Fitzhugh Fella

Oh those were the days!

Absolutely spot on

I agree with your sentiments MM, but the bit about SFC not being the property of NC sums it all up - he (or his employer ML) owns us and there is nothing we can do about it apart from blind support! This is what I said 12 months ago. So far so good and I would like to think we are in good hands but..................... I have to admit to having doubts how NC conducts himself. My personal opinion is it will -eventually -end in tears. When? God knows but it would be wise if some sort of Plan B was being formulated. In the meantime lets hope it holds together this season and we justify our odds of being favs for winning the League. It is possible but too much more rocking the boat will make it harder. We should be grateful for them taking over but at the same time we are now perhaps waking up to some of the drawbacks of being in a situation where our views actually count for nought.

Alps - I don't know NI at all well, but he seems a decent enough bloke who perhaps was projected into a role he didn't particularly want but one which the lazy media find convenient? I don't know. And I don't know the ins and outs of the season ticket refusal, but if it is true then the very least a fan of long standing (home and away) deserves is an explanation. As to the JPT incident - whether or not Nick I was responsible or not I have no idea and it sounds a right balls up but the two events should not be interwoven. Again this seems to me to be a case of a lack of correct communication

For comments as strident and condemning as yours, I assume you have met him? I assume you have heard him claim he speaks for all fans?

Thank God, a sensible post

Sums it up in a nutshell for me

I agree with you and CEC, it is wise to see the goods perform before congratulating ourselves, however his higher league pedigree suggests we have reasons to be optimistic. As for "Palace's finances are sorted" I think you will find there is still little money there with the consortium taking over having just enough to get the club out of administration. I am loking forward to seeing how Burley gets on with no money. Would still like to see another midfielder signed and a back up for Lambert. Bart going walkabout is another concern.

You really are quite a bizarre little man. I was just giving my opinion as to the way forward. Hoping to get the job as club historian - err have been in that position for 13 years and it is ongoing. Stirring the ****? - I leave that to people like you. Why don't you debate properly - e mail me duncan@duncanholley.co.uk but there again... you aint got the bollix.

I think one day ML will sell. That could potentially be quite dangerous inasmuch the next owner may not be as benevolent as Marcus. Really, if we had any sense we should be organising ourselves right now to ensure that come the moment the fans are in a position to buy the club (a la Barcelona style). I am sure Marcus would rather sell to the fans than someone unscrupulous. The Liebherr/Cortese dream will not last forever and we should not fool ourselves it will. We never want to be in the same position we found ourselves last April - we got away with it then, we may not be so lucky next time!

Indeed I did, and I took flak. The man is answerable to no one except Liebherr and we must accept that good and bad. Perhaps the missing link is a really astute Director of Football who knows the English game and the expectations of the English fans. Cortese would be foolish to alienate the true fans with bad PR, he is no fool, but he doesn't do humble either and sometimes a bit of humility gets you through.

Thanks Andy and others! I'm blushing a strange shade of militant pink! And Happy birthday to Art for tomorrow.

If you try this link and then scroll down to Saints v Exeter programme you should be able to see all the articles http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10280~2072034,00.html

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/staticFiles/6d/50/0,,10280~151661,00.pdf

I wrote an article on George which was in the Exeter home programme last season if anyone is interested.

Hypo - I agree. Now perhaps you can see what I was rattling on about 12 months ago?

You are ferkin mad but you make me laugh! Is that a line from Adge Cutler - you will remember him Ottery!

I think NC has made some good decisions over the last 12 months and some not so good ones. At the end of the day he has all the power and is answerable only to one man, unlike Lowe he can get away with anything. From where we were a season ago I think most are very glad that Liebherr and Cortese rode into town but.........various people who are well-placed and no axe to grind, tell me he is making a large number of enemies out there, there are many decent and hard working employees at SMS who are unhappy at his style of running things and there are many close to the club who think Cortese to be utterly out of control and acting like a despot. I have heard enough to be worried. I hate to say this but I think next season is not going to be a smooth one and the bookies, although making us favourites, maybe unaware of a lot of tension bubbling along under the surface.

that will take off -we are not on strike then

After 20 days of being on a picket line I have today surfaced for air and will go back in to my bunker later tonight secure in the knowledge that Pompey are well and truly f****d.

I have to say I think Steve Grant is talking a lot of sense

This book is riddled with errors, a very slapdash publication which could have been 100 times better if they had spent more than an afternoon cobbling it together. I think we found 8 errors on the first page. We have written and complained to the Echo

Sue, I was about to do an interview with the BBC R4 Today programme. My informant knows what he is talking about - he has got everything spot on so far!

From my original source "Any way, a snippet or two from down the road, courtesy of my friends at xxxxxxxxx Andronicou's talk of contract offers to James, Kanu, Rocha, Hreidarsson and the other players they appear to be desperate to keep is all window-dressing. According to those players' agents (who my mates at xxxxxxx have spoken to) no offers have been made. One player who has been made an offer is Joel Ward. Ward is one of their highly-rated (by them) young players who made it to the fringes of the first team this year and is one of those who their future is based on. So what has this shining epitome of the next Golden Generation been offered to stay at Krap Nottarf and lead them back to the top flight? £2,000 per week? Nope. £1,000 per week? Afraid not. How about the princely sum of £650 a week. This is the realilty. All of Android's announcements are Pollyana-style window dressing as he tries to talk up the club as much as possible in a desperate hope of finding a buyer. He also said that James is not a candidate for the managerial job, although part of his problem is that he says different things to different journalists ad can't remember what he's told them".

I will only become concerned about NC when he actively becomes involved in taking footballing decisions ie identifying transfer targets and trying to influence team selection. It was this that first set alarm bells off in my head with Lowe, who "had done alright up to then". Of course the real difference between Lowe and NC is that Lowe was only the guardian of the club accountable to fans and shareholders while NC represents the owner and is accountable to him only. Huge difference.