Alain Perrin

I will be inside the meeting, contributing to this thread twitter stylie...

Agreed... In which case you should publish the salient points of Morph's PM...

Are you guys stupid? If the attempt here is to seperate the fortunes of SFC and SLH, then the last thing Saints should be doing is using the SFC to actively report SLH news. The Hemscott link is appropriately distanced.

I don't consider having your lower leg amputated through bone cancer nitpicking. The fact that you do sickens me.

If this is the case, then will Rupert Lowe be heralded as a business genius?

35 replies to this thread, and not one commenting on how abhorrent the use of the word 'cancer' is to describe something that is comparatively trivial. There were 154,162 reasons alone last year why this belittles your argument. … that, and you’re wrong.

Total conjecture. SFC was/is like a plane in a steep dive, no matter who was the pilot I think we'd have gone into admin - it was just a a question of when. Could Pearson have got the youth players to perform when he struggled to get our 'overpaid' stars to do the same last season? Who knows (by the way, the answer to this is no one). Personally I think those that try to put a halo on Crouch's head are naive and exercise double standards. For example, if Lowe had been as evasive about the Walcott transfer renegotiation as Crouch was, then you'd be sharpening your pitchfork and marching on the Cotswolds.

True for some. Equally some are promoting it as a 'preferable' [to Wilde and Lowe] option. I don't agree, nor do I think the bracketed assumption is a given.

Stanley setting off fireworks and firing his AK47 in the air.

I don't get the desire/delight for administration. Worst possible scenario for Saints in my opinion. Very few clubs have done well following it, and it could mean years in the wilderness with the same folk in charge. A PLC is far more transparent and easy to influence than a private company/fiefdom.

Hit: Cork Perry (Unsung hero of the season) Saeijs Holmes (Was class at the start of the season before his injuries) Wotton (no nonsense player, good motivator, every team needs one to close out games) Miss: Molyneux (although perhaps too early to say) Gasmi (not seen much of him, but I suspect that tells it's own story) Pulis (never expected him to play. Sweetner in the Davis deal I suspect) Pekhart (I'd put him in the 'worth a risk' category based on his prior stats) Robertson (muscle upfront, worked a couple of times, but not consistently enough.) Maybe: Schneiderlin (Has been inconsistent, but looks quite promising. Personally I think he'll be very good - very calm on the ball.) Liptak (good heading from what I've seen) Smith (glimpses of promise) Forecast (Not totally pointless, Saints had 3 injured keepers at the same time a couple of seasons ago and good loans aren't always available. Planning for the future is also sensible as KD is one of our higher earners), Personally, what I'd expect. A mixture of good, bad and indifferent. If you don't try out loans like Pekhart, Robertson and Gasmi, you don't find Saeijs' and Cork's. I'd rather we tried and failed, than not tried at all. People talk ******** about Schneiderlin being a waste of a million quid, but the way deals are structured we'll have paid little upfront with potential resale value to offset/benefit from. You're not the French U19 captain for nothing, so I don't see this as wasted cash.

I have a lot of sympathy with the criticism of GS. I remember getting really frustrated that he'd never make substitutions until 65 minutes. But.... he got us to a final and for that is worth a lot in my eyes. Hoddle, on the otherhand, did know how to change a game. You knew, if you went in one down at half time, Hoddle's team would come out fighting and reorganised. GS was hit and miss on this.

For me, who is the chairman has **** all to do with my supporting of Saints. And, except in the most paranoid of minds, has very little to do with how the players play. If Saints go down, they'll go down with me knowing I have been supportive; constructive, positive and supporting to the best of my ability. Can everyone on this board say that?

Okay. I thought that applied to wages only, but it makes sense for transfers too.

Pure speculation, but anyone else think this might be a precursor to administration? Wouldn't you seek to hold back assets rather than settling liabilities if you know it will get written off / reduced in administration.

I think it is a pity (our gain) that MLT didn't leave Saints. He was a player with so much talent and but little motivation, probably because it came so easy to him. With the drive of someone (allegedly) like Frank Lampard, MLT could have been a world great, rather than a localised legend. He decided he wanted to stay in his comfort zone and I don't blame him for that, it was his choice. I do think those that hold up the reason he didn't leave as loyalty are deluding themselves though, I think it was far more about MLT than SFC. That said, no doubting he is a Saints fan.

Ted Bakes - he makes those milk and honey cakes....

There are plenty of things to bash RL with, but you do your argument no favours in trying to turn everything into a rant. Unless you expect every player to be grown in a test tube at Staplewood that is - but that would be crazy sports science and there's no place for that is there.... From Wikipedia: "He was snapped up by Southampton and joined their academy in the summer of 2004. He was a member of Southampton's youth team that reached the final of the FA Youth Cup in 2005, losing on aggregate to Ipswich Town."

He is probably the laziest, slowest, least motivated player I have seen in a Saints shirt for many a year. He doesn't read the game well, doesn't know how to make space for others or pull other players out of the game. He does occasionally spark into life, but flickers all too briefly.

I don't agree. There are two factors here, how we do, and how others do. If we were to draw Charlton and our relegation rivals get nothing, then that is a result. Last year we had wrist slitters on here when, if you looked at the opposition, they were playing each other a lot. Not so much of a factor this year mind. BUT all we've got to do is do better than (imho) Forest and Plymouth. Draws wins, I don't care, just better. Personally I think if we drew every game to the end of the season that might be enough. Winning would obviously be better though!

yes, a coincidence.

To be fair Alpine we could have Alex Ferguson at the helm, with internationals in every position and you'd still find something to be a miserable ****** about.

Why is the financial situation now irrelevant? We might be in a better situation than we were because some of the big earners have been loaned out, but my impression is we've still got significant constraints.

Whilst I don't disagree with the sentiment (i.e. you need grit and guile as well as 'schexy futball' to get out / survive in the CCC), you do have a tendency to be overly melodramatic. "Almost cost the very existence of the club", is over egging the impact of a strategy designed (I believe) to 'save' the club financially as quickly as possible. Too quickly I think, and yes there's a hefty dose of arrogance, want to do it my way, in the 'revolutionary coaching set up'. This club was on the way to 'ruin' the moment Van Nistlerooy scored against us, Wilde was carried in on a wave of sentiment, not substance and Idiakez skied his penalty in the playoff semifinal. Rupert Lowe has his share of responsibility in that, but a last day of the season survival last year suggests that the 'Dutch Experiment' isn't solely responsible for our situation.

Ouch, that's got to hurt... in the same post as well.....