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New 5 year Plan


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I want to know what is different now, to 7-8 years ago...why will be attract 1000's new fans now that we never got last time..?

 

I don't think we will STRAIGHT away, but I refer you back to my earlier question...

 

If you're growing up now in a belt that spans the south coast and up to say Guildford, and you want to support a 'local' club, who is it??

 

Notwithstanding that 90% of young people support their 'family' team I imagine (ie, who their dad or other family members support and the club they get into).

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I don't think we will STRAIGHT away, but I refer you back to my earlier question...

 

If you're growing up now in a belt that spans the south coast and up to say Guildford, and you want to support a 'local' club, who is it??

 

Notwithstanding that 90% of young people support their 'family' team I imagine (ie, who their dad or other family members support and the club they get into).

 

Okay well let's use Basingstoke as an example. I worked There for 6 years in total, over a 12 year period. In my company of 500 people there were 3 Saints fans, two of which including travelled up there everyday. The others were Spurs, Arsenal, Man United, Liverpool and Chelsea fans with the odd Newcastle, Reading, Watford and Luton fan thrown I to the mix This is smack bang in the zone you talk about. How do we convert them and attract them away from their family clubs? Basingstoke is only 30 miles away but not the hotbed of fans chomping at the bit to go to SMS every week.

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I don't think we will STRAIGHT away, but I refer you back to my earlier question...

 

If you're growing up now in a belt that spans the south coast and up to say Guildford, and you want to support a 'local' club, who is it??

 

Notwithstanding that 90% of young people support their 'family' team I imagine (ie, who their dad or other family members support and the club they get into).

people in guildford don't give a fuk about southampton......

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Okay well let's use Basingstoke as an example. I worked There for 6 years in total, over a 12 year period. In my company of 500 people there were 3 Saints fans, two of which including travelled up there everyday. The others were Spurs, Arsenal, Man United, Liverpool and Chelsea fans with the odd Newcastle, Reading, Watford and Luton fan thrown I to the mix This is smack bang in the zone you talk about. How do we convert them and attract them away from their family clubs? Basingstoke is only 30 miles away but not the hotbed of fans chomping at the bit to go to SMS every week.

 

Ok, write off the 'Big Club fans' - they're everywhere sadly. And most have never set foot inside 'their club'...

 

If you want to support a local succcesful side in Basingstoke, it's either Reading or Saints right?

 

That's me question. Sorry, I wasn't posing a solution. I was asking the same question - how do we convert and attract them!

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Ok, write off the 'Big Club fans' - they're everywhere sadly. And most have never set foot inside 'their club'...

 

If you want to support a local succcesful side in Basingstoke, it's either Reading or Saints right?

 

That's me question. Sorry, I wasn't posing a solution. I was asking the same question - how do we convert and attract them!

 

How many people in Basingstoke will want to support a local team? How many are going to ignore their older brothers, parents and mates and decide to start supporting saints instead of successul, huge London Clubs which are only the same distance north

Of Basingstoke as Southampton is south or Reading which is only 20 minutes up the A33. I would suggest we can count on

litterally tens of these a most, not most of Basingstoke and most of everywhere south of London like some think.

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people in guildford don't give a fuk about southampton......

 

Excuse me! I live in Woking and there are hundreds of Saints fans here. Just see the Station and the M3 on Match days. I'm sure there are quite a few in and around Guildford as well.

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How many people in Basingstoke will want to support a local team? How many are going to ignore their older brothers, parents and mates and decide to start supporting saints instead of successul, huge London Clubs which are only the same distance north

Of Basingstoke as Southampton is south or Reading which is only 20 minutes up the A33. I would suggest we can count on

litterally tens of these a most, not most of Basingstoke and most of everywhere south of London like some think.

 

That's the same the world over sadly. But ignore the real glory hunters. Truth is they do not go to games anywhere...

 

I grew up 45 minutes from the Dell and supported the club as did quite a few of my mates in Petersfield (now ok I had family supporters) but those who didn't had a choice - Pompey or Saints.

Pompey had more supportes (most of my mates) because they were more local.

But Saints had plenty because they were second in the first division!

