Nineteen Canteen

Morph, If I may your answer should read: Thankfully no. MIke I think I have answered your question many times on various match day threads. It has been revised and updated from survival to my current belief we will achieve a comfortable top 10 finish but probably just miss out on the playoffs because of our points deduction and delayed start to the season preparations. If we beat Norwich and Leeds in the run up to Xmas and don't drop too many points against some poor opposition in the meantime then perhaps dreams of promotion this season may start to have a sense of achievability but at the moment I think it is still hope at best and the promise of walking this league next season. Daren, that was a big post, most of which I agree with and did I ever pin all the blame on Crouch? Posters who really know me, know that I am as happy as the next person we have Mr Liebherr as our owner and that he is not simply throwing his cash around. Posters that know me well also know that my preferred option was all 3 ex directors together or all 3 out and until that was achieved and option 1 being unachievable for me Lowe and his financial prudence and contacts in the city was Hobson's choice. Bottom line because of poor management in between the two Lowe tenure's whoever managed us last season the result would have been the same and IMO sooner had Crouch or Wilde taken it on. I'm surprised reading your posts you don't grasp the term scattergun. I don't think for one minute Pearson was a scattergun hire anymore than I think he was a considered one taken from a wide number of potential applicants but that as you understand is just my opinion and has no basis in fact very much like your asessment of the way this club now conducts it's affairs.

A 45cm flag pole? Where did you get that from Legoland? Or are we talking pipe circumference as oppose to height? Nonetheless an unusual post and I kind of hope 450mm is the height as I guess cement may not be required. Good job they come in screw together pieces otherwise you may have needed to take the gararge doors off to get it inside.

Trouble is Alpine at the time we didn't have the money to spend and we are now in the envious position of having zero debt to finance making the purchase and payment of player salaries somewhat easier with limited investment into the club beyond the initial purchase. They are closer to the path of prudence preferred by Lowe than the 'football first' approach championed by Crouch and Wilde and outlined so expertly by FC in his post above. Pity you didn't read it because I think you'd actually agree with him and I'm fairly sure Wes does.

Some blokes like that sort of thing, personally for me I am not into fortune telling so no chance of getting my palm read.

You can take my footballing perspective with anything you like but the big difference between Liebherr and Crouch? Liebherr appoints quality decision makers and sits back and enjoys the show whereas Crouch's ego would not have allowed him to do that IMO and all his own failings as a man poorly equipped to run a football club would have come to the fore. So Pearson engineers a narrow away win against a team who haven't won at home for 9 months? Good luck to him but he has tougher days to come. Blowing wads of cash in a scattergun approach to buying promotion is not desirable and I doubt I am alone in not wanting this club to rise from the ashes fuelled by some Man City / Chelsea like spending as our support is rendered meaningless in the process. Utter nonsense? I don't think so. I would argue Mr Liebherr has the balance about right and the last thing we would have wanted was the ego and rhetoric of Uncle Leon had he the resources of our owner. I doubt our wage bill is higher than last year and on a par at best and of course we are getting decent gates at Championship prices so my guess is financially they are doing ok. The departure of Rasiak, McGoldrick, Surman and Skacel would have generated decent savings and any of our new bigger name signings would be quite happy to be earning half of the £12,000pw Skacel was raking in. No doubt many are on win or promotion bonuses and so the more we take at the gate the more we have to pay those bonuses. I may be wrong of course as you never know with players' contracts but IMO NC will be very shrewd about the contracts he agrees. Probably why Pericard is at Carlisle. Let's hope he is currently working on an offer to secure the services of Trotman on a permanent basis.

To be honest I would settle for a CEO's update page in the matchday programme at least monthly if not for every game. Be nice to know we don't have to wait until the next Solent fans forum for a behind the scenes progress report.

Christ, get a grip of yourself man.

