VectisSaint

This is an odd statement. Compare this with the Player profile on the OS that states "Anthony Pulis joined Southampton on 29th August 2008 on a free transfer having penned a two year contract with an option for a third" Its difficult to know these days who to believe.

BBC have it on their sports pages as Norwich v Derby.

Agreed, but it really has not been significant to many ordinary folks until very recently, I suspect it really isn't a factor for many even now. Petrol prices would be a bigger factor to many (me included, or diesel to be precise) but that is nothing to do with the credit crunch. It may already be a factor, but its a very small factor in the grander scheme of things. It wasn't me anyway that said it was a factor, it was Wilde who referred to it, that is what I was referring to when I said it was laughable, for that idiot to suggest it is an important factor is a complete joke. He continues to ignore the main point, that attendances fall and will continue to fall while we fail to consistently win at home - yet I remember his rallying call a couple of years back imploring us to make SMS a fortress. The main factor is the success on the field (or the lack of it) principally at home. It started last season when average attendances were down, and has been compounded this season.

Sorry, so if we add 5 to the attendances that will make the difference will it? Grow up. The fact that you and 4 others are boycotting doesn't make my assertions incorrect. In practice there are very few actually boycotting because of Lowe/Wilde in the real world. Most are just sick of seeing a team fail to win at home week after week.

Correct, our attendances last season were down on the one before I believe.

Spot on. To blame our reduced attendances on the credit crunch is quite frankly laughable. Most people had not even heard of the credit crunch until a couple of weeks or so ago. The credit crunch has hit very few people so far, just wait till it really does and see what happens to attendances then. Low attendances are down to one factor only (sorry to disappoint the boycott jonnys), its a lack of success on the pitch at St Marys. Win games at home = attract supporters, simple formula.

So no Centre Forward and no Centre Half, speaks volumes really

Ah, the Windows Platform Group

Try reading posts in context (perhaps referring back to the posts that are quoted). We were discussing whether or not there was anything official said about the compensation of the various parties, and a certain poster said there was nothing, when clearly there was. Do I believe what the OS says, no of course I don't, thats the whole point, the compensation issue was a smokescreen by Lowe, an attempt to justify the unjustifiable. The real reason was always that NP was not Lowe's appointee, and he could not stomach having to work with someone he could not manipulate as he desired. But rather than say something honest like "we wanted the coaching team that we believed would do the job" they had to peddle lies/half-truths about financial reasons. I think I am very REAL, perhaps you should try getting REAL yourself

I know the OS is usually a wast of space, but a quick check there will find that your question is answered, of course you would have known to look under "Gasmi almost ready" article http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/articles/article.php?page_id=10717 Still no mention of Thomas, has he left? Gasmi still has no squad profile and therefore number Pulis still has no squad number

It may not say he was sacked just because of his salary, but the OS states quite clearly (see link below, paragrgaph 4) that one of the reasons for the change was the financial situation and that the combined salary of JP and Wotte was lower than Pearson. So it is quite clear that this was a factor. But the point is that no-one really believes that NP was more expensive than JP and MW combined, that is the spin which upsets everyone. In fact it would appear that even the OS suggests that if JP and MW were successful that they would actually cost more because of the incentive scheme (lower basic but better incentives). http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/?page_id=10167 Didn't see the other reference above when I posted, but I think this is an even better source as it was a news item released to the OS, presumably with RL's approval, whereas the other reference is a brief history written by one of the OS hacks, and probably not scrutinised in the same way. Either way RaWA was completely mistaken.

