahead just after half-time if I remember rightly.

These sort of things tell you very little and certainly don't tell us what "Saints UK fan distribution" is.

Know someone that has just managed to buy a ticket in our end from our ticket office this morning, so clearly not entirely "sold out". Worth nipping down there if anyone is local and in need of a ticket.

2 million British OAPs moved to the Costas - you sure about that? As stated above, our loss of sovereignty and border control are reason enough to keep our distance.

It is a joke. Give the club a call and see if you can collect at Chelsea on the night.

But where should the Echo draw the line? How many stories should they hold back on? They're a newspaper, they report news.

Sorry, was just correcting you on your suggestion that he was slotting into a vacant position.

Unlikely, as there's already someone else in that position.

Original grounds like Stoke and Swansea?

Cheers, that's a massive selling point really, especially at a good price.

Too many attacking players. Ramriez out of his best position. Doesn't make sense. Would make for a very entertaining game though.

In his adverts on twitter he seems to suggest there is sky/ESPN on the coaches, therefore showing that day's lunch-time and evening kick offs, you know if that is the case or not?

How many stories should a local paper "hold-off" publishing to keep the local football club chairman happy? Anything remotely big/important? Where would you draw the line?

Exactly, £56 for some tickets at Bayern games, similar for all the other big clubs unfortunately.

If you can get a ticket for a terrace, then you're laughing it is a bargain, but seats at most big grounds go for £30-£50.

Most are over £30 unless you've got a season ticket on one of the terraces.

I'm not sure why everyone always refers to German football. They still have plenty of tickets that sell for £40-50. They are fortunate to have lots of very big grounds, so as English clubs do, their prices in the main reflect supply and demand for the matches. Everything is a rip off these days - have you seen the prices for this coming summer's ashes? Or for a big music festival? It's not unique to football. I hate the prices charged by a lot of clubs, but there is very little that can be done about it.

You're right that the final position at the end of the season is all that matters, but are you honestly telling me that if we lose to Villa and end up back in the bottom 3, you wouldn't be questioning our management team at all?

And? I'm just responding to what he said in his post that he hadn't seen any opposition split us apart, when plenty have. Or what about West Ham 2nd half this season? Or Everton? As I say, I like Adkins, but he's only done "ok" sp far this season.

Arsenal away? Chelsea at home in the 2nd half? - we were split apart by the oppossition in those two games. HE's got a few substitutions wrong. I want him to stay and think he's a top bloke, but he's no managerial genius.

You're comparing Ferguson when he started at Man Utd to Adkins now? Completely different situations - Ferguson had one two European trophies and won the Scottish League when it was at a much higher level than it is now. Furthermore, he was manager of one of the biggerst clubs in the world and could therefore attract players regardless, teams like Saints and Swansea don't have that pull as a a club alone. And finally the world of football has changed completely since then - most British based players would know of the managers in at least the top two divisions, players from around the world would only recognise big "international" names. Personally don't care whether he can attract players or not, happy to keep Adkins as I like the bloke.

Also, why is this thread on the main board? Standards slipping again!

It is hard to blame any club for charging high prices - they typically charge what the market allows and need to bring in as much money as possible in order to be able to compete. I'm refusing to pay for Chelsea away, but as stated already on this thread, it probably won't do much to reduce prices as there will beplenty of tourists happy to pick up any left over tickets that Chelsea put on sale. The situation isn't going to change any time soon and the sad thing is, there is very little we can do about it. Man City fans do have the right to moan about Arsenal's prices though - it wasn't their fans that set the prices for our game was it.