up and away

As they say, it's a funny old game. Holloway could not do a thing right at Leicester, Pearson could do no wrong. Then along comes Blackpool with a very mediocre side, less money and stands all that on it's head. Good luck to Blackpool, they deserve their day. God knows what will happen to Cardiff now!

I doubt the prices will change, could even be giving season ticket holders that bit more time to get the money together. It's only to the fans advantage leaving the season tickets late, what ever the price. Most clubs are so desperate for revenue, you normally would not see this.

The set up that Cortese has put in place is nigh on identical to that which Lowe installed for transfer targets. As for Lowe's influence on team selection, I had no problem with that given the conditions. Telling managers not to select players who insisted upon large playing bonuses or trying to crowbar players out who we could not afford, just is a function of what happens when you are steaming full speed towards administration. Again forcing the manager to select youth players becomes acceptable in these conditions, because the only possible total escape lies with those youth players. Where Cortese has a massive edge is that he keeps out of the lime light and his mouth shut. Mind you the money is a very big plus. What I really like about Cortese is that he is singularly focused on Saints doing well and doing it in such a manner by building up from the bottom. He is very *****ly and does not suffer fools gladly, acts for the best of the club decisively and does not let fear or favour come into his decision making. Some of the problems we saw with the backing of Pardew does come down to Cortese, but in my eyes I get the feeling that Cortese would have viewed it as remiss not to consider his options as to how the club was going forward. Just because he considered those options does not mean he would not continue with Pardew, as I am pretty positive no one has his confidence with the exception of Liebherr.

I believe you have read this totally wrong. We only get about a couple of comments a season, he just gets on with his job and gives us the resources for far greater things. If anything was getting thrown out of the pram it would have been Pardew, but he obviously sees it wisest to continue with Pardew (how ever he came to that decision). We would not have heard a dicky bird from Cortese, but for the fact it was necessary to safeguard the plans laid out and reassure Pardew this was all bollix.

I would not argue that there was something behind these rumours, but I am fairly sure no one has the ear of Cortese. Just because Cortese reviews all his options does not mean he is going to take up any of those other options. In time I expect us all to get used to Cortese just giving the odd couple of interviews per season and hopefully the rest will take care of itself. If the Echo think Cortese will change his mind over editorial pressure, I just do not see that happening. You may well be able to highlight points that indicate Cortese has changed his mind, but without him coming straight out and stating that was his intention, it's all ****ing in the wind. As for Alan Blackmore, I don't believe there will be any vendetta against him, he's pretty genuine. First he was sure, then unsure, then sure again but I believe what he says. What I am unsure about is the interpretation given to him.

Yes, as I was saying from the start, but apparently that makes me an Echo employee Well the only person who knows for sure is Cortese himself, and let's face it, there's not a cat in hell's chance he'd admit to changing his mind based on fan support as it would a) implicitly give credit to the Echo, and b) demonstrate a lack of conviction in his own decision-making. We'll never know what made him change his mind, but I'm certainly thankful that he did. I don't disregard the fact that Adam Blackmore has added fuel to the fire, but the over whelming majority of all this is down to the Echo. Everything coming from the Daily Mail is just a rehash of original Echo pieces. It is absolutely ludicrous for the Echo to point at the Daily Mail as the instigators, for rehashing their own story. The Echo deliberately continued this by soliciting all the ex Saints they could get in support of Pardew. Anyone who believes Cortese would change his mind after deliberating on the manager to take the club forward next season, does not get the impression I see in the guy. You could hang him up by his nads and I doubt he would change his mind once he has come to the decision as to what's best for the club. The only reason Cortese has responded is to reassure Pardew and safeguard the plans laid out. In all this vigorous fight by the Echo to change Cortese's mind, that was never going to happen. The only doubt that would have been created would be in Pardew's mind, over the assurances already given to him by Cortese.

