sidthesquid

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Given the bitterness that seems to infest the club & its supporters any supporter-led new club would dissolve into infighting & recrimination within weeks

If we can retain some of this year's squad we will do well. Lads like James, Gillett & McG are now experienced enough to play all season. Saeijs & Perry at the back, Wotton plus a coulpe of steady old pros (Matt Oakley & Steve Howard from Leicester, I wish) & another experienced keeper assuming KD goes would give us would give us a good base to rotate the talented youngsters - and Thompson, Mills, White, MacLaggon, Paterson, Gobern etc are talented - around. Even assuming Surman & Lallana go, that will be a fair team for League 1. And the £10k/week crew can go and see if anyone else thinks they are worth it

Sadly no. I have no connection to Southampton as a city, live beyond the dark side, my lad begs me not to make him go, my father is barely up to it anymore & the last few years have felt more like punishment than pleasure, so I know it would slip away. I don't watch much football on the TV, but I follow all the southern teams' results. Also, my lad is fifteen & I said we'll stop going when he starts playing on a Saturday & he's probably going to be good enough for Sussex/Wessex league standard so I'll support whoever he plays for. But until that black day happens, I will at the start of the queue to renew my season ticket

Quote: Originally Posted by alpine_saint And I repeat my answer : choosing b) will lead to a) anyway. So, are you saying you would prefer a) now rather than b) & a glimmer of hope And yet again you fail to answer a direct question. What a surprise (yawn)

I think the point is - no-one is saying anything good about Lowe & Wilde, they messed up & hopefully they are gone for good. Crouch is still being supported on here by those who fall for his 'I'm a true fan, put a fiver in the bucket' routine. He is inextricably linked with the disaster that has overtaken us, and while I agree that maybe a seat in the directors' box and a pat on the back for his endeavours is the least he deserves, he should NEVER have anything to do wqith the decision making at board level again

That was a pretty big and indefensible mistake in my opinion. If he was on the apprentice Sir Al would have fired him

Wouldn't it be quickerto say who you'd like to go?

Who cares? I want to believe it

Portsmouth must really be a dismal place if making the effort on a sunny afternoon to go all the way to Southampton, spend £20 on a ticket, watch our team play well just for the hope of getting a cheap thrill. On reflection, maybe Portsmouth is quite a nice place (long, long time since I've been there), it's the pea-brained residents that are the problem

Thank you for that summary. I don't hate Crouch & I do believe his desire to help Southampton is genuine, but he has long played the same ego game as Lowe & Wilde and I do believe we will never move forward with him involved. He was associated with the financial shambles & the exec fiasco, he was part of the pointless posturing of the Three Stooges as they let the club fall to bits and his 'gaffe' on 5 Live proved that he is a loose cannon, (though the conspiricy-theorist in me wonders if it wasn't one last sly dig at Lowe). I am happy to believe that he has done some good things for the club and put his own money forward, but he should not be part of the future. He is tainted goods

Matt Oakly cdajfu

So, are you saying you would prefer a) now rather than b) & a glimmer of hope

Alright smartypants, what, in your opinion, is preferable of the following two options a) bankruptcy & the end for SFC b) Lowe back in charge

A fair summary of my feelings towards Mr Crouch - part of the problem, NOT part of the solution It is almost impossible to quantify how bad the last season has been. Even worse than the season that preceded it. At best, Saints will start League One next year bottom of the table at a score of -10. At worst, we may be "Wimbledoned". The people to blame, of course, are those who have managed the club to this position. Not poor Mark Wotte- who is an excellent technical coach, and has the guts to look the fans in the eye. If this year has been like watching a car smash in slow motion, then we need to retrieve some scrap metal from the wreckage. But the most salient point I can make is that Leon Crouch must be removed immediately from any sort of decision-making or public role at Southampton Football Club. He must be ruled out entirely as the next Chairman and must have the apparent platform granted to him in the club's programme and access to corporate hospitality guests swiftly and permanently removed. I have no doubt that Mr. Crouch is a devout Saints fan. And some elements of the fan-base may even have encouraged his absurd actions. But you can't continue to trade on the fact that you are a walking-talking human being whose only key attribute is that you are NOT Rupert Lowe. He is now wandering around as a Walter Mitty character. Turning up at the end of the game in the hospitality suites - with Nick Holmes and Mark Dennis in tow - wielding buckets to "save our club" is a sign of how inappropriate and embarrassing Mr Crouch has become This is not about bucket collections (you'd need to fill about 5,000 buckets with tenners just to pay off the obscene financial mismanagement of Crouch's chairmanship). At present market rates, if you're willing to donate a spare kidney, this will pay Bradley Wright -Phillips's salary for a week. We're beyond that now. There's still something of a semblance of a team on the pitch. But God save us from all the people who have overseen this great club's downfall. When Matt Le Tissier names you in the Times as one of the guilty men (that's you...Lowe, Wilde and Crouch), please just go away. If we are going to get out of League One, it will be because smarter and brighter people won't put up with the insane antics of the likes of Messrs Crouch and Lowe. It's time for a major change. And if you were part of the farcical, unedifying spectacle that brought us to our knees, then your are part of the problem. Not part of the solution. I'm talking about you, Leon Crouch. Please just leave now, with whatever dignity you can still muster.

