Foxy

Strange thread. If by 'we can't trust Jan to keep us up' you mean 'is it guaranteed we wont go down?' no we can't trust him. Nor could we trust Wenger, Morinho, Capello, Nigel Pearson or even my mum. If the question is is it likely he'll make a decent fist of working at the job in hand I'd argue on the basis of the season so far you'd have to say yes. Would anyone lese do better. We can't know.

Not convinced that negotiations would have to be opened with NP to know he would be too expensive to employ - I think his initial contract would be a fair indication of what he'd cost. I haven't a clue what Pearson was paid, and indeed don't care. He's gone and doing well at Leicester. Good luck to the bloke. Not sure success there would mean he'd have had any great joy here. He has a decent squad at that level due to having more in the way of resources that his competitors. Whether he'd do the same here (or indeed do any better than Jan) is pure conjecture.

But would not 4-4-2 still present the same problem if the wide midfielders just play as 1950s-style wingers and don't help out the fullbacks with the added complication that the 2 CMs get overrun by teams playing 5 across the middle?

That's the great unknowable. Based on nothing more than my own view of the way they managed and their ability to improve individual players and do the old sum of the parts bit I would say that from the motley assortment listed I'd expect Strachen and Hoddle to do OK with the hand Jan's been dealt as they were coaches of players whereas Souness, Redknapp and Burley were assemblers of teams and therefore likely to struggle without funds available. Ball and perhaps Nicholl I place close to the WGS side of the equation with Jones and Pearson perhaps closer to the assembler side. Branfoot and Merrington I think were just poor. In terms of where Jan comes in all this only time will tell (and even then the fianances will mean we all have to make a big allowance one way or another). But given the money side he has no choice but to show us his coaching skills.

I'm unconvinced that the scenario you describe will see Lowe or Wilde out (OK perhaps one of the two with the other able to buy thier stake at a knock down price). All that would happen in admin is that all saleable assets would be gone. The club would become an absolute shell and the shareholders' stakes worthless with no chance of them getting the price they'd want to sell up. It would make these days of belt tightening seem like liberty hall and YOU WOULD PROBABLY STILL HAVE LOWE in charge, even more entrenched if we came out of administration because noone would be looking to buy the mess that would be left. That's assuming we didn't go into liquidation, which would be a distinct possibility. You want all that for SFC just because you don't like an (admittedly) unloveable businessment.

Convincing, except for the enormous fuss made beforehand by Glazer, the Liverpool blokes, and if memory serves me correcly Randy Lerner. Mind you they are from the US, not a place whose inhabitants are known for their reticence.

Suddenly feeling a lot happier about life. Interesting to see how much more of this before the over reaction and we'll walk this league-ing starts.

Not a clue. It's anyone's guess. 1-1 draw

Wasn't she? oo-err

I once had a fairly scary ride there after meeting a bird from Wigan in a nightclub :-z

But Donny only had 2 shots on target in firsthalf (and 2 off) so I am not sure we're exactly being carved open

Only time he mentioned us in ages.He just stops commentating when we have the ball. Bizarre.

Him, his mum perhaps, JP, some of his teammates?

Probably the most ringing endorsement you could give for Hoddle, after all that lot are fast taking on Man City's old mantle as the greatest tragi-comedy of the football world. BTW did we ever speculate about how City will find a way to louse up having the Abu Dhabi royal family to bankroll them?

I am keeping my powder dry on predictions until I see Donny do the crossbar challenge on today's Socceer AM - only reliable way to assess form going into such a pivotal fixture

Jason says -Dressing room fine, good young squad but not quite clicking

We have enough about us to start climbing - he says Sounds pretty measured and sensible so far

Dressing room fine - good young squad but not quite clicking

He's on now. Says back in a couple of weeks

Plenty of moaning on here. Maybe a few less tickets sold next time round. But the sun will still rise tomorrow.

Missing the point matey. You don't fly easyJet or Ryanair for the food, travel insurance or car hire but if you listen to O'Leary or Andy Harrison talk and they'll tellyou a lot about the importance of 'ancillary' revenue in making an ostensibly money-losing business profitable. If we could get the punters to have their pre-match lunch and drinks inside the stadium (ie buy them from Saints rather than the local pub or Pizza Express) it's a chunk less we owe the bank/mortgage/lawnmower repair man....

Expats and diehards I guess. But not a bad showing for whatever reason. All credit to them, let's hope they get something to shout about

Perhaps we have some of the lengthy list above going out the door on loan too? It'd be good thing money-wise if we could lose Stern and BWP's wages for a while and not hurt too much on the playing side, particularly BWP

Not convinced of that. If we're able to stick to the programme they dictate the bank are unlikely to pull the plug and risk a write off. Same goes for the mortgage on the stadium. Why take a %age of what they're owed when they can keep us breathing and get a %age every year. It might even be that the bank wanted Dyer contracted to make the then wataway player a saleable asset. A good loan spell might even get us a fee for his registration as well as loan fee and wages out of the picture. Or it might even be that getting him off the premises means we can afford a few appearance fees for some of the big earners. Dunno, all speculation from me of course (until my euro-millions win tonight buys me a place on the board - and loses me a lot fo friends on here no doubt)

Or more activity dictated by Mr Barclays