MarkSFC

I lost my dad in his 60's and although it wasn't sudden those memories are heightened because of Markus's untimely departure. I am empathetic for his family and close friends and hope that Saints fans shoe them immediately and over the coming months and years how much we value his intervention in the clubs history. We may still of existed without him but he ensured that we steadied the ship and put in measures to fly again. This is what I will forever be grateful for. Whatever his motives he wanted success and put his money where his mouth was. I think you can't be a Saints fan right now without thinking about the future, but the fact that this wad adressed in the club statement I take this to 100% mean that in essence nothing will really change. For that to be mentioned shows a distinct appreciation of how the fanbase will think/ is thinking and speaks volumes for the family and the executive. I think we owe it to the Leibherr family to back them wholeheartedly in numbers and verbal support for as ling as they support our club.

Gutted, absolutely stunned. A legend in passing, forever a Saint. I will never forget seeing him taking pictures at the JPT and the absolute joy on his face. If ever there was a driving force behind SFC he was it. We owe it to him and his family and friends to win League 1 and power up the divisions. R.I.P. Markus, you will never be forgotten by Saints and deserve to be held in similar regard as Ted and Mary. Thank-you for saving my club.

Gutted, absolutely stunned. A legend in passing, forever a Saint. I will never forget seeing him taking pictures at the JPT and the absolute joy on his face. If ever there was a driving force behind SFC he was it. We owe it to him and his family and friends to win League 1 and power up the divisions. R.I.P. Markus, you will never be forgotten by Saints and deserve to be held in similar regard as Ted and Mary. Thank-you for saving my club.

Jason Scotland according to SSN not Roberts.

Successful teams and indeed succesful individuals know how to win, never give up, and most importantly perhaps expect to always win. Alan Pardew has shown that he is creating this mentality with the club and within the players. Most pro footballers will have learnt their trade in winning teams and so getting that mentality back is nit as hard as working with perennial losers, under-achievers, or pesimistic people. As a fanbase collectively we are not used to being winners, seeing our team win very regularly and are generally pesimistic and negative. If you look at the best teams in the world their support grow up as winners ( generally), are far more confident and that portrays itself as arrogance in many. Alan Pardew has rightly mentioned the effect our support has on the team. We have to turn our mentality around to one of optimism, and expect the team to win, but most importantly portray the positive support for the team consistsntly. In the glory days at The Dell (and the not so glory days too!) there was a general feeling of togetherness. This was probably helped by the fact that the base was virtually the same people week in week out. When it was 22k odd capacity it was still terraced which makes a difference but when it was all-seated and just over 15k it almost felt like a members club. Of course it was a very compact ground and that aided the volume but even still I seem to remember a bit more positivity especially in the dodgy years!! Maybe my memory is being selective but part of the fan base now will only now the last decade or so and that is generally a negative time. Apart from the odd season we have watched more defeats than wins in St Marys (or at least in comparison to what is regarded as succesful) and therefore that pessimism and expectation is ingrained in many. To change this round the team and the club have to initiate and lead this change but the fanbase have to be open to this change and make an effort to be more positive and optimistic during a game firstly, but more importantly in every day life as a Saints fan. On a slight slide note I think that the Chapel end should become the "main singing area" if the away fans have to stay where they are. If the main singers are effectively in the middle of the home fans ( I.e. home fans will be in one uninterupted chain when the ground is less full) then singing will spread down the Itchen and Kingsland, overtime!! It would also isolate the away support which helps Saints. I realise fans like being near the away fans but what's mist important is that Saints win. Almost every other big ground puts the away support in the worst positions possible...not by the singers!

I agree, he's at best an average League 1 defender. 4th change so to speak but hopefully we will sign a loanee CB to push Jaidi and Martin who I think has got what it takes to play at least Championship level! Reckon Seabourne was a sort of panic buy in the sense of getting someone in.

You really need to give it a rest Dune, everyone gets it, you don't like Cortese. Saying it a million times in a million different ways won't make any difference. In answer to your OP though, SFC the family club died the day Askham and his money grabbing friends (reverse) sold it to Lowe and Cowan.

You've been "annoyed" over a booking fee that you don't actually need to pay. You are pathetic.

Maybe that's exactly what he wants. Maybe his approach guarentees maximum publicity. If he's proven wrong in the long term then fair enough but his strategy is to creat a highly succesful and self-sustaining football club. Sure he / his team will make the odd mistake and the odd decision that bucks the trend and looks out of place but I say judge him in two or four years. You may feel that NC is slowly losing the support of the fans but I would argue that it is an extremely slow process. Most people are reasoned and not knee-jerk reactors.

I suppose you think that if you say it enough and say it loud enough people will take notice and agree with your viewpoint. This approach is flawed and makes you look foolish and ill-informed. What affects you doesn't neccessarily affect the majority and because you feel agrieved you feel others should. Your agenda is unclear because you fail to offer solutions other than the ridiculous notion that bringing members of the old board back is a solution to the problems that you feel exist. Remember these former people ( depending on who you mean specifically) screwed our club up with narrow minded short sighted, strategies that were not thought out properly or even implemented well. The man who has a very successful career in business has entrusted his new acquisition to Nicola Cortese and that's good enough for me. If Markus Leibherr hadn't bought the club it may well not exist now and for that everyone should be grateful. Small decisions in the overall picture will affect individuals and that is tough. As long as the majority is ok that's the best way of running a business. It's a cliche but you simply cannot please all the people all the time. To quote another cliche, if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got. I for one do not want what we've had for the last 20 years at least with Southampton, and with football in general. Breaking the mould and upsetting the apple cart can be exciting. Those who do not like change will struggle to understand that.

