tajjuk

Like I said coming out and responding to that is the dreaded 'vote of confidence'. Not getting involved in media speculation and tittle tattle is a better way in my opinion.

Some good points here, I left it a few days coming back here because I knew there would be some massive overreactions and some idiotic posts, and you can see all the threads still kicking about. The idiotic minority with a grudge/agenda will always have more motivation and be more vocal so even the 25% is far from accurate However the sensible posters in the main know what's going on and it's good to see most people not panicking. Lets just get behind the team and the manager and hopefully we will see an improved performance on Saturday.

Just a point hasn't pretty much every manager that has received a public statement of confidence from his chairman then got sacked? Maybe the club have put this non-comment thing out because Nigel isn't going to be sacked and any public statement about it even a positive one will just add fuel to the fire and more speculation?

I'm 6th in February (would have finished a season but bloody game keeps crashing ) but drawing too many games, the small squad is starting to take a toll on my players I think, likes of Lallana need a rest. Biggest shame is that Rickie isn't playing well, can't get the best out of him and Jay Rod has taken over and has 11 goals in 17 games First eleven is very good though (brought in a couple of players, one danish prospect centre back and a brazilian winger) Fonte is doing well, converted Cork into a right back and he is doing well but Clyne has been injured and Fox has done ok.

Boruc is a good enough keeper, he just had a bad game. I don't think NA directly signs players, well not on his own. He certainly wanted a LB and another CB as he said it all window for whatever reasons we didn't get them, I also don't think anyone at the club thought our defenders would be making so many individual errors. Team shape and set up is ok and before Saturday had been getting a lot better but the players keep making f*ck ups, not sure how those can be blamed on NA.

Yes. Simply because there is a long way to go and a lot of points to play for.

The defence keeps making errors and we have not other options. It's not NA's fault, it's also a long way to go. 8 games is nothing and there are still plenty of positives.

What's all the fuss about formation? Would we have conceded less goals in a 4-4-2? Don't think so, errors are errors and we keep making them. Change of formation or even manager I don't think will change that. We need a whole new defence, clearly the club thought our defence was good enough, it's not from the errors they have been making. A strong and powerful DM to play next to Schneiderlin I think would also help.

It's the beta but it's pretty much the full game without the editor and network stuff. You cant start a full game on it and continue it when the full game comes out.

To be fair on MLG he is probably playing the game whilst I am stuck at work wanting to play the game! He also got that Southampton thread up bloody quick, there are no other FM13 club details threads up yet. Happy to keep answering FM13 related questions if I can though, well until I am knee deep in finding Saints some decent defenders that is!

You don't need a code on steam, it should just automatically download for you. Make sure your library on Steam is showing 'all games'

I don't remember him so lanky, or having such on odd running style. He didn't have a very long stride for a guy with such big legs! I was watching a Jay Rod vid of his goals for Burnley and I thought there were a lot of similarity in style with Beattie.

No worries, the whole 48 months thing was silly and the game seemed to self compensate for it's own error by giving loads of cash investments to cover the shortfall. Seems you can't do it this year which in reality is good because it;s too much of a temptation (hope it hasn't gone too far the other way though as installments are common in any player transfer) I'm really excited about downloading the Beta when I get home, Saints look excellent, first team is good, youngsters look good and the youth set up is good. Think I am going to put some more effort into the details this year. Isn't 'world class' the top level? Good to see that most of our facilities are top notch though. Has out training ground expansion been factored in? or do you have to request it? In FM12 Saints weren't one of the top 20 youth development clubs in the world due to a few of our ratings being low, but it looks like we are top drawer now.

