OptiNews - Friday 23 to Thursday 29 March 2018

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:calendar: Our Premier League match against Burnley will now take place on Thursday 19 April…

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| Club-record deal for winger eyed, Lazio eye Saints striker and more: Southampton news round-up | The news cycle surrounding Southampton never stops and as such, it can be difficult to keep up to date with … 23-03-2018 |

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| Serie A club make proposal to Southampton over deal for strikera day ago |
| Saints face fixture pile up as Leicester game is rearrangeda day ago |
| Saints star ruled out of international friendly with injurya day ago |
| Southampton striker reveals how Mark Hughes has had an immediate impacta day ago |
| Saints linked with star player of Mark Hughes’ former sidea day ago |
| International goalkeeper makes surprise Southampton claim2 days ago |
| Four Italian clubs hope to sign Southampton star2 days ago |
| Southampton defender withdraws from international squad with injury concern3 days ago |
| Saints players hail Hughes, Wales international wanted + more: Southampton news round-up3 days ago |

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We’re wishing a very happy birthday to a #SaintsFC legend! :innocent:

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Saints will now travel to Leicester just days before the FA Cup semi-final

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SAINTS’ away trip to Leicester City in the Premier League has been rearranged to the Thursday before the FA Cup semi-final.

Mark Hughes’ men were meant to travel to the King Power Stadium on Saturday, April 21, but that date had to be changed after Saints reached the FA Cup last four.

Saints will now play the Foxes, who are managed by former St Mary’s boss Claude Puel, on Thursday, April 19, before playing Chelsea in the semi-final at Wembley on the Sunday (April 22).

While Saints will go to Leicester in a massive league game for their survival hopes in the top-flight, Chelsea will now be heading to play Burnley the same night at Turf Moor.

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Former Saint made Netherlands captain

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FORMER Saints defender Virgil van Dijk has been confirmed as the Netherlands’ new captain by coach Ronald Koeman.

The former Saints and Everton boss takes charge of his first match as Oranje boss when England arrive for a friendly in Amsterdam on Friday.

Ahead of the match, Koeman has confirmed Van Dijk - a player he worked with at St Mary’s - as his new captain.

“To be named international captain of Holland is very special and does a lot for me,” Van Dijk, now of Liverpool, said.

“It’s going to be very special. Against England is a little bit more special.”

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Sims features in England U20 victory

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Saints forward Josh Sims made a successful start to the international window this afternoon as he marked his England return with a 1-0 win over Poland.

The 20-year-old, reentering the Young Lions fold for the first time this season, was named in the Under-20s’ starting XI, helping Keith Downing’s side to an 89th minute winner - scored by second half substitute Keinan Davis, of Aston Villa.

England now return to home soil to face Portugal at Manchester City’s Academy Stadium on Tuesday 27th March, 7pm kick-off (BST).

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Davis stays at Saints to rebuild fitness

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STEVEN Davis has remained at Saints to rebuild fitness rather than head out on international duty with Northern Ireland.

The experienced midfielder, who been absent for the last five games with a hamstring injury, was selected by Northern Ireland, but has been pictured at Staplewood in training with Mark Hughes’ side this week.

It was unclear whether the 33-year-old would plan to link up with the national team later in the week depending on his fitness.

However, Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill has now confirmed that Davis will miss a friendly with North Korea at Windsor Park on Saturday.

“It’s been a wee bit tricky. Davo (Davis) is out,” he said.

Davis will now hope to be involved in Saints’ huge game at West Ham a week Saturday.

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The Ugly Inside News for Southampton

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| Saints Declare A Profit | St Mary’s Football Group Limited, incorporating Southampton Football Club Limited, has published its audited annual … 23-03-2018 |

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| Semi Finalist Fan Groups Issue Joint Statement On Ticket Pricesa day ago |
| Charlie Austin The Man To Keep Saints Up And Win The Cup !a day ago |
| Semi Final Ticket Details Confirmed2 days ago |
| Saints International Timetable2 days ago |
| Southampton and Football’s Funny Money2 days ago |
| Saints Wembley Date Set2 days ago |
| Mark Hughes Passes The First Test3 days ago |
| The Ugly Inside TV ! Wigan Away Day4 days ago |
| The Ugly Inside TV ! Wigan Game Fan’s Reactions4 days ago |
| Wigan Athletic 0 - 2 Southampton - Player Ratings5 days ago |

