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Lived in Weston till early twenties, loved it with the parks and shoreline all the way to Hamble. The city centre with the parks etc is not as bad as it's painted. Have a lot of friends who visit us who love the city.

Now live in Landford in the forest and love that too, all in all Southampton and surrounds is a great place to live.

New family moving in near us have just bought Hamptworth estate and subsequently the golf course. Not confirmed who but the name coming up most are members of the Mittal family, wonder if they like football?

 

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2 hours ago, alehouseboys said:

You’re clearly missing my point. I’m certainly not looking for “congratulations about, er Highfield” it’s not the type of area I’ve ever lived in this city, but Southampton is a long way from a shithole.

Needs improving, can do better, but after travelling to just about every similar city in 6 decades of following this club and with work there’s far worse.

Like where, because if it is any big UK city there will be a Highfield/Chilworth equivalent. As well as a scuzzy part. 

The City centre of Southampton is dreadfully nondescript, which is not unique (Peterborough, Leicester, Coventry, Derby and others are similarly bland) but Southampton I'd place in the lower end of the scale. There are loads better.

Edited by CB Fry
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49 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Like where, because if it is any big UK city there will be a Highfield/Chilworth equivalent. As well as a scuzzy part. 

The City centre of Southampton is dreadfully nondescript, which is not unique (Peterborough, Leicester, Coventry, Derby and others are similarly bland) but Southampton I'd place in the lower end of the scale. There are loads better.

You seem to be arguing with yourself. I can't see anyone saying Southampton is particularly better than other cities, just not as bad as some are making out.

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The city centre is a bit crap because they did a shit job rebuilding it after the war. I'm sure that if the council had the money they'd bulldoze the precinct and start again but that's never going to happen now. The rest of the city centre though is fine. Loads of parks, more than most similar size cities. Bedford Place/London Road street closures and outdoor seating have made that whole area a much better place to hang out now.

There's loads going on at the moment here. I've been to about 25 gigs since covid restrictions were scrapped. The arts scene is bigger than it has ever been. 

Give it a few years once they've sorted the old Toys r Us site and the Bargate development and things will be even better.

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I have been to many major cities and don't remember many having an approach similar to The Avenue/Common leading directly into the city centre. Often my first opinion on entering other towns and cities is that it is indeed a bit of a shithole. Not saying other cities don't have nice areas of course.

As for the city centre, until fairly recently I lived in town and I do agree parts of it are a mess, especially around Bargate and East Street. However things are slowly improving and if not for covid the new Bargate development would be well on the way now which will open up that section of the old walls and be a vast improvement. As mentioned there are the extensive central parks and the new West Quay building set by the walls is very good. When I was living in town I used to enjoy going for morning walks around the old town.

Yes it's no Monaco and parts of the centre are scruffy and need work, but a lot of it is really quite pleasant and for a smaller/mid size city I think it holds up pretty well.

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12 minutes ago, LuckyNumber7 said:

As for the city centre, until fairly recently I lived in town and I do agree parts of it are a mess, especially around Bargate and East Street. However things are slowly improving and if not for covid the new Bargate development would be well on the way now which will open up that section of the old walls and be a vast improvement.

What are they doing with the Bargate development? I’ve looked online but aside from a few words about new flats, retails space and a linear park it’s a bit vague.

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35 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

What are they doing with the Bargate development? I’ve looked online but aside from a few words about new flats, retails space and a linear park it’s a bit vague.

I've found this is a good place to look now and again to see what's happening - looks like a builder shortage has held this back

Southampton Developments | Skyscraper City Forum

There's potential to improve the city centre with what's planned with the 'Mayflower Quarter'. Southampton's worse problem for decades in the centre has been that it's too fragmented, maybe current plans may join it up more. And developing around the stadium and the wharfs along the riverside are also in the future plans.

