The Kraken

I completely agree with the senitments of the article, and always have. I maintain that the stance Lowe took with Jones was absolutely the right one throughout that whole sorry episode, and the criticism the club has since received for the so-called treatment of Dave Jones has been extremely unfair. I read the serialisation in the Echo last night and its convinced me not to buy the book, as his slant on the actual turn of events is very disappointing. I think Dave Jones fails to recognise that, as the manager, he was seen as the front man of the football club, and the media spotlight he and the club were put under at that time was such that it just wasn't possible to sweep everything under the carpet and think it would all be ok. Something had to be done, and while I'm not at all a fan of Lowe and everything he's done to contribute to the demise of this club, I actually think he got this one spot on, and actually acted with a fair amount of sympathy for DJ's personal plight, while balancing that with the needs of the football club. It was an impossible situation and there was no resolution which would have suited all parties; but I think the route chosen was in the end the correct one.

No brainer really; if they're still here, get them in the team, as they'll both score goals in this division. Sadly, I think they will both be gone by the start of the Championship season. I guess we just have to hope that Pardew already knows this and has lined up suitable replacements for them.

The Trust has certainly reached the end of its natural life. There can be no doubt about that now. I've never been a fan of their's but can recognise a small number of good things that came of the Trust's formation. But I think what would be sad to see now would be for the Trust to carry on as SISA has done for many years, abusing a previous and no longer held position so that a handful of vocal imbeciles can achieve their ambition to gain media space, supposedly in the name of the fans. I don't know Nick Illingsworth, and so wouldn't want to judge the man on a personal level, but I'd hope that if he really held the club's interests at heart he'd realise this moribund association of his was dead in the water, as was his role as a self-made spokesman of the fans, and see him and the Trust retreat into the background as soon as possible. And stay there.

Good God, sign him up, I didn't realise the Swiss links were so strong. I'm off to sign for Barcelona on the basis that I like paella. Adios.

I'd love to know what the conection is, given that: a) Ivan Campo is Spanish b) Ivan Campo has never played in Switzerland before Maybe he likes Swiss Rolls? Or his favourite TV character is Swiss Toni? Other than that, I'm lost...

Perhaps a bit harsh, but on the right lines. According to their OS he started only 17 league games for Charlton last year. Hardly the type of signing to base our team around.

Hopefully the search will start and end with WGS. Very optimistic though.

Lynam should hang his head in shame at the preposterous charade he's put this club through in the last few weeks.

I'd say its the exact opposite, to be honest. If we had some serious investment coming in our players may actually be tempted to stay. In the obviousl absence of such, you can't blame any one of the players wanting to get away from the shambles we've become.

The fire sale begins!

Steady on; in no way whatsoever would I advocate an additional 15 point deduction, particularly when we are in administration. I've already said that I don't like the rules as they punish the previous owners, and an additional 15 points would only punish the new incumbants and the fans. I don't believe these rules will ever stop what is currently happening to likes of us; owners of clubs will always over-stretch themselves in the pursuit of success. I think the current rules can only act as a mild deterrent; but as I stated I think they are just the best option currently available, and certainly a long way from ideal.

As much as the Football League's rules stink, in that they tend to punish the supporters and club rather than the previous owners, I think its a much better system than the loopholes that allowed the likes of Leicester to build a new stadium, incur huge debt, wipe that debt out through administration and suffer no formal punishment. Don't get me wrong, I think there is a huge amount that could be done to make the punishments equal across the board and fairer (Stockport and Luton spring immediately to mind) but there does need to be some form of deterrent from financial mismanagement, and this is perhaps the best of a bad bunch of potential measures.

Think of how much we had to put up with three major shareholders in Crouch, Wilde and Lowe. "I'll put in £2M if they do" etc. And how much investment did we see? None. Having one, and only one owner is much more beneficial to a number of wannabees looking for their share of power.

I posted this a while ago, I'd like to see a return to the Rank Xerox kits of old, with this as the away kit.

I posted this a while ago, I'd like to see a return to the Rank Xerox kits of old, with this as the away kit.

From what I've heard previously though, we won't yet see any of that money (yet) as the FA/League will hold it to pay off any footballing creditors we have if the deal fails to go through.

Was it not the FlyBE logo or something??

I'd quite like to see a return to our Rank Xerox kits (home and away). A bit like this, based on Birmingham's kit.

The fact that, even on here, fans were effectively having the thumbscrews put on for not wanting to contribute to the collections was for me the most distasteful thing of this whole shameful episode.

Thank God, another thread to tell us there's no news yet...

My F5 button is close to being worn out.

4. Left the club and never came back. *prays*

Its what the law should be, but sadly isn't. Its all too easy for directors to run the company into the ground leaving a trail of debts, shut down the company and buy it back at reduced price minus all the debts (and staff), and carry on trading as before. Regulations against this just aren't, IMO, tough enough to prevent this.

So you want the council to bail us out by providing a huge cash windfall to buy the stadium, and then forego any possibility of financial return from any extra events so that Saints can earn some extra income instead?? Yep, I can see Southampton City Council voting for that......