Saint 76er

Just a quick question for anyone who can answer... Has the building work started on the Staplewood redevelopment yet and/or when is it scheduled for completion? I thought they said ready end of July initially, but have heard nothing since. Is this project a goer or has it gone to the back burner perhaps?

Logically yes, there would be a season review and this may be all it is. However, I did hear Adam Blackmore on Solent and he was adamant (no pun intended) that he had spoken to someone close to ML and that ML was not happy and that a meeting this week would resolve things. He left no doubt that this "contact" was alluding to Pardew's job being on the line. It should be noted that Solent is the only contracted media source AFAIK at the club and is usually the only media outlet that Cortese speaks to, and Blackmore said he was 100% certain of his source. Perhaps Cortese just wants to gee Pardew up and remove him from any perceived comfort zone. If, however, he wants to remove him from the club, then once the SWF melt down has abated the focus shifts to possible replacements. Would Zola be good for us.. probably and would have the international cachet that I suspect ML/NC are really hankering after. In this regard a German candidate seems a likely proposition as we know that ML follows the Bundesliga and as a billionaire industrialist presumably has a lot of clout back in the old country. Jurgen Klinsmann anyone...?

Was listening to Solent prior to match and Adam Blackmore stated quite categorically that he had spoken to a good source at SMS who is close to ML (presumably Cortese) and was told that ML would not be attending as he was unhappy with the progress made this season and Blackmore assumed that meetings would occur probably next week to resolve matters, with the inference that AP may be on shaky ground. DM agreed with him that it looked like matters may be coming to a head shortly. Interesting times...

Like all of us, I am trying to make sense of the liquidation in 9 months scenario, especially as that will come up mid way through next season. We know from our own experience that the FL don't like club ownership shifting from one company to another and in our case were quick to grab their 'golden share' back and refuse to hand it over until they got their way. Like Baldrick, the Android appears to have a cunning plan. He has seen the PL bend over backwards to help them out and turn a blind eye to the most blatant cheating, solely to get them through to the end of the season and complete their fixtures. Presumably he thinks he can pull the same trick on the FL and have them turn a blind eye in nine months out of desperation to get their fixtures completed as well. No doubt reasoning that they can't withdraw the GS half way through a season. Could be a nice little points penalty though and let's hope the FL are in as mean a mood as they were with us. I do worry they may be a little more user friendly without Mawhinney around unfortunately...

Reported on 606 today, claiming to be ITK... WT to Plymouth LH to Norwich PW to Brizzle R DC offered 1 yr deals by us and Leicester, he to choose. Pardew to open contract discussions early June with Theo Robinson of Udders. Is he any good...?

I favour "Up Pompeii" personally, with apologies to Frankie Howard, but then it is a FARCE after all. Now the whole world agrees they've been trading insolvently, then surely that is illegal and the law requires they be wound up? If they try to claim solvency, then since creditors not being paid, surely the authorities need to find out who was appropriating the income as those actions may not have been strictly legal? In the case of the Aussie rugby club hammered by their authorities, much was made of the club running two sets of books. Obviously only one of which was for official consumption. The books shown to Vantis and the ones now being accessed by AA appear to differ widely, as it happens...

Well according to Mr Andro-thingy's little opus it's a CVA or bust for Poopey (well sort of). It quite specifically says that no CVA means they move straight to a creditors voluntary liquidation or a compulsory winding up. Andro and his mate are slated to carry out these procedures if it comes to that. However, further on it, interestingly, says that CVA or not the Administrators can, without recourse to creditors, sell to anyone of their choosing or dispose of any bits in any manner they wish. Presumably, the rationale being if they are able to procure more funds that way than otherwise exist in the pot. However, this does seem a tidy little hole for them to crawl through when perhaps explaining that, oh gosh, at the eleventh hour we've been lucky enough to sell the club, or grandstand, or whatever other assets to Mr C, or even Mr G (snr or jnr) and wasn't that nice of them to come back in and help us out. It may well be that Mr A has a fallback plan if a CVA can't be achieved, or then again maybe even if it can. His document did rather seem to give him open ended authority whilst bypassing creditors, if he so chose. Perhaps some of our insolvency experts could have a look at this aspect and offer their opinion on the legitimacy or normality of this situation?

