CB Fry

Hang on, you're the one making out how fantastic everything was before 1997...... And anyway, I can answer your question - we turned down a £5m plus bid from Strachan's Coventry city for Pahars who wanted him to replace Robbie Keane. And yes I compare Merrington to Gray and Wigley - all three were excellent servants to the club and all three did fantastic work with our youngsters and/or the first team as superb coaches/assistants. All three should never have been appointed as manager as cheap option. Anyway, I don't need to add any more to this thread - you've made yourself look a complete tool enough already.

What a load of sh it e. In the four of the five seasons before Lowe turned up we survived relegation in the last week of the season. We were sh it e and could easily and justifiably gone down in any one of those seasons. We stayed up in those years because of one bloody player. The only season in those five years we were any good was under Bally, who then quit because of lack of support to be replaced by an underqualified coach who then did shi te the following season. In the years before 1997 we also sold any player of any value to the first club that asked - Wallace, Shearer, Hall, Horne, Ruddock, Flowers. And so on. And don't mention Le Tiss - our board accepted offers from Man U, Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea at various points. So don't make out we were some wonder team who were destroyed by Lowe. We were rubbish in the years immediately preceeding his arrival. The five years following 1997 were infinitely better, so put that in your pipe.

"Steve Wigley has a touch of the Arsene Wenger about him" "He's [Wigley] is like the new Alan Curbishley" You could not move for people bigging up Wiggers when he was appointed, and even six games in people were still salivating over the dinlow. And then the same people salivating about Dodd and Gorman even though, again, it was an obvious disaster of an appointment. You couldn't move for the hero worship. And the precise same people have the gaul to moan about the appointments in hindsight.

It's not even about "believing the club" though, is it. You don't have to believe a word the club says to see why Cork is now at Watford, especially as Cork doesn't actually say a single negative thing about Saints not wanting to keep him. It's people like you, with a failure to understand the English language and the basics of football business, who have put a load of thoughts in Jack Cork's head that aren't there, but suit your own preformed opinions. Or do you seriously think that a Watford signing, on a Watford Official Website interview is going to bang on about how he didn't want to leave his previous club.

And I take it you also believed Jermaine Defoe when he said today that "Portsmouth didn't really want me". Unbelivable the lengths at which dumb football fans will lap up any old fanny doled out by a football player making his excuses for switching clubs for perfectly understandable financial (Watford offered more money) and personal (managed by the manager who had him as captain of the Chelsea youth team) reasons. Seriously, there was nothing going to stop Jack Cork going to Watford. Get the f u ck over it.

Come on Hypo, be fair. Not sure how you can expect people to be super optimistic when we have been so utterly dreadful for the entire season, especially as all our major victories have been total false dawns. Remember how we "built on" our victory against Reading away? Me neither. Leicester won twelve games last season. Twelve. Relegated. S****horpe second bottom won eleven games last season. Eleven. Eleven or twelve games of Leicester and S****horpe "turning the corner" of "we'll build on this victory" blah blah blah. Even the relegated teams win the odd game by the law of averages, and all season that is all we've been doing, winning the occasional game. I think a measured response to what is at present another isolated victory is the right response. We need four points minimum from Norwich and Doncaster before I get the slightest bit excited.

So just to confirm he's obsessed about money, only here for the money, absolutely money mad, money-money-money it's all he thinks about. So how the **** is he going to make any money whatsoever by us being at the bottom of the league and having to sell what little assets we have. Him "asset stripping" (yawn) doesn't make him a penny short term or long term. You do talk one-note toss, Stanley. Whatever anyone thinks about Lowe (and I have some choice words for the tw at) he clearly is here because he wants Saints to do well and he clearly wants to get Saints in the Premier League. And that is good for his bank balance, his ego, as a form of retribution and his reputation. Those last three are easily as important as money - if he was that money obsessed he could have sold up eons ago and made tons of money elsewhere. His objective is "keep Saints out of administration, build for promotion, get promoted". That, to me, is unquestionable and is genuine for what its worth. He doesn't want the club to fail on his watch. It's his methods, his attitude, his decisions and the rest of it that are the major problem. This is mainly fuelled by pig headedly being desperate to be seen to be "right all along". Of course, he's not right. He's a plank. That's what will see us in League one and bust, I'm afraid.

What are you on about? When did Nigel Clough play for Bob Paisley or Joe Fagan? He must have signed for Liverpool in the Souness era, more than ten years after Fagan stood down to make way for Kenny. Clough Jnr has played under such managerial legends as Souness, Roy Evans, Brian Horton, Alan Ball (bless him) and Frank Clark. Clough is a massive gamble in my book, he always said he didn't really want the grief of managing at the highest level (similar to the MLT worldview). It will be a tragedy if Burton choke now and Cloughie doesn't deliver. Any other manager with only experience in the Blue Square to show for ten years managing wouldn't get a sniff of that job. It's a surname-led, romantic appointment. They could easily join us in the dogfight now.

