um pahars

I do admire your ad hominen attacks LOL. The main reason plenty of those didn't go in to administration was because sugar daddies/external investors covered the losses following their relegation. Take away those cash injections and you have a huge black hole that many clubs, including us, succumbed to. And how can a hypothetical situation rankle anyone?? You'd have to be weird to get wound up about something you can't prove one way or the other. And of course using your same simple logic we could always say for certain that a process that started and ultimately ended with Lowe saw us go in to administration (but of course as we all know, things were a little bit more complicated than that).

Two years of parachute payments keep the wolves from the door. Of course administration was not guaranteed, but your initial claim that no other club of our size went in to administration is wide of the mark. At that time in football the gulf between the Premiership & Championship was soooo big that every club suffered terribly, with many going in to administration and others only avoiding it by having a sugar daddy. It would be harder to find clubs of our size and stature who managed themselves well following relegation, than it is to find those who struggled.

if you go back to his early teams at Leicester in the third tier they were heavily populated with youngsters and players coming through the youth set up (plus a few youngsters loaned in). http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?8760-Nigel-Pearson-He-only-plays-old-carthorses-who-are-expensive!&highlight=Leicester#.UuUVxjLfWSM

But now you've changed tack from (a) who would have taken the job? to (b) would he have kept us up? One answer to (a) is quite simply Pearson, but as for (b) no one knows.

Was hard to judge him one way or the other given than he had only been here for three months or so, but he met his short term targets and there was a semblance of "normality" during his short tenure (with hindsight he's proved a decent enough manager with Leicester though). Not sure he would have been able to keep the wolves from the door with a promotion though!!; Response was more directed towards Turkish who was doubtful anyone would have taken such a basket case of a job.

Nigel Pearson??

But sadly during that era, any club who were relegated from the top flight almost certainly then booked themselves in for a visit from the administrators not long after, with only those lucky to have or find a sugar daddy (or quickly repromoted) escaping this fate. Almost as certain as night follows day, the fall out from relegation required a huge restructure, large amounts of investment or a date with administration. And contrary to your claim above plenty of clubs went in to administration (with almost every other relegated club in that period only avoiding administration by having a sugar daddy to bankroll them through the initial years). Without outside investment to tide us over or quick repromotion, then I'm afraid administration was nigh on inevitable, another symptom of the initial relegation from the top flight. All three (or was it four or even five) of the various management teams that were at the helm in the Championship failed in their attempts to get us promoted, failed in attempts to bring in cash to tide us over, and failed to balance the books (and I criticised every one of the various permutations that failed, although Mr Crouch gets some serious latitude for sticking his hand in his pocket in our darkest days and bringing us the closest to washing our face).

An interesting response to a somewhat comprehensive rebuttal of your claim that it was only us who suffered financial hardships following a relegation from the top flight. onwards and upwards pal.

Interestingly both the Clubs who went down with us in 2005 suffered financial difficulties with Palace really struggling and Norwich only keeping their heads above the water due to injections of funds from their main shareholders. The year before saw Leeds, Wolves & Leicester relegated. Wolves got a new owner to stabilise them, Leicester had not long come out of administration following a previous relegation and once again struggled until Mandaric propped them up with £££ and then there is Leeds!!! West Ham, Sunderland, Birmingham are others relegated around the same time and all struggled financially, needing big money investors to keep their heads above the water. Ipswich entered administration, whilst others such as Sheffield United have continuously struggled, Derby went in to receivership from an early 2000ish relegation and struggled again after another relegation. Coventry, relegated in early 2000s are an absolute basket case. Sheff Weds are still struggling after their fall from the top flight and think Forest only stayed afloat due to tens of millions pumped in by their former Chairman. Newcastle needed millions from Ashley to keep them afloat following their relegation (same can be said for Blackburn, Boro, Wigan etc). Hull and Portsmouth needed restructuring to differing degrees!!!! Given the huge drop in income following relegation in the early days of the Premier League, many clubs have consistently struggled to keep their heads above the water with most, like us, unable to balance the books (and those that avoided administration only doing so by huge injections of £££ from owners/shareholders/new investors). The recent change on parachute payments might help, but we are still seeing the likes of Bolton run up huge debts following relegation. In his early days I though Lowe had much to be proud of, notably overseeing the move to the new ground (SKY + Council + support certainly helped, but he delivered it) and a decent team on the pitch. In many areas he also dragged us in to the 21st century. Sadly I think like many others in football, his ego then spiralled out of control. He was culpable for a series of poor decisions that led to our relegation in 2005, then for me without new ££££ coming in, or a quick repromotion [sic], then administration was almost inevitable.

You couldn't be more wrong in one post. it is not illegal to trade in debt, and nor is it illegal to trade whilst insolvent. Many companies have quite rightly continued to trade after the cash has run out, and I suggest you read up on this area (and the Blue Sky defence) before you start typing.

