SaintJackoInHurworth

Surprised no-one has taken up the challenge with that one. Perhaps I can oblige with a prayer for our club to get the 'ball' rolling...(!) Dear Lord, I lift up to you our once proud football club. Lord we bear the name 'Saints' - a description of those that follow you, and so Lord we seek your blessing in place of despair and disgrace. Lord, may this club which stared out as a church project to witness to your name, once more bear witness to your mercy and grace. So Lord, specifically we pray that a good buyer for the club and stadium will be found quickly - someone who will take the club forward and restore its fortunes and with it the fortunes of the City of Southampton. Lord, we ask this in your name, AMEN! No... Smithfield are not lawyers, they are specialist financial consultants. Their specialisms include mergers and takeovers, including football club takeovers and mergers. They were involved in the takeover of Man Utd and are involved in seeking buyers for Arsenal. Why they are involved with Saints I do not know - maybe Fry has brought them in. But with that background in this sort of thing I would guess their involvement is good news! Here's my sources: http://www.burson-marsteller.com/Newsroom/Lists/PressReleases/DispForm.aspx?ID=705&nodename=Press%20Releases%20Archive&subtitle=Burson-Marsteller%20and%20Smithfield%20Enter%20Strategic%20Partnership%20Agreement - it says somewhere in that one about their previous involvement with the takeover of Man Utd. http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/673167/Smithfield-swallows-Gresham-PR/ - That one says about their involvement with Arsenal

I live just a couple of miles from the Darlington Arena. The Darlington situation is a bit different than Saints, though it has some resonance. Hopefully they too will find a buyer. Basically, a few years ago the club was bought by George Reynolds and he managed to gain planning permission to build a large Premiership/Championship quality stadium on the edge of the town. However, a fraud investigation revealed that the money used to build the ground and develop the club had been gained illegally, so the stadium and the club's assets were seized and eventually came to be owned by George Houghton, while Reynolds was thrown into prison. Since then Houghton has invested heavily in the club to keep it going, but with tiny crowds it cannot cover its costs and so he has finally decided he cannot continue to fund the cost of running the club (though quite why he decided to do that when they were on the brink of at least a play-off place with the potential of larger crowds in league 1, I do not know!) Anyway, that resulted in the club going into administration, but the ground is a seperate entity and remains his property. One likely/possible outcome is that if/when the club is liquidated he will opt to have the ground demolished and housing or offices built on the land in its place. I just hope that Saints don't end up getting to this stage too. It would be awful if both Saints and Darlo go out of business.

LOL - why does that STILL cause me to explode into spontaneous laughter?! Thanks for posting that - something has got to cheer us all up!!

The potential overseas bidders... they don't include Paul Allen do they?!! If not(!!), I wonder has anyone speculatively sent him an e-mail to point out that Saints are in administration in case he wants to renew his alleged former interest? Actually, who else could we send such an e-mail to? Bill Gates Michael Jackson The owners of Barcelona CF ???

Less than an hour of today to go... ...is the Pinnacle bid dead if it isn't sorted by midnight?

ok - I keep refreshing this forum, I keep refreshing the OS and I keep refreshing Saints news on the Echo's website... ...any other sites that I should have up to catch the earliest possible news??!!

Is there any possibility that the delay is because the different parties that are wanting to make bids are now actually talking to each other to create a bigger consortium with better backing, etc.?

Some good points made here guys. Before reading them I had just been on the Football Focus website posting some commenst in the hope that the issue might be raised on their programme. Here is what I wrote: "As a Saints fan, I am shocked by the ridiculous decision reached this week by the Football League investigation into Southampton Football Club. Whatever the links may be between the club and the PLC, that is not the issue and Lord Mawhinney's attempts to suggest it is are laughable. Like it or not, the rules clearly state that any FOOTBALL CLUB going into administration should be deducted 10 points. No mention is made of these 10 points applying if a holding company goes into administration as is the case here. While the rules may have been intended to penalise cases like this, the fact is that the wording of the Football League's own rules does not support this decision. I would venture to suggest that they are on perilous legal ground. It looks like this is going to be yet another example of footballing authorities living in ivory towers out of touch with the real world. I envisage that once again we will see an appeal against a footballing authority decision which will ultimately result in the football club in question receiving substantial compensation, further undermining the game of football. I call upon Lord Mawhinney and co. to reverse this decision forthwith or to resign before facing the inevitable humiliation that will result from a legal appeal. Furthermore, I call upon the Football League to sit down around the table and re-evaluate what is anyway a ridiculous ruling. To penalise football clubs that are in serious financial difficulties in a way that will further jeopardise these clubs cannot be a logical thing to do. A more sensible ruling would see football clubs penalised for clearly cheating the system - i.e. NOT for going into administration, but rather for using administration as a means to make unfair footballing advantage. Such an accusation cannot be levied at Darlington, Rotherham, Bournemouth, and Southampton - to name but a few clubs affected by this ridiculous rule. Why should the cheating of a few clubs be used to affect the financial livelihoods of clubs with genuine financial problems? I hope that you will be able to highlight this issue in your programme." Perhaps Chapel End Charlie's ideas should also be posted to the BBC/Sky/Talksport, etc. as Gingeletiss has suggested.

