Fitzhugh Fella

Saints have confirmed they are

Indeed and the fact they are local and Saints fans means a lot. I think this is the board looking at building bridges with the local business community. Fair play and well done to Veho!!

I dread to say anything that starts you off again (no offence) but one thing RK did say and repeated during our meeting was that next season started for him on Monday. I do agree the fan friendly bit will soon be very tedious if the more important questions aren't quickly addressed. I don't want to go through the whole World Cup period reading about the imminent departure of players/manager. The journalists are like vultures at the moment and the sooner one gets shot down (Jamie Jamesom or Alex Goring Crook preferably) the better.

think MP is playing a game of brinkmanship with the board and fair enough, the ball is in the board's court and we all wait with baited breath to see if they feel they have reached as high as they want to go.....or do they twist and go for 21.

It was thanks to Terry that we had the meeting so I am grateful to him. No he kept fairly quiet. For me and Hagiology Terry has been great, he is a massive fan and SFC is very close to his heart. He seemed to already have forged a good relationship with RK, and that morning had shown him around Winchester his native city. But as you say his home and family are now in S Africa.

I stand by that Batman but in modern day football if you are not privately owned by a wealthy party you are going nowhere. I don't like it but it is football and I am trying to live with it.

I think I summed it up honestly ie "it was a good day for Saints fans when the Liebherr family bought our club but it was an even better day for the family." And yes I had a low opinion of Rupert, certainly after he started to get involved on the football side of things and yes I thought Cortese was a thoroughly unpleasant man who got carried away after the unfortunate death of ML. Still stand by those views which I based on what I saw and heard. FWIW I thought George Reader and Alan Woodward both gentlemen and great chairmen. Askham was alright until he started getting involved in the reverse takeover. The only other chairmen I have known were Wilde and Crouch. Yes I changed my mind on Wilde (I think we all did) and Crouch was out of his depth but a generous and well-meaning Chairman who did not last long. As for RK, well yes he was charm personified but as has been pointed out the proof will come this summer.

Thanks for at least taking the trouble to find a post where I could be considered to be posting anti KL sentiments. I don't think I was though, I was angry at our cup exit nothing more nothing less and if you read the thread through in its entirety you will see I give the Liebherr family as much credit as criticism. Certainly not "poisonous" as you claim.

But Batman, hasn't history proved me right on both counts? Lowe post 2003 and Cortese were both dictators - all I did was point it out?

I can live with all the snide digs from anonymous cyber warrior/queens like Dig Dog and Manji but Smirking Saint has accused me of making insulting posts about KL - see below "As for Duncan dont pretend he is innocent. He is not adverse to posting inflammatory nonsense about chairmen when he does t get his way. Like I pointed out it was t long ago that KL was in his poisonous sights". I have asked him (or her) to substantiate that allegation but nothing has since been forthcoming. I don't think posts like his with false accusations (which could be quite damaging) should be acceptable on this forum. So for the record I am repeating I have never made a derogatory post about Ms Liebherr and so basically Smirking Saint is just a cyber bully/warrior who lies. I am glad my OP was of interest but frankly I can do without the false accusations. Hey ho.

Sorry mate but I really do not remember posting anything poisonous about KL - I would be grateful if you could find this post for me as it is the 2nd time you have mentioned it.

Good interview with Adam Lallana in today's Echo in which he talks about the summer spending plans. I think it is soon make or break time.

of course she has....... it just won't be spent so wantonly.

That's a fair point about Wilde and I for one was taken in by his vision for the future etc. I also take the point that RK is a consummate sporting politician and sure, words are cheaper than actions. But speaking as a club historian it was no nice to meet a chairman who actually showed a keen interest in what we have done over the years (bookwise) and who promised to back us up 100% in the future. He very much appreciates and wants to celebrate our history which is music to my ears and yes makes me a little biased. His predecessor was the exact opposite. Between 1990 and 2010 the club very kindly gave us access to their minute books which went back to 1898. As you can imagine they were for us a priceless source of information and a lot of our books (Dell Diamond for example) relied on these minutes. Last month, to my horror I discovered that these books had been "thrown away in a skip" by NC, such was his disdain for our history. Fortunately someone working at SMS had the nous to salvage these books and they are now back in safe hands. This was the sort of person he was and, while as fans we all applauded his vision (which involved spending a lot of money on players, not all of it particularly wisely), off the pitch he had absolutely no respect for our heritage or our past. I tell this story because the chairman we have now is the exact opposite and while he may not have the spend spend spend "vision" of NC, he shows all the signs of someone who wants to embrace the past as well as the future. So, for now I am going to back him and believe that he and the owner will do what is best for this club even if that means being less expansive in the transfer market.

