stevegrant

Technically, Leicester didn't live within their means, hence going into admin the year they went up with Pompey (their £30m stadium only actually cost them about £4m as a result), and then their current owner went on a big spending spree when he first bought the club - hence the likes of Sven in charge - but soon scaled that back when he realised it was all a stupid idea.

The Saints Foundation are running a series of regional quizzes, with the winning teams from each event invited to a Grand Final at St Mary's hosted by Matt Le Tissier and Franny Benali. The London "heat" will be held on Thursday 13th October at the Grosvenor Casino in Russell Square, London. Things get underway at 7pm. Quiz topics are a mixture of Saints and general football. A free buffet will be provided. Entry for a team of 4 is £20, all proceeds to the Saints Foundation. If you cannot get a team of 4, you can enter individually for £5, turn up on the night and you'll be allocated a team. To enter, click here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/big-saints-quiz-tickets-27754997946, then click the "Register" button and select whether you're an individual or a team entry. There is no specific dress code for the evening, only that ripped jeans are not allowed. Would be great to get a few SaintsWeb-based teams entered for what should be an entertaining evening

Eastleigh by a country mile. Free entry.

I find it pretty unedifying to hear Rod Bransgrove bleating on Radio Solent saying that Durham should be relegated and we should, therefore, survive. Had we done the business on the pitch, it wouldn't even be an issue. Not as if we've been a pillar of fiscal responsibility during Bransgrove's reign to be taking any sort of moral high ground.

Yes, basically.

Because there will probably actually be an atmosphere, unlike at most Premier League games?

Presumably at the end of the season when they go down, Davids Gold and Sullivan will use their programme notes to mention that "we have transport links that are the envy of the Premier League "

Thought the view from the lower tier was excellent, no different to what you get at the Emirates, etc, really. Seen a few photos from the upper tier that look horrendous

Thought we were very good, albeit completely untested. Difficult to understate just how awful Palace were, but you can only beat what's in front of you. Was a bit concerned about the midfield four before the game as it looked like the smallest midfield in professional football history, but credit to all of them, they all played very well. Martina very good again, and good to see Targett finally look like he's got a bit of confidence to run at the opposition.

The whole point being to build his stamina up, presumably.

Usually pretty close to kickoff

They've made 8 changes from Sunday. We've made 8 changes from Sunday.

I would assume that direct flights into Milan are ludicrously expensive now, so you're then looking at an airport within an hour or two on the train, so that gives you the options of Turin, Bologna, Verona, Genoa, Nice. Worst comes to the worst, Geneva's probably not the worst option either, there must be a train from there to Milan.

This, basically.

Not especially. They still had to establish the definite demand by selling those tickets - if they'd only sold a few hundred at the point at which they went on sale to all season ticket holders, they could quite reasonably have decided that the 5,000 would be sufficient.

A mess.

God, so much this. ****ing hell, we really do have some absolute ****s as "fans".

Also needs to be taken in the context that English clubs have traditionally not treated the group stages with a great deal of respect in the past, so the team that plays on the Thursday has generally been significantly different to the team that plays in the Premier League on the following Sunday. Clubs like Spurs and Liverpool have had the squad depth to be able to deal with the extra games, so a "weakened" team they can field is still strong enough to compete against most Europa League opponents, given that Spurs and Liverpool would be top seeds in the EL group stage. We don't have the same depth as them by any stretch of the imagination, but the fixture list hasn't been too unkind. Of the six games immediately after EL games, there's only really Man City away where you'd automatically assume we'd lose the game anyway.

Already done. Friday 9am: ST holders with 2+ aways Monday 9am: ST holders with 1+ away Tuesday 9am: all ST holders

Oh, without a doubt. I reckon around half of the tickets for the away end at Vitesse Arnhem a year ago ended up in the hands of people other than whose season ticket was used to buy the ticket in the first place.

They won't be delivered for ages yet. Saints won't even have them in their possession, they have to submit all of the personal information to Inter first so it can be printed on the tickets, and then they'll be sent to the club to distribute.

Firstly, I never quite understand why people give a flying one what that bunch of seven-fingered freaks think. They're completely irrelevant to everyone apart from the likes of Crawley and Stevenage. Secondly, surely many people will want items that commemorate this European "adventure" (for want of a better description), why is this a big deal?

I told them this would particularly irritate you, so I'm glad they took my advice

Would suggest we look to sell the 5000 we've got so far before worrying about getting any more...

Oh, so true. Couldn't believe what I was seeing on Twitter, with people saying they'd emailed Inter's ticket office about it. ****ing idiots.