PokingFun

Having taken a look at Colchester and Charlton ST prices, I would suggest the pricing is realistic. Prices are around £400-£425 for the best seats as far as I can see at those clubs. I suspect that the time it has taken to release figures is down to Saints taking a full look at the pricing elsewhere (competitor benchmarking happens in most industries) and then coming up with some prices that are at the upper tier (as we should expect due to the product on offer being higher quality than most of it's competitors can offer). In addition, they have rewarded existing customers with lower prices than new customers and I think that remains a positive message. I can't see any issue with them trying to maximum revenue based on a competitive pricing structure.

Yeah but the pillock spoke too soon as he didn't ruin the party (he only nearly did!)

Or it might simply be that AP feels Harding needs competition for his place to get the absolute best out of him and therefore signing a proven LB to provide that competition seems a sound idea. If Dickson wants the slot then he will have to prove he is better than Harding to get it. Sounds like good management to me.

Ha Ha Ha Ha ........ Oh the irony of the post!

I'm with you on this Nick. There are some weird people supporting Saints. Who gives a **** if we finish 7th or 8th in the league? Fantastic opportunity to look at some players where it means nothing.

He played virtually his best team anyway you tit! Rickie replaced by 25 goal Barnard? Connolly who is quality. Sorry guys but there are many Saints fans that talk ****e!!! And don't give it the ******** about Martin, clearly that is to give some experience! By the way, if you knew anything about football and actually thought with nothing to play for AP would play his absolute best side then you're a numpty! He will probably play Rickie on Sat unless injured i expect.

The manager is focusing in case you hadn't noticed. We have averaged 2 pts per game consistenly since October 1 and are stronger now than we were then. It is simply impossible to win every game and teams have tried to park the bus all season at SMS.

They won't have next season if they get relegated. We should not worry too much if AP was to go to West Ham I am confident that NC would have replacements lined up quickly and decisively to continue to move us forward. I don't want us to lose AP by the way just saying it isn't the end for us if he was to leave for a club in a higher league.

Its not too defensive .... Lambert 30+ Barnard 25+ Lallana 15+ Puncheon - a few goals and assists Simply not good enough supply tonight from the possession we had. End of story. Nothing to do with the formation I'm afraid.

Perfect summary Arizona!

Pardew may just think Wotton is a better defensive midfielder. Its probably as simple as that as to why he started. I think I will trust Pardew's judgement on that one. At the end of the day we didnt win because our final ball was not good enough. Puncheon had a poor game passing / delivery wise. Lallana was subdued until last 20 mins. Centre backs were punting it long quite often but we had enough possession in good areas to do better but just didnt deliver some of the quality in the final 3rd we are used to seeing. Ref might have given at least one penalty on a different night too. Just not our night.

To be fair after he had gone to have a 'word' with the ref at the end he turned to all parts of the ground clapping the fans and they responded back in a very positive way so I think the majority are onside. The Lloyd James substitution at half time may have been for an injury to Wotton and we don't know that at the moment. The removal of Lloyd James was purely a last attacking throw of the dice (correct to do in my opinion) and we battered them for the final ten minutes, should have had a penalty and but for desperate defending, timewasting and fortune for Oldham we might well have scored in that last spell. Thats football. We still have some hope until its mathematically impossible but a very long shot nonetheless. Regardless, the team has done well this year and next year we will go up if we can keep the team together. In terms of playing staff we need a right back, maybe an addition at centre back and strengthening of centre midfield and we'll be sorted. We have goalscorers in abundance. Tonight the final ball and finish was lacking along with a bit of fortune. Thems the breaks.

I would suggest an average of 2.06 points per game since October is consistency Alps. It does not matter who we dropped points against as every team does it at various stages during the season. Pardew has done an absolutely fantatstic job this year and anyone that thinks otherwise has the most unrealistic of expectations.

I will expect automatic promotion next season because as i stated in another thread AP has achieved an average of 2.06 pts per game since the end of September. That is consistency and virtually league winning form. Anything less will be us going backward. Obviously I am assuming we will keep this squad together. If we keep everyone and add a quality RB and maybe a CM to bolster competition for places there then I cannot see any other outcome than a league winning side.

