spyinthesky

Don't think he can be criticised for trying to get the Stoneham site underpinned by retail. Decent business principle As I understand it the SCC provided the St Marys site FOC and Rupes/Andrew Cowans sorted out a £33m mortgage via Norwich Union Again credit where it is due However there were many downsides, including the laughable letter of support from the 'mystery' supporter at one of the last AGM's I would love to read a full resume of the Lowe years at some stage. Come on Duncan I think you should have a go before our collective memories fail

I am no particular fan of Rupes but walking up to the ground today made me reflect what our position would be today if Rupert and Co had spunked our Premiership revenue on big money signings a la Pompey and not invested in the new Stadium and training facilities. If we had stayed at the Dell who knows where we would be now. Certainly not able to attract 24,000 fans for a cup tie against relatively modest (no disrespect intended) opposition. Southampton City Council should also be congratulated for overcoming the longstanding problem in finding a site. It still rankles with me that the residents of Stoneham, the politicians at Hampshire County Council and Eastleigh Borough Council had their spurious objections to the Stoneham site upheld. However, thanks to SCC, the stadium was built in the heart of the city and we have decent facilities. I had a good view today, was kept dry and saw some new talent develop. All good stuff.

For those who think today will be a stroll in the park should remember that only top class saves from the often maligned Kelvin Davis kept us in with a shout against Bristol City and Burnley I thought our team v Bristol City would be good enough to see them off comfortably but we struggled at times and it was only the introduction of regular first teamers as subs which pulled us through both games

My first reaction to the news was..'Typical of Osvaldo. Waste of money. Get rid asap, especially after his spat at Newcastle'... I then remembered that when I was playing football at a reasonable level many years ago, there were regular flare ups in training for any number of reasons. However in those days such incidents never made the press and also fans were more tolerant as most players weren't on massive wages and didn't cost a fortune in transfer fees. Todays players do have a greater responsibility towards their club and supporters and, all things considered, if we can cut our losses with Osvaldo and try again for a decent replacement, that should be the objective. I am glad though that we have a few points in the bag. It would not have been good to suffer injuries + Osvaldo problems if we were at the wrong end of the table

I see Penny's red swimsuit is going up for Auction. Someone unkindly said that Adidas were going to buy it to make into a set of kit for Accrington Stanley ahead of their relegation clash at Fortress Fratton On a separate matter, I notice there is a Toy Fair on in London at the moment. Wonder if our ex favourite poster is in attendance?

First of all I think this is a very positive statement that will hit the spot with most supporters. We are unlikely to ever know but I would be very interested to learn who actually prepared the draft before Katharina signed it off. Whoever they were it was a very good effort.

John Don't think posters are sniping at Aaron Martin, just trying to give an honest assessment and I for one would love to be proved wrong as he cost us nothing. However as I recollect he went on loan to Palace last season and was shipped back after only playing a few games so may be that is a reasonable yardstick to consider

Question is, do we want Pompey to go down to Non League where they should comfortably survive and possibly thrive with record attendances etc and possibly regroup for a glorious return to League football (more honours on the board etc)? Alternatively they survive and, hopefully, get stuck in League 2/ Div 4 for a few years with interest dwindling away. I suppose if they went down to Non League and got a hefty points deduction and ended up doing a Stockport/Bradford PA/Workington/Boston or even a Maidstone this would be seen as the natural progression this side of the M27

I agree with you on this Because I was uncertain of my whereabouts I bought my ticket for the Bristol City game on the morning of the game (for an evening KO) I wasn't aware of the surcharge and was asked to pay £22 for a ticket For a moment I thought about walking but didn't I know £2 is not a great deal of money in the grand scale of things but it was the principle that annoyed me, especially as the three people ahead of me were being delayed at the Ticket office and I was expecting to exceed the 15mins parking time All this for what was really a reserve team fixture!!

