Rupert Lowe's legacy

[Fitzhugh Fella]

With it looking likely Saints are about to bank £25+ for Schneiderlin, Rupert Lowe must be having a little ironic chuckle right now.

 

Six years ago that amount of money would have been enough to purchase Saints out of administration, twice over.

 

Morgan's arrival in 2009 which I believe Lowe was very instrumental in, was a strange affair because we were absolutely broke as a club and Lowe and Wilde had stated we would be running with the youngsters that season when all of a sudden £1.2m was found from somewhere to purchase Schneiderlin. There were rumours that the money had been put up by Arsenal and we were acting as a nursery club until Schneiderlin blossomed but when that happened Wenger was nowhere to be seen, so perhaps that rumour was just that.

 

Lowe had many faults but today's fans can be very grateful for his acquisition of Schneiderlin.

[Seaford Saint]

To turn £1.2 million into around £25 million in 6 years is fantastic. You have to credit Rupert for that!!!

[SuperSAINT]

Big Props to Georges Prost too, whom I believe recommended Morgan to Rupert.

[OldNick]

I was thinking on similar lines this morning.

It is a credit to you Duncan that you post such a thing as you were not always a fan of Lowes

Lowe was many things but if you look at the current owners model it is just what Lowe was intending to do for us.

Sadly having a posh English accent and also the name of Rupert never helped his cause.

[Weston Saint]

It was Lowe's decision. He thought he had an agreement with Barclays Bank to fund the deal but after it was done we all know what Barclays did. They denied they had agreed and pulled the plug on our finances by insisting a large chunk of our overdraft was paid off. There was no Arsenal connection whatsoever. This information came to me from a Director of the time and who is still a good friend.

[Lighthouse]

I didn't wear my seatbelt driving to work today. I wasn't involved in a car accident which proves I was right not to wear it. My point is, just because something works out for the best eventually it doesn't mean it was the correct decision. There were so many things wrong with that deal which you can't ignore just because the sun is shining and all is rosy today.

 

1. We paid about £1.2m for him when we were bankrupt. Had things worked out differently the following summer that money could have been the difference between being liquidated and surviving a few more months to be taken over.

 

2. If we were indeed going to spend that much money a French teenager was completely the wrong choice. Schneiderlin was hopeless in his first season here. Spending that money on a reliable CB or proven goal scorer would probably have kept us up, before the -10 points. We would still have gone down but would have started League 1 on 0 instead of -10, which would have put off a lot of potential buyers planing on an immediate return to the Championship.

 

3. After we went into admin we were selling any player of any value to try and stay afloat for a few more months. Surman and DMG were pretty much our most valuable assets by then. If Morgan hadn't been so bad that season, we'd have sold him too. Probably for half what we paid.

 

In the end everything worked out fine but there was a lot more luck than judgement involved. It was a ridiculous transfer from Lowe and part of his daft 'total football' experiment.

[Doctoroncall]

What does the balance sheet look like when you consider other transfers and agreements... Tommy Forecast, the Bale renegotiation, SCW saga etc.

 

Perhaps it's best left in the past and time to move on and hope the academy and scouting system continues to unearth so great talent which we can get up to six seasons worth of progress.

[dubai_phil]

A fair point Duncan but if you are going to credit Lowe for Morgan then you HAVE to include Georges Prost in your praise.

 

He more than anyone else is responsible for birth of "The Southampton Way" and the legacy of our Academy in the way that the kids are brought up to play the game, and it was him that recommended Morgan to Rupert.

 

I don't believe Rupert would have listened to any other agent/scout/source and pushed through the purchase.

 

IMHO the loss of Georges meant that Rupert lost his real trusted advisor on football matters, but then that can be argued until the cows come home.

[OldNick]

What does the balance sheet look like when you consider other transfers and agreements... Tommy Forecast, the Bale renegotiation, SCW saga etc.

