BallBoy

Great memories. My favourite recollection of the Football Echo is 1st May 1976!!! I was driving back from Wembley with my brother and a friend. That was a great drive with people hanging off the bridges and all sorts. We stopped off at Fleet Services just as the van arrived to drop off the FE. The man never even made it inside to deliver his papers. Fans just just took/bought them right there in the car park. The man was practically devoured. They were gone in seconds. The headline never to be forgotten. "It's Ours".

As much as I love the little man I do not agree that he would be one of the top 4 servants to this club. If we are to name stands after our most treasured players or managers then they would need to be either: 1) Home grown 2) One club players or 3) A very special manager Bobby Robson was a geordie who started his managerial career at Ipswich and turned the club completely around. He was exceptional. Bally was special to me but I could never argue that he was one of our "own".

Have to disagree. We all think differently but he was my man of the match. I think he is just what we need to direct the midfield and keep things going. He is a magnet to the ball and directs play intelligently. He rarely loses possession. In this league he is probably the closest we will get to an Alan Ball, Jimmy Case or Chris Marsden. I am not saying he is as good as them but he is the equivalent for League 1. I don't think he is there to be our most creative player but he is the one to get the best out of others.

It is very early days but two things worry me. 1) The pattern of home draw, away defeat is all too familiar. 2) If we get off to a poor start then better players will not want to come to us. The money will not be enough.

Glad to be wrong

Not good reading so far. This has scrappy 1-0 defeat written all over it. I hope not though. Maybe Pards can deliver an "Agincourt" half time talk.

People seem to think that finding good new forwards to play for a -10 points league one team will be a cinch for AP. I don't think so.

This one must be right up there in the "lazy journalism" league.

That was a great one. Saints were an up and coming force and in the days when NOBODY beat Liverpool at their home. Anfield truly was inpregmable. This win made people sit up and take notice.

I would love this to be true as well but I have to ask WHY? WHY would swiss billionaire businessmen chooose to invest in a 3rd tier English club who are currently in administration and who are starting the season on a minimum of -10 points?

I would never criticise anyone for trying their best with good intentions. That's what Matty did. He was taken in but then, apparently, so was the administrator, a professional accountant. Thanks, Matt, for giving it a go when nobody else was big enough to even try.

10 points - Maybe 25 points - No way. that's relegation even if you have money. You could never attract good players to a club 25 points down. Not even with Kevin Keegan.

Hiddink is available at the end of the season.

For a while I thought we could at least sign off with a bit of pride. What a stupid thought! I exclude Kelvin, Perry, Wotton and Size from that comment. The kids just don't get it.

There is quite literally no excuse for what these idiots did. Blaming the dogs, the police, the stewards, the Burnley fans, the referee, the Prime Minister etc just demonstrates the attituude they have to life. It is NEVER their fault!! It was the morionic fans who decided to go on the pitch and they also decided to goad the Burnley fans. Nobody made the decision for them and I assume they all had sufficient control of their own legs to prevent them from doing those things. Or did the police etc grab them and force them to go. Wasn't being relegated bad enough for these prats. They just bring shame on the club with their mindless actions. We have enough problems without these morons adding to them.

Agreed again. It all comes back to Lowe eventually. Pearson may well have seen what would happen and may not have needed too hard a push. I suspect that Lowe said to him "This is how it will be" (kids, interference, no money etc) and Pearson would have given him a straight answer (You must be joking!). It then all proceeded from there. Pearson would have been right and Lowe completely wrong yet again.

Totally agree. I know hindsight is 20/20 but there were many who said this at the beginning of the season. Getting rid of Pearson was was the worst decision among a catalogue of disastrous footballing decisions made by Lowe. The galling arrogance of this man who still cannot see what he has done wrong is beyond comprehension.

Upside: Cracking goal by McGoldrick. Keeps the hope alive. Good atmosphere Downside: Very good result for Forest with 10 men. Norwich fighting all the way. I can't remember a team less interested than Palace.

I went beyond despair long ago. Now I just feel numb. This team is just not good enough and, yes, I do blame Rupert. We had a really promising manager at the end of last season. Anybody who understood football could see that. What does Rupert do? Bring in two paperweights to replace him and calls it a Dutch Revolution! The revolution is now over and we are worse off than ever with no hope of recovery.

Genuine question. Has Beattie ever missed a penalty?

Here we go again! I confess to being fascinated by these circular arguments. I also confess that I struggle with the chronology of all these events. Everybody has to share some of the blame. Even me for not investing in a season ticket this year. One thing stands out for me more than anything else though. There are those who genuinely love this football club and love the game of football. RUPERT LOWE IS NOT ONE OF THEM. I cannot understand for the life of me why he ever bought into a football club. He has made many, many mistakes and all because he does not understand the game of football. I wish he would go back to his care homes before we all end up in one.

I am pleased that Portvliet is gone but utterly, utterly, DISGUSTED with our club and all it's lies and spin. There can be no doubt that Portvliet was pushed (sacked) and that this configuration just gets Rupert Lowe out of having to admit that he was wrong to appoint him in the first place. As always it is all about our illustrious chairman and not about the good of the club. There is absolutely no reason to believe that Wotte will be any better. He was Portvliet's assistant but clearly had no influence for the betterment of the team. So more of the same is my prediction. This is just the cheap, convenient option and we are worse off today than we were yesterday. And that is saying something!

Obviously I am voting for Bally. He was not only the best midfielder we ever had but one of the best this country ever produced. Most of all he was a leader on the pitch. How we could do with him now. He always knew what to do. Matty was Le God and incomparable but I cannot regard him as a midfielder. I know, technically, he was played in that position but he was a totally different player to the others in the group. I would have to say the same about Keegan. I suspect they both regarded themselves as forwards.

I am one of the disenchanted and broken. I followed on Sky. Poor Matty. He had his head in his hands and couldn't believe what he was hearing. Here is a man who missed one penalty in over 10 years and he watches his beloved Saints miss two in 20 minutes! He looked as fed up as me.

I think you are right and I said the same thing after the Derby and Brum (cup) games. Derby have not won since September 07 and Brum were clearly not interested. Blackpool are typical of this league and we lost at home. Reality.