I don't think there is any debate about NP being a bootboy, the only one that ever makes such dispariging remarks is Scooby and we all know what he is. But to come back to the hypothetical argument, I suspect NP would be doing rather better than JP. NP was a coach with a strong reputation for working with youth,as witnessed by his involvement with the England set up at every level up to and including u21. I think even with a similar squad of players NP would probably have got us a couple or so more points, can't be proven but that would be my thoughts. The difference between NP and JP is that NP had so many contacts in the game in this country, that he would probably have wheeled and dealed the transfer/loan market a little more effectively than JP, and would have perhaps brought in one or two players with experience to give the team a better balance (after all he was instrumental in bringing in Perry and was almost certainly involved with Holmes as well). He would still have played a large number of the youngsters though. The other thing I am certain NP would have done was upped the fitness levels, in much the same way that WGS did, pre-season. We may not have been playing quite such pretty football, but anyone who thinks NP is a hoofball merchant clearly does not know much about football. All in all its hypothetical, we are where we are, and JP has proved to be much better than I hoped, but he has still shown a certain amount of naiveity. The nonsense about NP being more expensive that JP and Wotte is just that, nonsense, spin from Lowe via the OS. Maybe marginally he was more expensive, but nothing thats worth changing manager for. The real reason as most people know is that Lowe wanted his own man, and depsite what I think of Lowe I don't blame him for that, just wish he would be more honest and not treat his customers as idiots.

I never said the Final was silly and pointless, those are your words made up because you can't read and misinterpret what you thought you were reading. But if you think it would have been silly and pointless thats up to you. Fact remains however that we didn't reach the final, we were knocked out by bad luck before that. Too many people seem to forget this, and seem to want to rewrite history by thinking because we lost to Derby in the semis that we would have won the final. Maybe we would have and maybe we wouldn't, who knows.

People still don't get it about Burley do they (1) Burley only ever looked good when he had Snodin as assistant (2) Beating Derby would not have gained us promotion, it would only have taken us to the play-off final (which would have been nice and better than losing to Derby)

It makes our strikers look good as well, even BWP can score against our defenders from a corner LOL

OK, forgot he was on loan, not purchase (though I think its a loan with option to buy). But anyway, you sort of answered my point that there is no basis for this rumour, only that it was somewhere on a forum. Believe it or not, forums are not official, nor are they often accurate (witness this one). My opinion is that this is an unsubstantiated rumour, nothing more, made up in the absence of any facts in an attempt to justify that this guy has been with the Club for over 5 weeks now and has not even been seen at SMS, and does not even appear to be in the squad (no picture, no number). It really does make you wonder whether we have signed him or not, after all there was no need to complete a loan on transfer deadline day.

As a MF so would I, but the thread is about African Centre Backs. Actually I would have Pele back as a CB, but he doesn't fit into the sterotype that the OP was portraying. I still think he was a cultured CB, more in the Claus role than the Killer role, and alongside the right partner (a big bruising CB) he would have been a top player. Trouble was our dozy coaches thought the two of them could play together...

On the other hand as we don't actually have a game to sell tickets for for nearly 2 weeks it probably is about the best time to do it (assuming for some reason it couldn't be done during the close season).

One word, Pele

Is there actually any basis for this rumour. I've seen it said on here a couple of times, and also about Pulis, just wondering where this sort of thing originated, cos I'm sure it wasn't from the OS. Would be very unusual for a club to pay for a player that they have sold, if a new team wants someone they usually have to stump up the money thats required, selling clubs are not usually known for their charitable status.

if he's cheaper than JP perhaps he should be put in charge, after all thats the only reason allegedly that JP is in charge.

Hopefully, he can make a decent pairing with Stern John or Robertson up front. Great news. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/front_page/7653539.stm Seriously though great to see he is getting back to his old self...

Sorry fella, but that is where you are completely wrong. He does have a track record of working with youth, and at a higher level than JP (this is not to knock JP who I have a lot of respect for simply a fact that so many overlook). NP has worked with every level of the England set up, up to and including u21. Cast your mind back, and it was NP who was bringing youth back into the team during his spell in charge (Baseya, McGoldrick, Lallana, Gillett and Poke all made contributions), depsite the fact that he was battling to avoid the drop with the legacy that Burley (and Gorman/Dodd) had left us. I would have agreed if you had said he didn't have much experience in the League of managing a team, but to knock his youth credentials is just plain nonsense, thats why he would have ben ideal in our current situation. In any case, he seems to be doing quite well this season as well, as far as I can see, certainly better than the pillock before him.

What good can they do in training? They can train to defend corners against our forwards. Our forwards don't know how to attack a corner, and so our defence probably look good on the training ground against our forwards

Killer not in squad, but would have been silly to change the team much anyway. I'll stick with my prediction of 1-1, and will be happy if we get that. Anything else has to be a bonus.