Edited by 100%Red&White
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I went on a cruise (first and probably last) to Hamburg couple of years ago. Genuinely shocked looking at Southampton landscape from boat as no definition and looked so scruffy - not just the immediate dock. We should be making more of the quayside and must be plenty of gentrifying opportunities to put in a Nando’s, Prezzos ASK and other character outlets. Although probably overcrowded now with cultural quarter and West Quay city walls.
Give me Highfield over any Newcastle suburb. 
 

Edited by whelk
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3 hours ago, LuckyNumber7 said:

I have been to many major cities and don't remember many having an approach similar to The Avenue/Common leading directly into the city centre. Often my first opinion on entering other towns and cities is that it is indeed a bit of a shithole. Not saying other cities don't have nice areas of course.

As for the city centre, until fairly recently I lived in town and I do agree parts of it are a mess, especially around Bargate and East Street. However things are slowly improving and if not for covid the new Bargate development would be well on the way now which will open up that section of the old walls and be a vast improvement. As mentioned there are the extensive central parks and the new West Quay building set by the walls is very good. When I was living in town I used to enjoy going for morning walks around the old town.

Yes it's no Monaco and parts of the centre are scruffy and need work, but a lot of it is really quite pleasant and for a smaller/mid size city I think it holds up pretty well.

Oh yes beautiful,  the drive down the Avenue and turn left for the flower roads &portswood, turn right for shirley & Milbrook or straight in for St Mary’s. 

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5 minutes ago, Block 5 said:

Popped on to see if there were any updates on "potential takeovers". 

 

Imagine my surprise when I discovered the usual forum bores arguing with themselves about whether Southampton is a nice city, or not. 

 

 

Great contribution. Are you not boring mate? Wanna talk tactics?

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Southampton is ugly, and poor and so are the buildings.  The architecture is a post-war abomination and the average wage for females is £34k and £41k for males.  This is 33% less than the average starting salary for a graduate in the 1st world.  It needs to attract investment from modern industries, gentrify and rebuild.

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2 hours ago, Block 5 said:

Popped on to see if there were any updates on "potential takeovers". 

 

Imagine my surprise when I discovered the usual forum bores arguing with themselves about whether Southampton is a nice city, or not. 

 

 

Thanks for that bit of enlightenment.

Anyways, some people think the city is relevant to a possible takeover, and no harm in a discussion about that. You know what to do if you're not interested. 

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9 hours ago, Bob76 said:

Lived in Weston till early twenties, loved it with the parks and shoreline all the way to Hamble. The city centre with the parks etc is not as bad as it's painted. Have a lot of friends who visit us who love the city.

Now live in Landford in the forest and love that too, all in all Southampton and surrounds is a great place to live.

New family moving in near us have just bought Hamptworth estate and subsequently the golf course. Not confirmed who but the name coming up most are members of the Mittal family, wonder if they like football?

 

God, you must be old. Bet you’ve seen some changes, did you catch the Titanic leaving port, fair play, over 100 years old and still posting on Saintsweb

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1 hour ago, Saint-Michael said:

If any potential buyer came to this forum and read some of the petty childish pathetic comments on here  they would not give SFC a second glance.  

Not if they were pathetic and childish, in which case they’d find it an attractive proposition. You need to be more inclusive 

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1 hour ago, Saint-Michael said:

If any potential buyer came to this forum and read some of the petty childish pathetic comments on here  they would not give SFC a second glance.  

If a potential buyer bases £200m+ business transactions on some comments on an internet forum then they aren't worth taking seriously!

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10 minutes ago, westmidlandsaint said:

Any chance we can separate this thread into Potential Takeover Talk and move the debate about whether Southampton is shit hole or not to another thread???

Surely we all agree West Midlands really is a shit hole?

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42 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

If a potential buyer bases £200m+ business transactions on some comments on an internet forum then they aren't worth taking seriously!

