Wes Tender

Yes, I did. I thought to myself that he's not grumpy or old, but it was good to see him. I must be a grumpy old man myself, as I find myself nodding my head at everything they say on that show.

Yes, I think that you are right in what you say, even though as you correctly point out, the Saints Trust and SISA have both become anachronisms. Whenever those indiduals spout forth their opinions on what they believe we think and they are mistaken, then it is up to us to put matters right with the media. We can do this in two ways; firstly we can contact the Editors of the Echo and Radio Solent, pointing out that the views expressed by that individual do not necessarily represent the views of the majority of fans and that those organisations that they purport to speak on behalf of are an unelected sham. Secondly, feedback in the form of letters on their websites could point out the same thing, accusing the Journalist of sloppy and lazy reporting when they quote these individuals instead of taking the trouble to seek out other opinions. As I say, it would be an easy matter to dispatch a reporter to the stadium where there are nearly always ordinary fans about and personally when I listen to a report on anything that involves a membership, I nearly always place more weight on the opinions of the individuals coming out of a meeting rather than those of some spokesman with an agenda.

Was Gemmel's post delivered with deliberate harmful intent? It escaped me. I thought that the point he made about the amount of money spent on those other minor fripperies against the expenditure on Dementia is scandalous if true. Sometimes by holding it up to ridicule by using humour as the vehicle, you achieve far more than if you write a serious but boring piece. Anyway, as you say, I am happy to exchange festive wishes to you and yours and the same for all the other posters on this forum. I hope you all have a great day with family and friends tomorrow and here's to three points on Boxing Day.

It is an interesting subject for a debate. Whereas ML and NC could ride roughshod over our wishes as their ownership of the club is total, I honestly believe that they are people who have realised long ago the simple axiom that a business thrives if its customers are content. Provided that the team is successful and the price for watching them is reasonable, there is little else that concerns most of us beyond being treated with respect and consideration. I agree that voting with one's feet is a last resort for when talking has failed, but I can't foresee that situation arising with the new people. I'm sure that they would welcome dialogue and feedback regarding customer satisfaction as any good business would. Under the new regime, I feel that the open meetings, say a couple of times a year including the Radio Solent evening would suffice, unless there was some pressing matter that arose that needed more urgent discussion. But even then, I think an open meeting would be better. If the media wanted to have an opinion supposedly representing the fans, I personally am not happy that there be one or two of the usual suspects as a spokesman. I often find that they don't reflect my own views and as the current bunch have no real basis as elected representatives they really ought to preface their remarks with "in my opinion". There is a fairly simple solution for the media to resolve the situation of not having a broader view from the fan base; all they have to do is publish or broadcast a request for some to volunteer their services to be contacted at short notice to express a view on any current situation. They could then make a dozen or so phone calls and get at least some sort of consensus rather than having Nick tell us what we are thinking. They would soon recognise those who are able to speak cogently and sensibly on most matters and the views expressed would be seen to be those of the ordinary punter rather than from some group tarnished by past agendas. Also much better to have quotes from two or three fans simultaneously rather than having one individual in front of the camera. Another possibility if the media can be bothered, is to go to the stadium, where more often than not there are some fans buying tickets, in the shop, etc. Ask them for a reaction or opinion and you truly have the vox populi.

I really can't be bothered to respond beyond saying that you could do with a sense of humour transplant. Your old one is worn out. I don't think that they do them on the National Health, so you might need to go private.

The Saints Trust was a decent idea at the time of the former regime when the shareholding factions were split between two or three factions and there was a possibility that if enough fans bought shares, the Trust might just garner enough support to make a difference to the balance of power. But it was a good idea that withered and died on the vine of apathy, because although there was ultimately enough support amongst the ordinary fans to dislodge the Lowe regime, there was little interest in enough people joining the Trust as the way to achieve that end and in any event, as has been mentioned above, there was not the resolve from the leadership of the Trust to get shot of Lowe once he returned with the Quisling lap dog. Now that all of the shares are held by Markus Liebherr, the Trust is a total irrelevance, as are the members of its committee. It is about time that the Echo recognised that their usual mouthpieces have no authority to speak on behalf of the fans any more. Nineteen Canteen: Consumers groups like Which have been superceded by internet sites like Money Saving Expert and in any event any disgruntled consumer has access to the local Trading Standards office or some Ombudsman or other. At the moment, there is no requirement for any fans' group, but accepting that there remains the future possibility of a need for one, then there will be the impetus towards one being formed, much as SISA rose to prominence during the Branfoot era. In the meantime, it is up to those who feel that Nick Illingworth does not reflect their views to tell the Echo. Regarding the relationship between the club and the board, it appears to be the case, unless somebody can tell me otherwise, that if anybody contacts them with some grievance, it will be looked into and responded to. It might be that at some stage the new people will consider it beneficial to themselves to have a continuous dialogue with the fans, but I'd personally much prefer an open meeting that anybody could attend rather than the farcical arrangements from during the Lowe era when there were the regional groups and SISA meeting him a few times a season and then he totally ignored their grievances. And what a farce that Tell Rupert email facility was. Thank God there isn't a tell Nicola email.

