God the people on this forum are ridiculous...

[Dibden Purlieu Saint]

At the beginning of the season, and even when Pearson was here, it was a widely held belief that with our financial issues we would be happy to stay up this year. Now call me a stickler for facts, but I seem to believe that if the season ended now we would stay up. Maybe I'm wrong...

 

It seems after yesterdays game people have completely over-reacted. We lost to Burnley, who are a very good championship side, located a long way from Southampton. I think people still reckon we should be challenging. People need to realise that we are currently a low end Championship side. That's it. And considering the players that we're having to play I think we're actually not doing too shabbily.

 

People are always looking to blame someone. We do live in a blame society. Something goes wrong, someone is to blame. Things happen in cycles (look at Global warming).

 

All I really have to say on the matter is: -

 

Get over it, ffs. Support your club.

 

(Cue loads of people blaming Lowe for everything, yawn.)

 

Ps. I don't want him here, but he's our best option.

[Red and White Army]

Hear hear DPS

[Delmary]

At the beginning of the season, and even when Pearson was here, it was a widely held belief that with our financial issues we would be happy to stay up this year. Now call me a stickler for facts, but I seem to believe that if the season ended now we would stay up. Maybe I'm wrong...

 

It seems after yesterdays game people have completely over-reacted. We lost to Burnley, who are a very good championship side, located a long way from Southampton. I think people still reckon we should be challenging. People need to realise that we are currently a low end Championship side. That's it. And considering the players that we're having to play I think we're actually not doing too shabbily.

 

People are always looking to blame someone. We do live in a blame society. Something goes wrong, someone is to blame. Things happen in cycles (look at Global warming).

 

All I really have to say on the matter is: -

 

Get over it, ffs. Support your club.

 

(Cue loads of people blaming Lowe for everything, yawn.)

 

Ps. I don't want him here, but he's our best option.

 

That's your view. IMHO he's our worst option.

[Red and White Army]

The good news is the negativity on this forum is in no way indicative of the wider fanbase. With the move to this new forum, it seems the only regular posters left are the same tired old Crouch pillowbiters.... their endless negativity has driven many good posters away.

[Dibden Purlieu Saint]

At the beginning of the season, and even when Pearson was here, it was a widely held belief that with our financial issues we would be happy to stay up this year. Now call me a stickler for facts, but I seem to believe that if the season ended now we would stay up. Maybe I'm wrong...

 

It seems after yesterdays game people have completely over-reacted. We lost to Burnley, who are a very good championship side, located a long way from Southampton. I think people still reckon we should be challenging. People need to realise that we are currently a low end Championship side. That's it. And considering the players that we're having to play I think we're actually not doing too shabbily.

 

People are always looking to blame someone. We do live in a blame society. Something goes wrong, someone is to blame. Things happen in cycles (look at Global warming).

 

All I really have to say on the matter is: -

 

Get over it, ffs. Support your club.

 

(Cue loads of people blaming Lowe for everything, yawn.)

 

Ps. I don't want him here, but he's our best option.[/quote]

 

That's your view. IMHO he's our worst option.

 

And that's fair enough. But can someone please come up with a viable alternative.

 

I didn't want this to get into another Lowe debate, I want it to be a debate about the fact that people have moved their expectations just to make this Lowe/Poortvliet combo lose. This is the position people expected and to a certain extent agreed to 6 months ago. Yet now it's not good enough.

[aintforever]

The good news is the negativity on this forum is in no way indicative of the wider fanbase. With the move to this new forum, it seems the only regular posters left are the same tired old Crouch pillowbiters.... their endless negativity has driven many good posters away.

 

IMO the wider fanbase is less optimistic and way more anti Lowe than this forum.

[Delmary]

The good news is the negativity on this forum is in no way indicative of the wider fanbase. With the move to this new forum, it seems the only regular posters left are the same tired old Crouch pillowbiters.... their endless negativity has driven many good posters away.

:smt039

[saint_stevo]

but we are crap, and concede goals like nobody's business and JP continues with a formation that doesnt work away from home (or at home by the looks of it, worst start in 80yrs and all.....)

