redkeith

All Tommorows Parties confirmed for May 2010. Tickets and ferry look too pricey for me. I'll have to wait to see if they come to France.

I see on the Skates OS that they still have 3000 tickets available for the Everton game. I was also surprised to see that they are still showing last years table on their home page for some reason. This is a bit of revisionism that Stalin would have blushed at! I think our previous regimes missed a trick here. Perhaps attendances would have been better if we had the 83/84 season final table on our web-site. Hope trading standards don't find out, as a fine for false advertising might send Pompey under.

I can see why Tiss would think about having a bet on the Dave Jones long punt kick-off tactic. It was appalling, and never led to anything more than losing posession from the resulting throw in 20 yards in the opponents half. Whether Saints or the oppo got the first throw is neither here nor there (unless you are playing Stoke who would launch it 70 yards into your box). The only decent kick-off we had in those days was a home game against Spurs when someone passed it to Marian, who then set of on a run to the penealty area, got body checked and booked for diving. I was sat in the East Stand and it was a blatent pen. I say, get Hants Police to investigate that ref instead.

I have just seen someone on the BBC boards say that the reason that they can't sell all the tickets is because the ground is too small after it went all seater. I know that some people stopped trying to get tickets at the Dell because it got too difficult, but not 4,000 of 'em. His arguement was that they used to get 25K in the 3rd division years ago. I prefer to think that if you mapped the attendance against the position in whichever league they are in, you would see the trend. 8-10 K core support and the rest only come if they are winning.

I think (Nobby) that I read a message from someone like you, that had let their Season Ticket lapse, but they still got the renewal price, as they were on the datbase as a former ST holder. Might be worth asking at the Box office on Saturday.

When games were first shown live, we used to win every time, and I seem to remember that we never even conceeded a goal ( mind you this was 1984). I think this continued even to the Branfoot days, as I can remeber a 1.0 win at Maine Road with Dowie up front. Lets hope that the tide turns back in our favour.

Lallana isn't playing at Eastleigh today. Does that mean that someone has upped their bid? Also, I see that there has been a siighting of the lesser spotted Pullis. Any Liverpool scouts watching him, in case Mascherano leaves?

Liquidation. If Lowe came back, the team would be full of 16 year olds, the ground would be more than half empty and we would go into liquidation anyway.

I'm not worried about MLT and Falkia not having experience of running a big company. Wilde, Lowe, Hume et al had a great deal of experience in running companies. Unfortunatley for Saints, they managed to run us into the ground. How about judging them on what they acheive, rather than indulge in the toy throwing, foot stamping and nihilism that has been filling this board for the past two weeks ( ..... wait ten seconds for the deluge of outraged posts headed in my direction )

For me, as well as most of the above, I would have to go for the Highbury groundsman in 84. Wallace's shot hit a divot which made it go wide, and it was a freak bounce of another divot for Heath's goal. Also, I still can't stand Marcus Bent for that last minute goal. He was so wide that if you got him to try it again 99 times out of a hundred he'd hit the corner flag.

I think we are being a bit unkind to our fishy friends. When we wen't there for the cup game in 1984, they were very keen to invite us all for a freindly game of pool. So keen in fact that they threw all of the pool balls into the away end, just so that we didn't have to put 50p in the tables.

Did anyone who was at that game notice Surnam and McGoldrick being clattered into more than our other players, as this is a good indicator that Billy Davies rates a player( Jones and Bale in the play-offs). A look at the optica Foul stats could indicate whether they are genuine Davies targets.

When you are in admin, you get screwed. There is not a lot of charity in the football world. I can remember Burnley buying Adie Randall from Aldershot for £35,000 when they wen't to the wall. A year earlier, Randall turned down a £250,000 move to Shef Weds. We did the same to Oldham with Fitz-Hall for £125,000 so I suppose what goes around comes around.

There has been talk about the assets on other threads, but if you look at them all, there is no way that it is in the creditors interest to let the club fold. 1) Stadium, only of real value if someone else wants to use it ( Eastleigh, a rugby club or some American buys the Skates and decides to move them to better facilities like the LA Rams did) . 2) Staplewood - again only of real value if another sports team wants it( £2 Mil). 3) Acadamey Hostel, can be sold as housing, B&B etc( £1 mill) . 4) The playing staff - Can only be sold if the club is still going, otherwise they all walk (£3 - 5 Million) 5) The Golden Share and the 'goodwill' of the supporters, again only of value if the club keeps going, worth at least £3 million a year if as few as 7,000 people still turn up every week. The players and the goodwill are the most valuable assets, and any sensbile creditor would see that. Having said that, our biggest creditors are Financial Institutions, who thought it was safe to give a mortgage to Earl and Randy Hicky and then sell it on to each other.

I'm not so sure about the genius of cutting players salaries after relegation. I can remember Lowe stating before relegation, that SLH would be OK because he inserted pay cut in some players contracts, yet we managed to make a net loss the first season down, despite the sales of Niemi, Quashie, Crouch and Walcott. Add that to the fact that most of Harry's signings the previous season, the retirement of Dodd and Le Saux and letting Anders go on a Bosman, we started the season with only half of the team that got us relegated. Contrast that with Birmingham City, who keep their squad together each time they go down, and go straight back up again. I fear that the genius of pay cut's could result in James, Gillet, and McGoldrick etc all leaving us for 'Big Payers' like Blackpool or Barnsley.