Disagree entirely even tho Jos is not really top Premiership standard I have a soft spot for Aaron Martin as he is a local lad who came to us from Eastleigh. His family are Saints fans and Aaron has always done his best when turning out for us. However he would really struggle in the Premier and probably his future lies in League 1 or 2 where, hopefully, he could do well (possibly as a team captain as he has good leadership skills) and make a decent living btw Aaron injured his leg in the pre season friendly at Eastleigh and is just coming back to fitness so good to see him feature last night Slightly off topic, Lloyd Isgrove doesn't appear to have made the progress expected of him pre season but hopefully he will be able to move forward

Is the big Markus flag still in existence and, if so, will it be allowed an airing now or are there some family reasons for it to be kept stored away?

Any advice to the incoming CEO? Fwiw mine would be (in no particular order) 1. Create a better dialogue with the fans 2. Ditto with businesses in the area (note only about a third of Boxes seem to be taken compared to 100% in early years) 3. Get rid of the 15 min parking charge 4. Convert back to stripes 5. Review some of the previous new signings eg Forren, Mayuka, possibly Ramirez and Osvaldo 6. Assist with supporters travel expenses for some longer away games 7. Get rid of the £2.00 charge for pay on the day tickets. 8. Embrace the clubs history. Forge stronger links with Ex Saints individually and the Ex Saints organisation. 9. Review possibilities of Concerts at St Mary's 10. Continue progress with the Academy and continue the progress the previous Chairman was able to achieve 11. ...and probably most important..keep Katharina Liebherr sweet'....

I am sure MLT has been bombarded with approaches from the press re his take on NC's resignation so his comments, as reported in the Echo, are undoubtedly responsive rather than proactive. I think he has been reasonably measured in the way he has given his view and, I have to say, his comments are broadly in line with my own personal view. However it is interesting to see the mainly negative stance towards MLT taken by people on the Echo Forum with a groundswell of support for NC. Undoubtedly MLT had an Agenda against NC but there again this was probably as a result of NC's view of MLT and past players/history of the club (apart from Terry Paine of course - wonder what TP will say in his Football Echo column today?) One thing that MLT did touch on was that if NC had been a bit more sympathetic towards the history of the club and the requirements of the average fan then he could have become an enduring Saints legend. No doubt his personality did not allow him the luxury to pursue this option, which is a great shame As someone ably pointed out NC can be compared to Marmite. Let's hope if he does re-surface at the club at some stage he will maintain his vision for a successful future but be a bit more understanding of the requirements of the average fan.

I remain somewhat disappointed that Cortese has gone but only the passage of time will provide a proper view. He has been very closely linked with the rise of the club to unexpected heights post Lowe era and for that we have to thank him and the owners for their input. However there has been lots of associated baggage along the way, most of which has been touched upon here. There is probably more to come and certainly a lot of people I know from the business world have not got a great deal of positives to say about him. His attitude towards suppliers (and fans) could be portrayed by some as being symptomatic of a hard nosed business man but you have to build relationships with people (especially in a business as unique as Football) and, in quite a few respects, he did not display the attributes of a fully rounded Chief Executive in sympathy with the traditions of the club. That said when you compare him with some of his counterparts at other clubs he comes out as a shining example. Finally I wonder if the recent Clattenburg nonsense may have had some impact on the owners view of NC's stewardship?

Of course when a club like ours is punching above its average weight has a run of success, there is always something round the corner to rattle the cage. Same is happening at a number of Prem clubs in worse positions than ours. Without knowing all the ins and outs of the matter, I would be more concerned if the Liebherrs were threatening to pull out, although Cortese has reportedly said in the past that there were plans to deal with this situation if it happened. Cortese has, of course, been a leading light in our recent success story but he does come with some baggage. I hope he and Poch stay to provide continuity. However if the Liebherrs, or whoever, decide to continue funding the club then surely there would be other club Chairman (and Manager, if required) to keep the club on an even keel and continue the progress of recent years. All that said we have to be prepared for a rocky road but I guess us committed fans have been used to this over the years

