saintpat

Actually I'm convinced for all the reasons I put above, that they are VERY much, 'much' of our trouble. Working with anyone, in any profession, who wants to leave and can't give a stuff about their job and who they work for, will quickly affect all the other staff around them and produce a complete negative effect. This will affect confidence and output in all the other staff, eventually no one will give a ****, particularly affecting the ones who do care but are not given the chance to perform as the troublesome staff are still getting better treatment than people who care.

A difficult start to the season and if my head ever ruled my heart, it would be totally acceptable. My head has told me, since Leibher took over, that a mid table finish would be good and that we'd be lucky to be far from the relegation area by Xmas. My heart told me we'd win 3 of our first 4 and Pardew would be able to turn a group of players severely lacking in confidence(and some in ability) into a team capable of getting into the play-offs Little pre-season for Pardew, and no one at the club who has the slightest idea of how to conduct transfer business in the football league. Managers around the country go to their boards, tell them who they would like, money permitting and the board go out and negotiate. Saints have NO ONE on the board with enough experience to do that at present, which makes life very difficult. It's a long hard road and it's going to be very difficult driving and it's FAR too early to start calling for Pardews head, I am always of the impression that it takes 2 years for a manager to get the team to a position where they play how he wants them to play, week after week and when fans can finally make a judgement. However, I am slightly disturbed that having watched 2 games and listened to one that we have no attacking plan except 'hoooooooooof'. It is also VERY worrying that with no passion and no invention on the pitch, Pardew has SO LITTLE faith in his bench that he didn't put any of them on until less than 10 minutes to go. I didn't hear Wottons name mentioned until he was being subbed- a central midfield player should be at the heart of everything going on- Spiderman was mentioned constantly, OK, he may not have had a great game, but at least he was involved. Gillett has obviously done something SERIOUSLY wrong to fail to get any minutes. Some people on here may not rate him too highly, however even his fiercest critic must accept he would be more of a positive influence than Wotton. Oh well. I'm back at St Marys next Tuesday, hopefully we'll have 2 new Central defenders, one new striker and our new midfield general by then. But then again- this is Saints!!!

The concern must be the effect they are having in the dressing room and the training ground. They don't want to be with us so every ounce of body language must be negative. If we have to get rid of them for nothing then I think the situation would be better than it is at present, their presence in the team can only have a disrupting effect. They need to go and they need to go NOW unless they are prepared to commit 100% to the team. The main concern of course, is that they are really just greedy, selfish barstewards who will not move unless they get the same, or more money. They are both prepared to sacrifice their place in the national team because they are unwilling to take a pay cut. They don't want to play for Saints because we're not in a good enough league(perfectly understandable), yet they are unwilling to move anywhere else if they have to take a pay cut. It's time for Leibher to show his money and worth. Sign another good striker and get Rasiak and Saga training on their own, away from the team and don't even play them in the reserves, just sit them on their backsides for half a season with no competitive play, then see if they REALLY want to play for their country and move.

Was anyone really expecting much more at present? Pardew has had little time to prepare and he hasn't brought in the number of players he wanted. This was always going to be a difficult few months given everything that happened over the summer, I have always felt that mid-table this year is the best we can expect. Perhaps this result will help make the board realise they have to act on Pardews wishes quicker than they have been doing. Pardew obviously doesn't rate Gillet, so he needs at least one if not 2 central mids within a week, along with one or two central defenders. My only concern at present is the long ball- which is way over-used- but then if I thought my best central midfielder was Wooton- then I'd try and and ignore the midfield as much as possible to!!!

Agree with most of that, although I would move Harding into V.Good, had an excellent game I thought. James was also my MOM. having seen the game tonight I really hope that Pardew persuades Rasiak to stay. With him, Paterson and Lambert sharing the strikers roles we could see plenty of goals. Wooton doesn't cut it for me, decent journeyman midfielder with a strong engine but a little short on pace and def. short on imagination. I'd prefer to see Gillet there, but I presume this is the gap that Pardew is going to fill next. Still work in progress but there is a steel to the team that was sadly lacking last season, I would prefer to see us playing from the back more though, we used the kick from Kelvin too often IMO.

JPS

a better appointment than we could have hoped IMO. A proven manager at all levels of the league. Ok it's not WGS but realistically it was never going to be. I think it is a coup to attract him to Saints given our position. I just hope that both the management and the fans give him enough time to mould the squad to his character. It won't be a 5 minute job. At least it's a 3 year contract and not one of those rolling year(6 month)contracts.

How clever are these new owners?? First they sack Wotte, who nearly all fans didn't think was up to the job, even if they felt he has acted impeccably over the last 3 months. Then they make sure Adams is made one of the favourites for the managers job by feeding his name to a few people. Finally they appoint their own man- and all Saints fans are SO relieved it's not Adams, that they welcome the decision like the manager is the 2nd coming!! Sheer brilliance, I am SO impressed. Our club could well be in VERY good hands. Of course if they were to offer Le Tissier a place on the board it would be the final icing on the cake.