 

Hardly going to get us singing from the rafters eh

[Dibden Purlieu Saint]

The good news is the negativity on this forum is in no way indicative of the wider fanbase. With the move to this new forum, it seems the only regular posters left are the same tired old Crouch pillowbiters.... their endless negativity has driven many good posters away.

 

Agreed.

[Dibden Purlieu Saint]

but we are crap, and concede goals like nobody's business and JP continues with a formation that doesnt work away from home (or at home by the looks of it, worst start in 80yrs and all.....)

 

Hardly going to get us singing from the rafters eh

 

The formation does work away from home.

 

The biggest issue is with going to 4-4-2 we need 2 strikers. We don't even have 1 striker at the moment, yet we have more decent midfielders.

[Delmary]

The good news is the negativity on this forum is in no way indicative of the wider fanbase. With the move to this new forum, it seems the only regular posters left are the same tired old Crouch pillowbiters.... their endless negativity has driven many good posters away.

Go and post elsewhere if you're not happy.

[aintforever]

 

And that's fair enough. But can someone please come up with a viable alternative.

 

I didn't want this to get into another Lowe debate, I want it to be a debate about the fact that people have moved their expectations just to make this Lowe/Poortvliet combo lose. This is the position people expected and to a certain extent agreed to 6 months ago. Yet now it's not good enough.

 

I think we all agree that there is no real alternative to Lowe at the moment, that doesn't mean we have to agree with his crazy Dutch total football experiments.

[Thedelldays]

The formation does work away from home.

 

The biggest issue is with going to 4-4-2 we need 2 strikers. We don't even have 1 striker at the moment, yet we have more decent midfielders.

 

 

mcgoldrougt

BWP

paterson

robertson

peckhart

 

that is five strikers

 

rasiak

john

saganowski

all out on loan...

 

we should be doing better than the crap we show with the odd freak result and good 45 mins of football thrown in...

[Dibden Purlieu Saint]

 

I think we all agree that there is no real alternative to Lowe at the moment, that doesn't mean we have to agree with his crazy Dutch total football experiments.

 

But why is everyone so disappointed when this is what we thought would happen this season? It seems to me people had unrealistic expectations of this season and that cannot be blamed on anyone but the person themselves.

[Dibden Purlieu Saint]

mcgoldrougt

BWP

paterson

robertson

peckhart

 

that is five strikers

 

rasiak

john

saganowski

all out on loan...

 

we should be doing better than the crap we show with the odd freak result and good 45 mins of football thrown in...

 

mcgoldrougt

BWP

paterson

robertson

peckhart

 

And they're all ****, I wouldn't call them strikers they are that bad.

 

The rest we can't afford, so that's by the by.

[MongoNeil]

I completely agree with your sentiment on this one and was going to post something similar myself. The way I see it, our two objectives for this season were to avoid administration and avoid relegation. Neither of these can be judged until the end of the season but as you rightly say if the season ended now we would have achieved both.

 

What I find frustrating though (and no doubt others do to) is that whilst we can play utter shyte in the first half of a match we can completely turn it around in the second. If we played somewhere near our best for a full 90 minutes, we would be considerably higher up the league than we are now. Admittedly, every team's entitled to an 'off-day' but the only thing consistent about us, is our inconsistency!

 

Neil.

[Dibden Purlieu Saint]

I completely agree with your sentiment on this one and was going to post something similar myself. The way I see it, our two objectives for this season were to avoid administration and avoid relegation. Neither of these can be judged until the end of the season but as you rightly say if the season ended now we would have achieved both.

 

What I find frustrating though (and no doubt others do to) is that whilst we can play utter shyte in the first half of a match we can completely turn it around in the second. If we played somewhere near our best for a full 90 minutes, we would be considerably higher up the league than we are now. Admittedly, every team's entitled to an 'off-day' but the only thing consistent about us, is our inconsistency!

 

Neil.

 

Agreed, we are inconsistent, but they're kids, that's one of the dangers with playing youngsters. All we need is a few breaks or one of our 'strikers' to go on a run and I honestly feel we'll be alright.

 

All we need is to have a bit of confidence in front of goal and we'd be alright.

