Weston Saint

Thanks BS, showing my age

Just for Wade

With the comment from White that North will be used as an all rounder batting between Crawley and Lumb here is my suggested order for the start of the season Michael Carberry Jimmy Adams John Crawley Marcus North Michael Lumb Nick Pothas Sean Ervine Liam Dawson Dominic Cork Chris Tremlett James Tomlinson Hard luck on Chris Benham but Ervine is likely to take the "all rounder" spot until Dimi returns. If Benham bats well in the seconds he will come into contention for Ervines place when Dimi returns, in my opinion. We are unlikely to see Pietersen early on due to his probable IPL appearances and then straight into the England set up. Looks a strong side

That's sad, you might actually learn something. Frank is not pro Lowe or anti Crouch. He can see through all the crap being dished out and has some reasonable balanced views. Just a bit long winded at times as he acknowledges. Can't fault his passion for SFC though.

There is nothing wrong with Crouch having a new manager ready to come it. At least he can say to the board "JP is just not good enough. He has to go and I have an ideal replacement willing to come in" However JP went and to his disappointment MW was confirmed in that position.

Did she say the terms of the approaches.....I bet not.

Funny that, I will be at turnstile A on Saturday too. What a coincidence!

New one on me, I have not heard anything so far

I have refrained from posting until I knew more. Nothing has changed. Crouch is not coming back. There is no deal on the table. I am unaware there were any "investors" at the stadium on Friday. Take it or leave it! I have no more to say other than what a sorry state of affairs we continue to find ourselves.

Fear of going bust, nothing more. IMHO of course

Must admit after I wrote it I reached for a few beers as well.

Quite possibly, Bill

No, any money will have to go to pay off another tranch of the overdraft

There is no one out there prepared to buy us Bill. Not at present anyway

Just a thought. We all know Saints are in a financial mess and under pressure from the bank to reduce the overdraft still further. Just say Crouch, in return for a say in the future of SLH and knowing Lowes cost cutting is likely to kick in big time after June when many of the big contracts expire, offers a loan of £2m or so interest free with a time limit and review at the end of the season? Just another Wilde thought (see what I did there) is that Michael steps away as Football Chairman and is just a non executive Director leaving Crouch to resume his Football Chairmanship

There could be something in this suggestion of Crouch joining forces.

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ipl2009/content/current/story/387617.html Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff have agreed to pay their counties 10% of their potential earnings from the Indian Premier League, after England's cricketers were cleared to take part in the competition for a three-week window that will rule them out of the start of the English season. The settlement was agreed after negotiations between the Professional Cricketers' Association and the ECB, with Hampshire's chairman, Rod Bransgrove, and Lancashire's Michael Cairns representing the counties of England's two most marketable players. "It's something the players are supportive of," Sean Morris, the chief executive of the PCA, told the Guardian. "One game's absence could net a county a fair bit of money, so commercially it makes sense. The counties would probably prefer it that way round than having a player for one game that he might not have played in anyway." Bransgrove, who has already had dealings with the IPL after agreeing to the release of Dimitri Mascarenhas for last year's competition, described the arrangement as "sensible and adult." If Pietersen was bought at the auction for his projected value of US$1.5 million, his three weeks' work could net his county a sum in the region of £50,000 on a pro-rata basis. That figure could rise for the 2010 season. Lalit Modi told Cricinfo on Friday that he would be expecting a two-year commitment from any player signed by the IPL, and there's still a chance that England may rearrange their summer fixtures to accommodate longer stints in next year's competition. "Broadcasting contracts could make that tricky at the moment, but it's a question of how flexible people can be," said Morris. "It doesn't make sense to have conflicting games between international cricket and the IPL," he added, "so we could reach the stage where England players are available for the whole tournament. Who knows, if that happens, Flintoff could probably part-fund some of the ground redevelopment at Old Trafford by himself."

I doubt Lowe has walked or been pushed Dave. Crouch's reason for being there is not known to me or who invited him. Wilde is Chairman of the Football Club so I would expect the statement to come from him. As to JP's sudden resignation, who knows? Plenty of speculation from both sides but no evidence yet.

I am not going to rise to the bait. You think what you like.

I refer you to Dubai Phil's post earlier on this thread. Forget Glenn Hoddle, it is not going to happen.

I wrote that before a phone call and an email. Nothing further I can add at this stage. I am awaiting further info with interest.

I know Adam Lallana, McGoldrick and James played the first half and they won 2-0 Sending off of one of the opposition came late in the first half when he bought down James. McGoldrick scored both goals with assists from Lallana.

Nick, what was the reason for the game and do you know what team we put out bearing in mind the vitaly important game on Tuesday?

Spot on Phil. Hoddle will not be coming to Southampton as Coach or Manager for the reasons you have stated.

JP went home for the weekend following the Doncaster defeat and no doubt discussed it all with his family. That was followed by a meeting with Lowe where I suspect certain things were said by all including the players and again he would have food for thought. His reflection this week along with the media and fans reaction probably led him to believe that his time was up and he took the honourable step to resign. He may be the only one to come out of this sorry state of affairs with any credit. To answer the question, no I do not see many more changes in the next month or so. Lowe will continue with his plan to stabilize finances assuming the bank give him time.