Let's hope so - we don't want Rupert screwing things up any further thank you very much!!!

This has probably been asked and answered elsewheer so apoogies if it has but... ...will any potential buyers be buying the PLC or the club? I assume the club. And if they are just buying the club, does this also include purchasing the stadium? Cheers

I still hope that we can beat Burnley and still be in with a shout by other results going our way. I then hope that we can go on to beat Forest... ...But if I'm honest I don't think it's gonna happen. I just hope that there's a big crowd there on Saturday and that we will actually be able to limp on to the end of the season... and then, most importantly, that a buyer will come in and save the club. I think it would be great too if we could have a decent following at Forest even if we do get relegated before then. I would love to be there myself, though, sadly I don't think it will be possible.

I don't get all the arguents on here scouring over past disagreements, but let's just leave that now can we?!!! The fact is our club is at risk, but there is still hope. So let's hold on to that hope and do all we can to fan the flames of interest from those can make a genuine difference. Let's get behind all the different campaigns to save our club as best as we can, whether that be buying merchandise from the club shop, giving to support the daily cash flow of the club, becoming part fo a supporters group lobbying to raise financial support, joining a group like the 'Save our Saints' group on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/inbox/?ref=mb#/group.php?gid=67729837464), voting in the poll to pledge financial support, suggesting ideas on this or other forums...etc. Together, maybe, just maybe... we can see our club rescued and able to fight another day!!! COYR!!

I'm not good at knowing celebrities, but maybe it is worth keeping an eye out for the names of any celebrities joining the 'Save Our Saints' Facebook group (http://www.facebook.com/inbox/?ref=mb#/group.php?gid=67729837464). It may be that a celebrity or two will be lurking among the (over 7000) fans who have signed up to declare their support on there!

How would this be done? Is someone going to set up a cooperative/trust to gather together supporters and sell shares in the cooperative, with a promise of returning the investment if unsuccesful?

Whatever the rules were actually meant to legislate for doesn't matter - what matters is what the rules actually SAY and how they have been previously applkied (e.g at Derby). Therefore, following the Sheff Utd/West Ham/Carlos Tevez debacle I would think the FA would be reticent to be too quick to punish Saints, unless it is very clear that the rules have been broken.

yeah - but maybe with hindsight it would have been better to have got a slightly higher fee with a sell-on fee and then bought a younger player elsewhere instead of Le Saux?

eh? scrawny, ugly and stupid? nah... that could never describe anyone other than Leeds or Barnsley fans... ....and that's just their women!!!!

PANTS!!! What a disaster by Lowe there! To think a 10% sell-on fee would have netted up to £1.2m based on transfer fee of up to £12 quoted on BBC website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_city/7807951.stm

Do they have the same rule for the ladies football team?

A manager who can take a team from League 1 and get them up to the Premiership in three seasons is not bad in my opinion. His sacking could well be bad news for Watford in the long run. Whether it is good news for us is a different question.. what if Charlton sack Pardew and appoint Boothroyd in his place - in that case it could be bad news for us indeed!

Surely it is time for the fans to do something... we must force Lowe to find a buyer - put such pressure on him that he is desperate to get out. He arrogantly thought he could turn things round and get the value of his investment back to what it was. Now maybe he will realise that the best thing is just to get out!!! Any buyer has got to be better than Lowe! A fans protest maybe?

