Graffito

I read this on Satrurday too. There are actually a couple of quite interesting comments by Poortvliet in there. For those that can't be bothered to read it all, the article says in relation to Cork: It does not help when players are suddenly taken away from him – such as Jack Cork, on-loan from Chelsea who has suddenly moved to Watford. Poortvliet's hands were tied. "He was part of our team and now he's gone," he says. "And that was a question of money. We have a problem with that but hopefully the rest of the boys will stay." That final bit is said without too much conviction.

"This is purely a marriage of convenience, with the Club suffering as a resuult of this sham marriage." A marriage of convenience and the only thing that gets fkced is the club.

He has been told by one of the senior coaches to stop running around all over the pitch and pick out the space that creates and hurts the opposition. That would be good advice. If Lallana doesn't follow instructions he should be dropped. What's the Head Coach telling him?

Can't comment on Saint's performance as I didn't go and after having tuned in to the commentary on Five Live Extra after 15 minutes only to discover we were 3-0 down, I couldn't bear to listen. However, from what I've seen of Burnely, they are a good side, in form. We lost 3-2. Did we honestly expect to beat them?

Yep, regularly changing the Manager's really worked for us hasn't it?

"Get some perspective" you say. With "so much suffering in the world", how do we explain why some of us spend so much time on a Saints message board?

Bristol managed some.

"The common denominator Nick is a lack of basic talent or application". How do you explain the performance away to Reading?

But this is precisely what's happened with the banks. Privatise the profits, socialise the losses. It grates somewhat to see all the pictures of local politicians in the official SMS commemorative book I have celebrating the then new stadium. Fair weather supporters perhaps. SFC is far more important to me than a bank but there are just not enough votes in it locally.

There aren't enough votes in it.

"If I am paying that much I expect to see Rooney, Ronaldo, Berbatov et al, not the second string"! Isn't this just so f******* depressing?

I'm really pleased for him, and us, that he's turned things round from last season, especially after the stick he got from some Saints fans at one or two matches. I think the man's got b*lls for having played through that and I hope he gets his just reward. Realistically, I can't see him being selected for England until he demonstrates that he can deal consistently with crosses and dominate his 6 yard box. Perhaps if we didn't crowd the box at corners he'd be able to do that. His save from close range at Charlton when he began to move right and then saved left was quality.

Embarrassingly, I have to own up to having been at Reading too but that's no reflection on his performance, I trust your judgement, but more a reflection of mine, having spent too much time in the pub before the match.

"Yes, I'd be happy with DMG leading the line for the rest of the season, but he can also play in any of the other 3 forward positions, so a better balance may come along. But remember we have Lee Holmes to come back, and BWP hitting form, and Lallana and Euell to fit in, so hopefully there will be competition for places." I think DMG plays better off a main striker. I know he's not universally rated on here (understatement) but I think he has ability and we haven't seen the best of him. I've only seen Paterson for the 7 mins or so at Charlton but he looked promising and the partnership is definitely worth a go but it may need players around those two to adapt in order to make the most of it.

Hey Ladysaint what does "being pruned as our new manager" entail? Sounds painful.

Yes and isn't it a reasonable expectation of Lowe and Wilde that they back their judgement by investing in more shares through a rights issue. In their judgement, of course, our young team can achieve success given time. It's their strategy, why not back it by putting your money where your mouth is? Whereas what we read is that there will be a rights issue in the event that the club must be protected as a going concern.

It's a wind up. Posting it on one of their messages boards would be more appropriate.

They may have benefited from leadership but the foundation of their success is the new ground which the Council paid for by selling part of it's telephone company, leaving the club debt free. This article, together with one published by the Guardian last week containing an interview with Keith Harris are required reading for understanding the context in which Saints have been operating these last few years, one in which sound leadership is at a premium but is no guarantor of success given the skewed economics of football.

"My nickname is Victor for obvious reasons.." erm... not so obvious...your a Saints fan, right? I got it, your surname's Meldrew!

Are you familiar with the word "hubris"?

Agree with the first paragraph. I doubt very much anyone at the club is sleepwalking to relegation given the dire financial consequences. My reading of JP's comments is that he is trying to maintain the confidence of his young and inexperienced team. BTW didn't West Ham go down under Brooking? ...could be wrong about that..

Just to clarify, your solution to our lowly league position is that we must all believe we will be relegated and Lowe must sack the coach?

He wanted to remove the head and and leave the body intact (Saints Forever). He severed the head but the body got weaker. He put the head back on but the body became a monster. Many stopped feeding the body. It became weak. Why did he do it? I'd really like to know. Was it for personal gain or is he a Saints fan? If the intentions are honourable then there's nothing to hide so surely he can tell us. We deserve an explanation.

We do though.

Much mention of Saints having had a big squad of average players. The reason we had lots of average players is because we've had too many managers over the past 5 years. Who hired and fired the managers?