Fitzhugh Fella

True 19C - but I hear there is also a board meeting later in the day.

Steve - I think you leapt to conclusions a bit fast there, and you were wrong. None of this has come from LC whatsoever. Move on from 2008 mate!

With respect mate, relegation now is the least of our problems

The luxury of being able to choose exactly when wasn't available - there were and still are last ditch negotiations going on and FL deadlines then become secondary.

I think there was feverish negotiations going on all last week but today Aviva and Barclays finally pulled the plug or turned down what was on over. I think the deadline bit is a red herring to be honest.

Lets hope this post doesn't come back to haunt you

Hearing tonight from more than one source there is going to be major (but unfortunately negative) developments tomorrow, starting with an announcement at 7AM re the shares. There are some last gasp negotiations going on which have been circulating for several days but it seems hopes are now fading and it could be administration by this time tomorrow. Hope I am wrong but I would not post this without being reasonably certain of the facts.

Shame!

T'was a cracker though!

There has been a lot of grapevine gossip over the last 72 hours and perhaps IF it is true is why we never went into administration last week.

I believe the club came extremely close to going into administration last week but someone from outside the club took financial steps to prevent it happening. I know no more - just a whisper on a grapevine.

Thats a big blow. Don't like Surman in the middle.

When Davies returned he linked up very well with Beattie, I remember them ripping Spurs apart Dec 2000 on a Sky game for instance. My views re Strachan are just my opinion from watching and listening. I was not aware I had to personally know the individuals before voicing an opinion. Would you have let Davies go for nothing?

Don't agree - I remember KD being treated shabbily in the lead up to the final when GS named him in the squad and then never bothered to tell him he wouldn't even be on the bench. Once GS makes his mind up he can be far too narrow minded/inflexible. And I don't think big Sam would have guaranteed KD a guaranteed first team place.

He did - the David Jones court case was the start of our decline. I don't blame Rupert for having to part company with him but he was a good manager and it was a massive slice of bad luck for us and an appalling slice of luck for him. From there on after it has been mistake after mistake. I wonder what would have happened had the ridiculous accusations not arisen.

Strachan had big flaws imo. Yes he did reasonably well here, got the players fit, steadied the ship and got us to a Final but some of the football was really dire and he was/is far too stubborn. The way he failed to bring out the best in Kevin Davies is a good example of that. KD is/was a very good player who had lost his way and needed "managing". Strachan froze him out, he eventually left for nothing and yet since has given Bolton invaluable service and this season has played his way into the fringe of an England call up.

Funnily enough I think I prefer him to Wilde. Lowe is a bit like Thatcher towards the end of her time in power - absolutely barking but at least you knew where you stood. Plus I think he would probably stick to his word which is more than you can say about Mikey. And Bern, I don't obsessively hate him but I hate with an obsession what he has done to our club. There is a subtle difference but don't know if you can appreciate it.

He was a bit of a plodder compared to say Danny Wallace but of course he got between the boxes with a minimum of fuss and the maximum efficiency and he could score goals. He just never caught my eye but that was probably because off too many pints down the Fitzhugh.

Sorry I missed this question yesterday - it was in the main News part of the paper.

This seems a reasonable and fair post. The club hate fans who ask pertinent questions, they are an inconvenience. Incidentally Victor I never rated David Armstrong until he stopped playing and then I suddenly realised what a good player he was. Oh to have someone like him today.

Manji - I was never respected by the likes of you Nothing serious, just trying to enliven a dull w/end for us Saints fans - FWIW I am right behind Rupert, well at least till the season's end. Maybe there's some good news just around the corner????

I think he sort of gave up worrying about that aspect last time around.

Nah, decided to give Eastleigh a miss - with 2000 there and no terracing the view will be crap. I hate these Saturdays when we aren't playing and our very future is in the balance. I think now the price of relegation will be potentially larger than when we lost our premiership status. I remember Rupert one year saying if we went down the building plans for SMS would be shelved and at the time thinking thats a helluva forfeit but with administration likely should we not avoid the drop the next few weeks are crucial, hubris or not! Enjoy the game this afternoon - horrible to think if Eastleigh go up and we go down there will only be 2 leagues between us!

Interesting article in today's Guardian on Hubris Syndrome that "rang a few bells". I'll say no more! (Sorry, unusually, there was nothing about Saints in the sports pages). Anyway back to hubris syndrome which has, according to the article, the following symptoms ~ A narcissistic propensity to see one's world primarily as an arena in which to exercise power and seek glory. A disproportionate concern with image and presentation. A messianic manner. Excessive confidence in own judgement and contempt for advice. Exaggerated self-belief, bordering on omnipotence. A belief that one is accountable solely to history or God (my favourite). Loss of contact with reality; often associated with progressive isolation. Restlessness, recklessness and impulsiveness.

Hi Trousers - had an interesting message from a friend last night who is a Saints fan but who is "well connected" in Pompey circles. This is what he had to say (and I laughed at his Echo v The P*rtmouth News comparison quote) - The background to this is that The News is currently banned from all access by p***ey after they did the story that the FA Cup was damaged. The story was true, the club couldn't deny it as the paper had the story from the silversmith employed to repair it. So in a little fit of pique, the club banned them. Unlike the Echo, who have balls the size of lentils, when The News get banned, they take the gloves off. P***ey held a fans forum recently where The News managed to get a reporter in. It was the one where they announced the plans for the new ground would be put on hold and Krap Nottarf enlarged Typically arrogant of those in football, Peter Storrie thought he was addressing fans only, and that he could assume they were of low intelligence, and confessed that the club are in big trouble, they have around £90m worth of debt, and unless they manage to find a buyer in the summer, the gig is up. The Gaydamaks either will not or (more likely) cannot pump in any more money, and with some big payments on transfers due that make our £100,000 for McGoldrick look like chicken feed, and that flapping sound is that of the wings of chickens on their way home to the roost. They would find it difficult enough to find a buyer in the Premiership, with the size of their debt, the huge wage bill Harry saddled them with, and the outlay any new buyer would have to find to refurbish the ground (let alone fund a new one which, according to Storrie, would be ready to form part of England's 2018 World Cup bid). Storrie discovered The News have his quotes and is hopping mad. He claims it can't be used as he was only talking to supporters. Read whatever inference into that you like, but he's oblivious to the fact that they constitute members of the public, and thus it is in the public domain. What might stop it getting out is p***ey's loathsome press officer Gary Double, who might try and crawl around his former Fleet Street buddies and in the style of Max Clifford, try and stop them publishing it by buying them off with an alternative exclusive, so don't be too surprised if you don't see this story, but a series of 'exclusive' interviews with Sasha Gaydamak. I think the South Coast Administration Handicap Chase is on. Who will go in first, us, Bournemouth or them?