saint1977

I don't need the club's regime telling me how to think thank you very much. As FC rightly says, these totally mypioc posts aimed at spinning the board out of trouble are not assisting rational debate on the club's future one iota. Do you then admit that JP was a huge mistake when we needed a manager that had a good knowledge of gems in the CCC/League 1/League 2? Was it wise to leave a bunch of raw 17 year old lads who cannot compete in key games. Did you go to the game on Saturday? I paid my cash and saw lads out of their depth and demotivated - young careers could go to waste. There is no recognition here of the blatant mistakes from Lowe and Wilde since 2004 and there are plenty of them. Crouch didn't cover himself in glory either but it is harder to judge his tenure fully in a shorter space of time. Mike Wilde and Rupert Lowe abused S4E as a PR machine in different ways, have made shockingly bad decisions and then expect trust and respect? Sorry, it "works both ways".

Yes, including Rupert Solent Stars. Sorry, not trying to pick a fight but that is a fact.

Sums it up. Dennis is a second-rate hack at a third-string paper (behind the Mail & Telegraph who get Conservative Central Office's stories first. I don't vote for Lab or Cons or often the LD's either, just stating what happens). People really shouldn't be getting upset over this.

What Dennis wrote was incorrect but I can't say I'm overly fussed - no-one buys the Express and it's circulation is falling even faster than our gates. Right-wing readers seem to much prefer the Mail or if they are pushing the boat out, the Telegraph.

Interesting you should say that Pilchards as Rupert's favourite newspaper the Mail (and probably his favourite journalist Charles Sale) say today that JP looks to be on his way. I reckon either Hockaday promoted and JP dismissed due to "communication issues with the players" or something out of leftfield as a last desperate gamble.

No worries FC and you still have my respect as a poster buddy. I don't have as much faith as Duncan does in Crouch either and to rely on him alone with the trainset wouldn't be smart, Wilde was pledging all sorts in 2006 after all. However, if there's one thing Crouch will do and that's be proactive and gets bums into gear so I can see why some hopes are attached to him. Rupert's last stand was the AGM but judging by Cowen's recent comments Lowe has run out of ideas. Mike is hiding and doesn't seem to know whether to keep with Rupert or run with Leon again. Not satisfactory all-round. There's still plenty of room for differing opinions and debate on here but I think 99% of us, you included, have the same goal so we need to get everyone as united as we can on that, even if we can't totally agree on the methodology quite yet. So no "laws" broken as far as I see! Whilst all of this goes on, a manager and a decent man is cruelly exposed as being out of his depth, that role needs a strong man and JP just ain't it. Our kids (well Lallana & Mills starting and McLaggon and Gobern as impact subs. James looks good on the ball but is a RM not a RB) have shown some good moments in patches but nowhere near enough to stay up or to make much impact in League 1 next season. The big earners could still have gone but replaced with lower league prospects with incentivised contracts. I like the idea too Frank but this isn't the late 80s bunch with Case to mentor them or Boro's crop under McClaren, these are young players that are very raw of significantly varying abilities. It would also help them if we played them in position! You can still push the cream of the crop through as Saints have always done but in stages and with the right support. I've looked at the income figures for League 1 Vs the CCC and it's very worrying. The academy would be gone, we can't sustain that kind of overhead in League 1, there's no Mandaric at Leicester funding it. It means even less exposure than we get now in the media. Plus by May there'll be nowt left to sell! Imagine also how much worse the disturbances at home games will get - they may get worse than Saturday if Wilde and Askham retreat into the bunker. How awful that would be.

Sorry FC, have agreed with you a lot on here but you have totally misread the vast majority of fan opinion on this one. Ron has posted an excellent platform for us to build on, as has the Funeral idea and those of CB Fry and FF is seeking ways of driving that forward. The club has been dying for some time but the patient really slipped onto the life support machine on Saturday and the family are very restless. Surgeons Wilde and Lowe have butchered the patient with bodged surgery too many times to be trustworthy in shape or form. There was no need for what happened in the summer. Brian Stock was picked up for very little for Doncaster and even Kightly from non-league for Wolves. A sensible strategy would have been having a manager who knows CCC/Leagues 1, 2 & BSP and could find gems there, even Peterbrough have done it Frank. Lowe chose this option because it was his dream - well, it's a nightmare in reality. Sorry Mike Wilde, you and Rupert sniped at Pearson and Crouch via Radio Solent and the media when we were under the pump in April, you reap what you sow. Come and join the fans FC, you've got some good ideas so let's unite as a fanbase and achieve the change we really want this time.

If the Skates can do it after years of being run down by the Gregory lot, I'm sure we could. It's just whether we have better options. The fact that the fans are uniting and getting our ideas together is the biggest positive for me.

I think this is a very, very good idea although some may reject on the grounds the Skates did it before Mandaric, much as I dislike the man, came in and injected modest money and a lot of passion, something we've not seen from SFC for a long time. Duncan (Fitzhugh) also seems to be organising something, have a look on the thread Ron (Weston Saint) has created. That's not to say that we couldn't run with this excellent idea as well though.

