CHAPEL END CHARLIE

I've got problem with 'supporting the lads' - a bit of singing or shouting (even in the Chapel :shock:) is half the fun , but it remains my opinion that it makes little or no actual difference to the result of the match .

We'd have had a chance - a slim one but a chance nevertheless . As it stands today we're a dead team walking .

You might be unlucky in a game but over a 46 match season ? - nonsense :smt048 . Remember Dave it was the Mad Professor who started this and no sane person takes any notice of him

How about : Wotte ...........No Rupert Poortvliet........It's 4-4-2 today boys Lowe..............I could be wrong you know Mule..............That £200k bonus , I'm too embarrassed to take it Burley.............Not for me thanks I'm on the wagon Walcott...........God I wish I'd never left the Saints Dyer...............I'm desperate to spend my entire career at Southampton Skacel............Money means nothing to me , I'm here for the love of the game Barclay's..........Dispatch a lorry load of cash to the Saints at once! Powell.............I'm fully fit Jermaine W......The fans loved me at that club BWP...............My dads so proud of me BWP...............My brother's so jealous of me Wilde..............Our aim is to at least reach the play-off positions this season :smt082

I've never heard of him but I expect plenty on here will know his complete life history as usual : http://www.people.co.uk/sport/football/tm_headline=hotline-southampton&method=full&objectid=21125492&siteid=93463-name_page.html Yes I know it's in the Sunday People which is not exactly 100% reliable .

That just about sums up how I feel , all hope abandoned . Each new defeat just passes over me now as I expect nothing else in all honesty , the mixture of pity and mirth I'll get at work on Monday hardly hurts much either to be frank - we're shi*e and we know we are . The only glimmer of light left in my footballing existence is the hope that the coming Relegation/Administration will finally rid us Lowe/Wilde and we can start the rebuilding process - Oh Gods of Football I beseech thee ! don't forsake us and take that last ray of hope away from Saints fans , we've truly suffered enough . :smt010

Well he's behind Kelvin Davis in the pecking order (about 20 miles behind if I remember his last performance correctly) and maybe the club see Tommy Forecast as next seasons first choice keeper . He joined us back in 2005 when we were still paying pretty good wages so possibly he's seen as a expensive luxury we can no longer afford . All just my speculation of course .

Definite lack of perspective on here , 50 people have lost their jobs and having found myself in exactly the same position on more than one occasion they certainly have my sympathy , indeed any of us working in the private wealth creating sector (as opposed to safe Government Jobs) may well be joining them before very long . But no ones actually died have they ? Most will find other work within a year or so and the state will ensure their family's don't go hungry in the meantime . Some dismounting from the old proverbial 'high horse' may well be in order .

The captain of the ship is always fully responsible and answerable for it's safety , if I might stretch the analogy to breaking point we are where we are because of incompetence on the bridge - not in the engine-room .

I actually agree with you to a point , no one person (not even Rupert) is to blame entirely for our plight , but please explain specifically what is it that Saints fans have done or failed to do that has resulted in the clubs long term decline ? It's all very well talking in generalities about "the blame must be shared" but if you're going to make that statement you better justify it . As far as I can see the support inside St Marys has been remarkably good in the main , especially when you remember just how depressingly infrequent home wins have become over the last two seasons and the sheer ineptitude of the club's management . For my money there is only one thing wrong with Saints fans - there's just not enough of us .

A fit Andrew Davies / Wayne Thomas / Michael Svensson could have made all the difference between SFC being the near certainties for relegation we are today or us still retaining a decent chance of staying up . We keep repeating the same mistake - it's absolutely crucial you have adequate defensive cover in place and fit to play before the seasons starts . With hindsight or without it's clearly a serious error to just sit back and hope some untested kid on loan from the Premier League or Oliver Lancashire will do , caution dictates that whatever else you do you don't take avoidable risks with the back four and goalkeeper . An additional (relatively inexpensive) JP 'Size' or Chris Lucketti type experienced defender could/should have been signed as soon as AD decided to leave and the gravity of WT's injury became clear . It's a terrible old cliche but still true - you build from the back when putting a team together - somehow we seem to have forgotten this basic footballing truth this season and last . :smt091

In view of the outstanding level of entertainment on offer at St Marys this season and the teams unequalled record of consistent results I feel confident that the entire fanbase will happily fall into line behind a price rise . It would be a duty if not a privilege to hand over more of our hard-earned cash to support the Chairman's revolutionary football vision . The only thing I ask is can we have more of the same next season Rupert ? and please , please increase the ST price to at least £1000 , as that should keep the riff raff out . Yours Sincerely Chapel End Charlie , C/O The Maximum Security Wing , Rampton Secure Hospital NHS Trust , Retford , Nottinghamshire . DN22 0PD

You can't argue with that . Some eijit posted on here recently that had Crouch still been in charge of SFC we'd be in Admin already because he would not have made any cut backs/player disposals last summer (presumably because despite all evidence to the contrary he's actually a crap businessman) and he's blinded to basic commercial realities by his love of the club and a need to remain popular with the fans . This sad news tends to suggest that LC like most successful businessmen can actually read a balance sheet and take the appropriate action , as if anybody should need telling in the first place .

