Legod Third Coming

hoofeckingray.

I had to pay a supplier who was in a bit of financial strife and needed an immediate payment to help with their cashflow. A significant sum was authorised and the bank payment went through within hours. So why the delay?

I was very confident of becoming an astronaut when I was 7. When I see the cash, then I shall relax at last.

Do you think the presence of MLT influenced a trained accountant with fifteen years experience of administration and a process to follow? Or just a few fans who, frankly, know feck all about feck all when all is said and done. And either way, put this somewhere else. This thread from GM, finally, is about our LIVES not about finance or retribution, but about the highs a provincial club has given to tens of thousands over the years. FWIW, mine wasn't driving to the Cup Final in 76, but driving away in 2003 when 606 was flooded with calls from across this land and beyond. With people full of admiration not for our team, but for our FANS - we reminded the world what it means to live in hope. Shame a few of us can't remember that a bit more often...

That sounds almost as painfull as listening to Alan Brazil...

well, that will make three of them then...

I am finding Andy Roddick's shorts more interesting than this football club at the moment.

I for one think Southampton Red Bulls is a brilliant name. We play in red, and have been fed bull for twenty years.

Total Network Solutions, Bayer Leverkeusen, Vauxhall Motors... bloody hell even Arsenal are named after a team of workers from the Woolwich Arsenal... Are the league now banning their own history?

Top assets - there's a classic oxymoron when prefaced by 'Southampton's...'

My message to Matt? Thank God you are not a c u n t like some of the fans we have.

Thias story shows there are very few real ITKs doesn't it?? Been negotiating for six weeks and naff all on here about it.

lol, there'll be no shortage of volunteers to pull the trigger...

It's football John - just the internet now spreads it like a Welsh farmer with a manure trailer...

A very commendable attitude. But, I think you have a snowball's chance in hell - this is a 'football' forum after all! What's needed is just for people to admit when they were wrong. I went mental when ruddy face appointed the failed Coventry manager...

Is that a random guess Dave or do you have some informed rumour??!!!!

Lol - I think it's normally filmed in a six week period and then shown throughout the year. I'm sure MLT hasn't signed up for 'Countdown LIVE in 3D' or anything...

The problem was that old adage - 'all that glisters is not gold"... The FA didn't have to sell - they simply didn't have the balls to call the bigger clubs to account. They were no doubt pressured by the bigger clubs for a big slice of pie. Had they the balls, they could have stood up to them and said - fine go negotiate directly, but none of your players will be eligible to play for their country (if UK nationals), you are barred from any FA competition and will have to create your own league which (by the way) will preclude you from any UEFA competitions... Governing bodies of sports have a thankless task and having been, fleetingly, employed by one, I have every sympathy with them. Judging the long-term interests versus short term gain is hellishly tough. I was offered incredible deals that my board refused to sanction because they were 'not in the best interests of the sport' - a sport which is now struggling massively because of infighting, inability to modernise and failure to change to adapt to the circumstances of the day. We used to look at the Premiership and Champion's League and cry on how good the packaging and selling of the rights was. Ideal for those involved, but not necessarily the sport as a whole. But where there is a market - a buyer and seller - you can't blame the fella who introduces one to the other and that's all SKY do.

I don't blame SKY. I was in sports marketing for a while and was presented with sponsorship and rights deals to review (not from a legal framework - not that bright, sadly) but the key lesson was always "Sell the milk with the cream". The FA allowed the bigger clubs to dictate to them the terms of the Premiership and then allowed all the cream to be sold without the milk. Couple this with the Bosman ruling handing all the control of assets to the player himself and the funding model for football was turned on it's head overnight. You should hear people like Rodney Marsh talking about their requests for pay-rises, and how they would find themselves on the transfer list the following morning!!! But here's our problem. Do we stick to some principled belief that we can buck the trend or do we join 'em? My view? You cannot change the music from outside the party. Get inside and then whisper in the DJ's ear...

I cannot believe that someone heading a consortium of multi-millionnaires has the time to respond to nutters on web-sites.

He's wrong but I wish he was right - does that help? Look at modern football and tell me how well-wishers with the best interests of their club at heart can possibly be better than someone with deep pockets?? You (I think) talked about Ashley and how deep pockets did not work there, and I agree money is no guarantee of success. But it's a hell of a lot more likely to lead to success, that's a given. No-one doubts MLT's passion for this club - he owes it nothing, we owe him everything. But a great man with no experience of running a football club on a shoe-string, versus a successful businessman running the club on deep pockets - is surely a no-brainer?? Ashley was on a hiding to nothing at Newcastle and is a berk for failing to carry out proper due diligence and then not listening to advice from those around him (including other Chairmen such as Dave Whelan) who encouraged him to leave the stands and sit in the boardrooms so he could LEARN from other Chairmen. He is, if you like, the worst type of owner - a fan with deep pockets!!! That said, he does at least have the money to put things right. Football is a gamble and the most successful gamblers have the ability to fund their losing streaks... as I know to my cost!!! No offence to anyone I disagree with - that's the beauty of this forum.

Sadly, my friend you are wrong... Good intentions with empty pockets are not worth half of bad intentions with full pockets. That is how modern football works. You need a budget to spend and get things wrong. Football is not a science (despite SCW...) and deep pockets are a pre-requisite for success.

This is not about preferring one bid over another because of whom they have involved or how they behave. This has to be about WHO HAS MOST MONEY. And unfortunately Mr Fry doesn't care. You see, his role is to SELL THE CLUB. What happens after it's sold is not his primary concern. His concern is garnering the best price for his creditors. So, it may well be a case of whomever puts up the money to buy the club first, rather than who has most to invest in it thereafter.

Sadly, in football, the most money means the best. Intentions are wonderful but you need money and lots of it. I don't like it - I'm sure you don't either - but that's the reality. Having enough to buy the club but no more is a disaster.

Not quite. I am a true Saints fan and am not sure I want the Pinnacle bid to succeed. If it is the only option and the only way my club will exist, then yes I'd like it to succeed. But if there is an option that involved more wealth from another consortium, I would prefer that thanks. That's no disrespect to Pinnacle - but the wealthiest owners are the best owners in football.