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here's an idea: SuperMikey ... could be Michael Wilde? He expresses the same disrespect for the paying customer as MW has shown?

Fans are the CUSTOMERS!! ST holders and others going to the matches, and/or buying merchandise, are what the company exists for. If those in power do not provide a good enough product, which is clearly the case here, then the paying CUSTOMERS have a right to take any action they see fit, either as individuals or as a group. The ultimate responsibility for providing a product that CUSTOMERS want to buy lies with the board, and ultimately with the Chairman/CEO/President, or whatever other title you want to give him. That's where the buck stops. The fact that he had/has a majority of shareholder votes is irrelevant in that issue.

But it's not just about the current debt. We spent a heck of alot more on building SMS. Wikipedia actually states the following: "Construction started in December 1999 and was completed at the end of July 2001, with work on the stadium itself and improvements to local infrastructure cost a total of £32 million." That is what I am talking about when I say that our financial demise started with the expense of building SMS

This would probably work, but I doubt that you could get enough people to unite behind such an action to have sufficient effect.

Yes, those fans are the best in any league!

Nice to see real discussion, without the usual vitriol. Thank you all. Some good points are made on both sides. Like I said, we'll never know what would have happened. With regards to the part of the discussion that deals with atmosphere, I just want to share with you what I felt the very first time that I saw Saints in SMS. I already lived in the USA, and my wife and I flew over just for the weekend, just to see the match. It was my first "live" match in many years (thanks again Norm for the tickets). I was full of anticipation, as this would be the first time I would see SMS. As we walked to the stadium, and turned the corner where I got my first glimpse of SMS, my eyes filled with tears like I was a little girl. I felt so proud that "my club" had come this far, and could have built such a gorgeous stadium. But once inside, as the match went on, I cried again, because it was all so impersonal. Something was missing. The crowd is so far from the pitch compared to The Dell! The closeness of The Dell, the fact that you could hear every bone crunching tackle at The Dell, that you could see the expressions on the face of the players, hear their voices, see their sweat, feel their determination, all that is impossible to experience at SMS. I know, that part has nothing to do with the current predicament (I still think that the expense of building SMS started our demise though) , other than maybe that "fortress Dell" would have made it a little harder on some of our opposition. But it might have some effect on the attendance numbers, especially from long time fans who still fondly remember those days in The Dell. It is harder to feel the bond with the team, especially when the results are as bad as they are now, and with the shenanigans on board level.

Very confident? I'll have some of whatever it is you're drinking!

Coventry 4 - 0 Saints :-(

I just can't shake this feeling that abandoning The Dell for SMS was where the rot started to set in. Don't get me wrong, SMS is a beautiful stadium, but it lacks the character, the ambiance, the "soul" that was ever present in The Dell. SMS will never instill the kind of awe and fear in visiting teams that The Dell did. But more importantly, SMS put us in a world of debt with a huge mortgage, and money is exactly what caused our demise. We will never know what would have happened if we had stayed at The Dell, but without the debt that we incurred by building SMS it is conceivable that we would now be (much) better off.

I would pay good money for that!

I am beginning to see very little difference between Ru**rt and the Quisling; One got us relegated with gross mismanagement, and the other, after stone faced lying to the fan base, brought that failure of a chairman back, only to effectively preside together over yet another relegation, and eventually the death of our club. Shame on them both.

I have been a Saints fan for 28 years. For the last 20 years I have had to support the team from a distance, living in the USA. To this day my office (home-office) is decorated in red and white, with replica shirts, scarfs, signed footballs, Saints calendars and various other mementos. Occasionally, when I could afford it, I would fly over to the UK just to see the match and visit some friends in the process. But normally, like clockwork, every Saturday morning at 7 a.m., I sit in my office, behind my computer, and listen to the commentary of the match on SaintsTV. I have done this for the last 20 years. Until now that is! It's hard to be a long distance fan, and I really am losing interest. It's killing me, but it's real. So I can only imagine how hard it must be for a fan like you Long Shot. You have always been a vocal and passionate fan. You have immersed yourself in this club. To see this happen now must be gut wrenching. I feel for all of you.

Excellent synopsis and review of the "Crouch period" He is the only one of the "big 3" whom I would trust with our club.

I read it in some posts on this thread and others; "protest would have an adverse reaction on the team" I would like to know to hear from those of you who feel that way; Given that we are almost certainly relegation fodder this season, and headed for administration, what could possibly be worse? What would be the even worse consequences from any actions? When you are at the bottom of the barrel there is no "worse".

Nope. That would be the Quisling's appointments Hone, Hoos and Dulieu

The Saints Trust is dead as a Dodo. Even if they theoratically still exist and operate, they have proven to be completely ineffective. Their refusal to chose sides throughout the whole management upheaval, and their wishy washy statements, have rendered them completely neutered. No balls! Shame really, I had high hopes.

I am so happy that Ru**rt and the Quisling ousted the likes of a passionate fan and chairman like Leon Crouch, fired a hard nosed manager like NP, and dismissed an experienced football man like Lawry McMenemy. Things are so much better now I can hardly stand it.

What makes anybody think that we can get ANY points form the next 5 games is beyond me.

Don't you just LOVE this total football malarkey, and this new management setup? So cool to have Ru**rt and the Quisling back isn't it? Great passing football, a team of youngsters with real talent, a coach who knows what he's doing, a DoF with real football knowledge, a Football Chairman with integrity..... our cup runneth over. All we need is an egg-chaser as fitness coach and we'll be in seventh heaven.

Is Wilde fit to be Chairman? He isn't. Puppet master Ru**rt has got his hand up his **/* and operates the Quisling completely.

Too late.

We would only have a chance in The Conference

No, we'll be dead and buried before then

The sad thing is that none of us are even surprised. I don't think I'll be getting up this early on a Saturday morning to listen to the commentary again. it's too depressing.

The usual dross then?