Except you have made this up. Pekart isn't not playing because we can't afford to play him. We signed him when we were skint and we haven't got significantly more skint since signing him. If we really couldn't afford to service the loan then we'd have cancelled the loan and sent him back to Spurs, wouldn't we? He was a useless donkey who couldn't get a game for our shower. He's hardly going to admit that is he? You couldn't make up what some Saints fans will swallow.

It is not a "fact" we couldn't afford Pearson. Of course we could. We could afford Pearson. We could afford Pearson. Stop making up shi te. And we are no more financially poor than Blackpool, or Barnsley or Plymouth, all of which sit above in the table without the need for "Steve Jobs or Peter Keynon" at the helm. Running a club on a shoestring is not that difficult, but its a hell of a lot harder when the idiot in charge of it replaces a decent promising manager we could afford to keep with a no mark no hoper from the Dutch semi pro leagues. Lots can be different with someone else in charge and not a penny more in the bank. A decent manager and a decent squad blending some youth and some experience and organised by a manager with a degree of experience and ability - Pearson, Cotterill, Holloway, Davies as was available, Dowie, Adams, Tilson etc etc. None of those managers are dream appointments for me but all of them are better than the berk from Dutch park football we have in charge now.

You don't need to try that hard. I would suggest that at least once a month Big Lawrie in his column, or in a radio or TV interview, makes some reference to "me, Bobby Robson and Brian Clough" as if he is part of some holy trinity of great English managers. Time and time again he'll us that phrase. "Me, Bobby and Brian". When, of course in reality he is nowhere near that level. Nowhere near. Lawrie was successful at one club, once. Those other two were successful time and time again, at different clubs, at the very highest level and in Bobby's case on the International Stage too. Both had success in Lawries time, but both had success before and after Lawries time - much much longer than when Lawrie burnt out in 1986. Lawrie - good manager, brilliant manager for us, but nowhere near the elite. Plenty of managers have achieved just as much or more than our "big man" from John Lyall to Ron Greenwood, from Graham Taylor to Howard Kendall, from David Pleat to Bobby Gould, from Ron Atkinson to George Graham. All had as much or more success over more time at more clubs. All transferred their skills and extended their careers more successfully. All said, he is a Saints hero, but his big season back in charge last season hardly set the league alight and when the time came to make a decision he couldn't resist the appointment that gave him the most power: Dodd and Gorman. He out Lowe-d Lowe with that one. No question the back of Lowe and co would be a good thing, but breaking free of the shadow of the ego would be a brilliant thing for Saints as well. Lets move on into the 2010s.

WTF? I listened to Steve Claridge on Five Live and he waxed lyrical about Saints and the Dell - about how professional the club was, how they "knew how to treat you". He was full of praise for Saints, as he always is, despite what some people think. I have no idea who or what you were listening to.

Just like Chelsea and Liverpool were under no pressure and strolled against Barnsley last season? Just like Chelsea strolled against Southend yesterday? Just like Man City were going to stroll against Forest at home yesterday? Just like Stoke strolled yesterday? Is this the first time coverage of the FA Cup has reached Northern Ireland or something? The OS can be guilty of stupid propaganda but a young player for the underdog team saying "the pressure isn't on us it's on the big club" is hardly crime of the century and certainly not "tosh". He's right. Saints aren't under any pressure whatsoever today. If we lost four nil no one will bat an eyelid.

Seriously, Lowe out. I don't think a boycott needs much more than that. This isn't the People's Front of Judea. We don't need a manifesto on parchment to get going. Anyone who reads my post history would know typically I'm not someone who thinks "anyone but Lowe" would be so much better, but now, in 2009, anyone but Lowe would be so much better. A boycott/protest etc to remove Lowe (which very quickly would rid us of the worst manager in the top four divisions pretty quick too) is fine. I am gutted that Forest have taken Billy Davies who would have taken the Saints job any day of the week minus Lowe. Lance the boil, get him out and lets try not to get relegated.

What utter, utter shi te. Must have been a different club that sold Channon, Williams, Shearer, Wallace, Wallace, Wallace, Kenna, Flowers, Hall. Must have been a different club that agreed to sell Le Tissier at least twice before Lowe turned up. And I can remember the first thing Ian Branfoot said when he came back to the club as manager (and I'm not here to defend that t wa t) was that our youth development programme was a shambles. Oh, and Wayne "sold for a profit" Bridge played more game for Saints than Alan "bred for the club's benefit" Shearer and Rod "leaving this club over my dead body" Wallace ever did. Enough ill informed toss please.

Alan Ball springs to mind.

Funnily enough I'm not sure that a comprehensive critique of Stuart Gray's reign as Southampton manager eight years ago is not really at the forefront of many Saints fans' minds at present. What are you expecting people to say? We have the worst team in our entire history, one of the most pathetic managerial appointments in British football history and a flood of excuses and garbage dribbling out from Lowe, Portalowe and their "but we're the most potless team, like, ever" apologists. Portalowe out today. Lowe out today. There was a threadbare team put out by a club with no cash, no decent infrastructure, no reliable income streams and a manager with limited experience in this division. The team was a combination of kids, loans and old hands, with barely a transfer fee paid for the entire squad. The club is in debt and is over spending at present. And the club has sold every single player of worth over the last three years or so, with those players making up a formidable team if they'd stayed. The name of that club? Here's a clue. They won two nil today against a shower of sh it.

