InvictaSaint

Actually, that's not entirely true. Turncoat Wilde, our illustrious football chairman, wrote in the Blackpool programme (if memory serves - it may have been Birmingham) that the play-offs were a realistic target. Whilst not perhaps going as far as saying that we were going to set the world alight, it was a statement nonetheless as far removed from reality as Wilde is distant from SMS most days of the year.

Nobody - as far as I can ascertain - is claiming that our players are better than they are. What I and others cannot fathom is why a man who is CLEARLY out of his depth is not relieved of his duties to allow somebody who has better knowledge of this league, better knowledge of British football and better tactical astuteness to be given a chance to rescue what is fast becoming a train wreck of a season. Ask me if the combined 'expertise' of JP, MW, Dean Gorre and DH is a better economy than, say, one Nigel Pearson and I will point at our risible, woeful recent form, points total, wins total and goal tally and say 'no, it is not'. Does this mean another manager would guarantee anything better? Of course it ****ing doesn't; but it would be a damn sight better giving it a go with another man at the helm than simply carrying on like this, watching this cancer-ridden club slowly die.

Nobody - as far as I can ascertain - is claiming that our players are better than they are. What I and others cannot fathom is why a man who is CLEARLY out of his depth is not relieved of his duties to allow somebody who has better knowledge of this league, better knowledge of British football and better tactical astuteness to be given a chance to rescue what is fast becoming a train wreck of a season. Ask me if the combined 'expertise' of JP, MW, Dean Gorre and DH is a better economy than, say, one Nigel Pearson and I will point at our risible, woeful recent form, points total, wins total and goal tally and say 'no, it is not'. Does this mean another manager would guarantee anything better? Of course it ****ing doesn't; but it would be a damn sight better giving it a go with another man at the helm than simply carrying on like this, watching this cancer-ridden club slowly die.

1 win in 12 home games, 8 goals scored (2 of those in one game, our only home win) and average gates of 15-16000 would suggest that whilst this may be your opinion, to which you are of course entitled, it is factually inaccurate...

1 win in 12 home games, 8 goals scored (2 of those in one game, our only home win) and average gates of 15-16000 would suggest that whilst this may be your opinion, to which you are of course entitled, it is factually inaccurate...

Spot on. If you haven't already read the article by the Forest fan in the Saints v Forest programme, then do so. He makes it abundantly clear - if clarity were required - that League 1 is a bruisers' league where you get no time on the ball and where teams simply park 11 men behind the ball. We can't beat teams in this supposedly more open league, so the thought of mixing it with League 1 cloggers with James, Lancashire and McGoaldrought leading the line is a terrifying thought. With this team (more or less), this manager and this 'plan', League 1 will quickly lead to League 2.

Ten minutes - ten - into the game on Saturday, DMG had his hands on his hips and looked puffed out already; so much so, that he wasn't sufficiently on his toes to change direction onto a Rudi through ball. How old is David? Twenty odd? He looked and behaved more like George Best at the arse end of his career; not bothered and lacking in stamina and fitness. The only difference being that Besty had something to look back on and be proud of. The fact that DMG keeps his place however appallingly he plays smacks to me of something being not right.

So apparently McGoaldrought keeps his place - quelle surprise. My feelings? They rhyme with clucking bell....

Not based on what I saw of him on Saturday. He made Ali Dia look accomplished. Still, this is what happens when you let Rupert sign players....:-)

To be honest Hufton, I think it says more about Saintoli than any of the people he purports to target. Not a topic suitable for any chant if you ask me... On a separate note, Hufton, you get my vote for best early exit from SMS after your two-fingered Citizen Smith-esque departure from the Forest game. Best moment of the game by far from my point of view! :-)

Unfortunately for every Michael kightley there are a hundred Mark Pauls....