I might be able to help with some of these as I've been reading up on the FM forums. I don't think they ever had a sugar daddy, this was a game problem and you could do it at any club. Basically by putting transfer fees over 48 months you could quadruple your transfer budget so buy a player for £20 million over 48 months it would only take £5 million of that seasons budget. Apparently this has been tightened up a bit and it affects later budgets and the selling clubs don't accept the long term installments as easily and want more up front. I highly doubt it will be in. I have never used any downloaded tactics and always built mine from scratch using real football knowledge and I've always done ok. It does seem almost a necessity to have two tactics and be able to adjust them in relation to what team you are playing. From what I have read 'exploit' tactics from last year shouldn't work and the match engine is supposed to be greatly improved. Feedback so far is positive about the match engine and it seems it is much smoother and works a lot more realistically. Doesn't mean that someone won't find the new 'exploit' tactic though. Surprised MLG hasn't posted his Saints thread from the SI forums but here is a link - http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/319162-FM13-Southampton-F.C.-Reasons-to-be-cheerful-Part-3! Saints players look pretty good this year, pleased particularly with Rickie.

I think Jarvis plays on the left, or at least he generally does. He might switch to the right because vaz te is injured. Injury wise from looking at their Forum they have a few injury worries, Reid didn't play for New Zealand, Collison, Tomkins, Demel and O'Neill all rumoured to be injured.

Trousers posted this in the stadium expansion thread but's more relevant here http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19977215?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter about Brighton's match day experience. think also it's worth linking in this http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19984968 and the related thread.

I think we would need a football world cup and then we might be considered a potential venue, but I don't see corrupt FIFA giving us one of those for a long time

No he didn't, he wasn't even in the squad. http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/international-preview-422745.aspx We had 5 players on international duty this week.

Didn't say it was easy, the reason a lot of clubs aren't doing it is mainly a combination of short termism, stupidity, old school football thinking and financial issues. For example Man City wanted success as soon as possible, so they threw money at the problem, they have longer term planning in place as well hence they have invested in the training ground and their academy and have bought lots and lots of younger players, however they have so much money that they can splurge hundreds of millions on players to get immediate success, they are an anomaly though, virtually no other club has their spending power even Chelsea, maybe those cash rich Russian clubs. Other clubs only look at the now, they have limited budgets and they are so scared of being out of the premiership money train that they spend £15 million on some overpriced premiership experienced players to try and stay in the league, West Ham being an example, they go for the manager and the players that will keep them up this season, however not realising that whilst fat Sam can build efficient, direct premiership teams that will avoid relegation that is as far as they get, they never really progress. QPR are another example, splurge of player signings, mainly on older more 'experienced' players with high wages and little re-sale value, no real team ethos and still playing in a tiny stadium. Also a lot of 'football' people are stupid and too stuck in the past, look at the mistrust of the AVB's of the world a modern tactical and talented young coach (mainly not given the credence because he didn't play pro) compared with the MicK McCarthy's of this world, how the hell does Mick McCarthy keep getting jobs?, favourite to replace Owen Coyle at Bolton. Look at the over top fees paid for average English players, £35 million for Andy Carroll? £20 Million for Jordan Henderson, £24 million for James Milner? Look at how our kids aren't coached properly at a young age, how u10 games kids are allowed to kick the crap out of each other and it's all about winning the game even at that young age when it should be about technique and skill. How it's taken this country till 2012 to build a national football centre. Old school thought, traditionalism and too much trust 'football' people has held English football back. I think the Dalglish return to Liverpool about summed it up, out of touch old manager given too much trust based on past glories 20 years ago and free reign to sign average over rated English players. Some clubs just don't have any money, Villa who you mentioned aren't bankrolled by Lerner anymore and have been in decline for years, clubs like West Brom and Fulham are consistently punching above their weight and doing well, I don't really know about Sunderland, they have the potential to be a big club but again don't ever seem to progress, they transfer policy seems to be quite standard with a lot of premiership clubs, they sign mainly premiership rejects from bigger clubs for high fees, maybe that is holding them back? They have also had a turnover of managers in the last few years so not much stability. I don't know the details about Sunderland. Lot's of factors really, and no it isn't easy nor will it be easy. Maybe if UEFA gets it's arse in gear it and actually works out some decent financial fair play laws and homegrown limits it'll be a bit easier. However we are well placed to do it, we tick lots of boxes, we have one of the best academies in the country, a track record of developing good young players, we will soon have world class training facilities, a modern stadium, a young talented modern thinking manager, an ambitious chairman, sound financial footing, a decent fan base, we have bought some young talented players with a lot of potential and we are scouring the world for more, we are playing attractive football. We are sharing ideas with a massive club like Barcelona and looking at other club's models. Adopting a 'philosophy' throughout the club like Barcelona. Like I said we tick lots of boxes and a lot more than a lot of clubs in the premiership for various reasons, so is it too much of a stretch to think we can progress further than the likes of Villa, Sunderland, West Brom, Fulham, Stoke, etc? maybe even beyond Liverpool and Everton?

