um pahars

And that's where you should have ended your post!!!!!!!! This was a footballing decision, pure and simple and to think otherwise is ridiculous.

Absolute rubbish. Pearson was easily affordable and when you consider that the manager is the single most important person at any Club it is a total false economy to go for the cheap option. WE COULD HAVE AFFORDED PEARSON! As for his liking for a journeyman squad, here are some words from Pearson, which make it clear that he was aware of the financial constraints he would have to work under, but how he still felt he could improve the team: "It will be a combination. The reality is there will be comings and goings, there is no doubt about that. Economics will play a part and there will be some natural wastage as players come to the end of their contracts. Then it will be a case of finding players who fit the bill. We need a side capable of getting success but which fits in with the financial situation. But we are not going to be splashing fortunes on players. Even in the short time I have been here, I have been looking to see if we can get players on loan. Short-term is the immediate priority but I am looking long-term too." He was also up for using the Academy and the youth players in the future. "A lot of my background is working with youngsters. I worked with the England youth teams for three years and I see the Academy as a massive part of the club. I have worked at clubs where the academy and first-team are separate entities and not integrated at all and those clubs are the poorer for it. If you put the right effort into recruiting and developing the right players then it can save the club a lot of money on transfer fees." The decision to sack Pearson and replace him with Poortvliet was a massive, massive, massive mistake and one that is hitting us on the pitch with lost points and hitting us off the pitch with lost fans in the stands and lost pounds in the bank.

Spot on. We offered nothing, we never hassled them, we never got in their faces, the tactics and line up were poor etc etc etc. The Championship table does not lie, we are poor and going backwards. The sooner some face up to that fact, the sooner we might be able to turn it around. I remember the platitudes and the "we'll turn the corner" comments from the last relegation season.

But then he should have been aware of that at the start of the season before he went down this route. Plenty of idiots on here pointed out that the youngsters aren't used to this number of games. I do worry that he has not been given full control of all footballing affairs, whihc for me is a big concern. As we have seen at other clubs over here it has caused no end of problems, and it doesn't appear to be working fr us either.

We have brought in 13 new faces since last summer so add up all the agents fees, loan fees (where applicable), transfer fees, a new coach in Gorre, and there must be an element of leeway in the finances. It's certainly not "we can afford anyone" time, but there has been some flexibility. Of those 13 faces, 2 maybe 3 have played any meaningful part in the season so far. How much better would it have been if those signings had been more focussed or overseen by a manager with a bit of nous of this league??? Then of course with each extra 2,000 bums on seats equating to a million over a season, it's not difficult to see how success on the pitch easily translates into money in the bank. Nothing is guaranteed of course, but the easiest way of boosting revenue is by winning games (particularly at home). And that's before even considering that Poortvliet has underperformed even with the limited squad at his disposal. Nothing is guaranteed in football, but I very much doubt if many on here (or in the real world) think that Pearson would have performed as poorly as Jan. Of course finances dictate many of the decisions we take, but sacking Pearson and installing this "Revolutionary Coaching Set Up" was not driven by financial motivation.

IMHO I do think we are somewhat underperforming and that a manager with more nous than Jan would be getting more of out of the existing resources. I certainly don't think we have a strong enough squad to be pushing for the play offs, but I do think Jan has underperformed. I also think a more astute manager would also have utilised what little money we had much better last summer. So before we can think about having a decent team I would argue we first need a decent manager, then some astute signings and of course to oversee this change in strategy a more competent CEO

