um pahars

I sort of thought he looked a bit shell shocked and unsure of what he could do. But then again, just because you don't throw your arms around, swear, smash tea cups and pace the touchline doesn't make you a bad manager.

And with the same very big IF, if they had taken their gilt edged chances in the first half, then we would have been 5-0 down at the break. Using your IF card, we should have lost that game soemthing like 8-3.

It was phrased as a question as to it's veracity. It may indeed be a fairy story, but there may also be an element of truth in there. One of my biggest worries is the involvement of Lowe in the playing side of things. He stuck his oar in when we had strong managers around, so it would not surprise me if he was doing it again (this time with someone who owes it all to him and someone who might be more amenable to it, having worked on the continent where involvement from above is more accepted). I personally doubt it, but ultimately this argument is redundant until two years down the line, because only history will be able to judge whether or not McGoldrick can make the jump from prolific youth team scorer to doing it in the first team. Which is another problem with the team, the manager, the selectiona nd tactics. Something I alluded to when I said McGoldrick is not the biggest problem, mainly because there are even bigger ones out there.

I have never rated McGoldrick and have been consistent with that from day one. For me he is in the Craig Maskell, Nicky Banger, David Puckett line of players, in that whilst they're definitely beter than me, they're not good enough to play at the top level (or even this level!!!). Is JP his own man, or has Lowe some influence on the team with this story of how McGoldrick is the first name on the team sheet story (which is something I have heard from a number of sources now)? But is McGoldrick's slf indulgence our biggest problem???? Personally, although he is a problem, I don't think he is our biggest problem. For me that is the full backs, the sytem they play in and our general defensive frailties.

I do hope opposition managers don't read this forum but the game plan to beat us is simple. 1. Get the ball out wide and attack their full backs. 2. Get crosses in and hit their far post. 3. Kick Lallana (lean on the other yongsters). 4. When we lose posession, let them fanny about with it in midfield and get back behind the ball and organise the defence.

To be fair to Jan he didn't actually say that, that was the journalists take on it. And having seen some of the other rubbish put up there by the OS "journalistic" team, then I wouldn't read too much into it!!!!!

I would say they were dealt a crap hand!!!!! A club losing £££££'s by the day and a major block of shareholders wanting a ridiculous price for such a loss aking entity. Sales of CCC club's have mainly been for nominal amounts in recent years, so trying to sell one with a £14m price tag is somewhat difficult.

Didn't think Coventry were that good, but what worries me was that they could have been 5 up at half time!!!!!!!!! The defending was very poor and the number times we are being killed by crosses into the box and at the far post is just murdering us. Up front McGoldrick for me is not hte answer. We did not deserve it, but we had a chance to et back in to the game but it was fluffed. We will stay up, mainly because there are three worse teams than us, but if we start selling the only talent we have come January, then we will struggle this season and for future ones.

Methinks you need to have a read of Chapel End Charlie's rather sensible post, because from where I stand you're the only sensationalising stuff and being a drama queen. For some laughable reason you're even dismissing a notion that doesn't exist (i.e. that fans should not be picking football teams). The simple fact is that when he first came here, there were a number of games where he was poor and cost the Club vital points (I can clearly see that QPR blunder in the Kingsland/Chapel corner as if it were yesterday and that was not the only **** up of the period). As a result many fans rightly criticised his poor performances. We all knew that somewhere inside there was a good keeper, (he wouldn't have commanded a £1m+ fee on two occasions otherwise), but the simple fact was that he did not live up to the price tag, nor was he deserving of praise for a number of his games. However, this season he has produced a number of fantastic saves and has delivered a number of very good performances, for which he has been duly praised and quite right too. As a professional player you have to accept the rough with the smooth, and if that is a problem for some players, then I would have to question their mental strength. Player plays well = he receives praise Player plays poorly = he receives criticism What's so wrong with that? And before you drone on about how it might affect his confidence etc etc etc, it's the managers job to motivate players and give them confidence, whereas for time immemorial supporters have walked away from games giving their opinons on how their team and individual players have played.

Would settle for another good performance and think a draw would be a good result. 1-1, coming back from one down.

Well you heard wrong then. Seymour Pierce were contracted in much the same way as Collins Stewart were contracted for the 10 odd years prior to that. They were incentivised to find a buyer for the Club, in much the same way as many clubs have incentivised them, probably because despite the accusations to the contrary, they are one of the best in their field.