Could the recently signed Les Reed operate as a de facto Sporting Director perhaps? He certainly has a wide ranging remit with us, by the sound of it, and tons of experience at the highest levels of technical coaching. Probably not so much a dressing room guy, but his inside knowledge of the game must be immense. Hard not to see Cortese utilizing that sort of knowledge when he has it on hand, and Reed could certainly critique AP if required...

Firstly, can't see it ever happening or any need to. EUFA/FIFA regulations probably wouldn't allow it anyway, but how's it going to work if, say, Ross County get drawn away to Plymouth? That's about two days on a coach and for a club trying to exist on gates of a few hundred. Plymouth probably wouldn't be thrilled if a replay was required as well...

Yeah, but don't that lot travel in caravans and form an encampment and like stay for six weeks or something and then move on when they've, so to speak, exploited the local business opportunities.. so not such a great hardship after all really.

To all you guys who were there..... It's T Shirt time!!!!!!!!! :prayer:

Quite correct Phil, using public money (HMRC) to fund players is cheating on the grand scale. According to the commentator I heard, they still owe Spuds money for Boateng's transfer and he scored the killer goal to put Spuds out! Nice touch from the 'tator though.. "but they can have the shirt off his back". Seriously, someone is in league with the devil over on the dark side. Which rather conveniently brings me to the subject of their fake administrator and his paymaster. Alarm bells rang loud and clear as soon as Chanrai announced he would fund the administration and then appointed some bloke with dodgy previous and who allegedly shares the same legal representation. Surely the authorities (football and otherwise) would be looking into this as, whilst it may all be above board, it sure as hell is a real bad look and leaves the motives of all parties open to serious question, I should have thought. Oh dear, a cup final and more of the "we are the gratest fans in the world ™" rubbish. Well, they certainly grate on me, so perhaps they got that bit right. But, what have they ever done to justify that moniker? It can't involve selling out a small football stadium each week, we know that for sure. So what is the justification... do they, for example, generously raise alms in support of the poor and disadvantaged (almost everyone) in their area, or could it be for services to bell ringing, perhaps? Maybe we'll never know, but with relegation assured it seems the blue few will be getting even fewer when the likes of Scunny and Donny come visiting next season. Time, perhaps, to update the 'blue few' to something more appropriate to their new circumstances. Possibly, the 'blue two' then.. or for really big games the 'grate eight' (both TM) perhaps... ?

Still hanging in there! Well done today Saints, in a tight tussle. Despite the doubts, Pardew appears to have got it right as (a) we won, and (b) Antonio scored the vital goal...

Well, that's automatically ruled out Poopey from using this service then...

But, Danny, can't you see that the blue few at last have a man they can look up to... a man who actually goes outside his own family for that sort of thing. If it wasn't a dirty word in Skatesmuff they'd call him a saint....... :badgrin:

I understand your reasoning SS, but I'm not sure that Cortese will. We all know that he is aiming for big things with Saints and I doubt if, ultimately, a stadium of our current capacity and perhaps build quality will be part of his plans. Sure, he has to provide the product to entice any missing fans back and providing a suitable environment would presumably be a part of that process. Look how many fans have said how great it was to be part of such huge Saints support in such a magnificent stadium Cortese will have seen a glimpse of the future on Sunday, and fortunately I suspect his vision of that future will be far more positive than your own.

Maybe time to bump this thread back into life following our outstanding turn out at Wembley. Behind Cortese's deadpan face, as he gazed upon the Southampton hordes, presumably an accountant's brain was busily calculating figures. By all accounts we had around 52,000 in the stadium and countless others couldn't get tickets, and the wild enthusiasm and joy of supporting the reborn Saints was clear for all to see and I doubt if this message was lost on the viewing Swiss banker. Make no mistake Cortese is setting sail for the premier league, champions league and all that stuff, and he is smart enough to want the infrastructure in place when it happens. It's almost as if our fan base has been somewhat in hibernation during the gulag of hopelessness under which we have suffered prior to this new awakening. But the fans haven't gone away, in fact they seem to have increased and are now out in force and keen to reconnect with a rejuvenated Saints. Consequently, will this evidence of large scale support firm up Cortese's desire to build a new 50,000+ super stadium out of town, or is he likely to err on the side of caution and settle for a redeveloped St Mary's at an appropriate time? If the former, he may well want to put things in motion fairly quickly to strike while the iron is hot, so to speak...

