Rebel

Henri Camara Calum Davenport Olivier Barnard Nigel Quashie Jamie Redknapp possiblly the worst set of players SFC has ever signed reason enought to hate him - let alone for his complete lack of commitment to the job at SFC - and his greed in taking the job and the money - even when he got us relegated

maybe we should try and get him in on loan in January!

with a full St Mary's and the FA cup run in 2003 Saints were the 7th biggest English club on revenue and the 10th on attendance - or something like that I'm sure Steve Grant will have the exact figures somewhere St Mary's was a good move for us - the board at the time failed to spend the extra money it generated properly it went on a squad of nearly 40 journeymen players, 10 years of dividends and bonus payments (we had the highest paid chairman and CEO in the league at one point) and a lot of money paid out in expenses and to other companies for various things now all probably legal - but I bet a fair bit of that money ended up in a small group of peoples bank accounts through various routes Our turnover was £52 million at one point and our player wage bill less than £25 million. Surely a lot of that extra cash could have been used to massively reduce the mortgage on the stadium crowd numbers have gone down because of poor performance on the pitch, a false messiah in Wilde, the standard of the opposition, the crapness of Burley, the blind management of Hone, Hoos and Oldknow and return of Lowe - not too mention the mainaining of ticket prices at a level that's far too high ticket prices at St Mary's are symptomatic of football though - its all about money - and its all for the players nearly all football players earn too much - a journeyman player cam earn £20K+ a week in the premiership whereas the average wage in the CCC is £3K a week (still over £150K a year) -still far too much for clubs without TV money we simply can't afford to lower prices - tickets should be £15 a game - if we did price tickets at that level we'd get nearer 25,000 a week easy two adults and two kids - a family ticket - for £40 is about right -but right now its the best past of £100 I can't afford that! People are falling out of love with football for a lot of reasons - the big 4 monopoly - the foreign owners, the overkill on TV, the celebrity players and their WAGS, the England Team - and Saints are seeing that in their gates! the gap between the PL and the CCC is so big the parachute payments don't come anywhere near bridging it! Charlton have too many bad players - who because they are overpaid they simply can't get rid off - and if they do go bust it will be those players wages that take precdence over any other debts!

maybe we should send him a bill for the lost transfer revenue

Lowe made a lots of mistakes when we got relegated - compounding the mistakes he made that got us relegated Lowe kept Redknapp and his cronies on board - real old school boys - and brought in Woodward and Clifford - who had a new way of doing things - so we were niether one thinhg nor the other - just a real mess! we just kept going down the middle and straight on to the rocks the other big mistake was with the team - we got rid of too many players - but at the same time we didn't get rid of enough we should have either kept the team together and given our all to have gone straight back up - or cleared out the lot and used it as an opportunity to rebuild the club from the ground up instead we let too many key players go - but still kept too many high earners - so we were stuck in a position where we were leaking money - but still had no chance of going up the ship was truly rudderless with Admiral Lowe at the helm! the Burley, Wilde, Hone, Hoos, Oldknow and spending the £7 million we didn't have mess is a whole different story though Lowe should take the blame for appointing Burley - although I think we all thought it was a good decision at the time! Once we were relegated we should have sacked Redknapp and his mates straight away, moved on all of the first team apart from Oakley, Prutton and Baird, put these 3 on new long term contracts, to cut our wage bill right back to manageable CCC levels We then should have brought in players like Brian Howard and Frank Simek on free transfers, and signed other like Hoyte, Kirkland and Le Tallec on loan We then should have brought through our youngsters like Surman, Griffit, Folly, Best, Blackstock, Jones, Mills and Cranie but put them on long term contracts so they couldn't be snatched away by other clubs we also should have appointed a technical or football director, brought in Woodward as Head of Sports Science, Clifford as skills coach and then made Glen Hoddle head coach Huw Jennings should also have been tied down - maybe as football director we also should have kept Wigley in some way shape or from to look aftet the kids - and who know maybe even brought in Poortvliet to replace Georges Prost! as least that way we would have had some real direction and a vision to follow we might not have got promoted in the first two years on parachute payment - but we'd be in a much better position than we are now - financially strong and either pushing for promotion still - or actually promoted see its easy really!