ROFL! Brilliant.

Now look what you've done! You've only gone and re-ignited the glowing embers of this thread that was disappearing into the realms of obscurity and given Nineteen an opportunity to revisit his compulsive dislike of MLT. Shame on you!

Fully agree. But it is one thing having a manager who is personally motivated by his own ambition and sheer bloody-minded will to succeed, quite another to inspire the players to have that never say die attitude on the pitch. However, where Pardew has been extremely astute is in the choice of his signings. We are quite possibly the best example in this division of a team packed with captains from other teams. These are individuals whose leadership qualities have been recognised in the past, players who lead by example and command the respect of their colleagues. There is always the difficulty that having so many of them, that there might be jealousy or animosity between them, but these are professionals who recognise that through the success of the team as a unit, they will also enjoy individual success too. This winning mentality is demonstrated clearly and epitomised by the two JPT matches where we went to a penalty shoot out and under previous teams would have capitulated. The winning of matches at the death, or the trials by penalty are invaluable experiences, so that a belief is instilled in the players minds that they are not beaten until the referee blows the final whistle. Pardew deserves great credit for choosing the right players and then getting that winning mentality into their minds. But it must not be overlooked that at the beginning Cortese and Liebherr also had the ability to choose the right man and attract him against the odds to share the vision that they had for us.

Where did this several feet of snow materialise from? Even with the heavy falls we had yesterday, there was only 6 inches on the ground according to the groundsman. The forecast is for better conditions for the next week or so, so if anything the problems might be waterlogging rather than the snow or ice.

We are most of us fanatics on here. We are fanatical about football. Others called zealots are fanatical about religion. I presume that you are more in the latter category rather than the former. But as I said, that is up to you. Why do you read this forum then? I don't read it to have you push your religious views on me. Keep them to yourself. Originally Posted by Wes Tender You have no basis or substance for making that assumption, as you do not know me. That is none of your business, neither are my circle of friends, nor my beliefs. Firstly you do not credit me with enough intelligence to make up my own mind as to where my priorities should be in my own life, which is an arrogance on your part as you do not know me and secondly, I am an advertiser myself, so ought to be able to distinguish between what is being sold or merchandised and what is not. For yourself, you have been sold a belief in something that has not been proved to exist, so who is the gullible one here? .

It was bad around Basingstoke yesterday. But I still managed to drive from Southampton to Basingstoke and then on to Bristol and back all in the afternoon and evening. The story is a load of cobblers and should be taken with a giant pinch of salt, which won't even be needed on the Colchester pitch by the time this game is played. Sloppy journalism as usual from the local rag.

Thanks for defending me, but I take it as a wind-up from one of the most accomplished practitioners of the art on here. It is easy enough to dissect Wiltshire Saints points and counter them. No, I don't worship Markus Liebherr because he has money. I am just grateful that he has decided to invest some of it in us. If WS took some time to contemplate what might have become of us had he not done so, then I'm sure that he would also recognise that ML is due some gratitude, or otherwise I could counter argue that WS is an extremely ungrateful person, which isn't a very Christian trait. I would also like to inform him that I am not in debt and am sensible enough to only spend what I can afford, but thanks for his concern anyway. If I wish to spend my own hard-earned dosh on football and Christmas presents for family and friends, that of course is my own choice, much as it was ML's choice to spend some of his small change on us. He probably also didn't consider that the reason I spend a lot of money was because I have a large family and many friends. How was I sold a life that is Godless? Who exactly sold it to me? I made up my own mind based on my upbringing, education and personal observations. Of course, he has no evidence himself that there is a God, but if he chooses to believe in one, then that is his choice. Surely his Christian doctrine ought to accord him some tolerance of the views of others, or is that only a one way street?

Of course, if everybody agreed with your assertion that there could never be a consensus on here, then that in itself would have been a consensus, wouldn't it? But in any event, I disagree that there can never be a consensus on here. A consensus is the opinion of the majority and I reckon that under that definition the vast majority are of the opinion that Markus Liebherr and Nicola Cortese are the best thing that has happened to this club and that they are doing a brilliant job at running us. Of course, that opinion could change in the future, but at the moment the club is the closest it has been to being unified that I can ever remember. If you can produce evidence that supports your view that a consensus doesn't exist on that, I'd be pleased to read it. Name me any poster on here who is not delighted that we are rid of Lowe, Wilde, Askham, Crouch, etc and not happier with whom we have now?

