Guided Missile

Dear Southampton Supporter I am writing to you to outline our plans for Southampton Football Club. I believe that the Club’s previous management team has lost the support and confidence of a wide body of supporters. Moreover, we believe there has been a breakdown in communication between the Football Club and its supporters. The Club’s fortunes, both commercially and on the field of play have also deteriorated. This has come against a backdrop where the previous Boards have failed to raise any new equity investment monies for a period of in excess of 5 years. We believe that if the Saints are to be put back on the road to success, significant changes need to be made to the strategy and operations of the business, in order to revitalise and re-establish Southampton as a Football Club that is genuinely capable of sustained success on and off the field of play. I am pleased to have been able to bring together a management team comprising a blend of exceptional business people; highly committed fans; and experienced football business executives. Together, we share the philosophy and motivation required to “give” the Club back to the City of Southampton and its supporters. This document spells out briefly, as far as we can at this stage, our proposed strategy to achieve a renewed unity of purpose and mutual trust amongst everyone connected with the Club. Our aim is to deliver the success that all supporters and shareholders and indeed all other stakeholders rightly demand and deserve. I summarise briefly below its core components and the philosophy of our approach. • As a priority, we are seeking to establish an open, inclusive and interactive system of communication with our stakeholders The new Board of Southampton Leisure Holdings plc will exercise overall financial and operational control over Southampton Football Club and will be responsible for ensuring that the governance of the Company is both proper and effective. The Directors will be held fully accountable for their actions and will ensure transparency in all of the Company’s dealings. The proposed new Directors will comply fully with their obligations as Directors of a public company which has publicly traded shares. We believe there are several potential new investors who are fans and are genuinely interested to invest in the Club, but who are categorically unwilling to do so while the previous Directors remained in place. We also believe that ownership of the Club should remain widely spread amongst fans. • Our aim is to put at the Football Manager’s disposal the best facilities and resources to enable him to develop a playing squad capable of delivering football success; adoption and implementation of a Football First philosophy. • We do not merely intend to achieve a speedy return to the Premiership. As we explain in this document, our objective is to build the infrastructure, management team and playing squads necessary for sustained football and business success. Such a plan has a substantial cost and without access to the financial and other proprietary business data of the Company, and a thorough analysis of that information, together with a knowledge of the prospects of an appeal against the 10 point deduction next season, it is impractical for us to suggest precisely the level of investment required to achieve our objectives. However, we would propose to keep all shareholders and fans alike fully informed of the results of our analysis once we had completed such a review. • We also discuss in this document the characteristics that single out Southampton Football Club as a family orientated, community-based institution. Within the bounds of sound commercial principles we intend to introduce ticket pricing and related initiatives to recognise these factors. I hope you will agree with our aims to partner with the Club’s supporters to recreate a strong team and commercial business. I believe that the supporters are the lifeblood of the Club and their relationship with us should be a strong, long term and special bond. To this end we will be discussing with supporter representatives how they can be represented at board level. I look forward to sharing with you the success I believe we can bring to Southampton Football Club. Signed Phil Connors

Can you thank Cherry Pip for posting details of the new sponsor that Marc Jackson has organised?

I see that the company he just left had two years from hell, as far as their financials are concerned. Centerprise International lost a total of over £4M in 2006 and 2007. Interestingly, I can't see Stuart Green's name as a director on the 2007 accounts. Maybe there's another Centerprise International, based in Basingstoke....

Bottom right hand corner, without his briefcase....

Many apologies to Marc. I attach below his true blueprint from the Bournemouth website:

Marcs' dream started here, on the Bournemouth Website: Posted 29/9/2008 13:59 Subject: Re: Oh Look an Ice Rink

When Jackson was asked by Meridian TV in April of last year, who was behind his bid for Bournemouth, Jackson responded... 'That is something that really and honestly will never be answered properly and completely.'

Maybe all 4 corners of the map...

It's comforting that Marc Jackson will not countenance any racist behaviour at a football stadium, as this post demonstrates:

It was from the Bournemouth website, so not mine, originally... If anyone wants to read Jacksons' ramblings on this site, read these....

The problem they hit was the guy with the money has run a mile and they're looking for some other patsy to fund their dreams... Mental.....

The Echo is saying he pulled out when he heard there was another bidder, but reinitiated negotiations later. Unfortunately he has since lost one of the members of his consortium and is currently looking for a new "moneyman". This guy is certifiable...

That was in response to the question: "Are there any promising youngsters in your squad?" 5 years ago, as you well know, Pancake....and I think it is pretty accurate, given the circumstances at the time. We had a great youth team with every reason to be excited about the future. It just shows how the club has been f***ed up since, by a number of Chairmen...

Actually, they are. Any Football Club Chairman who makes decisions based on whether they will be popular with the fans is unprofessional (IMO).

I came across this old post from the Saints Forum: Dear God, please don't allow another fan-friendly Chairman into our club and that includes any one from Crouch, McMenemy and Le Tissier. We need a professional....

Your approach to googling user names, in an attempt to determine their real identities is a clever and effective one, Stanley. I googled yours and came up with "tool"...

There may be only one offer on the table for a loss making division one football club, but if that goes out of existence, who's to say that there wouldn't be plenty of buyers for the Stadium. If the City council in the absence of football games, be persuaded to allow 10, rather than 4, concerts every year, I reckon an entertainment venue could work and the stadium would definitely have a value. That value may be more than the offer being tabled for the going concern. You only have to see the success that the Dome (O2 Arena) has become when someone with a bit of business ability comes along to run it...

There is no guarantee that the offer they receive is going to be more than the realised asset value on liquidation. The creditors also have a choice as to whether they accept any sum less than they are owed and in fact, if I was Norwich Union and the offer is much less than £10M for the Stadium, I'd be tempted to lease it out to, say, Southampton City Council for community and entertainment events , for £500K a year.

Sorry about that, Steve. My increasingly bizzarre posts last night were in direct proportion to my Courvoisier intake. Sorry to Clapham, as well...

Total boll ox...

SFC aren't in administration. I can't see, for instance, David McGoldrick's contract costing, let's say, £5,000 a week, being broken, in anticipation of a £1M plus transfer fee. Get real, Clapham. How many f***ing employees of any company that you've been involved in, have been valued under intangible assets????? You haven't got a Scoobie, let's face it....

Don't think that the fact that most people agreeing with you makes it right. Most of the brainless posters on here thought Wilde was the best thing that ever happened to Saints and that includes your bum chum Um Pahars. I get my information on the status of professional footballers from a good mate of mine, an ex-pro. Take it from me, footballers and their contracts are nothing like any employee you have come across. It's like saying "The Artist Formally Known as Prince" was an employee of Sony.

"The court decided that it is a breach of European law for clubs to demand a transfer fee in respect of a player at the end of his contract" I was talking about the players that are currently under contract with SFC who, apparently, are not in administration. For them, the administrator can demand a transfer fee...

You obviously have no idea about the contractual and legal status of professional footballers. They are not employees of the club, FFS. That status is reserved for people that clean the toilets and serve food. They are assets that can be sold in a way that is unlike employees and they are not subject to normal employment rules (ie Tax-free benefit games, etc.) All Barclays has to do is insist that the contracts of players of any value are sold, then they get their money. Norwich Union take possession of the stadium and Jacksons Farm and develop, break up or operate them. End of story...