MarkSFC

Briliant stuff Pilchards

Clearly maximising revenues is important and neccessary but as much as you are annoyed at not getting your kit (and rightly so) you and I don't actually know what the volume of sales are and what the projection is/was. Launching two kits close together is unusual for Saints and probably won't happen again so balancing demand and supply would be a bit of a shot in the dark. There will be two peaks of sales on kits, launch and Christmas. Having two launches close together will effect sales of each then but having two (new) kits on sale at Christmas obviously offers more choice and will boost sales then. It's likely that these two kits will be the best selling saints kits ever.

This is probably a mixture of underestimating sales levels in terms of speed of sales and Umbro not fulfilling replenishment orders quickly enough, which is clearly the main issue. Either the club didn't understand the re-order timescales or Umbro have a problem their end. Either way the customer loses out. Alternatively it's clever marketing by the club. Customer goes to buy home shirt but it's out of stock but was looking forward to buying a new shirt so buys the away shirt. Said customer will then probably return to buy home shirt later!! Another point is that many "brands" deliberately sell-out because it increases desire and prestige of owning one!

Blimey! Two Alpine posts I couldn't agree more with! Keep it up!! Could the kit problem be Umbros fault? They make it after all.

125k according to OS

What is totally at odds with the "rumour" about AP being gone by Xmas regardless of results is simply the rationale behind such a decision. It is totally out of synch with every other HR decision NC has made so far. If this really is the case then why wait that long? Why risk promotion? He should have replaced AP already or needs to wait until next summer. If by the winter transfer window we do somehow find ourselves languishing either outside the top 6 or more than about 12 points from automatic promotion then it could easily be justified to sack AP. Someone of Corteses experience in making decisions will surely not be in the mindset of changing the manager in 5 months.....it makes no sense at all to me.

It is so easy in this age of communications for someone to unsubstantiatley say something and within minutes half the world has heard it. People then believe it or not and pass it on as fact or as rumour. BUT the more the rumour (or fact) gets said the more people that believe it to be true and so on and so on. I like rumours, particularly about transfers, but when its concerning something like the person who runs my football club I am more concerned with the facts from the horses mouth rather than the rumours/facts from someone who knows someone who knows someone regardless of their status or lists of contacts. Im not blindly loving Cortese but I do think he's done a fantastic job so far. Yes, his/the clubs communication on a couple of things could and should have been better, but at the same time, his instructions could have been delivered incorrectly.....no one apart from the people involved know for 100% what the situation is/was/will be. Im sure he's a tough boss to say the least, possibly ruthless and abrupt, particularly with low level employees. That unfortunately tends to be a fact of life even outside of work...people like people like themselves in the main. Ive said this on other threads, but I am guessing that the so-called complaints about the way Cortese acts towards his employees most likely come from people who weren't / aren't doing their jobs as well as he wants trhem too. Tough. IF "stories" come out I will read them and decide whether or not to believe them based on the source. Until then, Im looking forward to promotion and success for years to come....

so who are these people? how do you know? what is Cortese like? have you actually met him or worked with him? what is the full picture? Why are you anti-cortese?

"The rumours doing the rounds upstairs are from good sources". Says it all for me....I suspect the good sources are individuals who used to have some input to the running of the club or corporate partners or friend of. These people by nature will likely miss the previous environment of a split board room, financial posturing and being part of the in crowd. I guess this has disappeared for all as Cortese runs his ship his way with one or two confidants (who actually remain so). Giving all the sh** stirring that went on over the last decade I would guess these people are still in andaround the "upstairs" but now are just normal customers. Egos bruised, out comes the propaganda.

No I don't really care about the results. In all the years of supporting Saints I have witnessed great, crap and indifferent pres-seasons in terms of results and it rarely mirrors the games that matter. Roll- on next Saturday..... Then I am very very concerned about the result.

Pathetic thread

Who really cares.....it's pre-season practice, means SFA.

It will be nothing to do with formation.

I know that's not a quote from the player but it's always funny to hear that a player won't drop to League One, when although he's at a premier league team he doesn't actually play in it!!!

The "Southampton Style" will not be forged overnight. It's clearly an element of the brand that Cortese is creating. It will probably take 3-5 years to establish "the style" throughout the club and for football to recognise it as such. What that style is I would hope will be a brand of efficient attacking football played at a high tempo that stretches opposition to the max.

Whatever way you look at it Nick has effectively gone public by releasing a statement even if clarification was the motive. Ok, if it wasnt his intentions fair enough and he felt he has to act but the wording of the statement merely provokes debate. The "procedures" are whatever the club tell you to follow once you make contact with the first person in the chain..in this case I assume someone in the ticket office. As I stated clearly if he followed what the club employees asked him too and no response was given then other methods are open for selection and fair game. The club would have to live with that. By saying "certainly not you" in reply to my questions about trading standards or the football league, you clearly become personal...why?? I was merely asking the questions as suitable alternatives perhaps. His statement mixes The Saints Trust with his personal situation so clearly they are linked in this scenario. By suggesting I am a sheep is folly. If you actually knew me you would realise that my opinions are always balanced and fair based on all sides of the fence. I have made suggestion by mentioning my instinct and you have jumped to a conclusion.