[TopGun]

The problem is we seem to be shell shocked very easily at the start of a game and that's getting worse so our season could get worse.

 

Hard getting to grips with the opposition after conceding two or more early goals.

[Delmary]

 

I think we all agree that there is no real alternative to Lowe at the moment, that doesn't mean we have to agree with his crazy Dutch total football experiments.

Well I don't agree. There are plenty of capable and experienced CEOs within the football industry that could easily replace Rupert. The 'there are no real alternatives to Lowe argument' is a myth and does not wash with me.

[St. Jason]

At the beginning of the season, and even when Pearson was here, it was a widely held belief that with our financial issues we would be happy to stay up this year. Now call me a stickler for facts, but I seem to believe that if the season ended now we would stay up. Maybe I'm wrong...

 

It seems after yesterdays game people have completely over-reacted. We lost to Burnley, who are a very good championship side, located a long way from Southampton. I think people still reckon we should be challenging. People need to realise that we are currently a low end Championship side. That's it. And considering the players that we're having to play I think we're actually not doing too shabbily.

 

People are always looking to blame someone. We do live in a blame society. Something goes wrong, someone is to blame. Things happen in cycles (look at Global warming).

 

All I really have to say on the matter is: -

 

Get over it, ffs. Support your club.

 

(Cue loads of people blaming Lowe for everything, yawn.)

 

Ps. I don't want him here, but he's our best option.

 

I can only speak for myself (wish others would try this) but i for one had no thoughts of "just avoiding relegation" for this season under Pearson and Crouch. As i've said before, i felt there was a genuine feeling of unity and positivity for this year under pearson. I did however change my mind and was filled with negativity as soon as Lowe came back and appointed Portaloo!

[aintforever]

 

But why is everyone so disappointed when this is what we thought would happen this season? It seems to me people had unrealistic expectations of this season and that cannot be blamed on anyone but the person themselves.

 

I think a decent manager could have this side comfortably mid-table, we have some good players, many of whom could walk into some other Championship sides. Poortvliet looks like he's going to get us relegated IMO.

[Dibden Purlieu Saint]

Well I don't agree. There are plenty of capable and experienced CEOs within the football industry that could easily replace Rupert. The 'there are no real alternatives to Lowe argument' is a myth and does not wash with me.

 

Then suggest someone. Give me a name.

[Dibden Purlieu Saint]

I can only speak for myself (wish others would try this) but i for one had no thoughts of "just avoiding relegation" for this season under Pearson and Crouch. As i've said before, i felt there was a genuine feeling of unity and positivity for this year under pearson. I did however change my mind and was filled with negativity as soon as Lowe came back and appointed Portaloo!

 

What is all this with Pearson, honestly. The football we played under Pearson was the worst I've seen whilst watching Southampton, and that was with a much more experienced and highly paid team. It was awful.

 

If you were filled with negativity when Lowe came back then I take it you're not disappointed about our position and are happy about where we are.

[N/West Saint]

At the beginning of the season, and even when Pearson was here, it was a widely held belief that with our financial issues we would be happy to stay up this year. Now call me a stickler for facts, but I seem to believe that if the season ended now we would stay up. Maybe I'm wrong...

 

It seems after yesterdays game people have completely over-reacted. We lost to Burnley, who are a very good championship side, located a long way from Southampton. I think people still reckon we should be challenging. People need to realise that we are currently a low end Championship side. That's it. And considering the players that we're having to play I think we're actually not doing too shabbily.

 

People are always looking to blame someone. We do live in a blame society. Something goes wrong, someone is to blame. Things happen in cycles (look at Global warming).

 

All I really have to say on the matter is: -

 

Get over it, ffs. Support your club.

 

(Cue loads of people blaming Lowe for everything, yawn.)

 

Ps. I don't want him here, but he's our best option.

 

I agree with all of that. Well said

[Delmary]

 

Then suggest someone. Give me a name.

Do you know how many current or ex football MDs or CEOs are out there? Let me tell you! There are hundreds of them. Some poor and some very good

 

At the top of the tree, John Williams. He's a Saints fan. At the other end of the scale Paul Aldridge. That's too easy starters for you.