Martin Samuel is the one who should be the target of NC's critiscism rather than Lawrie and MLT. What you have to remember is that Samuel is only rehashing the Echo stories, adding his own slant to pretend it’s his individual and original piece. Poor old Adam Blackmore got taken in by the pikey 3 card trick and I can just imagine the grovelling he did when confronted by Cortese with the truth. Nothing malicious in Blackmore, just took it hook, line sinker and boat. Was it him who read out the Mike Hunt email on Solent, if it was he could have presented that to Cortese for proof of his innocence? The real villain here is the Echo, they contacted MLT and Lawrie to fuel the fire, but both should have known better. I would not mind betting that the only reason Cortese has responded to this is because of the Echo’s snowballing, with quotes from anyone they can get with a tie to Saints. Cortese’s only motive for this reply is to reassure Pardew that what has been discussed stands, no more. When you consider the effect of these quotes, it is not impossible to see this having an adverse effect on Pardew, even sufficient for him to consider another position! Something the original quotes were supposed to be trying to stop! There won’t be any afters from Cortese regarding this spat, it’s over and done, Lawrie will still get invites, but still gripe. Matty would never do anything like this deliberately, but he needs to consider things a little better. Don’t think for a minute this is a carte blanche support of Pardew, because he still has to deliver on that. The style of football Cortese is talking about certainly fits with what Pardew can supply when he gets everything right. There is little doubt that Cortese told Pardew exactly what his responsibilities were after the disagreement between the league and cup priority, hence the reason for the promoted rumour. But the ego was tucked away nicely and he got on with doing what he thought is best for Saints, irrespective of a previous disagreement.

There can be little doubt that Cortese believes the chances of reaching the play offs would have improved without Pinnacles involvement. Most of all he is just ****ed off with having to take time out of running the club to respond to idle gossip. Matty should know better by now, for what he believes is for the good of the club, seem to be having the opposite effect. The latest round would never have changed Cortese's mind, but easily promote enough doubts to make Pardew consider else where. I don't doubt that Matty's intentions were for the good of Saints, but when you keep making the same mistakes, "Let's face it Matty, you ain't here for the hunting?"

I don't think the intention at this moment is to sack Pardew but you have highlighted one issue. If Pardew is wanting cast iron guarantees he will not be sacked until given a further 6 months or so, I am not sure Cortese will give him that assurance. If Pardew were then to insist that he should be given the consideration for any approach that is made to him, then I would expect Cortese to bite the bullet and act immediately. I really doubt it would come about in such an agriculture fashion, but something more subtle along those lines could well promote action.

You're probably right, but why do you think NC has the ear of ML? Because ML trusts him implicitly. Without NC we wouldn't even have ML as NC was the one that stuck the opportunity under his nose. For that reason if NC goes I would feel nervous about how long ML would stay here. I don't think AP should go, and think he deserves the chance next season. But, as someone said on here the other day, it very much depends on who comes in. Ultimately people may differ on who the manager should be, but I would be staggered if NC took any decision that made us weaker for the start of next season. NC wants us to be a PL club asap. So do we. Sure there may be differences in how this is approached, but NC also deserves a bit of trust and respect for actually giving us fans the opportunity to watch a decent team again. I could not agree more. There is no ego with Cortese, his one aim for the club is success in the most efficient manner. If he truly thought another manager would give him a significant edge, I am sure he would make that decision for the good of the club, not some petty spat. In the grand scheme of things the importance of Pardew relative to Cortese is negligible. Liebherr does not do a thing towards running the club apart from providing the finance. I expect he will have a meeting with everyone where they will tell him how much next season is going to cost and what he will be getting for that money, nothing more. Although Cortese has not provided any finance, his involvement has been crucial for Saints and his continued involvement could still be. As good as Pardew has been, he just does not make it into this picture. Just have a look at everything that has happened to all the league clubs and you will soon see there is a lot you never even dreamt. To say we are lucky with Liebherr is one of the biggest understatements imaginable, with Cortese THE reason it came about and possibly for it's continuation.

