InvictaSaint

I wonder what they could have to be bitter about? The fact that we used to have a football club which punched above its weight, gave others a good game, treated its supporters with respect, entertained its fans perhaps? Or the fact that all that stability and solidity has been ****ed away by the current incumbents and their predecessors? The fact that Lowe's master plan now has us hovering above the trapdoor to League 1, the third tier of English football? Now who on earth could possibly feel any bitterness about that?

The single and most crucial difference being that Ted knew what he was doing, had a plan and could adapt where necessary; all of which qualities have been proven to be sadly lacking from the current incumbent.

"But I thought sometimes we gave them a difficult time". CLOUD.....CUCKOO.....LAND

Did you bother to read the post? If you had, you would have noticed that I said ignore it was against Man United - the comments those who were at the game are coming back with (niether you nor I were there, Adrian) are a microcosm of almost every other game this season - a season which has left us second from bottom of the CCC. This thread is not about the United game - but where we go from here given everything else which is now clearly falling apart.

As a season-ticket holder who did not go today, I have found it interesting to read others' comments on the game. The words/sentiments which keep coming up again and again, from those who were at the game primarily (but not exclusively), are: - no fight - no passion - no game plan / players not sure what is expected of them - poor team selection - players overly tired as too young and played too often - JP blaming everybody but himself - poor substitutions - occasional pretty football in the wrong (least effective) areas Ignore the fact that this was against Man United - these phrases mirror what I and others have been seeing all season. As somebody far wiser than me has already posted, I could appreciate a slow and gradual improvement over the season given our financial predicament and apparent need to rely on youth. However, that improvement has clearly not happened. I know we are fiscally screwed, I know this only too well. But are we all simply going to sit back and let this club of ours die in such a painful fashion? How much longer can/will we tolerate being told that this is the only way to do things and that everything is OK? To my mind, somebody with influence - or those wishing to become influential either through numbers or status - must now let RL know that we are heading inexorably for disaster; League 1 and probable administration. We need a manager with a canny eye for a cheap , experienced bargain player and a knack for getting the best out of young British players; we need a man with experience of this league and how to stay in it. To claim this is not possible is to go down the route of the biggest false economy in SFC history, for continuing with this mad experiment will lead to our demise, make no mistake. I don't blame the players - they will always have my support - but the owners and managers of this fine football club should now be taking a long, hard objective look at our situation and asking themselves what needs to be done to arrest our slide. How long can we afford to wait and sit idly by?

That would require getting a corner (we didn't manage a single one) and having a meaningful shot on goal, wouldn't you agree?

I love this phrase he uses - so many players do: "I don't read the papers". He doesn't read the papers?! What the hell does he do with all his free time?! Does he studiously avoid the plentiful copies of the Sun and the Mirror which litter the dressing room and training ground? What does Andrew read then - The Economist? The Spectator? It's almost as amusing a white lie as him saying he expects to be here at the end of January.

Would you like to reconsider that statement? How far does your experience of the education system run? Not very far, I would imagine. I like your posts, Stanley, but that statement is both ill-informed and insulting. I worked in industry - successfully - before becoming a teacher. I am now an Assistant Headteacher, a Head of Sixth Form (with responsibility for 330 students) and my school's timetabler. I stand in front of 30 plus teenagers up to five times a day, every day; and I am very good at my job, thank you. Walk a mile in my shoes and then tell me that I do not do a "proper job".

Oh please! Have you read the OS recently? It would make Pravda's editor blush. There are websites which are club's corporate mouthpiece....and then there is our site, which has only just stopped short of telling us that being second bottom of the league is actually a good thing because it's the bottom three who are promoted. Our site is a joke; often factually inaccurate, riddled with spelling errors and driven by one man who wants to make us all believe (yes, he thinks we are that gullible) that everything at SFC is sweetness and light. The articles are a joke, and the match 'verdicts' are just the game reports with a poorly written introductory paragraph. Graham Hiley would be ashamed to put his name to them.

You could not make it up; second bottom of a crap league, one win at home all season with a manager unable to hold his own, loan players deserting the sinking ship and still there are people who ask Rupert to keep up the good work. Excellent. By extension, I assume you will be content to see "the good work" see us swiftly into League 1 then?

