um pahars

There's one thing changing the formation to try and chase a game, but that three at the back totally fccked us over. We lost our shape and they had a go at us, which resulted in their second goal. Naive, shocking, disgraceful, embarrassing, clueless, you could go on for ages to describe our tactics. Poortvliet was absent from the technical area for most of the second half. He must go!!!!!!

Two nil down at home to one of only two teams below you is fccking suicde!!!!!!!! What you saw today was just a sympton of a much bigger problem affecting this Club.

Sorry, but I didn't find anything about today funny!!!! Wilde was there and I hope Richards and a few others who prop up Lowe were there, because they are as responsible as Lowe himself for the predicament we find ourselves in. The shareholders need to withdraw their support for both Lowe and Poortvliet.

When I heard that I almost got my coat on and walked back up to St Mary's. Cheeky fccking cmnunt, you and Lowe have dragged this Club to it's lowest position in living memory and yet you have a chepa dig at us. Do your own job and we might not have a problem. Would love to meet him out on the street one day, the fccking joker.

Fcccking disgraceful. The lowest I have ever felt walking home from a match. The Club is imploding and something needs to be done to arrest this decline. Tactics, motivation, whatever, there can be no excuse for losing to a team as sh7t as Doncaster. Some people involved with Southampton FC should be hanging their heads in shame.

"The boys did what they had to do" And then alot of rambling. most of which I haven't got a fcccking clue what he meant. Fccccking clueless, out of his depth and an insult to the good fans of this Club. He has said he will not walk away so IMHO he needs to be run out of this Club!!!!!! I have no shame to admit that I would do whatever is necessary to get this clown out of this Club.

Fights in three of the stands. An attempted pitch invasion. People trying to get in the Directors box. The corporates going mental. Stewards run ragged. The death of SFC, it's tearing itiself apart.

And what extra debt would that be???? I think you'll find that for the period Crouch was really in situ (end of Dec - May) our debt was stable (if not reduced). He certainly made mistakes (i.e. the dithering over replacing Burley), but at the end of the day he, like Pearson, inherited a Club in freefall and on reflection both of them performed better than what we currently have in situ. I'm not overly sure I would want Crouch or McMenemy handling the day to day affairs and would much rather Crouch oversaw the appointment of an independent, competent and tasked CEO (as well as Chairman) and then took a seat on the board along with representatives of other shareholders and stakeholders. By the same token I find it beyond belief that some fans thought, and still think, that Lowe would be the saviour of our Club.

I would certainly agree that putting 2million into the CLub at this point in time would not be prudent from an investment position, but I think you miss Crouch's rationale for putting in 2million. IMHO I don't think he sees it as an investment, more that he would be doing it in an attempt to avoid administration and avoid the fall out of a firsale of any saleable assets, as well as stopping us from a serious points deduction. I think this investment is coming from his heart and not his head, which given our current predicament is rather honourable IMHO.

2-0 Saga brace.

Won't happen. We're bad, but we're not that bad. 2-0 to us will be the final score.

He left when he was 19 for the big money and bright lights of the Premiership, so find it slightly rich that he thinks he missed out on the "Revolutionary Coaching Set Up". He chose to leave. At the time he complained that he wasn't getting any first team experience here, so did he move to Man City for the first team experience, yeah right he did. He moved for the money, end of. He was 18 when we were in the top flight, so was he expecting to be playing then???? Then as a 19 year old (in the first half of that first season down), he was kept out of the first team by Higgy, Claus, Powell, Svennson and I think Hajto, and although a couple of these weren't that hot, I think they were better placed than a 19 year old Matt Mills. He could have signed a new contract and stayed around to fight for a place, but he left as soon as City waved some dosh at him. Nothing wrong with that, that's the way football is, but his exit has to be put in context.

If we've been cannon fodder, then I feel sorry for the other 77 teams that, on average, have finsihed below us over the last 40 years. From 1965 to 2005 which would probably cover the vast majority of posters on this board, our average league position was 15th. That means that 77 teams have performed worse than us over a sustained period. What's the next terminology for teams below cannon fodder? It's all relative and whilst we may have struggled at times in the top flight during that period, many teams would have given their proverbial right arms to swap with us. 15th out of 92 doesn't win you many medals, but I think it's far from cannon fodder.

And that's exactly what I and many others thought when they contributed to quite a lengthy thread with hardly any b*tching, in that here is a thread we can happily add some great stories to and maybe get away from the drudgery of what we face today (be it football on the pitch, stuff off the pitch, fan attacking fan etc etc etc). Football is as much about the past as it is about the present and you only have to look at threads and posts which refer back to older days (good or bad) to see how much of an impact it has on supporters. Rather than post this thread, you would have been better to contribute a story where you my have encountered a Saints player in the past that made a positive impact on your life.

There was a thread on this the other day saying how he came in last after they went for a run on the beach when the ground was frozen. Bit worrying really and only hope he's a one off!!!!!

