up and away

I don't believe there should be too great a problem in defining the boundaries. If the revenue generated by the football club is used for another enterprise, any profits from that enterprise can readily be accepted as being generated by the football club. Even if at a later date the enterprise were to dwarf the football club financially. I expect they will already have set a date or position from when other enterprises are considered part of the football club, even if not founded from club funds.

I remember Cortese referencing Ikea and how their Manhattan site was developed with water access, so pretty sure he is aware. Equally the council mentioning the ability to over come planning regulations should St Mary's increase in capacity. They seemed very keen the Stadium stayed within the city limits.

I'm one of them. Just highlights how poor many poor teams there are in the top flight IMO. He's scored a few, but so have many others from lower leagues I wouldn't have thought would make it that high, like Campbell, Taylor-Fletcher, Jason Roberts. If he's worth decent money now, then even Shipperley would have been worth a few million back in the day, and he was ****. For skill, I reckon Best was top of the pile for that group of teenagers. Temperament was suspect and that did hold him back. It would come as no surprise if one season he makes a big leap forward, he's got it in him.

Lallana is the real key, he makes us tick. Lose him and we will have great difficulty in replacing him and the threat we carry. The easy alternative would be that striker with pace allowing us a different way of playing where all our current good players can contribute.

We have a weakness brought about by not having a good striker with pace, not all the time but occasionally against the top sides. As it's already been shown it is very difficult for us to go out and buy that striker, even for the vastly over price we are prepared to play. In the Premier it may be different, but then we are looking a grade higher. When Connolly came back last season, he showed us exactly what we had been lacking and IMHO, why we did so well in the run up to 2nd spot. This campaign has wore him down a bit but I can't see Lee being a better option than Connolly. Ricky has improved markedly this season, but I don't see Lee making that jump, delighted if he proves me wrong. So what do you do, keep searching for that quality that will be good enough for the Premier, then try and talk him in to coming to Saints? Get a decent loan player in from the Premier, not exactly what we are after but will most likely get us promoted. Or take a chance on someone like Matty Fryatt who will improve your chances of promotion, but maybe not so certain. It's a very difficult predicament and the Premier loan is the stand out unless the scouts can unearth a gem. I don't believe Beattie is an option when I keep hearing Adkins go on about not blocking the young players and any player being the right type. Beattie has been behind a couple or more bits of unrest in the dressing room and I am sure that has not gone unnoticed. When you look at how far the club has progressed recently with this harmony, it's very doubtful that will be risked unless the player really has something to offer. Beattie I am sure will have approached us about using our facilities and training and the fact he is not doing that makes me believe the answer is NO. I imagine Beattie is still drawing a salary from his last club, which will disappear if he signs for another. So there will be a balancing act going on there over wages. I can understand not going for Beattie, but paying £50k a week for a very good loan would make a lot of financial sense to Cortese in the window, should we be well placed. Even now would not be illogical, but I don't believe that's the way he wants to go with the club.

That was my opinion of Watford before the game and nothing I saw during this game changed that opinion. For 1/2 hour they dragged us down to their level and we never exerted ourselves. Our and their attitude seemed to change after the penalty and it became relatively easy and enjoyable again. There was enough in this side in the second half to produce a result, with or without the penalty. Teams have figured out how to play against us, but it's one thing knowing and another ting doing. I never felt Watford had that in the bag unless we never stepped up to the mark. The Watford play and result is significant, but I feel you need to add in the Burnley and Cardiff games to get a better perspective of where we are. Lallana to me is the key player, if he does his stuff others work off of that and the whole thing just explodes. If Lallana is not doing his stuff, you need someone else to do something that bit special and once again we can look different gravy. The problem comes when a decent team are denying us space and only the likes of Lallana or occasionally Guly look able to do anything about it. Hooiveld and Richardson have had their fair share of comments but overall they are doing well. I was more concerned with Fonte then either of them. But it can be a different picture when you are put under pressure, as I expect West Ham will do. I feel against the really good sides in this division, we need everyone playing well and just don't have the counter attacking ability to be far more effective in those situations. For those occasions I would like to see 4411, with Guly playing behind a lone, pacey striker to stop us getting pressed up the pitch. If we don't secure that midfield against the top teams, we have nothing to build upon and unless you have a striker who can do something on their own to go along with that, you are toothless. I keep being surprised how well Matty Fryatt performs with no support. That said we are doing pretty well as we are and we should be in a good position come the January window to see how things need shaking up. Adkins has really impressed me with how he has grown as a manager. Several limitations from last season have been eradicated and it would not surprise me if he goes to another level in improving us.

I preferred Butters to Richardson last season, purely on what I thought was the better passer. Richardson was always the better defender, but this season his attacking play has been superb. Fox has excellent delivery, but Harding has been no slouch in doing his bit in front of goals. Just not polarised like many giving black and white to these issues and happy to leave it to the manager. How many are still saying Schneiderlin must play this weekend? that should be worth a couple of goals.

