Sour Mash

Don't like either team/players/fans, so that swung it for me and I wanted Liverpool to lose. 'Liverpool FC. Offended by everything, ashamed of nothing'.

2 weeks in a nearly 4month pre season won't make any difference. If anything you could argue it'd have a negative affect - 4 months of no competitive football is a very long time.

Exactly what I was trying to say while posting at the same time.

It will benefit the bigger clubs, as Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs etc will be able to generate more money than most other clubs by a long, long way. Makes it even more of a closed shop. Blackburn would never have won the league if these rules were in place at the time. Wigan, QPR etc would massively struggle. I also don't like the.rule as it'll further necessitate the need to further rinse every last penny out of the paying fan one way or another.

This. Can you imagine how many autographs have been signed and photos been posed for by some of the players in the last week? Would test the patience of even the nicest of blokes.

Exactly what most normal supporters hope for and realistically expect.

Who has said it is 'impossible'? You haven even bothered reading this thread have you? Which makes your posts a complete waste of time. Do you even know what the subject of this thread is?

Very strange logic. No-one says it is impossible, just very, very unlikely and therefore a ridiculous aim to have in a '5 year plan' for our club. The fact that you can only pick out a one off from 7 years ago demonstrates my point further.

I find it unfortunate that you have to resort to phrases like 'open your eyes, if not your mind', 'pimply youths' as its a sure fire sign you're losing your argument. On the basis we are very, very lucky and have a repeat of the quality of talent of Bale, Walcott and Chamberlain come through the ranks, they would still be off when one of the big 4 come knocking. Yes we'd get a shed load of cash, but as has been shown before, what good did that do the likes of West Ham, Aston Villa when they sold their best young players. There is no precedent for a club our size qualifying for.the Champions League for a reason? Has it crossed your mind why? Even with all the multi-millions pumped into other football clubs? Even the likes of Spurs and Liverpool have found it a massive struggle and hope each year they might just scrape in with a bit of luck. If we read on other clubs of a similar size forum that they were expecting Champs League football in the next 5 years we would rightly take the p**s out of them.

I would as well. Only get a couple of Wembley wins in a life time, would always be confident of bouncing back soon enough if we got relegated.

I'd suggest you check a dictionary for the definition of 'reality', if you think us doing what Norwich had done the previous season constitutes 'beyond' that and is on a par with a club our size qualifying for the Champs League. For what it's worth I didn't expect us to finish top two this season just gone. But I'd have considered it a much more realistic and likely scenario for a club our size than Champs League qualification within the next 5 years which is what this thread is about. The new financial regulations will make it harder for clubs our size to compete with the bigger club.

You think a club the size of Saints getting promoted from the Championship and qualifying for Champions League football are comparable achievements? Go away and take a look at who has qualified for it in the last 10 years. Even Newcastle, a massive club, hugely over-achieving and having their best season in many, many years, with Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool regularly f******g up and it still looks like they'll end up with Europa League football.

Yep, Newcastle are a much, much, bigger club than us, so not really a comparison. When we spend £10million on a class striker like Cisse come back to me and I'll start getting excited.

Way past reality already? Hardly, as we just repeated what Norwich did. We've got a lower mid-table Prem League set up and support, so hardly a surprise we returned there at some point. We don't have anywhere near Champs League/Premier League title set up, so it would be massively unrealistic to expect that.

There is a massive difference between nicking a Europa League place, like Fulham etc and expecting Champions League football. Surely you'd agree that there is more chance we'll be relegated again in the next 5years than be playing Champions League football?

Absolute tramps behaviour.

No, that's not what I said is it. It's entirely your choice if you want to expect to see Saints playing infront of 60k in the Champs League, the rest of us will crack on enjoying real life football.

The FFP would make it harder for a club like ours to compete. 32k seats at £40/45 a pop is the most we're going to be able to generate through ticket sales.

Where we finish the season is what matters. Also the gap between the top teams and the rest of the league is bigger than ever now. Just look at the last 10 years of final Premier League tables.

Anything is 'possible'. We're talking about realistic expectations here.

Those that will happily pay £45+ to see their team at Old Trafford or Stamford Bridge on the chance that this game might just be the one where we get a result there, regardless of the fact it's much more likely we'd lose 3-0 in a one-sided affair. To be honest I'm probably the same and will probably end up doing the big/expensive away days, as I'll have at the back of my mind I don't want to not be there that one time we do pull off a memorable result.

Be able to buy a decent pint without a 15 minute wait would be great.

Can't see what?

Jesus wept. There is no way you're serious.

More possible, but still very, very unlikely.