Edited 14 December, 2008 by Delmary

[gjphilsaint]

of course we are all entitled to our own opinions and for what it is worth I think I am living through the serious decline in Southampton Football Club and they way it has been run over the last few years suggest that it is either going out of business or likely to languish in the lower leagues maybe for a long long time... personally i think the situation we are now in could have been avoided many times and each opportunity.. wasted...all of course IMHO!!!!

[miserableoldgit]

At the beginning of the season, and even when Pearson was here, it was a widely held belief that with our financial issues we would be happy to stay up this year. Now call me a stickler for facts, but I seem to believe that if the season ended now we would stay up. Maybe I'm wrong...

 

It seems after yesterdays game people have completely over-reacted. We lost to Burnley, who are a very good championship side, located a long way from Southampton. I think people still reckon we should be challenging. People need to realise that we are currently a low end Championship side. That's it. And considering the players that we're having to play I think we're actually not doing too shabbily.

 

People are always looking to blame someone. We do live in a blame society. Something goes wrong, someone is to blame. Things happen in cycles (look at Global warming).

 

All I really have to say on the matter is: -

 

Get over it, ffs. Support your club.

 

(Cue loads of people blaming Lowe for everything, yawn.)

 

Ps. I don't want him here, but he's our best option.

 

Sadly, the fact is that the season does not end now - there is another half-season to go. 50% of the season gone and one home win. I am, strangely, reasonably happy with our away form. If the four away wins are repeated in the second half of the season, giving us eight, I would be ecstatic. However, if the home form is repeated.............:(

[Gorgiesaint]

That's your view. IMHO he's our worst option.

 

In reality at the moment, he's the ONLY option (IMHO). Lets review that when you find someone to buy him & Wilde out.

 

Apart from that agree with what DPS said.

[derry]

The blame has to be stated. The team is picked and it's two wingers are a vital component.

 

We try a number of players in the wide right postion whose view of themselves is central. Instead of playing for the team in the selected position, both McGoldrick and Lallana come inside and play narrow.

 

It is the fundamental problem for the team, yet the stupid idiots, both management and players can't see it.

 

We hear all sorts of excuses but it is obvious they are groping in the dark and don't know what is going wrong. The above may not look so important, but it is the one major reason for a lot of our problems. We are totally left sided and have no right side attack or defence and this is being exploited time and time again.

 

Defence:- The wide man is the first line of defence. Picks up the attacking fullback, tracks back and helps out the defence.

 

Midfield:- The two widemen out on the touchline are the main option for counter attack, if one isn't there it funnels our attack left, alternatively another player has to run 30 yds to get there. Whilst he is doing that the opponents are getting goal side, again we are attacking a massed defence.

 

Even worse we start to play the ball sideways and backwards in front of the reformed defence and are going nowhere, eventually lose the ball and are murdered by a quick counter attack, invariably down our open right, that sucks the remaining defenders across and how many times this season have we conceded goals outnumbered on the far post.

 

Attack:- On the right with the wide man gone missing, we can't counter attack quickly enough to get behind the defence. We only cross from in front of the defence which is most of the time easily dealt with.

 

The fact that the other attackers don't bother making forward runs is because they don't expect us to get behind the defence.

 

When we do get down the left the right wide man is always sucked in on the near post and no one is available to attack the deeper cross on the far post.

 

I could go on, however unless the wide men play on the line, out to in, we are going to underperform.

[St. Jason]

What is all this with Pearson, honestly. The football we played under Pearson was the worst I've seen whilst watching Southampton, and that was with a much more experienced and highly paid team. It was awful.

 

If you were filled with negativity when Lowe came back then I take it you're not disappointed about our position and are happy about where we are.

 

In your opinion it was crap. For me I looked at it this way, we had a manger who took over a side in free fall, a side devoid of any confidence, a side which had just been knocked out of the cup, a side which had been mis-managed by a drunk (rumour) for 18 months! Our new manager had no pre-season, had no settling in time (people keep saying we can't judge poratloo yet as he's only had 6 months yet you can judge Pearson on 3 months) the only players he could get in were loan signings who had to come in and do an instant job. Pearson's remit for last year was to keep us up, which he did. Pearson has a good record working with youth, he's worked with Newcastle youth (prem) West Brom youth (prem) England U21, he gave Gillet and Llanna a chance last year and i feel he could of blended the youth with some seasoned pro's this year to.

