Fitzhugh Fella

I am hearing he is making himself pretty unpopular in away dressing rooms with some boorish behaviour. Mind you I heard some other pretty shocking stuff from a very credible source today that really has me worried. Unfortunately a lot of it is libellous so I'll keep it to myself (heard from more than one source) but I heard that JP has not conducted a pre-match or HT team talk for some while. No prizes for guessing who is. If anyone knows some current players I would be grateful if this could be verified?

Good story, Richard - let's hope you get to remind Ron in person.

I have it on good authority that if we do go into administration then Lowe and a few of his friends will buy Southampton FC, lock, stock and barrel.

Sorry "shame" was probably the wrong word - should have used "rallied" or something similar. It was an early morning post.

Nice one - hope you "shame" a few others to make the effort

Well, as Delldays is not humping his bbq up from Plymouth I'd best bring a sarnie and some sour grapes!

Is KFC organic?

Steve, with respect, should The Trust not be asking us? This seems to me to be the problem with the Trust - they are like rabbits in headlights, seemingly frozen by every disaster that comes along. Why haven't they organised anything? Why haven't they issued a statement? If fans on forums can get their act together why can't they? The longer the silence goes on the more I am sensing they are either incapable or do not want to question the current goings on.

I am normally not keen on premeditated demos, preferring the instantaneous ones which imo carry more passion and feeling, however I sense this one will have the neccesary emotion and gravitas which is needed to convince onlookers and media of the depth of feeling. Due to wife working/childcare reasons I was not going to go to the Swansea match but I am now going to make the effort to be there to show that I care about the club and can devote just a very small part of my life to make a statement. If everyone can just make a small effort by turning up it will show the world at large that this club still means something to the inhabitants/supporters of Southampton. Yes not everyone there will want Crouch back, I understand that, but it is time there is a large massive message sent that the fans are not happy with the current leadership/direction. Most people in public life sooner or later have to listen to public opinion and act accordingly. Rupert Lowe is a rare breed as he does not fit into that category. This demostration for me is an attempt to finally convince him that he simply HAS to listen. The more fair-minded, reasonable and non-violent fans that turn out that day will aid the cause. We are often accused of being cyber warriors on this forum and there is a lot of rhetoric and hot air flying around. I appeal to every fan on here to put all the bickering behind us and make the effort to turn up to show firstly we all care and secondly to ask for a change of direction before it is too late. Hope to see you all there - anyone gonna bring a portable bbq?

As soon as work on the website is concluded - work started this week Trousers - so not too long.

Here's a question for you Steve. A club gets relegated and therefore is entitled to two years parachute payment - but they go straight back up in their first season - do they still get that 2nd year parachute payment despite being back in the Prem? I asked LC and LM but neither knew. Once Bitterne makes some valid points. Listening to the Burnley v Spurs game last night it struck me how it is virtually impossibe these days to nurture and build a good young side under a talented young manager because as soon as you get any good a mega rich club like Spurs will come riding over the hill to poach either the manager or any player that is half decent. Prem clubs seem to plunder just for the hell of it - after all they can always loan these players out or shove them in the reserves and use them for the odd inconsequential European fixture. Look at Wigan and that Palacious (or whatever his name is) half a good season and HR throws £15m at him. Look at Heskey already discarded by the elite once, he then picks up his career at Wigan and was probably grateful they were interested but now he's going back to the club that once turned his back on him. I am surprised Villa haven't forked out £10 m on Crouch this January having once let him go to us for peanuts.

Theres more chance of peace in the Middle East than at SMS

Minty - I do not know for certain but I think if we trawled through everything he has written it has usually been consistently pro-Lowe and times to help his side of things. I also seem to remember people on here or previous forums making more factual linkages between the two. Perhaps others will help out later.

Sorry if my memory is failing but I was under the impression twas Lowe. Will dig them out and have another look but I am away from a computer now for a while so any apology will have to wait. Just had a quick glance and I see the 3 things that could not be agreed and minuted at the end were 1. Mike Richards as Chairman - further discussion essential to see if this can be agreed 2. Rupert Lowe to decide if he is prepared to serve on board with Michael Wilde. 3. Michael Wilde to decide if he is prepared to serve on board with Rupert Lowe. So it appears that the two culprits then were both Lowe and Wilde.

Thanks for the link Minty, not that I enjoyed reading it mind. I think that piece to be the clearest indication of what is happening and what will happen to SFC for a long time and I think it is now almost certain that administration and relegation beckons. It is sobering to see it in b+w, however.

I think if you read the Runnymede minutes which were recently published on here Crouch was not the fly in the ointment - it was Lowe who would not work with the other two at the time without overall control.

Hi Bob No, I accept 100% Steve is not a Lowe or Wilde supporter. I also accept it would be ideal if none of the 3 had any remaining power interest in SFC. My point about Crouch is that he was only in real power for a short period (6months) - I don't regard him having total control while the execs were around and therefore to heap as much of the blame on him is out of proportion. Having been lucky enough to attend the AGM pre-meet and find out first hand the thinking behind the people Steve was criticising in his post - I thought it important to set him straight re talk of organised walking out and non-voting. We are where we are - with the likes Of Salz and Fulthorpe either unwilling or unable to give us the craved for options so its either stick with Lowe and JP or give LC another bash. Not a marvellous choice, I accept...but possibly unlike Ron or Steve I have - as previously mentioned - decided to tether my horse on the outskirts of Crouch's camp - therefore I suppose I am a Crouch supporter. The fact those two are still looking for somewhere to tether their horses, worries me because like I said there are only ever likely to be two camps unless you count nomansland as an option.

