Wes Tender

We could change the wording to read Rank Outsiders.

Agreed. I seem to recall reading somewhere too that the tree represented the dell (a small wooded valley) that used to be on that site. Somebody like Duncan needs to confirm that and make an amendment to the information on Wikepedia. Now that we are no longer at the Dell, perhaps we can drop the tree, as I see little relevance for connecting us to the New Forest

It is early days yet to decide how we might end up, but then again, of course it is also too early to make a statement saying that the action taken was moronic and unjustified. We will have to wait and see what transpires. But as far as I'm concerned, provided that money is invested into getting us back to the Premiership, ridding us of the PLC, putting an end to the internecine warfare amongst the egos of the charlatans, then the end might well justify the means.

That rather depends what you are selling in them. There are plenty of out of town shopping places already in the area and the Town Council behaved entirely reasonably in turning down a shopping development which would have been in direct competition to those in the town. It was hardly surprising, was it? Lowe tried to call their bluff, thinking that they would cave in if he threatened to withdraw. They held firm and he did not have humility to have taken the loss of face, so it collapsed. Arguably, had we had those revenue streams I mentioned, we would have probably survived financially and even in the administration situation, we could have argued that the holding company was also the hotel, restaurants, bowling, ice rink, etc and not just the club.

It doesn't matter how many times one tries to correct misinformation, there is still somebody who is not cognizant of the facts and tries to perpetuate myths. Things that would have been allowed by Eastleigh Borough council: 4* Hotel, Night Club, Planet Hollywood / Hard Rock Cafe type restaurant, Bowling alley, Ice Rink, large Sports shop. These would also help attract people to the sports stadium complex that was also planned for the site. Things that would never be allowed for reasons that they would kill off the town centre: Multiplex cinema (already had one planned for the Swan Centre) Retail development the size of the Chandlers Ford Asda just one mile away from the town. There. Is that clear enough?

Can you restructure that sentence so that it makes sense?

The academy already exists and it is entirely up to the new owner how he proceeds with it. It existed pre-Lowe too. We had been in the Premiership already for many years before Lowe got us relegated, not once, but twice. I hope that the new owner doesn't try and emulate Lowe's record turnover of managers, once that he has appointed his own choice of replacement for Wotte, that is. The new stadium also already exists, although it wasn't the one that we should have had, the former incumbent of the chairmanship having provided a shining example of how to **** off the local authorities while making planning applications. I'm sure that being a much more successful businessman than Lowe, he doesn't need any lessons on financial prudence, not that Lowe was an example of that. What other idiot would have ditched a competant manager and replaced him with others who had not the first idea of football in this country or at this level? What other idiot would have charged Premiership ticket prices to watch the kids who were free to watch the year before? What other idiot would feel that quantity was preferable to quality, or could believe that you could pay peanuts and not get monkeys? What other idiot could antagonise and alienate his customers and still expect them to attend regardless? Nineteen: I will be expecting to see you paying heed to your own advice, or else you would be open to accusations of hypocrisy, wouldn't you?

Where did he say that the Dell was bigger than Krap Nottarf? Regarding the aspect of which club was more successful, that needs to be qualified by adding "in living memory" Apart from recently, I have never consciously known Portsmouth to be successful and I am 60 this month. So fair enough to say that most fans of either club cannot remember the last time that Pompey were really successful, apart from a short stint back in the top flight under Alan Ball.

Ah! How distant is that memory and it's only 6 years ago. And look what has come about since. If the new people can undo the damage of those last 6 years and put us back to that stage in another 6 years, I'll be very content.

Don't listen to St. Columb Saint.

Just one bit of advice from me. Use the model of the Lowe years as the perfect example of how not to do things.

Common knowledge to everybody else. I accept that somethings take a little longer to penetrate your cranium, so will make allowances. Yes, the stadium was built under Lowe's chairmanship, but as Beatlesaint correctly states, only when Lowe had f*cked up Stoneham and had to be saved like a drowning man clutching at straws by Southampton City Council. Had they not intervened to save his bacon, we would still be at the Dell. Mind you, he had anticipated that scenario and under the circumstances we now find ourselves, he would have been quite happy about it. Happily, instead of the Dell and Lowe, we have St. Marys and hopefully people who have decent investment to put into the club, instead of taking money out.

Comparisons with what Newcastle fans think of either Shearer or Keegan are completely wide of the mark, as both had stints as manager and came unstuck. The comparison with Quinn at Sunderland is much closer to being on the money, except that Le Tiss was much more loved because he was a one club man and had been more instrumental as an individual in keeping us up time after time. Tying himself in with this bid just increases his standing with the fans, but even if things don't turn out well with them, he won't be blamed for getting involved, as most will see that he has once again stood up to be counted when things appeared bleak for the club he loves.

374

A fair enough assessment, apart from attendances, accepting that there were factors beyond our control which affected the figures. Ever since Premiership stadia had to become all-seater, we were hampered by having a smaller stadium than you at just 15300 or so.

I'm sure that there was a boycott, although many who adopted that position might not have come on here and broadcasted the fact. Therefore it is difficult to assess either way, but it will be interesting to see whether the number of STs increases over last season or whether matchday attendances increase too. If that does come to pass, it will be instructive, as we are in a lower division, so numbers would be expected to fall.