I don't doubt what Blackmore said or his source, but this is more likely to be a guess than anything more. Cortese is taking all the decisions here and Liebherr will not be breaking that trend. If Cortese says we should continue with Pardew, that is what will happen. Cortese'e mind will all ready be made up as to the direction we are going and who will be taking us there. The plans are already in place and by the looks of things from the Brighton player, so are the targets. Targets will remain fluid to a certain extent with availability and being able to get them here, but Wednesdays meeting should be nothing more than to go over what will be happening whilst everyone takes a holiday. If Pardew was going that decision would already have been taken and there would not be a special meeting on Wednesday to tell him. It may well be underlined to Pardew that nothing other than success in the league is acceptable, but I imagine that has already been dealt with and even if not, he's not going to argue otherwise. No one really has a clue with the exception of Cortese, everything else is just speculation and with the info Cortese gives out, anyone has about the same idea. Apart from this recent bit from Blackmore, all the rumours are coming from the Echo, even those regurgitated items from the Daily Mail.

If Mark Hughes was at the game yesterday, I am positive I would have heard about this in far more detail or actually seen the bloke.

All this speculation is just that, speculation. There is no one Cortese confides with sufficiently for anyone to have a valid idea. There has been a minor spat where Pardew crossed the line, nothing more. Pardew even references this meeting on Wednesday, so no real factors there. You have all these theories tying into some revelation in the programme, absolute rubbish. This is just the Echo starting rumours, the sole source for all the things we have seen come out of late and mainly just a regurgitation of previous events. Nothing to see hear, move along please!

You need to look at the big picture and what is really important to Saints. Pardew has done well and I hope and expect him to be kept on. I believe Cortese has exactly the same feelings, but Pardew has crossed the line and created some friction. Cortese is out of his comfort zone at Saints, he's having to factor in human imponderables which he has not had to deal with on such a level previously. In general he is dealing with it very well, but one area where we know it is having a major impact is his home life. If you ratchet up the emotions on Cortese I am sure that will not improve the domestic matters. If his family are not happy with the whole situation in Southampton, I doubt Cortese would see any further value and could easily return to a very high salary and prestigious job on the continent. It will be interesting to see how long his wife and children stay away during the summer holidays. Why worry about Cortese, it's Liebherr that is really important? With anyone like Liebherr, the one vital aspect of this adventure with Saints is having someone who he can trust. Liebherr does absolutely nothing in the running of Saints and is not remotely interested in that aspect. It's nigh on impossible to get any real detail on Liebherr, but you get the distinct impression there are not that many Corteses in there. Many would say, no problem we can easily get someone to replace Cortese, but would Liebherr feel totally comfortable and not feel the need to become more involved? When you look at the volume of brown paper baggers involved with football, it's going to be very difficult in finding someone who is capable and you have full confidence in. Liebherr appears the perfect owner, a quiet religious man who does not interfere and prefers to leave things to a person he can trust. Take that person of trust out of the equation and what effect will this have on Liebherr? No matter how good you feel Pardew is, if you ratch up the cracks it is just not remotely worth taking the risk of upsetting the apple cart.

This is totally laughable. Ask any team in L1 or below which they would prefer to have, Liebherr or Pardew and even the idiots on here could all answer that unanimous answer. You can easily say it's not a choice between Liebherr and Pardew, but Liebherrs attitude would not skip a beat if Pardew went, not so sure about Cortese! As good as Pardew has shown for Saints, on a scale of 1-10 he does not make it to 1 in the really important. After all we have been through I would have thought some could have twigged on by now. And yes I fully understand the need for managerial stability, even Mandaric comes round to that point of view when he finds someone who delivers.

You are right it would be worse... I suppose you will say those dutch idiots could do it on your next post... It makes sense to keep Pardew and there seems no indications from Cortese anything else is going to happen. But get some perspective, we have all clearly seen what Pardew can do without money and likewise Saints, both not very pretty. The one thing that really matters is Liebherr, Pardew just makes it up to the ankles on that aspect. As far as the Dutch idiots, it's nice to see you've kept informed on the subject.

