dubai_phil

Blimey, I decide to go and get a life on a Saturday by going out for a curry and THIS happens. Bolox I suppose this means I gotta eat curry EVERY Saturday now. Well done lads, must be the breakfasts all week in training. Same again next week please

IF we are talking about change with the current financial mess, then simple, it needs to be a middle ground compromise who can do it for the love of the club as there will be no salary and nothing but abuse when decisions have to be made. No idea who, Lee Hoos is too inexperienced, Cowen is too closely associated with Lowe, Corbett is too populist and (IMHO) classed as a hanger on. It is unlikely any big name fan would want to be associated with the mess, but as UP once mentioned, Stuart Green is the only name I have come across. IF we are talking about somebody coming in with an influx of capital to "save" the club then they would have to keep somebody close who knows the back office operations in order to help re-structure. In that scenario I could see Cowen having a role. Depending on WHO came in with the money, if a businessman they would do it themselves but probably need some DoF type of advisor/consultant If we are talking about somebody coming in to take the club forwards and back to the PL with bucket loads of money - who gives a damn as long as ALL the hangers on have gone! Come on down!

Wotte he said was unwise But, a couple of questions for those that were there or are marching this week. What was the percentage of "younger fans vs older fans" in the march And is it not fair to say that what he refers to as "true fans" are the ones who still find the energy to actually turn up at SMS rather than those who stay away for motivation/finance/politics? (in HIS mind that is, not in the world of uber fans of course) Just reading the article for the umpteenth time, he seems to have wrongly chosen his words when trying to rally the few left at the ground to get behind the team. When in doubt STFU is the way to go. As others have said including Wotte himself. He is currently a rubbish manager, talking will not change that, only results. As I believe we are stuck with him today, then I hope that he gets a result

Well glad the article is published. Although we could have avoided holding our breath, as it is basically a rehash of this place in the past few months. Keith - thanks for joining the blame game and putting your name to the bleedin obvious. As you are so obviously closer to the action than us poor internet warriors, could I just ask one question? What do you propose? You see we know the problem, we know the history, we know we need change and we know we need 21 points to stay up. But WHAT can you do to HELP? On the basis of this article - nothing. I would have been FAR happier to see you say that you had at least TRIED to talk with the people still backing failure, and used your position and experience to TRY and get them to consider alternatives. But this, well, sorry it just comes out as a speech written by one of many on here. Action is needed not more words - don't have an election coming up do you? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE to KW, LC, MC, Salz et al - stop telling us what we know and BL**DY WELL TRY AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, otherwise you are just as bad as the rest

Well, I'd far rather we'd appointed an experienced Brit manager instead of him, HOWEVER, it is interesting to read that he is changing things around at training. ONE of our gripes (you remember - the ones we used to have about football) was that the players seemed somewhat disorganised and bemused and unfit under JP), well THIS article seems to state pretty clearly that we had some sort of holiday camp running for most of the season... http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/4143787.Wotte_lifts_lid_on_Saints_changes/ Good to also see he understands that he is currently a "rubbish manager" but also that he understands what it is he needs to do. As he clearly will be in charge today, and there seems little likelihood of changes in the next week, at LEAST there is SOME small glimmer that he realises football is about more than nice pretty passing games at training. It's all we've got at the moment, we need a miracle, hope that having breakfast together is it.....

How apt, an ageing rocker on his last legs..... Shame - one legend still connected with the behind the scenes at the club will be so upset it won't be Cliff Richard

Eek - I didn't say things look better under Wotte - I have no way of knowing as my trip back last week didn't take in a Saturday! I was quoting a larger piece by 19canteen you're not a journalist are you! :-) And UP yes of course I am with you on the what if side of debate, just we have the same debate on average every week What I was really trying to say is that right now all that should worry us is how on earth we get 21 points to stay up with the current "set up". Things may be bad in Southampton at the moment but by all accounts and even some of the rumours over here, things in general in the world economy may be worse than they seem. Hope we don't come on here in 6 months commenting on how good things seemed right now! Now that WOULD be hard to chill out from...

