Micky

He did have a sly dig in the press, but nothing more. To be honest sometimes people deserve such treatment and it was pretty harmless to be honest. MLT took some pretty harsh critcism from some on here over his handling of the Pinnacle debacle - so the occasional 'slap on the wrist' or 'stern reminder' is hardly out of order really. Matt and Lawrie are both big lads - I'm sure that can look after themselves.

Have to say that I still find most of this stuff all very trivial, however I would like to know; 1. Is this pure autocracy on the part of NC, i.e. he took the decision(s) completely by himself, consulted nobody else and is solely responsible. FWIW, he himself may be against some or all of these moves, he might have argued against them, but been told to implement them by the owner. 2. Why all this vitriol against only NC, surely these decisions were agreed by the owner either way, yet he appears to come in for no critisism whatsoever.

Hate to say it but I don't think the guy cheated at all - if that is the case then every player who committed a tackle or handball anywhere on the pitch could be labelled much the same. The bottom line is he commited a foul (rule 12 I think) and the officials dealt with it correctly. Unfortunately for Ghana they were unable to convert the situation to thier advantage - which ultimately is a shame - but is also why millions upon millions watch the game. The word cheat is used far to readily - as SS has stated above, the guy had a split second to think about what he was going to do and then execute the action - he did not go through the game thinking 'I'm going to cheat in the 120th minute of this one'. It may seem a little hard to take, even distasteful to some - but if an England (or Saints) player had done the same I wonder if they would so readily be labelled.

The problem is hypo - every single decision is now being microanalysed with the end result that it is NC's fault - it's getting more than a little tedious. I know it's the close season, but honestly, do we really need endless threads all aimed at discrediting the same person? Yeah - I know - if I don't agree (or like it), don't bother commenting, but whilst my comment may have seemed ridiculous to you, it is a true representation of how I feel the general tone of this board is going of late. Apologies if you don't find this serious discussion.

Another great great thread. The Suite names have been changed (we think), nobody consulted us (again), somebody needs to get hanged for this decission. Just had a phone call from SMS, NC wants to go for a dump, anybody know who, on here, is on 'dump sanctioning' duty today?

Top idea - don't forget to p iss in the champers first though eh...!

I want signings and I want them now, any signings....!

On this new fandangled forum, which I have publicly stated is not to my taste, is there anyway of highlighting threads in which a good old bundle is taking place? I have only happened by this one now by pure chance and appear to have missed all the action - feeling well left out...!!!

Fair play to you Stu, but what do you actually want? You say 'when things go wrong', but like what? Are you expecting the club to implode or something? Don't forget, only a year ago we were in the mire, basically looking down the barrel, but now one year on we have had a decent season, won a cup and in good shape for the upcoming season. So what do you expect to go wrong and why constantly look at the negatives in life? I except your points Stu, they are valid and fair - but if I'm really honest mate I don't think they are 'Big Issue' are they? They are more 'annoyances' that perhaps some fans could have done without, and the Club could well have handled a little better in some cases. But you seem to be saying that the whole lot is about to come tumbling down - after only 1 season. Do you have an inside track or are you just one of those half empty sort of people? The Saints fans that I talk to at work are all looking forward to the coming season and have no worries, but you seem to be painting a totally 'everything is doomed' sort of picture.

You are, really, well blow me, I would never have guessed.

It was a genuine suggestion - not a dig. Sorry you never got the position - I know how it feels - I was once told by my OC that I would never get promoted again because I say what everybody else is thinking, but too afraid to say. He was correct on both counts.

Could you make the text a little bigger please - the screen is beyond my nose and so I'm struggling to read it.

Talking of which Stu, have you ever thought about forwarding him your CV? Who knows, with your evident skillsets and drive, perhaps you can fix the negative PR, Ticket Tax, Press Releases and ST balls up. Would keep you happy and us happy at the same time - got to be worth the price of a 1st class stamp, surely.

Nope, it's that damn Cortese again - he's wrong. Pants at PR and pants at selling too.

I've not even read your stategy Stu - and as I've never sold anything in my life (well, to earn a living anyway) I am not qualified to comment. I was only drawn to the thread because, once again, you seem intent on grasping the negatives, whinging about them and never letting go. Is there anything about the club which you feel positive or upbeat about?

Stu, just as a matter of interest, is there anything that you don't know...?