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@SouthamptonFC - Southampton FC

:morocco: @sosoboufal19
:serbia: Tadić
:cote_divoire: @ShaneLong7
:portugal: @OficialCedric
:lion: Vokins
:dragon: Watts

Read up on the :six: #SaintsFC player… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/977138223037210627

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Summary of non-mainstream articles: 23/03/2018 11:15:44

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| Forget Allen: His £16.2m-rated Stoke teammate would be a better signing for Southampton | | Where football transfer …THETRANSFERTAVERN |

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Read Southampton

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| Southampton eyeing move for top-four goalkeeper | Southampton are eyeing up a move for Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet this summer. According to the Daily Star, … 23-03-2018 |

Older content…

| Club-record deal for winger eyed, Lazio eye Saints striker and more: Southampton news round-up11 hours ago |
| Serie A club make proposal to Southampton over deal for strikera day ago |
| Saints face fixture pile up as Leicester game is rearrangeda day ago |
| Saints star ruled out of international friendly with injurya day ago |
| Southampton striker reveals how Mark Hughes has had an immediate impacta day ago |
| Saints linked with star player of Mark Hughes’ former sidea day ago |
| International goalkeeper makes surprise Southampton claim2 days ago |
| Four Italian clubs hope to sign Southampton star2 days ago |
| Southampton defender withdraws from international squad with injury concern3 days ago |

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Saints fan groups criticise The FA over ticket prices

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SAINTS fan groups have criticised the Football Association for hiking ticket prices to their highest ever levels for the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley next month.

The groups join supporters’ trusts from fellow semi-finalists Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United in complaining over the cost of a seat at the last four clashes, which take place on the weekend of April 21-22.

The FA have kept the cheapest tickets at £30, but have increased the price on all others, including the most expensive Category A seats, which now cost £80, up £20 from last year.

Category B tickets are priced at £65 having been £50 in 2017, while Category C seats are £5 more expensive at £45 a go.

Saints fanzine, The Ugly Inside, have ‘joined forces’ with fellow groups and published this joint statement.

“The decision to raise prices for the FA Cup semi-finals and finals to the highest levels ever defies belief,” it reads.

“The FA has secured record broadcast rights for the competition, there is a lucrative sponsorship deal in place, and attendances throughout the competition have been higher than in recent years.

“The FA itself is in better financial health than ever. So we cannot see the rationale for hiking prices.

“The FA could have tried to explain the reasoning to fans, but once again the people who are the lifeblood of the game, the paying customers, were not consulted or even given advance notice. Like it or lump it is the clear message.

“Supporters of all four clubs have already spent a fortune following their teams from round three onwards.

“Our reward for reaching the last four is price rises 10x the rate of inflation. The FA has taken this decision at a time when, by contrast, the Premier League has reduced the cost of away tickets to a maximum of £30.

“Freezing the lowest ticket price category is a token gesture that will benefit only a small minority of supporters.

“These price increases further illustrate the longstanding issue we have with the FA as both the regulator of the game as well as the worst offender when it comes to excessive ticket prices for fans. A concession discount of just £10 further compounds the issue.

“The price of football at the top level is already extortionate. This latest decision is nothing more than opportunistic exploitation of fan loyalty.

“We expect better from a body that claims to be the guardian of the game, especially in the oldest and most famous cup competition in world football.

“We wonder, too, how the FA’s commercial partners feel about being associated with such naked opportunism.

“The FA still has time to rethink. It should."

The statement was jointly written by the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust, Manchester United Supporters’ Trust, Chelsea Supporters’ Trust and Southampton fan groups.

Andy Ambler, The FA’s director of professional game relations, explained the association’s decision to rise prices.

“The cheapest tickets for these matches will remain the same as in 2016 and 2017, £30 for the semi-finals and £45 for the Final,” he said.

“This season we made the decision to increase the price of some tickets in the stadium. This is the first time that we have raised the price of tickets for Emirates FA Cup semi-final and Final ties in three years.

