sadoldgit

And the response would have been if Lowe had pulled this stunt? NC sounds like a bit of a control freak to me and is certainly not out to make friends. Oh well....

Yep, never got that either. What difference does the water make? You wouldn't wave like and idiot at someone walking down the road who you didn't know from Adam.

How do you know what kind of effort we made to keep those players David? But if their clubs call them back after their loan periods are up there is nothing we can do.

Best not, I seem to remember Minty getting some grief about posting about corner tactics a while back!!!

Can't argue with that!!!

Our problem will come from the teams that just "park the bus." We saw in the World Cup that no matter how good you are, a well organised defence can often frustrate. A lot of teams will be out to put men behind the ball and that is where we fell down last year apart from the odd few games when we just didn't turn up.

Agree about the Plan B. I suppose the hope at the moment is that Plan A works until he can get others in!

So long as we have a team to do a job until a few new players arrive I am sure we will be okay. Better to wait and get who you want so long as those players are out there. So far he has done well with his transfers.

No I don't Alps. The only people who do are at SFC. They did try to sign Tyson so it is not as if they don't have targets and as I say, the summer is not over yet so stil time to bring in new players. As fo Pardew, just watched is interview with the BBC. He said all the right things and looks well up for the season. I just hope he is given the season. There is no doubt that we are not going to walk this league and it will be tough. It may have to be the play offs but that should not been seen a failure. His job is to get us up one way or another. There is no manager out there who could guarantee us straight promotion. Also as for being ratty, why not? He knows what is he trying to do and trying to achieve and it can't be easy having to anser what sometimes are stupid questions right after a disappointing performace. Are you telling me that Ferguson and Wenger never have a pop back at interviewers?

Liked his final comments. Says all the right things and looks up for the season. Bring it on!

Every manager at every club is under pressure, it goes with the job. I think that Pardew showed last year that he could handle pressure and only missed out on a play off place because of the minus 10 points (which seems to be ignored when talking about his efforts last season). More to the point, can Cortese handle to pressure and will he back his manager? It is going to be a tough season and if Pardew goes at Christmas just because we are not well clear of the pack you would have to ask who is likely to come in and make a huge difference. I did exect to see a couple of big signings this summer and whilst they still might arrive, you couldn't say that, so far, Cortese has thrown open his chequebook to ensure a decent promotion push.

I have no idea how Lowe operated on the board but it is usually easier to change things from within rather than p*ss everyone off and be on the outside. If Cortese wants to exercise some influence he might want to become a part of the old boys club first.

Yes you are right. And as you say, if he delivers no one will worry about how he behaves.

Unfortunately with my belly be it stripes or a sash I will still look like a porker!

That's good, two of us then! C'mon you stripes!

No I don't want him coming out and saying what is true and what is not true every 5 minutes, but I would be much happier if I felt that he was 100% behind the manager at the start of the season. As for why we are spending so much time talking about him (apart from the lack of footbal), we have had a steady stream of CEOs who, for various reasons, caused a great deal of debate. It seems now that we have another. But yes, roll on the season!

Of course not and that is not what I am saying. I am saying that he is no more fireproof than anyone else.

You make a number of fair points FC, but if it is irrevelant for him why wasn't it so for the other CEOs, all who came in for a lot of grief through again was a lot of rumour and gossip a lot of the time. I do get the feeling that he is somewhat fireproof and don't see why he should be treated any differently to any of the others.

It never stopped people conjecting about all of the other CEOs. What is so special about Cortese that makes him fireproof and the others not? Through his lack of verbal support for the manager we had a hiatus in the Echo which led to his less than fulsome support in a very odd statement. We know seemingly hve our CEO setting himself up as the Voice of Reason and having a pop at the football league. I think if he wanted to go about the business of getting SFC promoted quitely and without fuss he could.

If there is any truth in the rumour about Cortese personally intervening and telling the announcer not to praise Pardew after the last game of the season, surely that is something that even the likes of Lowe would not have stooped to? Of course it may not be true, but you do get the hint with NC that he is capabale of such a thing.

It is just me that thinks that the Saints should play in red and white stripes then?

Yes Alps it is true that he doesn't go in much for long statements on the OS, but his actions often speak louder than words, and his lack of support for the manager is still very obvious IMHO.

To be fair the same has happened with every other CEO, why should Mr Cortese be treated any differently?

I think what we want is to know that the club is safe in the hands of the people who run it. We have had the Lowe saga raidly followed by the Wilde Bunch saga and I don't think it is too much to ask for a period of stability. If Cortese had come into the club and got on with his job quietly and effectively I doubt if these threads would spring up every day. The reason they do is because of the way Cortese has conducted himself so far. Someone called him Lowe with Money. The insecurity over the team manager's position continues to cause concern at a time when we should be pulling together as a club. What I'd like is a CEO who supports and back his manager and gets on quietly with the job of turning this club around. As for the FL. Cortese has been in football 5 minutes yet he now knows enough to stand alone and preach about the rights and wrongs of how it is run? Hmmm.

So he won the cup did he? I thought that was more down to Pardew, the "excellent manager" who he seems to find so hard to praise in public? Lets not forget about the childish spat with the Echo - and getting rid of the installment plan!