I used to watch Everton once or twice a year when visiting the North West as a youngster in the days of Alex Scott, Roy Vernon, Jimmy Gabriel (who I once later played with in the same team) and later the wonderful midfield of Ball, Harvey and Kendall with Ray Wilson, Brian Labone, Gordon West etc in the team Once watched Everton play Burnley one Bank Holiday in front of 72,000 at Goodison Park!!!! On topic, when Bobby Collins retired from football, I understand he became an Insurance Agent for a while collecting premiums around households in Liverpool. He was only 5'4" and apparently a couple of scallys thought they could rob him of his insurance collections. Story is he was a very hard man for his size and put both the robbers in hospital

FWIW Malcolm Waldron gets my vote but he was generally OK but not outstanding Slightly off topic but what great shame that Duncan Edwards was lost to the Munich Air Disaster England International at 18 I think and many players/Managers of the time, who knew him, reckoned he would have been a world class player if he had survived the crash

Agree

£1.25m for Puncheon seems a decent fee but, as said above, puts the Gaston fee into some perspective To my mind Jay Emmanuel-Thomas looked a decent player (definitely better than Gaston despite Gash's goal) when we played Bristol Cityu earlier in the season. Surprised J E-T has been snapped up by at least a Championship club

DT I think you are being rather harsh on KD He had no chance with the 1st goal OK 'keepers are often criticised for being beaten at the near post but if you have ever played in goal with a forward steaming towards you from the angle Danny Ings had you assume the ball will be hit across goal and that's what Davis did. Ings took the goal very well and credit to him Didn't have a good view of the third but it seemed the finger of blame could be pointed as much towards our defensive frailties as KD's indecision. Don't forget KD's top drawer (and I really mean top drawer) save from Sam Vokes at 2-2 which possibly saved us the game and he made another good finger tip save at 4-2 but unfortunately the resultant corner led to their third. Davis is not as good as Boruc but he is a better stand in than Gazza at the moment

My view fwiw Thought we totally dominated the first half. Burnley had a sniff although they wasted a good free kick position close half time. If SRL had converted a half decent chance then we would deservedly been 3-0 up at the break Second half Burnley were more into it and scored from their first real attempt. Jos then got skinned (from a ball he should have won) for the second and only a couple of very good KD saves plus the woodwork prevented us going behind The introduction of Lallana for Ramirez (another extremely frustrating performance - some good/often bad) made us stronger and we scored a relatively fortuitous third before Lallana fashioned a beauty before we conceded a another sloppy goal Overall our passing was at a much higher tempo and success rate than theirs but our central defensive partnership was poor otherwise we could have won comfortably Just as well MP played a relatively strong side The side who played against Bristol City in the League Cup (relatively strong on paper) would have lost today

Just an aside to this, apart from say 10-12 Championship clubs who have deep pockets/wealthy owners, are there any other lower league clubs who actually pay transfer fees these days? Years ago fringe players from Prem clubs would generally have some value in the transfer market. I guess nowadays they are on such high wages that there is no benefit to them (or their Agents) to drop down a Division or two and the parent club has to subsidise wages rather than benefit from a transfer fee

Are all three still training with Saints or are they left to their own devices whilst continuing to pick up a weekly wedge?

Bit similar to the game at Stamford Bridge where we looked the better side 1st half and then undone by some excellent substitutions from the Chelsea manager We had some half decent chances 1st half (after a dodgy early spell) but credit to some good Chelsea defending Real problem was the wind which we had 1st half and to Chelsea's advantage second half when the game opened out. I really want Ramirez to come good but he ruins some good work by then giving the ball away. Two needless bookings in successive games too. Just goes to show we are well away from top 6 quality Need to get the required 13-15 points under our belts asap in forthcoming games before the natives start getting restless Sub 10k crowd for the Burnley game?

A 2010 production If Razor Ruddick has piled on additional poundage since then he must be fit to burst now. Frank Worthington and Alan Ball tried (unsuccessfully and understandably I think) to chat up a girl friend of mine at the Concorde Club in the mid 80's Carlton Palmer has obviously looked after himself and so has Fashanu