 

Perhaps it's best left in the past and time to move on and hope the academy and scouting system continues to unearth so great talent which we can get up to six seasons worth of progress.

there is not a club where you cannot name some duff signings. As for Bale, I doubt there is anyone who woud have thought he would be 100m player. I dont think he was responsible for the writeoff on him anyway, was it not the Wilde bunch?

[VectisSaint]

I wonder if the add-ons ever kicked in that would take it to £1.2m (1.5m euros). 1.2 was not the initial fee. Still at least Morgan chose us instead of the Skates, and he was brought in by Lowe at the same time (just after to be precise) as that great asset Paul Wotton. Did we make £20m+ on him as well? OK, so Lowe has to take some credit, but really, amongst everything else he did, this was really just one thing he lucked out on.

[Lord Duckhunter]

Lowe was many things but if you look at the current owners model it is just what Lowe was intending to do for us.

Sadly having a posh English accent and also the name of Rupert never helped his cause.

 

Nor did not having a pot to **** in personally , having a massive ego , or employing a rugby coach .

Lowe wanted to be where we are now on the cheap . Would he have invested in Rickie lambert , Jose ect to buy us out of league 1 . Taken the gamble of spending to get where we are . Of course he wouldn't . It doesn't take a genius to want to be like us , the genius is in actually getting there , in appointing the right men , in running the club right , in investing when it's needed and getting rid of people at the right time . Lowe couldn't do it .

 

Instead of looking at the club and thinking this is what Lowe wanted all along , look at it the other way round . Where would we be now if instead of a 2 bob reverse takeover, we'd been taken over by Marcus and Nicola then. I'll always believe that we missed a massive opportunity back then and nothing that has happened since has ever changed my view on that .

[OldNick]

Nor did not having a pot to **** in personally , having a massive ego , or employing a rugby coach .

Lowe wanted to be where we are now on the cheap . Would he have invested in Rickie lambert , Jose ect to buy us out of league 1 . Taken the gamble of spending to get where we are . Of course he wouldn't . It doesn't take a genius to want to be like us , the genius is in actually getting there , in appointing the right men , in running the club right , in investing when it's needed and getting rid of people at the right time . Lowe couldn't do it .

 

Instead of looking at the club and thinking this is what Lowe wanted all along , look at it the other way round . Where would we be now if instead of a 2 bob reverse takeover, we'd been taken over by Marcus and Nicola then. I'll always believe that we missed a massive opportunity back then and nothing that has happened since has ever changed my view on that .

yep Saints at the Dell would have been a fantastic appeal to billionaires pre the PL. The stadium and facilities, that were of massive appeal to the Liebherrs would be a major reason why we were bought out of admin. Had we been at the Dell we would have been where Pompey.

My 3 posts are up for today

[Lord Duckhunter]

yep Saints at the Dell would have been a fantastic appeal to billionaires pre the PL. The stadium and facilities, that were of massive appeal to the Liebherrs would be a major reason why we were bought out of admin. Had we been at the Dell we would have been where Pompey.

My 3 posts are up for today

 

I thought the whole reason for the takeover was a new ground . Do you really believe only Rupert could get us out of The Dell?

[Whitey Grandad]

To turn £1.2 million into around £25 million in 6 years is fantastic. You have to credit Rupert for that!!!

 

Via administration, of course. Not a very good business move.

[shurlock]

And to thins some thought buying Morgan was one of Lowe's biggest blunders.

[Lighthouse]

And to thins some thought buying Morgan was one of Lowe's biggest blunders.

 

It was. As I posted above, we have been VERY lucky with the way this worked out.

[Give it to Ron]

Nor did not having a pot to **** in personally , having a massive ego , or employing a rugby coach .

Lowe wanted to be where we are now on the cheap . Would he have invested in Rickie lambert , Jose ect to buy us out of league 1 . Taken the gamble of spending to get where we are . Of course he wouldn't . It doesn't take a genius to want to be like us , the genius is in actually getting there , in appointing the right men , in running the club right , in investing when it's needed and getting rid of people at the right time . Lowe couldn't do it .

