um pahars

I think that if anything, this post has actually highlighted some of the problems at the Club at the moment. Firstly, the Chairman and Head Coach must have been very naive to expect Thomas and Svennson to play any major role this season. We should have been planning for life without them, not building a team around them. For some reason we have stupidly ignored our defensive frailties and we are continuing to pay the price for that ignorance. Secondly, Skacel is on our books and we are paying his wages. The manager needs to start earning his wages and getting the best out of our players (I'm no apologist for Skacel, but we are in the shtye right now and we need our best players on the pitch). Thirdly, I agree Perry should be in the staring line up, so why the fckuk was he not playing on Saturday. We then have John not getting a regular slot and instead loanees and McGoldrick being favoured instead. The above are decisions taken by the "revolutionary coaching set up", so it's no wonder that some people are beginning to question the logic and judgement of those in charge. Lastly, fans aren't boycotting in any great numbers. Quite simply, they do not feel that the team is worth watching at the current time with performaces and a lack of home wins being the main factors for low attendances.

Absolutely spot on. This shambles was what many of us feared and despite what some are trying to say, it was totally avoidable. We didn't have to go for such a "revolutionary coaching set up", neither did we have to flood the first team with youngsters, some of whom in all honesty wouldn't make the first team of other Championship teams. The priority should have been some experienced players to augment the youngsters who are quite good (and given the 10 odd players we have brought in - and the other thngs we could have done - there was leeway to do this). But instead for some reason the priority ws deemed to bring in other youngsters, and keep adding to the midfield and attack. I fear there was some also misplaced logic that getting in utility players was a cure for all our ills, when in fact you really need players who are specialists in their own areas.

Well you had better resign yourself to the inevitable happening then. Some costs may have been cut, but we are still running at a loss and racking up debt. Player sales were always going to happen (just as they have done since we came down) and I reckon we still need a few million brought in in January to keep us going. Of course there are many players who could command a fee, but I don't really see anyone outside of Surman and Lallana who could land us the few million we need to survive.

Agreed. There seems to be so much stuff coming from various sources for this all to be horeshyrit. I have been hearing snippets for ages now on how Lowe is actively involved in footballing decisions (and I just don't mean telling the manager who we can afford as would be perhaps more normal), and his previous doesn't give me any comfort. My biggest worry with regards Lowe coming back was that he would get involved, undermine the manager (Head Coach) and as a Club we would suffer. Are my fears being confirmed??? Did Lowe order an extra training session on Thursday??? Did one of our star youngsters complain and feel it was tantamount to burn out??? What does our Football Club Chairman think of this??? Is he aware (i.e. he gets the Football Club Chairman position and as a trade off Lowe gets the DOF), or is he being duped???

Who is the "they" that are "in fact owners"???? Certainly not Lowe with just over 5%. And even Wilde as the largest single shareholder only has 16%. They had support back in the summer, so what does that support think now???? What is Wilde thinking now (particularly with these stories circulating about how Lowe is deeply involved in the footballing side)????? Wilde said the Coventry capitualtion was out of character in the matchday progamme, so what about yesterdays performance and result???

I do hope you're being ironic there!!!!!! The two missed penalties gloss over a very poor performance, with serious deficiencies in many areas of the team (for a start we need to sort the defence out PDQ). Throw in questionable team selections & tactics, and luck (or lack of it) goes out the window. With all due respect to Watford, they were poor (1 point away from home all season) and yet they spanked us 3-0. What does that say about us???? The harsh reality is that many of those who played yesterday aren't up to it, and the manager is beginning to be put under the microscope.

When the final whistle went the place was half full. I looked around me and the Itchen was just full of despondent people, the Northam was half empty with many leaving well before the final whistle. There was a resigned air about the place and most people were so apathetic that no one really did anything when the whistle went (neither clapped nor booed - although there were a few boos). This experiment is slowly strangling the life and passion out of this Club. I just don't think people care anymore, which is really depressing because I fear we will all need to be in this together in the coming months as I am growing increasingly concerned about the invitability of administration. Is there any spirit to rally round and get the Club going again????

