Nineteen Canteen

The fans stayed away by 5k before a ball was kicked and increased during our worst performances and did not increase after our best period of performances. Performance I would suggest had little to do with it and it was other personal and economic factors at play. For other than economic factors there was no real reason for fans to stay away in the numbers they did compared to a poor season before.

Alpine he did loan them out at the eleventh hour having proudly boasted in his programme notes earlier that month that the club would not need to let players go for financial reasons. We were astounded they went and who communicated the news? Crouch? Don't be silly he had his fan friendly persona to protect so up steps Lee Hoos. Then we had Crouch's way of dealing with costs cuts - talk about unpopular and necessary ideas and plans but prefer to hope for investment telling us at regular intervals that it was 3 months away then 6 then 9 but always acheiveable apparentyl. He cried wolf on Investment sometimes it felt like we had Peter Crouch on board. Its an investor! Its an investor! Its an investor! Yeah, Yeah, Peter (leon) whatever. Lowe may have been loathed but i respect him for telling us as it was and if he tried to put a positive spin on things then he was living up to the king of spin and empty rhetoric IMO. Crouch playing the youth and he would have been forecasting promotion. I can usually see your POV Alpine on most things even If I don't always agree but Crouch would be a disaster IMO and it worries me greatly at having said he is not coming back that is exactly what will happen hanging on to the tail of another consortium. Morph, IMO is connected with Crouch, hence my concern as when Crouch starts talking investment Morph starts posting or just a happy coincidence? We need strong leadership not someone telling us at every turn how much they love the club that they are not bothered about losing £1.9m in lets not forget a spectacularly bad piece of investment especially at the price per share or how much they have contributed to the cause. It's distasteful and the fact he needs to tell us how much he has given for whatever reasons and small change for him given he can afford to lose £1.9m shows that he is doing it to sway the fans to believe something he isn't IMO. Someone capable of dragging this club back from the brink. There will never be unity whilst old faces (not a spelling mistake) remain on the block. A few weeks ago month ago Crouch was willing to invest £2m with conditions that i doubt Lowe and Wilde were in a position to match. I would love to know why before the 11th hour the conditons weren't removed to save the club? I won't speculate but there are one or two intriguing possibilities.

Trust and public perception. I would not invest a penny if the forensic accountants need to be employed to determine if we have have broken some basic inter company structure. If the FL aren't sure of the transparency between the two entities then nor am I and neither should anyone else. I may have missed it but has anyone determined where these charitable donations are being paid and how they are being used? Bit much if some very high earners are deferring their salaries when others are not when perhaps above a threshold they should be taking a 50% pay cut as would be common in other industries.

Oh dear, seems it's catching. Gates were down UM by about 5k before a ball was kicked and after the Norwich win crowds actually rose during one of our worse home runs on record. Its therefore arguable if its Lowe related or performance (JP) related. Personally, it would suggest it is Lowe relate and who's to say had he kept on Pearson the Caveman the likes of John Smith woudl still have got thier knickers all twisted and stayed away in a girly huff. Even after the renewed hope delivered by Wotte gates barely crawled above 18k (prior to admin) supporting my theory that performance actually had little to do with it.

John typing in capitals is one thing when its to simply highlight your anti-Lowe hysteria its another thing entirely especially when its wrong. Was Lowe responsible for a wage bill that was 81% of Turnover? Is Jason Euell not a high wage earner? Fans were already boycotting the club because of Lowe the need to use Youth and expected impact on performance from Day 1. Supportive? If Lowe had been able to lend out Saga (again), Skacel and Euell what would be the impact on the crowd numbers by those unable to calmly assess the situation? Like last season we can identify with good signings and bad signings and for every Pekhart, Hammill and Pericard we can point to Saejlis, Holmes and Cork. Is it Lowe's fault or the manager's that players like Surman and lallana have not stepped up to the plate in the same way as Davis, Perry and increasingly James and McGoldrick? At the end of the day we are where we are because of the hysterical reaction by the likes of yourself at the return of Lowe and your decisions like many to boycott the club instead of supporting it through one of its most traumatic periods in its history. You threw your toys out of the pram and continue to blindly ignore the reality of what went before that hamstrung us from the day that Lowe came back and at the same time you decided to walk away without giving anyone a chance. Why did you choose to do that? So you could make yourself look like some kind of smug smartar5e juggling the facts to suit his own agenda. Well done objective achieved but I guess you overlooked the fact the club may go out of business or be starting in League in 16 months time. With respect you have a degree of responsibility for this mess along with Lowe and all the other factors which makes your hissy fits somewhat harder to take than those who were vehemently against Lowe but still continued to define the role of a true supporter where they were not restricted by economic or geographic restructions. What have you achieved John this season?

Blame can be proportioned across a spread of problems. Fan's apathy is one of them and yawn indeed if you believe otherwise.

The fact we didn't issue ST renewal in February for March discounts and that Lowe's silence was more powerful than any words he could have used should have been enough to most if not the Echo who could have perhaps commented and encouraged attendance instead of their usual kneejerk response.

Last Friday the Administrator was interviewed on Solent and he said (paraphrased) that potential investors were strongly urged to put in bids and not to be put off by the fact they had already received 34 notes of interests. That suggested to me he was working hard at trying to get some more attractive bids in for the club and that what was on the table at the moment was maybe not enough hence subsequent rumour from Morph about 'cross pollination of bids' in other words 'encouraging' others to unite and work together. Where have we heard that before? The Administrator is essentially just an agent with regards to selling and can't dress it up to be something it isn't. If people don't want to buy it then its a combination of the economy, the product and its potential and a wider problem in football that it is unsustainable outside the big clubs in the Premiership at current levels of costs/revenue. Football needs to downsize.