Nice site - but there is more than a touch of irony there when you read the main aim of that site - the blue few should be signing up in their droves now.

Errr yeah - I gathered that, but they haven't both posted on this thread, which is what I though that NickG was alluding to.

Is that happening, really? I find that quite interesting if true - care to elaborate (or even enlighten me by PM).

Seems to be a very strange move on first sight, althought I tend to sit with Alps on this one, I don't think that Milan is the most (how shall we say) sympathetic or understanding employer. Still wish NP well though - future England manager anybody..???

Stu - he hasn't made any good decissions for the club. I told you in my last post - we all agree with you that NC has absolutely shocking PR skills - the point being - we don't really care as we like the way the club is unfolding, the state of our squad and the ambition of our manager, CE and owner. Therefore when there is the odd decission that we don't like, we do not feel the need to 'bear arms' in order to highlight it. My head is well above the parapit (as are lots of others if you care to adjust your sights), unlike you, we just don't see it as a 'BIG ISSUE'. Others have advised you, don't like the product, don't buy it - it's that simple. As for the arugument that there will be thousands and thousands not buying the 'SMS Product' - let's wait and see eh. As CW pointed out 2 years down the line we might all be whinging - but whose to say that those at the club wont have learned from the feedback that they have recieved from fans this season and change and reinstate certain services for next - give these guys a chance ffs. The majority of decissions that this man makes for this club are probably totally undisclosed to us anyway - I have no idea of the business decissions that he takes on a day to day basis. We had a good season last season, a trip to Wembly and last year I had not felt as good about the club for years - that tells me that NC is making more right than wrong decissions. That is decission enough for me. Analyse all the negativity that you want - do your stats, visit every other clubs website in order to prove everybody else wrong, bash you drum until your knuckles hurt - NC is making more good calls than bad ones. Heres one pro Cortese person with head and shoulders above the parapit.

We accept that it is a genuine issue, but we are not the ones crying over it. Neither is anybody suggesting that Cortese is untouchable, his decissions will be scrutinized - but unlike Stu, we have scrutinized them (and whilst we may not particularly like the decissions) we have accepted them because they may be for the good and benefit of the club. Yes they are genuine issues, although relatively minor - thus we don't feel the need to try to vilify a man who not so very long ago was the clubs saviour. BTW if you are going to use such terms as 'discuss in rational manner' in your posts, it is probably not a good idea to use such terms as 'crying like a bunch of babies' - surely somewhat contradictory. Many thanks for referring to me as a pleb as well - does the argument no end of good.

Stu - I think you have made your point. NC's PR skills are non existant, absolutely poo - we all agree with you. Problem is though, most of us don't really care - we like what he has done for the club since he began, we like the direction we are headed and we believe he is doing what he does for the good and benefit of the club. So there you have it. You are correct - we have a Chairman who lacks PR skills. Other than that though - it would appear that most here appear to back his judgement and business decissions thus far. Give up - find another slave to flog huh.

Stu, I am at a loss as to why you want to bait the whole forum into discrediting NC. You've made your point about the 'ticket tax', 'echo' and 'HSTs', but why now bait everybody else to defend NC. As I pointed out - the best positive that we could have had was NC's interest in this club when it was on it's knees and looking into the abyss. If we have to give a little more in order to reach the 'places we want to go' then, as far as I am concerned, so be it. I just can't understand your continual 'war' against the man - besides - if you don't like the product, dont buy it, simple really. Do you want NC and ML to leave the club, and we start all over again? Staggered.

Hate it? Really - nahhhh you love it, go on, feeeeeel the satisfaction of being right - get a right smug grin on your face as you sit there typing. While you're there though, best do a prediction of how 'things will only get worse' as well - you can save that one up for another day. Can you also tell me 'the sort of person we are dealing with' as well please, because not too many months ago, when we were up to our necks in deep smelly stuff it appeared to me that most fans were ready to bite this guys hand (of friendship) off. Absolutely bemused by the cr@p being handed out here, yes we are a little more expensive than your average L1 team, do we possibly have one of (if not the) best set of players in the league - thus they cost a little more. Check out Man Utd, Chelseas prices and then check out Blackburn, Stoke etc - same sort of pricing policy...! It is very easy to analyse the negatives - try doing the same with some of the positives that this guy has done for our club - start with when he more or less picked us up outta the bin, remember that? PS - Are you 19C in disguise by any chance?