Wes Tender

I'd be delighted if John stayed here. When we loaned out all of our best firepower last season, he was the one that we should have kept and we might have remained in the Fizzy Pop had we done so. Although unlikely that we could keep him in the third division, I reckon that he'd score a hatful if he did.

That isn't remotely funny.

I think that we ought to wait until Paul Allen resurfaces...

HeHe. Nice one Nick. Perhaps Fry is getting worried at the posts yesterday wondering about how come his namesake at Barclays who pulled the plug on us has ended up as a colleague of his. Perhaps he thinks that it is time to bring matters to a conclusion before any more digging is done. This administration has been strung out for an incredibly long period, time has been wasted on chancers and tyre-kickers, BT has made a shedful of dosh as a result and now if the thing is finalised, everybody will forget all the hassle in their euphoria.

We're fans of a club in league 1 and most of us aren't orgasmic at "a player such as this," whatever that is supposed to mean. Are we supposed to be impressed with a player that 99% of those on here have never heard of before? I'm totally with Pat from Poole on this one and would happily see virtually the entire team replaced by players from this country comprising a blend of older players who have seen it all before at this level and higher and promising ambitious youngsters keen to make a name for themselves. But most important of all, we need a manager experienced in football at this level or above, who knows the league inside out and the type of player who could be effective for us at this level. That person is not Mark Wotte. Regarding your assertion that foreign players will think that isn't Southampton somewhere near Portsmouth, I very much doubt it. I think that you'll find that even the man in the street in many places around the World who is fanatical about English football would know perfectly well about us, having been in the top flight for 27 years until comparitively recently, just as they'd know that even in the Fizzy Pop we were managed by Burley. Granted that most of them wouldn't have any idea who Poortvliet or Wotte were, though.

Anybody else agree that there is something here that isn't quite kosher and that some journos might like to be informed of it in case they want to do some digging?

So do you think that it is worth pointing out to Charles Sale that this Richard Fry then turns up as a partner of the club's administrators?

And the chairman of WH Ireland, coincidentally the former chairman of SFC, now in administration, recommends the same administrators as a great investment tip... In the meantime, any connection of this individual mysteriously disappears from the list of partners on their website.

Phil I managed to find this on my computer by searching the cache. This has the photo of Richard Fry on it. Is this what you are talking about? http://209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:tvJeMwkXB4EJ:www.begbies-traynor.com/richard_fry/29+richard+fry+and+begbies+traynor&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk

So it is rumoured that one of the bidders for the club is an International Finance services company. Doesn't exactly the same thing apply to them, then?

That's not the one I'm talking about. Newcastle were either top, or somewhere near it. We, as usual, were in danger of relegation. Most were starting to file out of the ground, consoling themselves that it was no shame to have held Newcastle to just the one goal advantage. All of a sudden, within 3 or 4 short minutes, some of it into injury time, we had scored three goals by Le Tiss (of course), Shipperley and Flash Gordon Watson, I think it was. If I recall correctly, those last two had only just joined the club a short while before. It was an object lesson to all those who leave the ground early and who kicked themselves for missing a famous victory.

The 6-3 win against ManUre, the 3-1 Victory against Newcastle having been 1-0 down virtually on the 90 minutes, the MLT goal against Arsenal at the Dell last match, the 40+ coaches of fans taken to play Wimbledon in the great escape year with the Kachloul kazoos and the 2003 Cup Final. All golden memories.

I hazzarded the guess that the International Financial services company might be Aviva, for exactly the reason that you have outlined, that they are the holders of our loan on the stadium. As you say, it is probably not them, but they do have some reason for considering it. And if it came to pass, this from Saintalan is just brilliant:- And we're off to see Southampton play A Viva Southampton!

I hope not.

Actually, even if we did have a sell on clause, what is the position with a club in administration?

McLeish is seeking to buy Gareth Bale from Spurs for Birmingham. Any sell on clause when we sold him to Spurs?

Whenever I hear ManUre fans whingeing about their defeats against smaller clubs, there is no finer example than this mauling they got from York. Wouldn't it be nice if we could do that to them from the third division this season? http://www.yorkcityfc.com/history/manua.php

As I said, I'd rather look forward rather than back. The debate as to whether a different result might have been achieved if the problem had been approached differently has been covered ad infinitum and is mostly a matter for conjecture. But it has been established to the satisfaction of most that the circumstances did not dictate that the route taken by Lowe was the only one available. As I said, although we have been right up to the edge of the precipice yesterday, I am feeling a lot more optimistic today that the club will continue in the third division with -10, new owners, new manager, new players. I will be there with my ST hoping that our climb back up the tables will commence then.

But I don't think that the club will go out of existence. I look forward to yesterday being the low point in our existence and that by the end of the week most of us can look towards the future in hope and expectation that we can begin our climb back to where we were 4/5 years ago. The sooner that we can bury the past, the better.

I have made it abundantly clear from many past posts, that I consider that our decline as a football club commenced from the date of the reverse takeover. As my appreciation of when the decline commenced predates yours by several years, how can you possibly say that it is me who needs to wake up from my land of make belief? If anything, it is you who has been living in cloud cuckoo land if you seriously believe that our decline only started with Crouch's siding with Wilde. As for your assessment of last season being mission impossible, yes, of course it was. Farming out our three main strikers, dismissing a competant manager and employing a couple of foreign managers with nil experience of this division, let alone football in England to replace him, playing the youth team in a formation that they were not comfortable with, of course it was mission impossible. Lowe failed to achieve our survival in this division, whereas it is entirely possible that somebody else like Pearson as manager might well have succeeded by taking a more sensible route, but that is as much conjecture as your assertions.

What a bloody drama queen! So presumably, every ManUre plastic in the World is a model of propriety and totally incapable of physical violence. Hypocrite!

What were the disgraceful events of May 2005 that he alluded too?

If you Google Salz's name, you will have chapter and verse on him as arguably the biggest name in legal circles as a corporate lawyer specialising in takeovers of blue chip companies in recent times. He is well respected in legal circles, a heavyweight in that sphere and as such, somebody who would add a great deal of gravitas to the club if he were to become our chairman, especially now that he is semi-retired. Indeed, most blue chip companies would be happy to have somebody of his calibre on their letterheads on their list of directors. As such, he has contacts amongst people of influence in business circles not only in this country, but further afield. He has been a Saints fan for umpteen years and I believe that he is a friend of people like Gavin Davies. Although his career has left him comfortably of, my understanding is that he does not have enough wealth to invest in the club himself, although if somebody who did was looking for a top drawer chairman, Salz would fit the bill admirably. It is from that perspective that his name is connected with the club.

I don't agree. The view taken by most will be that allowances will be made for the fact that whoever does take us over has rescued us from oblivion and would be given extra lattitude as a result. On the other hand, it is entirely reasonable that many would take the view that they would not attend further, should the person who was most responsible for taking us to the edge of the precipice return to run the club.

No, not really. Did his team win the league on his return?