SW11_Saint

Why haven't we got any super rich fans like Brighton who fancy getting involved? Come on, WHY...

The only thing I'm thinking is 'you stupid ****'!

What a ***t. Sounds like the stories about his "problem" may be true then. Hopefully no one was hurt and this might make him sort himself out.

All sounds a bit Mickey Mouse to me...

Like it - and did Eurovision one year... think they replaced Canute with some bird though...

Yeah, got that - but it's like King Canute and those waves...

Dear Rev. Tone, Thanks for the sermon, very nice. Although I agree that the most important thing now is to focus on the future and sealing a deal for the club, I think it is naive, to say the least, to expect people on an Internet message board - especially in the absence of any concrete information on what the future holds - to NOT get into conversations about "how we got here", or moreover, to start to wonder "why we got here?" and "who got us here?". I for one am still very f*cked off, very very f*cked off in fact, that we're in this position at all. Now, you might think that childish, useless or just a waste of my own time, but it still doesn't stop me being f*cked off, very very f*cked off in fact (have I already said that?), at our predicament. I wonder if those who were lucky enough to survive the Titanic thought - "Blimey, that was close! - oh well, let's just row back and get on with our lives...". Or I wonder if they thought "F*ck! Why did that happen?". Likewise, should everyone post WWII, have packed up their old kit bags, shrugged their shoulders, and got on with life without asking a few questions of Adolf's boys? ("Ere Tommy, who was behind all that Nazi nonsense?", "Aw, what difference does it make Ernie, let's 'av a pint".). My (ridiculously laboured) point being that you cannot expect people to go through a traumatic experience and expect them not to ask questions about how it came about, or who was involved in getting us there, who had accountability etc. and, imo, nor should you - it's not healthy. You also cannot expect people to contain these 'discussion' to one or two posts - since they're germaine to pretty much everything going on at the club right now and just, well, seep out. So, ignore those of us who might dare to throw in a name or two when the red mist descends and just get on with whatever you want to talk about. Perhaps there will be a time for "truth & reconciliation" in the future, but I gotta tell you - I'm not ready for it yet... Yours, nowhere near as holy as thou, SW11

What, Richard O'Sullivan and Claire Balding are going to bail us out? Well I never!!

So was Barbarella's...

Just watched SSN for 15 mins or so, but no mention. Yes, I wondered if that might be him - or maybe the Canadians. Hopefully someone is out there!

....and so say all of us!!!

I'd be more than happy with him...

Thanks Frank. Like so much with Lowe's managerial "comings and goings", I guess we'll never really know the full truth, so as you say most of what we debate is supposition. Any/all of your scenarios above might have come to pass - again, we'll never know, and we can only deal with what we know here and now, that RL/MW/JP/MWotte were the guys at the helm during this worst year in our history (imo). I have argued on here with others that it is fact that Pearson kept us up - by the skin of his teeth, but kept us up nonetheless - and I just felt, as many others did, that he'd earned the chance to carry on in the job. I think all anyone was expecting from this season was consolidation - oh how fantastically boring that would have been! - that he didn't was a great shame, and I believe the boards first error. The second error was appointing the Dutch due and going so completely into Lowe's experimental setup - wrong time, wrong league, wrong personnel. I agree with you - he could have let Pearson run on for a year, then if he failed, made changes afterwards. I have to also hold my hands up and say that I was totally p*ssed off about Pearson's appointment when it happened - for some time in fact (I had wanted us to appoint Dowie or Coleman) - but he won me over. Not because I felt he was a new Mourinho or anything, but just because I thought he was the solid, dependable, organised and hard working character we needed at that time and in that Division. Anyway, what's done is done on the managerial front. We're living with the consequences - let's hope we get to better days, and soon!