Think they would be appalled that thread hasn’t been split and storm off in disgust and buy someone more grateful 

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12 minutes ago, westmidlandsaint said:

Any chance we can separate this thread into Potential Takeover Talk and move the debate about whether Southampton is shit hole or not to another thread???

But there is no takeover talk?! I'm not what the issue is about discussing the city in which the club is based. If people were discussing Lincoln or some other random place you'd have a point though. 

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17 minutes ago, westmidlandsaint said:

Any chance we can separate this thread into Potential Takeover Talk and move the debate about whether Southampton is shit hole or not to another thread???

Maybe, just maybe, there isn't any takeover talk. Maybe that.

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7 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

There’s a pretty average selection of ale houses 

You are not looking hard enough there are loads within few miles of city centre.

Olafs, Unity, Guide Dog, Bookshop, Handlebar, Beards, Alex it’s getting better.

Shirley has Waterloo, Wellington, Witches, Rover , Clockwork, Overdraft, Park Inn a good night out now

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8 hours ago, Give it to Ron said:

You are not looking hard enough there are loads within few miles of city centre.

Olafs, Unity, Guide Dog, Bookshop, Handlebar, Beards, Alex it’s getting better.

Shirley has Waterloo, Wellington, Witches, Rover , Clockwork, Overdraft, Park Inn a good night out now

OMG. Don't tell pub bore Duckie about the Guide Dog. We don't want him turning up. 😁😁😁

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Getting back on track to any potential new owners, a hypothetical question:

What type of new owner would people like?

1. A multi billionaire Government fund from some dodgy country as per Newcastle. 

2. A multi billionaire dodgy individual like Man City 

3. A billionaire who wants us as a play thing much like Chelsea

4. A multi millionaire local with ties to the club with enough money to invest every year to aid transfers & make improvements to the stadium

5. Something else

 

For me I would be happy with number 4.  

 

Apologies if this has already been asked, but I couldn't be arsed to go through all 30 pages.

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24 minutes ago, berkshiresaint said:

Getting back on track to any potential new owners, a hypothetical question:

What type of new owner would people like?

1. A multi billionaire Government fund from some dodgy country as per Newcastle. 

2. A multi billionaire dodgy individual like Man City 

3. A billionaire who wants us as a play thing much like Chelsea

4. A multi millionaire local with ties to the club with enough money to invest every year to aid transfers & make improvements to the stadium

5. Something else

 

For me I would be happy with number 4.  

 

Apologies if this has already been asked, but I couldn't be arsed to go through all 30 pages.

I am not a hypocrite, so I would accept the Chinese government taking us over and making is the most powerful team in history

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10 hours ago, Give it to Ron said:

You are not looking hard enough there are loads within few miles of city centre.

Olafs, Unity, Guide Dog, Bookshop, Handlebar, Beards, Alex it’s getting better.

Shirley has Waterloo, Wellington, Witches, Rover , Clockwork, Overdraft, Park Inn a good night out now

Some of the tucked away pubs in Shirley are definitely worth a visit, Key & Anchor decent as well. I agree the town centre is missing some proper pub pubs. 

Oxford Street is good for a few drinks as well. 

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1 hour ago, AlexLaw76 said:

I am not a hypocrite, so I would accept the Chinese government taking us over and making is the most powerful team in history

You say your'e not a hypocrite which is great. But by saying you would be happy with the Chinese government taking us over are you saying that you agree with their persecution of the uyghur Muslims, their terrible human rights issues & their communist rhetoric?

i'm not a hypocrite so i would most definitely not be happy with them owning us.

Each to their own though i suppose.

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3 hours ago, berkshiresaint said:

Getting back on track to any potential new owners, a hypothetical question:

What type of new owner would people like?

1. A multi billionaire Government fund from some dodgy country as per Newcastle. 

2. A multi billionaire dodgy individual like Man City 

3. A billionaire who wants us as a play thing much like Chelsea

4. A multi millionaire local with ties to the club with enough money to invest every year to aid transfers & make improvements to the stadium

5. Something else

 

For me I would be happy with number 4.  

