Fitzhugh Fella

I have to concede the book would have to be written by someone other than me - I long ago succumbed to the temptation to be impartial when it came to Rupert Lowe (one of the reasons I took a sabbatical from this forum). Perhaps my colleague, David Bull (who always manages to sail Nelson like through the political maelstroms) could do a decent job. I am always nagging him to shift his arse off the fence but there again he is much more of a diplomat than me. I am quite happy now to be allowed to say what I think and hopefully I will keep to my New Year's resolution to keep it civil and polite. So may I wish Sundance a belated and sanctimonious Happy New Year.

There is no doubt (and Mary Corbett has publicly admitted as much) the Crouch camp (Pat Trant, Mary C, Lawrie Mac etc etc) were very naive in not doing due diligence on Michael Wilde and his promises when he arrived on his white charger. I know Mary greatly regrets this and is prepared to shoulder her share of the blame. As for investment I know very well why they were at first taken in re the potential Paul Allen interest. Tom McLaughlin pitched up, using his connections with PA, claiming that Allen was interested and, as it was well known that he did have links with Allen, he was originally believed. Crouch and others even spent their own private money paying McLaughlin a consultancy fee to ensure McLaughlin could deliver the investment he was continually promising. OK Tommac was later proven to be no more than a tyre kicker with an eye to make a few bob, in the final fallout and everything then went boots up but I think the only allegations we can level at Crouch and co is they allowed themselves to be succoured in - first by Wilde and his execs and then by Tom McLaughlin. Naive? Undoubtedly. Yes, but I would not go much further when looking who to blame for this very sad situation.

My take on this, Trousers, is this has been leaked by Lowe to prepare for his absolvement of blame when the club goes into administration later this month. Lowe is simply getting his "not my fault guv" excuse in early. Whilst certainly most of the excesses took place while the execs and Wilde were running the show it is also fair to say his previous mistakes laid the not so fertile ground into which Hone and Co wasted what litle crop we had to sow. (A farming analogy rather than a nautical one for a change). Leon Crouch himself told me the circumstances of Euell's arrival. He was at Staplewood and had a meeting with Hone (with Burley present) to discuss whether or not to sanction the signing. Crouch maintains he was against it due to the prohibitive cost but the board was split 50/50%. Hone and Crouch had a blazing row. The impasse only ended when David Jones sweet-talked Keith Wiseman into believing the club could afford the wages etc and Wiseman's vote sealed the deal. This was the start of the Crouch/Hone battle which culminated in Crouch's removal from the PLC board - only to mount a comeback (aided by a payoff) to remove the execs in December 07. Why the execs were so hellbent on supporting Burley (who by then had already been spoken to by Hone over his lifestyle problems), I have no idea except perhaps they had no long term interest and were happy to gamble. (I can confirm Hone had spoken to Burley - in case anyone accuses me of spreading rumours -because Oldknow told me in person on one of the many times I was summoned to SMS to discuss my anti execs postings on the previous forums). David Jones is the man Lowe (and us) should be blaming the most - he has been there more than 10 years and was the person most responsible for the finances. At the recent AGM he tried to weasel out of the "81% accusations" by rather ingeniously saying that Euell and Co would be gone in a couple of years and the percentage would then drastically lower. It was a pretty tame and limp explanation and one Lowe did not invite him to expand upon. So as the club lurches into administration the blame game continues to be played and whilst no one is free of culpability some are certainly guiltier than others. For me Lowe, Wilde and Jones are the main villains alongside the execs but as the latter group have already ridden off into the sunset with their saddlebags full of cash is it not time for the former group to take their leave too? It is my honest belief having spoken to him that if Lowe and Wilde resigned, Crouch would put enough cash in to stave of administration but Lowe would rather the club go under than hand back the reigns to the man whio engineered his first forced removal.

Oh dear! I thought the original post quite funny - the day we stop laughing at ourselves is the day we stop laughing.

Ignore Buctootim, Trousers - your point was very valid and yet he could only answer it with sarcasm, irony or whatever. Sometimes people are more interested in point scoring than debating.

I must admit people who know him have always said that compared to Lowe he was a reasonable sort of chap but in the couple of phone conversations I had with him last year during the SoS initiative I found him perfectly polite but his manner did remind me a little of Lowe himself. The relationship between the two men must be an interesting one - I have heard of times when Cowen has been a steadying influence on Lowe especially when things have got a little out of hand but when all said and done he has not been able to prevent some of Lowe's more "excessive or extravagent" decisions. Lowe is very capable of brow beating people - he has a forceful character that gets belligerent when opposed. I did have a few minutes talking to Mary Corbett prior to the AGM and was quite shocked when she told me how on quite a few occasions she had been intimidated by him.

