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that wasn't quite the point i was making...

Please elaborate on how he intends to do this. If he was so darstardly as to do this, do you not think the other shareholders might just have something to say about it? After all the board work for the shareholders...

Of course, which is when the banks whip their money away. The aim for the club then is to avoid the "crunch" at all costs

steady on chaps, we're not bristol city fans!!!

you're getting into this with a child? GROW UP!

their position is that they will rake in the interest on monies owed until the cows come home. it's not that hard to comperehend. They have no interest in our success or failure, they see only figures. As long as the debt is being serviced they are happy. They will be like the credit card companies who like you to borrow loads and make the minimum payment so you pay them lots of interest. As long as we can do that they will back us. After that they withdraw their money asap as it is too much to risk losing

Given that we have not been able to shift many of the high earners and our losses were so massive before, it's not a difficult assumption to make that £23k fans just wont cut it at the moment.

The money has not been there to invest simply because it has been swallowed up in operating costs, or more specifically the wages of overpaid, underachieving players and managers. i don't think that being a Plc adds a massive amount to the cst of running the business - certainly not when some players earn circa £600k per year basic! Any returns for shareholders would be within normal tolerances and consistent with decent investment returns. Why should we assume that a privately controlled limited company would not pay dividends to it's shareholders? If anything there would be less accountability for a private owner. They could pawn the stadium off, sell our best players and then wind the company up having made a tidy sum - and there would be nothing we could do about it.

but even if the fans came back and we had £20k - £23k every week, we still wouldn't be in a position to keep our best players. The current expenditure is far, far to great to be sustainable in anything other than the premiership. Most clubs from the top four down in the prem could be considered selling clubs if the Big Boys come calling. You can probably count on one hand the number of clubs around the world, who can turn down any offer. In fact, there is no club in the world for whom money is no object. I for one like Leon Crouch, but chances are he would have had to do exactly as Lowe is doing and would have to sell in January. Are you sure that lowe being here has that much to do with not attracting "new customers"? Or is it more that football fans are fickle and in many cases (not all) slightly ignorant.

from his own pocket not alot i don't suppose. But what some on here seem not to realise, is that generally people do not give away vast sums of money to football clubs. People that would are few and far between. Any club chairman will invest, but it will be from bank loans, retained operating profit or from transfers. 99 times out of 100 it will not be from their own pocket unless they are stupidly rich or just plain stupid.

There will be others, but if you don't want them sold then tell everyone you know who is staying away, to get down to St Marys and support them. Don't sell - definitely go bust Sell - maybe go bust Play the percentages - that's what good gamblers do apparently

depends on the question. But in this case no. However I do know when people are blinkered and are not able to see both sides of an argument. The situation puts lowe in between a rock and a hard place. 1. He keeps our best players, we potentailly stay up but we go into administration, get points deducted and go into a downward spiral, losing all saleable assets, get relegated next year and all hope of short - medium term recovery is pie in the sky. 2. He sells our best players to keep the team afloat, slowly but surely gets rid of the high earners and makes the club potentailly more able to be self sustaining (even with the stayaways) - potentially we could get relegated or still go into administration. Two choices, but which to choose? If it were me and my money was invested, i would look to cut costs as far as possible and run a tight ship. This would involve one very important caveat, i would have to be confident in the ability of the people i had working for me i.e. the coach and the players. Lowe does not want to loose a shed load of money - anyone that says otherwise is bonkers. His first priority is not lining his pockets, it is avoiding losing millions of pounds, MILLIONS OF POUNDS. He will do everything in his power to avoid this and will have thought long and hard about the calculated risk of the current setup we have. Given that the world is on the brink of financial meltdown do you not think that it would be a damn good idea to get the club able to stand on it's own two feet rather than have to be bailed out by getting dubious loans or relying on gifts from wealthy benefactors. Ultimately we could fail whatever route is taken, but the one that has a better chance in the long long long terms is the one that relies on us, the fans, NOT the goodwill of someone easily parted with their money or a dodgy arms dealer.

Our team is now more technically gifted than at any point i can remember. They are adding some street smarts and physical strength slowly but surely. Things are getting better.

two words for you... ...learning curve.

A far more contributary factor in us getting relegated was Peter crouch's decision not keep hold of the ball against Everton in the final minute of injury time and instead shoot tamely at their keeper. They then went down the other end and scored.The line between success and failure is a microscopic one. And somehow people seem to think they have all the right answers. Small minded Idiots

have you got proof to back this up? almost anyone (inluding the mythical knight in shining armour) investing in the club will expect a return - lowe is no different. I for one have no problem with that (within reasonable limits). If the club is successful enough to be profitable, that can only be a good thing.

having witnessed the "reserves" take the **** out of a very good reading side at the weekend i'm more agrieved to have had to pay to watch the overpaid mercenaries we had last year!!

i expect travel to the game would have been cliamed on expense if lowe or wilde had gone. Maybe they are just doing their 'bit' for our ailing finances.

they forgot lucy pinder.

It was 4-2-2-1-1 as usual. Just got back from the game and frankly i've not seen many teams play as well as we did in the first half - we should have been out of sight at half time. Not one player had a bad game. This team is definitley good enough, if we can add consitency to the ability and potential then i firmly believe the future is very, very bright. The away support today was incredible too, if we could replicate that at home we would be in a much better position, on and off the pitch.

Wayne Bridge

I acknowledge that it seems a little high compared with the prevailing rate at the time, but i would imagine given the precarious, fickle nature of football - particularly for clubs outside the higher reaches of the premier league - the banks would look to cover their risk by only offering inflated rates compared to businesses in other industries. As with the current credit crunch, things can change very quickly - especially given that the loan is over such a long term. Who's to say we wont see a return of 12% interest rates in 5 - 10 years time? If you have that sort of knowledge then you know more than the rest of us!

to be fair, with the sums we are talking about a business cannot afford to play russian roulette with interest rates. A fixed rate will aid in cash flow forcasting and budgeting. Hindsight is always a wonderful thing.

i thought he was on about 12k with us at one point.

Surely the club could allocate seating on a first come first serve basis as per a normal ticket sale. Essentially you'd use the season ticket as a credit note against the games, with the benefit of reduced cost to you and increased revenue up front for the club.