Watford are a terrible side, but I have no idea if we will win this one or not.The problem being that we will be short of stamina on a roasting hot day. So unless you put in the effort, all that skill and class we have stays hidden and you are then playing Watfords game. Something I am sure they will be better at. Lallana is our talisman and unless he does the business, the rest just have not got it in them at the moment. I really feel we need someone fresh on the bench should things start to drag out, even if it means someone as raw as Sinclair. Really been disappointed with some of the recent results, because it underlines the samba football we have been playing may not be forever. Absolutely delighted with what we have done and no real right to get disappointed, but when you see something that good you just want more. Leicester showed the way to play against us, deny us the space in midfield and attack the space. Burnley and Cardiff did that, but it was only our own missing of chances that allowed them to get more out of those two games than they should. What's been worrying is the general malaise which has hit all of our forwards. Ricky has been no worse than others, but the Cardiff highlights do him no favours. He really should have stopped their goalie punting up for their goal, rather than monking about a penalty.

If this is all that was in it, that does sound innocuous? But all parties have to realise that the press will always be trying to wrangle these angles from all involved, so all have to be careful. Of course the reasons are dependent, something Adkins alludes to and accepts. Every manager would like every chance to give him the result on the pitch, but when you are investing such huge amounts in the Academy there has to be balance in these decisions. As we have seen it's virtually impossible for us to go out and buy a Lallana, even though we could afford the fee. Saints have a transfer committee that look at players, with Adkins having a big say. So it's not totally impossible this could happen, but I would expect if Adkins insisted, it would happen. Not only do I not have a problem with this, it has a sound base.

As far as I am concerned you can have both the present and the past. The issue only arrives with interaction between the two camps and I will just leave them to sort that out themselves, what ever the outcome. I thought that Matty and Lawrie of late had stopped the sniping and all were observing a respectful silence. Cortese has unfortunately broken that cycle and how ever this came about, he should have at least known better. That does not mean I will even criticise Cortese over this, such is the amount he has got right and the issues he has had previously.

I don't argue with those points and it was a very difficult position. Pinnacle were the first to put down the readies so the administrator was virtually duty bound to proceed along that path at the time. But the very simple fact of all of this is that Matty's continued involvement could have been disastrous. You can see the bond Cortese has with the club now, but at the time I expect he was more ****ed off with proceedings than any thing else and something else diverting his attention would not only have raised the spectre of liquidation, but that Liebherr would have been lost as well. I am positive Matty never intended any of this to happen and he thought what he was doing was for the best of the club, I don't really have an issue there. The issue I have with Matty is that the whole Pinnacle approach was sound and no regrets even now. Bearing in mind the consequences, I find that position very difficult to understand given how close that could have brought us to armegeddon. Where I thought Matty was very remiss was half way though the diligence period things coming out from Pinnacle were just not right. They were arguing that the points deduction should be rescinded before buying the club which anyone with minimal exposure to football would tell you was never going to happen. Bearing in mind the club was in that limbo position of needing the League permission to play in the FL again, there was zero chance. When all the questions of finance and where the money actually was, Matty should have asked serious questions and got the answers, not ducked behind others vague promises. he should also have asked himself why they wanted him as chairman, because of all the great skills I know Matty possesses, virtually none lie in that role. The reason everything rambled on with Pinnacle up to virtually the last minute was because Crouch was suckered out of the deposit on a pipe dream and no one was facing the truth. The very fact Crouch had to come up with that deposit is just another alarm bell which was easily read. Even with all of this Matty is still a hero, but I really wish he would stop this pretence over Pinnacle and accept we had a very lucky escape. The Ex-Saints charity made it very clear that they had nothing to do with Osmans anniversy bash for Saints at the Mayflower. I still have yet to find out what charities if any were represented, maybe you can help me out there? Or was this a nice little earner Rodney?

Are you really that naive? Of course Fry was going to come out with that sort of stuff, how else would he get people to throw their tenners in a bucket or in Leon Crouch's case probably tens of thousands. He let Pinnacle d!ck about because he knew there were other buyers willing to jump in - it was a no lose gamble. If SFC was liquidated when people of the calibre of Leibherr were interested then Fry would have looked like a complete muppet. Are you really that dumb? When Fry said there was only 7 days, the option of throwing tenners into a bucket was no longer viable, that had already stopped. He was very clear as to why he accepted the Pinnacle bid, because he was that desperate! He had no idea other buyers were willing to jump in, he had been dicked about so much he admitted he never knew what the future held. Just read the link, it fully explains his thoughts at the time. If Liebherr decided he had enough of this circus and walked away, Fry's thoughts at that time were that liquidation was a strong possibility, something I don't argue with.