And you could say exactly the same of Wigley when he was offered the job when he was clearly not up to it. I never had a problem with Wigley per se, just the man ho installed him as manager.

The Runnymede minutes certainly confirmed there was a move to bring him back into the fold as Director of Football, so it wouldn't be too much of a surprise. But how much influence has he really got with regards first team affairs????? Given that Poortvliet owes everything to Lowe, I can't see him kicking up a stink if Lowe is pulling some strings. Is it time for those with some inside info to blow the lid on just how much Lowe is involved in first team affairs?????

I'm here!!!!!!!!!!!!! Think he was found wanting again today!!!!!!!! For starters, where was Perry?????? As for McGoldrick, no subs, tactics, motivation etc etc etc, maybe, just maybe he is out of his depth.

Have you seen McGoldrick play?????????????

Terrible, truly terrible. Can we please have no more mention about total football blah, blah, blah. We have just been stuffed by a very poor Watford side. That's no criticism of Watford, it's just a true opinion of them and reflects on how poor we are. Davis - 7 - Too much expected of him behind a back four that Shilton would have struggled with. James - 2 - Bless him, he's just not up to it. Why can't the manager se this. Lancashire - 4 - They had a 20 year old at centre half who took the pi655. Poor performance, second to the ball too much, no presence. Wotton - 5 - Not a centre half, so no idea why he was being played there. Mills - 4 - Again, not up to it. Full backs have been a problem since day one, why hasn't it been addressed. Surman - 6 - OK, but outmuscled too many times. Cork - 6 - Tried his best, but he's just too lightweight for this division. I bet he can't wait to get back to Chelsea Smith - 5 - Wasn't too sure if it was David Gest or Lewis Hamilton, but both would have probably put in an equivalent performance. Lallana - 6- My favourite, but he can't do it every week. Felt sorry for him today. Robertson - 4 - A shadow of his home debut. Didn't really do anything. McGoldrick - minus 2 - A fciucking disgrace. Don't like slagging off players, btu how he gets a game, ****c knows. Subs : Thomson - 5 - dotn know what to say Pekhart - 5 - Dont know what to say. I have now seen 1 good game in about 6 or 7. We're in a relegation battle and a whisker away from administration, so please no more let's wit and see. Why wasn't Cork playing???? Tactics and shape looked poor ???? How did McGoldrick stay on???? Why no changes earlier???? The manager looked shell shocked in the second half???? Don't want to slag the manager off, but he was found wanting today. (PS I'm sure some will come on here and blame the supporters](*,)](*,)](*,))

I dont want to get too lairy as had to go into the Grapes for a few pints after that rubish, but take it from me, the SaintsTV and stats don't tell you anywhere near the true story. Watford were quite frankly fciuking awful, but that says more about us than it does them. They took their foot off the pedal in the second half (thankfully). It was boys against men. We could have been their for 90 hours and not scored. Team selection, motivation, performances, all round was terrible. For most fo the second half, JP looked dazed with his hands in his pockets and my worry of him being out of his depth seems more prophetic with every match. We will only stay up if there are three teams worse than us.

I dont know what station you were listenig to, but your posts on this thread are a million miles away from reality. Even if we had scored both penalties, we still would have lost 3-2. We didn't have shed loads of chances, their keeper didnt mae loads of great saves. Once again we were awful at the back. We also played some pretty stuff in midfield (at times). We had nothing up front. That's not unlucky, today was plain sh7itye (again)

I thought us naughty fans had already scared away anyone of note.:rolleyes:

Don't know about the last couple of years, as the season before last we were in the play offs. That season was pretty good and I very much doubt we'll get 75 points or manage 21 wins this season!!!!!!

A very good point and something I have been saying for ages. In the absence of home wins, we need another way of engendering a "we're all in this together" spirit. Sadly, I can't think of anyone currently connected with the Club who has the ability to deliver that sort of message (if anything, some invlved are actually counter productive). Therefore, unless Jan and the players can work some magic, then we are lumbered with these attendances. We may not like it, it may mean some fans are deemed lower than others in some people's eye (not mine BTW), but I can see no other way of creating a "feelgood" spirit with the current incumbents at the helm.

