alpine_saint

Why should he ? Lowe has a proven track record.

You and Bournemouth Saint can scoff, but Pearson lost by 5 to Hull, Burley lost by 5 to Sheff Wed and Preston. Queue Bournemouth Saint pointing out we beat Hull 4-0 under Burley. However, that was much earlier in the season, living testimony to the fact that teams CAN improve when led by a manager that isnt a disinterested drunken f**wit.

You're not wrong.

Burley systematically ignored our defence, often in favour of collecting midfielders, for 18 months. Almost the first thing Pearson had to do was bring in two CBs, and in so doing did more to strengthen our defence in 1 week than Burley did in his entire time.

Burley selected the team based on pure spite sometimes, I think. Rasiak peeed him off in 2006-2007, so he dropped him for Saga. The very same player, regarded so highly only 3 months before, barely feature in 2007-2008, so I would contend that Saga dared to offend him somehow. I dont know of a single Saints manager in history that harboured such petty grudges against certain of his players at certain times as much as Burley did. Even Branfoots obvious jealousy for MLT that caused him to drop him and make press comments for years after that MLT was holding us back and should be sold pales into comparison..

Like after the 2003 FA cup Final and qualifying for Europe probably - flog someone as important to the team as Wayne Bridge...

Ooooo. Is that supposed to be insulting ? I'm devastated..

Nope. Too much expenditure with too high risk for Lowe.

Conclusive proof that Burely lost it, and that NP was getting better. I also seem to recall that NP faced tougher opposition than Burley.

I'm very pleased for you..

I agree too

Oh, come off it. Lowe has been able to hide behind the summer break to take his unpopular decisions, Crouch had to take his (Rasiak and Skacel) full-on in the middle of the season with fans braying down his neck. In the same way as certain people argued that the transfer activity planned for the 2006-2007 season was set in motion by Lowe, the cost cutting was already planned by the old board (there has been clear evidence cited about the corner issues), yet some people have been banging on about Lowe's financial expertise. By-the-way, we may have cut costs, but until 1700 tomorrow afternoon the argument that we are still competing is complete opinion on your behalf and not fact.

Fair enough, but if NickG hadnt offered an explanation, I would have described Swindon (half-way between Soton and Cardiff) as a bit of a trek...

Who cares what that snot rag of a paper thinks anyway ? It pays Polly Toynbee, Zoe Williams and George Monbiot - its always full of drivel, most of it arrogant, self-aggrandising middle-class public school drivel. What does that paper know about football outside of the prawn sandwiches of the Premier League ?

I think we've done this one before, but how does one sibling end up supporting Cardiff and the other Saints ??? Who's the Judas in the family, you or him ?

Ok, so let's stop this nonsense that Lowe is weaving some kind of magic then.

One fit one ?

I will be keeping my fingers crossed, whilst racking up a huge mobile phone by WAPping for the the latest score every 2 minutes. Come on u reds....

What opinion is that then ? I havent abused anyone, and I have hardly criticised Wilde and Lowe. I have not criticised Portvillet at all. I have, however, cast grave reservations about this squad's ability to mount a successful (non-relegation) campaign. Why has this caused such outrage ?

So we are supposed to think the bank are that stupid that customer base allienation is an alien notion to them ? Right. Also, that means Lowe is making sod all difference, despite the worship in certain parts, since the bank would have forced the same actions if Crouch were still in charge.

Oh, whatever. If that's what they are then, why am I being lectured to "wait and see" ?

A good post - thanks for taking the time. Couple of issues with it. Point 1 & 2 are the same for me. Point 3 is for me is not critical, and point 4 is a major irritation and for me not the right approach to a long-term strategy. I also dont understand why a manager cannot earn his money and re-motivate one or two of these players into performing. I reckon we could afford to keep a couple of the 7 if we were certain of their contribution, and I think they would make a difference. I reckon we are light up front, and I dont like the look of the midfield, though I will conceed that I havent seen them play.

Thanks for stating the obvious..

By all means. Havent told the missus yet. I'll give her some money to spend in Primark..

If they get a result in the next week, I will drive from Austria for the Blackpool game.