Ridiculous. Also if you really thought we would have got to liquidation then you aren't really worth listening to. "Was there any time you lost hope? YES, there was a time when I felt liquidation was almost inevitable and we were almost back to where we started. We did have those dark moments." These are the words of the Administrator Mark Fry, who in simple terms that you can understand is effectively GOD when it came to the fate of Saints whilst we were in administration. When he says we are 7 days away from liquidation, it is 7 days. He alone has the power, has no recourse to any other body and presses the button when he decides the point of no return has been met. If Cortese decided that the deal has been already done or they have been ****ed about enough and decides to not bother, who do you believe would be then responsible for that? I can almost hear you now claiming Cortese would never of done that (so much faith from such a whining), but Mark Fry thought it was a real enough possibility. But there would always have been someone else I hear you muttering? Possibly, but they would have to have bought it cold within that limited 7 days, very difficult to perform due diligence and get your ducks in a row with Aviva and Barclays. As for the other bids on the table, liquidation looked the more attractive option by comparison in the eyes of the administrator. I fully accept that Matty never intended anything that would have damaged the club, but I find it very strange that he still believes everything was kosher and he did the right thing. When looking back it would not have taken much for that doomsday scenario to produce, nowhere near out of the realms of reality.

In the beginning Cortese invited several involved with Saints to be the clubs guests at games, including Lawrie. I am sure this extends to this day after meeting a couple at the Liebherr trophy who were guests for the day. The crux came when they were all told that there is no free permanent ride for anyone. Now the fact that some saw this as demeaning and let it be known that Cortese can shove it hardly helps the cause. Cortese took his time and went over everything that had happened to bring Saints to it's knees and one of the main things he decided to eradicate was any hint of politics within the club. So when he decides the best way is for everyone to pay their way, irrespective of whether they worked for the club or not, you are directly confronting the man as the way to take the club forward by going against that. For me the removal of politics has been the main reason this club has progressed so well and things have combined to maximise the team on the pitch. It's not really a question of an olive branch, it's a direction you either accept or reject. Alternatively you can say you buy your own ticket and sit in someone else's box. Lawries affection for the club comes with some major proviso's that falls within his ego and liking, otherwise he is just as likely to reject it out of hand. When Wilde was found out, we really needed a steadying figure in the boardroom to take things forward and do the best for the club. Something that could of been done with consultation with either Wilde or Lowe. But what we got was face to face slagging matches that were meant to be deciding the path of the club. Lawrie is great if things are on his terms, if not he can be a nightmare. Matty is a different character and one of the few things that kept me going during the dark days was his greatest goals CD. But Matty still does not accept to this day how close he came to destroying the club, even though it was done in the best intentions. Everyone could see that Micky Falka was never going to find the money down the back of the sofa and he should of seen through this early on and backed out to try and avoid the damage that could have occured, rather than keep faith with Falka. When he signed his auto I asked then if he still believed (as he put in the book) that he did the right thing to the end. If Liebherr had walked away at that point, there was so little time left that the administrator would only have accepted straight bids without any due diligence, otherwise it was straight to liquidation.

As was borne out by events and subsequent comments, Pardew's tenure was under the severest of scrutiny at the end of that first season. A situation which then nosedived further over the summer. Behind the scenes there was obviously a struggle taking place (obvious to all apart from those who wanted to pretend things were all rosey). Personally I wouldn't call people commenting on an obvious power struggle as attempting to undermine or as being dark forces at play. Football is all about opinions and whenever "something" is going on at any club "old" players and interested parties are asked to comment on the situation by the media. As it turned out, Cortese has been vindicated by his stance, so fair play to him. From everything we have learned of Cortese from his tenure here, there is absolutely no way he would have sat down with Pardew to plan the way forward, underlining he would be in charge for the coming season without that being so. Now I accept he ripped him a new one over not prioritising the league and would accept no repetition. That was all settled and weighing up everything that Pardew had done, Cortese believed Pardew was the manager to take us forward. Now just imagine that the season has ended, you have started making arrangemets for the new season and just before you are all about to go off on holiday, you have all these reports in the Echo that Pardew should not be sacked. There was no intention from Cortese to sack Pardew at that juncture, but those Echo articles could have unsettled Pardew sufficiently to have caused the same effect. If all those responding to the Echo could not see the implications as to the effect this could have, they really should not speak in public when the consequences become that serious.

Excellent detailed report. 90% of that I got from the radio and previous games, but I was left puzzled by exactly what was going on in midfield which never came over fully. From the radio, play kept breaking down in midfield and missed placed passes coming up. Obvious from Bartley being MOM that he was having an effect in there but assumed it was more because we were below par? If Hammond and Cork don't get a grip it comes as no surprise that all the other great attacking play we have got used to is not going to materialise as readily as it has previously. Was this a case of Bartley played exceptionally well and we were slightly off, or was it worse than that? Combined with one of those days where we just never had our scoring boots on. When Hammond has been subbed that early previously, it has been because his performance was as flat as a witch's tit. Was he that bad? Agree on that pacey forward, one thing that will stop them playing a high line and something not in our locker when we need it at times like this.