I know that your post is an effort at satire, but thankfully for us atheists he declined to rabbit on about the meaning of Christmas on a football club website and kept it to what was pertinent for most of us. And I disagree that too much time is concentrated on football and not enough about religion. We might have the odd punch-up that is football related, but we have full scale wars using religion as an excuse. As for the expenditure on football, even as a season ticket holder I'd find it a close run thing as to whether I spent more on watching football or on Christmas and the Christmas preparations began almost at the same time as the football season too. Christmas might be a time of goodwill to all men and I am happy enough that there is a feeling of mutual goodwill between us and ML and NC. But I can't bring myself to show the same amount of goodwill towards the blue few along the coast. I'm a really bad person, aren't I?

He says that they received literally thousands of Christmas cards from the fans. That was a great initiative suggested on here and which has borne fruit. The two of them can be in no doubt whatsoever as to the high esteem and gratitude the fans have towards them. The least we can do now is fill the stadium on Boxing Day to thank them.

Even more reason to laugh at the Skates is their appointment of Daniel Azougy in a financial capacity, according to the Sun. He has a string of convictions for fraud and even had a prison sentence for 5 months. So they have attracted their own Barry Briefcase, but they have actually appointed their equivalent. Perhaps somebody failed to inform him at the interview that there was no money to steal.

I genuinely prefer now to the previous two seasons, because although we are a division below, we have rid ourselves of Lowe and all of those charlatans from the old board and now have a great owner, an extremely capable and professional chief executive, a very good manager who knows what he is doing and a squad of players who give maximum effort and have pride in the shirt. When did we last have anything near that before? If we were just winning matches but didn't have the infrastructure running the club that we have now, it would be a surprise. It is precisely because we have that infrastructure that we are winning matches and have a good foundation to build on and that is why I prefer this season to the past recent ones, rather than the actual results and league position per se.

Surely promotion is promotion, regardless of whether it is acheived via the play-offs or not. There could be a separate bet available for the automatic positions perhaps.

Their assessment seems reasonable for us. Whether Keane can do a Sunderland at Ipswich is far more doubtful given that he seems to have been a bit of a damp squib earlier on and didn't exactly galvanise them into action. If we can replicate the form of the past ten or so matches over the rest of the season, we should manage it and I think that they're right that if we get into the play-offs, we'd be the favourites to win it. They haven't even mentioned the probability that if we're mid table by the New Year that we would strengthen in January.

Original thoughts that it was a bit of light-hearted fun have to be tempered by consideration of further information which has been offered. If it was an isolated incident, fine, provided that it does not happen again. If it incites copycat action from other kids, then it needs to dealt with by the club and if they are concerned by it, an announcement made over the tannoy that any further pitch invasions will be deemed to be more serious and might result in banning orders should nip it in the bud. If this particular kid does it again, then he needs to be told in no uncertain terms that he will have to face the possibility of not being able to attend future home matches. That ought to be sufficient to deter him. If it is true that this kid has done this before at away matches and is encouraged by other kids and there is no parent or other adult guardian with him to control and supervise his behaviour, then at his age it seems wrong that his care and safety is treated in such a cavalier fashion. Serious questions would have to be asked as to his family circumstances.

No, think about it; do you remember how low you felt walking away from that reverse against Leeds having experienced the euphoria of having led by three goals until comparitively late in the game? That's precisely what I would like the Leeds fans to feel. Can you imagine the fantastic feeling that the Leeds fans had on their way home from that match? That's how I want us all to feel on the way home from Leeds. I suspect that there was an element of that euphoria at the Norwich match on Tuesday. I bet it felt much better than winning at a canter.

I'd like to feel that there was still a bit of the Saints of old about us, despite our winning streak and ability to score at the death of a game. That old Saints would have us beating the top teams and losing against the minnows. But we aren't the Saints of old now and there has to be some belief that in the current form and with the current resultant confidence boost, we can actually beat them. We should fear no team. Provided that we can play our best team, we have more quality overall than Leeds and Lambert is a few goals ahead of Beckford, but we also have probably a better distribution of goals throughout the team too. Even if they keep Lambert quiet, there is always Connolly, Papa, Lallana, Hammond, etc. Some might label this a shock defeat if we beat them. But recent form would label it as eminently feasible.

I would really relish Leeds being three goals up on us with 15 minutes to go. Then I would be ecstatic for us to score four goals before the end of play. If there is a God, it's not too much to ask for, is it? After all, he's done it once before, just the other way about.

They also like to see their team containing players that are well known too. As they have lost Crouch, Johnson, Mendes, Kranjcar, Diarra, Campbell, Distin, Defoe, etc and replaced them with relative nobodies, then the more plastic of their fans will have no particular reason to continue attending. Yes, they could still see the big names when the big teams come to Krap Nottarf, but those big names that they had last season in their own team are no longer there as an incentive for when the other Premiership minnows are playing them at home.