Although you allude to it later in your post, I have to say I do think you are rather missing the point with your analysis. With the exception of one or two dreamers, I think the vast majority of Saints fans are aware that we are up shi87t creek with regards finances and how our financial problems have a massive impact on what we can and cannot do. The financial issues certainly constrain what we would like to do, BUT they do not mean that we have not had choices or not had different strategies that we could have followed. Whilst there may have been a limit on the number of different routes we could have taken, there is no way that this was the only possible path that we could have followed. And the single biggest decision that we have made was the decision that has the biggest single impact on any football team, notably the decision to sack Pearson and go with a total non entity in Poortvliet. This decision had minimal (if any) reference to our finances. Pearson was not on mega wages, Pearson worked with youngsters in the past and Pearson was open about having to lose the big stars and having to play more of the youngsters in the future. That decision was not forced upon Lowe due to financial implications, that was a decision that he made for footballing reasons, and it is a decision that is costing us on and off the pitch. On the pitch performances are hitting us in the league table as we sit in the bottom two and show no sign of improving. 13 new faces have come in which indicate there is some flexibility within the squad, it's just a shame that the few resources we had have not been utilised wisely at this crucial time. Poor performances (notably at home) are also hitting us off the pitch as attendances slump. An extra 1,000 bums on seats for each game equates to something like half a million over a season. Rather than continually cutting costs, maybe we should also be considering growing revenue! So whilst money plays a big part in what strategies we can or cannot pursue, the lack of it does not exonerate the poor decisions relating to the recruitment of a new manager and the subsequent signings, tactics and performances under him.

Given all the platitudes, excuses and mutterings from jan on that site to date, whatever he now says has little worth in my eyes. I initially felt sorry for him accepting a job that was obviously out of his league, but with every game that passes and with every platitude and promise he spouts, that sympathy is quickly evaporating. He really should do the right thing and stand down.

And sorry if my post came across a bit harsh, it's just it's sooooo depressing watching this Club slide into oblivion and those in charge refusing to do anything mainly, IMHO, due to their own intransigence and arrogance.

Maybe we should do some research into his past before we start saying he has some pedigree!!!!!!! We know what happened the last time we took it on face value with regards a potential Dutch Coach!!!!!!!! This was from a Feyenoord Blog: After Van Marwijk went, most fans asked for Martin Jol (who was keen to come). But the club management thought Jol looked “too fat” to manage a top club (true story). And instead chose Gullit. Because Gullit is (was) cool, glib, popular, etc… Someone appointed former youth player Mark Wotte as technical director. Why? Nobody knows. Wotte was a mediocre coach at mediocre clubs. Didn’t have any management experience at all. Still, he was in charge of building a new Feyenoord, with Ruud Gullit. I don’t know how many players came from how many different countries, but at the end of the day, Wotte/Gullit failed. Miserably. Ebi Smolarek was told to leave (he went to Borussia Dortmund where he had a sensational season), Buffel was told to leave (he became a sensation at Glasgow Rangers) and many no-names came.

With all due respect Phil, I struggle to understand how you can say the experiment is a good idea, and then go on and tear it to pieces and come up with a totally different startegy. You're bit after the BUT is spot on, but that's a million miles away from the Revolutionary Caoching Set Up that has been established.

As in I've been worried that he's Wigleyesque from the off and it makes me go mad for the Wigley balls up to be repeated!!!!!!!!!! It's just been like watching a train come hurtling towards you. AAAAArrrrrrrggggggghhhhh

AAAAaaaaaarrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhh

If that was indeed the case, then although I don't think it is the right decision (in that I would have gambled on paying an appearance fee given the potential income of a replay - or victory) I could accept that. After all, the man in the hot seat makes these calls and will stand or fall by them. But if indeed that was the case, then let's be honest and not claim international clearance hasn't come through.

Thought I'd put this up here for you fella.

The Echo have a piece and are saying he collapsed and think he died of natural causes. http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/4019102.Police_seal_off_area_outside_St_Mary_s_after_man_dies/ RIP to the fella.

Fair do's then. From where we were it just looked like he slid in, as attackers try to do when they're closing down the player, and just clipped him a bit late. I was surprised as there didn't seem to be any uproar from the Man Yoo players and also it was the first time in ages that our own players got animated and in the ref's face when the red card was shown. Probaby should be filed under the over exuberant as opposed to the reckless tackles file then???

