sadoldgit

Going back a few years...all top birds in their youth 1. Bridget Bardot 2. Raquel Welsh 3. Jane Fonda 4. Helen Mirren 5. Candice Bergen (on the bench, Julie Christie)

Bless you Ottery, you are as mad as a box of frogs! I have been right behind Pardew from the start and have no problem with the new management. I do however see shades of Lowe in Cortese, not a bad thing is some cases by the way. The club has finally turned a corner and with some financial muscle at last is in a postion to move forward. That is a good thing and it makes me happy. What I do worry about is if we don't progress as quickly as some on here would like (expect) I think we could end up with more witch hunts on the horizon, starting with Pardew. That would not be a good thing in my book. We need some continuity and a period of stable management and I hope that people give Pardew the time he needs.

What if he said I want Danns and Ward but Nicola gave him Puncheon and Seagrove instead? I know I harp on about this, but for a club the size of SFC, 10 years in the Prem, a Cup Final and European football was a lot more success than many clubs of our size managed. And I don't think that Lowe tried to be anything to anyone. He did what he thought was best, and didn't seem to worry about the fallout if the fans didn't agree.

10 years? In these days of Instant Success I suspect he will be given this season and up to next Christmas before the knives come out if we are not 1st or 2nd at that point.

Ah, the Alpine school of humour! Nice.

I was talking about being prudent because we seemed to by two cheap players when there were two more established players who would cost more but might have made a bigger inmapct on our season. I did also say that they players we bought could turn out to be great buys, time wil tell (and our best players have often not cost us a lot). I don;t know what went on in the Boardroom at that time, but perhaps Redknapps blowing of £6m and the financil effect of relegation might have had something to do with it? How many teams who get relegated go out and spend millions to try and get back up? Most try and keep their better players and the ones that do do well. We didn't from what I recall.

I was on a very old fashioned forum called the Saints List when the Dark Lord first appeared and he was hated straight away because a) of the reverse takeover and b) he wasn't a "football man." The ruddy cheeks, toff, hockey and duck shooting stuff followed in due course. I am sorry that I have not followed the debate closely, after starting this morning I have had a long day at work and have been flitting back and forth whilst making a particularly yummy turkey curry. Have only had a chance to read the last few comments but will go and read everything later as I am keen to know why we bought who we did and didn't buy who we didn't, if you get my drift. I do also see a lot of Rupert in Nicola (is he a football man by the way?) and can't wait to see how his relationship with the cyber fans pans out if we don't get out of this Godforsaken division anytime in the next couple of seasons. Back to the ruby.....

Play offs, no question. We need to get out of Div 3.

Sad news. I don't think the Echo were wrong to print the story but irrespective of that, it is time to grow up and make up.

You are quite right but I don't agree that the thread was pointless. I think there seem to be a lot of parallels between RL and NC and am interested to see how it plays out (apart from the double standards that are rife here and are worth exploring). I agree that the management at the moment (inc AP) are all doing a good job, no problem there, but we examined our previous CEO in fine detail because he wasn't liked, does it mean this one gets an easy ride because currently he is liked? I also find it funny that the usual suspects (talking of whom, congrats on the new arrival Geoff, please tell me you have called him Rupert George Alpine?) have a pop at me when I talk of past employees but they can drag these people's names through the mud as often as they like and that is perfectly ok??? Oh, and on that subject, one of your favourite past nemsises Alpine is running the London Marathon this Spring for charitity, not bad for a Scottish drunkard eh? Onwards and upwards!

Down the back of the club sofa?

I agree Duncan. I also agree that it is MLs call how much he spends and when. He doesn't have the same financial constraints as Lowe but he still seems to have a close eye on the purse strings and I can't blame him for that.

Really? So we duck out of a deal for a decent proven centre half and sign someone from Exeter who many here slated? Danns or Puncheon or the Scottish fella, which was cheaper? Which one did we sign?

