PokingFun

I think you have to ask yourself in these situations whether we trust NA's judgement or not? For me, I love Guly being in the side as he has the ability to unlock defences as he showed with the pass for SDR's goal. Yes, he gives the ball away sometimes but no more so than many other players. For example, Jack Cork is a very good player but gave away possession as much as Guly in my opinion versus Reading and also when he came on against West Ham yet gets little criticism. I get frustrated when things are not going well and misplaced passes happen, but the number of times Guly has opened up play with deft touches, quality passes threaded through tight areas pinpoint for chances and goals etc plus the fact that he has the ability to score goals and has a bit of pace is more than enough for me to think he deserves his place in the side ahead of either Connolly or SDR at the moment. I still believe his best position is playing up off Lambert where he can cause the mayhem in the final third and giving the ball away in a tight area by trying something does not have as much of an adverse impact if it goes wrong.

It's a decent away point against a decent side which has been achieved against adversity in the game situation. Were still proving hard to beat away from home and I really don't see our St Marys form going tits up. By all accounts we got lucky v Reading but were very unlucky v Derby so a couple of points against two tough sides seems alright. Keep the faith.

I don't think SDR comes into it as he has hardly played. I agree to an extent that AL gives us an added dimension, something different, as he is a fabulous player at this level but I also still feel we can create chances and score goals without AL always being available. The chances just come in a slightly different way. With better finishing last night and versus Derby we would not be talking about any lack of cutting edge at all and with players like Lambert, Connolly, Guly, Chaplow plus the impact guys and defenders weighing in I think we have more than enough to score goals in the absence of AL / SDR. All about different opinions I guess.

We don't have a lack of cutting edge, you only have to look at the goals for column to see that (27 goals in 12 games is exceptional). I thought we missed a couple of good chances and were unlucky to have the SDR goal chalked off for the foul when the ref blew up too quickly otherwise it could have been 3 against what looked like a very big, strong and well organised West Ham defence. If nothing else, Big Sam does make sure that his teams are tight defensively and they've only conceded 11 in 12 games, a record only bettered by Middlesbrough. Last night was not a lack of a cutting edge, it was simply that WHU were a strong team defensively and often forced us to play back and keep possession which we actually did very well. We still created a large number of chances, some clear cut, some half-chances even though they're strength was defending and being pretty well organised for the best part.

Who cares about it anyway and also it's really not a curse!

My post was no more ill-informed than you're constant speculation about what might happen in the future based on our record in the past. You have simplified things by taking a stance that just because Wolves are increasing their capacity that they must be able to fill it. Quite frankly that argument is bull**** unless you have seen said evidence that Jed Moxey has. I even said in my post that some had capacity ceilings, some had novelty value but the ones that didnt did not see an uplift in the region of 60% needed even to get to 40k let alone 50k. You have an over riding inability to ever accept anyone's argument even though they have based it on some sound factual evidence plus some reasonable assumptions which is what I have done as far as I am concerned. I am actually so confident that my numbers would not be far away that I am prepared to have a wager with you for charity that says if Saints increase capacity to 40,000 then they will still not average better than 35,000. Are you prepared to take that on Mr Pedantic?!

My use of the words "comparable clubs" aside then .... these numbers clearly show that an uplift to > 40,000 if we are in the premier league will be very difficult to achieve based upon the average uplift seen by those clubs that went up in previous seasons other than the small clubs where the novelty factor of being in the premier league clearly had a massive impact. Teams that have been in the premier league in their recent history are clearly struggling to achieve a greater uplift than around 10%. Birmingham achieved 35% and maybe that's what we might expect at a push. I already said that QPR and Norwich have capacity restrictions. I am fairly sure that West Brom (26k), Brum (29k), Newcastle (52k) do not have such restrictions yet they have still struggled to achieve their current capacity. Only Wolves are doing that out of those clubs and I would suggest they are a better benchmark for us than smaller clubs. To achieve 40,000 if we had the capacity would mean an increase of 50-60% dependent upon our final average attendance for this season and that is a huge ask if the likes of Birmingham cannot fill 29,000 regularly. We might well fill St Marys in the Premier League but do not under estimate the recession on people not coming to football. BBC News said petrol sales were down 15% based on litres sold yesterday for the 1st half of 2011 and if essentials like that are down significantly then you can bet families will be thinking twice about extravagant purchases like premier league football tickets at in excess of £30-35 a pop. My view is 40,000 is ok as an ambition, 50k is simply cloud cuckoo unless we spend like Man City etc. If you think otherwise then you're entitled to that opinion but personally I would reckon time will tell youre very much wrong!