I am not saying Cortese was not critical of Pardew, you just cannot have two such differing view points without something being amiss. What I would say is that as a rebuke, Cortese's reaction was as minimal as you can get without commenting. Remember, all he said was that the league was the top, top priority. If you also listen further in that interview he fully accepted there is no guarantees that it would be possible to make the play off's. The point he stressed is that when the manager comes and asked for big signings in the January window, their purpose is not for cup games but the league. He never states the play off's have to be a must do, but the top priority. As for what Cortese says in public is down to style and he prefers to keep these things to about 2-3 per year. If Cortese was not keeping Pardew on, there is no way he would bother sitting down with Pardew to plan the way ahead. I don't see any ego or spite here, just someone who wants to get the job done.

Except these stories wouldn't be doing the rounds if he hadn't mouthed off in public in the first place. I have no problem with NC pushing AP and the team to do well but he should have done it behind closed doors. I agree 100%. Cortese seesm to come from the Lowe school of PR gaffes. He started the fire and he could quite easily put it out with a few well chosen words of support. Nothing too fancy, just that he and the manager would be sitting down to look at the plans for taking the club a stage further next season. As far as I know his only public utterance about Pardew has been negative and critical. If I have missed anything supportive then I apologise fully, but I don't think I have. Even Lawrie Mac has jumped on the bandwagon now. This could all have been nipped in the bud but is getting out of control not because of the media, but because the CEO choses to let the debate rage on. He could end it tomorrow if he wished to. Why not look at what actually happened rather than this twisted interpretation. Cortese has deliberately kept this low key and not fuelled the fire, over something blatently started by Pardew. This all came about because of Pardew's comments in the programme notes, that he had prioritised the cups. When Cortese was asked why they had prioritised the cups, he simply replied "No, the league is the top, top priority". He never made any negative comments regarding Pardew or allowed any discourse of the differing views between himself and Pardew, he simply stated what the objective was and simply left it at that. Now I am pretty sure in private he made his position patently clear and what was expected, but he never did it in public. When your manager directly confronts your plans in such a manner, most chairmen would have either kicked his arse down the road or we would have heard about it in far more detailed terms. Considering everything, I don't think you find the slightest fault with Cortese's actions, only praise. No ego, just the practical desire to achieve the best outcome in what easily could have developed into a sheitefest. Cortese never demanded we reach the play off's, only that we maximised our chances of doing so, something Pardew never took fully on board. Even after all of this, Cortese is not about to cut off his nose to spite his face and will stick with Pardew.

It's all water under the bridge now, we can all have a pet theory as to why we never made the play off's. The one thing you can categorically state is that we never maximised our chances of making the play off's. There's no guarantee we would have made it what ever, but we definitely could have improved our chances. A five year plan can only work if it is followed. If the manager decides to go in another direction, that 5 year plan starts becoming irrelevant. This is the problem Cortese has and what Pardew has to reassure him regarding the season ahead. I am sure we will buy wisely in the transfer market and expect us to be a lot stronger next season. As long as we hold onto players there should no long term effects to not going up this season, apart from the financial aspect. You only have to look at Leeds collapse in form this season and many will tie that into their FA cup run. They put out their best teams for those games and although impressively successful, they just seemed to hit the wall there after, with the volume and intensity of the games just catching up with them. They certainly made £M's from those ties which they maybe could not have over looked, or maybe the assumption they were untouchable in the league with so much of a cushion? Were Leeds to fail to go up this season, I really doubt you would find many fans that thought those FA cup games were worth another season in league 1.