Lowe made a lots of mistakes when we got relegated - compounding the mistakes he made that got us relegated Lowe kept Redknapp and his cronies on board - real old school boys - and brought in Woodward and Clifford - who had a new way of doing things - so we were niether one thinhg nor the other - just a real mess! we just kept going down the middle and straight on to the rocks the other big mistake was with the team - we got rid of too many players - but at the same time we didn't get rid of enough we should have either kept the team together and given our all to have gone straight back up - or cleared out the lot and used it as an opportunity to rebuild the club from the ground up instead we let too many key players go - but still kept too many high earners - so we were stuck in a position where we were leaking money - but still had no chance of going up the ship was truly rudderless with Admiral Lowe at the helm! the Burley, Wilde, Hone, Hoos, Oldknow and spending the £7 million we didn't have mess is a whole different story though Lowe should take the blame for appointing Burley - although I think we all thought it was a good decision at the time! Once we were relegated we should have sacked Redknapp and his mates straight away, moved on all of the first team apart from Oakley, Prutton and Baird, put these 3 on new long term contracts, to cut our wage bill right back to manageable CCC levels We then should have brought in players like Brian Howard and Frank Simek on free transfers, and signed other like Hoyte, Kirkland and Le Tallec on loan We then should have brought through our youngsters like Surman, Griffit, Folly, Best, Blackstock, Jones, Mills and Cranie but put them on long term contracts so they couldn't be snatched away by other clubs we also should have appointed a technical or football director, brought in Woodward as Head of Sports Science, Clifford as skills coach and then made Glen Hoddle head coach Huw Jennings should also have been tied down - maybe as football director we also should have kept Wigley in some way shape or from to look aftet the kids - and who know maybe even brought in Poortvliet to replace Georges Prost! as least that way we would have had some real direction and a vision to follow we might not have got promoted in the first two years on parachute payment - but we'd be in a much better position than we are now - financially strong and either pushing for promotion still - or actually promoted see its easy really!

all I can say is you know what to do - for the good of your club and your nephew have a word with your nephew and his dad

A friend of my brother in law (they are both Skates) supposedly saw Beckham at Fratton Park on Thursday!! if he turns up at Spurs now we'll know it was true I guess! It has been fun at work today winding up all the Pompey and Spurs fans!!! Pointing out the the Skates that he's left them for a bigger club twice now! Asking where Arry's spiritual home is now? Having loud discussions with other Saints fans as to which Pompey players he'll come back for in January - and for the Spurs fans - about which excuses he'll trot out this time!

most people tipped Plymouth, Saints and the three that came up to be the favourites for relegation this season I'm not so sure its that simple - look at Plymouth now! Also we keep talking about our debt - its big but there are a lot of clubs in a worse position than us. We have somewhere between £5 and £7 million of unsecured debt if the worst is to be believed and a £22 million pound mortgage on the stadium Charlton are £20 million in debt, Cardiff are supposedly in debt a lot more than than that!

Fuller, Delap and Higgingbotham seem to be a different players under Pulis than they did under various managers at Saints Fuller looked good and scored the odd great goal at Saints - but much like Camara - more often than not he ran down a blind alley, sometimes off the pitch well wide of the goal with the ball at his feet, and hardly ever passed to a player in a better position Higgingbotham is a good old fashioned centreback - but a very limited left back - no pace - and can't pass - his long diagonal balls forward to nowhere from left back were a major feature of our relegation season Delap - where do I start - a one trick pony with a long throw - altough he's changed it. Now he throws it with a flat trajectory and a lot more pace. But for us he threw it with a high trajectory, but so slowly it seemed to float there until the other teams goalkeeper plucked it out of the air

what we really need our some CCC journeymen players in the mid 20s to give the team some sort of solid base to play off or at least some younger players with potential that have actuallt been blooded - Phil Ifil and Mark Yeates from Colchester in January would be a start Chris Baird on loan tomorrow would be a better one

the reports at the time said both Hertha and Ipswich agreed a fee with Saints - but wouldn't match Skacel's wage demands - partly because they were both offering him less than we are paying him Jim Magilton was reported as saying this was the reason for move to Ipswich not happening based on the stupid wages Hone and Hoos were paying players I can well believe this!

we should bring back Chris Baird tomorrow surely if we pay half his wages - 10K a week - Fulham will pay the other half - after all he's not doing them any good is he

McGoldrick, Lloyd James and Joseph Mills have just got to be dropped... McGoldrick becomes he can't finish anything and at times seems to believe his own hype and not put in the work or concentration James because he is just not a right back - and playing there has destroyed his confidence - -he was truly awful today and his decision making was terrible - put him back in the reserves at central midfield Mills - too young and too small - still has a lot to learn about defending And I for one would like to see 'super super Kel super Kelvin Davis' come of his line and claim the ball once - just once - before I die - and dominate his area! You don't need a shot stopper in this league - you need a keeper that can deal with corners and long throws and free kicks because that is where games are won and lost in this league Smith looked good when we let him run at people Cork, Lallana and Surman looked a class above but that was it

Having spoken to Luker about it I got the distinct impression they'd not even looked at the possibility of reducing ticket prices to increase crowd numbers/support or ways of increasing revenue from more people having a better match day expoerience

