stthrobber

I think it's fair to point out that clubs that get relegated now have a huge parachute payment from the latest TV contracts that were not available to Lowe when we got relegated. I also think it's fair to say that if the so called best players ****ed off when we got relegated then good riddance as with a bit of effort they could have kept us up. The only player I was sorry to see go was Crouch. If you read "The Beautiful Game" then you'll realise that the pay cut clause in the players' contracts was something that many other clubs wish they could have implemented when they got relegated. Any club coming down now has a lot more financial clout than we did when we got relegated. I think this was one thing in Lowe's favour, after all, the players didn't have to sign the contract if they disagreed with that particular clause

Probably no reaction whatsoever. I found it incredible when it was revealed recently that JP and Wotte weren't acquainted before this season. The fact that they didn't get on at all came as a bit of a shock too, so if I'm reading things rightly we started a revolutionary coaching system with 2 Dutchmen who had never met and didn't like each other, coupled with a coach who wanted out at the first opportunity. Staggering, simply staggering. To quote your good self Steve, "You couldn't make it up" :mad:

Well, with hindsight, he let 2 of our best players go during last winter's transfer window when we really needed them, however, fast forward to Lowe's return and you can say "really? only 2" He appointed Dodd/Gorman in place far too long and eventually as a kneejerk, Pearson was brought in. He didn't really do enough to reduce our debts during his 2nd tenure as Chairman, and during his first, he was completely out manoeuvred by Hone. These are all fairly minor in comparison with the damage that Hone did to our club, but the spin doctors would have you believe that all of our major financial woes started when Crouch was Chairman last time, and really I've come to realise that the real villains were the Wilde Bunch that were brought in when Lowe left. I certainly wouldn't be averse to his return

Maybe Tris, but we've tried Lowe, we've tried Wilde, we've tried Crouch, we've now tried Lowe and Wilde together. It's just my opinion but I think all 3 together can turn things around, or all 3 together selling up and p!ssing off might turn things around, but in the absence of a viable alternative I think all that is happening now is that the club and fans are going further away from each other. The major obstacle would be that even with Crouch back on the board he would be outvoted a few times, but if he has the clout, then he should be invited back. They have all made mistakes, so maybe together they can put things right. I can't say things can't get worse because they most certainly can

Thanks Though that's nothing new, many people have been likening him to a puppet for a long time.

Can anyone precis what she said?

Agenda? I have no agenda. I'm merely pointing out that we escaped relegation by the skin of our teeth, yet the very fans that were severely underwhelmed by his appointment are now saying how wrong it was that we didn't keep him here. I was not entirely convinced by him when he was here but concede he's doing very well at Leicester now, but that is at a lower level and under far less financial constraints than he would be here.

No he didn't have everyone united at the end of last season. In fact he dithered badly after Burley's departure and in appointing Dodd/Gorman to run team affairs he almost cost us our Championship place last year. So many people on this board were up in arms over the appointment of Pearson as a cheap option when it happened, but he managed to keep us up by the skin of our teeth, yet now he's seen as a messiah who could have worked wonders with the kids. I think if he had appointed a known quantity when Burley left and had begun to reduce the wage bill earlier, things might have been a bit different for him. I'm fed up with this merry go round of major shareholders and am neither for nor against any of them, between them all they've been slowly killing my interest in Saints. The way to unite the fans is for them all to work together and bring success back. I don't know that Crouch on his own is the right man.

Not only that but even after DJ took us to a tribunal for unfair dismissal and lost, the club paid his legal expenses.

Ah yes, but what if they are so perilously close to "getting it right" ?

This question is bang on in my opinion. Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend can't stand each other, but get together as The Who, recording and touring because the the group is more important than the individuals. Likewise Pink Floyd played Live 8 yet Roger Waters can't stand Dave Gilmour, but they worked together to put on a fantastic show. The 3 amigos don't have to like each other, just respect each other and realise that individually they are taking the club to new depths, maybe together new heights? Is that a bit naive of me? :confused:

You're having a laugh aren't you? Academy home games are played at St Mary's and cost you about £25 to get in.

Wifey watches it. I can't stand soaps so I escape and rock out with my Gibson Les Paul.

Just don't waste your time watching such doomy cr@p in the first place. It's all so bl00dy artificial anyway.

Not really, they had one agenda with this story, and one agenda only, to sell more papers by sensationalising this story. The NOTW couldn't give a toss about Ahmed. Now all the bandwagon jumpers have hit on the story too, it seems that the NOTW got what it wanted, publicity.

No, they're a bunch of w ankers who are offended on behalf of other people who are, in fact, quite capable of being offended for themselves.

I'm sure that's not what he thinks about them. He was a young man embarking on a military career in the army where he was trying to be accepted as one of the boys, whether or not he is able to be as such. People who have not served in the armed forces, particularly those either on active service, or expecting to go on active service can have no idea of the kinds of things that not only go on, but are accepted as part of everyday life. Serving in the forces is not the same as in civilian life, the camaraderie and banter are completely different and the NOTW is indeed making mountains out of molehills in an attempt to show how bloody right on the paper is.

