InvictaSaint

Good point! Must get my eyes tested!

I was interested in the capitalisation of Southampton Acquisition (SA - South Africa) and by the black and gold reference. The Springboks shirt is black and gold....so are we looking for a short, wealthy South African? The De Haans? Very big in the horse racing world (hence the Irish link?) and owners of SAGA the over 60s holiday company, based in the south-east. Could be wrong, but just trying to unravel the cryptic clues....

InvictaSaint (season ticket-holder) to SMS: 250 mile round trip InivctaSaint to Gillingham: 2.2 mile round trip :-)

I know it's a loose analogy, but if you ever saw the new Poet Laureate interviewed you would struggle to comprehend how she ever got the position. However, appearances and interviews are one thing; it's the quality of the work you do that marks you out. If the MJ bid is successful, what we are all going to do? Sit around bemoaning the fact that we have a club run by local businessmen rather than a Sultan or a Sheikh? Or perhaps we may have to be grateful that SOMEBODY put in the effort to save us and allow us to even have a club?

Since the purpose of the non-refundable deposit was to keep the club going (day-to-day costs), I can only assume that somebody (Leon?) has stumped up the cash to keep us going for a few more weeks whilst this interminable saga drags on.

Absolutely, 100% spot on. Seconded, with gusto.

Clutching at straws here Duncan (!), but it does appear to be a report rather than a direct quotation so I am slightly more optimistic. You can't help but love the Grauniad but liberal reporting has always been their forte. Still hopeful.....

I thought that proof of funds had already been provided well before this stage. Surely this is just sloppy journalism?

No, Lowe spent almost 12 years at the helm and achieved the square root of **** all in terms of attracting inward investment. Lucky he didn't promise he would, eh? Now, that would have made him look REALLY stupid.....

Martinez played for, at least, Wigan in this country and Di Matteo played for Chelsea...all of which, if I am not incorrect in my reasoning, makes them both eminently more qualified in 'British' football than the clowns we have had in charge this season, neither of whom ever kicked a ball in anger in the UK.

Charlton 1 Norwich 0

Calm down people - we're all going to die of Swine flu imported from Mexico anyway, so what's the point in worrying? :-(

A colleague at work who is an Exeter season-ticket holder (he makes the 500 mile round trip from Kent) has nothing but praise for Paul Tisdale, and even allowing for his Saints connection, feels he would be exactly what Saints will need in L1. The question i whether he would leave Exeter, a team on the up....

Latin words ending in - ium can form their plurals with either an 's' (consortiums) or an a (consortia); so you were right in both cases :-)

I've told you before, not whilst I'm drinking tea with my laptop in front of me!! :-) Post of the day IMO - classic.

God, yeah - I'd forgotten about him! Thoroughly decent bloke who was always good for a chat. Seem to remember he took some stick from a certain faction on here (or the old forum), which always appeared really off as he was a genuine guy. Will be good to catch up with him again!

Plymouth 3 Cov 0 :-( :-(

Affect [verb]: to have an effect [noun] on something. E.g. "Today's CCC games that affect us :-) ;-) :-) (Brought to you by the Pedants' Campaign for the Protection of the English Language) BTW - Plymouth 2 Cov 0 :-(

And as Pearson passes us by on his way to being tested next season, I will wager, 19C, that he will glance at us as he whizzes by and will not only wonder how JP, MW, Gorre and Kim the agent all worked out cheaper than him ( we were after all cutting costs weren't we...?) but will also issue a more than reasonable "**** you" to Saints and to Rupert for treating him so appallingly. And you know what? He will have EVERY right to feel smug. I for one wish the bloke every ounce of luck in the CCC next season.

Quick, see if it's an anagram of Fat Barry.... :-)

19C, you make some eminently sensible points and then blow it all out of the water with this nonsense. I have been warming to your views on the current situation and I am more convinced now than ever that you have the club's best interests at heart. I looked up your name recently and was intrigued to find it is an old Scots expression meaning "a long or undetermined amount of time ago". I can only assume therefore that you are of the silver surfer generation and that your mind has somewhat addled over time in order to come out with this sort of statement. :-) Firstly, it is disingenuous in the extreme to blame fans who chose not to turn up in the Lowe era (part two). Having been referred to as "customers" for some time by Mr. Lowe, our former Chairman then found out how customers, in even the most fiercely loyalty driven industry around, react when treated as imbeciles, when given a fifth-rate manager in JP and kids just out of nappies for a team (only to then back-track on the whole mental experiment when it became apparent even to Lowe that it had done tits up). There are only so many insults and kicks in the teeth even the most ardent of Saints supporters will take before these "customers" decide they have had enough. Furthermore you have the manic overspending of Lowe's recent turncoat partner Michael Wilde during the two years Lowe was away. Too many overpaid players on silly wages for a club in the CCC, and our future was gambled away by Wilde, Crouch et al when they gave Burley (a Lowe appointment) the job of getting us promoted; a job he ultimately failed to do successfully. Lowe then returns and you have the ultimate recipe for alienating the fans - three years of nearly but not quite followed by Lowe's return, massive (necessary) cutbacks, redundancies, player sales and desperately poor decision making on the football front. Had the fans returned in their droves it may well have staved off the current situation for a while, but you cannot expect supporters to keep on stumping up cash to see a team which, the previous year, they could have got to see for free! Lowe may well have done what needed to be done, but he did so without any thought or consideration for the fact that in such situations a club needs to be united, and supporters have to be able to see that all efforts are being made to support the footballing side of the club to at least hold its own. Had he done so, I feel he would have had a greater chance of succeeding, but we all know it's not his MO don't we? In essence, many people are indeed to blame for the current situation, but to blame long-suffering, often hard up supporters is shoddy in the extreme. However.....the debate you bring is improving with every post, so keep it up old fella. :-)

"Like riding down a very steep hill on a Penny Farthing, with no brakes; it's only going to end one way."

...that when the hurting and the pain are gone, I will be strong. (TFF 1985)

Did I say that? Please point out where I state that explicitly and I am happy to stand corrected. The point you flagrantly miss - quite apart from the fact that it was Michael Wilde, Lowe's partner in crime, who wrote in the Blackpool (home) programme that [sic] "the play-offs should be our aim" - is that there is a huge amount of revisionism going on with certain posters on this board. I am not excusing Crouch either because he is a fan or because he has not yet done what he once said he would do. However, to excuse Lowe for achieving the square root of f**k all to get investment secured in his 12 odd years in charge is equally unjust.

Such a shame that Rupert - a man who, after all, made a tidy profit from his time with Saints, whether through wages drawn or severance packages after the first blood letting ij 2006 - did not also find some way of contributing financially to Saints during his two tenures. With his many city contacts and his well-connected backers you would have thought it would be child's play for him to find investment from one source or another over the course of what - 12 years? - , if not from his own pockets. But it's easier to have a pop at Leon isn't it?