OldNick

IMO the PL is not the best league in the world, it is a fallacy. it is the best at promoting itself, all down to Sky.

dont forget Exeter fans (never a crowd of those but) in fact their shirt is close to our old one

I don't know the history of shirt design, but I had the impression that the new shirt was similar to the one the club used in its early days and so to mark the 125th anniversary this one was was used in recognition of that. No doubt the traditionalists complained when the stripes were added.Lol As for marketing, it is a major coup by NC. How much to put a sponsor on the old shirt a season 50-100k??? To release a new shirt for a season, in the guise of an anniversary, 15k sales at £25-30k a pop. Fantastic business. By the way i like the new kit and not having a sponsor is worth the loss of stripes IMO. It won't be long until fans will have Tampon/Dog food companies blazed across their chests, as the rush from more clubs to find sponsors in a decreasing market takes hold.

is that right???

I believe the sentences were harsh. Isuspect when the Bournemouth fans come to town and start to big themselves up a lot of Saints fans will think twice about responding and so perhaps it will have served its purpose.

Im not a fan and not a RL hater. I could see what he tried ,but he failed miserably in the end.Im delighted to have a new professional outfit running a business. Southampton Football Club in all the years I have been going (since 1968/69 season) has never been anything else than a cosy gentlemens club for the directors, who fed the majority of fans the 'we love you' mentality so we go and spend more. The embracing of fans, is not because they wish to mix with the sweaty masses but as a way of getting more finance in.

Alps IMO you are wrong. RL was not about power, but making the club a profit/money for its owners/shareholders. He ran the club in the correct way of running business in the real world. Football is not like any other business and the supporters(in general all clubs) in the main don't understand or wish to follow basic rules of budgeting. He tried to run our football club on prudent lines, and if the whole of football did things may have been different. Clubs like our friends down the road ,didn't adhere to prudence but just spent money and in doing so got a modicum of success. RL followed the rules and we got relegated for various reasons. Im sure now after seeing how Pompey have avoided paying their debts RL wishes he's spent like crazy under HR and we would still be in the PL and he could then have reduced our debts when the big money rolled in. We just missed the real fruits of being in the PL.

well you are a mug paying to go and watch the footie when you could climd a tree and watch it from there. The silverspoons party was publicsed as a special event. A place where you could lap up the atmosphere as well as other additions. If it had been done properly it would have been superb, sadly it was a rip off and fans were taken in by NI 's standing as a saints fan, never would he let us down. I do hope you have never booked something and it was not as expected

i assume that it will be seen by the law as no different as trying to open a Swiss account without telling the authorities. It is to my mind tax avoidance. it will be interesting if HR and PS have image rights paid into foreign accounts as well

The Pl will take this on, as they know it potentially will cost them a fortune. I think though the players that are on this scam could hardly be seen as world stars and if he tries to compare Ronaldo etc with the Pompey players he will do well to win that argument.

How about the ex players, and the DJ? How they had touts selling tickets outside even though the event was sold out. Anyway Im trying to forget it, my brother and me had to buy 2 tickets off touts (fellow saints fans,Lol0 for £50 a pop as we couldnt leave our daughters at the 'Party' as planned so they could watch the game on the big screens at the club. it was Soweto without the friendliness

He doesn't have to answer the phone or put his mouth to the mike.He could politely say 'no thanks I'm busy' There is a vanity there and i suspect many on here secretly would be the voice of the fans if given the chance. To be fair to NI i don't think he has stirred this up, but the rumour got out and he had to respond, and he has done in a correct manner, leaving the door open to it being a genuine mistake. I won't be happy if he has been excluded as he has been going to watch us for many years, but there must be a reason for this action.

It may have been an honest mistake. Personally though as soon as I read that he had himself been to the place before and still bigged the event up, he lost his credibility on this subject. It was a disgrace

also on those image rights if they had been paid normally there are NI payments etc due on the total

Since Hutch pointed out the shortfalls in revenue, I have started to believe that without warning they may be liquidated.IMO the moment AA feels he may take a hit he will pull the rug.

I agree with that, although there are a host of others who have added to the saga on here, and of course it is not over as yet

as you are a female leftie married to a Skate i don't think you would know the difference, and anyway there must be a good one in those somewhere

and when the football club was hours from being extinguished, where was the city then?

Stu you of all persons Im surprised at your dewey eyed position.Do you really think the club has looked at the supporters any other way? We have always been lambs to the slaughter. If you ran a business and had lots of people from unelected organisations trying to tell you how to run it, you'd tell them to f right off. It is a business full stop, and as much as I believe it is about my home town club, it is not it is about 22 men kicking a bag of wind and us paying for the privilage to watch.Let NC do it the way he wants and see how we all get to enjoy.If he fails, they will be off as quick as a flash and not look back at the train crash left.

Over the years I have hoped the club would ban me, but they never did and so I still sat through the s### served up

ok ...

is this not being covered in the trust thread Hypo?

and read the first comment, brilliant

Well you are right then Stu, apologies. It will be interesting how this runs. Personally i feel NI is a devoted saints fan, but his commercial activities and the ensueing Silverspoon episode makes me feel he has lost a lot of sympathy from a lot of people who were duped. He of course is not banned but the privilage of the season ticket has been taken away.

I've just recalled Ho's post about us having egg on our faces regarding the Chinese takeover, lol when you think about it there have been some classic posts. The tide is now turning a bit faster it seems, and the egg may well be in my face in the next few weeks after my stance