 

Yes I am disappointed with things this year, surely as a fan we would all want to be in a better position than this, surely everyone would want to win more than 1 home game out of 11, surely everyone is leaving SMS disappointed???

 

Just because i knew it was going sh!t doesn't mean i can't be p!ssed of with things, does it? I feel if Lowe had of stuck with Pearson or appointed his own man, yet someone with English experience this team could be doing better, just give me 4-4-2 at home, please!

[Daren W]

Threads like this are well and good but when your club is..

 

Facing administration

Winning one game at home by Christmas

4th from bottom of the Championship

Made up from youth team players and loanees

Have a manager with no English experience what so ever

Have two chairmen who are probably two of the most disliked people ever to be associated with the club

Have no visible way out of the quagmire that is Championship football

 

at what stage do we stop being miserable and pessimistic? At what point are we allowed to feel in any way shape or form, optimistic about this club?

 

It just seems to me that there are far too many people on here moaning about negative fans than actually looking at why this club is faltering and failing. "It's down to poor attendances, it's down to whinging fans..."

 

No it's not..

It's down to:

 

A chairman that thought he could run the club on the cheap and whose meddling and interfering were major factors in our getting relegated

Another chairman who created chaos by usurping the above chairman when he didn't have a plan A let alone a plan B and spent most of his time avoiding tax in Jersey

A manager in Redknapp who just didn't care

A manager in Burley who just couldn't cope

and a manger in Poortvliet who has no experience in English football and just doesn't know how to grind out results in this tough, mean league..

 

It's not down to fans being negative or staying away from St marys, They're the symptom. There are people on here who seem to think the symptom's more important than the cause.

No wonder we're in such disarray...

[Saint In Exile]

The blame has to be stated. The team is picked and it's two wingers are a vital component.

 

We try a number of players in the wide right postion whose view of themselves is central. Instead of playing for the team in the selected position, both McGoldrick and Lallana come inside and play narrow.

 

It is the fundamental problem for the team, yet the stupid idiots, both management and players can't see it.

 

We hear all sorts of excuses but it is obvious they are groping in the dark and don't know what is going wrong. The above may not look so important, but it is the one major reason for a lot of our problems. We are totally left sided and have no right side attack or defence and this is being exploited time and time again.

 

Defence:- The wide man is the first line of defence. Picks up the attacking fullback, tracks back and helps out the defence.

 

Midfield:- The two widemen out on the touchline are the main option for counter attack, if one isn't there it funnels our attack left, alternatively another player has to run 30 yds to get there. Whilst he is doing that the opponents are getting goal side, again we are attacking a massed defence.

 

Even worse we start to play the ball sideways and backwards in front of the reformed defence and are going nowhere, eventually lose the ball and are murdered by a quick counter attack, invariably down our open right, that sucks the remaining defenders across and how many times this season have we conceded goals outnumbered on the far post.

 

Attack:- On the right with the wide man gone missing, we can't counter attack quickly enough to get behind the defence. We only cross from in front of the defence which is most of the time easily dealt with.

 

The fact that the other attackers don't bother making forward runs is because they don't expect us to get behind the defence.

 

When we do get down the left the right wide man is always sucked in on the near post and no one is available to attack the deeper cross on the far post.

 

I could go on, however unless the wide men play on the line, out to in, we are going to underperform.

 

Give that man the job!!

[Dibden Purlieu Saint]

The blame has to be stated. The team is picked and it's two wingers are a vital component.

 

We try a number of players in the wide right postion whose view of themselves is central. Instead of playing for the team in the selected position, both McGoldrick and Lallana come inside and play narrow.

 

It is the fundamental problem for the team, yet the stupid idiots, both management and players can't see it.

 

We hear all sorts of excuses but it is obvious they are groping in the dark and don't know what is going wrong. The above may not look so important, but it is the one major reason for a lot of our problems. We are totally left sided and have no right side attack or defence and this is being exploited time and time again.