Wouldn't work for me, I'm afraid.

It was a question, not asking for an opinion (or opnion for the intellectually limited). I have long noticed this - you always waffle rather than answer. Be brave, put your head above the parapet once in a while - we'd all respect you more for it

You never ever answer the question, do you? It is a multiple choice question -you choose either a or b a) bankruptcy & the end for SFC b) Lowe back in charge Can you manage that

Anyone can predict doom & gloom ALL of the time & be right SOME of the time. It's like always predicting a six on a dice and then telling everyone you can foresee the future when you are occasionally right

Let's hope so

Barely through the third, I'm afraid

Lowe Set To Return To Saints !!! You'd have to laugh, though, wouldn't you..........?

Totally wrong - Euell, Skacel, BWP, Saga, Thomas were all pants last year & (Thomas excepted) have been the same this year. Gillett, James, McG & even Lallana have come on excellently. I agree that their progress was uneven & I agree that they were all overexposed & suffered when they weren't given a breather, but they and the other young lads didn't let us down. The senior pros did not earn their money & refused to let us replace them. This is not political, I'm past all that, but the youngsters took unfair stick because Lowe supported them & the others became some kind of martyrs because Lowe tried to force them out. Skacel has spent two years trying to find someone to match his ludicrous wages here & yet he is still idolised as a victim of the management. Those guys & the money they were on were the root of all our problems last year & this

My player ratings Davis - 7 - steady and a couple of good saves. He can leave here with his head held high after winning us all round James - 7 - erratic at times but usually made up for his mistakes (one obvious one excluded Surman - 7 - looked happier today. Like last year a spell at left back seems to have boosted his confidence Perry - 7.5 - solid and read the game well Saeijs - 7 - unlucky for the pen. Otherwise good Gillett - 7.5 - looked a bit off the pace at times, but a shoe-in for next year's team Wotton - 7 - League one player. A good lad to have around, I suspect, but never a first eleven player Lallana - 7 - starting to look the part again McGoldrick - 7 - great goal, woeful penalty. Showed his inexperience letting the delay unsettle him, but otherwise a hardworking display again Euell - 7 - Oh Jason, Jason! Enthusiastic & competitive you might be, but talented you are not. If he was a £2k a week find from league one I'd back him to the hilt, but as our highest earner you hope for a bit more quality BWP - 7 - typical display, occasionally very good, often very bad, always clueless. Again, if he was a youngster with a handful of games you'd be quite excited by him - 3 years in and you know this is as good as it gets & it ain't good enough, I'm afraid Saga - 6.5 - Industrious but ineffective today, like his last dozen games Smith - 6.5 - Such a frustrating player. Will he ever come good? Probably not Schneiderlin - 6.5 - Got the Liptak role today Wotte - 7 - Gave it his best shot & the players clearly work for him The crowd - 8.5 - bl**dy excellent throughout & stopped me feeling miserable till the end We will be back. we have a talented bunch of youngsters if we can keep them & balance them with some steady pros we will go up. Only Davis of the big earners will be missed. This was the darkest day & I feel quite hopeful for the future

I have to say it, mate, you are a tw*t. It was not & never was the 'youth' players. It was the overpaid & ineffectual senior players who nobody else wanted that we were unable to shift on and replace with better cheaper players. They were the problem last year and again this. I just hope to god they can finally be got rid of