So I think I agree with your overall point which is that there are not 50,000 latent Saints fans waiting to come and watch us every week...

 

BUT, and it is a big but. A few years competing in the top flight and success (in whatever form) will do wonders for what young kids do with their alleigance.

Take a former poster on here who I know. His son was a reluctant Saints fan (preferred United) until that promotion game and feeling. Now he's asked for a red and white kit...

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Is that true?

Now THAT is the power of a great manager...

 

Maybe Adkins could be Clough II...

 

Forest were promoted to Div 1 1977, Div 1 champions 1978, European Champions 1979 and 1980.

 

A different time, but they must have had some some 5 year plan! ;)

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How many people in Basingstoke will want to support a local team? How many are going to ignore their older brothers, parents and mates and decide to start supporting saints instead of successul, huge London Clubs which are only the same distance north

Of Basingstoke as Southampton is south or Reading which is only 20 minutes up the A33. I would suggest we can count on

litterally tens of these a most, not most of Basingstoke and most of everywhere south of London like some think.

 

...because Saints for people in Basingstoke and Weymouth just isn't a local team.

 

There being not many other clubs around does not make Saints more local. There is a reason they haven't all come down in their thousands when we were a pretty successful and secure top flight team.

 

Wes Tender and the rest of the freaks hate it. But it is a stone cold fact.

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So ignoring all fans of big clubs on our catchment area. All those that aren't interested in football. All those that will chose Reading instead of us. All those people in our catchment area that go to university away from here as according to Les Bender everyone that goes to university automatically starts supporting their local premier league team. All those that live closer to

London than Southampton in our catchment area. All those that stay loyal to their local teams despite being relegated ie I dont recall thousands of Saints fans becoming skates when we wee in league one and they were in the premier. What are we left with?

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Forgive me if this point has already been answered somewhere else on this turgid ramble of a thread but can the CB Fry/Charming Man Gang of "nothing ever changes in football so the sooner the better we accept our place in the food chain" explain how the move to SMS ever happened. How on earth did we justify a stadium which could house more than double the capacity of the Dell?

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Saints area of potential support is probably fairly similar to the 'Travel to Work Area'. Those people who have economic ties with a city or travel in regularly for nights out / shopping etc are more likely to support the club. The IOW is a good example with people in the north around Cowes tending to support Saints and those in the east of the island Pompey - determined by transport links rather than geography.

Edited by buctootim
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Forgive me if this point has already been answered somewhere else on this turgid ramble of a thread but can the CB Fry/Charming Man Gang of "nothing ever changes in football so the sooner the better we accept our place in the food chain" explain how the move to SMS ever happened. How on earth did we justify a stadium which could house more than double the capacity of the Dell?

 

That doesn't represent my views whatsoever but one point for effort.

 

We had demand for tickets that significantly outstripped supply and St Mary's was a great move.

 

Even in our strongest Prem season we got nowhere near the benchmark of season ticket sales required to trigger consideration of expansion.

 

We have no evidence whatsoever that we need to expand St Mary's. No waiting list and no signifcant demand beyond what we can supply. We will sell out most weeks next year which is a start but not evidence of excessive demand.

 

I love my football club and don't waste energy grizzling like a spoilt four year old because the bull dozers haven't moved in on a stadium that averaged 26,000odd during one of the most exciting seasons of all of our lifetimes.

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Forgive me if this point has already been answered somewhere else on this turgid ramble of a thread but can the CB Fry/Charming Man Gang of "nothing ever changes in football so the sooner the better we accept our place in the food chain" explain how the move to SMS ever happened. How on earth did we justify a stadium which could house more than double the capacity of the Dell?

 

In 1999 the same people were saying we will never fill St Marys. I remember it well.

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That doesn't represent my views whatsoever but one point for effort.

 

We had demand for tickets that significantly outstripped supply and St Mary's was a great move.

 

Even in our strongest Prem season we got nowhere near the benchmark of season ticket sales required to trigger consideration of expansion.

 

We have no evidence whatsoever that we need to expand St Mary's. No waiting list and no signifcant demand beyond what we can supply. We will sell out most weeks next year which is a start but not evidence of excessive demand.