My take on it is that fighting and intimidation is out of order and certainly the fisticuffs both in the Northam and to a more limited extent the Kingsland were awful to see but it had been coming. There's no doubt that the atmosphere has been less of a "family orientation" since relegation and there are less police (very costly) to mitigate that. The stewarding is not of the standard it was and some of Saturday's stewarding belonged in the mid-1980s miners strike! Some of the stewards were little better than the thugs themselves. I don't agree that we shouldn't sing for the board's removal during games though. We did it for Branfoot and it had negligible impact on performances until LM and Ball saved us. The same people, bar Wilde, in effect still hold the power (Askham, Richards et al). Lowe is dispensible at 6% share. The people that appointed Branfoot are still around so no wonder we're in a mess. The young players will move onto other clubs and see worse (Leeds for example), they just have to be grown-ups and get on with winning matches. 6 wins in 28 is shocking with only 1 home win and even that was a bit lucky. What reduces any empathy with the players is the lack of effort - Forest was a watershed for the crowd where 2 of our players pulling out of 50/50s led to Garner's superb finish and we won't accept that from the players, however raw they are. Again on Saturday, Donny were first to most of the tackles and interceptions that mattered. The financial angle - we still have more resources than clubs like Doncaster and have stil signed a fair few players. JP was a daft gamble - look at the likes of Brian Stock recruited by Doncaster from the lower leagues. We could have recruited those sort of players and again, Kightly at Wolves even from non-league. JP, Wotte et al and the kids - this was a deliberate choice by Rupert and WAS NOT the only option but he picked it. It's failed, it's not his first, second, third, fourth or even fifth big mess-up, how many more does he need? Time to fall on his sword and take Wilde with him.

Great post Ron and it gives us a good platform to build from and to unite around. If people on here genuinely have access to some of the individuals Ron has alluded to, now would be a great time to get on the phone.

Spot on. The SCW experiment would have been OK in the PL but at CCC level cost a lot of money and was unsustainable. Wasted the key first parachute season too - a fact ignored by Lowe's supporters.

Yes, they were woeful! One re-appeared on here pre-XMAS under a similar-looking user name but vanished sharpish - the mods probably spotted it as well.

Cowen is the only one of that trio that knows his arse from his elbow.

- Creating an unsustainable overhead in the shape of the Dome - Releasing a statement last April undermining Pearson and aimed at de-stabilising SFC in a relegation battle - Using Charles Sale to snipe at the club when out of power - The amount of coaching staff - Wadsworth, Summerfield, Damiano - to name a few that have been paid off - Using PR plants on S4E - they were as subtle as a fart in Church!

Great letter Beatle Saint. Wilde has let us down badly and this is his last chance to salvage anything from this mess. From speaking to the few STs I know that are left, all of them have had a gutful of this regime and will not be renewing. Judging by the dreadful atmosphere yesterday, they will be in a majority. I cannot see the club even shifting 1000-2500 STs next season without wholesale changes and we all know that means meltdown. The fans will rally round - the Sheff Utd game showed that - but they will no longer prop up this regime. Yesterday was the pits - even allowing for the lack of experience on the pitch, there was no fight or effort on it from Saints but sadly plenty in the Northam, which I do not condone.

I agree, anyone who signs for us at present deserves a medal! He didn't have a great game today but he was surrounded by so much crap it's hard to judge the lad. If some of the other players are our "future", God help us. Most of them bottle 50/50s against not the biggest CCC side physically and can't trap a ball. I and 95% of fans, for this season, hold Wilde and Lowe responsible for these daft appointments, reckless gambles that have us any pride and dignity we had left. Time for Lowe, Wilde and JP to go on Monday.

Forgot about Dimi and the IPL but Cork is a similar sort of pace and bowler in his old age - 70mph and wicket-to-wicket with the keeper standing up. Griffiths looked handy, good pace, if a bit raw last year, haven't seen much of Balcombe yet. Any good? That side bats deep with Cork at 9.

The most sensible post on this thread. Our midfield stifles itself, not the opposition and gets in each other's way. Playing 2 up front with Holmes, probably our best crosser of the ball available tommorrow, something to aim at and using a lot more width would help. Doncaster are similar to ourselves - some talented playmakers like Brian Stock but lacking punch up front so time to lift a bit of the blanket and have a go. Our back 4 would be strengthened if Sajies and Perry both start with only James as the weak link at RB. A point is useless tommorrow so we need to go for the 3 points.

I'd go with that, Dimi and co's medium pacers will be better in April and May and possibly June when the ball moves around. Then when hopefully the wickets harden and if we get a decent summer they are dry, Tahar will be running through county line-ups like a hot knife through butter. Tomlinson's footmarks won't do Tahar any harm either! If Tremlett can stay fit - a big if - you could have Tremlett getting steepling bounce at 86-87mph at one end with the pitch crumbling on day 4 and Tahar at the other. I wouldn't fancy it as an opposition batsman. North doesn't seem to be in the Aussie selector's thoughts for Ashes selection at the moment but it does give him motivation to put lots of runs on the board and force his way into contention.

Great post Phil, really gets to the heart of it for me and brings people TOGETHER. Read this and learn Sour Old Grapes.

I've shouted in frustration "get in the bloody box" quite a few times at games I must admit! The trouble is that at home, we are not going to get the space to play through teams - unless it's a side with a similar set up (but better players) like Reading. Sometimes you need someone to hold it up and bring Lallana etc into it and it sounds like Lupoli with his pace would play well off some knock-downs and a physical presence. Pity Euell is so awful and on £14k a week as he could have been the answer.

Worth keeping an eye on even with Lupoli arriving, might not cost us much and could be a support option if Saga did go. Has he been getting regular reserve team starts at Derby? Fitness may be an issue otherwise.

He could still be deployed as one though, even though IMO he's never looked good as a striker for us unless it was as a sub! Hopefully Saga will be staying but that probably depends on offloading Skacel at the very least. MB is right to point out Jamie White's injury. Perhaps JP will play the David Moyes formation - 4-6-0!

I'd go with that - look what happened on the eve of the window closing last time around (ie Skacel to Berlin and Rasiak to Bolton).