Nineteen Canteen

You know as well as me Um that any prospective buyer is not going to be influenced by a crowd of 28,000 yesterday and they will look at levels of support back to Lowe's last tenure and find that we are a fairly unreliable bunch when it comes to giving support when it's really needed to support change and a successful rebuild. Beyond a hard core of about 15,000 we are a reactionary mob who turn up only when they feel they may be missing out on something.

TurgidToneSFC, I would suggest the only big thing about you is the vacuous space between your ears.

They'll be selling Lallana and Euell burgers in Belguim alongside their usual Aintree delicacies then.

£25m should fund a couple of seasons with an aim to returning to the CCC and staying there. £50m - £100m if we are truly ambitious and not to mention a profitable crowd average of about 20,000. Oh well, back to the drawing board. Can I respectfully suggest that before your average fan goes pumping 000's into our club they maybe better off reducing their mortgages or increasing their nest eggs for the rainy days ahead. Lets face it c.12k of them have presumably already been doing that this season.

Dear Morph, Welcome back although perhaps a touch inevitable now the juicy carcass is laid bare ripe for the pickings no matter how slim. I congratulate you on your patience and of course your shrewd business acumen or at least those you are close to but surely your return is no coincidence? Willing as always to support and be enlightened but this looks distinctly more tricky than 12 months ago don't you agree? Best Regards NC PS: would have been easier to send you a pm

Are you upset you missed BWP's goal?

Sadly with some scenes I have witnessed this season it seems all to believeable and prefer to respond in a genuine manner regardless.

Micky, support him or loathe him under Lowe we could have remained in charge of our own destiny if about 25% of that extra 10-12,000 had attended all season. As it is this 'wave of optimism' is/was based on the fact Lowe had been ousted and we were in administration. To put it another way we got rid of a hated man who was helping the club to survive to replace our fate effectively in the hands of people who care about the club and it's fans the least, our creditors. The anti-Lowe protesters ran out of steam when Wotte put a good run of results together so hardly surprising they go quiet if after one game without Lowe and the easiest home game of the season on paper we are deeper in the mire and a points deduction to follow on Tuesday. Still at least we have a game in hand that evening to play.

Dicko, I agree but I think for those who were prepared to listen Jim Hone was saying something very similar before Crouchie took control and he told us the club would not have to sell players for financial reasons?! Lowe's silence was more powerful than any of Crouch's fan friendly rhetoric.

Shameful and a disgrace but what can we expect when alledgedly decent fans turn on their own just because they don't support their particular cause. There are fans outside those loyal supporters who regulalrly attend games that through one action or another seem hell bent on destroying this club and doing all they can to deter potential investors. I hope that somewhere the incident is on CCTV and the inevitably drunk little low life who did this is named and shamed and punished appropriately. Very depressing. I wish the Charlton fan well and that she suffers no serious side effects from a serious assault that could have very grave consequences. It would be nice to know how she is doing tonight and if things are ok or not. I think all decent Saints fans will be appalled at this news and I'm sure like myself offer our sincere apologies and hope she is making a good recovery and feels she can return next year in safety when no doubt we will be meeting in the league. Anyone read about Natasha Richardson's recent bump on the head? Can I recommend for the good of us all, anyone who has any information about this assault passes it on to the police if they haven't already arrested the scumbag.

If true (which I doubt) best news I've heard since last May.

Not sure if they liked it but they were employed by a company that was still in business and expected to be paid for their work, good enough or not. What would happen to anyone's work rate if they went to work to be told the company had gone bust and the future was bleak and with no g'tees?

Just water?!

I don't think you were alone Nick I felt pretty much the same, so much for new hope etc. The whole sorry mess has clearly affected the players not surprisingly and by Tuesday our slide though League 1 may even be sealed. Again its no good McMenemy supporting the club when its just a question of when the life support gets turned off. He was offered the opportunity to stay involved but prefeered to get replaced by a train from the good old days. Nothing to be chipper before and after? Well I decided to go away for Easter.

I hope so and I also hope departed directors equates to anyone who has sat in the boardroom in the past 13 years. We need a new dawn not more false ones.