That depends on whether you mean Eastleigh Borough, or Eastleigh Town. The Borough has many lovely places in it, such as Hamble, Hedge End, West End, Botley, Chandlers Ford, etc. There are pretty country parks, good infrastructure for jobs, proximity to Winchester and Southampton, its Airport, the Rose Bowl and tennis centre, Fleming Park Sports centre, etc. Even Eastleigh town isn't too bad nowadays.

I have lived in both places and so am therefore qualified to express an opinion. Have you? My mother still loves in Southsea and I visit Portsmouth often to see her and to visit clients of my business, several of whom are in Portsmouth and the immediate surrounding areas. I probably know both areas better than most people from a perspective spanning nearly 60 years. If you reckon that we have anything quite so dire as Paulsgrove and Leigh Park, it is you who is delusional. I am not talking about just shops, or about specific things, but about the quality of life that embraces all of those aspects, including the surrounding hinterland, crime levels, infrastrucure, local education, community facilities, everything. I'll reiterate; take away Southsea and Old Portsmouth and the rest of your little island is a complete hole.

I don't get it and in my opinion you don't get it either. So why don't we just draw a line under the whole thing and move on? With luck, everybody that has been associated with our demise in the past is now history, so what's the point in bickering about it now? What's done is done, we are where we are. But I for one am optimistic for our future. Without knowing it for a fact, I feel confident that our new owner will have a better understanding of what makes a successful company, simple principles of listening to your customers, not abusing them or taking their support for granted. I trust to my judgement that if Matt Le Tissier has embraced this new guy (metaphorically), he is probably an OK guy. As you are fond of quoting others when you believe that those quotes can express your thoughts better than you could, here is something that sums it up for me and hope that it is what our new owner might be thinking:- "I take up my task in buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men. I feel entitled at this juncture, at this time, to claim the aid of all and to say, "Come then, let us go forward together with our united strength."

Thanks for putting forward good reasons why attendance numbers were down, Nick. But according to some, our demise was the fault of those who ceased attending because of those reasons, not the fault of the people responsible for those policies. All I know is that had we still had Lowe in charge this season, there is no way that I would be going to any games this season, whereas I'm going to be back next season with two STs, buying merchandise and generally giving as much support as I can to the new people.

As Frank says, the thread was deliberately antagonistic and has therefore provoked reaction. So either you welcome the debate yourself, no matter who is posting, or you should avoid reading all the stuff on a thread that you have indicated you do not enjoy reading. A bit ironic, isn't it?

Whereas naturally I'm sorry for some of the creditors who lost money when the club went into administration, I'm entirely happy that those members of the old board and those that they brought in via the reverse takeover have lost their shares. I'm also having quite a gloat at those like you, who have suffered the loss of their god Lowe and who are trying to place the blame for his demise on the shoulders of anybody they can lash out at, when the majority of the blame rests on Lowe's own shoulders. Once again, you state that those 5000 stayaways caused our demise, never once admitting that the reasons mostly had something to do with Lowe, either because of the relegation, the stupid experiment, playing the kids, charging Premiership prices in the second division, loaning out the best strikers, etc. I had hoped that unity amongst fans might be restored now that the old regimes are gone, but people like you prove that they get their jollies from trolling around these forums deliberately being antagonistic. You criticise Stanley for exactly the same things that you are yourself guilty of, therefore you are a hypocrite. Well, if you wish to continue crossing swords with me, I'll continue relishing the prospect of showing up you up as being far less intelligent than you like to think you are.

I don't really care about any of this any longer since the events of the past few days. It was only to be expected that various of the blue few would come on here to have a good gloat at how they were in the process of attracting their fourth money man while we went seemingly towards bankruptcy. But now we seem to have attracted our own takeover finally by somebody with a few spare bob to spend on us, I'm not too concerned at what goes on down the road. As it stands at the moment, both deals could go belly up. But as far as I'm concerned, there is far more likelihood that in the medium term, the Skates buyer is the more likely one to lose interest in them, compared to our new owner. It's all very well him thinking that he can build a new stadium and increase attendances to make it all more financially viable to what it is at the moment, but if we progress upwards ourselves, he will not be taking fans away from us and what would his feelings towards the city be if the local council veto his stadium or other development plans? And anyway, aside from the comparisons between the two clubs, it remains a fact that it is still a far better proposition living in Southampton when one compares quality of life in the two places. The best view of Portsmouth still remains the one from your rear view mirror

Swansea have been playing high stakes poker, trying to see who blinks first. When it looked a few days ago that we might go into liquidation, they were hoping to get Dyer for nothing. Now, because they delayed, it is us who have the strong hand, as we do not have to sell him if things go ahead with the takeover. We should play hardball with Swansea and if they really value him, then they will have to pay a fair price for him, not some knock down bargain basement sum that they think that we will be forced to accept through expedience. Otherwise, I wouldn't be averse to seeing him go, as personally I believe that he should have been offloaded as soon as he dipped his sticky little fingers into that handbag, but otherwise we don't want players who don't want to be here.