sadoldgit

Whatever The Mail says, Cortese will ultimately succeed or fail. If he succeeds no one here will care if he is a "buffoon" or not. If he fails he will get the usual grief from the disgrunted fan base and Samuel will no doubt be saying, "I told you so." Time will tell.

Because I don't? Can you grasp that simple concept? Do you know exactly what went on with Sturrock? Even he seemed to admit that he should go. Feel free to tell us about all of the times he came out in print and slagged off (or failed to support) his managers. If money guarantees success why haven't teams like Tottenham won anything for ages? They have spent a fortune. How much have Man City spent this season? Hardly Barcelona are they? How much did Roy Keane spend at Ipswich earlier this season? £8m. Where are they? It is not how much you spend, it is who you buy. As I keep trying to get through to you, our best players over the years have not been our most expensive. Doesn't that say anything to you? Probably not because you just seem hung up on cash. You like Cortese because he is the same kind kind of knee jerk reactionary that you are. No doubt he went to the same charm school too. Perhaps you woul like to tell us exactly how much it costs to get promotion from Div 3? Then all we have to do is to tell Mr Cortese what he needs to fork out to guarantee automatic promotion next season.

"The passengers are paying for the Management machismo" Who exactly have withdrawn their labour? The Management? The business is there to make money. By making money they can pass some of that on to their staff. If their staff do not work the business does not make money. They will not be able to pay their staff. They will lose business and will need less staff. Dos this really mean anything to the Unite Top Dogs who have a political agenda? Doubtful.

Precious little support either. I agree that calling him a buffoon was a bit strong, but then we have had CEOs who have been called far worse!

I don't think I have ever heard him saying anything complementary about Pardew and our season. Let's face it, it has been our best season for years. Yes of course any team can always do better and I am sure every one of us who would rather be higher up the league, but there is no corrrelation between spending money and a higher league place and that is what NC doesn't seem to grasp. It is going to take time and he would do well to back his manager in public, even if he might have words behind closed doors. For all of LOwe's faluts he did not hang his managers out to dry (and he had a few!). He took te attitude that it was better that people had a pop at him and left the manager alone. I get the impression with Nicola in that he is making damn sure from day 1 that no flak goes his way!

I think he got the essence just right. It is the about the money. We were on our knees and Pardew is rebuidling. If you look at the stats we have had a good season so far given the starting point but no mention of that at all by Cortese. Cortese speaks like the sort o disgruntled fan on a website who thinks that because he spend some cash you should automatically win matches. As we all know, it doesn't actually work like that. Fair play to Samuel for backing up Pardew. Something that his boss seems unable to bring himself to do.

For Christ sake just move on and enjoy the season can't you??? The past is just that, past. Several people conspired to leave us in this mess but they are no longer here. We won again. And were are going to Wembley on Sunday. Enjoy!

That sounded very tongue in cheek to me!

He actually writes in praise of Pardew and our season so far doesn't he?

Doesn't seem unreasonable at all. Pardew has done a good job so far and Cortese doesn't see that. Cortese, like Lowe, is not a football man and speaks like a businessman expecting an instant return on his investment. That is his right of course but really he should shut up, stay in the background and support his manager. Good article from someone I don't usually care to read.

Its is like a time warp back to the 70's. Unite have obviously learnt nohting from the coal miners and print unions (where are they now?). BA are out to win at all costs and they will. It is chilling to hear Unite officials crow about how much this strike is costing BA. Where do they think this money will come from? Yep, more cuts to staff and wages. It is very sad to see so many people put their faith into a bunch of dinosaurs. The days when the Union Barons called the shots died out years ago.

Next season we will start with the same points total as everyone else. We shall (hopefully) have a stable management structure and team which, again hopefully, will be strengthened in the summer. We shal be more savvy of this division and well prepared for the campain. All of these were not true going into this season. No matter what happens for the remaining games we have had the best season in years. The club is looking forwards with optimisim. Why some people are still not satisfied with our progress beggers belief.

What the f*** is it to you you c*cks*cking tw*t

Let's see what he has to say if we don't make it shall we?

