Redslo

Only if English teams win both the Champion's League and the Europa League and both finish outside the top four will the fourth place team be bumped into Europa.

Maybe an American posted it. It's not libelous here.

Good point. So they each go 1 0 37 or 0 2 36. Those two teams don't matter for the mathematical safety thing. As for the 57 points (or so) now, I believe I am right. I worked through it and that is what I came up with. It will fall as teams draw or as teams pull above 57 points so that other teams must drop lower. Look at it this way. At the start of the season two teams can lose all their games except to each other--that leaves 378 x 3 = 1134 points available for the other 18 teams. If they split them exactly equally that is 63 points each. So at the start of the season it takes 64 points to guarantee safety. At this point, QPR and Leicester have played each other once. All their other points have been taken from other teams. That is 8 wins and 9 draws or 42 points. The rest of the league has 53 draws which means another 53 lost points for a total of 95 missing points. 1134 - 95 = 1039 divided by 18 equals 57.7 so right now 58 points is needed for mathematical safety. Btw, this is a much easier and better way of calculating it than what I did the first time. I also agree that, in reality, it will take something slightly under 38 points to be safe.

And instead want the longer seasons of Ice Hockey or Basketball.

I don't know about that. I thought we were all quite pleased last year when we have clinched premier league survival and at how early we did it. The same should be true this year.

Yes, our better players do seem somewhat underpaid. I posted the Football Manager 2015 information on our salaries on my blog. http://redsloscf.blogspot.com/2015/01/southampton-weekly-salaries.html

Their ability to buy success is much more limited. Surely both PSG and Manchester City (and maybe Chelsea) would have spent a lot more this summer if there were not restricted by FFP.

But what if Southampton went 19 0 19. Two teams went 0 0 38 and the rest went 20 0 18 or 21 0 17. 57 does not guarantee safety at the start of the year. I am speaking mathematically. Basically, assume that the two teams now at the bottom lose every game. The other 17 teams split up the results so they all have almost the same number of points. Southampton would have to get 57 (or maybe 55, 56, 57, or 58 my calculation was not intended to be that precise) to guarantee finishing ahead of three teams. I know this is ridiculous. But it is what is required to guarantee safety mathematically, rather than practically.

I have found a reference to a rule change on the UEFA web site, but I cannot find the rule itself. http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/news/newsid=2137611.html I have just posted a blog about this general subject entitled “European Qualification Rules for Southampton Fans.” http://redsloscf.blogspot.com/ http://redsloscf.blogspot.co.uk/

I just posted “European Qualification Rules for Southampton Fans.” http://redsloscf.blogspot.com/ http://redsloscf.blogspot.co.uk/

I just posted “European Qualification Rules for Southampton Fans.” http://redsloscf.blogspot.com/ http://redsloscf.blogspot.co.uk/

Don't worry. Today's article is more of the depriving people of the will to live type of article eurosaint has warned of.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/football/clubs/southampton/article4321581.ece Its behind a paywall, but if I can pay for it in USA surely you can too. And no I can't copy it, I have the app on my Ipad, not direct internet access.

As long as I am poking fun at this Patrick Williamson guy, there is this: http://www.spurslatest.com/2015/01/ten-likely-january-transfers-between-premier-league-clubs-arsenal-and-man-united-buys-included/ Does that mean that the Schneiderlin transfer to Manchester United is not even likely?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2906742/Southampton-s-brain-trust-Meet-men-scenes-St-Mary-s-responsible-Saints-meteoric-rise.html

http://www.caughtoffside.com/2015/01/04/manchester-united-latest-club-linked-with-impressive-27m-southampton-destroyer/ http://www.caughtoffside.com/2015/01/13/man-united-make-25m-southampton-star-their-main-january-target/ Apparently, Schneiderlin's performance against Manchester United has caused him to drop in value by 2 million pounds.

I have addressed this subject in my most recent blog post “Doom and Gloom”. http://redsloscf.blogspot.com/ http://redsloscf.blogspot.co.uk/

I have just posted “Doom and Gloom” to my blog. I am hopeful that it will not deprive anyone of the will to live. http://redsloscf.blogspot.com/ http://redsloscf.blogspot.co.uk/

So 5 out of 11 mirror experts picked us to be relegated. 0 of 9 Telegraph experts picked us to be relegated. 3 out of 10 Guardian experts picked us to be relegated. I am not an expert on English newspapers but is this a good way to determine their relative quality?

I think that, at this point in the season, 57 is about what it takes to be mathematically safe. Of course, that will change as not every other game will go against the Saints for the rest of the season.

Do you have a link to this? I can't seem to google it up even though I remember reading it back then.

Could be true both ways.

They made a profit so it is FFP compliant. It is also salary cap compliant because the wage bill went up less than their increase in non-BPL TV income. (Also, I suspect the reported figure is total wages, not just player wages which are all that matter for the salary cap.) On the other hand, if you were asking how this could be consider fair? It cannot, but FFP was never intended to be fair in that sense. It was intended to reduce the ability of rich owners to buy success and make it less likely for all teams to go bankrupt.

RULES OF THE FA CHALLENGE CUP COMPETITION Rule 15(f) All players must have been eligible to play in the original tie in order to play in a replayed or postponed match; however a player who has been suspended according to the disciplinary procedures under the Rules of The Association may play in a postponed or replayed match after the term of his suspension has expired. http://www.thefa.com/thefacup/more/rules

Also, unless you are Arsenal 4th place isn't silverware but the FA Cup is.