stthrobber

It's not a fabricated straw man argument, it's my opinion which you can argue with, ignore or do what you like. However, it is a fact that I do not like the decisions that have been made in the last year that affect me as a fan, and other friends who are also fans. It is a fact that fans have been hit with a £3 ticket levy, it is a fact that the installment plan for ST holders was abolished, it is also a fact that Mr Cortese has been losing the club a lot of friends both in the media and at other clubs. So I don't see the need to be cautious when pointing a finger. The only thing I will say as speculation surrounds the decision to sack Alan Pardew. All we have there are rumours, but in his short time at the club, he had the highest win per match ratio of any Saints manager (I stand to be corrected on this). Some of our football has been great and he has brought in some bloody good players for our level and one or two for a level above. If NC brings in a manager of a higher calibre than the one he sacked, then I will offer hearty congratulations, but until then I am entitled to criticise backed up by the evidence of the last few months. I actually christened NC Nicolowe some time ago and got a histrionic reaction from some fans on Saintslist, but it was merely a joke as is Il Duce 2, and if it's okay to call Rupert Lowe derogatory names then NC is equally fair game imo.

Tirade? do me a favour. I'm just offering an opinion.

As far as I can remember, a company was set up with 3 directors to run SFC, one of those resigned leaving Markus and NC. So NC is the sole remaining director of that company and presumably can do what he likes. My understanding is that he doesn't give two hoots what we as the fans expect regardless of our status as paying customers. We are in fact completely unimportant to him because he knows that football fan loyalty is a given, and if he ****es a few fans off on the way back to the Prem, then tough, there are others who will take their place in the stands. NC is not a football man, he's a businessman (though presumably has never played hockey). I was of course delighted when the club was saved, but I do not like many of the decisions that have come from him since his arrival. We have never been the press darlings or a fashionable club, but we do need friends in the media. There are those out there who think he's untouchable because he saved us. Well, he didn't, Markus did and he brought in Il Duce 2 with him. I know he hit the ground running etc, but he has a lot to learn about so many aspects of running a football club and I get the feeling he isn't interested in doing so

I don't post much these days, but this decision is sheer lunacy imo. Under Pardew the club and the team has made vast strides forward. That losing mentality has gone, the team now expects to win games. Plays some bloody good football too. I heard that Pards was a dead man walking some months ago but apart from Cortese's ego and impatience I cannot see any justification for this decision. Pards himself is probably very relieved to get out of our club as it is not a happy place to work these days. I suspect that there is a manager in waiting, but please god do not let it be Zola. Great player, but not thus far, a good manager. Roberto Di Matteo would be fine if Cortese wants an Italian, but to sack a man with a good track record and a 53 percent win record at Saints, for one with a fairly poor track record and win ratio could be distastrous. Admittedly, at West Ham, Zola was hamstrung by the club being up to its eyes in debt and this would be a perfect chance for him to show what he can do with a club that is financially stable, but I don't really care about that, for me the timing of this is dreadful. Pardew was never my choice to lead the club when he came in, but I think he did well and deserves far more respect than Cortese has afforded him. Nicolowe!

Perry has been the consumate professional during his time with Saints. He hasn't let us down. He's been the experience that we needed, whenever he was called on. He leaves us with a winner's medal too. It's a shame that he has been released but no surprise, we need to look to the future and Perry will understand that his best days are long behind him. I wish him all the best

I think you'll find it was the Cardiff fans taunting Swansea with "Are you watching Jack Batsards"

I think it's all water under the bridge now, I never for one minute thought the play offs were a realistic target given the squad we started the season with. That may serve to underline your point GM but given where we were a year ago, and where we are now, I'll take now. Pardew is putting together a side that can win games, and not only that, go into games believing they are going to win, and reacting badly to defeat, as opposed to accepting defeat because that was the mentality. Next season we will be in a much better frame of mind to challenge for automatic promotion, and whilst disappointed that we have to spend another season in League 1, I accept it was probably inevitable given our recent history. The blame game to be honest, is counter productive now, irrespective of who did what, we are where we are, those persons have gone and we have a hell of a lot to look forward to

At least one of those nutters you refer to was recently linked with investing in Cardiff City, but funnily enough, the "Guernsey property developer" didn't actually have the money. Just wonder what these idiots get from their non takeovers?

Thanks for that DD. I was on Alacrity during the Falklands

I can't agree with you on the football man side of things Dunc. I had a lot of dealings with Andy during the Saints Trust/FOTB fiasco and I didn't think he understood the fans at all. He saw the fans as a means to an end rather than supporters. A market to exploit. Having said that, I never found him unpleasant to deal with, a bit single minded perhaps and that was no bad thing, but in the same breath during his last stint at the club a lot of good people left because they couldn't stand working with him. I didn't get to speak with him during his second stint and don't know the reasons he left, but he does seem to do a lot of short spells at loads of different football clubs. A sort of journeyman exec if you will

That's funny, we were dry side row E as well. Might have seen you then

Delighted with this result. Last time Saints played a team in the top 3 they lost at home, but this result against a good MK Dons side showed how far the team has progressed since Pardew came to the club. Well done lads

Or maybe someone could just email David Luker and ask him about this decision. It's one thing slagging the guy off on a message board, and other thing entirely to try and ascertain a few facts. It might just be that he's just carrying out someone else's instructions?

