Spudders

I would hope that your guess is wrong as this current team isn't good enough to win promotion. I think the current team is close, with only a bit of tinkering required. I did say we'll not see 'too much', I do think we'll see a little bit of activity, but just not loads.

Very good post Phil. Good point too about my lack of food detail, I will go and add some to my thread now! Nicola confirmed that the Sun actually offered to print an apology, but he said not to worry about it (of course they now owe him a favour ). Again though, it just goes to show that despite all the suggested problems with the media, actually there is a good relationship in place between the club and the general media.

Ah yeah I totally forgot about that! I was all set to ask him when work was going to start on the kit for next season as I was going to suggest that maybe season ticket holders could have some sort of input into its final choice, maybe a vote on some final designs. So when he said it’s being finalised but it’s already designed and looks stylish that was that suggestion scuppered

A few more bits. Alex Chamberlin has good people around him. The season ticket instalment plan will come back once we have the electronic type card system in place. The removal of the scheme was because there were over 400 people who set up the direct debit and cancelled it as soon as they received their tickets. One of the season ticket holders there said he thought that it would be good if on our last home game of the season the players shirts had Markus’s name written on them. That suggestion was well received by Nicola and the rest of us (sure there would be a lot more shirt sales generated as well if a limited shirt was also sold in the club shop). The club are looking to extend the range of merchandise they sell to include some better quality more subtle clothing. As Ladysaint says, the Sun apologised for their bit stating the club was for sale, the item slipped through their checking process and was written as a result of an over eager young reporter who had a quiet weekend of league one reporting due to the postponement of games because of the weather. With regards to the people with their own agendas creating rumours, Nicola quite rightly would not name names, but he did talk about his wish on arrival at the club to cut out all the political goings on and to get rid of the hangers on. He’s clearly not interested in ‘perks’ and wants to do things in the right and professional way. I asked him about Lee Barnard and I said I’m not asking what happened (obviously I knew he wouldn’t tell us that anyway) but he said Lee’s hand is healing nicely. He also said that Lee is one of the quietest players in the squad and was the last player who he would have expected to get into any bother. Lee was absolutely gutted about what happened, couldn’t have been more apologetic and this really was a case of him being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nicola isn’t worried about Pardew poaching any of our players should he get Newcastle job. Someone mentioned the additional charge for people buying tickets on the day, Nicola said that they had to discourage people from turning up on the day, mainly due to the fact that everyone that does just turn up does it at the last minute. Last season they had occasions where several hundred people turned up literally just before kick-off and then people started to get aggressive when they weren’t served instantly. Regarding the funds we have, it’s clear there is money there, but it’s certainly not clear how much. As has been said all along, we must be run in a financially sensible manner. My opinion on this after hearing what Nicola had to say in person and in his press report (and this really is my own gut feeling) is that providing we do things the ‘right’ way and are not throwing money away, there will always be money there so long as Nicola is with us. He’s stated in his BBC interview that although Markus’s family are 100% committed, should they ever decide they wish to pull out, he has other people who would come in and replace them which is reassuring. A comment Nicola made which I thought was spot on, is that he’s noticed that as a fan-base we really aren’t good at being optimistic. It was pointed out to him that this was due to the constant problems we’ve had in recent years, but he says we need to get used to the fact that we are on the up now, accept it and enjoy our rise. I think that’s spot on, we are so used to problems at the club that we are constantly waiting/looking for the next one. If there isn’t anything to moan about, as a fan-base we seem to then just create problems that aren’t there. Sure, there will be a few people at various levels (be it office staff, players, etc) that won’t have liked the sudden change in direction of the tide at Southampton football club, but personally I am now 100% convinced we really are in safe hands. Whilst Markus will never be forgotten for what he’s done for our club, Nicola is absolutely key to us. The fact that Nicola stated in his interview yesterday that ‘should’ the Liebherr family ever decide they want out, there is already a plan B for funding in place, speaks absolute volumes to me. If any of you doubted Nicola’s commitment to the club, then hopefully that answers that question. It is in some ways a shame that we all sing the praise of Markus, but not of Nicola, but I have a sneaky feeling that at some point in a few years time, we as a fan-base will be singing Nicola’s name as well.

