SW11_Saint

Me too. I have been a fan for over 40 years but if this cn_t takes power again that will be it for me I am afraid. Honestly, why does he bother? - he's a complete failure, he's a terrible leader, he has 0% confidence from his customers, and he has taken us down twice and into administration. FFS!!! I really worry that his personality flaw means that he will keep on trying to "teach us (all) a lesson" and we will end up in the Blue Square League... Message to Rupert - YOU ARE NOT WANTED AT THIS CLUB, OR IN SOUTHAMPTON. D_UCK OFF, AND DO NOT DARKEN OUR DOOR AGAIN. AND TAKE ALL YOUR SNIVELLING LITTLE SIDEKICKS WITH YOU!

Hasn't happened yet, but it will be the final whistle at the City Ground next weekend, when we can put the whole debacle of this season behind us and move on (hopefully!).

In an alternate universe one presumes?

Not Hoddle again, been there, done that. Doubt his ego would let him go to a "3rd division" club anyway.

You seem to suggest he only arrived when JP left... he's been here all season, and has been involved in the whole flawed strategy. Time for him, and any remnants of Lowe's bizarre experiment, to go...

I think you'll find we're in 'League One', not 'Division 1'. Well, we will be. At the bottom of it. Which is why I prefaced my question with "assuming we get new owners with ambition..." - if we do, why the hell shouldn't we go for someone like Ince? He's not working, and we're a big enough club to fulfil his ambitions, and prove a point. If we end up with Lowe again, you're right, we will end up with a trained Lap Dog (Wotte). But then if we end up with Lowe again, I will never attend another Saints game, and I suspect many thousands will feel the same way.

Absolutely not (notte?). He has to share responsibility for our performance - he was here all season remember - and ultimate relegation this year and, in my view, we have to end all ties with Lowe's ridiculous experiment and start afresh with new ideas, new team management and new focus. It would be catastrophic to retain Wotte.

That was the bit that scared me. Will this guy never stop? - he's brought the club to it's knees, relegated us twice, yet still thinks he's some kind of "saviour". Seriously, he needs to be sectioned...

Okay, assuming we get new owners in with ambition, heart and business acumen (all of which excluse Lowe, Wilde etc.), who would you like as our new manager?? I'd be reasonably happy with someone like Dowie, who I think could do a job, but the one that stands out to me is Paul Ince. He has experience at that level, will have a point to prove and is the sort of character who could actually lead us back up through the divisions. This all presupposes that Wotte goes - which imo is a MUST if we are to move forward. He has to take a large share of blame for this year (although appointing him and JP in the first place was just plain stupid), and we need to cut all ties with Lowe's failed experiment. Onwards and upwards with Incey say I...

No doubt Jonah, 19 Canteen/Guided Missile, NickH etc. will be scratching their heads right now, wondering how to pin the blame on someone else (anyone but the adored Lord Lowe). Although I have been resigned to it for some time, tonight I am VERY VERY angry at what this band of boardroom idiots have done to our club.

Which was patently obvious to all - apart from one toffy-nosed egotistical arrogant ****, who not only failed to see that, but also decided to put a couple of Dutch non-league no hopers in charge of the whole ridiculous circus. Congratulations Agent Lowe, your mission is accomplished...

Why not just say we get it next year then? - if we stay up we start CCC with -10, if we go down we start L1 with -10. That would be more consistent surely?

Totally agree - well done Matt. This aspect doesn't seem to have been picked up in the media at all so far - not only do we get the 10 point deduction, but whatever happens we get relegated too due to this "either/or" clause. It would seem fairer to say we either get it this year, OR next year - one or the other - not keep their options open so we get the "what if" penalty as Matt calls it. Have any other club had this type of clause in their 10 point deduction?

Cheers. Oh f**k it - bought two adults, oh well more for the club coffers...

Totally agree. I am no massive Crouch fan, but in my view he is certainly the lesser of the two (three?) evils. Crouch must take his share of the blame for our financial position, but Lowe and Wilde take 100% of the responsibility for the coaching team f*** up, which in turn, had we got it right (i.e. left Pearson in situ) might have eased our financial worries with higher gates etc.

