sambosa75

Because last season promised so much didnt it? He's got every right to slag the fans on. They are the most fickle set of supporters I have every seen and I've sat amongst them for years. All this protesting about how much they hate Lowe and how he's ruining our club... one win and its all forgotten about and smiles all round. I think he's got a right to point out some of our fans would be better served supporting the team inside the stadium than calling for the chairmans head. So we are now expected to believe that JP failed because of Lowe and Wotte and accept it at fact because you said so. JP failed with the same team and squad than Wotte has managed to get 9 points from the last 12 on offer. In fact, one could argue with the likes of Jack Cork and Alex Pearce the squad was more talented then. I actually didnt dislike JP but it became increasingly clear he wasnt willing to compromise on tactics which was clearly to the detriment of the club. Wotte has come in and addressed most of the issues, keeping things simple. Yes he seems to have the luxury of having Saga, Euell and Size for the run-in but I would argue only because the club have managed to save a considerable amount of oney from loaning out the likes of Rasiak, John and Dyer. What happens on the pitch is NOW directly his fault. Quite frankly, he has dont well since he came in. We've beaten Preston and Ipswich comfortably and ground out a win against Cardiff. We also ran Birmingham close in the last game and losing 1-0 to them in no disgrace.

If anyones bombing it down from London around 5:30ish, let me know and I'll contribute towards the petrol. Otherwise its another terrifying night of watching Sky Sports News like last Tuesday, hopefully with a similar outcome!

Maybe, just maybe, for once th club have decided to put atmosphere before revenue for what is our biggest game of the season. It's a midweek game. Under usual circumstances, we'd be lucky to get 20,000 fans in. With that deal we may well get 25,000 and a really lively atmosphere which can only better our chances of 3 points.

Is there any confirmation that Berkovic did screw Etzioni? I cant imagine that going down so well in front of the kids...

Without wanting to inflame things too much, I couldnt help but notice after the Preston game a bunch of kids (no more than 5) unfurling their LOWE OUT bedsheet by the Ted Bates statue looking as if they were starting up a protest which not one single person joined. Just goes to show that as long as the team wins, the fans couldnt give a monkeys who is in charge of the club.

Awful news but speaking from experience if there is one set of supporters I'm not surprised to hear about its Cardiff. They always seem to bring a few "boys" down when they play us. If memory serves, last season was an evening game and they seemed intent on making trouble in town after the game. If true, hopefully the fan makes a speedy recovery and it well looked after at Southampton General.

It shouldnt matter how original it is, its fact and not even you can deny it. For someone who seems to be the font of all knowledge judging by your posts, people should realise you dont attend games and shouldnt really have a say on team issues because you dont watch us. It's like me being a movie critic and panning Russel Crowe's new movie without seeing it because I didnt like Gladiator. Despite this, you will argue something to the death (which makes you strangely endearing) that really you should have no opinion of. As for the poster who said about living away from Southampton doesnt make you a Saints fan, I would urge you to disregard that comment and not regurgitate it in other arguments with people who share an opposing view to you but dont live in Southampton. We all know there are bigger reasons why people dont live in Southampton than just football. I live in London but am a Chandlers Ford boy, holding a season ticket until the 2003 season when I moved to Spain.

Sorry Alps but what gives you the right to comment on our performances? Crow about the clubs financial situation til the cows come home because its public knowledge but every single footballing opinion you have about a performance or player is null and void because you dont attend enough matches to have a say and there is simply not enough coverage of us on the TV these days to garner a valued opinion on that basis alone. You constantly use the teams performances as a stick to beat others with when you are arguing (as you are on this thread) yet very rarely see us play. Perhaps if you watched us regularly you would see that the kids do put a lot of effort in and after the match on Saturday you could see what it meant to the lads having the fans in the ground back them for the full 90 minutes to a well fought well and great performance.