 

Defence:- The wide man is the first line of defence. Picks up the attacking fullback, tracks back and helps out the defence.

 

Midfield:- The two widemen out on the touchline are the main option for counter attack, if one isn't there it funnels our attack left, alternatively another player has to run 30 yds to get there. Whilst he is doing that the opponents are getting goal side, again we are attacking a massed defence.

 

Even worse we start to play the ball sideways and backwards in front of the reformed defence and are going nowhere, eventually lose the ball and are murdered by a quick counter attack, invariably down our open right, that sucks the remaining defenders across and how many times this season have we conceded goals outnumbered on the far post.

 

Attack:- On the right with the wide man gone missing, we can't counter attack quickly enough to get behind the defence. We only cross from in front of the defence which is most of the time easily dealt with.

 

The fact that the other attackers don't bother making forward runs is because they don't expect us to get behind the defence.

 

When we do get down the left the right wide man is always sucked in on the near post and no one is available to attack the deeper cross on the far post.

 

I could go on, however unless the wide men play on the line, out to in, we are going to underperform.

 

Which is why we need Holmes back cos at least he hugs that touchline.

[miserableoldgit]

Threads like this are well and good but when your club is..

 

Facing administration

Winning one game at home by Christmas

4th from bottom of the Championship

Made up from youth team players and loanees

Have a manager with no English experience what so ever

Have two chairmen who are probably two of the most disliked people ever to be associated with the club

Have no visible way out of the quagmire that is Championship football

 

at what stage do we stop being miserable and pessimistic? At what point are we allowed to feel in any way shape or form, optimistic about this club?

 

It just seems to me that there are far too many people on here moaning about negative fans than actually looking at why this club is faltering and failing. "It's down to poor attendances, it's down to whinging fans..."

 

No it's not..

It's down to:

 

A chairman that thought he could run the club on the cheap and whose meddling and interfering were major factors in our getting relegated

Another chairman who created chaos by usurping the above chairman when he didn't have a plan A let alone a plan B and spent most of his time avoiding tax in Jersey

A manager in Redknapp who just didn't care

A manager in Burley who just couldn't cope

and a manger in Poortvliet who has no experience in English football and just doesn't know how to grind out results in this tough, mean league..

 

It's not down to fans being negative or staying away from St marys, They're the symptom. There are people on here who seem to think the symptom's more important than the cause.

No wonder we're in such disarray...

 

Spot On!

[Delmary]

In reality at the moment, he's the ONLY option (IMHO). Lets review that when you find someone to buy him & Wilde out.

 

Apart from that agree with what DPS said.

You don't have to be a shareholder/owner to be a footbal MD or CEO. There aren't many major shareholders/owners in CEO/MD roles in the Premiership. Most owners only occupy the non-executive chairman seat.

[Gorgiesaint]

You don't have to be a shareholder/owner to be a footbal MD or CEO. There aren't many major shareholders/owners in CEO/MD roles in the Premiership. Most owners only occupy the non-executive chairman seat.

 

No, but you do have to pay them. Of course, we've got pots of money so that will be no problem.

[monkadill]

I am a positive person and on the whole don’t like the negativity. But a fact that we have to respect is that SFC was only a Premiership side a few seasons ago, had top flight status and played some good football against the likes of Newcastle, Man utd etc. The WGS era is still fresh in a lot of fans minds. So the point is some fans find the adjustment to the levels of football we play and the state of the club hard to accept and long for the days when we had a Club we were proud off. Don’t get me wrong im sure we are all proud but its not easy to hold your head up and be proud of the state of the club.

So the negativity is borne out of are predicament.

For the record im 100% behind the team and will support Jan, hoping the formula off a winning side appears soon.

 

As for Lowe – if he has to balance the books to stop the club from going under, then we have to accept this. Hopefully the rumours of his involvement in the team are wrong.

[St. Jason]

No, but you do have to pay them. Of course, we've got pots of money so that will be no problem.

 

Why's that a problem, we're paying Lowe and Cowen! The only one not to take a penny out of SFC was Crouch!