So what did you say when we moved from The Dell (capacity 15000) to a stadium of over twice that capacity? FWIW, when the move took place they were budgeting for a 1/3 matches at around 18k, a 1/3 at 24k and around a third towards capacity (Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal, etc.). We did a lot better than that, and I'm sure increased capacity would result in better crowds: particularly with Bundesliga type ticket prices. I watched a bit of the Wigan match yesterday on the 'net via P2p. How they survive on smaller crowds than we get in L1 shows the importance of TV money, but if that ever declines we are in a better position due to our fanbase. I have seen nothing from WSG's time to see our optimum stadium size to be much more than 35,000. Start getting Champions League for a couple of years and it would be a different matter. One of the reasons we had so many season ticket holders was because of the Dell, nigh on 100% st holders. When we moved to St Marys that attitude carried over, leaving not that many tickets to go around when you consider the away support and the 5000 that came to see Premier football. With tickets that scarce it fuelled the st's even more. When that high st base dropped off, punters could pick and choose what games they went to up to the final day. Easily distracted by other attractions or the last result, it's easy to find other things to do if not committed. Unless you can get the st's back up to high numbers, this will more than likely continue to some degree. Get regular European footbal and I don't doubt we could get to the 40,000 mark, but I cant see any chance without it.

I am pretty certain this story is a rehash of all the earlier stories. Pardew blurting out that he concentrated on the cups and Cortese firmly giving him the direction he expects him to take. The signings in January were definitely for making a push towards the play offs, but I cannot see any definite line in having to make them, but to maximise our chances of doing so. As for Liebherrs money, we have clearly seen what Pardew is like without it, so that would never balance in a life time. The only reason Cortese would be getting rid of Pardew is if he cannot trust him to concentrate on the league or Pardew has shown interest in another position, either of those and I would expect him to be gone. Pardew has certainly done enough to be here next season and I expect the squad to be far better than this season with his expertise and Liebherrs money. My one lingering doubt is that I cannot see a Pardew team with a defensive spine to it, something needed to grind out results. Automatic has to be clear next season and if Cortese cannot see that at what ever position in time, then I expect him to be decisive.

When you look at the value of these multi millionaires and billionaires, it is only one part of the equation. The main point is how much disposable assets do they have to throw at the club and how much are they prepared to throw? In Liebherrs case it really looks like we stumbled into the top 5 in footballing circles. God knows why he wanted to start with Saints, but eternally grateful what ever. When you try and look at what he is doing with his money it is impossible to get a decent picture, but it would not surprise me if he has around £500M disposable and prepared to use it eventually. This is a form of hobby, but much bigger and a way of getting pleasure from his immense wealth. You can tell from the information given out by Cortese about how this came about. He basically got fed up with making £B's from business and wanted something to stir the passion within. I think he would baulk at splashing out the mega bucks for an established club, but the way he is going, I can easily see his heart ruling his head. When you look at someone like Wilde (who is still a wealthy man), it's good having assets around £100M, but if your disposable only mounts up to £5M, not a lot you can do with that. In Liebherrs case we have the classic financial iceberg, with only a fraction of his disposable assets on show with the vast majority safely attached.

What question at the start of the thread? Would you prefer to have your toe nails clipped or your bollix cut off? That is a totally non question, If you compare a Wembley final for the JPT or the play off's, it's a no brainer. Pardew wanted to create a winning mentality, it never was that. All that happened was a couple of penalty shoot outs and a sound thrashing by Pompey to set us up, winning mentality my arse. Pardew was banging on about so much rubbish, the pressure had got too much for him. You don't go giving players excuses by pointing at the -10 all the time, next step is still on the bottom, next is still in the relegation zone, next is having to clear the relegation zone and so on. I don't deny the day out at Wembley was a great day out, but in the overall scheme of things, that's all it was. If you won the play off's it would actually be of some value.

What a total load of bollix. Just what did that proof give to Luton last season? The JPT is on a par with that useless 7 aside trophy we have in the cabinet. In the years to come, no one will be bragging about the JPT or the invaluable effect it had. The real question is, who would swap a trip to Wembley in the play off's rather than the JPT.

The only reason you could want Lee Hughes is to score goals. But after watching his goal celebrations, you would soon run deep into the inner confines of the stands to avoid witnessing such a cringing event. There is just not enough beer down there to wipe such an embarrassment from the mind, he makes "The Office" look inspirational. Just the fact he is visiting St Mary's once next season is bad enough to contemplate, let alone any further.