MOTD

[Bill 1,788]

you can out from behind the sofa this week

 

 

 

[PhatCanary 0]

On last but never mind,interested to hear what they have to say though,should be all good.

[York Canary 28]

Watching all the highlights is just going to p*** me off all over again, but it''s got to be done. InjusticeI bet they downplay how average QPR were, say Bassong was really clumsy on his debut and that we''ll struggle because we can''t take our chances

[ImDrunky 0]

Watching it on football first, then I''ll watch MOTD. I was watching it with my hands covering my face last week, glad I don''t have to do that now.

[Bill 1,788]

Watch how much of the time allocated will feature

- headshots of Hughes, Delia, their owner

- the stupidest looking fan they can find

 

Hansen and Lawrensen will ask if it is not too early

- to talk of this being a six pointer

- to talk of a manager being sacked

- to question where the goals are to come from

- to say it might be a long, hard season ahead

 

 

[Herman 9,767]

Soton! First home game in the prem for years and large chunks of the stadium are empty[:S]

[Jacko 0]

29,604 is a very decent gate. Cant grumble with that. Especially when you take into account that Wigan probably brought their customary 10 fans for such a long away trip.

[Bill 1,788]

would suggest that wasn''t the number of fans in the crowd as the stadium exactly 3000 more than that figure and there certainly looked like more than 3000 empty seats

 

 

[Herman 9,767]

Fair point Jacko,but an empty stadium looks really shit.Their stadium is far too big!Make sure we don''t go down that route.

[CanaryOne 0]

Find it hard to believe Lawrenson said West Ham will be fine , they look pretty poor to me .

[Bill 1,788]

Blackpool also had a fair old number of empty seats - 14,000 fans (TV at the moment)

[PurpleCanary 5,562]

[quote user="Herman "]

Fair point Jacko,but an empty stadium looks really shit.Their stadium is far too big!Make sure we don''t go down that route.

[/quote]

 

The listed capacity for St Mary''s is 32,689. The official attendance (if accurate) was only 3,000 short of that, for a game against Wigan. What, if anything, that shows is how difficult a decison it will be for our board to decide on the right increase in capacity from 27,000 for Carrow Road. Which division might we be in, will the country still be in a recession, or worse, or recovering?

[BroadstairsR 2,168]

We buck the trend in a way, and an average of 24, 500 in League One illustrates this. Whilst agreeing that it would be unwise to go for a 35k+ stadium at great expense, we still need more space on the ''terraces.'' If we survive this season, I would be disappointed if some ground expansion wasn''t undertaken. That is blatently obvious from the support we have accrued in recent seasons and it would add to income for years to come. If not at Premiership level, then for important Championship games, derbies and cup runs.

 

We could well be a yo-yo side for a few seasons, who knows? and this status is a seat-filler. 

[Herman 9,767]

I''ve liked the way the club have gone about it,add a few seats,fill them up,add a few more etc but i suppose this option is now coming to an end,unless people are prepared to sit on each others laps.See how this season goes and then have a good long hard think.

[Bill 1,788]

Down side is that it costs around £2,500 per seat (if it is a new build)

 

to recoup that money would require the seats to be sold at a premium ie around £50 a head - that would still take upwards of three years and require us the remain in the PL so as to be able to charge those prices

 

the demand is high because relative to what is being offered the price is cheap - most attending games do so through buying season tickets, check the attendances when it is a normal price

 

any increase in capacity would only be with a view to increased income, that can be done simply by adjusting the price upward - a measure that requires no capital outlay, no borrowing and can be adjusted at the press of a keyboard as and when it is deemed suitable or possible

 

that is the way forward

 

 

[kingsway 94]

If we stay up this season then who gives an uck about what Hansen and Lawrenson says?

 

Sotons crowd of 29,000 against "Macclesfield with money" little ole Wigan isn''t a bad ATT by any stretch of the imagination!

 

Those who say this is an indicator against us increasing ground capacity in the future are not looking at all the facts and figures. Firstly we''ve averaged more than Soton for many years now despite their ground holding 6-10,000 more than Carrow Road. I think we averaged the same in League 1 as what they did during their promotion campaign last season in the Championship. Secondly the club knows how much demand their was last season, which aparently indicates we could of comfortably averaged 30,000+ last season if we had the capacity too!

Thirdly, if Soton didn''t have a 32,000 ground capacity, then they wouldn''t be able to get 29,000 against Wigan. Many people have this obsession that if a clubs not filling every seat, every game then having that capacity is wrong. That is total bull. If by having a 35,000 ground capacity we was able to push our average ATT to 32,000 then the increase to 35,000 would be justified!

For the club to grow and maximise their undoubted potential, stadium capacity growth is a must!

 

 

[kingsway 94]

If we had a bigger ground capcity the club would be able to sell more ST''s which are cheaper than buying on a match to match basis!

 

While buying single match tickets is ultra expensive we''re still selling out cause the demand is higher than the supply. Mcnasty has squeezed as much as he can but he isn''t that blinkered that he thinks this would go on indefinately. Look at the prices for the Scunny game, £10 for adults and £1 for under 16''s. Last seasons League cup game against MK Dons was £15 and the team put on a pityfiul display like they did in the Leicester game which was £25. Also the friendlys against Champions League Ajax and Monchengladbach only saw modest crowds. I think the cheap prices for the Scunny game on Tuesday show the club recognises that fans were peeved off with the poor cup displays last season and the fact that many fans after shelling out for ST''s are reluctant to spend more money buying cup tickets/friendly tickets particularly after our woeful cup record in recent years!

 

As another poster pointed out, little capacity the likes of what we''ve seen in the last 2 years aren''t an option now cause every knook and cranny of the existing stadium has now been filled by seats. The only way we can increase capacity now is by a temporary stand in front of the Hotel, something which aparently the Hotel has no to, or by adding extra tiers to existing stands or replacing them with bigger versions!