It never fails to amaze me how some players get criticised for continually passing the ball to their own team mates. I can remember Oakley and Magilton getting the same treatment, and also Folly when Sturrock played him at DM for a while. Mind you I used to moan about Bally's short square passing all those years ago. I am not saying that Morgan is in the same league as any of the above, but he is by far the best passer of the ball that Saints have at the moment. If someone can toughen him up a bit, Scheiderlin and Gillet could be a force to be reckoned with. If not here then maybe at another club.

When we first heard about the disaster my mind wen't back to the Saints game there in 84. I was stood in the middle pen and it was packed. Every time Saints attacked I was picked up of the ground by the weight of bodies, but I was always lucky enough to end up back on my feet. Not pleasent, but it was so full that you couldn't get out until the game was over. Freinds of mine were stood in the side pens and had plenty of space. When you get in the gate at that end, all you can see is the back of the stand, with one tunnel in the middle, and no obvious sign posting. Most people went straight down the tunnel into the crush. I always said afterwards that it was the worst away end I had ever been in, so I was shocked but not suprised by the news. The Leppings Lane End was always an accident waiting to happen.

As Barclays are currently borrowing billiions at 14% interest rates from the Middle East, rather than be part nationalised at 12%, it seems they don't know that much about Banking, let alone football. Perhaps they could benefit from a 'Revoloutionary New Banking' set up, and Mr Lowe could advise them on lending policy towards, Hedge Funds, North London Yobo's etc.

How about copying the Catalan protest of waving a white hankie to show your displeasure. If this could be planned for the United game, when the cameras are there, 30 minutes into the game, it should have the maximum visual impact without people having to miss any of the on field torture. This is easier than handing out red cards, as everyone gets a new hanky for Xmas.

What is the difference between Robert Mugabe and Rupert Lowe? One is a despised madman, ignoring world opinion as he destroys the very thing that he is employed to serve... the other is head of Zanu P.F (Apologies to the people of Zimbabwe)

At the time that Lowe was preasuring the two 'Arry's to play more youngsters, he had a point. The youth team had just been beaten in the FA Youth Cup Final, and there were a few players that were ready for the championship, Baird/Cranie would have been a better right back than Hjiato, Blackstock would surey have scored more goals than Ormeroyd ( more than zero) then there were a number of others that were ready for the bench, such as Griffit ( 3 prem goals ), Best, Mills, Folly. Match that up with the experience of Claus,Higgy, Quashie,Oakley, Niemi, Belmadi and Fuller, and you had the basis of a good team. It didn't happen, and most of that youth team has now been wasted. However, timing is everything and to try to push so many youth players through at once, without a backbone of 6 or 7 old heads is just madness. Over the years, Saints have produced dozens of quaility players Channon, Holmes, Bridge, Paine, Agboola, Bale, Williams, Le Tisseir, Wallace, Shearer, Chivers, Webb, Walcott, Waldron, Sydenham ..... some good players, some great players but if you put them all in the same team as teenagers, they would get spanked. In the Premiership days, Lowe stated that his dream was for the Acadamy to bring enough quality players into the squad to allow Saints to compete without spending excesive amounts on transfer fees. Now, his idea seems to be to get the players in the shop window as soon as possible, to move them on for a quick profit. To use a racing analogy, plan A was to train a Derby winner, Plan B seems to be so go for the selling stakes at Salisbury.

At the Villa away game at the start of the relegation season, Delap took a long throw to Crouch, who flicked it on to Fernades. Fabrice volleyed it goalwards only for it to hit Phillips up the arse and get cleared. For the first time in ages, a Delap throw had almost worked. Minutes later, with the clock running down, we got another throw in the same postion, Delap steps up and ..... takes a short one. Go figure.

I have been out this afternoon and so I missed the torture on the radio, but there are a few basics that seem to have slipped past our managment/DOF team. - Playing a system to fit your players. BWP moved left, Lallana moved right when he is born to play in 'the hole' . We have no fit wingers so you cannot persist with a system that needs 2 goals scoring wingers. The only player suited to this 42121 formation is Lallana, If you move him then all 4 forward players are out of position! - Getting rid of your goalscores because goal bonuses cost money. The end product of the business is goals, thats what people pay to see, No goals, no wins, no crowds, no cash. It is simple economics to anyone who knows football, rather than bean counters who see people paying money to sit in a concrete bowl whatever is served up in front of them. If, as seems likely, Barclays are setting a wage cap on the team each week, we no longer need a DOF. We may as well let Barclay's pay one of their recovery team, rather than fork out Lowes wages. ( ... awaits abuse from the lovies ...)

I am sure I have said it before on here, but the worst thing that twitchy did was after relegation. We had the FA youth cup final team, many of who were ready for the first team and many more that would have been by the end of the season, plus Kenwyne Jones, Chris Baird and Andrew Surnam. They were all frozen out, barring the odd game for KJ, in favour of some Polish mercanaries, Dennis Wise and Ricardo Fuller. As a result, we ended up losing Crannie, Mills and Blackstock who all got tired of waiting. He had the chance to build something for the future, but decided to wheel and deal instead. Perhaps he couldn't get his cut if a youngster earned a new contract ?

There is a picture of Clydie on the London Saints website. Here is the link. Clydie is the one with the tache. I think a few more people might recognise him than realise. I certainly remember him always being in the Waterloo on the way to the Dell. Sadly missed.