Bournemouth may get their money in the end or so many pence in the pound.

3 minutes Um? Taking your eye off the ball. What took you so long? Let me know when you think your behaviour is likely to turn into harrassment.

For the first time since January 2009 (for my stalker) I agree pretty much with most of what Stanley is saying even though we remain poles apart on how we came or wanted to be in this place at least we agree on assessing the current situation and it should not be asking the poor to finance the rich via bucket rattling. For the record if SFC need to rely on the 11th hour pledges of fans then for the sake of their money and their good intentions it would be better for the administrator to wind the club up than p1ss away the money of some genuine but gulliable fans. People are likely to lose money they can ill afford to lose in all probablity for the sake of prolonging the inevitable. If no one thinks we are worth buying then fans should not be persuaded to act as holed lifeboats IMO because if shrewd businessmen do not think we are viable then we should be accepting our fate not throwing good money after bad. Lets just hope we have a very clean slate of a take over although it worries me Morph once again is spinning his web alluding that things are looking good. If they are it is likely if Morph knows we could have some very unwelcome familiar faces returning the only solace is Morph comes and goes dependent if there is anything in it for him or his connections a bit like Crouch and both have failed in the long run IMO.

Does SFC owe SLH money? If not how is it funded?

AP, I have been vociferous in my support for Lowe because I genuinely believed and still do he was our best option for survival in the absence of any investment. Nothing to do with the 'sun shines' more to so with the best available to us. My views have become entrenched for identical reasons you state for yourself. NC

No doubt your acquainted with the power of a Dyson.

Exactly, righteously collecting money for something we in part helped to bring upon ourselves I suspect is viewed with utter bewilderment at the ticket office windows and beyond.

A model fan then Derry. Nothing personal its more to do with what you represent and whether its the right approach. Not surprisngly, I don't believe it is and I don't really care about my public persona but more concerned with trying to initiate some debate less we end up with a bigger problem going forward. Pity, if prior to Lowe's return the people in charge acted to save the club instead of worrying about how they 'look' this season may not have been quite so desperate and Lowe may never have felt the need to come back. Clean slate or nothing is the way it must be. I can't cope with slow lingering deaths and more infighting whilst watching fans contribute money with no understanding where or how that money will be used. To pay Skacel's 12k pw?

You need to leave that Lafite Vinegar Vintage you have on your sideboard alone Docker-P. Robbing you of coherent thought and common sense.

Colin most of your examples didn't actually become extinct and the original clubs were bought up on the cheap and kept going most importantly under their old names. I don't dispute if that happens to us then we'll be ok its if they have to chnage their name because Wimbledon no longers exists and is not the team that won the FA Cup with the crazy gang. I know its at the other end of the scale but look at Gretna or Aldershot. If we suffer the same fate can you wait 20 years for your club to return to the league? Lets just hope we survive in tact from all this wreckage, AFC Southampton to me would be the bitterest pill.

Probably James Dyson. On his bio its says 'he is a man who likes to make things work better' . Could be just the man to hoover us up and could easily get sucked in.

Wes was your donation the equivalent to the 4 games you chose to boycott to make a point? Given what is being used by Derry as a reason for collection I don't think my analogy re Woolies is that far off. The point with regard to smokers ill health is that it would be odd to contibute to a chairty for them when they have played a big role in their own plight. You're an intelligent bloke Wes and you know where I am coming from. Judging by your first point on the what if scale it seems we are gradually coming around to the same conclusion.

I'm not the righteous aftertimer moaning the club aren't helping you with your buckets. Perhaps the staff feel like saying where were you 9 months ago we only needed fans to buy tickets.

Sorry Um Pahars as given me emoticon blindness.

Neither did I but was thinking more cynically that anyone could have turned up with a green bucket and walked back over Northam footbridge at 2.55pm. Seriously how do we know that the funds are not rolled back up to SLH and eventually the creditors. The football club must have been funded by SLH so surely they will need to repay what they owe as part of the winding up? They didn't collect enough to pay Skacel for his first half assuming he is on 12k pw and needs the money for food.

Did you feel like this when Woollies went bust? I doubt most of their staff were earning a great deal above the minimum wage and there were a hell of a lot more of them worrying about bills. Wonder how those 50 employees Crouch's company let go a few months back are feeling? If everyone could have bought a ticket or just half of that extra 6k who were there yesterday then we wouldn't be in this mess and hence I suspect why i saw about every 9 fans in 10 walk past those demonic shaking buckets yesterday with their heads held high. Hardly a worthy charitable cause whee you think about it, a bit like collecting in aid of smokers ill-health. Shaking buckets for charity is that legal btw?

That's because they don't have any political capital to make out of having their donation splashed around the programme and on the website at every opportunity. Who is organising it as past Directors? Why can't people just give generously and anonymously like the vast majority will. Is there something to gain in showing everyone 'look at me, look at how much I have given, I must be popular'. Surprising names like McMenemy, Channon and Le Tissier don't appear when people bleat on about Lowe. At least the latter has a reason not to give given the reception and reaction he has been afforded and his most fierce critics seem to be silent or perhaps donated anonymously. Maybe they will make a big donation on Thursday night apart from simply turning up. Naming those big donations shames others so what is the point of it all Crouch and Richards? Make you look popular? Do you know Morph?