MarkSFC

You need to read the proposal http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/saveoursaints

Definitely not MW!!!! If you really need to know, look in the Echo (Good Friday issue)..Save our saints article...Im the bald bloke in the middle of the picture!!

I agree...no lunatics please.... What people seem to forget is that many Saints Fans are in fact "professional people" in their own right in their careers. These sort of people should be given the opportunity in a Fans owned Club...at least in this democratic set-up, people could be fully vetted before taking situ....unlike the recent past!!!

Who's Saintmarc?

You make a very good point, and may I just say that its not Derry's plan, its mostly mine!! Derry has made a very helpful contribution to our campaign and should be applauded but the plan was around before he came on board!! The voting system would not allow for "BIG" contributors to have the power.

The Save Our Saints "group" (yes, just 5 people) have only one main aim driving us.....the secure and stable future of Southampton Football Club. None of us think that a fans ownded SFC is the ideal solution. Its a good one and a workable one in theory, but in a perfect world a very wealthy benefactor will buy the company and plough millions and millions into guiding us back to the Premiership and to future glories in a short time period. In reality this MAY NOT happen. The purpose of my group is to have in place a plan, in case all else fails. We have this. From a completly neutral standpoint, "other" saints fans groups, are tainted in one way or another...rightly or wrongly, but all of them split the opinion of fans. At this moment in time, all I care about is "my football club" and I use the word "my" in the sense that I would use it to say "my girlfriend". I do not wish to own or run the life of my girlfriend, merely that I love her. The same applies to Southampton Football Club. Anything I have done so far and will do in the coming weeks or months is entirely about making sure that; 1) We have a Football team to support (albeit in L1!) 2) The furture is as secure as it possibly can be 3) It promotes "my team" proudly and positively, as opposed to those that are eternally negative and diversive. Negative comments without reason are not what we need at the moment. The meeting tomorrow night should be viewed as positive yet no expectation should be set on the outcome. As people have said on here, politics has ruled, but now politics should and MUST be put aside and if at all possible a united group, with a new name, should be formed to initiate two things; 1)A fundraising project team for SFC, with money raised put aside until it is absolutely neccessary to handover. The reason why I am against people just handing over donations is that if say £250K IS donated, the club may still go under. So people will have wasted their cash. Also, by donating, you are possibly just saving the "new owner" money. If they are that serious about the club and effectively that is us, the fans, then why would you start by ripping fans off? 2) An IF ABSOLUTELY NECCESSARY plan to create a fans consortium and takeover. Any "united group" should do this with no ego and with no desire to be part of the New Board. ALL people involved in running any Fans owned CLub should be entirely fit to do the job/sit on the board. The "reward" for me would be the self satisfaction that I was able to do my bit to help save "my club". I hope that even if a benefactor comes along and therefore no Fans Consortium is needed that the "unified fans body" can work and become a body that represents the majority of fans and works entirely for the benefit of the majority of fans in the future. It is time for unity not diversity. Action not words. Open minds not prejudice. Stability not insecurity. Positivity not negativity. Hope not despair. The future not the past.

Paul Tisdale...he will stay forever if we match his ambition. A player who never got the breaks so has lots to prove in the game. The drive for success in him is clear to see...4 promotions already in ashort time with no money.

Ha, fair enough! Please explain.... Thanks!!

What I find so amazingly agonising and incredibly poor is the "Clubs" complete and utter lack of action. If the club is so definitely not part of SLH, other than being owned by them, then why are they not telling the world that they need £xxx,xxx??? If everyone knew, then real fundraising could happen. Everyone who is doing something should be applauded, but if you have not got a target or a timeframe you are very likely to fail. The bucket collection and the evening last thursday raised what..£20 max. All good but a drop in the ocean if the amount we need is anywhere near the £500K muted. AS for Crouch...what is his real motive? If he was a real contender would he not want to ensure the club survived and finance it, either by ensuring a takeover quiclky or by issuing a loan directly to SFC?? My guess is that its something to do with SMS. Please correct me if Im wrong here, but if The Council (e.g.) purchase SMS for what Aviva is owed (say £24mill) and SMS are listed on SLH accounts/assets at say £16million then in theory SLH have an accounting surplus of £8million, thus re-financing SLH and then shares become live again. In turn, and in theory, dividends could be paid as the company may have made money. There is of course the little matter of the overdraft as well but I dont know the exact figures. The Reports are not accessible on Saintsfc website now!! This was explained to me by someone,so I may not have it totally accurate but you get my drift?!! I am convinced that Crouch's motive is mainly personal and financial despite his passion for the club. Time will tell eh?!!!!

No!! Just so fed up with the negativity!!!