Saints are averaging 24k in NPC now which is decent but looking at comparable clubs that have been promoted in previous seasons shows some interesting reading once you compare their NPC average with their following season or current PL average. Stats are as follows: Norwich - 26,200 from 25,400 - probably capacity; QPR - 15,700 from 16,600 - probably capacity; Swansea - 19,800 from 15,500 (+27.7%) Newcastle - 44,800 from 43,400 - not sure if this is capacity but thought Newcastle had 50k + capacity so therefore a very big club that has shown no real increase; West Brom - 24,200 from 22,200 (+9%); Blackpool - 15,800 from 8,600 (+83.7%); Wolves - 24,000 from 24,200 - virtually same; Brum - 25,461 from 19,000 (+34%); Burnley - 20,653 from 13,100 (+57.6%). In conclusion, barring the really small sides where the novelty value is quite big and possibly a once a lifetime achievement, then these statistics suggest that an uplift of anywhere between 10% and 35% feels about right. If Saints were to average 25,000 to 26,000 this season then it suggests that attendances in the premier league will be somewhere between 27,500 and 35,100 (if we had a big enough stadium in theory). My conclusion is that a stadium of 32,500 is fine for now with prices being optimised to fill it most weeks but an aspiration to achieve 40,000 through success on the pitch appears realistic but even then very ambitious when you consider Newcastle are doing alright in the PL and still only achieving similar figures to their last NPC season. 50k would only ever get filled if Markus's family decided to go for all out glory a la Chelsea and Man City and bought the very best players to the club which would attract people from out of area who had the wish to glory hunt and / or entertain corporate clients. I cannot really see that happening as they do not appear to have that kind of mentality.

Ah, but how many of those games did Adam not start when Alex did? It is quite possible that Adam not being involved in a large number of the games where AOC started may have also artificially reduced AOC's PPG total. Misleading comparisons in my opinion and would have loved to have them both in the team this season however it was not to be and we banked a load of money. Good luck to the kid, hes a good player no doubt, wish him well and move on.

I agree with him, we do need to stop leaking goals, especially away from home as we cannot be expected to score 2 or more goals in every game. We have only kept one clean sheet this season and are very reliant on forwards putting it in the net. If we could add clean sheets to our game on a more regular basis then that would be a huge boost for our promotion push. Still, onwards and upwards starting with Watford on Saturday.

You forget that we didn't have to sell. The lad got a good deal, we got a good deal so surely everyone is happy. Not once did he come out and say he wouldnt play for us if we said we wouldnt sell. At the end of the day football is the lad's job and he was offered a significantly better job whether we like it or not. Personally if someone working for me that was good moved on for mega money and furthered their career then I say fair play and move on to replace him / her. That is exactly what NA has tried to do and is doing a rather good job of it. If our fans are not grown up enough to see that ANYONE in AOC's shoes would have done the same then our fanbase is more naive than I thought.

Fair play to the lad. It sounds very sincere and good to hear someone that has moved on further endorse the team spirit and fact that new people are generally welcomed into the group which must help any transition required. That must be down to the way NA and the staff treat people from the minute they come into the club and bodes well for the future.

I think this will be a tough game for us but we keep grinding out results even when things don't go our own way so have some confidence that we will win. The bookies are also confident, they have us down as 8/11 favourites for the game which is very short in my opinion. I would be laying us against a side like Birmingham if I were a neutral but as I'm staunch Saints I'm looking forward to continuing our 100% St Marys record this season!! COYR!