Apologies if you've already seen it but it landed in my inbox today... http://www.oculture.com/2008/11/hitlers_real_estate_downfall.html Actually funnier than the one about the Spuds

Yawn another NP thread. We were greatly underwhelmed when he was appointed, MLT was equally outspoken in a tv interview. He did arrest the slide by bringing in good quality loan players and kept us up by the skin of his teeth. I give up counting the number of times we have all said we believe he could have done a better job for us this season, but the point is we won't ever know. I give up counting the number of times we've all said it was a stupid gamble to go with the Dutch AND the kids, but again, the point is we don't know if Pearson would have been better. We all believe he would have been but we don't really KNOW. The fact is it is now IRRELEVANT, because even if an Abramovich came in this week, NP won't be walking out of Leicester for us, so all that matters is getting an average of OVER 1.5 points per game until the end of the season. I've given up believing that Wotte can do that even with some loans coming in, and I sure as sh*t don't believe that Lowe will change Wotte in TIME should we NOT start to win our home games from Saturday onwards. It hurts like hell but the only hope I see is what 19canteen says - Originally Posted by Nineteen Canteen Mike the point I'm trying to make admittedly badly but better to be in our position with 14 games to go than where we were with 1 game to go. Yes we need others to slip up but over teh course of 14 games that may be more likely than over just one with some teams having nothing to play for. Not to mention we still have some teams to play who are down there with us. Things have looked better under Wotte and I would even be hopeful of a draw or cheeky 3-2 win come Saturday. You have to remain hopeful or did you give up during previous relegation battles and the great escape? Trouble is once again, I don't really believe it

I applied for freebie tickets for the local Jazz festival. For a horrible moment I thought they had sent me tickets to see James Blunt... Luckily it was John Legend instead. Which got me thinking SMS should put on a James Blunt gig, and it should be compulsory for ALL board members, shareholders and "hangers on" to attend and they should be tied to their seats. It should be recorded and the movie replayed to them non stop for the next 5 days.... Failing that we should fly them all to Dubai for the Motorhead gig & sit them 2 feet from the speakers. Would serve the lot of them right... There - happy now - I managed to turn another innocuous thread into an anti-leadership rant :-)

Had a really surreal and fun few drinks and a dinner with Reidy & a bunch of guys from the local Showtime TV studio over here back in February last year. He's supposed to be back here in a few weeks, I'll set up an interview for you guys if you like. You know really important questions like Lowe or Crouch Would you swap life in a 5 star hotel in Bangkok and the adulation of being a National team Manager with a bed sit in Shirley & the abuse of us lot.... DMG - why? But yes in line with the other posts we talked for quite some time about Saints, Pearson's appointment etc and he said he always felt we were one of the best "clubs" in terms of all in atmosphere and togetherness that he had played in.. and we talked for far longer about how it has all gone so wrong...

The more you practice the luckier you get (With apologies to that famous golfer chappie) In other words Staplewood is the problem and what they do there, not luck

They will if they don't want to pay for the shares. The point is always about the Return on ANY investment. Shares at zero or near enough reduces the capital cost but the O/D and the mrtgage still exist, and the chance of a return to the golden land of PL TV money is further away It is a balance between at what point the management and players make us a dead cert for L1 versus how quick an investor can get their money back. As of this last result, IMHO I don't think ANYONE could save us this season which makes admin more likely but also means investment less likely even AFTER admin which to me says - make the most of now because it will get a LOT worse F**k I hope I am wrong but

And to cap it all, the SISU inspired Coventry just won away at Blackburn in the cup.. Anyone remember the number for that White Witch? Think that she's the last resort now

Looks good but we all know DMG will start and who knows Rudi on the wing Oh PLEASE!

Avoiding the "Alpine" I told you so approach, I think that almost all of the regular posters on here worried about this at the start of the season in different ways. Inexperience and Balance, but not just on the pitch, off it as well. IMHO we didn't need to keep all of last year's under achievers if any of them, but what we should have done was to bring in the type of players who could have helped - there are plenty in the lower leagues with good heads on their shoulders and would have been less cost than the Euells etc. And don't let's get started on the managerial lack of balance and experience as well. We didn't, it shows and the kids have possibly been harmed. In fact, Lowe's legacy may actually to have been to DAMAGE the prospects of our next generation of youngsters making the grade, rather than his original intention of pushing them on to make the grade. Time will tell on that score, if we have enough of it