Keyboard thumping? I was merely reacting and responding to areas where my posts were countered and criticised, not my fault you don't read people's posts and make assumptions. Where have I said that we wouldn't need to buy players? I haven't said that anywhere, I merely stated that I think we could have long term success by investing in our youth players/academy, filling in the gaps with talented and cheaper foreign players and maximising the club's off-field potential (which may include the stadium expansion) rather than getting an Arab Sheik to splurge his millions on us and we buy a load of Robinho's and Jordan Hendersons. Maybe I'm over optimistic but I think the club can potentially be a bigger club and a champions league club if keep going with our current philosophy. The example's I used all have elements of what Saints are trying to do, good youth team policy/recruitment (Arsenal), increase off field revenue/commercial activities (arsenal/newcastle), management stability and good team ethic (Everton), Yes I know Newcastle haven't won anything but they have gone from promoted club to the europa league in 3 years, a pretty big jump, yet people scoffed at our Chairman stating European football as a realistic ambition, and they did it buy not spending a huge amount of money. with a hated Chairman and an (IMO) average manager. (and they seemed to manage it with Championship defenders). Yeh if we produce another Gareth Bale/Oxlade Chamberlain, City or Utd will come sniffing but we will be able to get £25 million for them and get two Ramirez's, isn't that effectively what Newcastle did?, they conned Liverpool out of £35 million for Carroll and got Paps Cisse for a third of the price and he's better than Carroll. Yeh Arsenal might have spent £100 million but you conveniently ignore the fact that they got more than that in sales, they got a 21 year old Van Persie for £2.75 million and sold him on at 29 for £25 million.

Potential fans, isn't that the whole point of the thread? I mean the club must think they are there to be serious enough to consider the expansion and draw up plans. Those 45k at the cup final must have some affinity for Saints otherwise they wouldn't spend all that money and effort going to Wembley?, and it's not like we had an allocation, we had exactly enough takers to use it up and that was it, there were obviously no disappointed fans were there?. First you said our success in 1983/84 didn;t get us many new fans, except we have gained over a 30% more since then depsite being generally poor. So you moved on and cited our 'success' in 2003 and said it didn't bring in any new fans, except it did the following season was our highest average attendance we have had at St Mary's, now you are asking where they have gone? Seriously? first you were saying they weren't there, now they have gone? Make your mind up. You have a go at me for inconsistencies Do clubs build new stadiums purely because they have 20k extra fans queuing up for every single home game regardless of opposition? No, they don't, they build stadiums based on their potential fan base. Earlier in the thread I cited Sunderland as an example, their Stadium has a 49,000.00 seater capacity, they recently got 37k against Wigan, do you think they are overly bothered that about 10k fans don't want to watch Wigan? I doubt it. They get 45k plus against the likes of Tottenham and Liverpool so probably think their stadium expansion is worth it in the long run. I have cited several reasons why I think we can attract new fans, especially if the club continues to improve on the pitch which would make a Stadium expansion viable, clearly the club agrees with me. You clearly don't agree which is fair enough but that's all have your own negative opinion that shifts about from point to point because you have nothing to back your opinion up with. If you go back through my posts you'll see I said that I didn't think it should be done now, I merely said that I thought that if the club continues to grow we have the potential to attract more fans, I have given perfectly good reasons as to why I think this, all I have had in response is odd nitpicking things like people in Basingstoke might still support Chelsea and you trying to deny at every corner that we don't have any more fans despite clear evidence that we do, it's truly sad. Several people in this thread have given more than reasonable explanations as to why they think it is viable now and I agree with some of the reasoning but still think it's too soon. As for the Man Utd, I was responding directly to a comment about having to do a 'Chelsea' or Man City to get success and pointed out that Man Utd got success without a mass splurge of player transfers, yes they bought players and paid some good money for them, but did every other club around them not? I'm presuming Liverpool the biggest and most successful club in England in the 80's decided not to buy any players in the early 90's? Same with Arsenal, Everton etc, no? Only Man Utd had money and spent money? I also pointed out Newcastle, (which has been ignored )as an example that you don't have to do a 'Chelsea or a Man City' to get success. How about Arsenal? Still challenging for the title despite being no where near close to their rivals in spending power (based on clever overseas buys and good youth recruitment) Arsenal's net transfer spend in the last 10 years in the Premier League is minus £4.22 million. Everton? potentially on for the champions league this year on shoestring budget, despite needing a new stadium and constantly looking for new investment? The only way for success is clearly by spending millions and millions of pounds on player transfers, clearly.