You're right, we can all admit we were wrong - I was caught on the tide of optimism that Wilde brought with him (first time around), how wrong we were. But if you listened to what they were saying, it all made sense, it sounded ambitious, it sounded acheivable, so people could be forgiven for believing it. The issue with Lowe is that he tends to take us on 'experimental' tangents which even the most risk prone person would think, "um, this is a bit of a gamble" (appointing Rugby coaches as DoF, appointing a guy playing "Brazilian style" with 13 year old kids to coach senior players, appointing two lower league Dutch coaches to implement a revolutionary "total football" scheme (with kids!) in a cloggers league). So the reason Lowe gets more anger, frustration etc. from everyone, is that even someone with a modicum of football knowledge understands that most of his plans were just ridiculous. We hoped he'd have learned, but clearly not, and the "Dutch experiment" was one too far, and one we certainly didn't need this season. We are now playing the price. Personally, I am NEVER going to forgive Lowe for what he has done to MY club. NEVER. And if you're waiting for anger to subside, it probably will do (as hopefully the club move onto better times), but the pain we are feeling now will never go away, and Lowe has cemented his place in history as the man who relegated us twice and took us into administration (which negates all of the good stuff he did - and even I can see he actually did do some good!). I remain convinced that this years relegation, and possibly administration, could have been avoided if we hadn't gone down the ridiculous route of imposing a brand new 'youth first/continental' policy with two totally inexperienced coaches in English football. We could have, under Nigel Pearson, cut our cloth accordingly, brought through the best of the kids, unloaded some of the non-performing higher earners and had a half decent, consolidating season. And you know what, Lowe might have come out with a few more on his side. Of course, that didn't happen, and he rolled out the old "I know best..." routine, with the obvious results. In short HE is responsbile, HE is accountable, and HE will continue to get anger, frustration etc. from the majority of Saints fans.

You mean the financial structure I presume Steve? I can't see why can't be "undone", assuming the new owners have some financial nous? Surely nothing is insurmountable. Another day - hope springs eternal...!

Whatever you think of him he has proved his heart is in the right place at least. Thank you Leon for keeping the club going - hopefully a deal will be concluded shortly (and you might even get your money back!). Well done though, a great example to many other former board members who have failed to match such generosity.

No, Pearson kept us up - that is irrefutable FACT. To say he didn't and that is was merely other teams losing, is like us absolving JP/Wotte of everything and putting it down simply to other teams "winning"... (yes, it really does sound as daft as that!). Also, Wotte has been around all season - do you really think he had NO input into the first half of the season? Pearson had to come in cold on the back of Dudd and Gormless, which in itself was a feat. I'm no statistician, but if we were "mid table" we were never comfortably so, as you seem to be implying (i.e. that Pearson actually took us down the table from some position of comfort). PS Even had we not had the -10 this year, I don't think our performance would have changed one iota. Again, we'll never know - all we do know is this year we have been relegated, last year we survived.

Two points. He didn't lose it (that game). And he kept us up. That is what he should be judged on. Compare and contrast with what happened this season.

I'm sure it will - but let's not kid ourselves League 1 is easy to "walk" as Leicester have done this year. Give me Pearson, and the goodwill he'd generated at the end of last season, over the year we've just had under JP and MW any day!!!

770 posts and you still have't worked out what this board is for!!

And I suspect if we'd have kept Nigel Pearson we'd have had 3-5,000 more on our gates... vicious circle, and an old argument, but people won't shell out hard earned money for zero entertainment and a losing team... ultimately that was our failure this year. A massive gamble by Lowe which blew up in his face (and ours!), hence we are where we are...

Absolutely agree. It will have a massive knock on effect on the City. Saints is part of our history and our heritage - to see it go under would be catastrophic. To add to my bad (and increasingly bitter) mood today, have just been reading yesterdays Observer about the World Cup Bid (to be unveiled tomorrow), Portsmouth being a major part of it - after increasing the capacity of FP to 30,000 if the bid is successful they will build a "40 or 45,000 capacity stadium at Port Solent". Say what we want about them, the club has done well, and their City has benefitted - they also seem to have done a decent job as a city council attracting industry as well as major events (e.g. the round the world yacht race) as well as building tourist attractions - the Spinnaker Tower, developing Port Solent etc. Southampton as a City always seems to be talking about things, rather than doing them. Oh, of course we now have Ikea - whoopi doo!

I don't know where all this "pro admin"/"anti admin" stuff comes from - whether you thought it was a good thing or bad thing is irrelevant; IT HAPPENED. It also happened on Rupert Lowe's watch, so he has to take a large percentage of the blame for it. Rather than getting uppity about those who thought it might be a "good idea", perhaps save your ire for the guy who architected this most catastrophic of seasons - our management team, our results, our gates, and therefore our income...

Good point. My first reading from his quote - "It's very unlikely a transaction [for the club] will be completed." was that he was talking generically, but it is followed up by: "They haven't delivered what they said [they would]," which indicates that he is talking just about Pinnacle. Let's hope so anyway.

Christ... this is either brinkmanship of the most ballsy nature, or we really are f*cked. It is now getting really worrying (despite Lynam's assurance). If we just disappear, it's beyond catastrophic, but surely it can't happen? Can it? Surely SOMEONE somewhere can pick us up...