Well just trying to analyse the facts as we see them here tbh. We owe bucket loads to the bank who want it back. We have to pay an annual mortgage fee And nobody wants to renew their season tickets either because Lowe is here or the team is carp (or both). So we're back to yacht watches, buying lottery tickets, selling players OR the Football Association may realise that half of the League teams are on the verge of going bust and may try to do something about it and re-distribute some of the wealth from PL players to the pyramid.... hahahahah.. as if So yeah as I see it fire sale if we last until the summer in the current state we are in Even Leon's 2mil won't pay off the overdraft AND the mortgage payment... Suicidially grim

One point to remember though. The bank want their overdraft reduced. That means we pay them money back That NOW means we have to sell LOTS of season tickets OR lots of players, or we go into admin in the summer and get hit with a higher points deduction next season. The PROBLEM is having enough cash flow between now and mid March to pay wages and bills. Just because the CLUB has to make the decision by mid-March does not mean the bank or our trading position won't make that decision EARLIER. I expect that some of these rumours about dates could stem from planned dates of meetings with the bank to review the trading performance. Possibly people hear of the dates either from friends at the bank or at the club and realise that if the meeting goes badly....... As we aren't in admin yet then somebody must be handling those meetings quite well. We just delay the inevitable each time without investment

Keeping to the theme of what can actually realistically be done at this moment... Hire an on loan Right Back WITH EXPERIENCE Hire an on loan striker WITH EXPERIENCE Play a basic 4-4-2 with tactical flexibility and most importantly FIGHT FOR EVERY DAMNED 50:50 BALL ON THE PITCH EVERY SECOND OF EVERY GAME AND STAY IN THIS DIVISION. It is on the pitch in the next few weeks that determine our future, the only peopole OTHER than the players that will get us relegated will be the bank. After we are safe we can worry about the other 50,000+ things wrong with the club right now

Been travelling the last few days and am now in windy Monte Carlo. No I didn't turn my 20 Euros into 20 mil to buy the club -damn. Meanwhile as this story has run and run, and can't be bothered to read Torbay being tied to the stake and mailed by the Express, I have one question Have we been bought by the Hungarians yet?

Do I like Lowe. Why yes of course as long as he is running Zimbabwe, not our club, which is the ONLY way I could see him being better than anybody else on the planet at anything. Meanwhile I want all 3 of the failures gone as one at the same time and NEVER to come back. I don't want one of them instead of another one - BECAUSE WE DID THAT AND IT DIDN'T WORK. All of them are as bad as each other and all of them are responsible for the mess we are in. End of

Well, obviously I drop by there every day to check out comings and goings:p Or I read it in the OP and was commenting Like you I get the feeling something has been going on the last few weeks, but at the moment my analysis reckons it was Professor Plum in the Library by accident whilst chasing a giant wasp, so need to re-visit that slightly Meanwhile, sad to see the Queen won't make it down here to mine & EoA's for tea next month due to The Duke's bad back. What was he thinking in that superman costume on top of the wardrobe? Or did I get that wrong as well......

Isn't sad that in reality there are only 3 Bates, McMenemy & Strachan WGS was a bright spark but cannot hold a candle to what we achieved with the other two Bates 1st Team McMenemy 2nd Team (WGS as DoF perhaps??)

Hang on though, he was at a press conference in Australia and made a statement that with empirical evidence was completely factual. Fair enough IF he had said that on the BBC telly show that's one thing, but to have people moaning about the Beeb about a comment made in Australia is nonsense. Am I the ONLY person on the planet who thinks Brown's strategy of letting everyone in the UK borrow too much and not actually looking at what the banks and the rest were doing, I call that idiotic. Then he has one eye and he's Scottish. (Why the hell should the English be governed by a Scot anyway, THEY get their own Parliament) Anyway Clarkson earns the Beeb FAR more money in sales of the show & DVD's around the world than they pay him, and it has got even MORE publicity for a Top Gear Road Show that earns the Beeb even MORE money. Sure he makes bad mistakes but he also hits home very often and sometimes is funny. Tell it as it is more often and the world wouldn't have gone to sh*t last year (But that doesn't exonerate Carol Thatcher! THAT was wrong)