Cheers. Great, yes have just bought 2, and put both in the name of Luker. Great idea, let's hope it gives us a full house.

Can I buy more than one ticket for the "Luker friend" - ie if I buy one in my name, and one in his will they know I want to donate both to the scheme?

If only that punishment could be literal!!

Perhaps he'll triple the amount he put in before? So that'll be 3 x £0 then. £0. It's like an arsonist who has just burnt your house down and killed your family, turning up to the blaze with a cup of water and saying "can I help?".

Yet again comes down to knowing the price of everything, and the value of nothing...

Quite the most ludicrous thing I've heard all year and the falsest of all false economies!! Well done Rupert - seriously, could he have been any more stoopid...

And that was one of Lowe's biggest faults - believing that a manager (sorry *coach*) was just another "cog in the wheel" of the club, no more or less important that the other components. Hence his belief that anyone - Gray, Wigley, Poortvliet, possibly even Lowe himself - could pick up the reigns and succeed, as long as the overall 'system' was right. A fatal flaw that no one on the board ever challenged him on, and we fans just had to put up with - with the obvious results....

Not sure anyone is saying he's "brilliant" - although to be fair to him, I would argue he's done a "brilliant job" in a tough league (as we'll find out next season). I think we're just saying he's competent, sensible, hard-working, a decent enough tactician, seemingly a good motivator, and one who has used the loan system, and his wide contacts, well - just the obvious things you'd look for in a manager. The tragedy is that we had him, and we let him go - and again, this doesn't mean I think he's on par wtih Fergie or Wenger, just a good solid manager who I still believe would have got the squad we have into mid-table this year. Of course, that is conjecture - we'll never know. What we do know is that we are going to relegated, and Leicester are going to be promoted as champions. The thread is about congratulating Nigel Pearson and Leicester, and I do, wholeheartedly. In fact I'd like to see him get to the Premiership next year (I doubt that will happen by the way), I wish the fella only good luck. He seems like a gentleman and a professional. To answer your question, I'd have been mightly p*ssed off had we of gone down, but I do - hand on heart - think that I'd have wanted us to stick with him and he'd have given us a decent chance of promotion. And by the way, I don't think it was all luck last year - it played a massive part, not disputing that - but in the WBA game, I thought he got his subsitutions and tactics exactly right, and that point was vital. Anyway, what's done is done. Well done Nigel.

Did anyone say that? Aah.. those were the days, not many we'd look down our noses at now though eh?, after Lowe's latest couple of dudd's...! I think you're doing your fellow fans a disservice - after 10-15 years of blanket Sky TV coverage, plus MOTD etc. and NP playing for the most part in the top flight, and lifting a cup at Wembley for Sheff Weds (not to mention the "Jimmy Glass incident" at Carlisle) I think most people would know who he was - surprised at his appointment, no doubt, but know who he was... ...and what he looked like! That's not the same as not knowing who he is though, is it? I don't think anyone is claiming to be a "Pearson expert" - just we had some knowledge of him, and I think you have to forgive the frustration at the moment for us "throwing away" a very competent, promising manager who seemed to have turned the corner - for yet another "revolutionary idea" (God, I hope we've seen the last of them - whatever IS wrong with just appointing a sensible and hardworking manager?). Nor mine, but then neither was Branfoot, Jones, Gray, Strachan, Wigley, Sturrock, Redknapp, Poortvliet or Wotte. This is Saints remember... I just knew what I knew about him - his #2 record, this caretaker spells, Carlisle, the England set-up. No revisionism at all, just "facts, and stuff"...

Saved me a job Um, cheers. It really is the laziest of lazy arguments to just point to a figurehead and say "he's got money" (therefore they are successful). As we all know, that doesn't always work - and wasn't even the case with Leicester under Pearson. It's just their way of p*ssing on the success that NP has had this season, and does him (and those who spout it) a great disservice. Also a handy (albeit transparent!) smokescreen to avoid criticisim of Lowe/Wilde for getting rid of him, just when he couild have taken us forward, and appointing our 'revolutionary' dutch duo. Just admit the guy has done very well - through hard work, technical nous, and a good understanding of the English leagues - and he has succeeded.