You're a 23 year old English striker playing for Celtic...

And Southampton wants to buy you, what do you do?

Celtic
Play in front of an average crowd of 49,000 at home, away from home play in front of attendances ranging from 2,000 - 14,000 apart from Ranger's games.
Be in Europe every season and occasionally doing well, mostly going out quickly to a poor team and call them cheats.
Be involved in controversy such as scum fans, threatening to kill their fellow Glaswegians.
Effectively ruin your career by staying there because of the poor reputation of the league (below Cyprus and Israel in European performance)

Southampton
Play in the best supported 2nd tier league in the world and one of the best supported leagues in Europe.
Have a chance of playing against big clubs such as Leeds, Nottingham Forest, West Ham, Hull City and probably more when they inevitably get relegated.
Average attendance of 17,000 in the 2010/2011 season, will have risen since Southampton, West Ham, Brighton etc have joined the league.
Play in front of an average attendance of 26,000 at home.
Play football that is a joy to watch, managed by (as much as I hate him) positive manager and be challenging for a place in one of the best leagues in the world.
Put yourself in the shop window even if the club doesn't get to the Premier League, if you score goals Premier League clubs will take notice.

So what would you do?

Southampton, I would get to see Lambert naked.

Yeah, can we look at this purely from a professional point of view. Serious thread this.

What are the wages for both clubs?

Southampton without a doubt.

Southampton.

Southampton, anyday.

I'd play for Southampton.

Fuck shitty scottish football and fuck the cold.

You seem oddly biased towards Southampton

I dunno really. If I'm playing regulary for Celtic I might consider staying there and waiting for a premiership club to come in for me :/

Mason_Inzaghi wrote:What are the wages for both clubs?

Same wages as Lallana/Lambert, so probably £25k a week.

Southampton.

But will a Pemiership club come in for him? I really doubt it.

And i'm not biased, if I was biased I would have fucked with the attendance figures a bit and worded it to make Southampton seem even better.

James wrote:Yeah, can we look at this purely from a professional point of view. Serious thread this.

I voted Southampton for the professional side.

The draws to Celtic are obvious, the chances of playing in the Champions League or Europa League and the chance of winning a Scottish Cup or the SPL.

There is more to aim for at Southampton and the thrill of getting it is greater because it's not as expected as it is at Celtic. The competitvness of the Championship also would be a draw. The chance and restoring Southampton's Premier League status another. Also, for Hooper there is getting to work with Adkins again.

Mason_Inzaghi wrote:What are the wages for both clubs?

I imagine wages are higher in the Championship, especially at a club like Southampton who obviously have money to spend. I tried to leave that out because I wanted to look at it purely from a footballing view.

Is this Hooper? I dunno, Celtic are a massive team but Southampton look like getting promoted, and they got some quality players, I would probably go to Southampton

Celtic. More chance of getting noticed on a continental level.

James wrote:But will a Pemiership club come in for him? I really doubt it.

And i'm not biased, if I was biased I would have fucked with the attendance figures a bit and worded it to make Southampton seem even better.

I dunno really. If I was given assurances that I would be playing regulary for Southampton, and believed that they were going to go up and wouldn't cast me aside when they do, then I might consider that. If I was just going to be thrown aside when promotion time came around then I'd rather stay in scotland.

BladeGunner wrote:Celtic. More chance of getting noticed on a continental level.

Is this true though? You don't get noticed for a good reason if you're constantly losing to teams like Sion in the Europa League.

Has Hooper won an SPL title? Once he has that's kind of all the excitement gone in a Scottish football career, he will never be able to challenge realistically for any European honours so he might as well move on for a new challenge and be in with a good shout of the Premier League.

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Celtic. Celtic are my favourite club, Jela taught me that. But I can't see why anyone with ambition would want to stay there over playing in the Championship if they aren't Scottish. I'd even move to the Sheffield clubs/Huddersfield instead of staying at Celtic.

I expect this kind of feedback from fans of English teams. What was the point in creating a new thread, it doesn't back up your point at all.

Southampton are a championship side, with a team so poor that Jos Hooiveld looks like a superstar.

He could play in front of 60,000 at Celtic Park, win trophies, and play in the Champions League next season

or he could go back down to the Championship and play for Southhampton.

A look at some Southampton forums and they know they are punching above their weight. Why do you think players choose to come here instead of bottom half Premiership sides? Playing for one of the most supported clubs in the world, chance of playing in the Champions League, playing in front of 60k at home in front of best fans in the country. And you think he should go to Southampton? Why?

Sure the football isn't that great, but it's not as if the Championship is that much better at that.

Complete no brainer, and James showing how bitter he is towards Scottish football again.

You get the opportunity to work with a manager you know well too, that would play a massive part in the decision to move.

As well as playing along side the best striker in the division.

Southampton will probably go up.

When I saw Hooper at Scunthorpe I thought that he could go to a top Championship side/low Premier League....shame he went to Celtic as all that happens there is that your career passes by.

Hooper was like "Don't let me playing for Celtic stop you picking me for England Capello"....erm no chance of that .

James wrote:

BladeGunner wrote:Celtic. More chance of getting noticed on a continental level.

Is this true though? You don't get noticed for a good reason if you're constantly losing to teams like Sion in the Europa League.

He scored against teams like Udinese, Atletico, Rennes this year.

Or wait, he could score against teams like Hull, Barnsley, Coventry and Doncaster.

The Maestro wrote:
A look at some Southampton forums and they know they are punching above their weight.

How are we? Is it just because we came up from L1 last season?

How often do you play in front of 60k attendances? Not often. Your average last season was just under 49,000.

The quality of football is a hell of alot better in the Championship. Anyone who watches it often can see that. Even the boring managers such as Nigel Pearson have reverted from hoof ball to slick passing football.

You say go back down to the Championship... In what way is the SPL a better league than the Championship?

Championship - Better average attendance, best supported 2nd tier, top 5 for most supported in Europe, higher wages, more big clubs, below a league that is in the top 2 in the world

James wrote:

BladeGunner wrote:Celtic. More chance of getting noticed on a continental level.

Is this true though? You don't get noticed for a good reason if you're constantly losing to teams like Sion in the Europa League.

Yes. Players like Nakamura and McGeady have gone on to play for very respectable European sides. That might be in the past, but at least it happened at some point, whereas I can't remember the last time a Championship player (excluding exceptional youngsters who were obviously destined for bigger things) was wanted by a respectable European side.

The Maestro wrote:

James wrote:

Is this true though? You don't get noticed for a good reason if you're constantly losing to teams like Sion in the Europa League.

He scored against teams like Udinese, Atletico, Rennes this year.

Or wait, he could score against teams like Hull, Barnsley, Coventry and Doncaster.

West Ham, Leeds, Hull, Birmingham (Played in Europe this season believe it or not), Forest, Leicester, Derby. Teams that have spent considerable time in the top tier. Teams that are recognised in any country that has their national sport as football.
And I laughed at you using Coventry to degrade the league, you realise they where actually a pretty good team not so long ago?

BladeGunner wrote:

James wrote:

Is this true though? You don't get noticed for a good reason if you're constantly losing to teams like Sion in the Europa League.

Yes. Players like Nakamura and McGeady have gone on to play for very respectable European sides. That might be in the past, but at least it happened at some point, whereas I can't remember the last time a Championship player (excluding exceptional youngsters who were obviously destined for bigger things) was wanted by a respectable European side.

Charlie Adam > Liverpool.

Gylfi Sigurdsson - Reading > Hoffenheim