benjii

If they had that they wouldn't have got relegated? If we go down would you expect us to walk back up again? If Leicester come up Pearson has done a brilliant job of arresting the despair at a club at its lowest ebb for decades.... sound familiar?

When you read that it just highlights Lowe's wafer-thin knowledge of football IMO. Delgado outscored Batigol and Crespo, therefore we signed him. That's out of the "Saints beat x and x beat y therefore Saints are better than y" school of playground arguments.

Sign of the times. Last season it was Boasters and Jammy Dodgers. ps. Rumour has it, promotion = chocolate hob-nobs.

I'm cheeky like that. I was just reporting what Solent said, which to me sounded as though he was in the dressing room talking to the players just before kick-off. That to me is when the team talk happens, and therefore it was a team-talk. If it was no more than an introduction and a brief explanation as to why all the best players are leaving then it seems like slightly odd timing.

Maybe Lowe's pep-talk was a "do it for the gaffer (or I'll sack him)" talk.

I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd done a Dave Lee-Travis.

He just sounded so deflated. The interviewer wasn't even giving him a hardtime. They could have questioned him about the strange substitutions or the inability/unwillingness to change shape, but they were fairly bland questions and he sounded like he couldn't be arsed anymore. I'm very worried!

He sounded suicidal. Monotone, monotactic, monostriker. No wonder Lowe's decided to get in the dressing room and shake things up a bit. Great appointment Rupes. Pearson would have been so much worse.

More and more concerned about Portvlieet. Seems utterly clueless.

It's completely immaterial as none of it will ever benefit SFC. For the record though, in the grand scheme of things, not a lot.

Portvliet's fecking clueless. Moved McGoldrick out to the wing to accommodate Michaelangelo's Rasiak.

The Quisling?

I don't think "Big" Dave (Niiiiaaayyyaaaaaammmeeeeee) Merrington has editorial control over the presenter's comments and they certainly aluded to more than a quick, "pip, pip". I think you are being a tad Panglossian.

Just so that you all know, I am going to start using the words "Panglossian" and "Pangloss" a bit more around here. Keep your eyes peeled.

If JP hasn't got that authority then, given that these players were always going to be our "plan A" this season, Lowe has made another pathetic appointment. Surely he should have made sure there was a suitable "motivator", someone to be respected, a figure of authority who can't be undermined or messed with.... Nigel Pearson? Like I indicated above, I don't see anything wrong with a "good luck lads", but to occupy significant pre-match time in the dressing room (if that is what he has done) is just rather queer and screams of a lack of confidence in the team management.

ps. sounds like we're actually playing quite well!

:smt026 I was wondering what to ask for for Chrimbo. Great news.

Do you reckon? I can't imagine Man U fans being too happy if Glazer decided it was his role to motivate the lads. Wouldn't that be a massive slap in the face to Sir Alex? Isn't it tantamount to admitting the manager's not up to it or an admission that you think you could do better? I agree that if this was, for example, a cup final or a relegation decider/play-off match there's nothing wrong with the board members stepping in and saying good luck lads and uttering a sentence of encouragement or two....but giving a "pep-talk" - WTF? As an aside, if I was a young lad who'd grown up with one ambition, one burning ambition, to be a top-class professional football player, I don't think I'd be too impressed by a blustering, floppy haired gimp in a tweed blazer trying to do my manager's job. Classist, prejudiced? Most definitely. Justified? Almost certainly.

Well, according to Radio Solent he gave a team-talk in the dressing room tonight so it's not too far fetched.

According to Solent pre-match, Lowe was in the dressing room giving a "pep-talk". Good idea?

Andrew Cowen's family are in the film business.

The simple answer is that, if it is not the PLC which owes the debt, then you can bet your bottom dollar there will be a parent company guarantee in place in any case. You can also bet your bottom dollar that the loan agreements in place allow the lender to take certain actions should th PLC divest itself of significant assets. If neither of the above propositions are the case then the lenders have made monumental Steve McLaren Dutch interview-style ball bouncingly enormous ****-ups. In other words, splitting the debt from the PLC will be of no benefit to the current shareholders unless the new owner of the football club can satisfy the lenders of their ability to service the debt. (There are also various rules about transactions at an undervalue, wrongufl trading, etc.... which apply on insolvency, but there is no need to go there really). I don't really think there is any way for the board or shareholders to weasel out of this in our situation. The way people have tried to ameliorate things like this in the past is by making themselves the major creditors (a la Ken Bates) and therefore being in a stronger position when the poop hits the air circulation unit. I think it's a pretty safe bet that neither Wilde or Lowe are about to take on that mantle any time soon.

Nah, can't be bothered. Waste of 24 quid.

Lowe and Cowan's termination payments would virtually finance Stern John for a season. Wilde's £2m would have kept Andrew Davies and a couple of others (some chap called Nigel Pearson perhaps?)