Ah but there is a difference. Brit is traditionally used as a shortened version of British to denote a person's British nationality, whereas "paki" is traditionally used as a derogatory term for anyone of Asian descent, whether they be from Pakistan or Bangladesh and probably even India. Black people can call themselves "niggers" but when a white person uses the term, it's racist, hence the daft cow being evicted from Big Brother a couple of years back. In Harry's case, it really is b0llokcs. It was 3 years ago when he was a fair bit more immature than he is now. If he had said it yesterday then fair enough, but he is no different from anyone else, in that when you pass from adolescence into adulthood, you learn a great deal more about life and what not to do and say to offend people. Everyone does things in their life when younger that they wouldn't do when they were a few years older and there are far more important things to worry about in the world than something a teenager said 3 years ago.

But if the analogy is to stand, I don't recall Edwina Currie ever being a rugmuncher, particularly as far as Thatch is concerned

According to the Daily Echo, he said that they "did not have to sell in January" which is very different from "no-one is leaving in January." Bless his cotton socks, didn't Leon Crouch say there would be no fire sales last Jan? So off went Rasiak to Bolton and Skacel to Hertha Berlin with Lee Hoos claiming the offer for Rasiak was too good to turn down for the club (even if it was only a loan deal) At this time, it ain't JP's decision, so I'll take it with a pinch of salt

I wasn't being heavy handed as you call it, I was attempting to put into some kind of context, the result of the original poster's actions and whether we like it or not, insurance premiums etc are rising because of the blame culture we live in these days. I mean, people have successfully sued tobacco companies because they felt they weren't given enough warnings about the dangers of smoking and the end result is that everyone has to pay more. I don't care if he wants to smoke at the ground, and I have sympathy with people who no longer go to pubs etc because they can't smoke. I believe provision should be made for smoking areas in pubs and other places, but the original message read to me like he was moaning about being ejected for smoking in an area where he wasn't allowed to smoke, particularly when he makes reference to goody goodies before a reply was even made. If the original point was to highlight the fact that there should be some way for people to smoke at the venue at half time then it wasn't as clear as the originator seems to think.

Actually, he has made the one point in his article that the major shareholders need to realise. Their collective egos are too big for the good of the club. Instead of constantly laying the blame, they need to work together for the future, but I can't see that happening. As for the rest of the article, I saw it as a promotion piece for the Saints Trust with a view perhaps to the writer being able to have power and influence over fellow trustees/fans. I don't so much see him being too supportive of Lowe, just accepting that there are no alternatives right now and urging unity. A bit naive? Yes perhaps.

I have no sympathy at all. You know that there is a ban yet you complain about the club because you decided to ignore that ban and were ejected because of it. In this health and safety age and compensation culture I'm afraid someone or something has to be blamed for damned near every injury and illness that occurs and not only that, the rest of us have to pay in insurance premiums etc. What about the other fans who say they won't attend matches because they think inconsiderate idiots are breaking the smoking ban and the club is not enforcing what is law, and not necessarily the club's own choice in the matter. There is nothing worse than having smoke blown in your face when you don't smoke, regardless of where you are. Yes the club might have been heavy handed, but who put them in the position where they felt action needed to be taken?

When the Trust was first considered it was a good idea and there were some good people on the forming committee that put in a lot of miles, time and effort to get it off the ground. I know Steve Grant came to us in Cardiff to sell the idea to our fans. Sadly for the Trust, the change in leadership at the club coincided with the total collapse of any communication between the club and fans and whether by design or accident, the main agenda of the Trust, to elect a fan to the board of the football club was rejected by Jim Hone. Um knows the full story better than me, but with the Trust hamstrung by not being able to deliver it's main raison d'etre, it began to look like a rudderless ship. Nick Illingsworth is a decent guy, but I fear petty jealousy on his part has driven a wedge between himself/Saints Trust and other fans. Andy Oldknow and Hone only wanted to deal with the Trust and held a gun to the other fans groups to affiliate, a move which was not popular amongst most fans groups who felt they had little choice but to accept or be totally isolated. This meant that plans would have to be made for yet more regional fans groups to represent their own groups to the Trust, and then in turn, the club. Totally bloody ridiculous, and then when Hone was booted out that affiliation business was rescinded and groups were once again free to act for their own members. For my part I see little purpose to the Trust now. I know that Nick met with Lowe and Wilde a few weeks back, but does anyone know what the outcome was? Sadly not. Until the Trust finds a new purpose and dare I say it, someone in charge who is totally independent, I think fans will by and large, not renew their memberships. I haven't.

I don't know that they are numbered Morph, with no investors ready to take over and Lowe apparently not willing to sell his shares to Leon, then what is that alternative except administration? I just wish these people could work together for the good of the club rather than fight against each other which only weakens and damages what is left of it