lordswoodsaints

I've got 3 sources,2 in the media and one close to somebody at the club but I havnt had a sniff of anything from any of them for weeks. I would say that either there isn't anything going on or ML has tightened the pipework so to speak.

The only thing that has changed IMO is that the squad is weaker than last season.

If nothing changes then I'm going for -10

Nice bloke,I remember chatting to him when he was walking down hill lane to catch a train after eyeing up a few players at the dell,very approachable and such a nice genuine bloke. Will be sadly missed.

My first game was in 1971 aged 4 so I would say that for most of the 70's and most of the 80's that would be my best times supporting saints.there were some good times in the letissier years but I would have to say that the strachan era was the closest I've seen to those 70's/80's days. The 70's/80's seemed to be a better quality of football played by a different class of player not too interested in the money side of things.I had no idea who ran the club and I didn't care,there was no tinternet forums and the echo worked with the club and only printed the facts. Money wasn't the driving factor behind everything and the game was very accessible to the not so well off,it was the game of the lower classes but didn't exclude those lucky enough to have money. Players were not wrapped in cotton wool and kept away from the unwashed,jimmy Steele worked with my dad on the building sites in the summer to keep himself fit,I used to go out drinking with reuben agboola (still a good friend),mark dennis and any other players that tagged along.players lived in your neighbourhood,not behind electric gates in chilworth or security controlled penthouses in ocean village and shared the same emotions as us as they became part of the community.......still evident by the amount of ex pros who still live amongst us or in the vicinity. I know these things will never return but I think the world of football would be a better place if they did.

Childhood memories are pure.

None for me.

IMO I think we will be fighting relegation unless we can bring in at least 3 new,experienced players....realistically we need 5 or 6.

The transfer deadline passes and pardew hasn't signed anybody? Don't say it won't happen because there is a possibility.

As I said previously,pardew needs to be realistic otherwise it will bite his arse come may he is also likely to be ripped apart on here and in the local media. We all want things that we know we can't possibly achieve but If pardew thinks that this can happen in our current form then he must be dillusional,it will need a minor miracle just to tread water IMO. It is very silly and unusual thing to come out and say unless of course he has a plan that involves getting in a few players. IMO we are in a worse state than we were last season with regards to players and we are also in a worse league which is an unknown quantity to us. If we have a bad august then not only will the natives get restless but we could find ourselves playing catch up,20 points adrift.

Sorry I don't agree,to this day our most costliest signing remains rory delap at £4million,not since the signing of keegan nearly 30 years ago have we been able to attract any decent players.our stumbling block since then is that we were not prepared or not able to pay the wages that a decent player commands and IMO this held us back in the prem and ultimately played a big part in our downfall. I admit that league 1 is a completly different ball game,something that we are not used to but something that we need to overcome as quickly as possible. I know that you all are not going to agree with me and nor do I expect you to,but to push forward we need to get out of this ****ty little league asap and the only way I can see this happening is for ML to dig deep and buy some quality,I'm not talking about prem players or internationals but players who are too good for this league. Money talks with players and if you pay them well enough they will pull on the shirt of any team,we need a mix of some good old pros and players looking to make a name for themselves and I'm afraid we don't have any of them at the moment. If we kick around in this league for too long people will lose interest,including ML. If getting out of this league requires that we spend £15-£20k wages per player per week on 2 or 3 players then I think it should happen,especially if those players are free agents and don't require a fee. At the moment as things stand it is going to require a minor miracle just to stay in L1,so how about giving us a fighting chance by spending some money. IMO on the playing side we are in a far worse position than we were at the start of last season,ok we might be debt free,lowe free and have an experienced manager but that will count for nothing if we cannot compete to stay in L1,beleive me,we only have to lose 3 or 4 games on the bounce and we could find ourselves 20+ points adrift. ML and pardew need to pull their fingers out sooner rather than later or we are going to find ourselves in another relegation scrap but the differece this time is it will happen a lot sooner and be near on impossible to get out of.

You are all straying from my original post..... Basically I am asking if we have generated enough income to survive without ML propping us up? At some point he is going to want a return (a very rare thing in football) on his investment,how will he achieve this. IMO he needs to speculate to accumulate especially on the pitch....a L1 club ain't worth a w@nk,especially if that club has been kicking around that league for a few years.