As for Hoddle - all he needed to do like Gorman did was admit he made a mistake in leaving Saints the way he did it wasn't the fact he left us for Spurs - as fans we all understood wanting to manage 'your team'- it was the way he left and the when at the end of the season - something like seven games later - we would have applauded him off to the lane and given him the same reception on his return to St Marys as manager of Spurs and then he went and bought Dean Richards that Summer having said he wouldn't take any players with him (at least we got the last laugh there) before he left we were playing some of the best football in a long time and looking like an outside bet for Europe if he'd just held up his hand and said sorry I'd have had him back mind you I don't think they way WGS left was that different

I doubt that's true to be honest - WGS and Agustin Delgado were never exactly best mates - after all WGS was more worried about his Yogurt - or was that just a code word for something else! WGS left because he realised he got lucky with the cup final run, because Lowe refused to back him by strengthening the team after reaching the FA Cup final and then the UEFA Cup, that we sold Bridge and were planning to sell Beattie and was also scared of doing a Coventry and getting relegated again!

your kidding yourself about your reputation you really are!! Pompski are just a poor version of cheslki - £60 million in debt, vastly overpaid players, the worst stadium in the top flight by a long long way, foreig owners with a dodgy background and a hidden agenda most third party fans I speak to dislike Pompey because of Arry, Fratton Park, Jon Westwood and the delight that is Portsmouth's fans as for the cup win it was just as lucky as ours - in the modern game if anyone outside the big 4 wins anything it really is all about luck enjoy your European football like we did in the 80s - but don't fool yourselves into thinking your something your not Saints fans have no illusions about who or what we are - but you skates really do the 657 crew and the Burberry Boys say it all really - and they went on TV to say it as well!

we desperately need two full backs and a real bruiser of a centre half on the pitch Wayne Thomas if he is ever fit could be at bruiser we need - lets hope so and it looks as though Killers fight is over Cork could also be answer at right back - and god forbid Skacel the answer at left back for now

they still did a crap job though!!!

please not Wilde he appointed Hone, Hoos and Oldknow for gods sake who between then spent £7 million we didn't have very badly and probably put the last nails in the coffin of Southampton FC as we know it

Lies damn lies and statistics! You can make them say anything! Football has changed a lot since the 1999-2000 season - mostly due to money - the cost of going to games has gone up far beyond inflation, the top of the game has become a closed shop, there is little hope of promotion for teams outside the premiership and practically none if you don't have a parchute payment or a wealthy owner - its all about the money and we have none! but mostly there is no hope that it will get better for a club like Southampton now - City fans had hope then - and if they were where we are now they would probably be just like us its not just Saints people are falling out of love with but Football as a whole - I don't even watch England games anymore! having Lowe and Wilde at the helm doesn't help as both played large parts in getting us to where we are now - but that's just the icing on the cake Wilde's false messiah, Lowes cheapskating, Lowes managerial appointments (Burley, Redknapp, Wigley, Gray, Poortvlie), Lowes arrogance (Woodward and Clifford) for example have to say likening Southamption FC and Saints fans to Southampton and the WWII bombing is pretty tasteless even for you - I have family members who were evacuated from Southampton and lived and had others who stayed and died

£24 is simply too much to pay to watch Championship football £15 for adults, £10 for students, OAPS and teenagers, £5 for kids is more like it £40 for a family of two adults and two kids would fill-up the ground a bit more and bring in more money on food and drink I bet closing the corners was the lazy option and lazy marketing by Saints - lowering the ticket prices and trying to fill the stadium was the right thing to do - maximising match day revenues from food and drink amongst other things

I'd have kept all three of them! Dexter is a real centre forward and a natural goal poacher, brave and a hard worker. Best is a good forward with real pace and power, able to play down either wing and run at the opposition from deep McGoldrick is a second striker, able to play in the hole and probably the best with the ball at his feet out of the three right now a forward line of Dexter upfront, with McGoldrick in the whole, Lallana on the right and Best on the left would do me they'd certainly score a few goals!

I think that will be the team tomorrow - unless Killer is unfit. In that case I think Wotton will play at the back with Perry and Skacel at left back with Surman in the middle. McGoldrick's best position is in the whole but Lallana is by far the best player in that position - ideally you rotate the two of them and play BWP/Thomson/Dyer on the right and Holmes on the left! Have to say I'm not sure 4-2-1-2-1 is working for us in the Championship. I'd switch to a more defensive 4-3-3 with one holding midefielder and two box-to-box midfielders (providing some much need cover for our fullbacks) with a centre forward and two inside forwards. A bit more like Terry Venables old 4-3-2-1 Christmas tree formation really I guess Whatever formation we do play we need two full backs in the team as neither Lloyd James or Surman are really defenders