BBB I don't quite understand what you are saying here but I am guessing you find my criticism of Steve heretical? To be frank I find quite a lot of whats going on at my club sad these days and the fact that even normally friendly fans are falling out pretty sad as well. However when Lowe returned I did say that would happen.

You base your decision on Crouch despite him being in the hot seat for a mere 6 months compared to Lowe's 10 years plus? Hardly fair Ron. "Whats wrong with that"? Well the trouble is - there is simply no one else for you and Steve to nail your colours to....... which means in reality (that is what Steve is not getting) we have to make our unpalatable choice on one out of the 3. Saying you want them all gone is just p*ssing against the wind and a'int going to happen for a good while.

Steve, I used to read your posts because I thought they were well-balanced and neutral and who is neutral these days? When you earlier criticised Pearson because under him we finished below 13th (the position when he took over) I lost some respect for you. You know darn well he took over a club in serial decline and in the end did well to keep us up and yet you use a cheap and biased statistic. You have (perhaps unintentionally) fallen off the fence today, but at least we know what side you chose to fall - what took you so long? No problems because most on here have long declared their allegiances one way or the other (can't still work out FC mind you) and now, I think you have. Perhaps it was even a sub-conscious moment.

Having being invited to attend an AGM pre meet* with all the people you are criticising Steve, I have to say you are - for once 100% wrong. Yes there was anti Lowe sentiments expressed but there was also a real larger concern at the plight of our club. Remember these people are all fans too, who go to matches whether or not they are current or ex board members. (Lowe, I seem to remember was an infrequent visitor). * present along with myself, Ian Gordon, Brian Hunt, Lawrie and Anne McMenemy, Patrick Trant, Mary Corbett, Mark Dennis and a few others. At that pre-AGM meeting there was no talk of walk outs or not voting whatsoever, you are very wrong to suggest it, - in fact Leon handed out a briefing sheet (which I have) with lots of questions on it of a footballing nature as well as financial, and the intention was to stay to the end. Lowe however set the tone with the letter reading and his subsequent pompous attitude. For me the last straw was the facetious answer he made to Mrs McMenemy which was uncalled for. Much as I am not LM's biggest fan I am sure he would not have treated Mrs Lowe with such contempt. Steve, it is obvious you have no time for Crouch and yes he has made mistakes for which he should take blames (siding with Wilde, bad PR and Dodd/Gorman) but you seem content to apportion as much blame on him as you do Lowe, which considering how much time each man has been in real power at the club is disingenious and imo unfair. I usually respect your opinion but this time I sincerely believe your opinion to be very wrong and dare I say it based on ignorance. Finally you talk about Crouch losing his temper - yes he did get angry but Lowe's behaviour/language to hundreds of people who have ever opposed him is a helluva lot worse. You have - fairly - accused me of being too pro-Crouch in the past but today you have shown your true colours and I am disappointed to say the least. Regards Duncan

Tim - did you ever hear that Bob Newhart sketch when he impersonated Walter Raleigh's imaginary agent trying to recall him from the States, arguing that Raleigh's latest discovery - tobacco - would never catch on. The telephone conversation script sort of goes "Walt? - yeah Hi, look fella, we've been kinda worried about you since you threw your cape in that puddle and now you are trying to convince us that rolling up a load of dried leaves, setting fire to them and then sticking them in your mouth is going to be a winner?" No offence mate - have a good holiday (the guy is a true legend), enjoy the inauguration as well (another legend in the making?) My missus is in Colorado at the moment and will no doubt be watching. Peace and love - although there aint much of that around SMS at present. D

as it was right at the end of the match thread many might have missed this post from New Zealand Saint (part reproduced below) - I would certainly like to know more - Also my dad has his own IT business stateside and him and a few of his mates (who also own companies in the states, not mega big ones, but big enough to be comofortable) approached Mr. Lowe and the Saints board about buying the club (the would have had enough money to whipe out the debts and give us a bit of spending money (not alot) and Mr. Lowe's exact words to my dad were "I'm not prepared to sell my shares in this club as Mr. Wilde and I are the ones to take us forward and we're making good progress"

Hi BBB, No I can't. Let's just wait and see what this person comes up with - he has given the matter a lot of thought and effort. If its unworkable so be it but I do feel slightly less helpless knowing someone is actually doing something other than fishing for salmon or beating each other up.

Thanks for the vote but unfortunately I could only reasonably speak for me. There are people out there - and on this forum - who think I talk blinkered anti-Lowe hogwash. And fair enough, I could perfectly understand that they wouldn't want my views to be considered representative. I think Steve made a valid point re NI being amenable and the chair of the Trust but I do think now that NI's opinions to be representative of a minority rather than majority.