VectisSaint

Stu, sadly I think you are deluded. The BSP will not have us this season, it is too late (unless possibly we replace Farsley Celtic in the BS Northern)

No, it is much much too late. At least for 2009/10 season. Sorry but I really do feel that it is all over bar the shouting.

There is no way we will be in the BSP. You need to face up to the fact that we will be in L1 or nowhere next season. The BSP will not have us at this stage. We could possibly get in the Wessex League, but suspect its too late even for that.

Stu, sorry but this is just bull****. Have you actually checked out why Luton were given a 30 point deduction. Well the facts are: (1) 10 points were initially deducted by the Football Association (not the FL) as a result of 15 charges for improper use of agents. Nothing to do with Admin or even the Football League (2) Independently of this the FL then docked them 20 points, and justified the huge penalty because this was the 3rd time that Luton had been into and come out of administration. Thats right the 3RD TIME. Luton's final CVA incidentally was based on a payment to creditors of 18 pence in the £, whereas I suspect that we had been planning 100% payment (at least to Barclays). I know the FL can do whatever they want (as I ahve espoused many times on here), but if Luton is a precedent, then anything more than another 10 points (20 in total) would be pushing even the FL credibility beyond the realsm of reasonableness. Most likely is another 7 points, as with Bournemouth and Rotherham.

Lest we forget: Sir Clive Woodward (though I still think that might have worked, just the wrong time) Simon Clifford The Eye coach

+1 and he got a decent statue of Ted, who must be turning in his grave. I'm not yet convinced that TL is the bad guy some would like to believe either, try listening to MLT's interview on the Beeb

You cannot be tied to an NDA with a company that no longer exists. Period. Its not the Official Secrets Act (and even that doesn't stop people spilling the beans). There is no contractual agreement between SLH and MLT.

I think those who are dissing Tony Lynam would do well to listen to the MLT interview on BBC. Matt does not agree that TL is deserving of the flak he is getting, and quite honestly I can see very little that would convince me that TL is the chancer that some are portraying him as. If TL was duped then so was Matt. The interview is on the following BBC page, about halfway down: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/8126822.stm It is really beyond the realms of belief that a chancer would have got through due diligence with a professional administrator. Therefore if we are going to blame anyone, then Fry looks more culpible than Lynam. In the end though we would not be in this mess if it were not for 2 people, Lowe and Wilde. We must never forget that. We can blame Barclays, Mawhinney, Lynham, Fry, but it was Lowe and Wilde who forced us into Administration, either directly or indirectly.

Not really. Luton got 30 point deduction. 10 points were due 15 charges of misconduct over breaches on FA regulations over payments to agents. The further penalty of 20 points was due to Luton having gone into administration 3 times. On that basis anything even approaching 20 points total would be grossly unfair, but then again we are talking the Football League, so when dealing with a founder member of the breakaway FA Premier League they could do anything. My suspicion is that 17 would be the most the FL would actually consider they could get away with. Even so, at worst we would still be in the FL next season (2010-11) whereas Luton are now in the Conference. Link to article regarding the Luton penalty: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/football-league/luton-town-hit-with-points-penalty-864607.html

Of course it did. Barclays called in the administrators because Lowe pushed us over the agreed overdraft limit, as he stated at the time. Even he must have foreseen that, being the ultra sccusseful business man that he believes he is. Its not rocket science, agreed overdraft limit is exceeded bankers call in the debt. Simples.

This is the issue for me, everyone is throwing insults at TL now, but I simply do not believe that Fry did not have convincing evidence of funds at the time Pinnacle entered into exclusivity. What I can believe is that the backer or backers whoever they are or were have refused to move forward. Why they have done that is a mystery, but there is at least a chance that it is related to the abuse that is being thrown at them. While I agree that abuse on a message board should not have caused this, the issue is with the Press, and once this stuff starts getting printed in tabloids/ Echo etc then it can be very very damaging. It is a very sad state of affairs that these days it is the gutter press who do no investigation themselves but DO read message boards and the like and hence the venom and lies and half-truths on such boards ends up in the broader spectrum of the press. To read some of the comments on the Echo site, and to an extent on here almost makes me embarrassed to be a Saints supporter. Some people need to realise that we are not playing some game here, this is the real world of people jobs and years of football supporting that is basically being killed off. I'm sure some of you will not agree, but thats what opinions are about.