Scare-mongerer!!

AH! what I meant to say is that your last sentance is about not discussing business matters outside of the club......this is common business prcatice!!

Nick Illingsworth is a customer of Southampton Football CLub and as such should expect a certain level of service and communication...exactly the same as everyone else. The fact that it is Nick Illingsworth a self-promoting spokesperson for a so-called fans group and suddenly there are 8 pages of "discussion". These pages are based on a quote from the OP from Nick Illingsworth himself (apparently) which of course will be 100% balanced. The truth of the matter is that we DO NOT know the full story and NC/Southampton Football Club may in actual fact have a very valid reason for returning NIs money for his purchase of a season ticket. Having listened to Nick Illingsworth over the years, from the SISA invlvement to his role now in the Saints Trust, and having met and spoken with the guy, my overall opinion is that he is very political. To me he is the stereo-typical politician, saying whatever he thinks is the right thing to say at that moment in time despite what he may actually think. To me it looked like he left SISA when they became very ineffective and the Trust became (at the time) a more acceptable more centre/right wing body. He clearly is though a very passionate and dedicated "supporter" of Southampton Football CLub. And as any customer does, has the right to express his opinion or complain when he deems it neccessary. What is important here is the method and the manner in which he (or anyone else) does this. We/I certainly do not all the facts as yet and should not pass judgement on either Nick Illingsworth/Nicola Cortese/Southampton Football Club until we do. This said I doubt we will get a detailed reason from "The CLub" and nor should we neccessarily. Their dealings with an individual customer should remain between those two parties. I do not want my business with the club discussed in any medium without my say so, whatever those dealings maybe. Nick Illingsworth however has - in what appears to be "mid-transaction" so to speak" made his complaint/situation public. From his perspective, it appears, that the timeframes involved dealing with his apparent situation are not good enough and therefore he has "gone public". By doing so, and I stress this point, we/I do not know the full story he will have turned his situation into a legal one. As such the club will clearly take a difference stance than if everything had been dealt with in-house. Some people will say that perhaps the club would prefer it all to stay in-house and have a situation like the one that is alledged to have taken place in regard to Nick illingsworth hushed up. Of course they would...every single company in the world would. But it appears that NI did not follow a procedure laid down by the club for complianing and as such cannot neccessarily expect a timely response if any. If indeed NI has followed the clubs procedures as they set then question marks over that procedure are valid and the club should accept them, review them, make adjustments, satisy the customer and move on....in private. By going public, Nick Illingsworth has merely used his personal profile and contacts with local media to get his political message across. This is not the right or fair way of doing things. Has he gone to trading standards? Has he gone to the Football League? What he has done is mix his individual status as a customer with his position as Chairman of The Saints Trust. He has tried to use it in his favour yet when it seems like (and this is only from his side of the story) the club have made a decision because of his position with the trust he doesnt like it. Until the club states publically their viewpoint on the matter we will never know but I know what my instinct is!!!

"He said as much" is ambiguous, and not fact....link to interview? The people you know in the club, are they close mates or just contacts you have made over the years? And your last sentance is not about NC signing everything off its actually common business practice.

in true DBP stylee.....where's your absolute proof of this?

Once again a thread that descends into speculation around heresay!! Debating facts and the hypothetical is better surely?!

I'm sure AP won't wait till after the window shuts to get his main targets. I suspect any loan signings made after the window will just be a bonus. He seems to waiting for it all to kick off so to speak! And although ideally he gets the players in asap if it takes a couple more weeks and they miss 2-4 games sobeit. Better to get the right players other than second best right now.

Now I get it! This proves the vital importance of the academy. I doubt we will get any big stars so may well see the benefits of the trickle effect. APs comments make perfect sense now!

Their statement is truly laughable. The quotes Marsdinho has highlighted sum them up... "This AGM will focus on the valuable role the trust has played in the past year" "The last year has been a low key one in respect of the Trust" Why do they feel the need to continue in this vain. The "Saints Trust" surely "technically collapsed when the club went into Administration? Their purpose I was led to believe was to be able to have a voice at the AGM and as a collective group, attempt to have an influence. It failed so why on earth continue...especially under the same name? I have no problem whatsoever with any group of fans forming some form of group and acting in the best interests of fans (generically-not "on their behalf"). If such a group or groups are effective and needed then their numbers will increase and so will their profile. Currently though, I really dont see a need for any fans' groups, particularly "politically motivated" ones (to whatever degree). There may come a time when there is aneed and then the formation of a fans group should happen in order to address whatever that may be.... I have said this before and will say it again The Saints Trust should disband (as should SISA, FWIW) and IF NECCESSARY a brand new fans group can exist from a clean slate. I hope to god though that there will be no need for any politically motivated fans group for many years to come.