Clifford Nelson

People with money take over football clubs in order to MAKE money. Saints will never make a penny in profit from football. There could have been a property development angle, but the Dell is long since sold and St Mary Stadium built, and there is no land surrounding the new stadium which would benefit from hotels, office or leisure complexes. The swiss want to take over Saints for some good reason - I am guessing name recognition for their kitchen and white goods range, since nationwide advertising for some £15M is fairly reasonable - they certainly have no intention to sling endless amounts of Swiss Francs at us to make the fans happy. Saying that I like to think that swiss businessmen could provide some order and backbone which have been sadly lacking for years.

The problems with someone with lots of experience of the lower leagues is that it proves that they haven't got what it takes to get out of them.

Getting closer. Nobody buys football clubs to sell cranes and heavy duty mining trucks. But to sell kitchens and white goods with a name which isn't known in the UK £15M is cheap in advertising cost. If enough interest is wound up in Southampton our shirts will be seen, so will the stadium, all bedecked in "Liebherr". Matches maybe played in Liebherr St Mary's Stadium. This makes sense.

There are only two Saints directors, Dave Jones, the finance genius, and Ken Thointon, appointed by Begbies Traynor. Somehow I can't imagine either of them spilling any beans halftime at Silverlake.

I am not making some kind of outrageous claim, just pointing out something that every fan can check for themselves rather than fantasise about. It is very simple arithmetic. They can also check out what Wotte has done as a coach and manager and determine whether that is good enough or not.

That they give away money to charity can't be compared with buying a football club, can it? The only thing similar is that you don't get a return on your money. What's the story about the Austrian club?

Check it through yourself, then you might believe it.

The excitement is running away with us. The Daily Mail journo doesn't mention any sources, not even vague one like "sources close to...". My guess is that he has done the same as we do, that is thing Switzerland-Soouthampton and try to make a connection. In this case two cranes in the docks installed not that long ago. A bit thin, isn't it? And by the way, how do you think the Liebherrs got so wealthy? By giving away money to football clubs? If they arrive it will be a business proposition to provide advertising for the Liebherr empire. Don't think cranes, think kitchens.

If you sit down and divide the points gained with the amount of games played for Pearson and Wotte (and then remember that Wotte had a team full of kids) you will be surprised to find that Wotte's record is the better one. It might be surprising, him being foreign and all that, but it's true.

It's quite interesting to see how one interestingly formulated post can get gaskets to blow everywhere. "Mabes" - short for Mabel, isn't it?

Remind me Phil, which one is that?

I agree. I don't know what on earth is wrong with Wotte apart from him not being English or British. One of those ghastly europeans, he's got to be driven out!

It doesn't scupper the conspiracy, in fact, it makes it. If the business could have gone anywhere, then it scuppers it. If Fry knew that the business was bound to go to BT - don't forget the WH Ireland/Lowe/BT tip angle here - that's when it becomes interesting.

Whatever restrictions was put on him, the only thing he needed to do was to make sure that SLH couldn't pay the bills. That has got nothing to do with BT, but he would have known what that would lead to.

The notice period for Fry is likely to have been three months. He could have been appointed and started to work off his notice.

Am I wrongly informed that they reduced the overdraft? Barclay didn't appoint the administrators, but which firm of administrators are specialists in the field, dealt with a well known team dressed in blue, and has got an office in Southampton? It wasn't pot luck that they were appointed.

If Richard Fry knew that he was going to BT at the time he withdrew the overdraft he effectively arranged to put business in the way of his future employer. I'm not surprised that his picture has disappeared.

Hear the noises of backside covering!

Nick, what happened to your source in the office who told you not to worry?

What happened to your source in the office who told you not to worry?

FL never said that Saints was in Administration, it is patently untrue. They did say that the football club and SLH were "inextricably linked", as a reason for us being deducted 10 points regardless. I don't think we can argue with this either.

Wotte's average points per game (and that includes the disastrous period after we went into Admin) was better than Poortvliet, but it was also better than Nigel Pearson (who didn't do anywhere near as well as his reputation would suggest). If Wotte had been in charge for the whole season and maintained his record then we would have had enough points to stay up. Administration would have destroyed that, of course.

Thanks! That was immensely helpful.

Hasn't it sunk in that we are not going to be taken over by someone with "hundreds of millions" in the wallet. Wotte have got pedigree and worked amazingly hard in achieving the nearly impossible. What did he do that was so outrageous so that most blokes you meet in the pub at 3 o'clock would have done it better? Sometimes it's depressing to see so many moaners in one place. If Wotte is the manager for the next year, let's all be grateful that we are still in existence and support him every step of the way. Face it, there isn't a sugar daddy out there. The endless negativity has got to stop.

Let's get it right. Mark Fry is running SLH, not, I repeat not, SFC. SLH is in Adminsitration, hence being rung by an administrator, i.e. Mark Fry. SFC is run by Dave Jones and Ken Tointon, because SFC is not, i repeat not in Administration. This is why there is an argument about the 10 points to start with. I agree with FL that SLH and SFC are "intrinsically linked", but legally they are not the same thing. You will need a CVA to get the running of SLH under way, but you don't need it, in fact you couldn't even get it, for SFC.