Gorgiesaint

Who says our owner is any different? Listen this is a guy who has a personal fortune estimated at £2.5bn & owns the MALI group lock, stock & barrel. Do you really think that he would take over a L1 football team just to make money? How much do you think he would make? I would guess that you have to measure in hours the length of time it would take his investments & MALI would take to make the same as Saints in a year - probably minutes in reality.

What have we lost from our club? Yes, of course its a business - why did we go into administration? Basically (without the massive argument) we overspent, i.e. costs exceeded income. Yet it seems some expect us to trawl on as nothing has changed. Yes, as a football fan, increased charges come as a bit of a shock. We've got among the most expensive tickets in L1, but everyone is happy to watch one of the best squads in L1 perform every Saturday, but no-one wants to pay for them. How many clubs in this country are running at a loss? Have you also considered what happens in the post-ML era? Do we want to be in a position where we he goes and all of sudden we can't afford our running costs? It's a bit like buying & running an Aston Martin when all you can afford is a Focus. Or would you rather be in such a financially strong position that you can take advantage of others weakness. Does the increased cost hurt? - yes of course it does, but it's the right way long term. Is football a business? Yes it is these days. Does that mean we've lost our club? IMO no it doesn't.

Have some fans not learnt anything from the past 18 months?

Bit surprised that we would have released the existing medical team without having an adequate replacment in place - but fully understand that we would want a full time doctor in place.

Agreed, and also provides additional revenue from the corporate facilities used during the week. I would guess (IMO) that these are the people being targetted.

Just so long as we don't have a cheap hotel attached to the ground. (Sorry but someone had to say it!)

Would be a good fit for the Fulham job IMO, young up & coming English manager who used to play for the club so knows his way around with them. I'm pretty sure that Huddersfield won't want to lose him.

Alas, the StuRomseySaint Executive Thread is no more!

At least I got a ****????????

Being half-Dutch, I'm not. I'll never hear the end of it from my relatives if they win so no thanks.

If you really could see the differences, you would appreciate there are more than 2 'groups' of fans - this pretty much explains why debates end up being so polarised.

The problem with tennis in this country is the LTA - they have made much of the game only accessible to the middle classes, despite they supposedly spend millions on grass-routes tennis. They actually make the FA look like they're doing a good job - they're that bad!! Other countries do make the game accessible to all. I used to play a lot when I was a kid, just sneaked on courts during the summer hols and played all day. The problem is, that rather than encouraging kids to play, we got chased off (when there were 6 courts not being used at all). It is a good game but yes, Wimbledon & the LTA do not help the image of the game IMO.

Really looking forward to this one, both teams are good going forward & both have defences that have weaknesses. Have to say Argentina start as favourites for me.

It's not just an investigation into the poor performance on the pitch. Apparently, one of the main issues was that Lars Lagerbeck had agreed a salary of $1m for the world cup but was told they would announce it as $1.5m in the press. Corruption is pretty rife at the Nigerian Football Federation (allegedly).

Interesting that for the QF stage onwards, i.e. 8 matches, FIFA have kept 19 refereeing crews on. Not surprisingly, our friend from Uruguay isn't on the list. http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/competition/01/26/39/33/refereesandassistantrefereesforfifa.com1july.pdf

If you think Ian Wright was bad, you should have heard Mike Parry.

Don't under-estimate how much the Africans support each other. One of my friends is Nigerian - he knew they were rubbish so has spent most of his time supporting Ivory Chost & Ghana - ask him before the game last night and he is 'Ghanian in spirit'. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the Egyptians didn't support the Algerians but there is far more supporting your neighbour than we experience in Europe.

Don't worry, it's only 5 weeks tomorrow to the start of the new season!!

Alright Dav calm down!!! Maybe its a bad choice of phrase I'll choose to watch my football from where I want thanks, no you're right that I wouldn't turn down a free ticket either - but I wouldn't choose to pay. Has this site really dropped so far that where you choose to watch your football from is open to criticism from everyone else. Unbelieveable.

I wouldn't be seen dead in an executive suite but I appreciate them for what they are. They are money spinners for the club - they contribute more per fan than any resident of the Northam or any other stand for that matter. That helps put Rickie on the pitch. For that reason I wouldn't set fire to them... well that & they're attached to the rest of the stand!!!

which makes it even odder that Sochaux only announced the game on their website on Tuesday - with the caveat that the venue & kick off time was still to be decided, and Thun had not released any information on the game up to last night (not checked today).

And then been inundated with emails asking when the friendlies have been finalised (for months on end). No doubt, there would have been a thread on here blaming the club for only announcing the tour but not the important bit i.e. the matches. Perhaps AP doesn't want fans hanging around the training camp - maybe thats why they've gone to Switzerland rather than do this at Marchwood? I think you're the one who is missing the point. The games were announced as soon as the details were finalised - bear in mind neither is in Interlaken. Perhaps NC has told two top level teams that our massive third level team will only play them if they keep the details secret and away from their own websites until we've announced it first? Or is it the fact that our site announced confirmed details before both of the other teams involved a coincidence. Just for your information, had the Sochaux game taken place at their home ground - its 150 miles by road & a 2.5 hour drive to get there. Now we know then venue (barring any underhand tactic by NC) has just been agreed because although Sochaux's website had the game published on Tuesday - it stated time & venue to be confirmed. Yes you could argue that 150 miles for those who have already driven to Switzerland is not much more but perhaps the club are happy for people to go to the games but not hang around the training camp. Is that so hard to fathom?

I agree in terms of the resort - the Echo indicated, according to DBP (I'm out of the area so can't read the rag), that this was in place a month ago. IMO the opponents & hence the venue's had not been finalised. Look at who everyone else is playing for their first friendly in our division on the list that Steve provided - most are playing minor (and in some cases very minor) non-league sides. We're playing a top level side from the French and Swiss leagues. That must have taken some arranging, would a PL side entertain a pre-season friendly (not when they're on tour themselves) against a third level team from abroad?

Communication has been very poor with regards to season tickets, installment plans and the so-called customer charter (or what-ever it was called). I'm sure that there are other that can be added to the list. But this, no, sorry. I wonder if the fans at FC Sochaux & Thun complain about the lack of notice about pre-season friendlies as much as our fans?

Isn't he only contracted to us until August? Or is my mind playing evil tricks on me again!