Dear All, Since the end of September we have averaged in the league a points total of 2.06 which over a whole season would give us a grand total of around 95 points. This says to me that AP has done a fantastic job as there is no doubt that number of points would be automatic promotion. Agree the season is over 46 games but the initial two months was clearly a period of transition so well done AP and the team for getting close. Also the GD at +35 is exceptional given the poor start we had. Onwards and upwards even if we do not make the play offs. Optimism reigns supreme for next season with this team if we do not actually go up this year.

I'm sorry but that is called business. Its about supply and demand for your services. If Adam is in demand (and I suspect he might be in CCC or maybe Scottish Prem) then I fully expect him to at least have it taken into account when he negotiates a contract. When was the last time anyone didn't use offers from elsewhere as a possible tool to secure a bit more from existing employers? It happens all the time!

It was never going to happen as only one team out of a very large number has ever defied the points penalty to make the play offs and that was Leeds. The handicap at the start of the season in terms of lack of preparation and the points deduction on top made it an unrealistic expectation. The fact that we are even still talking about making the play-offs is a statement that the team is doing well. If we do have to replace some players in the summer I expect it to be for big fees and I'm sure that difference now is that money will be re-invested quickly to strengthen again. One thing Cortese has is the ability to be decisive so I expect such decisions to be made swiftly to allow for appropriate planning.

Of course he knows what he is doing .... he has got Reading out of this league before!

Here you go again then DD, what-if, what-if what-if!! Seriously, would you have appointed Danny Wilson if you were Nicola Cortese? Alan Pardew is doing a decent job. I think we are averaging 2 points per game now if you look at our more recent form (i.e. since about xmas and maybe before that even). The question you need to ask is when we have spent money, have we spent it well? Lambert? Yes, Barnard? Yes Fonte? Yes Hammond? Yes Puncheon? Probably. Also, he is spending money on players that are young and can still improve further as well as trying to equip us with those that could perform at CCC level as well. Why can our fans not accept we are doing a good rebuilding job and just congratulate teams that are probably punching above their weight. I think Swindon are decent but they are not any better than us because they won 1-0 twice. If we had them on a level playing field next season I think we would finish above them. If we had any sort of luck before half time at St Marys they would have been buried so thats the rub in football.

I'm sorry but you must have been watching a different game to me then. We had numerous chances and on a different day would have been well in command. Swindon to their credit stuck at their task and made it difficult for us to pass the ball well but even then we still went close with several chances. Hit post, one cleared off line, disallowed goal for a marginal offside, couple of good saves by their keeper versus one good chance they had. I did not see a team trying to hoof it up in the air in that half. Second half they came out and dominated and naturally we had to resort to clearing our lines somewhat which tends to mean playing longer. They managed to get their goal which looked dangerously close to offside and after that we dominated again and even hit the bar and had another cleared off the line. Have a look at the BBC replay and you will see how Saints dominated for big spells. Unfortunately it just wasn't to be our night. Thats football. Why it has to always be someone's fault is beyond me. Summary was that we didnt play quite as well as we have done but then you cant repeat Huddersfield and Walsall every game against decent opposition. They were well organised and discliplined. We had no luck in front of goal. They got a decent break to score and held on. End of story.

1 Millwall (5) 8 6 1 1 16 6 10 2.00 0.75 2.37 19 WwdWwlWW 2 Norwich City (1) 8 6 0 2 14 8 6 1.75 1.00 2.25 18 wWwWLwlW 3 Southampton (10) 8 4 2 2 15 5 10 1.87 0.62 1.75 14 LWlWWdwd 4 Bristol Rovers (9) 8 4 2 2 10 5 5 1.25 0.62 1.75 14 DwWWlWLd 5 Colchester United (6) 8 4 2 2 11 8 3 1.37 1.00 1.75 14 lDlWwdWW 6 Swindon Town (4) 8 4 2 2 11 9 2 1.37 1.12 1.75 14 wwlLdWWd 7 Milton Keynes Dons ( 8 4 1 3 13 15 -2 1.62 1.87 1.62 13 dWWlLWlw 8 Brighton & Hove Albion (15) 8 3 3 2 9 5 4 1.12 0.62 1.50 12 WLdWwdLD Last 8 games and we are 3rd in form table having played Leeds, Norwich, Swindon, Huddersfield and Walsall who are all top half teams.

