trousers

Yet more economies of truth on the OS? Either his contract ended on 13th or it didn't....and thus he was either available for selection or back at Sheff Utd. What's wrong with telling us the truth once in a while? (p.s. the Daily Mail article also suggests that Dyer is back when it says that Robertson is back at Sheff Utd and that the 'player swap deal' with Saints terminated)

A 100,000 share trade at 18.5p this morning.... Oo-er missus.... Fulthorpe starting to make a move....?

We couldn't give them away.....IMHO

I've made this very same observation/suggestion on here the last three years and the only (semi) logical reason I ever got back was someone saying that the Saints dressing room is closer to the Chappel end and so they naturally run out to that end at the start of the game and it's rare for teams to swap ends after the pre-kick-off coin toss. (They said something along the lines of it being "too complicated" for footballers to cross over sides between changing rooms and the tunnel. Bless the poor confused little darlings.) To me, we should (a) be running out towards the Northam end before the start of the match and (b) playing towards the Northam end in the second half. Not an opinion, just logicical observation.

Almost every day now on the news we hear about the latest high street retailer going into administration - Woolies, MFI, Whittards, Zavvi and now Adams childrensware. Which got me thinking....does this mean SFC's books are in better shape than all these retailers that have folded, or about to fold (another dozen 'big names' predicted to disappear from the high street in January) ? Or.....are we surviving simply because we are a football club and banks are not as keen to instigate the wind up of football clubs due to the fact that football is a more emotive and community based 'industry' and banks don't want to be seen to be the ones who bring such an institution down, whereas a retailer doesn't have the same emotionally attached customer base. Are there any economists out there in TSW land who can compare and contrast the financial straits that caused the above retailers to go into admin with the financial straits of SFC/SLH to back up my hunch that Barclays are holding SFC's head above water for longer than they would do if we were 'just another high street retailer'?

By selling tickets at below cost?

So that's where Poortvliet gets his post-match quotes from.....;)

Painful as it may seem, a post-match protest is unlikely to get as much, if any, national TV coverage as a 'during the game' protest. Knowing ITV they will just make a passing reference to it in the post-match review....if we're lucky..... However, if everyone failed to return to their seats for the first 10 minutes of the second half, now that would grab the attention.....

Ah....ok...sorry....must have missed that due to it being the holiday period....fair dos....I still believe the best way for a new regime in waiting to make the headlines would be if the likes of Le Tiss, Channon, etc, formed an ex-players alliance. That's what attracts the media's attention.....not "local businessman consortia" kicking tyres....(naming no names, obviously)

Local bubble press maybe, but it wouldn't attract national coverage IMHO (which is what ultimately forced Lowe out last time). If a supporter throwing coins at the chairman at an AGM barely registers on the national news-o-meter then a few local businessmen lining up in a pseudo board isn't going to trouble Fleet Street editors or columnists, again IMHO. Of course, when Lowe was trying to rock the Crouch boat this time last year, the Daily Mail (Charles Sale column) couldn't get enough Saints 'boardroom shenenigans' to publish.....funny how the current farce doesn't hit Mr Sale's radar.... Oh to have friends in high places....

Not sure if that's a positive thing....?!

Charlton, 4th April. HTH

I've always been a fan of Saga since his 'one-man-band' act during the last 10 games a couple of seasons ago....but my fear this time around, assuming he comes back into the fray next month, is where will he get his motivation from? I know that a footballer's in-built professionalism should be enough to spur them on but we all know how much of a fine line it is between a player scoring for fun and not scoring at all because of the psychological weight on their shoulders. I've just got this nagging doubt that Saga will be able to raise his game mentally for the 2nd half of the season.

Exactly....philantropists are far more likely to push some pocket money our way if they are dealing with passionate, savvi ex-players than a divided board or a Micky Mouse consortium cobbled together by anonymous local businessmen. We need a consortium with influencial figureheads. If Niall Quinn can get off his arse to rescue the club that he loved then why are our ex-players sitting on theirs watching us wither and die?

+1 Was just about to write exactly the same. Would be hugely worrying if the players weren't speaking up if things are wrong (which they patently are)

Here's how... SFC simply becomes a 'finishing school' for Hoddles Accademy....so, we don't actually have to employ Hoddle directly, SFC simply becomes an outsourced division of his business that Hoddle manages. Would be a somewhat off-the-wall arrangement but it would fit with both company's business model, one would venture.

Said this before but this season has the hallmarks of Lowe wanting to manouvre the club into administration so that he can either (a) make the club more attractive to an investor at the post-administration end of the tunnel ] or (b) acquire the whole club himself for a song Why else would he be overseeing such a malaise and decline with seemingly no worries about what is happening...? 2+2=?

Can't Le Tissier be persuaded to "do a Niall Quinn?". Surely, as a famous figure head of the club, he would stand more chance of attracting the necessary funding (credit crunch aside) as he would be seen as a more affible consortium leader and thus someone that a philantropist or two would be more happy investing in/with compared to the 'fear' of investment that the current rabble must inject into potential investors....? edit: and get other high profile ex-player in on the act too...Channon, Paine, etc....players that CARED for the club when they played and who must surely care enough for the club now to form a high profile consortium....

Welcome back Duncan. Excellent piece. Happy new year to you too.

Correct. Same old, same old.

One nagging question.... Why doesn't a news story about someone throwing coins at a football club chairman make the national press/media? Have we really sunk that low(e) that no-one outside of the Southampton bubble takes a blind bit of notice what is happening at the club, no matter how newsworthy? Surely this happening at any other 'big' (sh) club would have made the national media? Unless 'someone' at the club with friends in the media is suppressing the story?

Poortvliet said: "Paul is at the moment not available to play against Plymouth. "He's not part of the squad selection. I cannot say anything about it – it will come." Eh?

Doesn't matter if it was a 3 hour or 3 day visit....if it affected the team's performance (and the circumstantial evidence would suggest it did) then people paid good money for a product/service that was not of merchantable quality. Get claiming folks... Or sit on arse and do nothing..... The choice is yours.