trousers

But, it could be argued that his actions (or rather his words) made the 'story' international and thus planted a subconcious seed on Cortese's subconscious radar. So, when he opened the email in April this year making him aware of the Southampton FC 'opportunity, who's to say that he wouldn't have simply filed it away with all the hundreds of other such speculative emails he must get every month, had he not had that earlier awareness of the supposed Paul Allen interest. Never under estimate the power of the subconscious human mind I say.... No Tommac = no PA story in 2007 = no months of debate on here = no denial from Vulcan = no international awareness of our plight = no Cortese awareness = binned email in April 2009 And there you have it.....The conspiracy theory of all conspiracy theories.

I feel a lot more at ease having read this cortese interview. The big question: who sent him THAT email he refers to in April alerting him to the club being in admin? Oldknow?

Are you my wife? You seem to know me too well... ;-)

"The takeover had been Cortese's idea. Intelligent, hard working and happy with his career, the 40-year-old was a successful banker in Switzerland and Liebherr was one of his clients. Southampton had first appeared on Cortese's radar in 2007 when he read stories linking Microsoft's Paul Allen with the club, but it wasn't until he received an e-mail in April that he seriously considered the club as an investment." praise where praise is due. Without the hoo-ha and conspiracies about Paul Allen on here cortese may never have heard of our plight!

they've changed the colour of the grass? FFS! Liebherr out!

Thinking out loud....what size is our pitch these days? Wider than most? Narrower than most? Average? Perhaps the curent size isn't suited to our style of play and the players get more knackered as a result? Dunno. Clutching at straws territory here....

There'd only be three posts a week on here if everyone did that. And I for one want as much entertainment for my £5 as I can get. Carry on Debating....

It's the people who are bored of reading posts from people who are bored with 'idiotic' posts that I'm more worried about. Just think of them for a moment....they've got it doubly bad....I don't know how they sleep at night TBH

Sorry. Yes, you're right. Creating a whole new thread to highlight a query/topic that would otherwise have got lost in the depths of a post match thread is utter madness. I promse it won't happen again. Ever. This after all is the Internet and to treat it with such gay abandon is indeed a dreadful waste of everyone's time. I will even refrain from inserting a little winky man to underline my intent.

Cheers. Apologies for me getting the wrong end of the stick

Ok. Let me expalin it one more time.... 1) I wasn't at the game 2) I read some posts on here that gave me the impression his heart wasn't 100% on the game 3) I asked a question to ascertain whether I was getting the right or wrong impression And then people jump down your throat and accuse you slagging players off. http://www.mensa.org/ That'll teach me for thinking this was a discussion forum. Give me strength (oh Lord). p.s. FFS

I suspect it was a bit of a rush job. But can't blame anyone for that as Pardew and Co didn't have a huge amount of time for indepth research. Given a proper pre-season and a decent scouting network I'm sure Pardew would have highlighted to Cortese that we also need to buy (or develop) the same supply chain that fed the Lambert goal machine last year. Perhaps my Paul McCartney/Beatles analogy wasn't too far off the mark afterall.

..

I wasn't there, hence asking a question of clarification about the posts I've been reading from people that were there which gave me the impression that his heart may not have been 100% in it. Yours cretinously, Trousers

Scathing double page article by martin Samuel in daily mail today. Surprised he didn't mention liebherr as the right way to do it

If it was that obvious that rovers would target him and stiffle him out f the game, perhaps (just perhaps) pardew could have played a masterstroke by putting him on the bench? As you suggest, not hindsight but foresight.

Dodgy analogy alert...a bit like buying Paul McCartney after watching a Beatles tour and liking what you heard?

I'm reading reports on here that his heart didn't appear 'up for it' last night. Do people who were there get the feeling this was a pyschological thing because we were playing against his old team mates or was it just an off day that could easily have occurred against any team. A tad worrying if the former as would tend to suggest his heart is still with Rovers....

I think you've hit the nail on the head there DD. All we're seeing at the moment is a difference of opinion on the amount of time Pardew should be given, and not a difference of opinion about whether a given manager should go if he is not coming up with the goods. I think most would agree that there comes s point in time where it feels right to change the management. Is there anyone on here who would keep a manager in place indefinitely regardless of the results he delivers? Not many I'd venture. So we're just dealing with differences of opinion aboutthe timing if such an event.

+1

My recollection is slightly different. I felt there was a general concensus that he was a solid choice and "a big name for this league" but it didn't match the general euphoria when it was reported that Keegan was on the cusp of becoming our manager (just before the wheels fell off the Pinnacle bandwagon), for example... Yes, there was general respect for the appointment of Pardew but I don;t recall too much "shouting from the roof tops". IMHO of course.

Some would argue that they are c.20 places above us because of our stalled start to the season, not because they are c.20 places better than us per se. If, hypothetically, the season was starting this Saturday who would you say had the better team on paper, us or Bristol Rovers? And would you rank them c.20 places above us?

Given Pardew wasn't their first choice I guess they could argue that they didn't get it "wrong" per se....

I'm sorry, but if Pardew did indeed play for a draw with 10 mins + added time to go then that is it for me...at no point should we be going for a draw at home at any point in the game when on -2 points after nearly a quarter of the season. Shoot me down in flames....