Daren I think you do Mr Liebherr a disservice and I thought that it is clear he believes that his businesses should only spend what they earn. Minus the debt thanks to his original investment I think we are probably making a healthy profit at the moment and that is enabling them to bank roll the club to a higher level than most others in this league. Oldknow from the start also stated that funds would be available from the start but only commensurate to our league position. Had Crouch taken over with the wealth of Mr Liebherr's we would IMO have seen a far more gung ho and scatter gun approach and a far less satisfying one for your average fan. IMO I find Crouch as culpable as any other past director for the club's demise and in some ways worse as he tried to make political advantage from very difficult times instead of using his money in an attempt to avoid administration in the first place. Of course hindsight is a wonderful thing and those ridiculous conditions he allegedly attached to a lifeline to Lowe were in the end a god send and we are now well rid of them all. I'm not quite sure what you are thanking Crouch for but each to their own. As for McMenemy? Of course he is welcome to the odd freebie provided it's Grimsby footing the bill but he seems to be running out of clubs now.

I couldn't say but still waiting for the appraisal of the herringbone seat although they probably have proper beds in first class. Economy? Oh, titter not.

The impossibly lovely word of golf and yellow check plus fours and big floppy caps.

I would hope the team as it was after Pardew's first two subs starts on Saturday injuries permitting. Prior to those subs we were in total control and had nothing to show for it. Interstingly it wasn't until those subs came on that Lallana suddenly lit up and showed us everything he didn't during the first half.

On Saturday's evidence who would you start with this weekend? Antonio for me, Papa needs to sort this offside thing out and he is far weaker on the ball whereas from what I saw Antonio can knock the ball behind the defence and sprint on to it (like Papa) or he has the pace and strength on the ball to run with it at defenders a skill Papa I don't think has at all.

I had an excellent view of this and I personally thought it was pretty calculated by Jaidi and probably unnecessary but at least the resultant goal kick started our game which was until then a classic example of the sometimes frustrating dominance we play with but with no end product or imagination up front.

Weston, I appreciate your point of view but don't you think Crouch's subsequent stance of allegedly not attending home games and celebrating with the rest of us smacks of a fan not as genuine as we first thought? Certainly, any respect we had for Crouch or McMenemy must be diluted with every game that passes without their attendance. In the latter's case it does seem the free lunch was more important than watching his 'beloved' Saints.

Even by the law of averages Papa will occassionally be on side but at the moment it is only through the law of averages as oppose to any thinking on his part IMO.

This is not a golf thread.

Apologies, I retract that comment.

Pretty much sums up my stance or perhaps he is simply a bad loser whose true colours and motivation are now in public view?

Wes naturally you have to have the money in the first place but do you think seriously that Pinnacle and presumably Crouch would have delivered a patient and even handed approach as ML and his team have and as you sugggest across all aspects of the club? MLT was even quoted as saying they were not considering managers without a Saints background ffs. Our greatest asset today is that we are a debt free club not one with a big slush fund and that said funds are most definitley finite and so Cortese has to spend it wisely which is what he is doing of course. Money, ego and poor decisions can be left to the Mike Ashley's of this world. Our board vs a board made up of MLT and Crouch as the main protaganists then I think we both know where our money would have been invested even before the results were known. We may not always agree Wes and 90% probably don't but you're no fool and I think you are looking for a debate with me that doesn't exist in this case.

Guest or managerial candidate? They're welcome to him tbh.

JB is not wrong on the motoring forum where you can summon power to change a persons' avatar - for the better I have to say.

It's also the land of the Obessive Compulsive and judging by your recent posts Duncan you should fit right in.

ML isn't simply throwing money at it though is he or attempting to put himself up as 'Football Club Chairman'. It is intelligent money minus the ego and all things being relative if ML followed the Crouch way we would already know how many millions he has invested and we would have a squad bordering on the cost of a small Premier League outfit. Crouch also famously told us in January 2008 there were no financial problems at the club and we would not need to get rid of players. Also why did Crouch recoil from the question that his cash may have been put to better use before administration. My memory isn't what it was but I'm sure he made an offer of cash to Lowe before administration so it was hardly news he had it to give after administration when it's effectiveness was critical yes but equally avoidable given his previous conditional offer. Genuinely, good to have you back posting btw.

He also had the opportunity to prevent administration but as I understand it the conditions were so ridiculous he decided to see the club crash and burn IMO before using the opportunity for a bit of 'aren't I wonderful for saving the club' publicity. Trouble is he used the wrong crane to drop his payload and the rest as they say is history. Fans who cannot see that Crouch IMO used the situation before and after administration to gain popularity as if it was some sleazy mayoral election race are clearly naive and likely to have to resort to thinly veiled insults in a pathetic attempt to win an argument.

Exactly