No, but the problem is that the gutter press, aka the Echo, do trawl this and other forums, and also look at the feedback they get on their own website, and these comments become public knowledge. Quite frankly I am not surprised that Pinnacle have withdrawn given the sniping and downright disgusting comments put about by some people on here and elsewhere. It comes to something when people forget that the real reason for us being in this situation left 3 months back taking his lap dog with him and got way scott free, all Pinnacle did was give us some hope that there was an alternative to liquidation. They also (allegedly) have stumped up £1m plus to get u to this stage, so accusing them of not being serious is absolutely pathetic. Well thats it, the club I have supported for 43 years is now dead. Anyone who seriously thinks there is hope still is seriously deluded. Pinnacle were our last hope, and some people have made it as difficult as possible for that to happen. Hope these people who know who they are feel proud of their achievement.

Hoddle also never managed Swindon in Division 3. he rescued them when they were in Division 2. In addition Hoddle is crap unless he has Gorman as assistant, as proven at Wolves. So even if I believe that Hoddle is MLT's choice I hope to goodness that if it is that Gorman will be back as well (unless of course Hoddle could bring Snodin back instead, possibly the best assistant manager in the game, even made Burley look good for a while)

Would that be so that he can get his hip done? Strachan will get back into football as soon as he gets a decent offer.

The money will initially go the Football League as happens with ALL transfers. They will hang on to it until the mess is sorted out, so in truth neither the creditors nor the club can benefit as yet. The FL will use it to pay players wages once their contracts are in default (in just over a weeks time I believe) if they have not been paid by then. Sadly this does not help the non-playing staff at SMS.

It was the Little Weed. Surely it is obvious that the SFC Board are sanctioning these transfers, I believe this is Tointon and Jones, maybe there are others on the Board but I'm not sure. Pinnacle have no input officially because they are no longer in exclusivity (nor are anyone else)

At last, someone pinning the blame fairly and squarely, but i think it was Mike not Al.

I wasn't saying it would have been good if he had stayed, but our priorities will be to get some brute ugly strikers, someone like McG would have added some gloss, which we can do without this season. I suspect with the right coaching he will become good, but he will also likely flourish in his home environment - one of the drawbacks of signing young kids from other clubs, they tend to get homesick.

What, as in "Pony and ..." ?

Of course not. The banks may be closed in England, but they are still open in Bermuda, San Francisco and Honolulu and will be opening soon in Auckland and Sydney. You don't need a little high street branch to complete a transaction. That said, there is no need to complete until tomorrow so I don't expect it will happen tonight.

Clear that McG wanted to go, spiritual home and all that. If you recall he almost went before. So if Fry can get £1m for someone who was going anyway (£1m on the books, even if not cash in had because of embargo on transfer moneys) then that is very good business in my opinion. He could have walked in 1 week for nothing anyway, perhaps Forest are bigger mugs than I always took them for, or perhaps Forest are clear that the takeover is going to happen, why else would they have stumped up a million for nothing. In any case McG is not what we need in Division 3, and really was not that good in the CCC, so no great loss. We need fighters, and he was a pussycat.

It was definitely my understanding that no funds actually get exchanged in the present situation, the Football League (not the FA) hold on to the funds to ensure that any footballing debts are paid, including wages of players if they don't get paid. I think the Notts County thing might be a red herring, since it was only a relatively small amount we owed them and thats already been covered by the sale of Dyer. I suspect also that the £1m fee would not be paid in a single lump sum anyway. So for those of you that think this sorts out our wages, I suggest you may want to think again.

Don't agree, without administration we would have already been liquidated. Thats the point of administration. Therefore the choice was Administration or no SFC, difficult choice there, thats why Alpine and other people with sense were actually positive about administration, it was the only option that left us with a Club that would play above wessex league level. Its not that Admin was a great idea, simply that Lowe had taken us to the point where it was the only way out. Thank goodness for Administration, otherwise we would all have had nothing to do for the last 2 months excpet find another team to support.

Exclusivity period ended a week ago last Friday. Therefore Pinnacle have no say in who is or is not sold. As far as I can see only Mark Fry with the assistance of the Football Board (names escape me, but one is the Father of some east Ender bint or something) determine whether or not players can leave before their contracts expire. Contracted players contracts expire 2 weeks after their salaries are in default by the way. So to sell Surman now is decision of Fry/SFC Board, but he can walk in just over 1 week anyway for nothing. Given that Fry has no other way of paying staff or players I see this as a way to give SFC more time, but then again I was also under the impression that the FL hold on to any transfer monies and use these to settle any outstanding debts with other clubs

Ex-wife