The ironic thing of course being that those most vocal with their opinions are the ones who have made no effort to watch us on a regular basis either, yet their opinion is expected to be taken as gospel, whilst those with differing opinions and those who actually turn up regularly and have a valid opinion get shouted down. I think this is the reason its not the same forum as it used to be. There was once a time when this forum was a place for decent banter and good FOOTBALLING conversation but these days its more about political points scoring and people constantly using the tiniest piece of information released by various sources to reinforce their side of the argument.

Also forgot to mention, a lot of people already know but my nephew plays for Saints' academy and is one of the UK's brightest young players if what the scouts at Chelsea, Pompey, Saints and Reading have said is anything to go by. The fact Saints managed to outmuscle the likes of Chelsea (who incidentally offered a chaufer driven car to their Cobham-based training ground for all training sessions and matches for him) means that they are still putting a lot of emphasis on player recruitment and scouting still. Not that it particularly matters but I have it on very good authority that our under 16 side is amongst the top 2 or 3 sides in the country. There will no doubt be a few that turn pro in a couple of years time, but sod it... lets just close it all down and let the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal gobble them all up. That makes sense...

Okay fine, I'll be the one that rises to it... You say the academy is one of the most damaging aspects of the club. Perhaps for a club like Swansea with little or no reputation for producing top players ever in their history this may be something they can consider. Quite frankly, to say the academy should be shut is ludicrous. We are always producing good players and even now, if the club was in a position where we could augment the team by cherry-picking the very best talent from the academy instead of putting out more or less a whole team of academy products people would be cooing over how good our youngsters are. Players like Surman, Lallana, Dyer etc... are sought after players and will command fees of over £1m should/when they leave. The simple fact is at the moment due to financial constraints put upon us, we arent in a position where we can pay the wages of seasons professionals, so as a result we are forced in to playing academy products and cheap loans. You say the cost of the academy cannot be justified. I can almost guarantee the costs to operate the academy will be a damn sight lower than Swansea's wage bill, regardless of how cheap the team was to assemble. Morgan Schneiderlin was signed up for a fee of "up-to" £1.2m. I would imagine given the clubs precarious financial position, we didnt cough up anything near to that fee to sign him. I would be fairly confident the fee was more based on perhaps a set fee that has been agreed for when we sell him on, with clubs like Arsenal rumoured to be monitoring his progress. You also make a throwaway comment about getting in a manager capable of assembling squads for £500k. Who out there is capable of doing that? Martinez has done a fantastic job but if it was simply that easy to do it, do you not think everyone would be doing it? What you propose is totally unrealistic and totally unsustainable.

I do laugh at people that bring up the surface. 3 years ago, everyone was saying Nadal was a clay-court player only. Decent on the others but nothing special. Look at him now. Andy Murray has progressed in the last 2 years just as much as Nadal and has all the skills to win any of the majors, even the French which is his most unlikely one. He is young, constantly improving, has a great mentality and is fast maturing in his demeanour on court. It is my opinion that people who called Murray "Henman mk2" know absolutely nothing about Tennis. Henman was a serve-volleyer (a bloody good one too) but in recent times serve-volleyers dont win grand slams, you need more to your game which is why he was always found out in the end. Murray has got the baseline game, the fitness, the power, the serve and the shots to go on and win many majors.

He was never captain for us but I'd go for Alan Shearer. The perfect skipper. Lead by example, the opposition always knew theyd been in a game against him, could influence referees and would inevitably score a lot of goals. Other than that, Jimmy Case. Someone with a bit of grit and not afraid to dish it out a bit.

I see... regardless the point still stands. He was willing to put £2m into Southampton providing others did the same whereby £6m would probably make a big difference and make a lot of peoples job safe. I'm willing to wager £2m put into that company would have also made a massive difference though and would have spared these people their jobs. I'm, only asking the question because I'm sure the people that have been made redundant will be asking the same thing which they have every right to do. Do they not?

But if he was the great man everyone seems to allude to him being, would he not have that £2m available to put in to this other company to stave off administration? At the end of the day, he owns that company whereas he simply owns a stake in Southampton, surely it would make more sense finacially to do that? It's not a case of having a go at him, its a question that needs to be asked. He has openly stated he is liquid for £2m to put into SFC, yet makes all these poor people redundant when usually that is done as a very last resort.