Oh yes it is. There is a thing called collective responsibility and 15,000 appreciate that fact and based on today's attendance at least 12,000 don't. Do you think we would have gone into administration if crowd levels were maintained at a not unreasonable 20k? Regardless of Lowe we needed to show from the off what a well supported club we were to potential investors and willing to stick by the team through the good and bad times. All we've done is sent a message to any potential investor that if 'you f*** it up we will desert you until you've lost the lot'. Very reassuring.

Hello Robbie, seems the players have been badly affected by recent events and puzzled no doubt like the rest of us loyal supporters as to why so many fans came back today to cheer on pretty much the same team that had been on a good run at home recently. The high point - the Northam reaction to the deserting rates. The low point - Crouch and McMenemy - dawning of a new age?

Perhaps fitting OSM that your commente were the last on the 'Wave of Optimism' thread. We can only hope my stupidity has reason to change over the coming months but I still think its 50/50 we will be playing in League 2 come August 2010 and that's if we get a buyer. We as supporters should have done more to help this club keep its hands on its own destiny but 90% of those on the ticket base seem to prefer their actions thereby relinquishing control of the club to essentially our symaphetic creditors.

Alpine, only 2 are being considered as serious. I don't know what that says about the other 17 or whatever number it is but i guess it's not exactly a ringing endorsement. Any chancer with a £1 and a 'big plan' could throw their hat in the ring so I think we can say there may be 2 realistic bids and 1 I suspect we know and has a history of never being quite ready.

No, the rats that started deserting the ship after Charlton's 3rd goal was more proof that a lot of fans don't understand the word support. I have huge respect for those in the Northam who waved their STs today at the 'plastics' and its not about Lowe, Wilde or Crouch its simply about buying a ticket on a regular basis to support you team. Too many have forgotten that and that is a large part why we are where we are tonight. The fans were obviously on a wave of optimism especially those returning after a self imposed absence but the players I suspect thought the same as those in the Northam. Where the f*** were you? Too little too late.

How will the entertainment be any different from Wotte and the team than the past good recent run at home? If you mean the opportunity of standing in the stands signing 'the witch is dead' then whatever floats your boat but who is to say we have not laid ourselves bare to be picked up for a song by some shyster that makes Lowe look benevolent. Hope I'm wrong but hope is all we have and with an extra few thousand we could still have influence over our destiny.

Behind you! Panto starts at 3

No doubt Wotte will be bemused at how fickle and narrow minded we can be at times and that with this kind of support how some of our draws and close defeats could have been turned into more points. No doubt he'll be pleased but also like me I guess he'll be somewhat reflective that sometimes people pay a price to get what they wish for without working for it. I am not sad to see Lowe go but I am very sad to see that we needed to put the club on the brink to achieve it. I suspect any new investor will look at attendances over the past 8 years and will be well aware of how much they need to spend to achieve a crowd figure that will be consistent to todays and will be making offers accordingly.

Robbie, I'll be there, I always am as I have a ST as you well know. The crux of the issue seems to be what constitutes a 'real fan' as oppose to a real supporter. I was well aware of 'The Lowe Factor' only a fool wouldn't be but equally only a fool decides that the best action to take would be to stay away and help push the club over the cliff edge. That's the difference between a real fan and a real supporter the latter is at the edge trying to help shore it up and stop the shove.

Nothing amusing Exit2, I was saying last season that no shrewd investor or consortium would consider paying for the club when they could sit in the trees waiting for the bones of our revenue streams to picked clean. The vultures have simply stopped circling and hardly surprisng Fry isn't hanging around - have you listened to his interviews? We might not make it until the end of the season without investment. Nothing to with who was in charge the same result would have happened but maybe just a bit sooner. Michael Wilde started this mess and the board sanctioning the overspending of money we couldn't afford couple that with declining revenues last season and the Lowe effect this season has just destroyed the club's finances. We can blame Lowe, Crouch or Wilde but our fans simply don't want to support the team in difficult times or during a mundane season outside the premiership so god knows what they will be like when we get relegated to League 1.