Last 5 home games Team Pld W D L F A GD GFA GAA PpG Pts 1 Swindon Town (5) 5 4 1 0 14 4 10 2.80 0.80 2.60 13 2 Southampton (11) 5 4 1 0 11 3 8 2.20 0.60 2.60 13 3 Millwall (7) 5 4 1 0 8 2 6 1.60 0.40 2.60 13 4 Norwich City (1) 5 4 0 1 8 5 3 1.60 1.00 2.40 12 5 Colchester United (3) 5 4 0 1 7 6 1 1.40 1.20 2.40 12 6 Milton Keynes Dons ( 5 3 1 1 10 6 4 2.00 1.20 2.00 10 Last 5 away games 1 Huddersfield Town (6) 5 4 1 0 7 1 6 1.40 0.20 2.60 13 2 Norwich City (1) 5 4 0 1 11 4 7 2.20 0.80 2.40 12 3 Brighton & Hove Albion (18) 5 2 3 0 7 5 2 1.40 1.00 1.80 9 4 Millwall (7) 5 3 0 2 5 4 1 1.00 0.80 1.80 9 5 Colchester United (3) 5 2 2 1 5 5 0 1.00 1.00 1.60 8 6 Southampton (11) 5 1 4 0 5 3 2 1.00 0.60 1.40 7

This is the Away Table: Team Pld W D L F A GD GFA GAA PpG Pts 1 Norwich City (1) 16 8 4 4 30 18 12 1.87 1.12 1.75 28 2 Leeds United (2) 15 8 4 3 23 14 9 1.53 0.93 1.86 28 3 Charlton Athletic (4) 16 6 7 3 23 18 5 1.43 1.12 1.56 25 4 Brighton & Hove Albion (18) 17 6 7 4 26 27 -1 1.52 1.58 1.47 25 5 Southampton (11) 17 5 8 4 24 19 5 1.41 1.11 1.35 23 6 Colchester United (3) 16 5 7 4 22 17 5 1.37 1.06 1.37 22 This is the Home Table: Team Pld W D L F A GD GFA GAA PpG Pts 1 Norwich City (1) 17 13 2 2 39 18 21 2.29 1.05 2.41 41 2 Colchester United (3) 16 13 1 2 27 14 13 1.68 0.87 2.50 40 3 Leeds United (2) 17 11 5 1 32 11 21 1.88 0.64 2.23 38 4 Swindon Town (5) 17 11 5 1 33 16 17 1.94 0.94 2.23 38 5 Millwall (7) 16 11 4 1 28 11 17 1.75 0.68 2.31 37 6 Huddersfield Town (6) 16 10 6 0 39 12 27 2.43 0.75 2.25 36 7 Charlton Athletic (4) 17 10 5 2 34 19 15 2.00 1.11 2.05 35 8 Gillingham (17) 17 8 6 3 22 9 13 1.29 0.52 1.76 30 9 Bristol Rovers (10) 15 9 1 5 22 17 5 1.46 1.13 1.86 28 10 Milton Keynes Dons ( 16 8 3 5 26 20 6 1.62 1.25 1.68 27 11 Brentford (12) 16 6 8 2 24 16 8 1.50 1.00 1.62 26 12 Southampton (11) 13 7 4 2 25 13 12 1.92 1.00 1.92 25 Summary is that we are about play-off standard even with our poor start to the season I would suggest. This also indicates improvement to come as we have won the majority of our homes games since the 3-1 defeat by Brighton. Plenty to be optimistic about for next season IMO.

Even now though home form is not an issue, won last 4, average of 2 points a game, only lost 2 at home all season. It is not that different a record to anyone else in the league when you consider they have all played 16-17 games at home and we have played only 13.

We have picked up 23 points this season from 17 away games. That is pretty much the same as all the other play off contenders! At home we have picked up 25 from 13 games ..... everyone else in the play offs has a similar record when you look at the fact they have played 16 or 17 games. We are also better at home than away and have won the last 4 home games. We might not make the play-offs this year but you can bet we will be there or abouts next year when it comes to being in the shake up for automatic promotion. The play offs will be the minimum achievement next year but we need to stick with Pardew and believe in our plan because changing the manager is not likely to bring about improvement. For every one replaced that is successful I'll bet there are loads that are unsuccessful.....Mancini at Man City springs immediately to mind! There are similarities on a smaller scale.