And despite the fact it's on Chelsea's site, despite the fact that the Echo state clearly that JP was told TWO DAYS AGO, there is still nothing on Pravda (The OS for anybody under 25 :-) ). Brilliant, just brilliant. We are indeed mushrooms - kept in the dark and fed BS.

According to the Echo report JP was told two days ago! If this is the case, why the **** is there nothing on the OS? Pravda indeed.....

I shall be laughing at all the plastics turning up to see their heroes, only to be disappointed when Ronaldo, Rooney et al aren't even in the squad.

Apologies Mods - have just found it elsewhere. My bad. :-(

Found this on the Echo site - don't believe it has been posted elsewhere, but apologies if it has - and thought it was a rather well balanced, objective and fair analysis of the current situation and the crucial month ahead: http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/4010892.The_biggest_month_of_all_for_Saints/

Would you like your t-shirts back?

Rupert Lowe August 2004: "It's a results driven business" Rupert Lowe December 2008: one win from 13 at home, 9 goals, manager not sacked Hypocrisy: the new perfume from Rupert Lowe

Post of the day! :-)

Actually, that's not entirely true. Turncoat Wilde, our illustrious football chairman, wrote in the Blackpool programme (if memory serves - it may have been Birmingham) that the play-offs were a realistic target. Whilst not perhaps going as far as saying that we were going to set the world alight, it was a statement nonetheless as far removed from reality as Wilde is distant from SMS most days of the year.

Nobody - as far as I can ascertain - is claiming that our players are better than they are. What I and others cannot fathom is why a man who is CLEARLY out of his depth is not relieved of his duties to allow somebody who has better knowledge of this league, better knowledge of British football and better tactical astuteness to be given a chance to rescue what is fast becoming a train wreck of a season. Ask me if the combined 'expertise' of JP, MW, Dean Gorre and DH is a better economy than, say, one Nigel Pearson and I will point at our risible, woeful recent form, points total, wins total and goal tally and say 'no, it is not'. Does this mean another manager would guarantee anything better? Of course it ****ing doesn't; but it would be a damn sight better giving it a go with another man at the helm than simply carrying on like this, watching this cancer-ridden club slowly die.

Nobody - as far as I can ascertain - is claiming that our players are better than they are. What I and others cannot fathom is why a man who is CLEARLY out of his depth is not relieved of his duties to allow somebody who has better knowledge of this league, better knowledge of British football and better tactical astuteness to be given a chance to rescue what is fast becoming a train wreck of a season. Ask me if the combined 'expertise' of JP, MW, Dean Gorre and DH is a better economy than, say, one Nigel Pearson and I will point at our risible, woeful recent form, points total, wins total and goal tally and say 'no, it is not'. Does this mean another manager would guarantee anything better? Of course it ****ing doesn't; but it would be a damn sight better giving it a go with another man at the helm than simply carrying on like this, watching this cancer-ridden club slowly die.

1 win in 12 home games, 8 goals scored (2 of those in one game, our only home win) and average gates of 15-16000 would suggest that whilst this may be your opinion, to which you are of course entitled, it is factually inaccurate...

1 win in 12 home games, 8 goals scored (2 of those in one game, our only home win) and average gates of 15-16000 would suggest that whilst this may be your opinion, to which you are of course entitled, it is factually inaccurate...

Spot on. If you haven't already read the article by the Forest fan in the Saints v Forest programme, then do so. He makes it abundantly clear - if clarity were required - that League 1 is a bruisers' league where you get no time on the ball and where teams simply park 11 men behind the ball. We can't beat teams in this supposedly more open league, so the thought of mixing it with League 1 cloggers with James, Lancashire and McGoaldrought leading the line is a terrifying thought. With this team (more or less), this manager and this 'plan', League 1 will quickly lead to League 2.

Ten minutes - ten - into the game on Saturday, DMG had his hands on his hips and looked puffed out already; so much so, that he wasn't sufficiently on his toes to change direction onto a Rudi through ball. How old is David? Twenty odd? He looked and behaved more like George Best at the arse end of his career; not bothered and lacking in stamina and fitness. The only difference being that Besty had something to look back on and be proud of. The fact that DMG keeps his place however appallingly he plays smacks to me of something being not right.