Sour Mash

Fans get in early and stay after the game at the Amex because there's nothing else around the ground, rather than any great 'quality' of the 'product'.

You sound like a very bitter failed journalist. Just saying.

Top post! Some of the comments on this thread about Saints greatest legend and an enthusiastic, young Saints supporting journalist are pathetic. Given the choice I'd certainly rather Tiss hadn't come out with what he has, no-one does, but I think some on here need to take a step back and look at what they're saying.

He's answered that before. It's England.

I think if you look through the final league positions in the Premier League over the last 20 years, you'll find a pretty clear correlation between money spent and success on the field. Yes there is the odd exception to the rule, as with anyything stretched over a 20 year period. For every club on a tight budget and using academy players that has done exceptionally well, there are 20 others that have taken the same approach and struggled.

While Chaplow certainly wouldn't be my choice for our central midfield, I can see why some see him as an option - it's not about his "tackling", but his work rate to close down and harry oppossing players, something that will be vital in a game like West Ham. His disciplinary record all that bad? Only stand out moment I can think of was the challenge at Barnsley last season.

I'd still rather have Puncheon or Guly in that role, as it is a reasonable assumption that both are better defensively than Mayuka. Would be happy to see Mayuka chucked into that role if we're chasing the game and going all out in attack.

Think its a case of most fans not dropping Lambert from the Centre Forward position and knowing that Rodriguez would be the 2nd choice there anyway, therefore the only place that they can think he might fit is wide right, mainly due to his pace. There is some logic in it I guess. How much have any of us really seen of Mayuka? About 30 minutes all told?

It is hard to take you seriously when you compare us to Manchester United. They've always had a team of big stars and have been able to attract top players, even when they were rubbish. When United won their first Premiership title I think they had two academy players in their first XI, how do you think the rest of their quality team ended up there?

I know there is no obligation, although I'm slightly surprised there isn't a contract in place that rolled over each season or something. Does seem like we're scraping after every penny at the moment though.

I guess it would be interesting to know what, if any, provision has been made by the club to find an alternative appropriate site for the shop. Think that would be a fair and reasonable deal?

Still not sure what he's done to make him the "biggest c**t in football", as you say yourself, he's no John Terry.

Why?

No he's not. Why do you think that?

You seem obsessed with Adkins losing his job.

Our back 4 of Clyne - Fontee - Yoshida - Fox really aint that bad. We've had three problems this season defensively. Main one was our midfield giving them enough protection, particularly down the flanks. Secondly, the ridiculous number of injuries suffered by our defernders. Good defences are built from being settled, good communication, partnerships etc, look how many changes and players playing out of position we've had to suffer with all season. Thirdly - poor individual mistakes; these are partly as a result of the earlier two points, partly as a result of tiredness/panic playing against quality opposition and partly a run of bad luck. Our defence will get better, I am confident of that.

I think it was fairly obvious in response to you posting this "already have a de-facto European League anyway, the CL, and I don't see any too many of those fans complaining." Clearly Man City fans were "complaining" the other week, as a lot less of them went to watch them play against Dortmund than attended the game against us at the start of the season.

You see what sort of crowds a lot of the CL games get?

Guess that makes sense and will get a good tv audience, can't imagine they'll get too much of a crowd in at Wroclaw!

Japan v Brazil, lunch time Kick off on a Tuesday in Poland is a bit random isn't it?

I'm sure he's right that the likes of Arsenal and Man Utd's fans aren't massively excited by playing us, Swansea etc, however he fails to see that apart from the very top European knock out games, most European competition leaves fans fairly uninterested as well. Compare Man City's home crowd against us at the start of the season, compared to their crowd against Dortmund the other week? I think even those chasing the money at the top of the Premier League realise that part of the appeal of the Prem is the way it is currently set up. I can see why Rangers are desperate to get involved though.

Right about what?

Bit of a desperate article on many levels. Look at the attendances for European games, they are all massively down compared to League matches, until the very last knock out stages. The big clubs may soon angle to make more money out of the tv deals, but I doubt they could really give a stuff about playing Celtic or Rangers year in, year out.

Right, so you were making a comparison, got there in the end. And you can't see why an area's demographic would make a difference and is relevant? How many more regular match going fans do you think we'd get from a couple of seasons of finishing 6/7th?

I think you'll find you did compare us to the North West of England - to compare something doesn't mean you think they are the same. And for some reason you don't seem to answer my fairly straight forward point - that the population of these areas is made up of a very different demographic and therefore having a much bigger catchment area isn't particularly relevant when considering expansion. Your second point - What do you think would constitute significant enough success on the pitch to bring it sufficient additional support to justify a ground expansion?