once_bitterne

Incorrect. Someone saying there were a representative of Allen contacted the club. At one of the fan's forums, one of the Wilde bunch, can't remember if it was Doos, Hoolywotsit or Hone confirmed that when they investigated further it was found that this person was not a representative of Allen.

Forecast has sat on the bench for Spurs in the PL but is not good enough to sit on the bench for us in L1? Ok then.... It's funny how you can speak with sure confidence about his ability as it's certain you have never seen him play. But then the same can be said for all of our players eh Manic D?

Still makes me giggle that there are a few fans who think there was any truth in the Allen rumour!

Jimmy's vehicle registration is CUE BOY. hth.

From how he has run the club so far it doesn't look like Cortese holds much stock in giving priviledges to those connected with supporters groups/internet message boards so, as you say, I would assume it would be unlikely.

Surely all fans shouldn't be allowed to just turn up to watch training?

We are worth the sqaure root and f uck all. We are a third tier football club with L1 TV revenues and a high level of outgoings. Despite what some of the board's resident nutcases state, we are running at a hefty loss. The only people who would want to buy us would be another billionaire looking for a play thing.

Is it tho? I pointed out last week that we have different types of fans. Dave Benson Phillips was kind enough to post numerous times since then supporting this view. As a football club we have many fans who are, funnily enough, fans of football. What that fan wants is to see the team winning football games (stick with me, I know this is breathtaking stuff). Football fans want to see the team do well and get promoted back to the Prem. For this section of fans Cortese has been an amazing success. From a team managed by the Dutch duo and comprised of kids and poor journeymen, look what he has done. Top striker in the league the season before last, signed him. Top striker at Xmas in the L1, signed him. One of the top CBs from a division above us, signed him. Premier League calibre manager who was managing in an FA Cup final only a few years back, signed him. We went to Wembley, won a Cup and have to be regarded as one of the favs to go up this season. For football fans Cortese gets an A+. However.... there are also what I called the social fans. The arrive late (drunk) and leave early brigade who love an afternoon drinking with their mates but couldn't identify a decent LB if kicked up the a rse by one. For this group of fans Cortese has done very little in fact he could be seen to be actively discouraging them from attending. Most Socials aren't of the highest income so the removal of the payment plan hit them hard. Also the short notice of the pre-season tour really hit their plans for a Summer's drinking in Switzerland. To be honest, I can see little that Cortese has done for our Social fans. So, as I said, the fact the concentrating on the football side of things and less on placating the Socials could

Well I can think of a billion or two reasons. I love the naivety of out fanbase in thinking the chairman of a football club which is a multi-million pound business should be a nice cuddly, fan friendly person. If you really are hankering after someone who does little but constantly blows smoke up the collective ring pieces of fans then best bet is to dust off the Saints Fans Go Wilde t-shirts. As I've said a few times, I would assume that Cortese thinks a high % of our fanbase are utter morons. Just like Lowe did. And no doubt just as Glazer, Abramovich, Levy and the rest do of their club's fans. The fact that Cortese is annoying the sort of fans that he is seems to be, could well be indicative that he is doing all the right things.

He's been released but the club said a while back that he could use the club facilities to get fit and take part in pre-season training so I think it's fair to assume if that goes ok he will be offered a 12 month deal.

That was it. Given that he was on here posting about players taking Medicals before their signings was announced it's no surprise that Cortese wanted a change in the clubs doctor.

Or MLG even.

Wasn't the club doctor the Dad of someone who posts on here? MLT?!

It looks like Cortese took being booed at Wembley badly.

All these signings? What are you expecting? We already have the strongest squad in the league. Our squad was far too bloated last season which is why we have let a lot of players who didn't play go. We will probably add one or two more players but no more than that. Certainly not enough for your to trot out your yearly depressive thread about not having time to 'gel'. I think you worry about things too much.

I quite shocked at the amount of vitriol being aimed at Cortese (and really do hope he remains unaware of it) given the immense progress the club have made in 12 months in which he has been Chairman of the club. To go from where we were this time last season to where we are now is a great achievement and one that, without Mawhinny’s 15 point deduction, could have already meant us being in the CCC. But then it suddenly dawned on me! Most golf clubs provide some called a Social Membership. This means the member can enjoy all the social aspects of the club without actually having to venture out on the course itself. There is a parallel to this at SFC. A large proportion of our fans are football fans, we love the game, love to discuss football and love seeing the team we support do well. To us Cortese has been a total success, we won something like 10 home games in a row last season and went to Wembley and saw the team lift a Cup, not bad for the first season in charge. However, we also have a second, albeit smaller, group of fans who could be called Social Fans. These fans who attend games solely for the social aspect. For them it’s all about turning up with their mates, having a laugh and in most cases getting drunk. They tend to arrive at the game late, leave for half time early, arrive for the second half late and leave the game early. They have little or no interest in what is going on on the pitch, it’s all about having a few beers with their mates and hurling abuse at the opposition fans. Funnily enough most of our ‘Social’ fans seem to take s quiet pleasure in when there is any crowd trouble in and around the game. For our Social fans, Cortese has not been a success at all. He has made it more difficult for them to sit together by removing the payment plan, and if they can’t go with their mates there is little point in going to matches at all as football holds about as much interest to them as it does for Dale Winton. Cortese also refused to give them notice of the pre-season tour as many socials wanted spend their Summer hols following the club around Europe (tho in fairness would almost certainly been too drunk to actually attend any games) I would assume the same Social fan behaviour has existed for the World Cup. The Social fans will be at the pub cheering on England with their mates but I would strongly assume that, if at home on their own, they would have rather watched a repeat of an episode of Columbo than one of the lunchtime kickoffs. It does seem that Cortese is indeed actively trying to discourage these Social fans. TBH, as a football fan I really don’t have any problem with this at all. It was asked somewhere on this thread to list all the positive PR things that Cortese has done. Well my list would be: Appoint a Prem level Manager even though a L1 club Sign the top goal scorer from the season before last Sign the top scorer in L1 at Christmas last season. Sign one of the best defenders in the CCC even tho a L1 club Win a high % of home games last season Go to Wembley Win a Cup Not a bad list for 12 months in the job. However, I do admit, that there is little there for the social fan….

P.s I would imagine somewhere in the village of Withington a certain R. Lowe is chuckling away to himself....

It certainly is unbelievable.... We almost didn't have a club last year but now fans call the new Chairman a **** for not giving enough notice of pre season games! If you had forgotten the owner has taken us from Admin to having the strongest squad in the League, oh yeah we went to Wembley and won a Cup too. I find it amazing that what some fans think most important in their football club is good channels of communication and brilliant PR. Call me old fashioned nut I don't give a crap about those things and instead prefer to judge how things are going on the pitch.

Nah, I've only got eyes for my favourite retarded half-wit Stupid Romsey Saint. I can't stand all you posh double-barrelled types. xx

Still waiting for a reply re: the Pre-season tour then Stooey?

Did I miss Stu changing his name by deed poll to Dave Benson Phillips?

Did he thank the Lord for helping shoot the PK? Oh well, back to the LA Dairy Crunch or whatever the f'k they're called. Maybe the Yanks should have added Freddie Adu to the squad. Lol.

Fries....

It's even better now!

I don't beleive clubs have to accept their game being choose. For. ? In which case Cortese must be happy with the money Sky are paying SFC.