[quote=adriansfc;805162 They may not know all the details of training and coaching, but they can form an opinion on what they see, and for many on here, they've watched Saints and some of our players for far longer than the manager. Of course it doesn't mean they'd make good managers, but it doesn't mean they can't question decisions Yes, he's more successful than me, but that doesn't make him, or anyone else above questioning forever. Anthony Pulis is probably a far better player than me but I can still watch and comment on his ability. maybe I've not made my point clear enough. I love debate and listen to all opinions, but to be a valid opinion should there not be some reasoning behind it? I don't mind if I'm the only person who believes Pardew is good but if everyone else is just " out with Pardew" ( I know they're not!) without giving any reasons I won't change my mind. At the moment I see no logical reason to get on the managers back. In a few months time it may be different. It may even be different if he doesn't sign any more players this month!!

Poon?!! Brilliant! I'm not a football manager, haven't said I am. I am an experienced manager and know what I think are the traits of a good manager. And I think Pardew is a good manager. When "people" slag someone off for no real reason and without substance it is wrong. Give reasons and debate. Despite how I feel right now if come Christmas we are outside the top 6 depending on the points gap I would probably agree with you that maybe a change would be good. Depends who's available and appointed of course!! I just don't believe we will be in that position, but I do think Pardew needs to make 2-3 decent attacking signings in order to nail automatic promotion.

Maybe that should change?!

I like Corteses stance on this because why should "outsiders" so to speak get free images? In a world where image rights seem to be a major talking point, Cortese is meerely protecting the clubs rights. If this strategy was implemented across football then each club would make money off the back of their photos because the media written and digital would have to purchase every image. This would create anotherincine stream albeit a relatively small one but over time may be lucrative. The press ( the sun in this case ) obviously hate it because something they have got for free or indeed paid their own photographer for is now going to cost them. Tough! And when or how many Saints related photos are in any publication currently and how often last season did The Sun in particular publish a Saints picture. Very few if at all any I suspect!!

Were you succesful? I doubt it !! Nevertheless at least you have experience in the field, and fair play. Mind you, having a chance at the job and making a success of it are two totally different things. If your methods are sound why aren't you still managing or managing at a higher level?

We won 9 points fewer than the champions. Disaster. The vast majority of the fanbase expected mid table at best during 2009. When results improved and signings were made ( down to Pardew) expectations changed. Most fans are fickle and are clueless regarding sport. Most fans are unable to look at the bigger picture and merely react game by game.

Professor you know best, what team do you manage? Why don't you manage Saints?

Manager has less than 4 weeks before start of season when taking over a team fresh from relegation and a club from administration. Said manager then wins the third best total of points but subject to a penalty based on previous ownership misses out on the play-offs. In the meantime he wins a cup competition without some of his signings (due to registration rules) and gives the fanbase one if it's best days out fir years. Subsequently expectations understandabley reach the heights of nailed on promotion. After one game, without it's best two players the team and therefore the manager are questioned after a defeat down to a mistake in defence. What happens then is that some of the fanbase think that either the players or the manager or both aren't up to the task. At half time in said game no one would have felt the same. Therefore anyone who thinks the manager isn't good enough now should think how they felt at half time!! Get a grip saints fans..........

Actually you are wrong. Our total is nine points better, but we have won one point less. The reason that's important is because if we translate it through to the end of the season we end up on 82 points, not enough. We probably need 9 points more than we actually won last season, so 92. Therfore we are a point behind.

Wonder what Norwichs forum was like this time last year....

I agree, no real change from last year especially without Rickie and Adam for an hour. Think Dickson and Butterfield are very decent additions, and Richardson still to feature. Think you're right re: Jaidi and mobility but he makes up for it in his reading of the game. I think Martin has the makings of a good defender so good cover but we do probably need a loanee at CB at least till jan. The team hasn't really been freshened up. I think we the fans deserve a signing that gets us excited!!

Agree, it's definitely not all bad. I think the defence looked very good (apart from Harding) and Dickson looked very promising. I do think it highlights even more so that we need someone else with height up front (with or without RL) some pace down the right, and a ball-winning midfielder with real bite. The frustrating thing is, this has been the case for months! Let's just hope we do a Norwich without the change of manager.

GK. 2 really good ones. CHECK LB. 2 really good ones. Plus Mills. CHECK RB. 2 very good ones. Harding as back up while Frazer out. CHECK CB. 2 very good ones. Martin good potential. seabourne ok backup. Maybe Someone needed better than Martin. LM. At least 3 good ones. CHECK RM. Mmm! One lefty in Punch, Ox-C developing. NEED ONE! CM. 1 really good, 1 good, then Wotton and Pulis!! NEED ONE better than Hammond. ST. 3 excellent ones. NEED ONE similar style to RL and probably one with potential. In my mind I feel we definitely need 3 good players and possibly a good back-up CB. Otherwise I think a long term injury to one or more of the "spine" and we could struggle a little!!

Agree, think Martin will be good but thunk Seabourne is at his level, i.e. average league one. An exciting prospect like Craig Dawson would be ideal. Him and Martin as back up would be good.

Hope so!!!