Shroppie

I note that the .io domain is nominally the British Indian Ocean Territory but in fact owned and managed by a UK firm: Internet Computer Bureau. Assume it's a tax haven thing?

Was great yesterday now struggling again today. Appreciate your efforts to fix it, Steve. Must be so frustrating

Yes. I heard he failed the test when Martin Semmens smacks him across the face with a rancid kipper to see if he'll keep smiling. Bertie's gritted teeth were spotted. Shame.

Five Saints predictions for next season. 1. We'll finish top half, but not Europe 2. N'Lundulu will overtake Obafemi in the pecking order 3. Adams will reach double figures and take the lead when Ings is injured 4. Smallbone will challenge for a starting place instead of Romeu but Sims, Reed, Boufal will fail. 5. Hoedt, Carillo, Lemina, Forster will still be Saints players at the end of the season. Over to you.

Ahhhhh... The joys of punched cards. 😳

By commenting on the response time of the forum I'm not criticising anyone. Just providing feedback.

Sorry, but have to say it's been awful today.

Adkins, Pochettino, Hassenehutl

Edit

Do you think he can persuade Lovren and Hoedt to join him?

Indeed. Boxing Day only moves to two days after Christmas if the day after Christmas is a Sunday. If Christmas is Friday, Boxing Day is Saturday and the following Monday is a Bank Holiday observed. HTH

Not mentioned. I think it's something that may have only emerged yesterday.

Whoever comes in has a massive task. They'll be inheriting an ageing team including some big egos and prima donnas who will be resistant to change, happy to keep banking their megabucks until they retire. Barca's play now looks slow and outmoded. Still dangerous in attack but brittle in defence. They still hope teams will be frightened of them and set up defending deep, which used to be the case. But, as last night showed, they can't cope with the modern pressing game, losing the ball regularly near their own goal and then showing no energy, urgency of intensity to recover. I was reminded of Man Utd struggling against us in one of our first games under Poch. So used to being allowed possession and time to dwell on the ball. In fact the whole team looked lethargic and put out that they're still playing rather than on the summer break.

I'm not sure the group was composed of "Superfans". I've only had a ST for about ten years And I think your argument is totally valid. I think there are a few fans who haven't missed a game in years for whom it's a huge personal thing to keep their record, but that's not sustainable. For me it's a question of whether Saints should reward long-term loyalty with a weighted chance in the ballots or, as you say, treat everyone equally. Difficult decision.

I think the TV companies probably fought it as a dilution of their rights

I think one of the models shown yesterday used every other row, with bigger gaps along the row and another used every third row. They were only possible examples that would need approval. As you say, it's clear a social bubble will be family and probably from the same address. There is no question of a bunch of football friends being able to sit together. The club can check this from addresses on the database It could be that certain areas will be assigned to groups but my impression was that the club will try to allocate seats in the same area as the ST seat, but nothing definite. No-one us trying to bend rules. The return must be safe and well managed and will call for responsibility from those lucky enough to go.

So simple. Only snags I can see are finding buyers at any price post-Covid, persuading the player to actually go and to accept a pay cut rather than picking up money for doing nothing. Not many players around nowadays who just want to play and will accept less for regular games

As an aside, it is apparent that they follow Saintsweb to a certain extent as a measure of fans' moods.

Basically yes.

Thanks for that. I didn't take notes! Yes, the bubbles of fans allowed to sit together will need to match the government definitions, not just any group of friends. I think the "first six games" was just illustrative: no-one yet has any idea whether it'll be the first four games or all season. They did give an absolute guarantee of refund for all missed matches.

Although I also renewed early, I agree.

Thanks to those who replied to me about the meeting with Saints on reopening to fans. It was a constructive genuine consultation and it's good to see Saints involving fans in the process. Nothing has yet been decided. Crowd limit isn't known. There will be external regulations. Saints are looking for the fairest way to allocate limited tickets and are actively working on allowing fans from the same household/social bubble to apply together and, if successful, sit together. Amongst factors under consideration for deciding allocation are loyalty (years with ST), recent attendance (H and A), date of ST renewal (didn't seem popular). However it's done, it will be complex. Some expressed the view that the longest standing and most committed fans should get to go to all games: others favoured a wider distribution amongst ST holders on a ballot, possibly weighted. Maybe priority for the second game given to those unsuccessful first time round. Fans will be able to opt out of the ballot if they are isolating or uncomfortable about attending Age of fans is not likely to be a factor. But, to emphasise, there are no decisions yet. I felt Saints are working very hard, and in good time, on a very thorny problem. Thanks to Khali, Anthony and the team for giving us the opportunity to contribute.

So a double hit for smaller clubs. No money-spinning replays and halved prize money. How do they justify the latter?

Obviously

The PSG result was a perfect example of how 5 subs favours the big clubs. They had a ridiculously array of players on the bench.