It really was excellent, we had a tour of the stadium (although I missed most of it as I got stuck in traffic), the food was good and we all had a good old chat. Because of the small number of people there it was easy to ask questions and because of the fact that Nicola was so chatty we did cover a fair bit. As I mentioned in my original post, I really don’t get excited or impressed by much these days, in fact I’m a bit of a grump generally. But Nicola really did come across very well, he clearly wants to be here and isn’t just here because of Markus, he’s here because he and Markus BOTH had a vision of where they wanted to take the club. I found him really interesting to listen too. I was really impressed by his football knowledge as well.

Yeah the questions are fine, I spent 2 hours chatting to my house mate as I kept remembering things! Regarding the academy, Nicola was saying we have a 'very' good group of youngsters coming up through at the age of 16ish. The youngsters are interacting with the 1st team and apparently we had a 16 year old that was almost on the bench for a recent league game. If the new plans for the training ground are accepted and put into place, the different levels of players will have different levels of facilities. So for example the youngsters will have good facilities, but they will also see that if they work hard the facilities on offer to the main squad will be better. Even the restaurant for example, will have separate sides where the better players are rewarded with better facilities, the idea being that everyone will be inspired to want to push on and get into the better areas.

We didn't go into these sorts of details. To be honest it was kind of difficult at times because you'd ask a question and Nicola would reply, but before you had time to then follow up with further questioning on that subject, someone else would come in with a question on a totally different subject. It sounded to me like there were plans to extend St Mary's, but until we actually get back to the premiership it's all speculation and ideas. There was also talk about development of the waterfront and potential for a ferry terminal, but again, the development to the area as a whole is in the hands of the council rather than Saints.

Said he really feels for Ricky as in the closed season Ricky did everything right, but the pre-season training meant he ended up with about three different problems, where just as one sorts itself out, another one limits his training. Before the season Ricky told Nicola that he wanted to get 40 goals this season.

The Papa Waigo question was asked and his answer was no, it’s not going to happen. However he did also say that Papa wants to come back, but the issue is around how much his current club wants for him. I kind of got the impression that he also didn’t think Papa would cut the mustard at a higher level. I guess if the asking price was lowered it could happen, but I doubt very much it will. But that's more me reading between the lines there.

done for starters. will add more points in the morning

As some of you will have seen from my comments on the ‘Cortese Breaks silence’ thread, I was lucky enough to have dinner with Nicola this evening along with about 17 other season ticket holders who were randomly selected. This is the second time that Nicola has held one of these events (some of you may recall the first occasion was a few days after the sacking of Pardew). Nicola said that he’s now going to do these sessions with season ticket holders each month so hopefully a lot more of you will also get to chat to him over time. I’ve never been one to get excited about things, but since getting the invite to this I have genuinely been looking forward to this, mainly because I find Nicola quite intriguing and had an open mind about him. I have to say, he seemed an absolute top bloke, a genuinely good guy and funny as well. The conversations, questions and answers during the course of the evening covered pretty much everything that he spoke about in his interview with the BBC so there was a lot of overlap, but points I’d add (in no particular order) are as follows; The interview he did today has been planned for a while and it’s timing in relation to recent speculation is purely coincidental. Had the interview not been planned, he wouldn’t have made any statement about the club not being for sale, he basically reiterated what he’s said before, that he is totally committed to the 5 year plan and we should treat no news from the club as good news. The vision isn’t just about 5 years. There is no point in getting back to the premiership if we are just going to struggle when we are there. Once we are there we will compete to win the title, that’s the point of being there. The team is being built as exactly that, a team, that will get us out of league one, but also out of the championship. He wants to add players, but only if they fit that vision of being able to push on. If we can get promoted this season, there should be no reason why we can’t push out for a top two spot in the championship next season providing we build the team properly via January window and in the summer. January window is difficult as any players we would want would be likely to be involved in Promotion pushes, or fighting to stay in leagues for their current teams (my guess from that is we may not see too much happen in January, but summer will be more productive). The start of our season was ruined by pre-season training, because the players were pushed too hard. Ricky for example was in great shape just before pre-season and he’d been training in his own time during the summer to ensure he was in good shape, but then the level of pre-season training un-did a lot of that work. Pards basically wanted things done his way and didn’t listen to people telling him he was pushing the players too hard. Markus was constantly amazed by the amount of people that would stop him and thank him for saving the club. His family are still coming over to some games. Markus favourite player was Papa, who was apparently a very funny chap and bit of a character. They feel that we can get crowds of 45k on a regular basis once back in the prem. The development of the stadium and surrounding area depends greatly on the development of the surrounding area as a whole. Obviously with the rail track next to the ground, a station there would be great, but British Rail aren’t going to build a station that’s only used once every two weeks. However if the area as a whole gets developed then it becomes more viable. I’ll add some more bits as a think of them.

