Saints take on Reading at St Mary's in an interesting clash.

With a week to go to the start of the season proper Championship side Reading come to SMS to give Alan Pardew's men their strongest workout yet, although on a sad note the game will not be used to honour one of the few men who can truly claim to be Saints legends and that is Ted Bates.

It would have cost the club nothing to continue this tradition of the pre season game being the Ted Bates trophy, after all in reality its not a meaningful trophy, but it does give fans the chance just to remember Ted at the start of every season and recall the foundations he built, and if one child asks "Dad who was Ted Bates" then its been worthwhile, Southampton Football Club wasnt founded in 2001 when they moved to St Mary's, it has a proud heritage, OK not as full as trophies as some clubs, but football isnt just about success, its about tradition and we have always prided ourselves on being a community club.

But I digress, like most pre season friendlies anyone coming hoping to see a great game of football will probably be disapointed, there will of course be a competitive element, but in the main both sides will be looking to use it tofine tune their pre season work but still give the best part of the squad a game.

For Saints supporters it will give them a chance to have a look at the new arrivals and strangely enough an ex player in Mikhail Antonio who spent much of last season on loan here, that will perhaps be the most intriguing part of the game, as the player will have the added incentive of both trying to show Reading that he is good enough and showing Saints what they will miss.

I wish Antonio well, personally I dont think he was as good as many, he had the skill but for me he didnt have the consistency as was shown in the number of times that he was taken off.

If Saints harbour thoughts of automatic promotion then this will be the test to show that not only are they good enough to go up, but good enough to compete in the Championship, if thats the case then they have the foundations to build a side capable of challenging for promotion next year as well as this.

The crowd will also be interesting, traditionally it has always been well into six figures, the season ticket sales have been good, but if Saints supporters want to see the squad improved on, then they have to show Nicola Cortese that they will show up in bigger numbers than last season in order to provide funds for new signings.

That is perhaps the big question of the summer, Saints supporters were expecting a lot of new signings especially since so many left, at the back Saints are undoubtably stronger, given the two defenders signed, in midfield its probably a case of the staus quo maintained, but attacking wise we are weaker than last term, although Antonio isnt as big a loss as some would contend, Papa Waigo was for me a big loss, he offereed not only a wide option but also in a forward role as well.

Clearly Saints are working to a budget when signing players, if we want to see more arrivals then the club have to be comfortable that they can fund them, and that means increased ticket income, one way is of course to increase prices, and we all know that is what happens, but the second is to see bigger attendances, this is what generates income as merchandising also increases.       

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