He didn't He didn't. Crouch paid 65p a share and Wilde 50p a share, but as I pointed out, because Wilde bought quite a few more shares, his overall loss is higher than Crouch's. A while back I managed to speak to Crouch about this (when the rumours of a major investor was sniffing around) and he declared that he would give his shares away if it was for the good of the Club. Of course it could have just been a hollow promise or seeking brownie points, but I have to say I felt he was very sincere in making the offer.

Well I suggest you go and read my Norwich Match Reaction post then if you want praise where it's due. I also didn't think our performances at the back end of last season were that bad, and compared to the Barnsley game this season (where I was soooo bored) then they were much better. The Ipswich game was on a par with some of the dour stuff served up at the end of Burley's reign (so maybe my ages relates back to that point!).

I would much rather watch a winning team, and I'm sure that the current team won't win as many as that play off team did (if they do then I would only too happily accept you are right). The only way that football teams get judged is by the number of points they amass and 11 points after 9 games (although it is early days) is not a patch on 75 points from 46 games. I've only seen four games so far, but the parts of the first three was some of the worst stuff I have seen for ages. The Norwich game was much, much better, but we have to be consistent and get points on the board if you're going to convince me that this team is better than that play off team. Of course it could be (i.e. it has potential), but as we stand here today the record of the two teams is not comparable.

That's almost as lazy as the line trotted out by a few loons on here that most of us want the Club to lose so "we can be proved right". Complete nonsense and when praise is worthy then I will (and have been) the first to deliver it. I'm sure GM could even dig out some of my old posts where I have been supportive of Lowe and was happy to give him him praise.

I'm sorry but there's a number of people who have contributed to the demise of this Club from Deluded Chairmen, psycophantic Directors, reckless Executives, overpaid prima donnas, disloyal mercenaries, couldn't be ar5ed managers etc etc etc who would be much higher up the list of culpables than the long suffering grass root fans. There have been a number of decisions that have fcuhked this Club over and they all came well before some fans decided to vote with their feet. That's the only decision they've ever made in this sorry tale. Fans not turning up is a result of all of these decisions and it's a bit rich to be blaming them for the current state of the Club. If anything, the supporters are the ony thing that is holding this Club together right now.

Lallana actually blossomed whilst Lowe was away. It was all Dulieu's & Crouch's hard work that has got him to where he is now. They nurtured him and resuced him from obscurity and introduced him into the first team. His first team debut was under Ken. His October 2006 contract was overseen by Ken. His well crafted loans were under Ken. His first goal was under Crouch. It was all the hard work, vision and determination of the Dynamic Duo and their ability to spot a diamond amidst the rough that made Lallana the player he now is.:smt041

With all due respect, the team that reached the play offs a couple of seasons back was obviously much better than the current team (I would wager a bet that the current team don't finish as high as 6th this season). Some of the football that season was also very good (scoring six against Wolves, five against Barnsley et al). Last night was a very good performance (see my report on the match thread where I felt some players deserved 9's), but previously to that I had witnessed too shockingly poor matches at SMS (and was lucky to be away when we were turned over by Blackpool). It was a very good performance and I hope we buid on it, but I just think your claim is slightly OTT.

Indeed:smt053

Did he get a refund?

It would be a big mistake if he did. A double whammy of losing Surman from midfield and having him play poorly again at left back. Looked a different player tonight and back to the form he showed when he first broke into the side. He was such a different player tonight that JP would have to be blind to put him back there again.

Good point. And as for Norwich, we were talking about that tonight and I think alot of that is down to their ground capacity. With about 23,000 for home fans and a good record of season tickets there is mentality of needing a season ticket to ensure you can watch a game (I think they have capped their season tickets at 20,000 this season and so only have a walk up availibility of about 3,000). This perpetuates itself, whereas with us you know you can get a ticket anytime with 30,000 seats, and therefore season tickets aren't needed. And as season tickets underpin attendances it's obvious what happens next.

Just a quick question fo the mods. If I'm a full member and paid up my subs, am I allowed to call a fellow poster a C u next tuesday, or is that still against the rules???? Would rather know upfront than do it and ad then be given some infraction points. CHEERS

He may have looked like Ruel Fox, but he had the skill and composure of George Lawrence meets Ali Dia. In fact, I'd put him on a par with BWP!!!!!!!

Probably about 800. Lookig around the ground was worrying tonight. I particularly didn't like the look af the Junior Saints section which looked almost empty!!!!!!! Coud have done with another home game on Saturday to trade off tonights win.