Hate to tell you but concessions are now 65+. I had reduced tickets for one year, now back to full price.
So you lied about your age, Fran. Outrageous. Meanwhile, back at the question ... if we are not better than the current Liverpool set up I'll have to move house. But I'm unusually confident as LFC are awful. My bigger concern is that Nigel could be attracted to go to Anfield (they surely are not going to stick with the muppet they have now). We must hold his wife ransom until we are Premier League champions!
A lot depends on the ambitions for next year I think. IF we go up, we go up with a reputation for playing good football and having a great academy. This means we can start to nick youngsters like clubs like City, Arsenal etc do on the premise that we have a better set up and Premier League football. Then the budget for next year becomes an issue. Players will have taken notice of us, Southampton is a great place to live as well with a great stadium, great fans and a chairman who can sell the club (as he did to Fonte and Cork). No reason why some high profile (although no egos to fit in with the mantra) players wouldn't want to come and play here.
A lot will depend on who owns us! I suspect that the Leiberr heirs will want to cash in their chips fairly soon (and realise a healthy profit), and I suspect the Don has some buyers in mind already although There's no guarantee the Don will stay on. Lets just live in the moment and enjoy a great season, fair enough once promotion is nailed lets dream a little bit but next season is about as far as I would look!
Don't think the Leihberr's are searching their pockets for their last billion yet. Cortese said it was never about money and I don't think it was. He had an idea about how to manage a football club (based on the Barcelona method) and managed to interest a business associate/friend into trying something completely different from engineering. I think Cortese sees himself as a force in the footballing world and I'm happy if his megalomania drags us with him. It all depends on how much Markus left us with...an early promotion to the PL may rectify any deficiencies.
I would like us to continue in the same direction, and with the same values to as far as they will take us. I wil be happy to be a beacon of financial prudence surrounded by the company of fools. We may not be playing Champions League football in a hurry, but I think we could be a top half PL side who just wait for the chickens to roost and the fair play rules to bite. If we are not playing in the CL in the next few seasons, it's because we have not mortgaged our future and I would be happy about that.
Spot on Fran. As for the early promotion, it may also snare a longer term interest from the family. Any "shall we sell" thoughts may be replaced with "shall we see how far we can take this". Even if they were to sell, the Don would stay in place. As for the earlier comments about spurs, I believe I'm right in saying that they have spent more in the transfer market than any other club. This may have changed recently with the largesse of Citeh but I don't think so.....
Any way if the leihberrs wanted to leave cortese has said that he has plenty of other business contacts that would be interested in purchasing the club.
I'd like to disagree with you! Apart from the obvious top 6 and Everton, everyone else in the Premiership is capable of finishing 7th one season and getting relegated the next. I'm not sure but I think Newcastle slipped from 7th one season into one of the relegation slots the next! But yes, at present Stoke look as if they could remain a midtable team forever.
And beyond that, it's a place where Markus is celebrated as a near-divine figure...the family likely isn't going to want to plow untold billions into it, but I'd be surprised if they were looking for a quick profit if its finances are stable.
If we get promoted and Cortese stays shrewd this club should have enough capital to be self sufficient. Cortese has already proved that he won't be broken on player wage demands. We have the academy in place to provide talent to save on transfer fees.
Not really,he often makes some absurd tactical decisions and doesn't study the opposition as much as he should. He is average at best.
Ahem, I said man manager. Anyway, he's clearly a good manager generally, his record speaks for itself. Unless you are only aware of him since he's been at city of course. Also, did Mourinho never make unorthodox tactical decisions? You're going to tell us he's average next...