 

I love my football club and don't waste energy grizzling like a spoilt four year old because the bull dozers haven't moved in on a stadium that averaged 26,000odd during one of the most exciting seasons of all of our lifetimes.

 

I am sorry but I was not trying to represent your views whatsoever. I was asking a question which I thought that you and others like you would be able to answer.

 

You say that demand for tickets "significantly outstripped supply." So why is 32,500 the current capacity of SMS the magic number ? If Stoneham had gone ahead we would have had a capacity of 24k - 28k. Why is 32.5 k the magic number? Why wasn't 24k or 28k the magic number ? Why not 36k or 40k?

 

32.5 k seats were not enough on several occasions to fulfil demand last season. It was not enough on several occasions the seasons when we were in League 1. Why will it be enough in the Premiership? Why shouldn't we plan for further growth?

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I want to know what is different now, to 7-8 years ago...why will be attract 1000's new fans now that we never got last time..?

 

 

 

This is what I am struggling to understand. In 2003 people from Weymouth and Basingstoke still wanted to watch premier league football. Chelsea still only got 13k in 1984. Sunderland still only got 17k at Roker Park in 1978 and man had walked on the moon. Yet all these reasons are why we the freaks claim we can get 20,000 extra fans now so why couldn't we in 2003?

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In 1999 the same people were saying we will never fill St Marys. I remember it well.

 

Little did they know that 32,5k was the magic number. It is plainly obvious to some of the more enlightened souls on this thread that it is written in the laws of the universe that Southampton Football Club will never be able to justify a stadium with more than that as the capacity.

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Forgive me if this point has already been answered somewhere else on this turgid ramble of a thread but can the CB Fry/Charming Man Gang of "nothing ever changes in football so the sooner the better we accept our place in the food chain" explain how the move to SMS ever happened. How on earth did we justify a stadium which could house more than double the capacity of the Dell?

 

It has been answered. We had a 5 year waiting list at the Dell we needed to expand. We don't have a waiting list at St Marys. And everyone who wants a ticket gets one. What does that say?

 

Next.

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This is what I am struggling to understand. In 2003 people from Weymouth and Basingstoke still wanted to watch premier league football. Chelsea still only got 13k in 1984. Sunderland still only got 17k at Roker Park in 1978 and man had walked on the moon. Yet all these reasons are why we the freaks claim we can get 20,000 extra fans now so why couldn't we in 2003?

 

Not 20,000 extra fans now. But an increase to capacity allowing an extra 6,000 fans now and future plans for more is not particulatrly freakish.

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It has been answered. We had a 5 year waiting list at the Dell we needed to expand. We don't have a waiting list at St Marys. And everyone who wants a ticket gets one. What does that say?

 

Next.

 

I knew several people who couldn't get tickets for West Ham at home , for Pompey or for Coventry. What does that say?

 

Next.

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I am sorry but I was not trying to represent your views whatsoever. I was asking a question which I thought that you and others like you would be able to answer.

 

You say that demand for tickets "significantly outstripped supply." So why is 32,500 the current capacity of SMS the magic number ? If Stoneham had gone ahead we would have had a capacity of 24k - 28k. Why is 32.5 k the magic number? Why wasn't 24k or 28k the magic number ? Why not 36k or 40k?

 

32.5 k seats were not enough on several occasions to fulfil demand last season. It was not enough on several occasions the seasons when we were in League 1. Why will it be enough in the Premiership? Why shouldn't we plan for further growth?

 

Its the magic number because expanding will cost a lot of money that will take a long time to recoup even if we sell out.

 

This is not a computer game where we can just decide how big the ground needs to be on a whim.

 

We can plan what we like but we need to show consistent levels of demand to justify it. Cortese will be doing just that.

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20 pages of mostly sterile argument. Charge £5 a ticket and kids for free and we'd fill a 50,000 capacity stadium most of the time. Charge £50 and we'll struggle to get 20,000. Like most things in life the demand depends on the price.

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Little did they know that 32,5k was the magic number. It is plainly obvious to some of the more enlightened souls on this thread that it is written in the laws of the universe that Southampton Football Club will never be able to justify a stadium with more than that as the capacity.

