once_bitterne

btw, is that the Ghost of Marian Pahars on Page 8?

What a difference a few months make! During the Summer it was looking certain that Staplewood would have to be sold!

Land of the Free? LMFAO!

If we're lucky...

And now we are not?

I rest my case.....

I'm sorry that you didn't go to the Cup final or that you have never set foot in SMS!

Anyone who didn't think Lowe was the anti-Christ was labelled a PR plant by some on here. Personally I am happy to have a rich owner to subsidise the club to run at a loss rather than having a club that had to balance the books. It puts us on a level playing field with the likes of Wigan, Reading, Fulham, etc. However, I am also grateful to Lowe for what he achieved here into dragging a club that modern day football was passing by, into the 21st century. Personally I think if things had carried on the way they were in the 90s before Lowe (ie. year after year of relegation battles even with one of the greatest players in the land in the team) then we would have got relegated far sooner than we did. We certainly would of have a far worse chance of finding a buyer if we were still at the Dell.

Given that whatever the romanticists say there is a 0% chance that any L1 team is going to win the Cup, then all I hope is that when we do get knocked out it is in a way that doesn't affect morale to an extent it has an impact on League form. Yes getting beaten by 5 or 6 at OT might do that but losing at home to non-league Luton would do it more! Hopefully we can through this round and then if we go out in the 4th or 5th round to a team from a higher league then it will be no bad thing, esp if we put up a decent performance and don't get embarrassed. (and hopefully it won't be on tv so we can keep Lalanna and maybe even Lambert away from too many prying eyes!)

The odds are stacked against us but we really do need to get promoted this season. For all the feelgood factor that we have I wouldn't be too confident that we could keep Lalanna, Lambert or even Pardew for another season in the third flight.

In fairness we used to bring out DVDs whenever we beat a big club(or Spurs). For a Prem club that was just as sad as what Brighton are doing....

For two teams in the same city it would be fine, but can't see how it would be anywhere near workable for teams in two different cities. The success stories like Milan and Munich also work only because 2 teams are sharing a new stadium so no one of the teams could say the stadium was more 'thiers' than the other. For what you are proposing to have any chance of being feasible it would have to be in a new 50k stadium situation somwhere between them and us. What you are detailing is an owner, renter arrangement as happened with Palace and their tenant Wimbledon FC. The meagure financial income of getting a Portsmouth lodger would be far outweighed by the costs of policing their fans coming to Southampton and then having to repair most of the seating in the stadium every other week. However, it would make perfect sense for Everton and Liverpool to share a Merseyside stadium as they are in the same city, both are potless and both are playing in old stadiums that cannot sustain modern day football. I was shocked this season to look at just how run down Anfield has become. The electronic scoreboard looks as if it was made by the same people who did the one at Kenilworth Road!

I have not the faintest idea what facts exist to back that statement up! We are certainly in a far better place than we have been before as we no longer have to run the club in a way that will at least break even but I can see many owners who have done far more for their clubs (and therefore in your words must be 'better') than ML. He inherited a club with a great infrastructure, ground, etc. Yes he has paid big wages, for this League, to get the likes of Lambert, Connelly and Hammond but there are far more than 5% of owners who have done much more for their clubs. Just look at the likes of Whelan at Wigan, Madjeski at Reading, Gartside at Bolton, Jack Walker at Blackburn, Al Fayed at Fulham and even Mandaric at Portsmouth. And that's only just talking about medium sized clubs like us, I'm sure Spurs, Man City and Chelsea aren't wishing they had ML instead of Lewis, Sheikh Mansour or Abramovich. ML has done a fine job taking over a club that was in a bad way but to say he is 'better' than 95% of other football club owners is getting just a little bit over-excited....

Wouldn't we? I can't think of much worse than playing in an 80k stadium when the max attendance (even in the Prem) would be around 35k.

Can't we sign Ward and let them have Trotters?

I didn't understand the target amount. £5,000.00, £5,000,000 or somewhere in between?

Who was the last L1 player to be signed by a Prem team? I wouldn't imagine it has happened all that often.... If Lallana does want to go move on then it doesn't matter how much rhetoric Cortese has spouted, he will still end up being sold. The fact that we don't need the money now is neither here nor there. We didn't have to sell Bridge for the money, he left cos he wanted to leave. It's not that Cortese hasn't explained things clearly enough to the fans it's that some of us aren't gullible to take everything said by football Chairman at face value as most of it is just good old PR. I daresay those getting all excited about Cortese's words about not being a selling club anymore were the same ones who were dribbling all over Wilde's legendary Manifesto.

Paul Merton doesn't seem thick at all on Have I Got News For You....

I can't see Thomas leaving, esp if we lose Trotman. We would have no reason to want to move him on and I really can't see anyone coming in for him. Lallana is doing ok at this level but struggled in the CCC, given this and the fact that Prem teams rarely buy from L1, I can't see him leaving either. Bart could well go, no great loss, Forecast is equally as good/bad.

It's nothing new for us. We must be the only CCC team to spend £8m+ in a season on new players but only limp into the playoffs (and only do that as Preston could only manage 1 win in their last 10) and fall at the first hurdle!

As manager?

Forget relegation?

Hah, Hah, good one. £ for £ the worst player I have ever seen at Saints. £750k for a CB who couldn't head the ball and had the physical presence of an 80 year old Grannie. Of all the dross that Gormless George pi ssed away £8m on he stands out as the worst buy. And before anyone says he was a half decent midfield player, that's a bit like buying a car and saying that although it doesn't run it can be used as an adequete bottle opener... If Burley had a purchased a decent CB we really might have got promoted that year. The fact that some god-awful Portugese bloke has the indignity to wear the name of the greatest player ever to lace them up on his shirt still grates with me. I'm sure he will do well at Falkirk [reserves].

Far too slow.... Needs Wotton to cover his lack of pace. Bring back Thomas!

Maybe it's 442? Are we missing Wotton protecting the back 4?