http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/FixturesResults/0,,10280~2001,00.html Average attendance that season was:32,334. St Mary's stadium was 98,91% full that season.Full enough.
We could add to SMS by adding a decent modern roof structure (even iconic) as only Newcastle have half of one in Premiership. Of course what we've got is fine and was excellent value - shame it bankrupted us though.
Sorry to be negative but I just dont see southampton as a champions league club I trust NC but i'm sure every club in the country wants to get there. Obviously I would love to be proved wrong!
Don't worry about being negative, because I'm sure 90% of Saints fans wouldn't be able to imagine Saints being a Champions League club. If it wasn't part of the plans of Nicola Cortese, neither could I. But if he believes and wants it, who am I to not back him..?
Fair point I do find my natural saints fan questioning his ambition untill I wake up and realise this guy is the buisiness lets hope he pulls it off.
It never crossed my mind,the idea of saints competing in the champions league,but Cortese beliefs that we can do it and I believe in him.
I said my natural posistion (being used to useless leadership) questions him but then I realsie its cortese and I dont. I never meant I question him, probably worded it poorly.
Somehow I don't think you will get that many defectors if any at all. They will all go on down to Brighton....well, it will save them having to get a different coloured scarf won't it?
Hmm, Just over 20 miles and Premier League football or nearly 50 miles and Championship football. Somehow, I think a few blues may be tempted. Not convinced..? Just don't rule it out.
People always seem to assume big stadium big club its rubbish i think history tells us that our stadium is about right now given the fan base you can only really expand if its warrented and suucess equals fans in our case any thing less means gates dropping off. Teams like Villa Everton Spurs Newcastle sustain large gates at any time due to location history and standing in football to any one outside our city and county no one gives a toss. You have to find a balance between a full vibrant stadium in good times and not to many empty seats when the team is not doing so good not knocking our hardcore 15 to 18 thousand who were still coming to matches at our lowest point but we need to be aware that people dont turn up when you go through a mediocre spell i mean some are already moaning because form has tailed off and we are still second in the table first season up
^^ If we were to return to the top flight, we would be probably tucked behind Spurs, Villa, and Everton in terms of attendances, then there's a drop off to Stoke's which is 27k.
Not only will more SFC fans be going, but think of the away fans to. When we beat Birmingham 4-1 at home, only 821 away fans attended. In the Premier League versus the likes of Arsenal, Man City, ManUre, Chelsea etc etc i would expect thousands more fans to travel with their team to see them beaten by the mighty Saints.
Yes, I see what you mean, but you don't plan for the present. You plan for what you intend to do. Cortese doesn't intend for Saints to drift about in the Premier League, in the future, or the Championship, in the present. His plans are big and long term. I actually think it's about time some people started to get this into their heads, because Cortese is way off down the road, into the future, and we are falling and stumbling behind, getting worried about a bit of bad form here and there. He intends for Saints to stop being that cosy, friendly little club. Tadanari Lee, for example, is a tiny step in that direction. What we had before was Lowe and Co, and do you know how much they expanded Saints profile in terms of capacity..? By 2,689, in 30+ years, that's how much. In 1966, when I started following Saints, The Dell's capacity was 30,000. And Saints used to regularly get gates of 22-26Ks and more, because they were in the top division. Once they even got 31,044. I know, I squeezed in there, and could hardly breathe at times. So when Lowe and Co built St Marys, you'd think that after all that time at the top they might have looked back at the potential for taking more fans. Yes, I know they'd been taking only 15,251 for several years and turned away a lot of fans because of it [me included, at one point], but they didn't see that the potential was always there - because it had been there before. After all, if football is such a dominant sport, where more people watch it, shouldn't there be room for some proper expansion..? So I don't think 2,689 extra places really cuts it. Thankfully, Cortese knows better.