Matthew Le God

I can't say I remember saying it was clear in my mind Cortese is right. What I will say is if I was "forced" to take the side of either party like many on here have I certainly would back Mr Cortese. He has been a key figure in saving the club we all support from going out of business, is well respected in the financial world, compared to the Echo which has the sole aim of getting a story and selling papers. However... I'm going to remain on the fence until we here hear both sides like any reasonable person should. My pity goes to the defendant if any posters on here get called for jury duty and don't listen to all the evidence.

What I said in that post is perfectly compatible with what I said earlier. The Echo needs Saints far more than Saints need the Echo. No reason for Saints to be the ones to resolve the problem they can carry on just fine without the Echo. The Echo however may need to patch things up to improve or maintain its circulation with Saints stories and if the club isn't going to break then the Echo will have to.

As close as you will get probably. http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/content/Sport/story.aspx?brand=ENOnline&category=Sport&tBrand=ENOnline&tCategory=Sport&itemid=NOED14%20Dec%202009%2011%3A37%3A42%3A943 Norwich have so far in this comp rested as many 1st team players as the rules allow.

You have heard one side of the argument and have made a judgement. You don't know what the "crime" is, exactly the ins and outs of what the punishment is or if the Echo is guilty or innocent. For all you know the club may have good reason to put restrictions on the Echo. Until you know both sides to the argument and the crime and sentence you can't logically give a valid opinion if the club is in the right or wrong. What you have done is the equivalent of... ...hearing from a defendant that a judge gave him a 15 year sentence. You call it harsh. Yet he hasn't told you the crime so you can't make a valid decision if the sentence is harsh or not. Nor do you know exactly what the punishment is. Nor if he is innocent or guilty. All you have heard from is the accused and you made judgements on the club without knowing anywhere near the full story. No one in this thread has heard both sides and until that point everyone on this forum should be on the fence.

No need to get aggressive towards him, I had already told him. Alot of Saints fans may have thought the Norwich game was over two legs because the stadium announcer at St Mary's on Saturday kept saying it was two legs. You would think he would know but clearly didn't and many would have been left with the impression it was over two legs. After being told that by a member of Saints staff why would they doubt it or check?

No there isn't.

Some people in this thread have forgotten or are unaware that...

You don't know the punishment or the crime. Any poll based only on what the Echo has said is null and void as is just one biased view of events. You need to hear both sides before a balanced view can be decided upon as to which way to vote in a poll.

He raised an attempt to belittle what I do in my spare time(not my profession) that had nothing to with the topic. The fact I research for a computer game is completely irrelevant to the issue at hand. It is a childish way to converse by dragging a debate down to petty insults. It doesn't make me self important in the slightest, you suggest I should insult him back which is laughable and like for like. I'm willing to listen and take on board a counter argument if he made one. What he said was irrelevant and an attempt to belittle me, to tell someone to grow up after that I feel is justified.

You have no idea what the ban is or why the Echo got a ban. You have only heard one side of the story. Yet you are passing comment. What you are doing is the equivalent of passing comment on the judge giving a sentence when you don't know the crime? If you don't know the crime how do you know if the punishment is harsh or deserved?

How have you heard both sides? The Echo did an editorial piece and the club has said nothing. You have only heard one side so far!

The OS, the BBC, ITV, local radio online, Sky Sports News on freeview and hundreds of websites all provide what the Echo does to most of the population in Southampton or anywhere else in the UK or World for free. Interviews with the players and manager are all available on Saints player videos regulary throughout the season. This isn't the 1970's or 1980's anymore. Anyone that says only the Echo can provide these services is stuck in a time warp. The majority of the population has access to these media outlets either at home/work/school/uni/internet cafe. As for you trying to insult me researching for a computer game don't be so petty and learn to debate like an adult.

Both our predictions are compatible. It may be resolved soon as you say. However only due to alot of groveling on the part of the Echo behind closed doors.

I doubt the club took the decision lightly and was possibly the straw that broke the camels back after a number of "incidents". Speculation of course on my part but Mr Cortese doesn't come across as a man that would impose a ban for a one off discretion. Nor the type that would feel the need to impose a ban and then back down within days. I feel this ban is to send a message that whatever they did was unacceptable. We don't yet know what they are supposed to have done, what the ban is exactly and if the Echo is innocent or guilty. So for people to call Mr Cortese "pompous" or the ban excessive is ridiculous as the crime is not known and the punishment is only sketchy to the public atm so to decide whether it is appropriate or not is bizarre given the current evidence.

You only highlighted part of the sentence and took it out of context. Look at the "if"...

I doubt that will happen any time soon and if it does it will be because the Echo did alot of groveling. The balance of power is very much with the club as they don't need the Echo as much as the Echo needs access to the club in the modern age of multi source and easily available media. Most of the Echo's "exclusives' have come because the club has told them before anyone else. In future the club can do this elsewhere if it wants and doesn't trust the Echo anymore.

Turnstile stewards issued with photos wouldn't work. No way can they check whether all 20,000 fans entering work for the Echo. The stewards aren't paid enough to care and would just let anyone in rather than have a stand off. Most stewards don't look at you as you hand them the ticket anyway. If I were a dishonest person(which I'm not) I reckon I could get into St Mary's with a child ticket as the stewards barely check validity of tickets let alone them scan the crowd for Echo staff. What the club will do is stop the Echo having interviews after the match and at the training ground and also stop feeding them stories. It isn't a restraint of trade because if the club wishes it can stop anyone entering the ground including the freelance photographers. Perfectly within their rights to add conditions.

Why have you lost respect for Nicole Cortese when you don't know what happened? Completely illogical. You are passing judgement on a punishment without knowing the crime apart from an account from those in the dock. They may be guilty they may be innocent but you don't know what of!!! So how can't you then decide if a ban was excessive or not? Secondly the club doesn't need the Echo and can get on fine without them. The Echo needs Saints on the other hand. As for you getting Saints news, there are plenty of other media outlets in the modern age to get Saints news.

Did you not notice how different that stadium looks to St Mary's? Lots of clues you could use. The scoreboard being one of many.

Well that would stop the Torquay debate. Use progressed or knocked out in capitals, makes it clear at a glance which were cup games.

NickG from now on use this... ????? Colchester ????? Exeter ????? Leeds WON Tranmere 3-0 Lambert (2) Harding WON Walsall 3-1 Connolly, Lambert, Hammond WON Wycombe 1-0 Lambert WON Hartlepool 3-1 Lallana (2) Lambert Drew Norwich 2-2 Lallana Connolly LOST Brighton 3-1 Lambert Drew Orient 2-2 Lambert (2) WON MK 3-1 Lambert, Connolly, Hammond WON Oldham 3-1 Lambert, Connolly, Hammond WON Southend 3-1 Lallana (2) Trottman WON Gillingham 4-1 Lambert, Lallana (2), Waigo

I do think we have a very good chance of making the play offs given the current form and hopefully squad improvement in January. However...your comparison of 9 points from safety and 9 points from the play offs is a poor one. It is much easier to catch up with teams at the bottom of the league than at the top.

If players can't run around for 90 minutes and then have 4 days to recover they shouldn't be professional athletes!

Birmingham are in the top 10 of the Premiership and Leeds are top of League One. Big difference. I'm not saying Leeds will be easy, of course they won't, but it can't be compared to the Brum game.

The club can't stop Echo reporters going to the game. Otherwise they'd have to make the stewards do full background checks on everyone going through the turnstiles, which of course isn't feasible. All they have done is stopped the Echo having behind the scenes access.