trousers

In other words, our position deteriorated under Pearson? Whoops, wrong thread Trousers, stop stirring you naughty boy...

Cool, cheers. The mists of time are obviously playing tricks on my mind.

I believe it's the third week of March. Not sure of exact date....20 something....almost helpful!

Again, what's different this year to last year?

Which begs the question why we didn't delay season ticket sales this time last year when our league status was equally uncertain? The implication being that our financial predicament is playing more of a factor in the decision to defer sales this year than it did last year. Perhaps.

A bit more in the Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1158719/Championship-news-Palace-set-sign-Stokes-loan-Derby-linked-Lita-Coyle-set-agree-new-deal-Burnley.html "Southampton boss Mark Wotte has ordered his players to 'live like monks' if they are to avoid relegation from the Championship. Wotte said: 'They have to sleep in the kitchen, drink only water and other good liquids, and have proper food. I tell them to send their wives to a resort and have a good sleep.'" Sleep in the kitchen?! Isn't that what Matt le Tissier used to do...? Am beginning to warm to this man. Gordon Strachan mark II ?

I was thinking ferrets, but get your drift

Oh yes you could...

Ipswich 0 Saints 3

Cheap seats? Seems strange timing? One would have thought that the (thus far) improving results would pull more punters in by default? Either we've put Admin to bed for now (and if so "how?") or Lowe and co have gone into "f**k it, let's go out with a bang" mode due to Admin being imminent. Or it could be more innocent than that of course....

Too bloody right I am!

You seem to spend an unhealthy amount of time at Southampton Airport lying in wait for future SFC employees....!

Cracking idea. Should be an annual end of season tribute to the great man IMO. Should also spread the word amongst Burnley supporters, although I guess that most will be wearing flat caps anyway?

It's probably something to do with these rose tinted glasses that someone gave me at the weekend.....

Wilde interview about this just gone up on BBC... http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/7918539.stm He uses the word "disarray" when comparing our current situation to Wolves 3 years ago...

I still don't understand how Wotte seemingly had no input into how things were being run by Poortvliet if this slack regime is true. If Wotte is more of a disciplinarian (which he appears to be) can you imagine him sitting in the background watching the first team slide into apathy and not saying anything? And, alternatively, what if he did start ringing alarm bells long before Poortvliet "resigned".....who was ignoring Wotte and the warning signs? Lowe? (you see, yet another example of Trousers offering balance on this 'ere forum. It is possible to be both critical of Lowe in certain areas whilst giving him the benefit of doubt in others )

Ok....one more stab at 'making a serious point' from me, then it's back to inane drivel..... Imagine this hypothetical quote being attributable to Rupert Lowe this time last year when he was hatching a plan for his return to the helm: "I'm going to get back in contact with Wotte with a view to installing him as head-coach when I return. I also want to see an injection of youth into the team. Ideally this would be a 50/50 split with some of the senior players but I've got a feeling the bank may force my hand here somewhat. Let's see how things pan out." In other words, that plan is more or less where we are now, which most people seem relatively happy with. How do people know that Lowe didn't start out with a perfectly rational plan - i.e. a strong character in Wotte as head coach and a blend of youth and experience - but pre-season events conspired to turn the plan into what we saw in the first half of the season? In other words, 'someone' convinced him to bring in a 'weaker' head coach (Wotte himself? van der Waals? Someone else?) and the bank scuppered his original plan to blend youth and seniors. I think we're mainly all in agreement that it took far Lowe too long to act and sort out the problems that were building up in the first half of the season but how can people know for sure that he didn't start off his thinking from the stance I alluded to in the hypothetical quote above? Or, there again, perhaps people think it's irrelevant what he was thinking from the outset as it's immaterial now? Don't get me wrong (yet again... ), I feel it's just as likely that he didn't start from a more rational position compared to where we ended up, but I've not seen any tangible evidence that we can rule it out. (Yes, I know there is plenty of circumstancial evidence but that's not my point) So, in summary, the question is: Could Lowe have started out with a more rational plan than he ended up with? Ok, that's it from me. Back into Ken Dodd mode from here on in.

You may have a fair point there! Maggie Philbin's hopping mad at me too.

Bit of a tangental question but why is Skacel still listed as a midfielder on the OS?

Aye. There is that! Actually, a more telling stat is that there were 3 over 30 on day 1, but 6 over 30 yesterday

The average age of our starting line up on the first day of the season against Cardiff was: 25.1 The average age against Cardiff yesterday was: 27.6 Make of that what you will.

Yep....he said, and I quote: "We have had a number of constructive meetings with the bank and our backers over recent weeks and we remain grateful to them for all their support to date" Two questions sprang to mind when I read this... (a) why add "to date" on the end of that statement if these "constructive meetings" had resulted in SFC being financially secure for the foreseeable future? With my read-between-the-lines eyes that could be 'code' for: "we may not have their support from tomorrow onwards" (b) who are the "our backers" that Wilde refers to?

Yep, me too. That's the supplimentary question to the one I posed in the OP...i.e. "Does Wotte succeeding where Poortvliet failed mean Lowe (and Co) stay at the club longer?" The words 'sword', 'double' and 'edged' spring to mind....

Yep, that's it. Note to self: less waffle, more articulation Trousers.

Ok, hands up....there was an element of Devil's Advocate in posing the question. (yes, for those that didn't notice, it was a question rather than a statement or opinion....) For the record, I'm in the "clean sweep" camp (aka "Lowe, Wilde and Crouch must all go" camp), but I'm simply wondering how close Lowe came to doing things right. IMHO, there's a fine line between doing things wrong and right in many walks of life. What if that pilot who successfully landed his plane in water in New York had nudged his yoke a centimetre too much to the left on landing? Could have been the difference between the plane breaking up or staying intact. What I'm trying to say (perhaps somewhat inartculately) is maybe, just maybe, what Lowe was TRYING to achieve was along the right lines but his execution was wrong. For example, a lot of us on here during the last half of last season were saying we should promote more of the youngsters into the first team. Lowe did that, but he took it too far (or rather, from what we're led to understand, Barclays forced his hand when it came to retaining and playing more senior players...???). Another example....Lowe wanted to install Wotte as head coach (three years ago) which, over the evidence of the last few games, would seem to be a shrewd move, but someone (van der Waals????) convinced him to go for the JP/MW split roles approach instead. Ok, even more balanced view alert....perhaps Lowe convinced himself this was a good move but that doesn't add up to me. So, again, for what it's worth, I want to see Lowe and co out of here as quickly and quietly as the next man (or woman), but I don't think that should preclude me from having an open mind on how all this came about.