Funnily enough I'm not sure that a comprehensive critique of Stuart Gray's reign as Southampton manager eight years ago is not really at the forefront of many Saints fans' minds at present. What are you expecting people to say? We have the worst team in our entire history, one of the most pathetic managerial appointments in British football history and a flood of excuses and garbage dribbling out from Lowe, Portalowe and their "but we're the most potless team, like, ever" apologists. Portalowe out today. Lowe out today. There was a threadbare team put out by a club with no cash, no decent infrastructure, no reliable income streams and a manager with limited experience in this division. The team was a combination of kids, loans and old hands, with barely a transfer fee paid for the entire squad. The club is in debt and is over spending at present. And the club has sold every single player of worth over the last three years or so, with those players making up a formidable team if they'd stayed. The name of that club? Here's a clue. They won two nil today against a shower of sh it.

Did this hankie thing actually happen? I vividly remember the Newcastle game and waving the red card and can remember bundling and protesting in the car park after that game (or was that a different game?). I remember Hope you die soon and all the rest of it pretty well. Anyone else remember the hanky thing because I can't. And to be fair it sounds a bit, well, camp.

If Chorley chucked those coins in the same manner that journalist hurled his shoes at Bush I wouldn't blame Lowe for wanting our own Che Guava banged up. Dear departing George had to duck out of the way pretty sharpish. Pendantry corner - Che Guava is a intentional gag. I am fully aware that the real name of South American icon plastered on under graduate bedroom walls worldwide is Fray Bentos.

My Christmas present to you is I promise never to mention our little bet about David Beckham where you told me he would never be selected for England again after that T&T match and he was playing against Fabio's will and only selected because the FA's marketing dept told him to play him. You told me Beckham would never be selected for England again after that once Fabio had his way. I begged to differ. But in the spirit of Christmas, lets never mention it again (to be fair to me, I've never mentioned it before today). Merry Christmas to you and to both people that like me and the many people that hate me on this forum.... Have a good one!

An organised boycott is the only way, and really is doable if everyone gets behind it. How do you do it - not that hard. Pick a TV game. Give the day a name "the big boycott", "stay away for change" something (without Lowe's name in it). Branding it makes it easier to get it noticed in the local media. In fact, make it positive not negative - "Save our Saints" is a million times better than "Lowe out". Enrol Lawrie, Mark Dennis, Benali, Merrington, Channon and assorted other local Saints legends and post them to pubs, clubs, church hall all over the city and the region to make communal events of watching the game on TV. Hire Central Hall as a key venue and get Lawrie to host it. The point is you make the boycott an event you have to make watching the game on TV a big communal event all fans can feel part of. You have to make the boycott something to actively do rather than just telling people to not do something. Instead of just saying "don't go, don't go" you have to tell people "go to this instead". Save our Saints. Twenty Locations in the city/region. Saints celeb at every location. Small charge to go to either local charity/or to the running costs of the event. Posters and banners for every other pub in city to run their own event. The local media would be all over it. Trust me the Echo might be up the clubs arse now but they love an event and they'd print a colour poster on the day before in their centre pages. 100 letters from readers would guarantee it. Papers love a campaign. Empty stadium for one game. Lowe would have to resign the next day. He would, not least because Wilde and co would bottle it. It can be done.

Lowe did not appoint Souness.

Steve Cotterill would be a million times better than Portalowe, and Steve Cotterill isn't really that good. Cotterill is a "motivating", "tracksuit", "players manager" (ie Lowe's kind of man) who has delivered a few seasons of CCC level mediocrity (ie our dream scenario at this stage). With Cotterill in charge, we have a slim chance of staying up. With Portalowe in charge we have zero zero zero chance of finishing anywhere other than stone, cold bottom. You're in luck Jan. Book your flight now and you'll be landing at Schiphol before Christmas Eve. Out, out, out.

I personally think the one think Lowe can near-as guarantee is us avoiding administration. Down to his very core he is a cautious cost cutting book balancer. That's why the squad has been cut back to the bone and the team is stuff with a load of never-will-be hyped up reserve teamers. As revenues drop, we'll just cost cut and cost cut and cost cut and sell players and sell players and sell players. And remortgage the stadium. Or flog the farm. Anything, anything to stave off admin. Anyway Alpine, I know a lot of people have ripped apart your pie in the sky notion already, but I do wonder if you can point to a real life example of a team that have gone into administration and are now rocketing back up the divisions powered by the unbelievable self belief that administration brings about? Leeds maybe, energised, super powered and....ninth in their second season in the third tier and sacking their manager. Or Luton, who club was so engerised and super powered by administration a couple of years back rocketed ummm down a division and then, well, went into adminstration again. And now are staring non league football in the face. Or Rotherham, a text book example of the healing power of administration who drew so much strength from their admin they are no riding high....in the bottom three of the bottom division. Look out Chelsea! Bradford? How's their European mission going? Now you mention it, Alpine, administration is going to be just brilliant.