so22saint

5k. If I sell my company between now and May, £2m - but it's not going happen

heh, are you an AI?

I think Lowe's "roll the dice" approach to management over the last decade or so has led to a couple of gems, WGS and Dave Jones (and maybe Hoddle dalek, just for you :-)), but if you have enough managers you're bound to find you have some good ones in there. Problem is, you end up with a massive squad of players that drains money. Also, I think the upturn in form also coincides with more experience in the squad which is against what were were attempting at the start of the season. anyway, COME ON YOU REDS

They're bust and almost all their players have walked out after being told they won't get paid in 2009. They fielded their youth team COYR

I'm 35 and I'll be surprised if I see them in the Prem again in my lifetime to be honest.

League 2 beckons in 2010

As a company director of a multi-million pound company (one of 4 so I'm not in a position to invest in Saints - not yet anyway), I'm well aware of the directors responsibilities regarding trading while insolvent. Extracting money through directors fees from a loss making venture, prior to putting the company into administration leaving your creditors hanging is one of the oldest tricks in the book. Having said that, HMRC and the courts are much hotter on it now - hence the chap who killed his family and burnt his house down the other day - he'd done exactly that but the courts had chased him down and ordered him to pay his company's creditors. So, if anything untoward has taken place, and I'm not saying it has, it will probably end with personal bankruptcy of the main director.

That 3rd goal is one of the best goals I've seen at the Dell. Cheers for that JFP, it bought a lump to my throat. I always knew we were doomed to obscurity when we sold Shearer for £3.6m. I know it was a record, but I remember buying the pink in Eastleigh and turning to my wife in the shop and saying "this will be the bargain of the century what with all the money coming into the game". The ignorant **** who was chairman then (GA obviously) clearly thought that a bird in the hand, and David Speedie were a better deal

I've just moved a high traffic site (football.mitoo.co.uk should anybody on here use it) to new servers and it's now dealing with the peaks with no problems at all (after a very sticky October / November). I can offer as much free advice as the mods would like - PM me mods. as to the shower of **** on the pitch - pull your fingers out!

I remember this as it was Valentines day and I had to leave my g/f (now wife) in Leeds to drive down to see the game - the snow was with me all the way and I just managed to get ahead of it in Newbury - parked outside the dell at 3.59, ran into the Milton, said hello to my mates as the whistle went, turned around just in time to see MLT bang one in on 14 seconds or whatever it was. We were 4-0 up I think, the orange ball put Liverpool on the front foot though.

Thing is, put a buy in for 12 million or whatever it is and watch the price sky rocket. On the other hand, if you approached them in corporate with a couple of million in used 50s and I reckond they'd bite your arm off . I would

it's snowing again here in Winchester I reckon it'll all be gone by tomorrow though.

Agreed! The annoying thing is, is that the money he spends on PR would have paid for Pearson...

you're right, anyone would be better than Lowe and Wilde

Heh, maybe Rupert is starting to unite the divided fan base!

Same here Um, as is another mate of mine..

What annoys me is that, given the finances of the club, surely the 5k a month PR retainer could have been punted toward Pearson or some better players. It's not much, but many a mickle...

Exactly - if you live in the inner city I expect things to get very nasty over the next few years. If you live in the New Forest or a smaller town and have a decent sized garden I actually think standards of living might, in a way, go up in terms of not having to commute for hours, not having the stress of a ****e job that produces nothing (not that I have that problem), etc. On the other hand, I don't know whether to buy a Land Rover or a horse.

glad to get the points. Let's get more.

indeed. what an absolute arsehole

I don't think it's because the club is struggling. Apart from a very brief period when I was too young to appreciate it, the club has always been struggling. I think it's because the people running the club now are complete Berkley hunts.

Yeah, there's a good chance that it was total ******** being posted as part of a smear campaign and I don't want to be accused of that - though as per my previous posts I'm not a fan of the current regime and *nothing* surprises me any more. Well, appointing an experienced manager and loaning a spine of 4 players over 26 into the club would surprise me, but we all know how likely that is to happen (and the reasons, all of them, why).

Didn't he spend it with his own (or his family's own) building and electrical contracting firm in which case I don't think he minds spending those millions? It's a question by the way, not an accusation if there are any lawyers on - I've heard rumours to this effect. Jim

I care. I'd love to know how much he made in dividends from Southampton Leisure Holdings - if it's more than 2 million quid it would be nice if he ploughed some of it in to get a couple of 30 year old defenders, a 30 year old midfielder and a 30 year old striker on loan so we had a bit of a team blend.

I miss the Dell loads to be honest - I'm typing this next to a block of the Milton concrete my old man mounted on some teak when it got knocked down. The Dell was almost unique in the closeness of the fans to the players, and I think it made the place stronger than Anfield in the effect it had on the players - especially the big time charlies. I remember reading a stat that said the second half of the last div 1 season we had the best home form in the league and recorded only 2 less points than Leeds who won it. Anyway, having said all that, the rot was due to too many mediocre players - and that was due to 10 managers in 10 years, each new man buying 11 of his own men only to see Benali, Dodd, MLT, Lundekvam retain their places and most of the new boys to end up on the bench or in the reserves - didn't we get relegated with 45 players or something? bag of ****e.