Exactly my sentiments, I wish him well- and am really looking forward to seeing who the new manager will be.

Is it too late for Kelvin Davies to have money thrown at him so he can continue playing for us?

5-4-3-2-1- DISCO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm going to drink all day!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't believe that anyone still thinks that the points deduction had ANYTHING to do with Pinnacle dropping out. It's just a convenient excuse for not having the money to step forward with the bid. Can someone also answer a few questions- Why- if you decided to but a football club for say £15million would you decide to go to TL to broker the deal? Has he bought football clubs before? Has he dealt with many complex multi million pound deals before? If you had 'several hundred millions pounds', wouldn't you use your own legal team who would have probably worked with you for years? The trouble is- we ALL wanted to believe TL and very few(including me) gave any thoughts to whether he was just another fantasist like MJ. Given that MJ moved from Bournemouth to Saints- which club do we think TL will get involved with next?

I feel sorry for Crouch, he is undoubtedly a massive fan of the club and only wants what he feels is best for the club. Unfortunately due to his love of the club his heart overcomes his head(as it does for most of us) when making judgements about the club. He cannot be criticised for his efforts in trying to help the club, he is probably the only director we have had in years who puts the club before personal interests. However I do believe that his passion also shows the very reason why it is difficult for any club to be run by a fan.

I think that actually all the ITK posts have been complete rubbish, some of them may have been spun a line or two but in general it's simply poor guesswork.

I'm afraid I now feel that Pinnacle have been holding on by complaining about the 10 points until someone else takes the club over and then they can go on about how unfair the FL were and that there was a conspiracy against them and make out they were the good guys who were badly treated. I fear Matt has been strung a set of lies which he is still hoping are really the truth. Pinnacle have been caught out because no other group of investors have actually put in a bid, so they are left totally exposed. I hope I'm wrong but the whole Pinnacle bid now looks like a total farce.

As far as I'm concerned the final nail in the Pinnacle bids coffin. MLT and the most of the rest of us have obviously been taken in by a couple of delusional individuals. Jackson or bust????????

But GM doesn't need to answer any questions. TL needs to answer the questions and his answers have been getting less informative each time he writes. They are now, I'm afraid simply bluster and hot air, there is nothing of substance to grab hold of. I applauded the initial stance of TL regarding the football league, however I am now of the opinion that is simply a very convenient smoke screen for far larger problems with Pinnacles bid. I have a very bad feeling that within a weeks time us fans will only have memories of our club.

Yep, I remember, awesome atmosphere, football is always better in the evening!- Anderlecht were a very good team. I also have a memory of an Anderlecht player(full back, I think) who had leg muscles like those of a weight lifter but was like lightening over 20 yards-bizarre thing to remember- but I have never seen a football player built like that. Oh and my runner beans are fantastic- I'll be able to start picking them next weekend!!!

This made me laugh- the first time all day, as the whole saga has got more and more depressing.

Delighted that TL is showing that he actually CARES about the fans and is keeping us informed as much as he is probably able to. I am very impressed. He is also very clever, this interaction means that anyone who reads this site will be behind him and his decision making 110%. Thanks Tony, you are showing that us fans actually matter, this is something that we are not used to- in fact most fans of football clubs are not used to it!! I hope it continues when you take over the club.

Pinnacle are NOT buying the company that went into administration and that is the crux of the whole matter. It would seem that the FL want Pinnacle to give up any right of appeal- and that would seem to be a completely illegal stance to take. It seems to be against all principles of law in this country. Morally we should perhaps take the 10 point deduction- but legally I believe that we don't need to. The FL have got themselves in a VERY difficult position. I believe Pinnacle have EVERY right to insist on a 'right of appeal' and should NOT back down and I do not believe for a second that this situation arose today, Pinnacle will have been looking at the 10 point deduction from the moment they became interested in the club. It would seem that Pinnacle have decent finances behind them and therefore can probably pay for decent legal advice. The law may be an ass but it is 'the law' and has to be abided by. You cannot change the law to suit your argument and that is what the FL seem to be trying to do. And a BIG thank you to Tony for being so honest with the fans and letting us know the situation. It is a VERY welcome change.

I have distinct reservations about Keegan, he has only been succesful(ish) when he has loads to spend compared to other teams around him. However he won't do any harm to the gate receipts at least at the start. What is more important is that whoever it is (Coppell being my choice-steady, reliable, used to working to a budget and unlikely to run away to a big club)- the manager needs to be given 2-3 years minimum to build a squad and put his own personality on the team. And most importantly the fans need to get behind the manager -whoever it is and give him time. Re-building of the team will take YEARS not months, there is NO quick fix whoever is manager.

Oh MY GOD- It's Ronald Mcdonald,

Oh MY GOD!!! A thread on this forum that has got to the 2nd page and is still a happy and positive one!! I never thought I'd see that happen. I know the deals not done, but that letter gives me much hope and I'll be sinking a few pints tonight to celebrate.

'Red Devils' doesn't seem to have affected Man utd's marketable image!!!!