Interesting. He's apparently got £2m to put in to Southampton Football Club providing Lowe and Wilde do the same, but hasnt got the money to put in to save his workforce from the scrapheap...

And therein lies the exact reason why this wouldnt work. All very nice the players saying how much of an honour it is to play for Maradona, but lets not forget these players are the likes of Zanetti, Burdisso, Samuel, Mascherano, Rodriguez, Gutierrez, Tevez, Aguero and Messi! They could have Alpine Saint managing them and they'd still do well.

I didnt say Ronaldo was the best player in the world. I also didnt say he was better than Messi. I said both were awesome players but I dont understand how someone can be over-rated when they score over 40 goals playing against some of the best and toughest defences in Europe. As for him not being a midfielder, he doesnt occupy a central role and isnt a striker. At best he's an advanced winger/attacker. Even still, I dont know many out and out forwards banging in 40 goals a season anyway. I didnt even say Messi hasnt been brilliant. Quite the opposite. As for me "fancying" him, of course I dont. I just think its quite funny people saying he's "over-rated" on the basis of his form in the past couple of seasons, he's anything but. As is Messi.

I'm sorry but when you score over 40 goals from midfield in one season playing against the calbire of opponents he was, you have every right to be rated.

Will the same apply for Ronaldo if he wins one before Messi? In my opinion Portugal are probably a better side than Argentina. Ronaldo and Messi are both amazing players but have slightly different purposes. Messi is an absolute magician who brings others into the play. He is also capable of skinning a skeleton given the space. I think Ronaldo has more of an end product and will always score more goals than Messi but a side with Messi in will probably score more goals than a team with Ronaldo. Ronaldo is far superior in the air and is arguably more of a team player as he will run more than Messi in 90 minutes. Not really worth comparing. They are both amazing players that have slightly different purposes in their respective teams.

John B, the truth doesnt go down very well with a lot of these people. Rupert Lowe shouldnt be totally absolved from any blame but for a lof them to suggest Leon Crouch is this clubs saviour is a very misguided notion... in my opinion of course.

Call me old fasdhioned but it could well have something to do with the fact that we signed him at this point 2 years ago and he did brilliantly and earned himself a well-paid contract as it seemed he had enough goals in him to get us promoted. He was hardly prolific last season, bagging something like 6 goals. Couple that with the fact that he gave a good account of himself in the Euro Championships and then a club came in for him and gave him the opportunity to play in the Champions League against Man Utd, Celtic and Villarreal probably on even more money as well. I know what I would do if I had no major allegiance to Southampton. It's great we've got him back and fantastic to see him showing those around him how its done but to say we should never have sent him out on loan it a little short-sighted. I'm sure there were many, many more factors than Rupert Lowe wanting to stitch the club up as a few people who have agreed with the original post have alluded to.

The players we have are decent young players, most of which have been thrown in at the deep end due to the perilous financial situation the club finds itself in. This is no-ones fault but Michael Wilde and the fans who were desperate for "anyone but Lowe" during RL's first tenure. Rupert Lowe is not the perfect chairman but he would have never seen us in such bad financial shape. It was Michael Wilde in a sh!t or bust attempt at getting us promoted under Burley that has seen us being forced into loaning out players on massively inflated wages (all signed under Wilde's tenure) and fielding a whole side of youngsters and no-marks. Its the way it is. People need to get used to it. Until our finances are brought in to line with what the club is earning, we will be in this position.

Cant say I'm too surprised to hear we are 2-0 down. The first goal was always going to drive us forward in search of an equaliser, especially after making the attacking substitutions. We were always going to leave more gaps at the back. LOL at the idiots calling for JP's head though. Who do you reckon is going to come in with the club in the state it's in with the players at their disposal? Nobody.

Billy Davies is amaaaaaaaazing, delldays. I'm sure his hoof and hope style would work really well here, with the players that would be at his disposal...