I'm with you 100%, we are not EVER going to be big enough to be a champions league club even if we were able to fill a 45,000 seater stadium. We are completely in the wrong location to do it for a start so unless we were to get an owner that wanted to subsidise us as a plaything then I'm afraid that level of ambition will only result in disappointment for fans who believe in it in my opinion. As for our transfer window, while I would have loved us to buy a top CB and striker for this level and capable of stepping up to the PL, I think the sums of money being paid in this window (and therefore wages being paid to reflect that) for players that are largely unproven or only proven at CCC level are simply being over-inflated by WHU and Leicester and their sh** or bust approach to transfers. Add to the mix that clubs and players know we have just gained £12m for AOC and I think it means we are being asked to pay OTT for transfer fees, wages or both hence the reason some deals may have fallen through. Currently, we are in the top 2, have a decent goalscoring record and defensively have not looked so bad that we think we will concede every time the opposition attacks so the balance is not bad in the squad therefore we should only spend a big fee if the player is right in terms of transfer fee, wages and their ability to fit in. Personally, I'm happy enough with the business in this window (Cork is excellent, De Ridder looks pretty useful, Fox has a decent reputation at this level). We have also signed many players to new deals which aids stability for the club. I wish the new CB well. I have never seen him play but will get to shortly and will judge then. In the meantime, I'm happy that NC and NA know what they're doing simply because to date they have done nothing wrong and are delivering success within sensible bounds. I'm not a happy clapper, just a fan that wants us to do as well as we can whilst not getting ripped off in the transfer market. If the definition of that means not signing the likes of Beckford, J Rod, Maynard etc for £5-6m when we already have forwards doing the business then that's me.

Crikey, you should be the manager of a professional football team Hypo ... and chairman as well for that matter ;-)

I reckon Nigel will know a bit more about whether this guy is more suitable as a partner for Fonte than a bunch of fans on a fans website. I would not be too concerned at all. More worried about the recent injury issue but I'm sure our medical process these days is pretty robust as we dont seem to sign duds from that perspective anymore.

Why? We signed Fonte from Palace when they were very poor for a CCC side at figures around £1m or so and thats worked out OK as far as I can see.

I think this is another major option for us to use if Connolly needs to be rested. De Ridder, Fox, Dickson, Holmes any of which can play wide and then Lallana can play free and cause havoc behind Rickie. No need while Connolly is fit and pulling defences all over the place as well as scoring.

Think he is saying that Morgan cannot start as the other midfield players have been absolutely superb. Morgan will certainly get an opportunity at some stage as its a long and hard season!

Having seen Seabourne against Torquay on Tuesday night I will be a little surprised if he starts ahead of Aaron Martin, particularly as AM played pretty well alongside Fonte against Leeds. I suppose it depends what NA sees in training and how important he thinks having a natural left-footer playing there is so we will see come Saturday.

That would surely be grounds to dismiss him, along with the other incident mentioned above wouldn't it? Surely the club would have acted if these incidents happened and they were desperate to get shot of him.

I really don't understand your feelings about this guy. Is it his fault that he got offered a stupidly long and lucrative contract and is sitting out his time with no chance of playing or is it the fault of the idiots we had in charge at the time offering it? If I was him I would rather secure mine and my family's financial future and stay put than take a huge pay cut just for a game of football (which is what he would be doing elsewhere). Some of you really should reverse the situation and think about it more logically. Whether he is crap or not is immaterial. The guy is simply seeing out his contract and there is no evidence to suggest he is a trouble maker or doesn't train well enough. I don't see a problem with that.

I cannot see NA making any changes unless forced to do so by injury. Maybe De Ridder for Guly but I expect us to be unchanged.

Easy answer, put your bets on at a bookies before you get in the ground. Inside football grounds is always shorter prices due to a captive audience especially when the bookmaker is an independent. Surely not something to bash NC or Saints with a stick about though given progress we have made on the football side of things?!

RIP Markus, a true Saint and an absolute gent. If there is "the other side" hopefully you are watching with a smile on your face at what you started and what (I hope) others are going to finish. Much respect.