 

Instead of looking at the club and thinking this is what Lowe wanted all along , look at it the other way round . Where would we be now if instead of a 2 bob reverse takeover, we'd been taken over by Marcus and Nicola then. I'll always believe that we missed a massive opportunity back then and nothing that has happened since has ever changed my view on that .

 

+ 1 excellent post, 24m offset by relegation, lost revenue, employing that twitchy tw8t, promoting 3 coaches from within and never learning his lesson, Sturrock fiasco and the Brazilian soccer school.....reckon that wiped out that 24m quickly!!

[sadoldgit]

I was thinking on similar lines this morning.

It is a credit to you Duncan that you post such a thing as you were not always a fan of Lowes

Lowe was many things but if you look at the current owners model it is just what Lowe was intending to do for us.

Sadly having a posh English accent and also the name of Rupert never helped his cause.

 

And playing hockey didn't help! I remember Souness having a pop and saying how many people in football were called Rupert! And how many were called Nicola? I got all sorts of grief for fighting his corner but I still maintain that he did a decent job for us up until it was probably too late to do anything about the downward trajectory. To keep us in the Prem on crowds on 15k took some doing. Whilst Duncan wasn't a big fan of Lowe's even he accepted that Lowe had the club at heart and was doing his best. Given the grief that Reed got over Toby it is a sad fact of life that there are some who need to find someone to blame whenever things aren't going their way. Lowe was a perfect scapegoat as. from day 1, he was seen as an outsider. Still, that is all in the past and without him we would not be where we are now, so it all worked out well.

[sadoldgit]

I thought the whole reason for the takeover was a new ground . Do you really believe only Rupert could get us out of The Dell?

 

Do you believe only Cortese could have got us out of the lower divisons? Of course not be he was the one that did it so he got the credit. Lowe and his team deserve credit for moving us into a decent stadium.

[Batman]

Ruper Lowe was a fecking disaster post FA Cup final.

Disaster

[sadoldgit]

Nor did not having a pot to **** in personally , having a massive ego , or employing a rugby coach .

Lowe wanted to be where we are now on the cheap . Would he have invested in Rickie lambert , Jose ect to buy us out of league 1 . Taken the gamble of spending to get where we are . Of course he wouldn't . It doesn't take a genius to want to be like us , the genius is in actually getting there , in appointing the right men , in running the club right , in investing when it's needed and getting rid of people at the right time . Lowe couldn't do it .

 

Instead of looking at the club and thinking this is what Lowe wanted all along , look at it the other way round . Where would we be now if instead of a 2 bob reverse takeover, we'd been taken over by Marcus and Nicola then. I'll always believe that we missed a massive opportunity back then and nothing that has happened since has ever changed my view on that .

 

Woodward was employed for his skills in sport psychology. He was in the forefront of this thinking at the time, now many sports use those techniques. I disagree that he wanted to do things on the cheap. At the time the TV money wasn't as great as it is now. For many years we were stuck with crowds of 15K. Duncan says there was a time when he said he didn't know where the next £1 was coming from and did well to keep us up as long as he did on a shoestring. He didn't have the backing of a foreign multi millionaire but still managed to bring in many quality players (and managers). To keep the club afloat in the top flight for so long on a small revenue stream took some doing. In that time we got to a cup final, had European football yet some still like to harp on about the negatives. It wasn't all bad and it did pave the way for a brighter future.

[sadoldgit]

Ruper Lowe was a fecking disaster post FA Cup final.

Disaster

 

Unfortunately it wasnt just Lowe. When he left the first time we were left with people with good intentions who sadly didn't not have a clue about what SFC needed to keep going. Money was wasted and the club went into free fall. But the blame culture fraternity will always blame Lowe for everything - just as they are trying to blame Ralph and Les now.