Great to hear you say this. I've only managed to see one game so far this season and we were anything but a team on that day. If I have one concern it's that we aren't scoring many goals, but we are picking up points and it looks as if we have stopped leaking goals Once we get that first win, I think we'll be on the way up again

Er, can I just remind you that we are one of those clubs you refer to by account of the fact that we, along with Charlton, Norwich and Leeds United are all in the same division. It may be a club's only chance of winning silverware at Wembley. Can't see us winning the FA Cup again any time soon

Well I didn't go today, but I was at Swindon the other week where we were actually helping Swindon with their shots at goal tally. For Saints to go away and have 18 shots on goal is vastly different from what I witnessed the other week. We didn't take our chances and paid with a last minute equaliser, but you must take heart from the performance because it shows that things are getting better. There will be times where we will play worse than that and win, but I think it's harsh of you to condemn a good performance in this way. Yes, we should have won, but the evidence is there that Pardew is turning things around but it won't happen overnight.

It's not the stadium per se, but it did saddle us with a debt that we couldn't sustain once we got relegated, which in turn affected our ability to finance new players and indeed pay the ones we already had. As for our current plight, it's probably down to the negative mentality of the players after several years of downers. That in turn transfers itself to the fragile temperament of the fans. (and no I'm not suggesting it's the fans fault) I believe once Pardew turns things round and we actually start winning games, things will be different, the fans will once again get fully behind the team (apart from Wotton). 19k for a home game at this level is pretty respectable, though Norwich had 5 or 6k on us yesterday, but it shows that the support is there, and you can get a few more on the gate with a winning team playing with confidence.

Well it just shows that Matt, like the rest of us, is human, and apparently I'm told, to err is human. Anyone can be fed a pile of horse crap and believe it. That's how con men get away with it time and time again. Look how many fans were taken in by Wilde when he first appeared on the scene. They all wanted what was best for the club and truly believed his promises of what would happen after he gained control, but sadly his promises were empty. Surely no-one could believe Matt's intentions were anything other than honourable?

I think you're banging your head against a brick wall here, but you will not change anyone's opinion about Matt. As I said before he's not a businessman, he's an ex footballer who loves Southampton FC and given that position was trying to do something positive to make sure that we still had a club to support. Anyone can be taken in by smooth talk and promises, but that doesn't mean they have questionable judgement, it just means that they can make mistakes like anyone, if things go pear shaped. I presume you have been wrong sometimes yourself?

Do you live in Portsmouth then?

I think you refer to Anthony McNamee. I saw him play for Watford against Cardiff City a couple of years back and thought he had pace but bu gger all else, but he certainly has developed and gave our boys problems all night. Makes me wonder if the Pinaccle fiasco hadn't delayed our takeover, if there might have been a chance of persuading Dyer to stay because that kind of pace was sorely missed last night.

Well, if his throw ins are as described, he'll be a potent weapon in our arsenal much in the way Rory Delap was......and with the same amount of ability

Our current situation and our current crop of players is mainly due to mismanagement at all levels of the club by all who were running it during the last few years. We are where we are, and now I think it's fair to say we have bottomed out of bad times and now the club and the team needs to be rebuilt. I do think the Dutch experiment was mad, I do think the mix of youth and experience was totally imbalanced towards youth and in that respect Lowe can be blamed whatever reasons he had for doing it. We all know the debt had to be reduced but when it was announced that D Mcg was to be our main striker at the start of last season many of us thought "WTF?" I don't have any particular aspirations for this season. I think Pardew will build a team to challenge, but probably not this season and with players still to come and in mindsets to be changed, it might take a few games for Saints to adjust to League 1. I've been on holiday and not seen them this season and will hopefully get a better view on Tuesday night. There's no guarantee that Pearson could have kept us up, but he would have put teams out that would fight for the cause. On the other hand, bringing in two Dutch football league virgins who didn't get on, then spinning it as a bold new coaching set up, was naive at best, at worst sheer stupidity. I just want everyone to look forward now as there's no point in looking back at what went on before, we can't change history, only our own versions of it and to be honest, there ain't much mileage in that.

I read your original post, but I don't agree with your view of MLT as tarnished. I believe he was hoodwinked as to the availability of funds and thereafter probably fed a load of bull's faecal matter. I think he was more than likely in difficult position by then as if he had openly withdrawn his support for the Pinaccle bid and then the funds had materialised, then he would have looked like a prize pirck. None of us really know the ins and outs of the whole deal but nobody could surely believe that MLT had anything other than the best interests of the club at heart. He was played from the start imo and should have our sympathy rather than scorn, he is after all, not a money man, he's an ex footballer admittedly with a much higher IQ than many other ex footballers (and current ones) As to the Pinaccle internet charm offensive, it reeks of the Mike Wilde campaign of a few years ago which led to the bitterness and jealousy that saw Keith Legg finally give up the ghost if Saints Forever. Although our club is now safe from the 3 amEGOs, it does disappoint me that threads here still degenerate into petty sniping rather than as someone has suggested, reaction to the post they've read and that is a shame

I can see this degenerating once again, but JP by his own admission seems to be saying he was out of his depth. I think that the whole Dutch thing was madness from the word go, and that the fact that Pearson was Crouch's man virtually guaranteed his departure from Saints. It was no particular secret that MW and JP didn't get on. I think JP is a decent man who jumped at the chance he was given, I doubt any of us would turn such a job down. Lowe would have been acutely aware that the quicker they reduced the debt to Barclays, the more likely it was that Barclays would call in the loan, so the irony is that he hastened his own departure. I don't blame Lowe for trying the SCW thing, but sadly he was bigger than the club and the press would never let things lie between him and Redknapp. Then to give someone the title of Director of Football when it was wholly inappropriate with the job he was there to do was pretty dumb. As for Wotte, I don't know whether he was being Machiavellian or not. He always seemed fairly decent to me, and I felt sorry for the way he was given a contract one day then booted out a couple of days later, but that's football I suppose.