[Delmary]

No, but you do have to pay them. Of course, we've got pots of money so that will be no problem.

Heard of the term disinvest to invest:rolleyes: Thought not!

[Delmary]

Why's that a problem, we're paying Lowe and Cowen! The only one not to take a penny out of SFC was Crouch!

St.Jason, It's the same weak argument that's being doing the rounds since May 08.

[derry]

Which is why we need Holmes back cos at least he hugs that touchline.

 

If these players knew they would be slaughtered by the manager on the spot, then left to ponder in the reserves until they knew it was obligatory to play where they are told, they wouldn't play like this.

 

When a 20 year old player is consulted about the selected team to see what he thinks, it is taking things too far.

[derry]

I am a positive person and on the whole don’t like the negativity. But a fact that we have to respect is that SFC was only a Premiership side a few seasons ago, had top flight status and played some good football against the likes of Newcastle, Man utd etc. The WGS era is still fresh in a lot of fans minds. So the point is some fans find the adjustment to the levels of football we play and the state of the club hard to accept and long for the days when we had a Club we were proud off. Don’t get me wrong im sure we are all proud but its not easy to hold your head up and be proud of the state of the club.

So the negativity is borne out of are predicament.

For the record im 100% behind the team and will support Jan, hoping the formula off a winning side appears soon.

 

As for Lowe – if he has to balance the books to stop the club from going under, then we have to accept this. Hopefully the rumours of his involvement in the team are wrong.

 

They are not wrong, and as for balancing the books, two nights in a hotel before the Crystal Palace game, for a squad of 22 plus staff and hangers on, only to surrender in the first 10 mins. That worked then.

[Gorgiesaint]

Heard of the term disinvest to invest:rolleyes: Thought not!

 

And of course, being MD/CEO of SLH is the most attractive proposition in the world at the moment!

 

You want someone who experienced at that level, although not necessarily with a football background? Put yourself in their position. Would you jump to new employer to do the same job, at a company that is deep in the brown stuff and has the threat of administration hanging over it, tempted by the wages that are so great that the person you are replacing is only employed two days a week?

[VectisSaint]

Now call me a stickler for facts, but I seem to believe that if the season ended now we would stay up. Maybe I'm wrong...

 

Ps. I don't want him here, but he's our best option.

Unfortunately the whole premise of your post is based on fiction not fact. The season does not end here, we have another half season to go. We could of course have another half season where the results end up exactly the same, the likelihood of that is remote to say the least. History and form, and informed opinion would suggest that at least one of the Clubs in the bottom three will improve sufficiently over the second half of the season to escape the drop. It has been clear in the last few games that Forest and Doncaster are both showing signs of improvement. However, Charlton are the most likely to escape, bearing in mind that they do at least still have parachute payments to help them in the January transfer window. Of course, you can argue quite legitimately that Saints can also improve. I agree. But it is unlikely while we still have JP in charge, since he has shown no signs yet of understanding what it takes to regularly win games in this division, or even win at all (almost) at home. Nice bloke, completely out of his depth. As well as that, we are almost guaranteed to lose at least one of our better players in January for financial reasons, and in addition most of our loans come to an end. There is a way for our situation to be changed, but it requires Lowe to accept that he has made a mistake in his appointment of JP and his much-hailed experiment. Past experience suggests that hell will freeze over before Lowe admits he was wrong. There you have the nub of the problem, we could improve even with th existing players given a proper manager, but we will not while Lowe is around, and Lowe is not about to walk out. hence the negativity. At least one of Charlton, Forest or Donny will not be relegated this season, I will almost guarantee.

