Graffito

Tbf Birmingham have managed the drop pretty well in recent seasons. Appointing decent managers helps.

I see Maggie Thatcher was involved. I just knew it.

This article is spot on. It's a bad rule but that's not our problem. The FL has acted beyond it's remit in applying a moral judgement when all it should be doing is applying it's rules.

Best goal - Lallana away to QPR Best game - away to Reading

"The sooner Arsenal sign him the better." Is this irony? Does Arsene Wenger know something we don't? I agree it was a bizarre decision to risk scarce resources on an untried teenager from abroad (and plain wrong in Saint's circumstances) but I think he can play, despite what your stats appear to tell you. The signing of Wotton may have made more sense at the time but I can't have been the only one who wondered why Plymouth released him.

Right decision for him and the club imo.

You crack me up Laughing Boy.

Wotte's right. Winners perform under pressure and never give up.

So you don't like this proposal. What's your's?

That Liddle article's complete tripe. His whole argument is predicated on one comment on the OS. He's been highly selective with the few facts he's managed to research. His suggestion of merging with P**tsmouth is plain silly. Merger might be rational in business terms but he knows full well that business isn't what makes football special. If he really is a Millwall fan, I wonder how he would feel about merging with West Ham. I think a few heads would get kicked in with that one, including his.

It's a good question which has been bothering me since I read the comments in one of the Echo articles urging fans to fill SMS to make the club more attractive to buyers. Isn't the Administrators duty to the creditors? If so, and no buyer comes forward before the end of May then perhaps the money goes to pay off debts.

Post and be damned. I get next to no information from the OS (all they put up this morning was a link to the LSE statement) and I don't trust entirely what I read in the Echo. Keep it coming FF.

"..if a significant proportion of the club's debt is wiped out ..it could still be at the discretion of the League whether a points penalty is imposed." There's an "if" in there. The biggest debt's the mortgage. It's not clear, to me at least, who actually has the mortgage on the ground, what charges there may be on the mortgage and what is likely to happen to the ground. I doubt it will be sold for redevelopment for the reasons Bridge Too Far has given above and I believe the land will not currently be designated for residential use. The ground itself is no use without a football team to play in it. Aviva would surely want to ensure Saints continue to play there so as to service the mortgage. In which case the biggest debt would remain with the football club and under current rules this appears to mean no points deduction.

Is failure to file accounts sufficient reason for suspension perhaps?

He's down to his last marble.

This Hubris bloke sounds just like Rupert, except for the bit about disproportionate concern with image and presentation. Rupert's no Max Clifford is he?

That's 9 goals conceded and none scored in the last two matches against Reading and Brighton. My impression is that the Academy maybe isn't as strong either, although this may be because youngsters are being pushed through earlier. We appear to be seeing a general weakening of the playing staff from first team downwards.

Some people may have done but I didn't. I'm saying it now because Charlton are 11 points adrift at the bottom of the division with a GD of -8 compared with Saints.

I was talking to a Charlton fan who said something similar. He was hoping they'd now relax and play better. I still think we'll beat them though.

If we can't beat Charlton we don't deserve to stay up. I think we'll beat them.

He's a got talent for conning the referee. We can do without cheats than you very much.

So apparently it was all great when we were at the Dell and it's been all downhill since we moved to SMS. Our decline is all because we moved from the Dell and if we'd stayed, by implication, we'd have carried on winning the FA Cup (once, 33 years ago), finishing runners up (once 25 years ago) and qualifying regularly for Europe (what?). What a load of cr*p. It makes a nice neat story to fill half a column but it's complete cobblers.

West Ham should have been deducted points and relegated, that's what has happened to smaller clubs that have cheated, like Luton. It would also have been a more definite punishment and more likely have brought an end to the affair. West Ham have been heavily fined, yes, but the ruling has opened up a can of worms with these further claims and the whole situation is untenable and could rumble on indefinitely. I went to West Ham v West Brom on Monday night. If they play like that next season and with their poor financial situation they are going down anyway.

Thanks to Bergerac for advising this match was being shown. I watched a recording of it last night and loved every minute. It's hard to believe it was 30 years ago. I was at the match in the top tier behind the goal. I'd forgotten most of what happened on the day but the memories came flooding back, especially the two great goals Saints scored. Brilliant.

I didn't see the game so can't comment on Surman's performance last night but I've read this thread and the range of opinions on Surman goes from "no future in football" to, by inference, the opinions of Stuart Pearce and apparently David Moyes and Martin O'Neill, who've all had some success. Whenever I've seen Surman play he's done well for us this year and is one of our more skilful players. By all accounts he had an off night last night but let's not write the lad off. He's a Saints fan too so he knows the score. MoM on Saturday I hope.