aintforever

Yup http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/westham/3479812/West-Hams-future-in-doubt-after-holding-company-Hansa-goes-into-administration.html The rules couldn't be clearer, I don't know if there is anything different with being in the Prem tho... West Ham United plc are regarded as the member organisation by the Premier League, meaning that the possibility of a sporting sanction against the team, such as the deduction of points, could not be considered in respect of any financial issues relating to the holding company.

I believe we went into administration before any 10 point rule about holding companies came into being. Morally we should be docked, but legally I think we shouldn't get docked and if the League want to close the loophole they should afterwards.

But if (as seems likley) we go down we will probably start on -10, whereas if Lowe had took us into admin a week earlier we could possibly have a chance of promotion. Wether Lowe thought the rules could be bent or not is irrelevant, if we had acted within the deadline there would not even be a risk of the -10 next season. As for blaming the banks, you would have thought Lowe would be aware of our overdraft facility and how much was going to go in or out? A simple meeting with Barclays a week before the deadline could have prevented this mess - surely?

Why is it so hard to understand, if we had took admin a week earlier any penalty would have happened THIS season regardless of our league position. By doing it after the deadline Lowe guaranteed that the penalty would take effect next season if we finished in the bottom 3 or this season if we finished above it. It's not rocket science. Basically Lowe has needlessly given us a -10 point penalty for next season - either by spite of through bad management.

With Aviva looking like they are going to accept between 5-10mill for the stadium it looks like it could well be a simple choice between: A. An art gallery with 150mill worth of art and no football club. B. An art gallery with 140-45mill worth of art and a football club and Communitee Stadium. Now which option would most benefit the city of Southampton? It's nothing to do with choosing between art and football or thick footie fan vs cultured art lover. Southampton needs both, football is as much part of the culture and heritage of Southampton as art, flogging art to save a football club is no ones prefered option, no one wants to lose any art but it may come down to the choice between A and B and for me it's an easy one. The effects of losing a fraction of the galleries art, which is mainly not even in view is negligable. The effects of losing a football club would be severe for the City. It's not just about the jobs lost at the stadium, or losing all the good work SITC do but also the knock on effects of not having 15-20,00 people visiting the city and spending money on parking, transport, food, drink, in the shops and hotels every other weekend. Plus there are the suppliers of SFC that would get hit, the Echo (which is already struggling) would get hit and may just vanish like many other local papers have been. And there is the profile of the city which would be harmed. The money gained through rent could be used to improve the gallery in the long term anyway.

I'm just worried as to why he is doing all these interviews.

I think the problem is we cannot afford a new broom. When it comes to the end of the month and the club are 50k short of staying in business it just might be handy to have someone like Crouch around.

I dunno what your sexuality has got to do with it but I've been to a fair few art galleries, went to art school for 2 years and studied it as part of my degree course but still would rather have a football club than a few old paintings gathering dust somewhere. It might actually encourage art in Southampton if new young artists get more of a chance to showcase their work instead of a load of old crap. Anyway it was your spoiling for a fight I was pointing out.

LOL at Alpine trying to start an arguement. What sort of **** goes on a football message board of a club possibly about to go out of existence and bang on about how they would rather their council own £150mill worth of old paintings instead of a football club?

I think a football club is more valuable to the City than a bunch of old paintings, most of which are just stuck in storage somewhere. Common sense says flog a few and have a Council owned stadium.

I don't think Saints can be accused of any deliberate hanky panky like Leeds were, SLH has been around for ages, it is not like it was set up to avoid a points deduction.

I would be well happy with Souness running the show, he knows his stuff and is a winner.

What a load of fuss over nothing, if people want to leave early it's up to them. The players probably wouldn't even notice and any potential investor is not going to give a monkeys. I left early because I couldn't stand watching my team get outclassed by the worst team in the league. I couldn't give a monkeys what a bunch of spotty gimps in the Northam thought. I've had a ST for a decade and a week or so ago travelled the length of the country to watch a similar shower of ****e so I will leave early whenever I like, if anyone has a problem with that they are a dickhead.

Exactly, I still want to know why they didn't put us in admin before last Thursday's deadline? It was either very bad management or done out of spite, either way it has ****ed us up good and proper.

As it stands the club could still be ****ed, I fail to see your point.

I left right on the 3rd goal and I have a season ticket, only a dickhead would judge people by when they choose to leave the ground. ****ing retarded thick ****s the lot of em.

Complete ****, we're down and we deserve it.

Whoever sings that are retards.

Yes basically because Lowe put us into admin this week and not last we will probably start next season bottom of League 1 on -10. Or we pull off the great escape, only to be relegated by the Football League as they dock 10 points on the last day.

I think you can guarantee that there will be a points deduction, otherwise every club in the country will set up a holding company for next season. What I don't get is why did Lowe put us into admin just a few days after the deadline for taking the points hit this season - was it just out of spite? Whatever the reason it could have really screwed us up.

As much as I dislike Lowe I think he does have a point. Barclays can go **** themselves, they may well have killed our club, I'm gonna move my account.

Surely it will be £1 to anyone wiling to take on the debts?

dumb idea

To be fair Dennis Wise got Millwall to a FA Cup final and into Europe which is the same as Strachan and he's seen as a managerial god.