[sadoldgit]

It was. As I posted above, we have been VERY lucky with the way this worked out.

 

Spending £1m on Morgan was a blunder???

[Batman]

Unfortunately it wasnt just Lowe. When he left the first time we were left with people with good intentions who sadly didn't not have a clue about what SFC needed to keep going. Money was wasted and the club went into free fall. But the blame culture fraternity will always blame Lowe for everything - just as they are trying to blame Ralph and Les now.

 

he was top of the tree. he takes the credit in that department like you have mention in hiring woodward and stadium. he takes the flack

 

our record post FA Cup final was terrible and he was a disaster

[sadoldgit]

The two regimes that followed were just as bad, if not worse. Fell free to slag them off too.

[Batman]

The two regimes that followed were just as bad, if not worse. Fell free to slag them off too.

 

will do, when someone starts a thread about them. they have got it over the years too.

[John B]

Woodward was employed for his skills in sport psychology. He was in the forefront of this thinking at the time, now many sports use those techniques. I disagree that he wanted to do things on the cheap. At the time the TV money wasn't as great as it is now. For many years we were stuck with crowds of 15K. Duncan says there was a time when he said he didn't know where the next £1 was coming from and did well to keep us up as long as he did on a shoestring. He didn't have the backing of a foreign multi millionaire but still managed to bring in many quality players (and managers). To keep the club afloat in the top flight for so long on a small revenue stream took some doing. In that time we got to a cup final, had European football yet some still like to harp on about the negatives. It wasn't all bad and it did pave the way for a brighter future.

 

I think you are right but Administration was the making of SFC

[niceandfriendly]

We should open the Rupert Lowe Radio Station in his honour, that or some kind of big catering event with his face on the plates.

[sadoldgit]

will do, when someone starts a thread about them. they have got it over the years too.

 

Not to the same extent and since when did you worry about putting the right things in the right threads?

 

Lowe became a pantomime villain as soon as the reverse take over happened and some people never let that go. Everyone makes mistakes. Yep, even the great Nicola Cortese made errors of judgement. Balanced people will weigh up the pros and cons and see things as they were. Those who need someone to blame will ignore the pros and focus on the cons. We saw it again in the Toby thread. I think those people are what Nigel Pearson would call ostriches. Apt for you Batman as you have spent so much time with your head buried under the sea.

[Lighthouse]

Spending £1m on Morgan was a blunder???

 

Yes.

 

We got relegated, went into administration and almost got liquidated. You don't think an extra £1m might have been handy?

[sadoldgit]

Yes.

 

We got relegated, went into administration and almost got liquidated. You don't think an extra £1m might have been handy?

 

The word at the time is that Lowe bought Morgan to sell on and make a quick profit that would have helped the financial situation. For whatever reason, Lowe didn't sell him on quickly. Worked out well in the end didn't it?

[Lighthouse]

The word at the time is that Lowe bought Morgan to sell on and make a quick profit that would have helped the financial situation. For whatever reason, Lowe didn't sell him on quickly. Worked out well in the end didn't it?

 

Because he was crap, he had an awful first season for us and nobody offered us half of what we paid for him. If it really was some sort of get rich quick scheme then Lowe is stupider than I thought.

 

People have driven home from the pub steaming drunk and it "worked out well in the end." Doesn't mean it wasn't a dreadful idea.

[Golac's Iron Gonads]

Lowe would not have waited 6 years to sell him for 25 million. Had Lowe kept his position Morgan would have left for about 2.5 million when we were in Div 1 (and we'd still be there) if we were lucky.

[sadoldgit]

Because he was crap, he had an awful first season for us and nobody offered us half of what we paid for him. If it really was some sort of get rich quick scheme then Lowe is stupider than I thought.

 

People have driven home from the pub steaming drunk and it "worked out well in the end." Doesn't mean it wasn't a dreadful idea.

 

You might have thought he was crap. I didn't and others don't seem to share your view.