Critisism is fine as long as it is reasonable. Some here think it is reasonable to threaten violence to people at the club they don't like which I would say was unreasonable. Also talking of sacking a new manager after a few games is unreasonable. McMenemy ued to get stick but I don't recall many wanting him sacked. Now it is the quick fix answer - managers have to deliver instant success or a proportion of the fanbase want them out of the door.

Do we know for sure that Cortese reviews, listens and makes a decison? Lowe might have thought he knew best but he backed down when others didn't support him over Hoddle didn't he? I also understand that he consulated others about certain decisons, like talking to WGS about Luggy before he hired him. Like most things in life, few things are as clear cut as they might seem. Personally I don't see much difference between the two of them but it is early days yet. As for Alpine, perhaps you should have a word with him? I don't think I am the only poster on here who is fed up with his constant negativity and abusive posts.

I have been supporting Saints since 1966 and there hasn't been a season under any manager when we haven't dropped points when we "shouldn't have." As has been said, it happens to every team. Given Norwich;s form I am sure they didn't expect to lose at home to us and so convincingly. When we were promoted under Lawrie Mac you could argue that she "sould have" gone up as Champs. We "should have" beaten Spurs in the last match at The DEll but contived to draw the game with Tony Funnell missing a sitter. I think it is fair to say that we are easily one of the top 6 teams in this league. What we have lacked is consistency but since Pardew has been able to bring more of his own players in that has improved a great deal. Only one league defeat this year and it is nearly April. That is something to be very pleased about rather than fretting about the odd poor result. If Cortese puts his hand in his (sorry MLs) pocket again in the summer there is no reason to think that we won't be serious contenders next season, but we will not win every game.

I am in the same camp as Alpine (for a change). I won't miss all the hype surrounding a player who really isn't as great as the hype says he is. Just IMHO but I doubt if Beckham would ever have made it into a world's best starting X1 and I can think of at least 2 Saints players that I wuld have in my team ahead of him - MLT and David Armstrong. Because neither was as "pretty" neither got the same level of attention. But both could deliver as well as, if not better and more consistantly than Beckham. Fortunately we are yet to go down the road of American football where we wheel someone who is good at kicking of the bench to erm, kick a ball once or twice. Players earn an awful lot of money nowdays (even the not so pretty ones) and I don't think it is too much to expect a midfield player to have pace, passing ability, a good motor, heading ability and a decent scoring record. Of those Beckham only has the passing ability. Are you telling me that any player making the England squad will not be able to pass a ball or take a decent free kick? It removes the circus and will open the door for the younger players who we shall need to progress for the future. I won't miss the commentators creaming themslves over the odd Beckham pass that he hets right either. When Lampard or Gerrard deliver they don't say a word because as we all know, only Beckham can provide the killer ball. Its a bit like Heskey, we are told all about what he brings to the game...well what about what he doesn't bring i.e. goals? You have to weigh up what Beckhma brings to the table against what he doesn't bring. So we replace him with someone with a decent pass and all the other attributes that Beckham either doesn't have any more, or never had, and bingo! Thanks for all you have done David (and for taking Posh out of the marriage market) but it is time to look forward now and move on. All this for someone who was probably going to be a bench warmer in the summer.

I don't think he needs the grief!!

Pardew out!

The new comdey means not being funny. There are several non funny comedians currently making a career out of not making people laugh.

At least it will end the arguement about whether he should be in the squad or not. It doesn't say much for the younger, quicker players that we have to have someone whose main job it is to take set pieces on the bench. Once upon a time a player who wasn't first choice for his club was not likely to be picked for the squad. Even without this injury Beckham was coming to the end of his career. We have taken too many fringe players in squads before. This time we need to take people who are fit, have pace and can play 90 mins. Beckham was a good player but never agreat player. Great players have all round ability. It might be a bit churlish to say that Beckham only made his name by taking free kicks - but when you look at players like Pele and Maradona Beckham doesn't come close.

Awesome. Many congratulations Herbie, you are a true gent.

Technically still yes but it is a big ask. We have to win and lots of other teams have to lose. Can't see it happening but there is still at least hope. Not the end of the world if we don't make it this year though. Hopefully we shall be stonger next season and in a better place to compete the season after if we do go up.

Reports? I guess we are getting spin from both sides. But what we can be sure about is that Unite are going to strike and this plays right into management hands as it will effectively give them a mandate to crush the union and everything they have ever fought for a start again.