“The Emirates FA Cup semi-final and Final are some of the most prestigious events in the sporting calendar and these new prices are in line with many of these events. “It’s always important to remember that The FA is a not-for-profit organisation where every pound and penny of profit is reinvested back into every level of football in England.

“If you’re buying a ticket for the semi-final or the Final you are directly investing in the future of the game in this country.”

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Summary of non-mainstream articles: 23/03/2018 12:49:25

| | Club-record deal for winger eyed, Lazio eye Saints striker and more: Southampton news round-upREADSOUTHAMPTON |

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Six Saints in Friday action

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The international action begins in earnest today for Saints, with six players that could be involved for their respective nations.

It will be all eyes on the academy to kick off the day as Jake Vokins’s England U18s face Argentina at 1.30pm before Callum Watts’s Wales meet Bosnia at 14.00.

Shane Long and the Republic of Ireland will be next up as they take on Turkey at the Antalya Stadyumu at 5.30pm. Coach Martin O’Neill is expected to hand several new players a chance to impress; his 25-man squad includes eight uncapped players with many of the bigger names left at home.

A Saints derby will follow at 7.30pm as Sofiane Boufal’s Morocco entertain Dušan Tadić’s Serbia at the Stadio Olimpico in Turin. Both sides have secured their places at the World Cup in Russia this summer and will see the meeting on neutral soil as a good indicator of their preparations for the tournament.

Rounding off the evening at 7.45pm will be Cédric whose Portugal side play Egypt in Zurich. Star men Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah both netted four times for their clubs at the weekend.

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Gallery: Saints work towards West Ham clash

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Our photographer was on hand to capture Thursday’s training session at Staplewood, as Saints continue to work hard towards their clash against West Ham in the Premier League during the international break.

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Hughes arrival has boosted Southampton, says Austin

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(Reuters) - The arrival of Mark Hughes as manager at Southampton has had an immediate impact on the team’s attitude, striker Charlie Austin has said.

Hughes, who replaced Mauricio Pellegrino earlier this month, got off to a winning start in a 2-0 win over Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup quarter-finals last Sunday.

However, the Welshman’s main target is to keep the side in the Premier League, where they lie 18th, two points adrift of safety, with eight games left to play.

“When the gaffer came in he said, ‘Look, we’re here for eight weeks. There’s no getting away from it, we’ve all got to put all our energies and efforts into these eight weeks to get ourselves into a cup final and stay in the Premier League,’” Austin told the Southampton website southamptonfc.com.

“Everyone knows that is the ultimate goal for us now. There has been a change in everyone around the training ground – a change in attitude. Commitment maybe? I don’t know.

“Sometimes you need that change. What they’ve brought so far has been fantastic, and hopefully that will continue.”

Southampton can climb out of the relegation zone if they beat West Ham United, who sit two points above them in 17th, on March 31 but they will have to improve on a dire away record that has brought just two wins in 14 league games on the road this season.

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St Mary’s Football Group – 2016/17 financial results

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The directors are pleased to report another period of strong financial performance across a number of areas of the business.

Turnover improved significantly once more, to a record £182.3m (2016: £124.3m), with commercial and matchday turnover both showing positive increases, to a combined £37.9m (2016: £31.3m).

Overall, the group achieved profit for the year, after taxation, of £34.1m (2016: £4.9m), while net assets increased to £79.1m (2016: £45.0m), and net debt decreased from £38.9m in 2016 to net cash of £2.9m in 2017.

The club’s position was helped by the 2016/17 season being the first of the new Premier League television rights deal, with the club also having three more live games than in the previous campaign.

Additionally, participation in the group stages of the UEFA Europa League and the team’s run to the EFL Cup final helped drive an increase in turnover.

Elsewhere, new sponsorship agreements, notably with Under Armour and Virgin Media, contributed to a 27 per cent increase in commercial turnover.

The group’s strategy has continued to be to strengthen the first-team playing squad in order to compete in multiple competitions, while simultaneously strengthening the overall operation of the club.

Significant investment has continued to be made in recruiting players and strengthening contracts, with the average length of a first-team squad player deal standing at 38 months in 2017 compared to 35 months in 2016, while intangible fixed assets have increased from £84.9m to £97.3m as a result of this.

