sadoldgit

Still spot on about Wilde though

Great player but I think he has some serious flaws as a manager (as much as I love his post match interviews). Despite his success with Celtic I don't think he was widely loved up there - shame he didn't take the Scotland job, that would have been interesting! If we can keep hold of Pardew I think he could become one of our best managers. We need to give him time though.

Hi Dune, do you know Jonah? I shared a pint or two with him once and can assure you he cares as much about the club as any of us do. He is also not a "Lowe Luvvie" and was not unhappy to see him go. What he did understand though and tried to articulate is that the running of a club like SFC is very difficult and he saw the need for prudence and running a tight ship. Okay, ultimately it failed, but I think we would have been in worse shape quicker if the Board at that time had not kept a tight hand on the reins. It should also be remembered that Jonah was 100% right about Wilde. He understands finance. Many of us here don't have a clue. Sadly football now is a business first and a sport second. And I would second what someone else posted - wouldn't a better question be where is Michael Wilde now???

To be fair I think the demise started whilst WGS was still here. Some of his purchases were not the best and I also think he made some very poor decisions. His team for the Cup Final, for me, showed that he was more concernd with losing than winning and we lost the Cup Final at the previous drubbing at Highbury. Strachan is a good manager. I wouldn't say he was Top Class though. Let's see how he does with Boro. We had a good enough squad to stay up after he left but injuries to key players did not help. Nor did the fact that Redknapp didn't seem at all bothered about keeping us up and for a man known for his nous in the transfer market spent £6m very poorly.

I woulkd have a chuckle if he took over there but can you imagine how it would feel if he turned things round there???

Considering the stick he got when he posted warnings about The Wilde Bunch I really don't blame him.

I don't deny that the two relegations have been very damaging. They have also damaged clubs like Leeds, Charlton and Norwich, none of whom have been run by Lowe. Yes the club was settled. It was also in a hoplelessly outdated ground. To keep a club like ours going in the top flight for 10 years was no mean feat. If Lowe was useless and knew nothing about football why did we not get relegated and go into admin earlier? Every club has it successes and failures ij the tranfer market, it just seems that in our club it is okay to slag one man off for the failures but not give him proase for the successes (which would imply that he does know something about what he is doing). If Delgado had been fit we would have had a World Class striker for a brgain £3m. I seem to remeber McMenemy splashing out £400K for Charlie George (a fortune then) who was actulaly crocked and finisshed at that point - it happens to everyone. You can only judge anyone by their results. If the current owners don't get this club promoted you can bet your life cyber jockeys like Alpine will soon be calling for their heads. But don't you find it interesting that Lowe is pilloried about supposedly knowing nothing about football or running a football club yet the Alpine's of this worls have not raised a peep about the fact that neither ML or NC know anything about it either? Same old double standards. Still, as many of you would say, they won't be told.

"Liitle sheep"??? You are a strange person Ottery. The whole point about the Lowe debate is that he was not as bad as you and others would have us believe. !0 years of Prem football, a taste of European football again and a Cup Final proved that he hasn't been a total failure. To keep a club like us competitive on crowds of 15k was no mean feat whilst at the Dell. When we went down we had a decent squad, many of who are still playing Premiership football. Loew made some mistake with his managers but also brought in people like Strachan. For someone who didn't know anything about football he turned down a request from Strchan for a certain keeper and suggested Niemi instead...not bad for someone who didn't have a clue. As for knowing anything about football, what previous experience do our new owners have Ottery? If you had bothered to read any of Jonah's posts you would have seen that he wasn't one of Lowe' so called foot soldiers. All he was trying to do was to point out that Lowe had a tough job keeping the club afloat and competitive within the boundaries of the budget and was trying to redress the very one sided debate on here. Your post shows that you have learned nothing and are still harbouring some pretty silly prejudices. Yes Lowe made mistakes, yes he is probably not a very nice fellow (have you met NC by the way?) but to try and pretend that his time as SFC was a total disaster is nonsense. You are the loiterer Ottery. Still pedling your tired and flawd old agenda. Lowe has gone. We have new owners. Get over it mate and move on. If they can provide us with 10 years of Prem football and a Cup Final as Lowe did I will be well chuffed. Baaaa