Sorry, should have made clear above reply was to SaintRichmond (& Saint86) about counter opinion to interim appointment on page 1

1) no one has confirmed or denied that he did resign 3 months ago 2) even if he did hand his notice in, I would imagine he had a 6 or even 12 months notice period, so his recent departure may still have been premature & somewhat unexpected. 3) I would imagine any replacement of a similar calibre is already in employment and therefore any appointment would have similar issues relating to notice periods, gardening leaves and protracted start dates. I certainly remember a delay when Kenyon moved from United to Chelsea. 4) an interim CEO from within is not overly desireable, but in circumstances like these somewhat inevitable.

But in his defence (and I'm no sycophant), he appointed the managers (and sacked them) and provided the environment and steer in which they and the players operated. Of course he had substantial financial backing which certainly helped, but as we have seen many times in football, purely throwing money at the problem will not guarantee success. I think it would be unfair to overlook his role in breathing life back in to the Club as I think he had a massive influence over the past 4 & a bit years. Certainly made easier with the backing he was given, certainly not irreplaceable and certainly not without his faults (many of which stem from the "ego problem" that somehow seems to afflict anyone who comes in to contact with a. Football club!!). I purposely only put £££££££s on the top line, as like you I'm not sure what the bottom line is saying!!!! The millions in TV monies must help ease the pressures, but not sure what he's been spending to achieve the success!!! As for selling on, it will be an interesting few months.

He's on fecking drugs, and I don't mean speed, but hang on he's only gone and won us a free kick.

But John, the response will be that on balance Cortese delivered more times than he failed and looking at the overall picture he has overseen the conversion of a "basket case" in to a "top flight" Club, and in the process put £££££s on the top line and £££££££s on its valuation. Now of course the financial backing he was able to call on helped, but that in itself did not guarantee success. Personally speaking, I never saw the issues we are talking about as being mutually exclusive as would like to think that you you can run the Club in an effective and efficient manner as well as being true to your customers, supporters and suppliers. But others would argue a few noses out of joint, some hard nosed dealings and a win at all costs mentality is a price worth paying for the transformation in fortunes of our Club.

khao sok is very nice, but make sure you spend a couple of nights on the raft houses on the nearby lake.

Are we really bothered?? Both of them have served our Club well and I would rather move on as opposed to gearing only one side of the story. Both contributed to the petty spat and I would be happier if we just moved on from it all

So we were only living on borrowed time then, and it was inevitable that whenever Cortese decided to go back home the Club spiral in to decline.

Obviously disappointed he has left, and disappointed in the manner as well. He oversaw a dramatic change in fortunes and must be given much of the credit for the huge improvements across the Club. BUT it had to come to an end at some point as with every player, manager, CEO, Chairman & even owner, things don't last forever. This was always going to happen at some point and the Club will survive. I support the Club and always will do. Of course I hope for a great replacement and a continuation of the good times Cortese brought back to the Club, so fingers crossed the short term pain will soon be gone. (PS If some players or the manager use this as an excuse to leave, then fook em, they're not for to wear the shirt).

Im with you on that one. Like a bit of colour and character to our players. I was brought up watching Jm Steele, Steve Williams, Ossie, Mark Dennis, Jimmy Case, Razor et al. Ossie in particular is a legend for sticking up for a young Williams, sticking it to Bailey and then trashing Ewood Park after the match. Much rather someone getting stuck in down the tunnel than an Oscaresque diver.

I wouldn't "blame" anyone, but I do get the OPs point about evaluating the season so far. Always thought our early season position flattered us to some extent. A relatively easy start to the season, combined with a run of confidence and no injuries/suspensions to really worry about. Injuries to key players in a run of tough games that came thick and fast brought us down to earth. Happy with a mid table position, but need to pick things up to some degree to make sure we don't slip down any further.

We could all chip and knock a bit down ourselves, in much the same way as they used to ask for volunteers to clear the snow from The Dell pitch on a Saturday morning before a game.

I don't think its a that outrageous OP (and along with the OP, I hope Pochettino isn't given the elbow). Cortese has extremely high expectations and isn't afraid to make tough/unpopular decisions, so I wouldn't rule it out!!! Obviously depends on the relationship, what the short/medium term plan is and what is minimally acceptable. I wondered aloud in the final weeks of our Championship promotion push as to whether Cortese would relieve Adkins of his role once we had achieved promotion and replace him with a more experienced replacement, and there was a similar response back then!

Not sure if the bloke is interested but my best mate has still got the home bench in his shed!!

I heard it was Steve Sidwell, and the stories are a collection (aka Hotel Babylon & other "xxxxxxx" Babylon books) sourced from acquaintances, friends and players he's played with.