A couple of days ago we had one poster blaming the fans for scaring away anyone of note from the Club, and now we have another blaming fans for other supporters not turning up.:rolleyes: It's not difficult to understand why fans have not been turning up this season, and he has got ficuk all to do with I say to my mates down the pub. It's down to rubbish served up last season (which had a big impact on season tickets) and poor performances this season. I very much doubt many are actually staying way directly because of Lowe (although I accept some are), instead they are indirectly staying away because of him, in that his revolutionary new coaching set up has yet to deliver the results boasted on the OS (and its sister mouthpiece, The Echo). Even if I went down the pub extolling the virtues of our team, I think most would think I was a talking blollox. They would point to one home win in the league, 8 goals conceded on the box, and a position two places above relegation. People aren't daft, they know what the score is even without turning up for matches. Results and the league table are the ultimate characterreference.

He's being very optimistic (almost too optimistic again, and I hope it's not putting pressure on the youngsters), but I can't see any reason why we shouldn't at least be able to turn Watford over on Saturday. The youngsters wll be fresh (and I hope they're smarting from the Coventry defeat) and I don't think Watford are any great shakes. Hopefully it will be 5 wins from 9 after Saturday, although as I said to start with, I do worry about the pressure and expectations we're putting on these youngsters. The OS and Echo stories pre season hype didn't help and the wonder start certainly didn't materialise. The hype eased off after the poor start, but it would appear that it's being cranked up again. I do hope Jan knows what he's doing.

I can certainly remember turning around and telling people that we really shouldn't be singing that song as this was Saints we were watching. Remember that day as being freezing, and yet despite surrendering a 2 nil lead being rather happy, mainly because of the £1 pints and strippers on that boat moored next to the ground. But not sure it was all downhill from that point onwards. From memory that game was early 2003, and we ceratainly had some ups after that point and finished that calendar year winning away at Anfield an dbeing well up the league.

Coffee over the monitor time. Us big, bad, naughty fans have scared anyone of note away from our Club. We are really naughty and must stop this. We have made people cry and they are sad. Glad you haven't forked out a fiver, because some of your drivel is worse than Scoobys!!!!!!!!!!

I would have to agree. Paying £5 less to watch us lose would probbly be viewed as a waste of £19, rather than a saving of £5. Therefore I'm not convinced a slight drop in prices would equate to a decent rise in attendances. Results on the pitch are the number one issue with regards attendances. Having said that, I would like to believe that we could do something to drive up attendances and get people to rally behind the Club in these dark days. We need to engender a Dunkirk spirit from somewhere.

Totally agree and it's perplexing why we gave someone like Euell a decent two year contract when we knew we would be short of cash with the parachute dropping away. It started with Rasiak being given 4 years and the biggest salary we have paid out since we were relegated. At some point it was definitley going to contribute to the problems we faced after falling out of the top flight.

Totally agree and what has also been said by others on here is that any old fool can cut costs and slash and burn overheads and infrrastructure, but what is difficult is growing a business, gaining customers and generating revenue. A sure fire way of getting people through the gate is success on the pitch, but in the absence of that we need to be doing something. Yes it will be difficult, yes there are different (and sometimes opposing) viewpoints, but in the absence of success on the pitch I really don't see that just doing nothing is an option we can run with. We need some imagination, some togetherness and some leadership that people can rally behind (some home wins wouldn't go amiss either).

In the first season under Wilde and co wages and other costs were reduced and our net debt was lowered to a position it hadn't been for years. The following seasons overspend by Hone & co was stupid, but if you think the reason we are in this financial crisis is because of that period, then you are seriously deluded. You're blaming all our problems on a one off overspend of a few million (which certainly didn't help matters), but conveniently ignoring the calamatous effects of relegation and failure to get repromoted that turned this Club upside down (as it has done to many other clubs around the country). The crisis comes about from having income of about £13m and a structure that can't run on that level of income. Despite making cuts, Lowe and Wilde are still running us at a very big loss. What do you think Lowe's Plan B was all about, and why would we have to implement it?