Under lowe we were told that to break even we had to have 17k fans in the stadium for every home game,this was to cover the mortgage,overdraft,players wages and any other running costs. As we all know this didn't happen too often and we ended up in admin. Now that all debt has been cleared,I assume that just the basic running costs need to be met,player and staff wages etc So as we have sold 10k season tickets,say bringing in something like £2-3million is it safe to assume that these basic running costs have now been covered for the season? Imo ML wants the club to stand on it's own two feet (self financing) and obviously doesn't want to go down the Chelsea or man city route, but IMO this is going to be a very difficult thing to maintain if we are stuck in this league. It's a great effort by the fans to sell 10k (and rising) season tickets,obviously a lot of it is down to the feelgood factor, but what happens next season if we have another crap run? I can't see that many season tickets being sold next year if this happens. This is all IMO and the figures may not be exact but you get the gist.

Michael jacksons doctor?

We need to hit the ground running to try and eradicate the -10 points,what we cannot afford to do is hope that things will improve,hope that signings will materialize and hope that pardew can get the best out of what he has available. We all did a lot of hoping last season. If we lose our first 3 games will could end up being too far adrift to catch up with or without some late august signings.

I'm sorry but there is no such thing anymore,players play for one thing and that is money,stern doesn't want to play for us because he is not getting enough money,he thinks he is worth more,simple as that.

Be prepared for a long hard winter people,with or without stern it was always going to be the case. IMO we will struggle in this league even if we do manage to sign a couple of players. We needed to sign 5 or 6 players that are too good for l1 and I really can't see us signing more than 1 or 2 at best. Tbh I don't think the owners share the same amount of urgency as me,I just hope that they have some secret plan otherwise we could see the repeat of last season,the only difference being that we are in a lesser league.

Agent niemi your time has come.

Bigger saints legends than niemi have pulled on the filthy blue shirt......channon,ball,stokes that's just of the top of my head but I'm sure Duncan will be able to provide a comprehensive list.

Sorry mate, been best mates for 30+ years so it's difficult to ditch him :-) it's a long story but I have to say he has been to more saints games than a lot of saints fans he even had a trip to hamburg in 84.

As reported in todays papers he is expected to sign for spurs for £10m Since leaving saints he has been transfered a total of approx £30m Is he really worth that? was he that good for us? Did we mug Liverpool or did they get a bargain? I know he is an England international and that in someway dictates his price but I just can't see why he is so valued Ok he did well for us in a short spell but he didn't really do anything to set the world alight. My best mate (Pompey fan) says that he has been crap since he arrived and has got worse since redknapp left so he isn't too bothered about his departure,he is more worried about hart's statement - 'due to the financial situation here we were forced to sell him'. I wish crouch well as he is a nice fella and he did nothing wrong for us,I just can't understand why people rate him high enough to pay double figure millions for him. Saying that I would like to see him here again one day If only to see his mrs sat in the crowd:-)

Tbh ff I am glad that we have no rights,it stops fans with inflated egos trying to get a place on the board (you know who they are),something that scares the bejesus out of me. As I have said many times,our job is to support the club through thick and thin and pay for the privelege of doing so,anything else is not in our job description. I'm sure if things go tits up then ML would be a fool not to act on the will of the fans.

I don't really rate him as he does little else but in L1 he will be an asset if he is fed the ball where he wants it,it's no good having a striker like rasiak and then expect him to run his nuts off and battle for the ball to create a chance.....that's not his game.

It has put us back about 5 weeks IMO but I don't think this will become apparent until Christmas.

I have no doubt he will eventually achieve a top 2 finish,I just don't think it will be this season unless money is spent. I have no illusions about world class players signing,I think all we need to do is buy players that are too good for L1 or go down the 'pompey route',getting good players for nothing but pay them decent wages like they did with Merson etc. Tbh pardews quotes are probably something to do with selling season tickets,the fans want to hear positive expectations however far fetched they are in reality. At the moment my expectations are to stay in L1,but this will change if a couple of decent players are bought,maybe a playoff place but if 5 or 6 players are bought in then there is no reason why a top 6 position cannot be unrealistic.