dubai_phil

Bit ghey Art But very impressive

Yeah right. And walk away from the deal that he agreed with Marcus with regard to getting the club to the PL and the bonus cheque that would provide him. He sure ain't gonna make THAT much money in the banking world at this moment

Leg Bye Hampshire win. Well done lads

Jeez it's tense just reading it on cricinfo

There's no unanswered questions at all regarding Chanrai. He put in X pounds He is only hanging around to take out X pounds plus double X in interest His 16mil is the one year of parachute payments. The Authorities have retained the Year 1 parachute payment to pay off footballing debts. Year two will likely go the same way. Ergo it is quite easy to see how long Chanrai will be at the club and jhow long they have left to live - When he gets his money he will be off and anyone can have them for a quid. Anyone who thinks he will be pumping in new zillions to get them back to the PL should re-read his early interviews. He's a money lender not a gambler

Lol And on what date would it be that they receive the first of their Parachute Payments or a Sky TV payment?

Back on topic and away from Politics for a moment. Due to the overspends by the last lot of lunatics running the asylum there are going to be tens of thousands of people losing their jobs in the coming months. These people will then have problems paying their Domestic Bills, leading to less money going round and round meaning small (non-unionised) businesses will see less money coming in leading them to cut jobs and round and round it will go. During the Autumn those tens of thousands of job cuts will include a great many with whom the "Public" feel great sympathy and who they (of whichever Political persuasion) view as critical (Not just some gung ho RAF type chappies but the Nurses Firemen etc etc etc) Those job cuts NEED to be challenged by the Unions - for example why fire 10 highly trained engineers for example when they should/could just fire one incompetent fat cat at the top of the business? The Unions protecting those JOBS will need Public Support, rather than the meh lazy ****s attitude most had towards Unite's last efforts to "protect workers perks". Unions striking while families of those still in work are wanting to travel on their Holidays is simply playing into the hands of those who believe all Unions are evil Commie Bstds. When entering into a "War" the last thing you should do is to pick the wrong things to p1ss off the public (who's support you need). This action IF it goes ahead will simply harm some other Union later in the Autumn fighting for something that REALLY could hurt people or society IF it went unchallenged.

So he gets the club for nothing then. Let's work out why it was 16 mil shall we? The 16mil is what he already loaned them and had guaranteed against yep - one year's parachute payments, the others going to pay the football debts

Woosh My point on the Op was more along the lines that I have many friends around the world who have been made redundat or downsized in the past two years, and I know many people here who have either had their BASIC pay cut by up to 30% or simply not been paid for months. It's the reality of the global recession. Unions exist to protect the rights of their members and there are many evil and imbecilic managers and employers in the world. However, when you see a company losing near on 1 billion and then a demand for a pay rise - it just seems so 1970's. You can almost see the Unite guys driving to their office in platforms and Oxford baggies and listening to The Bay City Rollers & Slade in their cars. Now their POINT that the airline business IS recovering may well be valid, so why on EARTH are they not fighting to get their members a share of the FUTURE profits? Wrap that pay demand up into bonus payments or profit share agreements, don't think anyone of us would have an issue with that. But demanding pay rises when many, many people are fighting to keep their jobs or company's running, and when in the REAL world it is plain for anyone to see that the recession ISN'T over world-wide yet..... Dumb, archaic and narrow minded

Change Management and Grief Counselling, both lucrative careers that can be built up on what happens to people when an unexpected or unhappy intrusion comes into their lives. There's a chain of emotions that people go through, shock, denial, anger, fear etc etc. Everyone is affected in different ways. A Behavioural Scientist or kid at Uni could have a field day writing about the emotional impact that the past 5 years have had on us a group - the constant "just hanging on", the nightmare of the Lowe years, the relegation, the lies, the spin, the hope - and then the "it can't have happened to us" moment of Marcus coming to the club. Many on here have shown that they still had not grasped that (possibly) things had changed for the better, and many more just saw the dream of the "plan" that ML & NC had put together (somehow). The news of losing Marcus has brought on strange emotions. We didn't know him and yet all of us have that mental image of him at Wembley with his camera that paints the image of him as our favourite Uncle and that somehow deep down has triggered the sadness. Would we have felt the same level of sadness if it had been (tragically) another figure in our heritage? Don't know. We have been so used to be being let down over the years and lied to over the years that the weks of distrust and arguments on here have reflected the fear that those days haven't really gone away. The club, AP & NC have all said we're bringing in more players and yet we've argued they are incompetent or plain lying. And now, suddenly Marcus is gone. The favourite Uncle who reflected the HOPE that things really had changed, someone we could see as a genuine fan understanding what that afternoon at Wembley meant rather than relying on somebody earning a living from us to tell us everything really will be better. The sadness, grief hides the real emotion that we feel deep down - fear. Fear that maybe something has now changed at the top. Fear that the estate/will hasn't made clear provisions for the business and crusade that is Southampton FC, and also Fear that the "new" Holding Company/Owner" is not going to be someone who "gets it" as far as our club is concerned. These emotions and this uncertainty affects the forum, and it will affect the club and every aspect of Marcus's business empire. A lot of people here have their emotions invested, but many thousands more have their lives, families and income invested and will also be in shock. It is the uncertainty that underlies the sadness now. If the truth be told, as emtional investors in the Marcus "family" and "dream" we are a long way down the list of people who need to be re-assured, the customers, investors and staff of the businesses must come first (including those at SMS) and then we can take our rightful place in line to hear our future. I was shocked by the news of his death. 62 FFS, many of us on here are racing towards that age and it has made many of us stop and think. I was deeply moved by reading the tributes on here and elsewhere and that put a tear in my eye, not the news, but the humanity that so many showed. Now I am worried and concerned as I think we all are. Now we have to wait and trust the club (and the family) to talk to us. Just for once, that step of waiting for news and for once not having to second guess, argue or debate the reasons behind the decisions is unnerving