[sadoldgit]

Lowe would not have waited 6 years to sell him for 25 million. Had Lowe kept his position Morgan would have left for about 2.5 million when we were in Div 1 (and we'd still be there) if we were lucky.

 

You know this how? Lowe made many astute deals but it is easy to block them out if you want to remember the negatives.. We may well still be in Div 1 if it wasn't for the huge cash injection that we received from Marcus.

[aintforever]

It's a good job Lowe spent that cash on Schneidelin or we would have gone bust… ...Oh hold on we did.

 

He obviously was a good buy but the scout who found him deserves the credit, not the bloke who signed the cheques that left us in League 1 in administration.

[JackFrost]

Unfortunately it wasnt just Lowe. When he left the first time we were left with people with good intentions who sadly didn't not have a clue about what SFC needed to keep going. Money was wasted and the club went into free fall. But the blame culture fraternity will always blame Lowe for everything - just as they are trying to blame Ralph and Les now.

 

That might have something to do with the fact that he was the man in charge, and was ultimately accountable/responsible for the decisions made.

 

Overall Lowe did a decent job up until when Strachan left but he then made a series of stupid decisions that cost this club dearly, a lot of them driven by ego. As soon as the person at the top has different priorities to the people below it will always end in tears, and during the Sturrock debacle it was clear he'd lost the plot completely.

 

Lowe did put a lot in place for the long-run and he did have a vision, but his problem was that he couldn't control his ego. That's why his legacy to a lot of people can be summed up by the length of Tommy Forecast's last contract with us.

 

The two regimes that followed were just as bad, if not worse. Fell free to slag them off too.

 

Totally agree, especially with Wilde.

[Whitey Grandad]

Lowe's contributions ended once we went broke. Nothing that has happened after then can be attributed to him.

[sadoldgit]

There is another thread here about deluded Spurs fans. Moving the debate along I have to say that I feel sorry for anyone running a football club and managing the fans' expectations. Keeping a club competitive when so much is about money nowadays is a tough nut to crack. Would MLT have stayed if he played for us now? Would Lawrie Mac had been able to bring the European Player of the Year to SFC now? Debatable.

Even after the good work that the Board did last year and the brilliant season we had there are still those looking to get on the backs the minute something perceivably goes wrong.

I see Lowe now getting the blame for hiring Redknapp where at the time I think most of us thought it a prudent move. No one knew that he would do such a crap job and blow £6m (which was a lot of money for us in those days) on rubbish.

Still nothing I say will change anyones minds so I'll leave it to you guys to continue the debate.

[Roger]

Lowe was the worst thing to ever happen to the club. He should be left where he belongs, in the past.

[Chris27687]

even a broken clock is right twice a day.

[Lighthouse]

You might have thought he was crap. I didn't and others don't seem to share your view.

 

So why did nobody come in with any sort of offer for him when we went into administration? Why didn't any Championship club come in and offer us £0.5m for him?

[Wes Tender]

As we have one of the club's historians restrospectively crediting Lowe not only with the original purchase of Schneiderlin, but also the increase in his value due to his development years after Lowe became a footnote in the club's history, it seems time to argue the toss about Lowe once more.

 

For all that he managed to get us out of the delapidated and pokey Dell into a new stadium, Lowe cocked-up the original stadium venue at Stoneham and had to be rescued by Southampton Council saving his bacon with the St. Mary's site. But just as we were fortunate to be rescued by Markus Liebherr from the administration caused by Lowe and his cronies, we were also unfortunate to have been the victims of Lowe's reverse takeover in the first place. In my opinion that was an unethical ploy based on the naked greed of the old board of directors to enrich themselves when the PLC was formed and Lowe and Cowan's arrival brought negligible investment into the club, contrasting sharply with the background of the Liebherr/Cortese takeover and the benefits that has brought to the club subsequently.