 

On the other point that you made, "Lowe is our best option", how so? Why do you imagine that the people who are almost entirely responsible for our financial mess, namely Wilde and Lowe, are the best options to get us out of this mess? In any other walk of life, you do not entrust a rescue to the same people who caused the problem in the first place. We had a better option, namely Lee Hoos with the backing of Leon Crouch. This team had already put in place some of the financial changes that Lowe now claims were his ideas (closing the corners, reducing transport costs, loaning out high earners Rasiak and Skacel). They had also put in place a young British manager, much respected in this country (by football people) for his abilities to work with young players together with a dollop of experience and no money. The pair of them (Hoos and Pearson) seem to be doing quite well at Leicester so far, despite everone thinking that Mad Milan would have sacked them by now, after all with your thinking if the season ended now they would be champions of League One and be guaranteed to be playing in the CCC next season, which is more than canbe said for Saints. So please don't trot out this continued nonsense that Lowe is the best option. It is clear that if Wilde had a spine and could have buried the hatchet with Crouch for the good of the club, as he has done with Lowe, that Crouch and Hoos could have been backed by Wilde and, with the backing of the bank which they had, would probably have had us slightly higher in the League than the curent regime has managed with basically the same players, the difference being that NP would get more out of the current squad than JP is able to do so.

[Saint In Exile]

They are not wrong, and as for balancing the books, two nights in a hotel before the Crystal Palace game, for a squad of 22 plus staff and hangers on, only to surrender in the first 10 mins. That worked then.

 

And if they'd stayed at home and driven up on the morning of the game to save costs and then surrendered in the first 10 mins that would have been wrong too....

 

If we'd battered Palace off the park and won 4-0 it would have been a masterstroke to keep the squad together for the two days of squad bonding etc...

 

Isn't hindsight great!!

[Thedelldays]

And if they'd stayed at home and driven up on the morning of the game to save costs and then surrendered in the first 10 mins that would have been wrong too....

 

If we'd battered Palace off the park and won 4-0 it would have been a masterstroke to keep the squad together for the two days of squad bonding etc...

 

Isn't hindsight great!!

 

 

come on...a south london game.....lol

[Red and White Army]

Why's that a problem, we're paying Lowe and Cowen! The only one not to take a penny out of SFC was Crouch!

 

********!!!! He employed Hoon and Dulieu who extracted hundreds of thousands of pounds out of our football club!

[derry]

And if they'd stayed at home and driven up on the morning of the game to save costs and then surrendered in the first 10 mins that would have been wrong too....

 

If we'd battered Palace off the park and won 4-0 it would have been a masterstroke to keep the squad together for the two days of squad bonding etc...

 

Isn't hindsight great!!

 

Short of money, facing administration, people made redundant, 75 mile coach trip, didn't make sense. That's why we have "world class facilities" at Staplewood. Certainly not hindsight, I thought it was a daft waste of money.

[VectisSaint]

The formation does work away from home.

 

The biggest issue is with going to 4-4-2 we need 2 strikers. We don't even have 1 striker at the moment, yet we have more decent midfielders.

If the formation works so well away why have we conceded 6 goals this week in 2 away games. It works occassionally, but teams know how to beat us, read Jack Cork's comments on the OS about yesterday's game. He states quite clearly that "they [burnley] countered our style by playing really hard pressing football, and that made it tricky for us to play from the back". Well, bugger me, teams have worked out that if they get at us from the start it stops us playing pretty football. The style does not work often enough away from home, once in a while is not good enough, though the performances away to Reading and Preston (2nd half) were absolutely brilliant.

 

By the way, in case you don't know we actually have 3 good strikers at the moment, any one of which could be playing alongside McGoldrick in a 442 formation and racking up a few goals, I will just mention their names in case you have forgotten them, Stern John, Marek Saganowski and Gregorz Rasiak. Unfortunately our dim Chairman has loaned them all out, two to our CCC rivals, in the mistaken belief that it saves money, when we could have kept any one of them for no more than the cost of some of our excellent loans and transfers, Peckart, Robertson, Smith, Gasmi and Pulis who have so far contributed so much to the cause this season.

[Delmary]

And of course, being MD/CEO of SLH is the most attractive proposition in the world at the moment!

 

You want someone who experienced at that level, although not necessarily with a football background? Put yourself in their position. Would you jump to new employer to do the same job, at a company that is deep in the brown stuff and has the threat of administration hanging over it, tempted by the wages that are so great that the person you are replacing is only employed two days a week?

I think you're doing Rupert a disservice with your statement.

 

But IMHO you're wrong. There will always be capable and willing candidates out there. Southampton FC is a famous brand and would be a good catch for any up and coming football league CEO/MD.