God No - everything was very vague, he was just explaining the differences - as he saw it - between the two sports.

Christ I hope I haven't given false hope but I just got the impression RK means what he says. When KL came back I thought for a while it was to oversee the selling of the club but I am convinced that is now not the case. From what I heard today she was deeply concerned with the direction the club was heading under NC and so she appointed a man who is very much the antithesis of his predecessor. NC was quite prepared to spend but not concentrate on revenue so much. Whilst as fans we all love splashing the cash, the reality is if you can't generate funds sooner or later the "spend your way to glory" policy becomes untenable. NC's spending was bordering on the reckless, especially as he couldn't really give a damn about bringing money in. That's my reading of it, albeit it sometimes (but not always) reading between the lines.

He doesn't strike me as a man to deal in platitudes. He seemed genuine, anxious to succeed and keen to bring the fans with him. Actually he and Nigel would have got on just fine. Yes he will be judged on what happens in the summer and next year but I feel we have a good man in our corner who respects the fans views without being a hostage to them.

Yes I was aware it was just words at the present but the impression I got was of a man desperate to hit the ground running on Monday. As he put it after a long season everyone is knackered but I am a freshman and I am ready to go

No but he told us in ice hockey they rotate players so quickly all the time on of the things that struck him when watching Saints was how little the manager has to do in comparison.

No we didn't go that deep, but it was obvious they are looking at Rodriguez type signings rather than Osvaldo type signings was my interpretation

Excuse the blatant name drop but am just back from SMS after a ninety minute meeting with Ralph Krueger. David Bull and Gary Chalk were also there as was Terry Paine. I wasn't going to post anything thinking it would attract the usual sly digs etc but I asked his permission to mention it on this forum and he was more than happy for me to post something. I have got to say I was very impressed with him, his enthusiasm and determination to succeed shone through right from the start. No state secrets were revealed but I am fairly sure the stripes will be back as soon as possible (he did say sometimes the club is locked into contracts they have to honour so things take time). Apparently everywhere he has gone the fans have implored him to bring back the stripes. He said, for him, the new season starts on Monday and he can't wait. It is very obvious he is desperate to engage the community once more. Apparently before he was appointed chairman he attended games incognito, mixing with fans on the concourses and even drinking in the local pubs post match. He has a real hunger to learn and turn the Saints around off the pitch, it was obvious that he felt the club under the old regime did not "respect" the fans enough. I really can see why KL appointed him, half an hour in his company was very motivating. We showed him our books and he seemed to take genuine interest in them and said the club had failed to fully capitalise on our history or "soul" as he put it, in the past. He cuts an impressive figure but also showed a nice humility and keenness to get to the heart of what makes the city click. I feel the club is in excellent hands and from what I witnessed today I would say the KL and he are here for the long term. Just one final bit of gossip - from some of the things he said I think any signings are more likely to be British than foreign, the club are very aware how their profile has risen following the success of our England internationals. That doesn't mean to say foreigners won't be signed but the domestic market will be carefully scrutinised first. After Rupert Lowe and Nicola Cortese it was so nice to meet a man without any ego and arrogance to him whatsoever. St Marys, backstage is a lot happier place than it was last time I visited, that is for sure.

Well, I am just back from SMS following a meeting with Ralph Krueger and he was giving off so much positive energy about next season I am confident the manager will be staying.

Think of the away grounds you had never been to Steve

John Flood's blazer badge from the 50s

Saints B v Portsmouth next season? http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27289819