Yep, fans really got the message over in support of Pardew. Big cheer for Markus when shown on the screen but subdued response and tinge of booing for Cortese. Support for Pardew was almost palpable when he went up the steps and you could feel the fans waiting for him to lift the cup and huge cheers when he did. Fabulous to see Southampton winners message on the big screen. We need more days like this! Rickie and both full backs were outstanding and Adam and both centre backs as well... hell they all were today!!! Well done Saints, brilliant day and brilliant support too. This really feels like it could be the cathartic moment that is the start of the new beginning for this football club. A moment to finally sweep away all the baggage of the recent past and believe in ourselves once again. Only eight months ago we were staring into the abyss and today we stand as CHAMPIONS parading a hard won cup around Wembley stadium. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, but long live the new Saints... :D

If the wages are late again (and who's going to pay them?) will they get further fines for any such new offense? If they can't pay their fines perhaps that will then convert to points penalties (or they will be wound up by then ).

No, it's not ecuk! UE is a clever guy but takes forever to get to where he is going. You will give up before you finish it. Currently reading 'On the Road' by Jack Kerouac, been meaning to for years. Basically two crazy guys on road trips around America in the late forties and their antics inspired the beat generation (remember beatnicks?) of the 1950's. Dylan, that's Bob not Thomas, says of it "It changed my life like it changed everyone else's". Kerouac typed the thing in 3 weeks flat of almost continuos effort using Bennies to stay awake and drying his soaked thru T shirts on radiators around the apartment as he literally sweated out his masterpiece. He typed single spaced on a continuos roll of paper 120 feet long. This revered scroll is currently on display somewhere, although I believe Kerouac gave it to a friend for safe keeping and legend says the friend's dog ate one of the ends off, so it's a bit shorter now! This book is close to autobiographical and names were changed (people like Allen Ginsberg for example) in the published format and things cleaned up a little. However, a new edition is recently published of the complete scroll as written, real names and juicy bits included. If you have an interest in that era it's a must read. Different era, different writer, but I also really like the novels of James Lee Burke. He writes, usually, about an ex drunken detective in New Orleans and Louisiana bayou country. Burke is a seriously good writer, wins lots of awards in the states, and he really takes you there to that steaming southern delta country. He has loads of titles available at most bookshops, published by Orion. Here endeth the sermon for today...

Moving away from all the financial analysis and following the vote for our Wembley song, it might be pertinent to consider what we all think is an appropriate song to welcome Poopey onto the hallowed (if it still is) turf. Obviously, anything with cheats or cheating in the title would be well regarded . However, as an exemplar of the local culture pertaining to that area I must say I would very much favour that 60's mock reggae number... ' Woe is me - shame and scandal in de family' . However, I suspect the Android would much prefer to hear John Lennon's raspy tones reverberating around the stadium in a Beatles classic ... 'Money, just give me money, that's what I want ...' Further suggestions anyone?

According to this report the creditors committee ordered by the judge can set parameters for investigating any financial irregularities that may have occurred and thus caused said creditors to lose all or most of their money owed. Assuming HMRC are on the committee this may be the sting in the tail they have been waiting for. The real dirt may then start to be exposed by vengeful creditors and who knows what police/court actions may follow? Such a shame for them really... :D

If you look at the picture gallery, the new Juve stadium gives an impression as to how a redeveloped SMS might look. The stadiums have a similar roof line and the pictures show how a second tier at SMS could look, and in a stadium with a similar capacity to our needs.

Exactly Ken, but the profits could be into the billions. I don't think these people think like you and I, and we may all be surprised at the scale of project they will want to get involved with. They won't think small, and I know this is a new concept for us, but we might have to start getting used to it ...