 

So nothing to do with the builder we used Barr, who have built a number of other stadiums Including Leciester. Same design same capacity then?

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Little did they know that 32,5k was the magic number. It is plainly obvious to some of the more enlightened souls on this thread that it is written in the laws of the universe that Southampton Football Club will never be able to justify a stadium with more than that as the capacity.

 

What the f u ck?

Edited by CB Fry
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I knew several people who couldn't get tickets for West Ham at home , for Pompey or for Coventry. What does that say?

 

Next.

 

Several. Not thousands then. All we need are another 8,000 like them that will go EVERY week and we will recoup the £18m it will cost to make it a 40k stadium and it's job done.

 

 

Next.

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a little optimism never hurt anyone, blind or not ...theres far too much negativity in the world at the moment!

 

Most of us with any ounce of common sense would like to see St Mary's sold out regularly for a couple of season before we spend £18m on expanding it. No the self titled intellegent posters who cite Chelsea's attendance in 1984 and believe there are hundreds of thousands of fans from all across England dreaming of seeing Premier league football at Southampton.

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Several. Not thousands then. All we need are another 8,000 like them that will go EVERY week and we will recoup the £18m it will cost to make it a 40k stadium and it's job done.

 

 

Next.

 

 

Do you really think that we wouldn't find an extra 8,000 fans in the Premiership? Do you really?

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Do you really think that we wouldn't find an extra 8,000 fans in the Premiership? Do you really?

 

Who knows? Last time round in the PL everyone that wanted a ticket got a ticket. You had to

Make a bit more effort for the big games but you could still get One if You did. Let's not forget our average this season was 26k so it's actually 14k extra regularly needed to justify expansion. If we can sell out every week for the next two season and easily sell loads more then it's be worth expanding. There is no evidence that we need to expand. None despite what the self titled enlightened posters might claim.

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Do you really think that we wouldn't find an extra 8,000 fans in the Premiership? Do you really?

 

 

 

8,000 regular fans is a lot. That kind of number would have manifested itself in the form of a) a waiting list last time out and b) 30,000 avg gates in the championship.

 

This thread is over. Read the rest of it as its all been done.

Edited by CB Fry
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Who knows? Last time round in the PL everyone that wanted a ticket got a ticket. You had to

Make a bit more effort for the big games but you could still get One if You did. Let's not forget our average this season was 26k so it's actually 14k extra regularly needed to justify expansion. If we can sell out every week for the next two season and easily sell loads more then it's be worth expanding. There is no evidence that we need to expand. None despite what the self titled enlightened posters might claim.

if SMS was 38-40k,

would we sell out every single game...NO

would we sell out over half the home games...YES

would we get in the high 30-oddk for all the rest...YES

would our average attendance rise....by quite a bit probably

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Several. Not thousands then. All we need are another 8,000 like them that will go EVERY week and we will recoup the £18m it will cost to make it a 40k stadium and it's job done.

 

 

Next.

 

Do you expect tamesaint to know every single person who couldnt get a ticket for those games?

 

For certain games, at certain times we are well capable of filling a stadium with a larger capacity than St Mary's.

 

You can deny it all you want but it's the truth. But carry on trying to belittle everyone who dares suggest that we might be capable of growing as a club as you seem to enjoy it so much.

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Who knows? Last time round in the PL everyone that wanted a ticket got a ticket. You had to

Make a bit mre effort for the big games but you could still get One if You did. Let's not forget our average this season was 26k so it's actually 14k extra regularly needed to justify expansion. If we can sell out every week for the next two season and easily sell loads more then it's be worth expanding. There is no evidence that we need to expand. None despite what the self titled enlightened posters might claim.

 

So you advocate a plan then?

Set criteria to judge demand against capacity at which point you would then activate a plan to (in this case) expand the stadium.

 

By your eckoning that would take two years.

 

So what type of expansion would that then be? Where does the plan look after that. Would you build 14k in one go would that be the limit then? Forever? What would happen if the roadmap & demand continued to grow over time, it would be as daft a decision to spend out on 14k when it was not enough as it would be if it was too much?

Or would you look for a plan that (for example) could give you 6k quickly and the option to add 20k in stages over time?

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8,000 regular fans is a lot. That kind of numbet would have manifested itself in the form of a) a waiting list last time out and b) 30,000 avg gates in the championship.

 

This thread is over. Read the rest of it as its all been done.

 

How do you know that the thread is over? Do you finally admit that you were wrong ??

 

The jump from Championship to Premiership is large. The attention that the Premiership gets from the media (international not just UK) is huge and I would have thought we would easily attract an extra 8,000 fans who did not want to see the likes of Barnsley, Doncaster or Peterborough but would jump at the chance of seeing some of the household names who make up the Premiership. In addition there will be at least another couple of thousand extra away fans next season.

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Last time round in the PL everyone that wanted a ticket got a ticket. You had to

Make a bit more effort for the big games but you could still get One if You did.

 

It is statements like this that make me realise how futile it is debating you.

 

So when Saints sold out last time at St Mary's against the likes of Bolton and sold out against Man Utd, no more people wanted to go to the Man Utd game than they did the Bolton game? Absolute rubbish.

 

Saints were also selling out games whilst in a relegation season like 2004/05. Are you telling me the same number of people are interested in a relegation season as they would be a top half of the table season?

Edited by Matthew Le God
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Who knows? Last time round in the PL everyone that wanted a ticket got a ticket.

 

You can't argue with that sort of retarded logic.

 

So basically, every time we sold out at SMS there wasn't a single person who phoned up and was told, sorry we are sold out!

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You can't argue with that sort of retarded logic.

 

So basically, every time we sold out at SMS there wasn't a single person who phoned up and was told, sorry we are sold out!

 

Nope, a perfectly round number of 32.5K wanted tickets and got them.

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I am a bit scared of commenting on this thread as the pro and con sides have firmly drawn their battle lines and, whatever is said, will not shift or deviate. Too much pride at stake to see an alternative point of view...

 

However - the effect on the corporate take up should be considered seperately in my view. The drop off here from premiership to championship was very large and quite often over the last few years the corporate section has been largely empty (as have the boxes). I know of many companies that dropped this from their entertainment rota. It would be expected that this will now be an attractive ticket for corporate entertainment. I dont know the capacity of this "section" or indeed the relative percentage sales for the rest of the stadium for the last 5 years but it may be worth taking into account.

 

Anyway - never mind sense or analysis. Back to dogma.

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You can't argue with that sort of retarded logic.

 

So basically, every time we sold out at SMS there wasn't a single person who phoned up and was told, sorry we are sold out!

Apparently it was the very same 28k or so that went to every single game and nobody else was interested.
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Last time we were in the Premiership we were generally sh!t apart from a couple of seasons under Strachan. Even then we reached a cup final via an easy run of games and got into Europe by the back door, and got dumped out in the first round - Millwall managed that.

 

Our record signing was Rory Delap and we had Brett Ormerod up front. We had a flirtation with "success" yet our home game against Chelsea that season sold out in 6hrs. Sure, if you really wanted a ticket you could get one but it's the casual fans who just want to pop along and watch a big game that you need to attract if you are going to grow. People who are not going to queue up 4 weeks in advance to get a seat.

 

We shifted 50,000 for a Wembley game vs Carlisle with the tickets not even going on general sale. There is obviously potential for growth.

 

So this time as a newly promoted side, going up against sides that have only gone from strength to strength since we were last relegated, is going to be better?

 

Oh and Rory Delap is still our record signing.

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So this time as a newly promoted side, going up against sides that have only gone from strength to strength since we were last relegated, is going to be better?

 

Oh and Rory Delap is still our record signing.

 

Next season will be tough but if we stay up we have the resources to invest and build which we never had before.

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I knew several people who couldn't get tickets for West Ham at home , for Pompey or for Coventry. What does that say?

 

Next.

 

That they should be a bit quicker next time. West Ham and Skates took a few weeks to sell out and Coventry was also on sale for a week or so, it was also restricted sale, why was it restricted sale? Because they had to do that to increase the demand for the Donny and Ipswich games.

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