Indded it was. I just wonder, for all the talk of Marcus's wedge and the desire to get us out of the 3rd Divsion, whether some people are slightly underwhelmed about our team? Whenever you look at truly sucessful teams they hae tight defences, forwards who can hold the ball up and score lots of goals, but the main key is the midfield. Do people think that we can compete with the likes of Leeds and Norwich with our current midfield set up? Puncheon might make a difference but he is not the type of player we need to bring in to run midfield. The new regime are obvioulsy ambitious for the club, but not to the extent that they are going to throw money at it willynilly. I know that Delldays for example already thinks we have spent enough to guarentee promotion this year or next. Personally I think we are still short in certain departments and wonder whether some of these "cheaper" options might just come back to haunt us down the line. It will be interesting to see what happens in the transfer market in the summer.

AS much as I can't condone violence...5 who deserve a good slap are... John Terry (what a best mate he is) Harry Redknapp (his arrogance is astounding but it sounds like he will finally be nailed for his financiali irregularities) Amanda Holden (just something about the talentless trout's simpering mush) Posh Spice (smile FFS you stringy talentless tart) Tom Cruise (mind you you would have to extract his head from his ar*e first)

Lights blue touchpaper.......Something to think about. We have recently put in bids for 3 midfielders and chosen the cheapest one. We were recently after two centre halves and pulled out of the bidding for the expensive one when our offer for the cheaper one was accepted. Obviously cost isn't an indicator of whether they will turn out to be the best buys but do you see where this is leading? If a previous CEO (who shall remain nameless) had done this the Board would be in meltdown about penny pinching - not knowing anything about football - not wanting the best players at the club blah blah blah. But Nicola Coretese does it and not a peep. He Who Must Not Be Named fell out with the Echo and it was all down to him. Nicola does it and the Echo are the ones at fault (even though they did nothing wrong in printing a story that was already in the public domain). I hope these players turn out to be a huge success for SFC and only time will tell if the CEO was right to "penny pinch" (but to be honest I still think we are nowhere near the standard of Leeds or Norwich yet) but I have to say that the shadow of financial prudence that was so hated by a former CEO still looms large over the SFC accounts dept and wonder how long it will be before those who are currently creaming their jeans over the fact that we have cash to spend start to see that we are not actually going for the best in many cases, but for the "affordable." Nothing wrong in that and I have always believed that our club should live within its means (not sure what those means are now but you get my drift). No doubt NC will eventually get the same treatment as You Know Who if we do not get promoted in the next 2 seasons, but it is interesting that although they seem to be cut from the same cloth, one is currently a hero and one a zero. Stands well back and awaits fireworks.

That's true Alps, many people here think you are a moaning old git so not at all original as you say..

About as deep as a puddle. To speak to today's generation you need the vocal range of a chimpanzee. Each to their own of course, but if you want to talk about speaking for a generation you would be better of looking at people like The Beatles, The Who, Bob Dylan etc.

John Motson has much to learn.

But the penny doesn't drop. There are still plenty of people on here who think you can buy promotion immediately. As for gelling, some teams gel quickly, some take longer, some don't at all. Again, it is a question of chemistry and if it is not working it is down to the manager to make changes until it does. No amount of money can do that. It is getting the right balance on the pitch and if it were that easy all teams would cancel each other out each week.

Just as well you weren't around when they were building Rome then eh Alps?

Here you go again, equating spend with success. If it was a given and the price was say £3m, wouldn't the clubs that could afford stump up the money and book their place in the CCC? I notice that for all their exta spending power Man City were beaten by their, in comparison, poor neighbours the other night! No bought success there then. All Pardew can do it to put a squad together and get them playing as well as possible, there are NO easy rides. I notice now that his target is to get as close to the play offs as possible this year, not reach them now.

Everything is relative. What we have spent so far added together wouldn't even buy a reserve player in the Premiership. If we ever do get back there the stakes will be raised enormously.

Whatever happened to the idea that the most important person at the club was the manager???

And it has cost them how much??? How much have Villa spent??? It is not what you spend, it is who you buy and what you do with what you have.