It seems Saganowski's had a spot of bother as well . http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/4123161.Wotte_tells_Saints_players__It_s_safer_to_stay_at_home_/

Tell us something we don't already know . Lowe strikes me as the type of personality possessed with an innate sense of complete self confidence , convinced of their own infallibility this type sees no need for advice and they tend to surround themselves with people of the same opinion (Poortvliet) or at least 'yes men' (Wotte) who wouldn't dare question them . This might be acceptable if they're fundamentally correct in their decision making , unfortunately history shows that more often than not they tend to be wrong - the utter fiasco of this season shows us clearly that Rupert Lowe falls into the latter category . Any proper 'Football Man' could have told you this seasons youth strategy was likely to fail , half the members of this forum could see it for that matter - the fact that the Chairman wasn't listening is a tragedy for this club and all those who hold it's welfare close to their hearts .

I think he's a wonderful man , mind you that Mr Hitler had a very nice moustache and Genghis Khan was good to his mum .

You make a good point regarding players being difficult to handle . From what I can see NP's man-management skills are his strongest asset , the hand round the shoulder for Simon Gillett , the obvious total commitment he extracted from the entire team at the end of last season for instance . Players believe in and want to play for this man , that's half the battle . As he climbs the football ladder he will come across more of the 'big name' high maintenance players so commonly found in the Premier League - how he handles these independently wealthy players with their delicate ego's may well determine how far Pearson goes in the game .

He's managing a team that will almost certainly win the division they're playing in - always an achievment at any level - not to mention the minor matter of saving our skins last May . I've little or no understanding of this 'Nigel Pearson is he all that' argument , it's patently obvious he's a good young manager to anyone with eyes in their head I would have thought . :confused: Each to his own I suppose .

Pompey would be well advised to consider Nigel Pearson as he's a bloody good manager (regardless of the minority view on here) - just can't see it happening at this time to be honest .

The fundamental reason we haven't appointed the 'right' manager is because we're labouring under the 'wrong' Chairman and nothing will ever go right at this club until we're rid of him . If/when we get good competent people in the Boardroom then we might end up with a good manager , until that day the 'Rotten Tree' is just going to produce more 'Rotten Fruit' I'm afraid .

Oh you can rest assured that money does indeed talk . We can all protest from now to kingdom-come but no one will listen or care - but little or no take up of new Season Tickets and the major shareholders may well decide to call time on Mr 6% reign of terror I would have thought . It'll be far too late to save this season though .

Couldn't agree more Baz , "complete disaster" sums this season up rather well . But it's not just this season is it , 07/08 was pretty grim much of the time (ended well though ) and I seem to remember reading on here that over a longer period the Saints had lost more games than any other club in British professional football :smt022 . As a 'Talk Sport' fan I'll no doubt tune in on Monday lunchtime and hear that Andy Jacobs droning on endlessly about how bad Chelsea are and what a terrible situation they're in - try supporting the Saints for a week mate and then you might understand what a real struggle means because you haven't got a clue .

Before a ball was kicked this season the club was in grave danger of relegation such was the sheer ineptitude of our set up and preparations . I said at the time we'd finish somewhere in the bottom 6 and with the benefit of hindsight it turns out I was being too optimistic . History is repeating itself as it always does when you fail to learn its lessons , not only will we be relegated again we'll probably finish in bottom place again just like 2005 . The only useful thing we can do now is to let Lowe and Wilde - those who are truly responsible for this sorry state of affairs - know exactly what we think of them and what they have in store should they harbour any notion of buying the business off the Administrator .

Simple or simplistic ? The logic of this argument would imply that we should never have been relegated from the Premier League in the first place as we virtually sold-out St Marys every home game did we not ? I promise you (from bitter experience) that had 32,000 turned up last Tuesday it's highly unlikly to have made the slightest difference to the result . I reject entirely the notion that the fans are in any way responsible for the clubs decline , indeed it's a footballing miracle anyone still turns up at St Marys considering the total crap we've had to put up with this season .

You seem to be arguing that a football club Chairman and/or Manager can make no real difference to the teams results . This raises two points : 1 - If they make no difference why bother employing them in the first place ? we might as well save some cash and let the kit man run the club . 2 - I can only say that I fundamentally disagree with this assertion in the first place , leadership is everything in any organisation and there are numerous examples of 'financially challenged' football clubs doing a heck of a lot better than us this season when led my competent leaders possessed with at least a basic understanding of the British game . The reason we find ourselves in this position is all down to poor leadership (not just Rupert Lowe's ineptitude , there's plenty of blame to go round) and we'll only ever dig our way out of this hole we're in when the club's led by able people , both in the Boardroom and on the pitch .