I think this is the key point, regardless of the argument of a bigger stadium at the very least the club can ensure that when we do sell out weeks in advance that every ticket is actually sold and every seat possible is filled.

It is specific to this club yes hence why I started the thread, but he is right that there are quite a few arsey one line comments here which are pointless and add nothing:-

Do you actually have a point, I was talking about how Utd grew from a top 6 ish size club in the mid to late 80's to dominant premiership champions by the mid 90's and you are talking about 1999? what? 1999 was a 7 years after their 'comeback' title, that's continuing success they already had, of course a club that has won the premiership several times and is playing champions league football is going to be able to spend big, that's cashing in on their success. The building blocks for that success were built in the late 80's and the early 90's and it wasn't reliant on big spending. I no point in this period did Man Utd do a Man City or Chelsea which was your original point, they might have bought one big signing a season mainly after they had a lot of success. I also see you ignored my example of Newcastle who went from the championship to challenging for a champions league spot spending £12 million a season. We took a hell of lot to wembley and as Kraken regularly tells us in his attendance threads we were selling out to teams like villa weeks in advance. Our average attendance in 2003/04 was 31,699, a mere 990 empty seats on average most likely due to away fan allocations, we only had one game that had less than 31,000. Our average attendances since that season have slipped away so I again I don't really get your point? Our success brought in a lot of new fans.

Yeh I missed Harper and the Ameobis. Liverpools though included Gerard and Carragher at closing stages of their careers and a few youth players who haven't played yet which I think says more about there poor transfer policy this year rather than their academy. Yeh maybe not a 'Bale' quality player if a Man Utd/City come calling, but prem status, sound financials mean we should pick up a hefty fee. Had Bale come through now and had a season or so in the prem with those sort of performances he produced for us then I think we could have been looking at £25 million plus. Hopefully schooling them from a young age in the 'Southampton Way' and excellent facilities and a great atmosphere might persuade one or two to stay. Realistically though our best thing would be to produce a level of player just below the Bale or Oxlaide-Chamberlain. Bale is a world-class player and will surely soon be moving to a bigger club than Spurs for a £40 million + fee. Lallana though is below this, he is still a good player and might make the England squad soon but I don't think he will ever be in that bracket wanted by the Real Madrids. Everton held onto Rodwell for a long time, pretty much 5 years, he was always massively rated (although i don;t think has quite lived up to it yet) and was linked to everyone including Real Madrid. Leon Osman I think is the type of player we need to produce and the quality type of youth player we could hold onto, he's very under rated and has been a reliable prem player for Everton for years whilst quietly improving, technically good, determined, hard working, good team player, no off field antics. 5 or 6 of those in our squad loyal to the club and we could go a long way.