I think I was the 0.1 in my family.

(probably should have said inherent in rather than with, but you get my drift…)

OI - true, although increasing numbers of women choose not to have children because (among other reasons…) they want to have a long uninterrupted career and/or because of the costs inherent with bringing up children in an expensive environment…

In the short term more child bearing aged women and longer life expectancy can stop absolute number declines but eventually both of those turn.

OI/Airsy - indeed (to both of you), and where the fertility rate (I don’t like that term, but it’s what they use “officially”) falls below 2.1, as in Japan for example, your population does begin to shrink (if you exclude migration), and that’s not a positive thing. Kids at school would ask me “Sir, how can a woman have 2.1 babies?” - it always generated an informative conversation… 😂

So we're not running out of space then?

a4e - population geography is definitely interesting and maybe should be more widely taught and explained. I was astonished to discover that the last time the UK replacement birth rate was reached (2.1 children/woman) was the early 1970s, more than half a lifetime ago.

Soton fans will probably rely on the goodwill of travel and hotel companies, as those organisations will be aware of the situation - some will be lucky, others maybe less so….

The PL and the EFL are not friends. They are unlikely to come to a mutually acceptable outcome.

RK - I think there is a case to be answered. Money was spent on the basis that SFC acted in good faith - even though money was not spent with SFC. It will be interesting if there is a test case or a class action.

Bit farcical obviously, sure they could have worked out an appropriate points deduction c/forward. The EFL and Prem can talk to each other and agree this things

Re travel & accommodation for Saints fans, the contract is between individuals or groups of fans with the seller, whether hotels of transport Cos. Latter are not responsible for "consequences losses", so no contract actually exists with the Club). Well only for tickets. If Soton FC decide to reimburse, that's purely a non-contractual basis and at the whim of the Club / owner

DO - no problem, there are people trying to claim that it’s because of a huge exodus, but I won’t get into that because it would almost certainly lead us down the “political” road…

Apologies if anyone thought that was a political point - it wasn’t, it was just an interesting population geography point (those of us who did O-levels will have studied Human Geography, but these days we teach Population Geography and/or Demographics…).

A4e - I stand corrected.

'PO Final' - s/b 'PO Semi- Final and previously scheduled Final'

DO - not so apparently, the number of people leaving has remained pretty steady, it’s the number arriving that has fallen dramatically. The Office for National Statistics says “the main reason behind the fall last year was a drop in non-EU nationals arriving for "work-related reasons", which was down 47%. The number of people leaving the UK hasn’t changed much. Just over 640,000 people emigrated last year, down by about 6%”.

RK - Southampton FC. They had spent that money in good faith, based on SFC having acted in good faith - which they quite clearly did not - clearly breaking an EFL rule, causing their PO Final to become irrelevant.

Southampton, im previous message. Just not sure fans would want to throw this

DO, who would they sue?

So'ton fans could also look at suing for cost of tickets to both legs of PO SF and transport to M'boro!

Presumable Southampton fans with non-refundable train or National Express Coach tickets or non-refundable London hotel bookings will need to sue Southampton in the Small Claims Court.

A4e - maybe because British people have been leaving the UK at a faster rate since July 2024?

Airsy - sounds fair ☺️

Wow, net migration is down from 944,000 in 2023 to 171,000 in 2025 - that’s quite some drop!!