There is a salary cap in place in League Two (Div 4 to us oldies). It started in 2003/4 and is currently set at 60%. Not overly sure how it is enforced, but I also know that League 1 (Div 3) started with a cap at the same time, but dumped it a year later. A few other points regarding this thread. If you're suggesting more money should flow down into the lower leagues as a way of ensuring club's survival, then that is no sure way of ensuring clubs stay solvent, mainly because there is no way to stop the same stupid Chairman just going out and spending this new money on players and agents who are aware of this windfall in an attempt to win promotion from whatever league. The problem has been that the more money clubs receive, the more they just go and spend on players regardless of whether it is sustainable or not. Having spoken to many clubs who run themselves prudently and with one eye on the future, their biggest problem is wage inflation and wage demands caused by either, (a) other reckless clubs offering stupid sums and/or (b) clubs who are bankrolled by millionaire owners creating the same problems. Lastly, Charlton are an interesting case, not least because their directors and major shareholders pumped in 14million last year.

Absolute tosh. Are you seriously suugesting that a manager has no impact on the performance of is team? Whilst money and status may determine certain issues, for starters a manager can have a massive impact on what players he has and what the set up is. And then of course a manager will have a massive impact on how those resources perform (motivation, tactics, line uo, training regime, discipline, fitness, priorities, guile, acquisitions, etc etc etc). You will never be able to hold one manager up against another in the truest sense (as no two managers have exactly the same circumstances etc), but are you seriously saying there is nothing between say Bill Shankly and Steve Wigley???

I have to say that's a rather large, and IMHO, an incorrect assumption. The main reason why we finally secured the funding for a new stadium, along with a number of other clubs who weren't listed, was due to the inlfux of cash into the game, mainly from SKY (also, it cannot be denied that for a short period, football clubs achieved favoured status in the financial world!!!!). The rights issue itself contributed something like 8% of the total costs and was not pivotal in ensuring the project went ahead. What was pivotal was the ability to borrow money (up to 25million) from institutions, which also did not rest on the listed status of the Club, something confirmed to me recently by David Jones (FD). The main factor was the sharp increase of money brought into the game by television broadcasters and all the consequential effects such a sea change in broadcasting rights brought about.

Without getting caught up in the history of Stoneham (which is probably worth a book of it's own given the shennanigans involving three or four different councils, and three political parties and changes at our own SFC), I have to say I agree entirely with you. I much prefer a stadium close to the City Centre, loads of pubs, good public transport links and for nostalgia where the Club originated from (of course, the fact I can walk there in 10 mins sort of helps!!!). Stoneham would have been our version of Reading, which IMHO is soooo depressing.

Get "Full Time At The Dell", another one of those Hagiology publications that Sundance hates so much and you'll get all the details. Basically, just after we won the Cup there was a vision that somewhere down between West Quay and Western Esplanade there would be a 15 to 20 million pound development, including a hotel and a sport and leisure complex as well as a new ground. The project was to be produced by Lord Lucas of Chilworth and at the time the council were all for it (although they would not pur any money into the project). Basically it dragged on for about three years until Saints revealed that the cost involved to the Club would have crippled us (no SKY money back then!!!). West Quay/West Bay was considered as far back as 1948 when plans for a ground holding up to 70,000 were even being mooted!!!

Absolute gospel truth. it was a classic day and can remember it vividly, goals, hangover, cokcs and all! On the way up we had to stop at Rownhams Services because Mini Me, who sometimes posts on here, couldn't handle being in the boot all the way up to London, can't say I blame him really!!!!!!

I bet you had to refer to ITN for those stats!!!!!! That's "In That Number", a post war chronicle of Southampton FC written by Holley and Chalk. Just added that for Sundance in case he thinks you rang up that Gray's Inn Road news establishment:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

One of my funniest moments is with regards Mr Wallace Senior (i.e. the father of Danny, Rod and Ray) and looking back it's slightly cringeable. Charlton away at Selhurst park on new Years Day early 90's. Won 4-2 with Osman scoring 30 yard screamer and Rod Wallace bagging two. Topped up from the night before all the way there and was fairly steaming when we bumped into the Wallace clan who we had a bit of a chat with. Anyway at half time still stumbling around I was in the toilets when Mr Wallace senior rocks up next to me. Being rather merry, I pointed at his member and proudly stated "Your cokcc has given me so much pleasure over the years!!!!!!!". Luckily he saw the funny side and I'm sure I even offered to shake it for him

Most hated : Branfoot, a dark period at the end of a pretty bright era. Worst ; Wigley or Poortvliet for me. Wigley never had the character right from the off and should never have been given the job (particularly when 6 months earlier he said it wasn't for him). Poortvliet is being shown up to be naive, stubborn, inflexible and inexperienced. We're bumbling aling, learning on the job with the odd thing falling into place more by accident than design.

I'm no lover of the idea of bad luck, but I will accept that on the odd occasion you will have poor decisions go against you or your best player will turn his knee in the only rut on the pitch. BUT missing two penalties is not unlucky. That's just poor execution whatever way you look at it.