 

Apologies if this has already been asked, but I couldn't be arsed to go through all 30 pages.

A multimillionaire isn’t going to have enough money to do that imo.

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3 hours ago, berkshiresaint said:

4. A multi millionaire local with ties to the club with enough money to invest every year to aid transfers & make improvements to the stadium

For me I would be happy with number 4.  

The club will cost between £200m and £300m.

It'll take a person or company with billions to buy it from available cash not tied up in assets. Not merely a multimillionaire.

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3 hours ago, berkshiresaint said:

Getting back on track to any potential new owners, a hypothetical question:

What type of new owner would people like?

1. A multi billionaire Government fund from some dodgy country as per Newcastle. 

2. A multi billionaire dodgy individual like Man City 

3. A billionaire who wants us as a play thing much like Chelsea

4. A multi millionaire local with ties to the club with enough money to invest every year to aid transfers & make improvements to the stadium

5. Something else

 

For me I would be happy with number 4.  

 

Apologies if this has already been asked, but I couldn't be arsed to go through all 30 pages.

Number 4 is obviously the preference, however it's hard for anyone not worth at least high 9 figures to make any sort of impact on an established PL team, so you're looking at a very small pool of people.

The guy at Brighton has done well for them to get them their PL infrastructure but they're only a bad manager and a dodgy transfer window away from relegation trouble, like us.

If you want a long-term step change in the competitiveness of the club at PL level then multi billions is what is needed.

But, frankly, even then you're competing with other multi billions so it's no guarantee.

What's really needed is an overhaul of PL rules to level the competition but that won't happen.

 

P.s. MCFC ownership is basically sovereign wealth, same as Newcastle. It's not some random "dodgy individual".

Edited by benjii
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28 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

In a recent interview with a group wanting to take over West Ham  they saw the club, and stadium, as part of a wider redevelopment. The profits from the sources in that area were key to their project. Just as an example of some specific geography being important in a take over.

They never sound great when I hear them speak.

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On 13/10/2021 at 07:50, berkshiresaint said:

Getting back on track to any potential new owners, a hypothetical question:

What type of new owner would people like?

1. A multi billionaire Government fund from some dodgy country as per Newcastle. 

2. A multi billionaire dodgy individual like Man City 

3. A billionaire who wants us as a play thing much like Chelsea

4. A multi millionaire local with ties to the club with enough money to invest every year to aid transfers & make improvements to the stadium

5. Something else

 

For me I would be happy with number 4.  

 

Apologies if this has already been asked, but I couldn't be arsed to go through all 30 pages.

Aren't Man City, PSG and Newcastle all basically the same thing? They are all basically funded by rich Oil countries who are a bit dodgy with basically like a figurehead prince? How they frame the 'ownership' is just basically for working through the various tax/FFP/owner test loopholes. 

If we do get sold, from the talk going around and the investments that happened recently, its most likely going to be an American led investment consortium. 

The Newcastle takeover also I think has made it less likely we will get a takeover because that is basically another club we won't be able to compete with and therefore a more moderate wealth investor will see that and see that their money will go even less far as if they bought us and spent say £50 million, Newcastle will probably spend 5 times that. 

Edited by tajjuk
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On 13/10/2021 at 07:50, berkshiresaint said:

Getting back on track to any potential new owners, a hypothetical question:

What type of new owner would people like?

1. A multi billionaire Government fund from some dodgy country as per Newcastle. 

2. A multi billionaire dodgy individual like Man City 

3. A billionaire who wants us as a play thing much like Chelsea

4. A multi millionaire local with ties to the club with enough money to invest every year to aid transfers & make improvements to the stadium

5. Something else

 

For me I would be happy with number 4.  

 

Apologies if this has already been asked, but I couldn't be arsed to go through all 30 pages.

1, 2 or 3 please

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