 

I know that SOGGY sees Lowe's decade as a golden era, but the reverse takeover, the high turnover of managers, the Stoneham fiasco, the appointment of inexperienced coaches like Gray and Wigley, the Woodward episode, the lack of investment, are all factors which count against him. Apparently though, Lowe is also to be credited for keeping us in the top flight for so long, MLT playing very little part in that.

 

As for Schneiderlin, yes, ultimately a very good servant of the club and signed during Lowe's watch, although as already pointed out by others, a purchase we couldn't really afford at the time and probably more credit should go to Georges Prost for uncovering the young unproven Morgan.

 

And credit should go to Lowe and his cronies without whom we would not be owned by the Liebherr family. There were rumours of wealthy consortia wishing to buy us before the reverse takeover, and the old board seemed to be in an indecent hurry to go with Lowe, but eventually we got there in the end when he finally took us into administration.

 

Somehow that position we now find ourselves in has been made all the sweeter because of where we were with him and even the journey through the lower divisions was fun for our phoenix-like rise to arguably being in the best state of health of our entire history.

 

So what do you reckon, FF? Best ever state of health of the club in all of its history?

[Fitzhugh Fella]

As we have one of the club's historians restrospectively crediting Lowe not only with the original purchase of Schneiderlin, but also the increase in his value due to his development years after Lowe became a footnote in the club's history, it seems time to argue the toss about Lowe once more.

 

For all that he managed to get us out of the delapidated and pokey Dell into a new stadium, Lowe cocked-up the original stadium venue at Stoneham and had to be rescued by Southampton Council saving his bacon with the St. Mary's site. But just as we were fortunate to be rescued by Markus Liebherr from the administration caused by Lowe and his cronies, we were also unfortunate to have been the victims of Lowe's reverse takeover in the first place. In my opinion that was an unethical ploy based on the naked greed of the old board of directors to enrich themselves when the PLC was formed and Lowe and Cowan's arrival brought negligible investment into the club, contrasting sharply with the background of the Liebherr/Cortese takeover and the benefits that has brought to the club subsequently.

 

I know that SOGGY sees Lowe's decade as a golden era, but the reverse takeover, the high turnover of managers, the Stoneham fiasco, the appointment of inexperienced coaches like Gray and Wigley, the Woodward episode, the lack of investment, are all factors which count against him. Apparently though, Lowe is also to be credited for keeping us in the top flight for so long, MLT playing very little part in that.

 

As for Schneiderlin, yes, ultimately a very good servant of the club and signed during Lowe's watch, although as already pointed out by others, a purchase we couldn't really afford at the time and probably more credit should go to Georges Prost for uncovering the young unproven Morgan.

 

And credit should go to Lowe and his cronies without whom we would not be owned by the Liebherr family. There were rumours of wealthy consortia wishing to buy us before the reverse takeover, and the old board seemed to be in an indecent hurry to go with Lowe, but eventually we got there in the end when he finally took us into administration.

 

Somehow that position we now find ourselves in has been made all the sweeter because of where we were with him and even the journey through the lower divisions was fun for our phoenix-like rise to arguably being in the best state of health of our entire history.

 

So what do you reckon, FF? Best ever state of health of the club in all of its history?

 

 

You are not wrong with much of what you say and yes it has turned out beyond our wildest expectations. As has been pointed out I was never Lowe's biggest fan but he cared. In fact he cared enough to ring me up and call me a s**t which at the time I felt was a bit OTT. But it showed he had a bit of bottle and was prepared to defend himself so I have grudging respect for that. When talking in terms of how much damage he did the club, well we ended up ok but more by luck than judgement and technically one hero (MLT) potentially nearly did us more harm than anyone else by lending his name to the Pinnacle group which was damn near disastrous. Had we known at the time that Pinnacle using the oxygen of Matt's support were jeopardising the Liebherr takeover we would have all been pretty angry. We came damn close to losing Liebherr's interest and that does not bear thinking about.