Agree 100%. Mirrors my sentiments entirely. For those in any position of power and influence to sit back and let this slide continue is close to negligence. Something needs to be done to snap us out of this downward spiral.

You're the one making it in to a mountain by going in to drama queen mode and falsely claiming people were comparing him to Drogba. Many others have made a valid point that for such an important game we really should be looking to give ourselves the best possible chance by ensuring the manager has the best squad to pick from. I have no idea why you are bringing this back to Lowe. Lowe has not been mentioned in my posts on this matter and if anything I have been looking towards either incompetence on the secretarial side (hence my mention of Liz Coley) or the fact that the OS is being economical with the truth. You seem to be fighting those windmills again Mr Quixote. I very much doubt you would find one person who would not think that Saga would be an improvement over what we have had up front recently. Of course there are no gaurantees that he would hit the ground running, but he is certainly better than our current attacking options. As was proved once again today when we were totally lacklustre up front and actually lost one of our front players due to their naivety. So if he is to be playing next weekend against Barnsley, then maybe someone should have got their finger out and not deprived us of arguably our best player for this match. Now of course if he is not playing next Saturday and we are looking to ship him out again, then I would prefer it if the Club told the fans the honest position and not spin us the line that "we are waiting for clearance to come through". And of course the third option could well be that someone other than us has been dragging their heels (something I also asked n an earlier post, but obviously missed by you, then again you're not very good on details or facts). As for this match being a non entity, well a replay would have been worth upwards of half a million, something which appears lost on you. Once again, in a vain attempt to deflect the issue away from your weak argument, you engage in the drama queen mode and start making up things that were never there in the first place. Lowe has never been mentioned by me, nor do I think there is the biggest hidden agenda since watergate. Instead I, and others, merely suggested that someone had either made a mistake (inside or outside of SFC) or that someone was covering things up. By golly, I even put loads of ?????? at the end of many of my posts as I myself was not 100% aware of what was going on and wondered what others were thinking, or if others could shed some light on things. HTH PS You've glossed over the 75% bit again LOL

Was it really that bad??? From over in the Itchen it looked fairly innocuous and didn't think much of it, particularly when the Man Yoo players didn't protest much. I was rather peeved that he looked to be getting a yellow!!!!!

Something I said back in the summer. It's one thing getting exposure to first team football, and it's an entriely different thing to be dropping them in the deep end, playing too many games and relying on them to save the Club. As well as destroying the current crop of players I reckon it could actually make some parents and youngsters wary of coming to us and being exposed too quickly. Hope is not a strategy.

And what was his opinion on what might happen if someone does come in for Andy?

And Jan did??? I'm no massive fan of Holloway or Davies, but I can't help but think that there would be many out there who would be a better bet than Jan.

So that's helpful then:rolleyes::rolleyes:

You really do talk some rubbish. In the line up, I'd have you just behind Sundance and slightly ahead of SOG. You're making a rather enormous leap to go from suggesting we should be looking to play our best players to then claim I'm suggesting he is Drogbaesque. But then again, if it makes you happy, you keep making things up. After, it's not stopped ou in the past with the drivel you usually come out with. Once again, let's phone Drama Queens Are Us.:rolleyes: I've never suggested it was Lowe's fault, nor did I view it as crime of the century. But as befire if you want to make things up then you just carry right on:confused: Remote?, a 1% improvement?, an outside chance?, of course it's all of them. But given the sums involved, given the situation we find ourselves in and given we never looked like scoring, I would have thought it would have been worth a shout having him in the squad. As was proved at the time, the CV put up on the OS was full of holes. Now if you want to believe it, or include it in your little world of made up stuff and make beilieve then that's entirely up to you. I don't think you have ever posted something with regards the financial side that has ever been correct, you showed yourself up with regards the 75% voting at an EGM (conveniently glossed over - again) and now your footballing opinions have been found wanting. Dinlo me up.:rolleyes: