Transfer Rumours The Summer Transfer Rumour Thread 2016

Speaking of Ivan Drago the man he killed in the ring Appollo Creed actor Carl Weathers is at the BIC in Bournemouth at the Comicon in September.

 

Love him!

 

I went last year met Robert Englund and Lou Ferrigno

 

I think we need to bring in a top level striker regardless (or at least as close to top level as we can get).

If Pelle wants to stay, he is a useful player and it's no problem to finish out his contract. If he wants to leave, as I suspect he will, that's fine as well. I wouldn't be mad at him or the club either way.

I'm not that excited about extending Long's contract, either. We have him locked up cheap through his peak years. However, he's played well enough to earn a raise and at some point you have to keep players happy (and fend off any suitors). A one year extension would effectively be a raise but with the payments spread out over three years instead of two (and a third year under contract just in case he bucks the odds). Hopefully, we don't extend him any longer than that.

 

We have 4 quality strikers who, if they can keep fit and healthy, will be the envy of the Premier League. Plus, one or two coming through the academy.

 

We're in a nice position with Pelle.

Emotions to one side, we know he is not essential to the team, but we also know he is still a useful component.

Any scenario is good for us, including letting him leave for free next summer, because having him in the squad would likely help us towards a better league finish or stronger cup performance and that will negate any financial loss from an incoming transfer fee this summer.

 

I understand they are thinking of moving to somewhere where they can build a larger stadium

 

You're thinking about back in 2001 or now and not about future new supporters. St Mary's has practically zero extra capacity. Great for now if you have no desire to increase the attending fanbase. Not much cop for ambition though.

 

I think the best thing about Graziano is that he brings a bit showbiz to the side. He attracts people who wouldn't normally give a monkey's about football. He's the closest we have to a celebrity footballer.

 

Freddie & Hulk on the same day.......cool!

 

The fact that we're operating around 94-95% capacity, which is effectively around 97-98% due to the segregation area, is also preventing a lot of sales to people who want 2 or more seats together for a particular game. A larger stadium would see a proportionately larger amount of casual spectators, which would help spread the fanbase.

 

Thank you.

 

But we are not filling St Mary's every week (at least, there always seem to be spaces). There doesn't appear to be a waiting list for Season Tickets. I don't know what sort of takeup the 'ticket exchange' option has had, but the very fact that the option is only available for sold out games suggests that it is not an expected means for the club to deal with the fans clamouring for tickets.

In short, do Saints currently need a bigger stadium? This may be a self-fulfilling prophecy, in that possible spectators do not believe that there will be spaces available, but they could always apply, just to find out.
The alternative argument is that bigger stadia such as The Emirates and Stamford Bridge may have 'bums on seats', but don't have any atmosphere (apart, of course, from us Saints away fans). I'm not against having a larger stadium, as it would be a visible sign of Southampton's progress, but it could be one of those 'be careful what you wish for' situations, where simply having, and selling, more seats is seen as an end in itself, whereas what we (possibly the royal 'we') want is to have a ground full of fans, all with Northam-end fervour. Not an easily-resolvable dilemma.

 

As I said before, thinking for now, not for the future. Sadly stadiums don't take 5 minutes to build, and very costly to alter, so if you're thinking in the long term you'd be thinking 32+K is pretty small if you want to be the club in the South, and to increase bums on seats from the massive catchment area that this club has.

 

Their version of SMS was built more expensively, but the foundations are very iffy; when commentators mention the entire stadium seems to shake when the fans are at their most intense, it's actually that KP is not as structurally sound as it could be. As such that they probably would struggle to get planning for any extension.

 

SMS was built with the possibility of extension in mind, but I bet building regs have changed a lot since then. We may have a similar problem.

 

I've heard that Milton Keynes welcomes football clubs who want to move location...

 

That's interesting, but not really the point I was trying to make. They don't sell out their games all the time either, coming at around 98-99% of capacity, which is very similar to Saints. The owners announced a plan [in 2015] to increase the capacity of the stadium to 42K, which kind of settles the foundations argument. Leicester City are thinking about the future and not settling for the present. Good for them.

 

Guys, all the discussions you are now having in regards to St Mary's, we had some fifty odd years ago about the old Dell.
That was when the speedway owner wanted a share in Saints and proposed a merger then they could build a new 45000 capacity stadium. Saints turned him away and part of their argument then was they wouldn't fill it as their average crowds then was around 18/20000.
With the leagues insistence at a later date of all seater stadiums in the higher leagues gradually the Dells capacity would be reduced to around 15500 or so.
Even when Lowe took over there was still opposition to his plans which was for a Stadium of around 45000 at Stoneham unfortunately to make that pay as we know he wanted to build shops as well. Again we all know that was turned down by the authorities.
So the lesser plan was produced and agreed............ our current St Mary's.
Our average gate then was a forced 15500 so when we eventually had a capacity for larger numbers it was quite a step up.
Gradually over time the capacity was and is reached or nearly frequently.
When St Mary's was built Lowe said then that the stadium would only last 10 to 15 years with that capacity or hoped so, hence why it could be expanded in the future.
If we don't consider the expansion soon we will do no more than we achieved Previously as a club. We cannot afford to wait another 35 years before deciding to increase capacity.
We have to take a similar gamble as Lowe did. It is the only way way we can crawl out of the small club syndrome and move totally forward.

 

I assume you mean Lowe instead of Cortese in that post Beddy?