[Lighthouse]

You are not wrong with much of what you say and yes it has turned out beyond our wildest expectations. As has been pointed out I was never Lowe's biggest fan but he cared. In fact he cared enough to ring me up and call me a s**t which at the time I felt was a bit OTT. But it showed he had a bit of bottle and was prepared to defend himself so I have grudging respect for that. When talking in terms of how much damage he did the club, well we ended up ok but more by luck than judgement and technically one hero (MLT) potentially nearly did us more harm than anyone else by lending his name to the Pinnacle group which was damn near disastrous. Had we known at the time that Pinnacle using the oxygen of Matt's support were jeopardising the Liebherr takeover we would have all been pretty angry. We came damn close to losing Liebherr's interest and that does not bear thinking about.

 

I wonder if Michael Fialka ever did move out of his parents house.

[Wes Tender]

You are not wrong with much of what you say and yes it has turned out beyond our wildest expectations. As has been pointed out I was never Lowe's biggest fan but he cared. In fact he cared enough to ring me up and call me a s**t which at the time I felt was a bit OTT. But it showed he had a bit of bottle and was prepared to defend himself so I have grudging respect for that. When talking in terms of how much damage he did the club, well we ended up ok but more by luck than judgement and technically one hero (MLT) potentially nearly did us more harm than anyone else by lending his name to the Pinnacle group which was damn near disastrous. Had we known at the time that Pinnacle using the oxygen of Matt's support were jeopardising the Liebherr takeover we would have all been pretty angry. We came damn close to losing Liebherr's interest and that does not bear thinking about.

 

He also called me a sh*t too, so we're in good company. Did he ask you if you read the good book too?

 

Yes, it is indeed unfortunate that MLT's connection to the Pinnacle bid came close to scuppering the Liebherr bid, but I believe MLT was an innocent abroad who was used by them and I cannot really see how Mark Fry as administrator could possibly favour a bid like Pinnacle's over that from a German Swiss billionaire. If I understand correctly, Pinnacle had paid some sort of fee that had granted them pole position to state their case, but presumably Fry had a duty to accept the offer which had the greatest chance of paying back the creditors, so if there was a chance that the Liebherr bid was compromised, I am inclined to blame Fry. And wasn't there that funny business whereby Fry had a namesake who was intrumental in calling in the Club loan for Barclays and who subsequently turned up a couple of weeks later on the staff of Begbies Traynor, the administrators?

 

All water under the bridge, but always good to reminisce about how things might have turned out for us under different circumstances. I doubt that we would ever have ended up in a position like the Skates though, as we were always good value for an investor because of the stadium, training ground and Jacksons Farm.

[Colinjb]

Jacksons Farm.

 

Is there really any value in Jacksons Farm? It keeps being mentioned but what exactly is the point of it?

[St Marco]

It's a good job Lowe spent that cash on Schneidelin or we would have gone bust… ...Oh hold on we did.

 

He obviously was a good buy but the scout who found him deserves the credit, not the bloke who signed the cheques that left us in League 1 in administration.

 

Exactly. Im not thanking a guy for spunking money we didn't have on a player. Morgan came good and we made some nice money in the end. But so many others didn't turn out that way.

 

I have nothing against Lowe. Hope he is enjoying his life just as we are. But he made some terrible calls and one decent one doesn't need to be applauded.

[St_Tel49]

Yes.

 

We got relegated, went into administration and almost got liquidated. You don't think an extra £1m might have been handy?

Maybe or maybe not. It would have gurgled down the plughole within a month even if we hadn't signed Morgan.

[david in sweden]

there is not a club where you cannot name some duff signings.

As for Bale, I doubt there is anyone who would have thought he would be £100m player.

I dont think he was responsible for the writeoff on him anyway, was it not the Wilde bunch?

 

 

that only illustrated the power of the finance behind the " big clubs ". You can bet anything that if Bale had stayed at SMS, he'd never have been sold for £85 mill.