Fitzhugh Fella

I heard Puckett had been "relieved of his duties" about a month ago. This signing is intriguing inasmuch as he is older than Schneiderlin and Antonio when they both arrived and yet is only considered a development player for now. If he is 19 he should be banging on the 1st team door fairly quickly at this level I would have thought?

Mandaric or Chenrai Lucky skates - Spoilt for choice

Dear Mr exile on main St - How long is it reasonable to let the "we are lucky to have a club" argument prevail over sensible criticism of the way the team is playing under the current manager? Please let me know so I can then re-enter the debate.

I hear AP is one of a four man committee who takes decisions on transfers. NC is on the committee as is Reed and the guy who heads up scouting. I also hear AP is none too enamoured with the arrangement.

Dead man walking, he knows it! A great shame but NC decided in May to get rid and only changed his mind due to legend pressure! I see no progress now until Cortese gets his ultimate wish! Not giving a who is right or wrong opinion here but it needs sorting as otherwise no chance of promotion!

SC leaving Bristol is a strange one and him leaving Man City was/is also shrouded in mystery. We have a mutual friend and I have met him once or twice. He was definitely NC's 1st choice of manager and was on his way down the M3 to sign the contract but then had second thoughts due to him not having enough time off between jobs. When I heard the news today my first thoughts were that he may be approached, if AP departs. But then it said he is leaving management which makes me think there could be something in CB's OP. These are strange days indeed.

Spot on!

The Echo have now waded in with a statement on the back page and invited the club to a meeting to discuss the situation. They point out that in days of yore when the club declined to send a photographer to away games they would let the club have their pics no charge.

Surely there was more bickering on this forum (or its predecessor) when Lowe was jousting with klingons or throwing train paintings in the skip? Actually looking back I think we had more fun in those days - I sort of miss Lowe...a bit!

I just had this email (cut and pasted below) from someone who is close to things. This person has never given me duff gen. Make of it what you will, I am not going to comment. "The club can claim the Echo isn't banned, but they will only allow certain reporters in. I can't see Ian Murray letting the club say who of his staff can and can't cover games. I think the real reason The Sun went to town yesterday was down to the incident at Staplewood last Thursday when Sky were refused entry to the media day (yes, the media day when only BBC Radio Solent and Meridian were allowed in, no newspapers). No mention made of that in the club statement. As I said, Sky Sports editor took it a long way up the News Corp chain of command. As paymasters of the FL coverage, they don't take kindly to being told to **** off by a two-bob club. It's not a smart move to brass off the broadcaster who is going to provide live coverage of your game 48 hours later. It's why NewsCorp have taken the muzzle off The Sun and they could well decide not to cover any more Saints games this season".

I agree 100% Minty and you can bet your bottom dollar if the fans would welcome transparancy so would the staff and the players/managers. Like you say NC is entitled to do exactly what he wants, we have no rights or say on how our club is being run any more, and I am eternally grateful he persuaded ML to become involved, but if promotion is to be achieved we need a "together ship" and from where I am sitting it appears that there is some doubt that is the case.

I think you will find AC Milan emphatically denied this I for one always enjoy reading the national's report of our games because it is written from an unbiased standpoint. The Observer's write-up of the Saints v Pompey Cup-tie last season is a perfect example. When compiling writing the books I have always preferred to quote national rather than local reports.

I gather work did start and certain elements have been completed. There was then a hitch which I am loath to reveal on here because I would get shot and now fresh builders are being sought.

I think the truth lies is in your 3rd sentence;work had started but has now been delayed while new contractors are found.

I agree but to be fair the booing was just a few and I think they were booing at the result more than at the players. That second half was such a typical Saints performance - you know that one where they simply run out of ideas and never really look like scoring in a month of Sundays

This

Class act

Wise and sane words Minty. I think this is NC's way of ensuring the Echo can't get hold of Saints images from away matches and use them in their home write-ups. The feud is ongoing it seems!

All this means is their death will be more lingering. Today the end could have been swift and with little pain. Now it will slow and agonising and we all have ringside seats.

This forum obviously encompasses a wide spectrum of Saints fans, young old, left right, pessimist optimist etc etc etc. There are trolls ignore them. They will be those that post negative if you don't like them ignore them There are that post happy clappy if you don't like them ignore them. But above all let's all cut out the personal stuff because as sure as hell if you were standing next to someone at a game you didn't know and your views disagreed no way would you call him a Nazi or a trolly dolly or whatever. One of my main rivals on here is NickG who I regard as way OTT in his optimism. It gets on my nerves and I'm sure I get on his with my pessimism but I'll give him his due he never resorts to personal stuff and that is what is making this forum quite an unpleasant place to frequent. I thought about jacking it in but there are parts of this forum I like, it is informative, I find it helps me when saints lose and sometimes it is bloody funny. I lost my job recently after 34 years. No problem I'm grown up but it still hurts and I have 2 kids still at school. I don't need every time I post a load of people referring to what I used to do for a living or why I got sacked - it is not relevant to SFC just as the colour of my skin or my religion is not relevant. I come on here to get away from work not to have it rammed down my throat by anonymous people I've never met. I feel a bit sorry for the mods because whatever they do they will get criticism but really it is up to us to moderate ourselves or at least cut out the personal stuff. The irony is we are all Saints fans so we all have at least one thing in common. Sorry gone on a bit but I think we all need to have a look at ourselves sometimes.

So Saints, according to Malone, break a contract and you accuse me and the Echo of causing damage. I want Saints to succed very much but I don't like to see us allegedly not honouring our written committments.

Well, I know where you are coming from but if Martin turns into a Premiership centre-half (and he is looking promising) then you might wish to reconsider your feelings towards Malone just a tad.

I think part of the problem was that had the Eastleigh game been arranged on the Saturday we played Sutton then it is more likely Saints would have fielded more 1st teamers, there would have been more publicity and Eastleigh would therefore have got a bigger gate. I did wonder why Malone chose to go through the Echo. I guess he didn't really want to make a big deal of it by going through the FL (that would certainly have upset Saints) but he also did want to make the point that the contract had been broken.

PPS As a poster of sub 50 posts I fully expect to be ignored!! Thanks for your response, written with feeling but no gripes from me as you obviously speak from the heart. And of course you are right, we are only ever going to regain our standing in the upper echelons with ML's money. Football has changed, but not for the better, but none of us can turn back the clock. My personal feelings are that we should always treat people worse off than us with dignity and respect. I don't think that has happened with the Eastleigh match, where it appears we have simply ignored contractual obligations safe in the knowledge that the little person daren't complain. I do not want to support an organisation like that. You say move on and that is easy, lets leave Eastleigh behind us, but at the end of the day I can no longer love my club unconditionally if it behaves like a bully in the playground. I could type more but the way this forum now works it has taken me half an hour to get thus far.

Thanks for your response, written with feeling but no insult. I was being a little devil's advocate I do admit