If not lowe....

[Wade Garrett]

I'm not a fan of Rupert Lowe particularly. Agonisingly for him most of his cheerleaders on here also do him more harm than good.

 

BUT:

 

1. The behaviour of the last board was utterly comedic (although also tragic for fans). I have absolutely no idea how Crouch, Wilde etc. have made so much money in their professional careers. As far as Saints were concerned, they couldn't manage a calculator. The balance sheet - on player wages alone - last year is just horrific.

 

2. This may be (just) excusable - as a desperate gamble - if we had, for example, lost the play off final at Wembley on penalties. The truth was we struggled to stay in the division at all and our fate was out of our own hands on the final day. The money spent to results achieved was utterly appalling.

 

3. The financial position of the club - if not promoted - must have been obvious to a Key Stage I semi-competent 11 year old maths student. Yet there was no indication that the board realised this, even when promotion was a logical impossibility.

 

4. The Crouch-led board apparently had no Plan B. In event of relegation to the third tier (which they nearly presided over) the culling would have been even worse. But the only way to keep the show on the road was to start selling every asset that moved and quite a few that didn't. To suggest otherwise is eitehr fantasy or living int he past or both.

 

5. The suggestions that the club was about to be taken over by some billionaire were utterly laughable. It's not as if we JUST failed to be bought out by Paul Allen, there was never any serious interest on his part to buy the club. Or in the other various other absurd fantasies doing the rounds. There is some evidence to suggest that the previous board either fell for this schoolboy nonsense or used it for PR reasons to deflect from reality. That's dishonest, incompetent or both.

 

6. In normal circumstances, there just isn't going to be much "new" money in football for a while. We can all dream that some Russian oligarch or Abu Dhabi sheik is suddenly going to decide to through a billion in our direction for a bit of a giggle, but in the absence of such an intervention, we need to know where we are.

 

7. Fans don't have to make the tough financial choices. So often we will argue to push the envelope (example: the argument that we must sign Richard Wright if we possibly can, but now all singing about having the best keeper in the division). The truth is that we don't really know the size of the envelope or its "pushability". I count myself into this category.

 

8. Southampton FC - along with the overwhelming majority of football clubs in England - is a tiny enterprise. Haven't checked the lastest share prices, but I'm guessing the whole gig can be bought for about £10m. Maybe £20m to be sure and build in a buffer. This is nickel and dime stuff in business terms.

 

9. This makes a buyout by well-organised fans eminently possible. Probably not the case for the big Premiership clubs, but very easy for the smaller clubs. For Saints, it requires c.10,000 people to invest £1000 each. Or c. 2,000 to invest £5,000 each. This shouldn't be a big ask.

 

10. But it is a big ask. For all the talk about fans wanting to have a stake in things, not wanting to be treated as "consumers" etc when it actually comes to it, we want to witness the success of our club while others shoulder/manage the financial cost and risk.

 

Because of points 1 - 6, Leon Crouch should not be allowed to return in any serious organisational capacity. Because of points 7 - 10, there is no serious current alternative to Lowe as Chairman.

 

Wilde put in the board of Hone and his mates. Crouch was kicked out by them. Crouch came back in the aftermath of the excesses of Wilde's appointed board. He appointed a decent manager (not before time, admittedly), and backed him with loan players - off setting the cost by loaning out Rasiak and Skacel. He also signed Davies who was sold on for more money.

 

It's a bit much to blame Crouch for our problems. But he is a convenient scapegoat for Lowe and Wilde to blame.

 

Also knocking the fans for not actually buying the club is bullsh*t.

[Saint Bones]

Also knocking the fans for not actually buying the club is bullsh*t.

 

 

But are not the stay away fans some 10 thousand strong ?

 

Surely if they even returned for one away match - or outside a home match to prove to the board what was missing >?

[Snowballs2]

What on earth are you talking about

 

 

Live in the real world if we have no money we may well get relegated but on the other hand we may not.

 

Nothing is certain except three teams will be relegated this season that are the rules

 

 

You guys are playing the same game that the Ostrich does when it buries its head in the sand.

According to you there is no other option, had you have read the many, many postings on here as you should have done, many many alternatives have been given that you have chosen to ignore.

[Snowballs2]

Get real the stuff happening at SFC is happening elsewhere

as well Football Clubs go up and down.

 

We do have a reasonable plan for the future and there is stability except for a rabble saying Lowe out for no sensible or intelligent reason

 

Wilde and Lowe are not involved at Charlton and they are in a worse position than us

 

 

People are saying Lowe / Wilde out because they royally screwed up last time. You do not let a covicted person loose in the bank of england ! It may be a poor analogy but you know what I mean

[Window Cleaner]

People are saying Lowe / Wilde out because they royally screwed up last time. You do not let a covicted person loose in the bank of england ! It may be a poor analogy but you know what I mean

 

Yep see what you mean. Anway football club management without significant funding is always a no-win process;

 

If you don't spend you're phoqued because you don't get any results and

if you do spend you're phoqued because you don't get any results;

Unless you have access to unlimited cash (or unlimited debt in our era) you're

always reliant on a bunch of often lazy assed,inconsistent,overpaid and I've stacks of cash so I'm alright and phuck you mate footballers who may or may not perform as required.Better to underpay them and lose than overpay them and still lose;