Mowgli

Hurray!! Someone wants to talk about football!!!! I think confidence should be high for this one although we are more likely to get a result if the Owls come to play football. If they come to put men behind the ball we will have to revert to plan B which has so far been very unproductive and certainly not that entertaining. I would not be surprised if Jan went for the same line up. The midfielders at full back seem to be settling a bit (at last) and there is healthy competition for centre back. They even played Jake Thomson at centre back in the reserves during the week (what was that all about??). I've high hopes for Robertson too and although he has not made a huge impact, I don't think he has yet been at full fitness. I would be happy with a 1-0 win providing its an entertaining and hardworking game

Yet another scaremongering statement with absolutely no foundation being put up to run down the club?

It seems a shame to to focus on the loyal / fairweather fan to be honest (even though I did have a quip myself). To be honest Alpine Saint is at least standing up for himself which you won't see others doing. I mentioned it earlier only because the original argument of stayaways - that they would 'never return whislt Lowe and Wilde were at the club' was so pathetic I don't think anyone really bought it. I don't personally see the term plastic fan as a term of abuse, merely accurate. But whether you are a season ticket or a plastic fan, you should get down to the SMS for this game because you will be impressed by what you see from both teams

Best draw possible (other than the same tie away!). If we fill the SMS we'll find out what an insignificant gesture those stayway fans are making. Of course, in reality, most will be there ;~) I just hope it's not on TV (given our record...)

I thought that and, impressed by his 'found Jesus' story I went to hear him talk. It was indeed quite an interesting story (even though I'm not that religious myself) but I was left wondering how much was about his religion and how much was about trying to sell a book. I soon found out. I asked him to sign a copy of his book that I could auction to raise money for a charity that he supported. He did and said ' that's twenty quid please mate....'. I was so gob smacked, I paid it! Back to football - a very average player adored by Pompey fans in the same way that we love Frannie Benali. Cranie had bags of potential but was never really given the extended run of games to develop properly. How he must wish he was part of the youth set up at Saints now. Would have had a much better chance of actually making it.

Great thread (with the one notable exception) and one that does a lot for motivating the fans. Browsing two or three forums, I think this is the last one to recognise that the foundations are being put in place for something quite special in the future. OK, the occasional good performances are still a bit too rare and the results must become more consistent but given what we have at our disposal, it's quite amazing what we have achieved.

This thread should give you a good idea of what a board meeting would be like if the fans ever did take over the club... (joke - before anyone gets too sensitive..)

Calm down everyone. Lowe is only a subject of abuse because there is a set that demand instant success and do not have the intelligence to see a longer term plan let alone understand it. Once we start climbing the crowds will grow. No one will care or notice the stayaway fans. No one will care about Lowe or Wilde. But there will still be the mindless minority who will claim that (a) our success is despite rather than because of Lowe and (b) deny that they said they would never return (lol)

Sorry mate but I think we need to lose fans like you as well. Hell will freeze over before I wish for Saints to lose. I will be there tomorrow. I will enjoy the game. Whatever the result. I think you've forgotten what football is about.

For the first part of this thread there were some good arguments on both sides but then it fell apart. So sad really. I mentioned elsewhere that one good sale a year compensates for our lower attendances. I would expcet three a year to go but given the size (and quality) of our youth conveyor belt I do not see that as a problem. We are building a team for the future but if and when we start to go up in the league we will then have the means to supplement those with good purchases. Lowe has already shown he is prepared to spend significant amounts in the PL but we need to get there first. Of course it will never be as much as we want but that's life. He knows the finances. We do not. I do have an issue with some of the loans. I'm happy with Smith and maybe Robertson who could become permanent signings but the others are short term measures - presumably because JP has asked for more competition for places. The board need to build good relationships with the big clubs so taking their youngsters short term may well help with transfer dealings further down the line. There are a dozen other better ways of running a club but those options are simply not available to us at this point in time. Look on the bright side. We could be witnessing the modern day 'busby babes' ;~)

Actually it still is working. I was thinking about this last night and how much our falling attendances were hurting the club. With around 10,000 less fans that is an average fall in income of £250,000 per game. If you 'cashed in' early and sold morgan now for, say £5m, that would compensate for the attendance shortfall in an entire season. Given the conveyor belt that we have no alternative but to work with at the minute, even two sales a year would keep us financially stable, and give us a good number of remaining youngsters to work with. It might not be pretty but it will keep us solvent. The other plus is seeing our strategy we will get more youngsters signing for us because they know it will get them in the shop window quickly.

He had a decent effect on us when he first started I thought (I'll have to check now) but it did not last. I really like the bloke actually but did not rate him as manager for us and I have to acknowledge, having read Broken Dreams that he is a lucky lucky man .....

Nice to see some fans have equally adapted to the art of spin!

Not a bad analogy but if it was MY restaurant (and this is MY club), I would offer encouraging words to the chef who was clearly trying and not stand up in the middle of the restaurant and hurl abuse at him. That would, after all, say more about me than it would about the chef.

Surely the point is he was poor for us and getting worse. He and BWP seemed unable to co-exist at the club and Nathan was probably the only one we were ever seriously going to get offers for. Hopefully he can get his head straight at Sheffield. Robertson has not really had a chance to shine for us yet apart from his wonder goal but looked useful in the limited sightings I have had. I would certainly rather have him than Dyer at this point in time. Long term, I hope Dyer returns eventually and can get back to his form immediately prior to last seasons injury.

It may be insane but it is real life. After relegation plan A was to use the parachute payment to get back up to the Premiership and quick. There may have been a plan B but the change at board level meant that we pretty much extended Plan A to the point where our financial viability was threatened. Plan C is to get rid of the high earners and develop the youngsters. If we go down with that strategy then so be it but we do not have any real choices. Hopefully we will do enough to just about stay up and build from there. This team a year on could be quite useful whatever division they are in. The vast majority of fans are rightly ****ed off because they want instant success but once you have a plan, you have to stick with it. Particularly when the choices are so limited!

Depends on Barclays .....

It's standard practice at all clubs and I am quite sure even our youngsters knew that before they threw them in the crowd. If I was a player I would be happy to pay it.

This made me smile. We wondered at the beginnnig of the season if one or two youngsters were going to break in the team this year and most bets were on Lallana and McGoldrick getting a regular run out. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to see so many youngsters making a positive impression.

Of course its not FL rules. That's why there is always so much debate about it. But I was surprised the Blades had not put the clause in as Robertson (I think) was saying this week how disappointed he was to miss that game. May be wrong but I thought that was what he said. Rasiak would have played against us had it not been for injury.

Is this life on Mars?

I tried 3 times to think of a suitable response but I honestly don't think you are intellectually capable of even comprehending how wrong this thread is. So why bother. For others, the garden is not rosy; the players need to take a long hard look at themselves. Blaming someone for not spending their money on the things YOU want them to spend it on is pretty ... .....unbelievable. I am starting to think with fans like Snowballs and 70's Mike, we are getting exactly what we deserve this season.

OMG. Has the blame culture has just reached a new low? Please tell me this thread is a wind up.

To be honest I have far more confidence in the future of Saints since Lowe returned and I suspect that the banks have a similar view. I also have a lot more confidence in JP who I find inspirational rather than just an enthusiastic manager like NP. So all in all I'm happy. I don't subscribe to the theory that Lowe is picking the team or keeping the fans away. I am just focused on enjoying the football which will, when it gets a bit more consistent, attract the fans back.