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/7940889/Airports-face-threat-of-strikes-as-workers-back-walkout.html The pay rise they've been offered is measly. Their Union actions cost the airlines and the airport operators millions and then they say that the employer BAA having lost 950mil in the past 15 months is being measly. Man, I would LOVE to smoke some of what those guys doo

Tiger won't get his head straight until he's been down here in February to spend the weekend with me & EricofArabia. He's needed lifestyle coaches all year. If we could bet down here I'd be backing a first time major winner again, but not sure it will be a Brit. Think Justin is off the boil and Rory has slipped back into a consistent mode rather than a winning mode (must get the GF to have words with him again in Feb) But if not a Brit would be great to see a European win it. A Molinari or even (would be fantastic) Miguel

For every idiot poster on POL there is a true human being like Mero. Reading some of the other threads on the main board today shows that even some of our posters on here prefer to keep their trolling or simple point scoring going. I've said time and again that I feel pain for my friends who are skates, and many of the few have popped up on the Echo & here to leave heartfelt messages. I've said all along that I don't want Pompey to die. I don't believe they will, but I also think they have a long way to go and pain to experience. The difference is still that I have seen no humility from their leadership. So until I do, I'll snipe and demand punishment, and I think (again) Mero and others have made valid points that they feel the same way. The entire world comprises of Mongs of every nature, neither Saints or the Skates are exempt. I just accept them for what they are and feel a sadness that they have such un-inspiring and shallow lives. It cannot be what God intended for any of them. Meanwhile, let us not get distracted from the real issues here. What has happened regarding access to the Stadium for Saturday's game? Has AA come to an agreement with Gaydamark? Are the Health & Safety aspects now resolved? Or are we in for a nice little something for the weekend to lighten our mood

Debating this decision at this time. Wrong. This is a time when the people closest to Marcus, his family and friends may well be concerned with their own grief, as will many of his employees across many fields of business and sport. Those people make the decisions now because they are closest to what is going on, be it the emotions of the Football Club or other issues. The club, the FL and MK Dons have shown compassion and understanding at this time. What a shame some think that 30 pounds (or was that pieces of silver) is more important

I know it hasn't been very fashionable on here for a while, but for the time being, I will wait and read what the OS says. This is a different situation to what we have debated before and for once I will take their "First with Saints News" to be the way ahead. Worry and concern is something that we all feel (alongside the grief) but I for one believe that now is the time to wait and trust in the club and whatever Marcus, his family & lawyers have put in place for us.

My best mate supports Bolton. That would be a great draw

Not now SoG. Really not now

It really is way too early for any rational decision to be made, but I think it is right that as fans we should call for something. IMHO the Stadium should remain as SMS. Changing a Stand name is a good idea but we didn't do it for Ted or other legends and it is a difficult call just now. I believe that there must be a statue next to Ted. One small but important re-naming that we could do in perpetuity is to simply rename Staplewood to The Liebherr Academy for Football or similar

A few hours on, reading the many comments made by our family on here and The Echo sites has brought me close to tears. Such happiness on his face in that photo Art posted and such happiness on his face at the end of the JPT. It is just such a shock that he will not be here with us to watch us on our journey. He brought us salvation but also pride and happiness again after so long. For that one brief moment in the history of our club we were together. Now it is our job to make sure we remember what he has given back into our lives. What a wonderful thing you did Marcus, may we as Supporters, players and officers of the club be worthy of the legacy you have left us. For his family and friends, how lucky you were to have known a truly remarkable man and again, my condolences at your loss

this Followed after the memorial service by renaming a stand at the stadium

Shocking news. My condolences to his family and friends. RIP Marcus. Terribly terribly saddened by this

This Oh and Ramadan. What a pleasure, no loud noise in the bars, no traffic on the roads in the late afternoon and compulsory 6 hour working days and respect for other culture AND opinions

Get off Paine you're past it you w*nker from Under the West Stand (Gawd knows when but towards the end of his career) Feck off Ball you're an embarrasment and a great deal more in the 5-5 draw with Coventry Get him off he's useless plus boos when he touched the ball - Benali - most matches after another pass went astray Williams - booed regularly when another mazy run and delay of the pass caused him to lose possession, and a round of cheers at the news he'd gone to Arsenil I could continue but... Meanwhile on the tactics & AP front... Merrington DID compliment AP words to the effect "made the change at Half time, tweaked the formation and we saw an instant improvement"

I agree with the stay away comments, BUT as I've posted many many times. Saints fans are NEVER happy unless they are moaning. I've heard abuse and boos shouted at John Sydenham, Terry Paine, Alan Ball, Steve Williams, Frankie Benali, and even MLT in my regular days at the Dell. Someone on a previous thread was talking about someone giving Lambert stick. For some reason, a small but vocal minority of Saints fans seem to get a kick out of being depressed or negative. It hasn't gone away after a great season and a cup win, and it hasn't gone away after we've been made favourites for the League. You don't have to be happy clappy and you don't need to be a MoG, for some people Life just isn't fun and we seem to attract a lot of the latter. Perhaps it's something in the water? Who knows, No amount of debating will change the mind-set, they'll still be moaning when we challenge for the Champions League, it's how they live their lives unfortunately. Such a waste. It's quite easy to be worried about the lack of signings and the potential implications OFF the pitch, I like others am. But when it comes to match day - FFS some people just won't be happy unless they can moan about us losing

Wow, looks like the Ramadan special offer on French Vino went down a storm over there last night as well. Bellamy - pah - another midget up front. We need a plank to cover for Rickie There I manged to type a reply and keep to my mantra of never insulting a plank, oops sorry poster