I posted this on a separate thread a minute ago, but feel it is equally salient here: A reasoned post, to be sure, but one which has flawed arguments and assertions every where you look. As ESB has already pointed out, if only this were one very poor performance!! This is the latest in a long line of poor performances, which has led to us winning ONE game at home all season and scoring EIGHT goals! Is there a team anywhere in the league with a worse record?? This has been partly generated by inexperienced players who are still finding their feet but also presided over by a man who is patently and clearly out of his depth. I manage people every day and if my body language were the same as JP's was yesterday I would be out of a job! He has not been able to learn from his mistakes, continues to spout drivel in his interviews and does not appear to notice the predicament we are in. Nobody, least of all me, is trying to claim that we are anything but skint. However, being skint and having JP 'manage' us are not mutually dependent statements. There are plenty of teams with similar and worse squads than us who are doing far better because - guess what - the bloke on the touchline ACTUALLY KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING! Anybody with SFC in their blood will now admit that this insane experiment has to STOP NOW. There is no total football - that myth died months ago - and all that remains is a bunch of kids being led by a nice Dutch bloke who really doesn't have a clue. And please, don't hang the Reading result in front of my nose as proof of our progress; put a bunch of monkeys in a room with a typewriter and sooner or later one of them will come up with a piece of Shakespearian genius.

A reasoned post, to be sure, but one which has flawed arguments and assertions every where you look. As ESB has already pointed out, if only this were one very poor performance!! This is the latest in a long line of poor performances, which has led to us winning ONE game at home all season and scoring EIGHT goals! Is there a team anywhere in the league with a worse record?? This has been partly generated by inexperienced players who are still finding their feet but also presided over by a man who is patently and clearly out of his depth. I manage people every day and if my body language were the same as JP's was yesterday I would be out of a job! He has not been able to learn from his mistakes, continues to spout drivel in his interviews and does not appear to notice the predicament we are in. Nobody, least of all me, is trying to claim that we are anything but skint. However, being skint and having JP 'manage' us are not mutually dependent statements. There are plenty of teams with similar and worse squads than us who are doing far better because - guess what - the bloke on the touchline ACTUALLY KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING! Anybody with SFC in their blood will now admit that this insane experiment has to STOP NOW. There is no total football - that myth died months ago - and all that remains is a bunch of kids being led by a nice Dutch bloke who really doesn't have a clue. And please, don't hang the Reading result in front of my nose as proof of our progress; put a bunch of monkeys in a room with a typewriter and sooner or later one of them will come up with a piece of Shakespearian genius.

Charlton 2 Derby 1 (63 mins) :-(

Jan's reaction. Usual 'rabbit in headlamps' stuff with none-too-subtle OS/Lowe spin. What I would like to know is, why the **** he can't say what he said at half time, before the game starts: http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/articles/article.php?page_id=11078

The usual Saturday evening spin on the OS will be a joy to read....."plucky, talented Saints almost snatched a point with a brave showing of total football at high flying Burnley". There, they don't even have to write it; I've done it for them.....

**** me, you really are trying to polish what is clearly a turd. Are you really that blind?

Send boys to do a man's job....this is what you get. Schoolboy errors made by the very schoolboys that t**t Lowe has decided to stake our very future on.

It's OK - the Dutch revolution will work, the boys are full of confidence, we can go there and get a result. F**k me, they see us coming a mile off. What a load of shi*e.

I had to chuckle at the way the OS article includes Kenwynne Jones as a 'product' of the Academy. I didn't know we had a T&T branch which also charges its own club £250,000 to sign players....

My son is almost four - he tells me he is ready to make the step up; or he could have been asking me to put the step up so he can go to the loo. I'll check and get back to you...

Negative people didn't get us relegated from the Premiership. Negative people didn't splurge £7m on players in a gamble which didn't work. Negative people didn't give Nigel Pearson the boot. Negative people didn't ask Rupert Lowe to come back. Negative people didn't employ a fourth-rate 'coach' with no CCC experience. Negative people didn't get rid of any decent players we had and use teenagers. So no, negative people are not killing the club; those responsible for the above, are.

Whether people 'want' administration or not is ultimately a totally moot point; we are not breaking even on crowd figures at SMS, crowd numbers are dipping after 1 home win in 9 (relegation form), there are no family jewels left to sell (Lallana and Schneiderlin may well go for a pittance in January, but this will only paper over the cracks and will simply lead to a further downturn in crowd numbers). When administration does come a'calling, it won't be because posters here wanted it; it will be because of Lowe's ego-driven experimentation with a coach who is out of his depth ("we just need to put them in the net" - no sh*t Sherlock) and players who, try as they might, just don't have the mettle or the experience. Expect the worst.

This made me chuckle (and choke, slightly) on the OS today. You couldn't make it up - Chemical Ali would have been proud: "Chairman Michael Wilde talks about the Club's ambitions for a return to the Premier League." That would be sometime in the 22nd Century then Michael, would it?