I'm gutted by this news. SJ played really well on Tuesday and if he had been more match sharp from having had more appearances he would have scored a goal. Sadly he missed our best chance, but everything else he did on the night was good. I don't see how we can hope DMc will get the goals. As many have said, this is completely false economy. What we gain in having Stern's wages paid we will lose in lost supporter revenue and the costs of relegation to League 1. RL rarely had the plot, but whatever plot he had is now completely lost!

OK - I got back from the game about an hour ago (12.15am), so just a quick report before bed.. Overall, pleased with the result. I think we just about deserved to hold on although they were on top for most of the second half - especially after the substitutions. That having been said, Sheffield United's retention of possession was pretty poor and their shooting abysmal! Their best player was Ehiogu, who was on the whole a colossus at the back. But for Saints... Man of the match: Kelvin Davis - commanded his area well on the whole and made some brilliant saves including one or two amazing full length fingertip stops. Other players worth a mention: Simon Gillett - Very hard working and dependable in possession and moved the team forward well. At the centre of a lot of things. Adam Lallana - Assured in possession, held the ball up well. Frequently a menace going forward. Good vision and passing. Possibly the classiest player on the pitch. Rudi Skacel - excellent defensive performance. Held his position well and never lost a tackle in the first half. In fact he must have so frustrated their right winger that he was subbed at half time! He also gave great support to Joseph Mills in midfield, shouting encouragement and advice, etc. and linking with him on a number of occasions to begin forward breaks. He tired towards the end of the game, which coincided with the period in which we were under the cosh, towards the end. Andrew Surman - Looked very assured in the first half and held the ball up well. A much more mature performance than I have previously seen from him (though I confess I do not get to many matches). Faded a little in the second half. Bradley Wright Phillips - He is so much better as a winger than as a striker. He ran the line really well and combined well with Gillett to pose a significant threat down the wing. Faded in the second half - especially after switching to the left flank, following the substitution of Mills. Other players: Perry: Solid on the whole, but caught out of position a couple of times in the first half. Lancashire: Occasionally caught out of position, especially in the first half. Nothing special but did ok. Hard to see from our end, but the foul that led to him going off was possibly a little clumsy and reckless, though may also have saved us the points (although I don't think it was as clear cut a danger as some are suggesting). Mills: Looked dodgy in possession early on and pleased he was in midfield not in defence. However, he settled as the game wore on and did provide the occasional threat. Cork: Caught out of position on a few occasions in the first half and appeared uncomfortable in possession. Did not have sufficient composure to hold the ball up and was quick to release it, though he was a useful support to Bradley down the wing. When he held his possession he defended ok. Plays more like a centre back than a full back. Improved as game went on and after early indiscipline maintained defensive position well while central defenders went up for corners. John: Held the ball up well and worked hard for the team. Took a significant part in defensive and midfield duties as well as being lone striker. Hassled and harried their midfield and defence well. Unfortunately his great supporting work in midfiled meant that he was not always in position to threaten the goal as much as I would have liked. That having been said, he rose brilliantly in the box to meet the ball in the area for what was possibly the clearest chance of the game (certainly in Saints favour!) but sadly did not hit the target. Subs: McGoldrick - tried hard and did some good stuff on the wings. He was certainly a threat and continued Bradley's earlier good work on the right. Finished the game as lone striker but saw little of the ball for lst few minutes, except in a defensive capacity! James - Was not on for long and did not have much time to show what he could do in midfield. Tried very hard with the one chance he had to do something and nearly created an opening, but sadly it came to nothing. Maybe tried a little too hard! Wotton - was only on for about a minute so not possible to assess his contribution. Portvliet - Good blend of youth and experience in starting line-up. Glad he chose to play Rudi. Disappointed with his substitutions. These did not work for us and left us on the back foot (except for the last one which was obviously a necessary chnage following the sending off - though a little staggered that it was made while we were defending the Beattie Free Kick just outside the area!) Also disappointed with lack of discipline on right hand side of defence early on. Pleased with better defensive discipline in second half.

I would say on Beattie's performance tonight he would not have been much to look up to. As has already been said, he looked pretty ordinary tonight and together with his team-mates was frequently caught offside. Their lack of goals was due as much to how shocking they were up front as anything (save perhaps Davis excellent performance in goal). Our defence was caught out of position on more than one occasion, but they did not seem to possess the ability to capitalise. In short, Beattie was a shadow of his former self!

If we could only get another goal soon... that would cause them to start to panic and could put us in with a chance!!! But the goal must come soon or we have little chance of doing anything.