Saint86

Lowe investing in the youth development and stadium are the two things that ultimately saved the club. His weakness was his business decisions with regards to transfers and he should never have listened to the fans and hired Hoddle back. As it is the fans got us sturrock and we were relegated... Do any of us care that we got relegated given where we are now? I very much doubt it? With that in mind, given that the stadium and youth set up is the foundation of why the Liebherrs purchased us and are the basis for the club we see today can I in good conscience blame Lowe? No. Get that chip of your shoulder. That man took a club from a tiny old stadium, gave us a world class youth setup and a brand new stadium with double the capacity... all with limited finances. He was also doing alright in the champ tbf before barclasy went back on their agreement and pulled the plug. Fans need to see things in perspective some times. There are Lowe's and their are Chanrais... And I am damn sure 100% of the fanbase (minus Roger maybe) would chose Lowe.

He didn't refuse our offer. We overlooked him and he got very salty to the local media.

The mere fact that you said that proves you are... I wonder how long it will take the mods to boot you off this time. Glasgow especially was banned a very long time before you joined. ****ing troll.

Steve Davis was once again one of our best players today. Mad how fans can't appreciate what he offers. Far better than Wanyama and clasie in that midfield.

Really dont get your point. If people want to watch it they would surely?!?! Are you implying it is due to the quality of BT's coverage or due to limited access to it? BT are entitled to pay what they want for it and people need to adjust to them for the time being, just like people who want to watch sky have to pay to get the full quality. All it needs is one family member with sky and one with BT anyway? Find it hard to believe that doesn't cover a very good junk of interested people? And failing that there are always streams?

If this happens, Tottenham would come in for Koeman and Clasie. Liverpool would try to sign Long, VVD and Pelle.

in that scenario, doesn't 8th get Europa League? I was under the impression we have 4 CL berths, and 3 Europa league births. Plust a 5th CL berth if Liverpool win the CL, giving us the extra spot? Or is that totally wrong?

Martina will become a cult hero for saints. called it in august and see no reason to change my view.

I would give it a couple of years. I doubt there was much improvement for the two years in league 1. And i doubt we'll reach anything like the bale, lallana, theo age bracket until you add 7 years from our return to the prem.

I also think this is not outside the realms of possibility.

Tadic is very frustrating. I like him as a player, but time and time again his final ball was shocking. That and giving the ball away for free with crap passes to the guy five meters from him. I don't know how you define frustrating... but that does it for me and most fans.

Simply not good enough. Definitely two points dropped and Europe hanging by a very thin thread as a result. Only positive I see is Jayrod being back. Great to see! And that was a cracking effort he had.

I think the point is that we are currently in a great position to be a stable mid table team. From time to time, we will put together a great team and be a surprise which is why i highlight how we'd have done better with Morgan, clyne and toby this year. Last team we had a great team due to a couple of quality transfers and the existing strong team. Just like this year, West Ham have produced a cracking team with players like Lanzini and Payet. Each season for us now feels like trying our hand in the market, and trying to score a couple of gem players whilst keeping together what we have. Some times we will get it really right (ala last season), others will be poor... The challenge is to keep progressing piece by piece. The same concern remains for me however, and that is that youth development has slowed and practically ceased. Apart from that I am content. I think that Virgil, Fonte, Forster, Long are quality for us. Tadic, Mane, Claise and Bertrand are all really good players, and the rest do a good job. Not much to moan about, but not exceptional either. Get a couple of quality players to push us forward and we'd be a very strong outfit again.

We would have easily been top 4 with Morgan, Clyne and Toby, perhaps higher.

Good read thanks. Was an interesting analysis and as you say mirrors what a lot of fans on here say. We need better attacking players to create chances. And I personally don't think we have come close to replacing Morgan. Serious money should be spent on a creative attacking midfielder and a morgan/wanyama replacement.

It is not possible to give this award to anyone but Sir Tommy Forepast. Really makes me question your place as a saints fan if you don't this...

Last 3? It starter with Wanyama seeing red against west ham.... and its been every game... potential game changing decision in each at least.

You are a brainwashed numpty if you believe that. Sadly the politics of fear will win out.

A post on POL: A few snippets of info from a recent supporter's meeting with Iain McInnes: The Trust have spent £1.4m on improvements to the stadium so far, largely from the Tesco money but also partly from the club's other income. He believes any new facilities should be for home fans, and he doesn't intend to move away fans from the Milton End, which means the Milton isn't a priority for redevelopment.

Thank you guys, you have provided more enough reasons to smile this lunchtime.... And thank you Portsmouth... I mean Wimbledon.... I mean sky..... urr... I mean all those "amateurish" 4th tier clubs that are above them

Man city, palace and villa are irrelevant. Just shows the crap they spout on that channel.

"Leaving early - entirely the choice of the individual, in my opinion. Not something I have done, though I have been tempted, Does it make you a bad fan? No of course it doesn't. Does it have a detrimental effect on the team? Yes. But there is also something else isn't there, that makes a walk-out of Pompey fans just that little bit more antagonistic. Many of those people walking away in disappointment,disgust, hurt, pain, frustration or any of the other relevant emotions, are also the shareholders - they are the clubs owners. And the players and the management know it. And if you were at work and the 'owners' of the business got up and walked out for negative reasons and in objection to what you were doing, you'd soon sort it out." I don't know about you lot, but if I worked for that tattooed d1ck head with a bell.... well I'd think of that as rock bottom and look for another job

Guys, hats off to you... This is one of the golden pages on this thread They are having an inquisition of POL about fans leaving early. Just amazing!

I don't care about the press. I was annoyed in someways that Pelle got 2 goals today because Koeman already has a weakness when it comes to him and this will just encourage him to play him more. He is lazy, inconsistent and generally slows down our play, gives away possession and wastes opportunities. Don't get me wrong, he can play really well from time to time and score some cracking goals. QPR Scissor kick, chelsea away this year, our second today etc... But he is a confidence player that is just as likely to hit the corner flag as he is to score most of the time. As for his laziness, it was still evident today even though he was having a good game. 2 passes before stokes goal, the ball is cleared out of the area and Pelle is the closing player. As soon as it goes to Imbulla who is immediately in front of him he stops, stands, makes a point of standing as if to expect someone else to close him down / push up, and then refuses to go the extra 2m and stop the pass.... a couple of passes later they score. All he had to do was press and that goal would not have happened. Against Chelsea at home, he gives the ball away and puts us under pressure with his ridiculous flicks and is directly responsible for a goal as a result. No amount of days like today make him worth starting atm, Long is better and Austin is more dangerous when fit. Pelle has been a good servant for the club, and as I said he can have great days, but we are team built around a solid core and then fast hard working attackers that create chances for each other... this is not Pelle. I agree that the media destabilise players and clubs printing stories. Whether that is intentional or as a bi-product you'll have to decide alone.