I am not going to argue that the negative aspects you have highlighted do not exist, because that is exactly the first impression they made upon me. But if you then take that a stage further and compare those comments with everything else Cortese does and does not say, they look totally out of character. I just feel Cortese is obsessed with Saints to the extent that when he does get to do an interview everything just all comes gushing out, the good and the bad. Living with it 24/7 for such a period with few to talk things over with, all his pent up thoughts and feelings just come flying out at times like this. You only have to look back at the BBC interviews to see the flavour of this and his long extended periods of silence really dent any arrogance and self promotion. There was a period where he believed that conspiracies and factions were undermining what he was trying to achieve. He was right to a certain extent that some were undermining what he was trying to achieve in having to under line Pardew being the selected manager for the following season, when we had several quoting in the Echo that Pardew should not be sacked. Pardew being subsequently sacked was to do with subsequent events and nothing to do with decisions at that point. When rumours were spread that the club was up for sale, that must have really been upsetting when you are trying to finalise major sponsorship for the club. Cortese found it very difficult to understand that these wind up merchants were no great conspiracy, but a cultural trait he had never met previously. He has commented subsequently where he accepts it may not be the big conspiracy, but I still think he has difficulty in understanding why so called Saints fans would do this. Like all the rest of us, I believe Cortese has a severe case of Saints OCD. Add to that his own character, cultural and work experience, leaves you with what we see before us. He is obsessed with Saints being a success and if you extrapolate his comments it's very easy to see this is long term, unless 50k crowds and CL is feasible in a couple of seasons when not going the ManC route. This obsession and drive leaves the odd quirk many would prefer not to see, but overall any Saint fan wanting the best for the club would grab this with both hands.

And everyone else's objection will be having to pay for the additional security needed between the two methods. The reason this idea has legs is that it can save a very big chunk of capital, whether it will or not is another matter. If no one's prepared to fork out for the policing the solution is very simple, no away fans. The only thing you would be dining on is the local house brick. If you wanted to organise your own police approved security, I expect something like £1k/fan would be a minimum for a group of several hundred.

What do you think les Reid is on the payroll for? Les Reid is a very important cog. But I am sure you will have noticed that Les Reid has been on the payroll of many different employers. What I have not noticed is these kind of performances. Cortese references this at the time of Pardews sacking, so he had a firm idea of how he was wanting things to work.

This has been the very noticeable and the manner Adkins wrings every advantage of the extensive back up he has available is really an achievement. As much as Adkins deserves the praise for achieving what he has with the tools at his disposal, the provision of those tools and the environment has a lot to do with Cortese. The simple step of abolishing any trace of politics within the club is the cornerstone to what we see today. No cliques or isolated groups, but a general foundation for taking the club forward. What I am amazed with is that Cortese has managed to latch onto this so quick and get everyone to work this to a maximum. How does a banker suddenly manage to understand, let alone implement such a regime in such a short space of time? If you go back to some of the comments he made after Pardews sacking it was all referenced then. So the intent for the direction was there, it just surprises me that given his previous history that he was able to apply and implement this to such a degree.

This is exactly how I see it, there is insufficient threat from Lambert or Connolly to get their defence worried if they hold a high line. The other very similar point from this is that if you want to bolster the midfield and play on the counter, this is exactly what is needed. No point mentioning Jonno quick until he brings Jonno skill on board. Adkins must be well aware from the attempts we have made in this area, so a loan would not come as a surprise.

Very good summary. When we were in for Cork initially, we had all the youtube clips and although he looked an asset, it could hardly prepare any Saints fan for the extent he has influenced this team. Those clips will never make Cork look the Hollywood player of the side, but his overall effect is massive, allowing all the other Hollywoods to strut their stuff. Similarly Hammond.

As class as Fonte is, he has this weakness of covering the faults of those around him, demeaning his own performance. Today I never saw that and the central pair worked very well as a unit. Not enough of a performance from the Hoover to rave about, but good enough to put a smile on your face as he can play it out from the back. Early days yet, but it would not surprise me if he went on to deliver far more.

I feel the priority is securing the midfield before we get too adventurous. Once we get control I firmly believe we can press them back with our football and restrict them to the long ball. Maybe easier said than done. but I fear we will get turned over if we leave the midfield open. The way Adkins was talking it appears he knows where the issues are and he will know what Brum have to offer. I would go with a steady 2-0, because of the talk coming out from Staplewood by the players and the manager.