St Louis

They'd have to want to sign you. I have absolutely no idea if the Blackburn rumour is true, but I doubt he has too many options (due to his injuries and salary expectations) so maybe they are the best 'northern' option avaialble to him, if thats what he's looking for.

I've had a reply... The ticket priority windows are the same for both Standard Membership and Membership Plus holders, so there is no additional priority access to tickets with Membership Plus. However, Membership Plus does include a number of additional benefits, including: A £10 retail voucher One complimentary match ticket for two Category A, B or C fixtures (subject to availability and terms).

Does anyone know if the 'Membership Plus' accounts will have a priority window to buy tickets before standard Memberships? Or will they share the same purchase window? Not a huge amount more value between the two otherwise for me, to justify the extra cost. I may have missed it somewhere, but I did email the club to ask... and obviously no reply.

I'm not too disappointed by Dan Neil moving to Rangers, having read this on the Ipswich Forum and spoken with a friend who is an Ipswich ST Holder, it seems he's pretty average: https://www.twtd.co.uk/forum/629721/dan-neil/page:1

Is Manning's brother any good?

Surely it’s only fair if he goes in goal for Boro for a bit? 46 league games for them, and we can use him in cups?

I have a small snippet worth sharing... I had dinner/drinks with a senior Saints director back in 2016, and as the drinks flowed, he started to share a few things he probably shouldnt have. One of which was that he said Fonte had come back from the Euro's in 2016 like Billy Big B*llocks (after winning it with Portugal), and that he was demanding a big pay rise, otherwise he wanted to move on (personally I think thats fair enough, he was 32 at the time, had players like Ronaldo around him all summer, was a Euros winner and probably felt it was his last chance of a big/fair contract). But the interesting part was that the Saints director told us that we were absolutely not willing to give him a new contract, as ALL of his metrics (fitness, pace, etc) had actually been in the decline for a few years and we were already keen to move him on in the near future, so this made the decision easy for the club. Incredible to think he managed another 10 years of playing! Admittedly didn't have a great time with West Ham, Braga, etc, but he did mange 5 brilliant seasons in the middle of that with Lille, playing 196 games and winning Ligue 1. Proper Saints legend, it would be great to see him back with us in some capacity one day.

For me, it 100% comes down to what the playing squad think…. If (and it’s a big if, and I’d assume not likely) they want him to stay, and feel they want to give it another go next season with a siege mentality and all stick together, then I would be happy for him to stay (the football played and the results he got, make him a better option than the risk and upheaval of a new manager) But… If (and I assume it’s most likely) they are disgusted by it all and want him gone and can’t forgive him for taking their chance away, then I want him gone. Bielsa did the same remember (it was only the punishment was lesser) and he was forgiven and loved again (like a god) by the Leeds fans (and media!)

Saturday's Sky Bet Championship Play-Off Final between Hull City and Middlesbrough will kick-off at 15:30. Should the outcome of the ongoing appeal process result in the Final being contested by Hull City and Southampton, the kick-off time for the fixture will remain at 16:30.

EFL Update:

Never been to Portsmouth? (Or Middlesbrough?)

SPYGATE LIVE 🤪 For those interested in wasting another day hitting refresh.... https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/26118726.spygate-live---middlesbrough-southampton-play-off-verdict/

No, they don’t. They have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that we were attempting to cheat (on that occasion and potentially more). I think we all know there’s truth in it, just not the severity (and how much it’s been exaggerated hopefully by the sensationalist media). So we just await what they think is fair punishment for that.

This is genuinely true... my best mate just bumped into a Saints attacking midfielder (who might be Irish) in a department store in London (he sent me photo evidence) and had a quick chat. When asked, the unnamed player said 'Weve been told it will be a fine and we expect to play the final'. I know that he cant really say much to a random fan, and its just a useless snippet, but thought worth sharing 🤭 I'm hoping he might have said 'we dont know anything yet' if they werent confident... or am I clutching at straws!?

Excuse the ChatGPT, but I couldn't remember myself Southampton F.C. were initially allocated 35,667 tickets for the 2024 Championship Play-off Final against Leeds United at Wembley Stadium. A few days later, Wembley released an additional 1,233 tickets to Southampton after the initial allocation sold out, taking the total Saints allocation to approximately 36,900 tickets. The total attendance for the final was 85,862, which was actually the best-attended Championship play-off final in about a decade.