Encouragingly, the group has, at the same time, been able to improve its wages-to-turnover ratio from 68 per cent in 2016 to 62 per cent in 2017, despite player remuneration growing by 29 per cent (£67.2m in 2016, to £86.6m in 2017).

The number of players with international recognition at senior or under-21 level increased from 23 to 26, while 17 players represented their country at youth level in 2016/17, compared to 12 during 2015/16.

The club’s Academy talent pool continues to grow and strengthen, with an average of 29 players on scholarship agreements in 2016/17, compared to 20 the season before, while ten graduates represented the first-team in the 2016/17 campaign.

Toby Steele, Managing Director, commented:

“We are pleased with the group’s performance in the year, which underlines the club’s financial growth and stability.

“While the record revenues are largely driven by new broadcasting deals, it is encouraging to once again see improvement in our commercial and matchday revenues, which are important for us to grow in order to strengthen our competitiveness on the pitch.

“We have again invested heavily in the first-team, and have continued to do so in the period beyond these results, while doing likewise in our Academy and our staff, to ensure that we remain well-positioned for the future.

“The performance of the team always remains our ultimate focus, and through continuing to strengthen our financial position we give ourselves the best opportunity of driving improvement on the pitch.”

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Check out best images from Thursday’s training at Staplewood, as #SaintsFC continued their work towards #WHUFC:… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/977169341488627712

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Great Solent Gin Festival makes debut at Common People

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COMMON People Festival organisers have announced The Great Solent Gin Festival will come to Southampton in May.

A brand new gin experience for Southampton it will be set within its own garden space at Common People this coming spring bank holiday, May 26- 27, on Southampton Common.

Curator Rob da Bank said: “I have a confession to make. I love gin… and it’s no secret that many of us are a bit partial to a tot of Mother’s Ruin of an evening, afternoon or sometimes even morning! This year Common People is really blossoming as a festival into a proper family-friendly music, food and culture fest and we’re very proud to add The Great Solent Gin Festival to that offering.

“We’ve had the onerous task of hand picking and tasting over 50 gins and have come up with an incredible array from UK home-grown flavours like Bathtub, Conker and Bulldog to American high-spirited gin, Aviation, and the amazing Malfy from Italy, and some cracking local gins. All this writing has got me a bit thirsty so I’m off to sample some more while you buy yourself a ticket and gin flight. What are you waiting for?!”

Presenting more than 50 gins, The Great Solent Gin Festival will feature a tempting collection of flavour profiles from citrus and herbaceous to fruity and floral, featuring delicious homegrown botanicals, global favourites and the finest selection of local handcrafted gins from the Isle of Wight Distillery and the Winchester Distillery.

Occupying its own special area within Common People, featuring a luxuriantly dressed traditional pole tent with ample seating and dedicated garden area, for just £45 for a day ticket, gin festival attendees will receive a gin flight of three expertly matched gin & tonics and full access to Common People festival including three stages of music, a new and improved kids garden, and a host of attractions.

The Great Solent Gin Festival will also feature masterclasses including a World Gin Day tasting with World Gin Day ambassador Emma Stokes aka Gin Monkey, a discussion and gin tasting with Xavier Baker from the Isle of Wight Distillery, and a gin tasting experience with Winchester Distillery, giving you the fantastic opportunity to learn the history of the UK’s favourite tipple from the real experts.

Plus, there will be an artisan food market featuring the most flavoursome locally sourced goods and entertainment from the Saints Brass and Rob da Bank, all located within the gin festival’s own garden setting.

As previously announced, the “First Family of Soul” The Jacksons are headlining this year. The iconic Motown act will close out the festival’s Disco Day on Sunday May 27, while Lily Allen and James will headline the Common stage on Saturday, May 26.

Rounding out the ‘singalong Saturday special’ are sets from All Saints, The Sherlocks, Jaguar Skills, The Cuban Brothers, Elvana: Elvis Fronted Nirvana and Plastic Mermaids.

And on Sunday revellers can bask in the dazzling reflection of the world’s largest disco ball and dance to sets from The New Power Generation, Sparks, Boney M, Snap!, FooR, Jungle Brothers and Hak Baker.

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