My reading of this now is you need to go into voluntary administration before you are relegated (unlike Leeds) to trigger the 10 points this season rather than next. This is why there is a very strong possibility that Southampton will go into administration sooner rather than later. Things are critical, I believe.

You make a valid point.

Perhaps to help you out I can use a political analogy. If Rupert Lowe is Southampton's Maggie Thatcher then Andrew Cowen is Southampton's John Major. Incidentally I hear Andrew Cowen is heartily sick of the present situation and is looking forward to "getting out" asap.

I believe this story and have heard similar which sort of negates Jan's claim that he picks the team 100%.

So now we know why "his international clearance didn't come through in time". I wish the OS would just give us the truth instead of all this subterfuge.

Roger - my e mail address is duncan@duncanholley.co.uk

I won't be renewing my son's ticket next year. He has lost complete interest.

Too many stories about Ron you couldn't publish Andy. There's still a few blokes in So'ton on the lookout for him

Thanks for explaining that Tim. One of the other side effects of the GITR appeal was it reconnected Ron to the fans and vice versa. Plus it has also led to Ron gaining some employment and self esteem. It also painted Saints fans in a positive, good light - even this morning I got a message from Sky TV asking all about it and the National media interest has been remarkable. Even the club came out of it smelling of roses at the time and although we were then being governened by the discredited execs I have to say they were very helpful.

Answer? YES Just had a long phone call from Tim in LA where we have resolved our little spat. So a major change is needed. Tim is working on that so I am happy to see what happens, for the time being. Best regards Duncan

Nick - can I respectfully suggest you (we) revisit this post at the end of January. Cheers.

Tim - I am not insulting you FFS. But posts like yours are actually now doing this club harm. The sooner we all wake up and realise the crap we are in the better. Your pyhscobabble clap trap probably works well where you live but unfortunately it doesn't wash here. And if you don't like the heat then stay out the kitchen. I do not mean any offence, mate but please either get real or butt out. Now is the time for plain speaking because our club is going down the pan and we really do not need any karma from half way around the world. I still love you, don't worry - but you have picked the wrong day to post a happy clappy message. The boys from the "Ave" say hello, but trust me having just left there your post would have gone down like a lead balloon. Hope you are well and New Year blessings. Dunc

Tim that is religious unhelpful Californian bull****. We were ****e today and the sooner we come to terms with it the better. Respectfully yours Duncan

Ron has not been given the £10,000 which is why he hasn't mentioned it. We are holding on to it until we are sure that he is fit and healthy again. We have been paying his out of pocket expenses and we helped towards his teeth (which needed to be done before they would look at his hips). The 2nd op is due on Feb 5th. If there are no complications and it becomes obvious that the rest of the money is not needed then the GITR committee will consider what best to do with it. We have already had some debate (pay off his debt on his trailer, bring him to the UK etc etc) but we have now decided to wait until after the 2nd op. It was only after the money was raised that Tim Mumford (TT) got involved and managed to get the US system to meet most of the costs we had been expecting to incur.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jan/04/southampton-sportinterviews

Don't worry Pullis will save our season!

Tbh I think most good young United reserves would not want to come to SMS. I think they probably set their sights on Championship sides who are pushing for promotion. Borrowing from Millwall is more our scene right now - unfortunately.

I was particularly drawn to the Guardian's "velvet-collared businessman" description of Lowe. That is a new one on me.

Whether or not Lowe signed good or bad players is inconsequential but the point is a manager stands or falls by his signings whereas a Chairman (unless he fires himself) does not. Football is all about opinions and I respect yours because it is well made, but I sincerely believe that right now had Crouch and Pearson been at the helm we would be in a better position than we are currently in. Cork's unfortunate departure today is a perfect example of how vulnerable you can become if you build your squad around promising youngsters on loan. There is no solid foundations being laid, no continuity and no guarantees. The consequence of all this is the fans will lose heart if they think players can just leave as soon as they show any signs of looking half decent. Saints are now playing an everlasting game of Russian Roulette and as we all know it is only a matter of time before the bullet finds it way into the right chamber.