spyinthesky

Kriss, it is easy to criticise Soton Council but if someone gave you, me or most reasonable posters on here a multi billion pound war chest of free money to be spent on improving Soton I suspect we all would have done a pretty reasonable job of improving the city. Look at how much EC and UK Govt money Liverpool has received in recent years compared to diddly squat down here and you may be able to understand the disparity

Am I right to presume VAT will be deducted from the £2.00 Adults ticket So est 4,328 x say 3,328 adults x £2.00 less 20% = £5,319 est 1,000 kids x free How much for stewards, electricity, police, St Johns, other costs etc? Will the Players Union under that nice Gordon Taylor demand appearance money? The gate receipts were probably less that at a Havant & Waterlooville game!!

Had the opportunity to sail along the river Itchen today and viewed St Mary's from the water. An interesting siteline. It gives even more credance to the possibility of gentryfying the water frontage by, at some time in the future, relocating the aggregate wharves, developing the gasometer site (when it becomes redundant) and, perhaps, also expanding into the adjacent industrial estate to create a more appropriate sporting/leisure complex (if this is econmoically viable). There have been discussions about this in the past but just wonder how much interest NC and the Liebherr family have in this possible future opportunity?

I wonder how many will take up the opportunity to donate..'to a worthy cause' ...as suggested on the Pompey website page?

But £3b is supposedly shared amongst the Liebherr family, not directly attributable to Marcus's side

Presume this is the house Benali initially rented out to Nicola Cortese and may be subject to a legal case Understand NC bought finally bought a place in Chilworth for about the same price Wasnt Frankie Benali involved in a building firm with his Father in Law which went tits up?

You wonder what sort of package must have been on offer to tempt him away from a Champions league club Wonder if there will be any concerts at St Marys in the summer?

Anyone know the final number of saints tickets sold?

Slightly off topic but a mate who's son is studying as a Town Planner tells me that of all the UK cities bombed in the war, Pompey had the most incidents of Looting from shops, warehouses and private residences as recorded by the police and the Mass Observation Society. Now you might understand how bombing may make you do things you wouldn't normally do but then take into account that,post war,some of their offspring had the nerve to make up a silly story about a non existent Dock Strike to cover up the fall from grace of their football club post 1960!!

Questions re friendly 1. Who pays the opponents expenses. Club or owners? 2. What happens to the few who have already paid £10 for a ticket? 3. Do the players get appearance money? 4. Does 20% Vat have to be taken out of the ticket price for a 'charity' game 5. Will Hadji Diouf fit in well at Pompey when he arrives? (Nice chap!!!)

Not that I am bothered one way or the other, rather need to test out my powers of observation, but have the two dog mascots been sent to the kennels this season?

Good post i think we all should be reminded how journalism works and how things can be taken out of context and/or manipulated to suit a particular agenda

The Ex Saints have gone off in a different direction in recent years. A lot of the original stalwarts (mainly locally based players such as Stuart Williams, Bob Mc Carthy, Cliff Huxford, Denny Pring, Roger Fry, micky Judd etc etc) have long since stopped their involvement and the mantle has been taken up by a more recent group financed by a keen and fairly wealthy Saints fan who pays for the Ex Saints Association Box at St Marys and helps bankroll the Ex Saints team I understand Roy Beazley (who has not enjoyed the best of health in recent years, nor has his wife) has not been directly involved for a few years now The football club and the Ex Saints have enjoyed a patchy relationship over the past 30-40 years but it would be great if any differences could be forgotten and both organisations worked together for the benefit of the club which, after all, is what the fans want

I have some first hand stories relating to Cortese. Unfortunately non of them are positive, which is a shame. That said he is in charge of the football club I support, a club which is currently giving me more pleasure than in many a year. Provided he doesn't do anything to prejudice the success and viability of the club then certain of his actions may disappoint me but I can live with this.

Bart 6- Almost a 5. Missed a cross first half and at fault for the goal. Makes those Davis detractors look silly at the moment Butters 6+ Steady Dickson 6- OKish but some misplaced passes Martin 6+ Steady. Not up against much. Distribution a bit of a worry Hooiveld 6+ As Martin but slightly better distribution De Ridder 7- Quick and threatening without really delivering Chaplow 7+ Energetic.Bossed midfield Schneiderlin 7+ MOTM for me. Class in midfield Holmes 7- Still unsure about him. Did well enough on the night Reeves 6+ A decent debut in an unfamiliar position. Looked about 14 and currently would struggle in the 1sr team with his stature Forte 6 No way a central striker and suffered from quality of passes to him. Just not good enough for our ongoing aspirations

I am surprised at how many players remain without sponsors Still I suppose this reflects the difficulties faced by many businesses these days Leon Crouch and Bob Terris at Meachers Transport were historically generous in providing support but perhaps they feel they have done enough Could be also that the Commercial Dept at St Marys is lacking direction nowadays

Saw him outside of the garden centre down by Winchester Hospital at the tail end of last season , on the phone Surprised no one has assumed he is renting off Graham Souness, Micheal Owen, Kevin Keegan et al, who were all supposed to have property in the area

I think Saints still used the pitch in Rownhams House up until the mid 60's Interesting to see that CPC sponsored the Saints Youth team kit when they reached the Final of the FA Youth Cup in the early 60's

Duncan Thanks i will have a look through

Can any old timers remember CPC who were a local 'feeder' club before the Youth teams started Seem to recollect they were about in the 50's and 60's and were possibly a Transport related team based in Rownhams

Seem to be a thing of the past now There was one on sale for a while outside of st Marys last year and Darren Wheeler was thinking about resurrecting his mag. Did this ever get off the ground? Assume no other Saints related fanzines are currently out there?

Sam Allardyce rekons that any team wanting to get out of the Championship needs a 1st team squad of 27 or 28 to account for injuries/suspensions and loss of form We have 22 I think so maybe need to bolster a tad if what he says (using historical evidence supposedly) is correct

So far this this year Barnsley 1,138 Ipswich 1,165 Leicester 2,682 Anyone got a figure for Swindon?

Just as an aside how much did Rupes give 'Sir' Harold Redknapp (anyone remember the Pompey News running a campaign to get Harry a Knighthood, with some fans calling for Petert Storrie to be included too!!!) - was it £90k for Fuller? In comparison how much did 'Sir' Harold spend down at Fratton Park on transfers, agent fees and wages?? Although many of us complain about Ol Rosy Cheeks, at least he kept Harold on a fairly tight financial leash.