I agree, it's very close. When we've been good this year, we've been better than in 2013, but in 2013 we were better at getting over the line in the close ones. So overall, we've not made any (detectable) progress, but we've apparently spent a further fortune doing it. It just seems like so much good money being thrown after bad and still being spent unwisely.

Also, for all of the supposedly bad/expensive recruitment of McRae/Gentle holding us back, all of the players that we've since paid off/released would have been OOC of contract by the end of this season barring Arundel I think. Given that we've done no better than we did with them, it begs the question whether the extra cost was worth it or we might as well have stuck with them and gotten rid at the end of their contracts. That money saved could have gone towards coaching staff or keeping an independent academy.

Winning will obviously increase gates but the coup for Pearson would be to appoint a first class coach.That would have a bigger impact on fans buying a season pass than signing The likes of Pritchard.It would also show fans he has admitted his mistake appointing Radford.
Apart from Pearson there are very few people who have any faith left in Radford as a coach.

No. Saints have no bank debt, and was majorly financed (currently £15m) by a friend of Eamon McManus who also happens to be a Saints fan. The club can pay this back at any rate, and any debt remaining at the end of the 2018 will be liquidated into shares (or postponed) and the club will again be completely debt free. It will all come down to whether McManus wants to retire, and if he does the baton will be passed into a fan whose already proven his commitment financially (or at least that's my current understanding)

Interesting. If that's the case, how come saints were so skint during the build process?

Mcmanus still poured a lot of his own funds into the project, as well as modernising the training and youth facilities as an aside, and paying off directors loans we had outstanding from the early days of SL at the same time - i think McManus + sale of kr made up the remaining £10m for the stadium. I also think an element of idealism (a saints team in a saints stadium) meant we could have invested more in the playing side but chose not to - but that's more personal conjecture than what the accounts say.

I'll have a closer look on the saints accounts when they're published like I always do, but I'm 95% that's what was gleaned from last years accounts, and presume the accounts this year say the same...

Whatever, you're in a much better financial position than us