IF, we get to the position where the fans option is the ONLY option, and "the fans" ONLY raise £150K then the idiots would be "the fans"! As Derry keeps re-iterating, we are puting the wheels in motion NOW, just in case. Time wil no doubt be of the essence, if no buyer comes along. Our scheme is not unrealistic if fans want a club, and if that ever happens I for one am eternally optimistice that Saints fans will come to the party. To the collective doubters, fair enough, but if push came to shove what would you really do? a few hundred quid....or no club?? There are (apparently) around 200,000 people on the SFC database. If all those people contributed just £100 on average then we would raise £20 million. I bet every single one of them has spen at least that amount "on Saints" (tickets, merchandise) over the years. Lets hope that 199,000 of them arent "doubters"!! Dare I say, that decision is easy for true fans.

ok:cool:

Well done to all 475 of you who have pledged on this thread. On behalf of Save Our Saints could I please ask everyone who has already pledged on this thread, to visit our page on Saints Web and pledge again. Two reasons for this; 1. There are more options so a bit more accurate. 2. We really need to excellrate the TOTAL showing so that we have as good a view of the potential as possible, and it will have a snowball effect. We need to ready should there be no other option. Also spread the word, maybe email everyone in your contacts this link http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/saveoursaints/ Steves put a lot of work into this and we need to make it work for us!!! Keep the faith and thanks for your positive support!! Mark

SOS are not considering the Ebbsfleet model. As I understand it they make mass fan decisions on the net. SOS is advocating a model of fan ownership, with elected fans who have the skills to do the job...NOT just whoever is popular!! Team selection, player purchase, systems, training methods, coaching team appointments, academy ethos, should be made by the Manager that the Board employees. Who runs the "football" at every successful club? The Manager!! No fan or CEO should ever get involved in this. The board should have people able to set policy, and oversee the vision and development of the Club. An appointed CEO (preferably from within football) should oversee the day-to-day running of the business and manage the senior management team. Hope that helps Mark

My understanding (from an accountant mate) is that the creditors would create Administration when it suits them. He atually predicted this might happen in January - if only "the great businessman" RL and his Fd could have had the forsight back then. If we (SFC) need "only" £500,000 or so to get to the end of the season, why didnt we sell a player or two, to guarantee solvency or put other plans in place as there is now with the fundraising activity. They could then have put SLH/The Club up for sale with no 10 point concerns. And surely its not really forsight to understand and plan your budget for the next 6 months. Lowe cannot pass the blame for this mess soley on to others, even if they created alot of it. His errors in the early 00's ended up in others taking a gamble to get us back to the promised land and the £30-40million jackpot!! He chose to come back, and would surely have taken the glory had things turned out positively. They didn't so Mr Hubris should take the rap and move on! He makes my blood boil!!!:smt086

Well worth a read....time for unity and pro-activeness

Thanks..said it was controversial!! If he'd never been given the Managers job (sorry, Head Coach role) he may still be here doing a good job with the Academy!!!

what we need is a manager with real potential who would get us out of L1 and could also be good enough to manage us in the Prem for years to come. What we dont want is someone who is good in the lower leagues but may not be good enough for CCC and Prem. This would just cause disruption again. A manager who would be happy to be here for 5-10 years building us up to a top club again. IMO Paul Tisdale fits that bill. Ex-player who stayed for years without playing, indeed played less than 100 game sin his career. He has already achieved 4 promotions with Team Bath and Exeter and may get another this year. He only has 1 year left on his contract I think so would be relatively cheap to get. But hes probably the most important signing for the club. We should also identify a "long-term" academy manager, and then send him to work with GeorgesProst if Lyon would allow it in order to gain his knowledge. Might be controversial, but maybe Wigley! Whatever happens with the takeover, plans must be put in place to promote stability, and a structure that will drive the club forward. In a way, this may just be the best thing for us, new owners, new start......

If the "loophole" is there, maybe Mr Browne wasn't savvy enough and is now just trying to save face?!!!

Just to back up what Derry has said...The Echo piece will be positive about the reasons we are announcing our proposal/idea. It is a mix of an article I provided Simon Carter and several conversations I have had with him this week ( and over the last 4-6 weeks). The purpose is multi-pronged.... 1. To publically "announce the initiative" 2. To open minds to the fact that (maybe) we (the fans) could be the only option 3. To set the wheels in motion, so that if we do have to act we are as ready as we could be 4. To show that there is substance to our initiative and its not simply a "pledge your money" exercise. That IS very important though, to understand the possible levels we could reach 5. To show "potential investors" that the fan base is passionate and united. 6. To potentially partner with another bid if it was suitable or necessary etc and there are probbly more!! All I would ask is that you all read and digest the article and proposal and open your minds to the idea. We by no means have ALL the answers or have come up with a perfect solution, but it has stemmed from an idea I had 2 months ago and has gone from there. There has been lots of number crunching and debate and what we have is the result of that. So by all means ask questions, because if we do end up having to act, the more ideas we have the better. Ideally, I would love to see a BIG investor come in and develop our fantastic club back to the Premiership quickly and stay around for years and years. BUT, it may not happen, and given the choice of the last 5 years or giving "Fans Ownership" a try, I would go for the latter every time!!! I hope you enjoy the article and more importantly enjoy watching us win 3 points tomorrow!!!! Mark

I was playing football for my school team, in goal, and the team was up the other end and my mate came running along telling everyone!!! I got so excited I didnt see the opposition coming toward me and let a goal in...didnt matter when everyone else realised the game stopped briefly while everyone cheered etc!!! Good times! I may not have been clear...BATES IS MR SAINTS, always was always will be

Didnt LM and John Mortimore start what is now our academy???

still the ONLY english team (I think) to sign the current Europen Player of theYear!! I still remember where I was when Iheard we'd signed KEVIN KEEGAN!!! As someone who grew up watching his teams McMenemy deserves his place behind Bates ( my grandad knew him and rated him as a man big time) in the top echelons of Saints legends but he isnt squeeky clean. But then how many of us never make any mistakes?!! The trouble is some people (RL) make far too many!!!!