miserableoldgit

One of the best posts that I have ever read on here. I am just a year younger than Markus and I have attended Saints matches with my daughter for many years. She is married with two children but even when her husband had an ST, she still sat with me because that`s what it always is to her - her and I going together - our time. I can relate to everything you say in this post.

How do they know what time that Sky will be there?

Do you REALLY think that people are doing this??

There is a middle aged, red-faced guy who sits in the Kingsland just off the halfway line and about 6 or 7 rows back who has been there since the stadium opened and who acts in the same way at most games. Quite funny really!

I have mixed feelings about this. Sure, I didn`t know Markus personally, but I feel very sad on a human level. Apart from the obvious gratitude that we all owe him for saving the club, he came across as a really nice genuine bloke and what particularly upsets me is seeing in my mind the picture of him on that day at Wembley wearing his Saints scarf, taking pictures of the crowd with a massive smile on his face. He was in at the start of what hopefully will be an exciting journey and now he will not be there to enjoy what he started. Over reaction? Possibly, but let everyone express their grief at his passing in their own way. There is no right or wrong way. And I make no apologies in saying "WIFM!"

I will always have a picture in my mind of Markus smiling at Wembley and taking pictures of the crowd. We only knew him for a short while, but we will always be thankful to him. My thoughts go out to his family.R.I.P

Definitely "Amen" to that!!

It`s chicken and egg though isn`t it? Do supportive fans lead to good performances or is it good performances that lead to good support? What AP was saying, IMHO, was that there is a weight of expectation on the team this year, which is possibly putting extra pressure on both him and the team. The team needs the crowd to support them even when things are not going well. Twice in the last four days part of the crowd has booed the team - firstly at the end of Saturdays game and secondly at half-time last night. This, IMHO, is very unusual for a Saints crowd. All he was saying is that the crowd needs to stick with the team through thick and thin if we are to achieve success. The majority of posters on this thread seem to agree with this so I see that as positive. I certainly do not see telling the truth as slagging off the fanbase the way that those who were booing were slagging off the team.

TBH Alps, I am not one of those who subscribe to the theory that you are just a troll or WUM. I always think of you as a miserableoldgit (!) - a glass half empty type, if you will, but I have to say the your post here sticks out like a sore thumb, on what is generally a positive and constructive thread - for a change. Can you REALLY see no positives at all in the the teams performances and AP`s management? Or is it REALLY all doom and gloom in your world?

Beige

A few years ago I was at a company do at New Place in Shirrell Heath. I hadn`t been drinking because I was driving. At the end of the evening I went to the bog before driving home. I was stood having a ****, and there was nobody else in there. I heard the door open and close and heard and "felt" footsteps walk into the toilet and walk around behind me. I really felt that some-one was there. I could see the entrance from the basin area (where the actual toilet entrance was) into the urinal area and it was obvious that there was actually no-one there. It was a weird but wonderful feeling that I genuinely was experiencing something paranormal - if thats what it was.

Baguette

Dave Benson Phillips???

You can read absolutely anything that you want into a situation depending on your stand-point. How often have we as a club completed our transfer activity prior to the season starting?

Now you`re letting logic get in the way of an agenda-led diatribe aren`t you.

So, this is your rock-solid reasoning behind the statement "And, it is now painfully obvious that he is NOT going to get funds to add to the squad"? Because all clubs buy their new players before the season starts do they?? No point in having a transfer window that lasts longer than the beginning of the season is there? We didn`t buy most of our better players after the season started did we? Unbelievable!!

Can you please give me the reasons why this is "painfully obvious"?

Oh No!! Not the Facsist connection again! You`ll be in trouble.

So we continually have to concentrate on the negative and disregard any positives? How many of peoples "favourites to go up" had bad results on Saturday? Quite a few. Despite what you say, it IS only one game - the first game of the season, when you always get "strange" results that do not reflect what is going to happen for the rest of the campaign. Are you suggesting that if we had won the game we would all be sat back with our feet up saying "this is going to be a doddle"?

And all you are doing is making an assumption that we are going to have a crap season based on one game. Can you give me the lottery numbers for Saturday please?

Prepare for the words "Happy" and "Clapper" to appear!

What actual "realistic" facts are contained in this post. It is virtually all conjecture and your opinion. Neither you or I no exactly what is going on behind the scenes. I never said that I was happy or unhappy with the way thing are being run, but in keeping with the rest of your post, you have assumed that I am happy so it must be true. The one thing that is true, is that if Saints are successful this season, nobody will give any of this "stuff" a second thought. If we are not successful, then people will use these things against those running the club.

FFS I thought that I was a miserable old git! How many more threads do we need on this subject??? Yes, communication has been bad or non-existant in most cases, and yes some decisions that have been taken have been unpopular and even mystifying. Is there "an obvious cut back on purchase of new players"?? I don`t see it. We have signed, what, three new players so far? We have held on to our best ones. We did all of our best business last year well after the start of the season. Be patient. As far as I `am aware we have only played one game so far this season (when we played very well for 45 mins) and yet the wrist-slitting has started already. I am sick to death of the posters who post their opinions as fact and who seem to want just "Wallow in their own crapulence" (Thank You Mr Burns) and hope that things go badly so that they can all say "I told you so. You wouldn`t listen to me, would you!" Please start you own "Depressive Saints Online" forum before turning this one into an advert for Dignitas!!

Any response yet?? Perhaps "scathing attack" fits his agenda better.

Tend to agree somewhat with this. This forum has been hi-jacked this summer by a small handful of agenda-laden doom-mongers, who cannot wait for something to go wrong so that everyone will turn around and say "F*** Me! You were right all the time". I certainly welcome different opinions and have always enjoyed the sensible ( sometimes the non-sensible!!) debates that there used to be. I accept that the club have made a few ****-ups over the summer, the biggest of which has been the complete lack of communication with the fans. I certainly do not think that NC is untouchable or that his decisions should not be questioned but there needs to be some sense of reasonable balance in the arguments, not just a few "Billy Big ********" posting rumour and opinion as fact, and looking for their moment in the sun. If I wanted that, I would go to "another forum!"