Nineteen Canteen

Very

Scum slag? Nice phrase - what does it mean?

Ian Gillan had more hair

Your talent is wasted MB!

Why is that TNT? Is it because I don't agree with your pov and take the trouble to explain, whilst you throw out your witless one liners? Pity my photo editing or artistic skills aren't up to it otherwise we could post alongside Osman's proud display of Lowe and the Rope with one of Crouch and the gag.

You mean, pity he didn't

With respect I was very very worried about administration and my worst fears voiced back at the start of the year if not before have been realised. I have no connection with the club or any directors past or present whatsoever and my personal inability to make a donation does not exclude me from questioning those who do and their motives for so doing. I remain unconvinced that 3 the protaganists couldn't have worked together with Leon clearly able to splash his cash and avoid administration in the first place. That is the basis for my long view/opinion and the simple fact we need the spite and pettiness removed from this club for good, hence my questions.

OK, a few months ago it was reported that a company Leon Crouch owned or was involved with had to lay off 50 employees. Does he love the staff at SMS more than those who worked for him? If there are guarantees to him in terms of repayment, interest or position does that make it a donation or simple business decision based on risk and reward? If the latter i don't understand why he would make any contributon without an agreement to cut salaries. The man's contribution is welcome please don't get me wrong but that does not mean he is above questioning. Lowe failed in some areas but he also achieved a big reduction in our operating costs and overdraft but because of bigots and the easily influenced he was unable to address falling revenues unless he walked away which IMO was at the time a Catch 22 situation. Please also remember long before administration and Leon's offer of £2m I was advocating for Lowe to invite Crouch on to the Football Board as Chairman in an attempt to address the decline in attendances. It transpires Crouch had similar ideas with his £2m although they were packaged in a way that Wilde would never have agreed to it.

Someone else who was an avid reader of the matchday programme when Leon was chairman. I use to liken his 'message from the chairman' as fairy tales or tales of the unexpected but fan-pandering guff may become de rigueur as regards to any action or communication from Leon Crouch. IMO the man tries to curry more favours with the fans than Madhur Jaffrey.

With respect there was little evidence of this in his short tenure as Chairman and if he talks the talk can we point to his ability to be interviewed under pressure in particular his interview on R5L regarding the set up of SLHplc / points deduction and local radio when he was asked about his offer to inject £2m prior to administration. People are talking on this thread about his 'loans' and 'donations' and these terms obviously have different connatations. I would repeat Deano's question what exactly has he done, why has he done it (risks) and under what terms?

Anybody care to answer Deano's question with some facts and perhaps address the points made by NickH and Frank? If he has paid his own money to cover wages I'm not sure I understand why he did not arrange to negotiate a salary reduction of some of the highest earners. If he didn't isn't he throwing good money after bad? Does this show him to be generous or foolish? Also, whilst he may risk losing all the money he has contributed as some suggest on this thread that doesn't sound to me like a donation in the purest sense of the word. Is it a loan, interest bearing or otherwise? Is it a guarantee for a future position at the club? Does he have a vested interest in the Pinnacle bid and perhaps willing to risk the up front fees? Is it a gesture of simple good will or a donation borne out of guilt? His cash contribution whatever is of course very welcome and comes with thanks and gratitude from all fans but I'll reserve my full praise until the answers to some pertinent questions have been given and remain at this moment unconvinced he is the Mother Teresa of SFC. In any event give Crouch a role or a voice within the club in the future and IMO any forward thinking owner would have regressed 5 years before they've even started.

Tonight it seems, 'The prince of darkness is a gentleman'. With all due respect to you Weston, as the harbinger of a deepening depression. 'Ambition's debt is paid', at least it seems that way tonight, and apologies for going all Shakespearian. Could have been worse and quoted Macbeth or Richard III but Lear and Caesar seemed more appropriate in these mad times.

It's not just the FIs who have to reposition themselves so do the clubs and their fans. We have learned the hard way with regard to realism and not adapting to the prevailing conditions. I don't think NU's or Barclay's reputation will be ruined in the city for a generation. Money talks and I have no qualms about opening my new Isa with Barclays at 3.6% when my current ISA was paying 0.5%. Other than that your post along with Clapham's is very enlightening and somewhat reassuring.

I expect you're right

I expect you're right

Was it pay to play ?

A cheque? What is that, some sort of prommisory note? I'm sure they can pay funds same day or god forbid those poor players have their salary delayed by a couple of days in the clearing system. Perhaps we should pay them by cheque.

Furnish a detailed split??? How about player wages to turnover ratio, allowed to rise to 81% under the Wilde, Hone and Crouch watch. I wonder what was Norwich's ratio and if the overheads had an impact on pricing. Furnish a detailed split? Seriously Wes you must get through a lot of Torch batteries.

Um when you've finished laughing why don't you try joining the debate or has your Mum got the tea on?

Its called a back up plan Tame. I followed Charlton for a while whilst I lived in the area so what? I was still a Saints fan first and foremost but it was easier at the time to get my football fix locally. Get yourself along to a Saints in the community bash and find out how many 7 year olds who support the Saints turn up in Chelsea tops. Its called growing up and Um and yourself will find out what that's like one day. It's irrelevent now but have you ever tried to debate one of my views without trying to guess my identity or revert to insults that surely your mother told you to avoid? Still, I expect you're right.

Dropping down 1 league has resulted in a conservative drop in average crowd numbers of 30%. Dropping 7 leagues? (Um Pahars will tell us how many) would extrapolated give an average crowd of 2,590 in the Premier Southern league. Close the stands - open the corners?

And follow the example of Ebbsfleet Utd? No thanks but have a look at their 'support the fleet' pages via the attached link. Hideously familiar. http://www.ebbsfleetunited.co.uk/

Compares quite favourably to the £495 I paid for an adult and junior ticket this season in the CCC not to mention the amount it would cost me to travel to Norwich. Wes I was expecting some startling revelation all this does is paint some of our fans in a worse light and at least we had a ST pricing policy that you could understand without the need to write a macro.

Pat we're all entitled to our views but why does the poor fare vs season ticket sales not necessarily correlate at clubs like Norwich who have sold more tickets fro L1 than I suspect we have sold certainly in the past two seasons and probably since relegation. Refering to people as ar5eholes is all well and good but you lose the argument when you and others can't argue why posters like myself and Dibden are wrong in our views? Did you have a go at Lawrie for his inferences about fans not interested in supporting a charity game? Is it any different?