Whilst things have improved enormously at SFC things are stil pretty much the same here. We win a number of games and all of a sudden were are certs for the plays offs. Lose a game and it is doom and gloom again from the Usual Suspects. Pradew had one a fantastic job so far but we still have a long way to go. A few months ago we were hoping to avoid another relegation scrap and now we are complaining because our push for the play offs have stalled slightly. I read that one long term supporter i not hapopy because we are not looking like workd beaters every time we play? Go figure. After what has happened to the club a mid table finish this season would be no mean achievement but you get the feeling if we don't make the play offs the knives will be out again.

Personally I would b very worried if the management changed their plans for the January transfer window based on one football match and one defeat. Pardew is bot stupid and the changes he has in mind will not have changed based one one football match.

Proactive. Surely if you are active you don't need to pro?

2 to suggest a poll about the best light bulbs that we have used and and 3 to suggest a poll for the worst. 1 to slag off the use of drunken Scottish lightbulbs.

Chocolate oranges

Merry Christmas one and all! And at last we can look forward to the New Year with reasons to be optomistic about the future!

There are a number of teams who have had similar bumpy rides over the last decade and we were never going to be immune to the possibility of relegation. I expect the other fans of teams languishing in the third tier of football are saying the same. Just goes to show that you can take nothing for granted!

Had a wry chuckle at that bit about looking at rugby union, he obviously was unaware of the stick a certain Knight of the Realm got when trying to switch sports!!!

The whole point was that he was being judged way too early. A reasonable amount of time would have been to give him to Christmas and if that had happened rather than that silly its not if we sack him but when thread only a few weeks into his tenure I am sure the fanbase would have been more than happy with his management.

I don't get the whole feeling the need to come out thing. Why do peope think that other people have a right to know about what they do with other people? Frankly I'd rather people kept their private life private. Why does this guy suddenly feel the need to tell us all about it? is it because his career is coming to an end and he thinks this will raise his profile and open the door to other jobs? Is it because he really cares about people in sport who are troubled about their sexuality? Hmmm. I can understand why some people might struggle with telling friends and family...but the whole world? Why go there? Who really cares nowdays?

And you yours Alpine.

Ah, bless you Alps. I am a grown man with three kids and stopped having a "dream team" as you so quaintly put it, when I was about 14 years old. If you had actually bothered to read any of my posts I am sure you would have seen that I am actually very supportive of the new regime and am more than happy with the people running the club. I would like to think that any Saints supporter/fan would be suppotive of all at the club because (as I have said before) if the management structure are successful then SFC is successful. What gets me is the level of double standards on here or the way that people are pilloried by some at the drop of a hat - just in the way I supposed that alleged drunken Scottish people wind you up. As for stimulating a debate that does not exist, I think that you will find that it does exist at the point someone responds to it. Anyway, as you are obviously going to continue to find ways of dragging previous employees into debates which do not exist (even though you join the non-existant debates) I shall do myself and the other posters here a favour and put you on ignore in 2010. Merry Christmas one and all (yes even you you Alpine "Scrooge" Saint)

Oh dear Alpine, you STILL don't get it do you? And for you to call any other fan sad takes the biscuit as the most negative poster once again in 2009. Never mind. "Clueless Scottish soak"??? LOL You are priceless Alpine. Sorry to hear that you have been unwell but good to see you back to your normal self again.

What difference does it make if he is gay or not? Isn't that the point. Do you feel the need to discuss your sexuality for tens of thousands of strangers?

So what? Why in nearly 2010 do we still feel the need to define people by what they do with the private parts? Or not as the case might be?