Tamesaint

No it is not. The 45% you quote comes after all the expenses of putting on the game have been deducted & the away team's travelling expenses will not come out of the general take. Don't forget the knock ons. We should be able to make a few bob out of perimeter advertising, corporate hospitality packages,programme sales, food and drink sales,extra sales in the club shop etc etc - and these receipts will not have to be shared. If we cannot make the equivalent of 45% gross then our marketing team will need to be shot!!!

Yes - but for a normal league game, over two thirds of the crowd are season ticket holders who have already paid for their tickets. The extra revenue that the club receives from playing that game is small. For a cup game everyone has to pay. That's 15,000 extra tickets sold (our half of the gate). Assuming it is not budgeted for (and a prudent man like Rupert would not have expected a home tie v Man U) it is pure win.

Dave Hockaday wanted a high profile club in the FA Cup - someone who would get the stayaway fans back. Well he certainly got his wish didn't he!!!

You really don't get this football supporting lark do you Sundance? A true supporter of Southampton football Club just would not come out with this guff about Lawrie. Quite clearly you were not a supporter of Southampton between the mid seventies and mid eighties - which is surprising as you not so young that you were not around during that time. Here's an idea Sundance. Why don't you stop supporting one man (Lowe) and instead support a football team (Southampton)? It might change your outlook on life.

What does it say? Is it the beginning of the end for the Dark Lord?

Perhaps they could be put into the corners.

Don't get taken in by the PR spin or the weasel words. . The £3.5 million that we had on deposit conveniently did not include the amount at the same time that was in the overdraft. A good chunk of the £3.5 million that was in the bank had to be paid the day after Lowe and his cabal left to players as "loyalty bonuses" - ie The next instalment of their signing on fees. This would have been covered by contractual law. It would be a bit like you saying that you had x in the bank just after you got paid and just before you had to pay your mortgage, your rates and all the other bills. In theory you have the money ... but in practice you do not.

Does Rupert wear a Dutch cap when he watches Dutch football??? :-) :-)

Maybe someone other than Rupert doing the teamtalk is the reason that we won!!

Good point. According tio the Runnymede minutes the bank kept Lowe informed of the financial situation. I wonder why he didn't say something then.

Reading the annual accounts , I have a few questions for Lowe: 1. When Rupert left SMS,according to him, the club was financially strong. When he returned it was in a poor state. How can he therefore work with the catalyst for this change - Michael Wide? 2. Isn't it a little disingenous - nay, downright dishonest to compare the bank account on the day he left, 29 June 2006 , with the peak of the summer overdraft? Players are paid their "loyalty bonuses" / signing on fee instalments on 30 June. The bank balance would have been a lot lower two days after Lowe left. It is a bit like me comparing my bank balance the day after I was paid with the balance the day after I had paid my mortgage!! 3. Why does Rupert feel that he is unable to convert the "vocal,negative elements of our support base"? Why does it exist? Why even give them the oxygen of publicity in the annual accounts? 4. What are the "internal sources of finance" that the Directors may consider? Does this mean that Michael Wilde will cough up the long expected £2 million that he promised? Does this mean that Lowe and Cowen may repay some of the £600k they received when they resigned? 5. Do we have to pay that well known wit and raconteur Chris Iwelumo for quoting him in the accounts? I wonder whether he would answer these questions at the AGM??

Who do you have in mind Sundance??

What, pray,do you base this little gem on other than blind devotion to Lowe. The man had quite simply lost the plot in our last season in the Premiership. 3 managers by the start of December !!! No wonder we went down. Then in our first season down his "brilliant" masterstroke of cutting players wages by half meant that we missed our best chance of going back up. Instead of concentrating on doing what Birmingham seem to do so well of bouncing straight back up we spent most of the season getting rid of players who have subsequently shown that they could do a good job in the Premiership (Delap, Niemi etc ). 5 year rebuilding plan ??? You must be having a larff!!

... and there's the rub. Jan is only currently employed at a higher level because Nigel did such a good job last season!! If Nigel had bombed out and we had been relegated instead of Leicester he would now be at the higher level. You couldn't make it up!!!

So Crouch would have been a better bet in your eyes if he had blown agents fees , signing on fees etc on a couple of crocks. Hmmmmmm.

How on earth do the acquisitions of Pulis and Gasmi prove that Lowe is a good dealer in the transfer market ???? It would be nice to see them in a first team shirt!!!!

I need no lectures from anyone on supporting the Saints thank you very much. There was never a truer song than "Southampton till I die". That does not mean that supporting the team means that I have to give unquestioning obedience to everything that happens off the field. As a supporter of the club I can & will criticise what is going on off the field ... and still support the team. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to say to the luvvies that they were right and I was wrong when we re enter the Premiership under JP and Rupert.

What a patronising post!!! PMSL !!! "Anyone know what Justin Fashanu is doing these days?" :-) :-)

I heard a Reading fan saying after the match that Southampton must be a poor team. Reading played so badly today that if Southampton were any good they would have beaten Reading by more than 2-1. I just PMSL

He did play well. Once or twice I thought he played our defence into trouble ... but if you twist my arm I could give him 9.5. I feel good tonight.

He was magnificent. The others were exceptional. For a time in the second half Reading's main tactic was to pump long balls behind Scacel. It worked for a time but Perry covered him well and in the end they tried different tactics.

10 - what do you think???

Brilliant. Makes supporting Saints all worthwhile. Player ratings : Davis - 10. James - 10 Cork - 10 Perry - 10 Scacel -9 (it would be silly to give them all 10) Surman - 10 Schneiderlin - 10 Mcgoldrick - 10 Lallana - 10 Robertson - 10 BWP - 10 Sub- Patterson - 9 Not on long enough to earn 10

I second that. This is good news.

Where is the Waterloo Arms? Is it Lymington - home of LC ???