Nordic Saint

He could be the next Jason Puncheon, showing occasional flashes of brilliance and making a point of scoring in games against us.

He's played centre back for Arsenal in the Champions League, he's the current England U21 centre back, selected by Gareth Southgate, and he already has 3 full England caps, including one game where he replaced Stones at centre back. That's pretty successful for a youngster, who's only just turned 21. But, you are right, he more often plays right-back and he alternated with Clyne at right-back for us, and also took his starting place in one England game. To be honest, not many centre backs from our Academy have played for England so he is fairly special. But, the fact he gets played in 2 positions may hinder his progress and like our other youngsters who've been sold to Arsenal, his progress seems to have stalled. There were media reports that Koeman tried to bring him back here on loan last season.

Looking at the online seating plan, I'd estimate around 22,000. http://tickets.saintsfc.co.uk/PagesPublic/ProductBrowse/VisualSeatSelection.aspx?stadium=SM&product=ST1617&campaign=&type=S&productsubtype=&productIsHomeAsAway=N

Although Jones is good, Middlesbrough's Acadamy has probably produced the best 2 young centre backs in the last year: Ben Gibson and Dael Fry. Either one of them could well play for England in the future. Pity we couldn't have got one of them in exchange for Ramirez.

Saints' current Young Player of the Year, Alfie Jones, is a centre back, and probably the best prospect currently in our Academy.

Fulham fans will be very happy he's not coming back to them. I'll be disappointed if we're stuck with him for another year. His long-term shoulder injuries mean he's nowhere near the player he once was. His kicking and positioning are still good but he can't make diving saves. He survives on his past reputation. I can't recall him making one good diving save for us, which is pretty poor for a Premier League goalkeeper. His spell in goal probably cost us a top 4 place last season.

I assume what he wants to hear from Les Reed is that he is not planning to sell a couple of our best players every year. Mane will be the real test as his contract runs until September 2018 and he seems happy enough to stay so there is no need to sell him this summer unless it's all about cashing in on him as soon as possible, and Koeman knows that.

Mane seems very happy at the club. The problem may be that the club is getting keen to cash in on him, as his transfer value has soared. They do seem to sell one or two of the most valuable players every year and maybe this is part of their financial plan, and also one of the reasons Koeman may not want to extend. However, even if they would prefer the money, they'd be better off waiting another year or two, as he is is improving fast and his value could double again. From a personal point of view, I think Mane is one of the most exciting players I've ever seen play for Southampton and I'll be very sad to see him sold to a rival club. Real Madrid for 40 million in 2 years' time, I could accept.

Rose is a reasonable attacking player but an awful defender. If he played for Stoke rather than Spurs, he'd be nowhere near the England team.

Clattenburg is keeping United in this game.

Rooney looks a real liability so far. He's slowed down the United attack and given the ball away to Palace in dangerous areas. United's best hope of winning would be to sub him as soon as possible. Let's hope he doesn't play for England in the summer. But I still hope he scores because we really need United to win this game.

Thanks. Yes, I was. My apologies to Ron and Colin.

No, existing season ticket holders could change their seats, but brand new buyers couldn't buy season tickets. On Monday, they will go on sale for the first time to members. After that, they will go on sale to non-members.

According to the official site, season ticket sales are up by a thousand on this time last year, with more than 90% already renewing. But, the really big increase is going to come next week when new season tickets go on sale. I predict they will sell out very quickly so should the club raise the limit of the number they sell? This would probably ensure every home game next season is sold out but it would limit the number of new fans who could come to individual games. Pity we don't have a capacity of around 40,000 which would be just about right at this stage of the club's growth.

Totally agree. If he really wants to go, and let's hope he doesn't, we should not sell him until the January transfer window.

Let's hope that Liverpool fans don't riot after the game to try to get all other English clubs banned from Europe. They cost us a European place that way in the 1980s.

Just seeking reassurance here. Is it 100% certain that Liverpool winning tonight will not stop us going straight into the group stages of the Europa League (if Man Utd win the FA Cup, of course)?

A few facts to get things started: The last 2 season have seen the 2 highest Premier League finishes, 7th and 6th, and 2 highest points totals, 60 and 63, by any south cost team. Next season will be our 40th in the top flight in the last 50 years, which is more in total than we have been in any other division in our entire history and 7 more than any other south coast club. This season was our 12th top 8 finish and 14th top 10 finish in the last 50 years. Next season will be our 9th in Europe, which is 8 more than any other south coast team. We have had an average home gate in excess of 30,000 in all 8 of our top flight seasons at St Mary’s. Next season we’ll play our 119th league and cup game (189th if you include all competitive games) v Spurs, which is more than we have played against any other team in our history. 34 players have been capped for England while playing for the club.

Yes, I think Wes speaks for all of us in that post. Post of the Year?

With Pelle, Mane, Wanyama etc, what we need to do is keep them for the beginning of next season. Then, see where we are at January. If top 4 looks likely, they'll want to stay and we'll want to keep them. If not, that would be the right time to sell them if they really insist on leaving. We all have our favourites and scapegoats, but this squad is our best since 1984, so let's keep it together for as long as we possibly can.

Alfie Jones deservedly won Saints Young Player of the Year award. If he continues to develop he'll be pencilled in as Fonte's long-term replacement in 2 years' time. Our current central defensive partnership is one of the best we've ever had and definitely good for another year. Keeping Mane and Wanyama for at least one more year should be a top priority. We are so close to breaking into the top 4 with the current squad that we should pay whatever it takes to keep it together, at least for next season. We know from decades of supporting Saints that an opportunity like this might not come again for another 50 years. As we saw from early in the season though, we need better cover at goalkeeper and full-back. With that, we probably would have been top 4 this season.

You obviously don't leave the ground via the footbridge, Whitey. South West, Southern and Great Western trains all slow down there already on the line running from Bournemouth to Brighton, so stopping there on match days would be no problem, and all points in the country would be accessible from there. A lot of fans travelling to the stadium watch the train pass the stadium and then have to walk back to it from Southampton Central. I've heard a rumour that the council would require the football club to foot the bill for a small station there before they'll grant permission for any stadium expansion. That is just an internet rumour though. Ladysaint is right. The tannoy system is rubbish. Surely it wouldn't be too difficult to sort that out. i believe the King Power Stadium was built using the plans for St Mary's. I guess that must have saved Leicester a bit. There are media reports that Leicester are considering building a 2nd tier on their East Stand ( the copy of the Kingsland) to take their capacity up to 42,000. If they do, maybe we can use the same plans.

With 2 more signed up to long-term contracts today, things are looking good so far. Let's hope Wanyama and Mane are our next big 'signings'.

That's about what I've expected, Adrian, but it looks like more than 15,000 tickets have been sold already and I guess a few thousand more will pay on the day. It's not bad for a player who, although he's considered a nice bloke, many of our fans would have liked to see leave at least 2 years ago. Le Tissier got 32,000 because of who he was; not the price of the tickets.

For the first time in years our main transfer targets this year should be the players who are already here. They are going to give us our best ever Premier League finish and possibly come within 2 points of a Champions League place. Without the injuries to Forster and Bertrand, we'd probably be 3rd now. We are not going to get players much better than that so let's spend the transfer budget on keeping them here.