Shall I stick comments on this thread, or do you think it warrents it's own thread?

Just typing some stuff up now, will do it as quick as i can

Got home a couple of hours ago and spent the last couple of hours chatting to my housemate about all the different things discussed tonight. Due to the press interview today, there's obviously a lot of overlap where the same questions were asked and answered by those who attended the meal with Nicola, as has been talked about in the interview. There were other points that came up that weren't in the interview, many of which I think would be fine to post. I'll type some bits and bobs up and add them to the forum, but for me the most important thing after spending the evening listening to Nicola, is that I am 100% confidant our club is (and will continue to be) in great hands.

Maybe there are players lined up to come to us next season IF we are promoted?

Cheers for that superSAINT

This is me.....

No worries, will do.

:lol:

ha, nah it's another one of those events where season ticket holders have been randomly selected to go and have dinner with him, ask questions, etc. Looking forward to it

I'm having dinner with Nicola tonight, so will be interested to see what this artical says!

I agree, we should have two of every thread on the forum.

It was funny enough reading our fans impression of the game last night, you'd think there were two seperate games going on judging by comments. Great to see that the Brighton fans also seemed to watch two different games between them.

Funny reading their fans comments reading our fans comments. After having a look at both forums and comments, I have come to the following concluions; Brighton fans think we either played well or were poor Saints fans think Brighton either played well or played poorly Brighton and Saints both played for the draw Some Brighton fans think Saints will get promoted, but some think we are not good enough Saints fans think Brighton will stay up near the top for the season, some think they will not go up Brighton fans think Adkins is a tool, although some think he's ok Both sets of fans think Lallana either should, or should not have had a penalty Saints fans think the ref gave decisions Brighton's way, Brighton fans think the ref gave decisions Saints way Brighton fans think Kelv was in no hurry to take his kicks, Saints fans think the Brighton keeper was in no hurry to take his kicks Brighton fans don't like Saints fans and don't care about us (other than discussing us) Saints fans don't like Brighton fans and don't care about them (other than discussing them) Pretty conclusive I’d say http://www.northstandchat.com/showthread.php?188513-The-Verdict-from-a-Variety-of-Southampton-Fans :lol:

I’ve been in debt for half of my life now, but a few years ago I decided enough was enough and I started to make an effort to pay back what I owe. I came up with a 3 year plan which I have managed to stick too, I’m now about 6 months away from being totally debt free and I’ve been really pleased with how well I’ve managed to get rid of the debt. My main aim is to get my own place and recently a couple of people have suggested that I’m actually stupid paying off my debts and in fact I should be saving that money for a deposit. I’ve even been told I’d be better getting another loan so I can put that money towards a deposit as well. These suggestions kind of go against everything I’ve been being told for years about debt, but at the same time they make some sense to me. After all, I will get no mortgage without a deposit, yet having some outstanding debt would not prevent me getting a mortgage if I had a suitable deposit. What are your thoughts / advice? Cheers.