Depressed of Shirley

Both us and Sunderland were 6th in Div 2, and both Leeds and Man U were 3rd in Div 1 at the time of the final. As the First Div had 22 teams in it, the gap in both '73 and '76 was 25 places. The Cheats were only 19 places below Chelsea on Sat.

+1, couldn't agree more.

It's got nothing to do with the visiting teams, the reason more people are watching Saints is that it is worth watching after a few seasons of total rubbish.

I think this is the same at St. Mary's, i.e. book in person at the ground, no booking fee. The booking charge is standard for Wembley games, concerts etc, and I would guess this comes from Wembley itself.

And now, the end is near............

So was I.

WBA away in the 76 cup run. Mini bus from The Bitterne Park Hotel.

Sunderland in either 81/82, not sure which. Third game of the season, and they had won their first two. Roker Park was full, and the noise incredible. We won 2-1.

It seems to me that where you stand on this issue depends on your age, and the Saints games you actually went to. For me it is quite simple. In 1976 I saw the greatest moment in the clubs history, and in 1983/84 the greatest season. The one constant from both of these was Lawrie (and Nick Holmes) . Having attended 40 games in 1983/84, I can assure those of you not old enough to have been there, that we were the second best team in England for a whole season. We were undone by injuries to Steve Williams in April, and the fact that Frank Worthington couldn't shoot. In fact without the injury to Williams, we may well have won both the league and cup in that season. Now I agree that you cannot comapre the post Sky era with what went before in terms of money, but to acheive what we did in 83/84, still required a very good manager. I doubt that anyone that Lowe employed could have matched what Lawrie acheived in 83/84. However, for me the debate is whether, as a football fan, you aspire to winning things, or being financially sound as a club, happy to finish 12th. In that respect give me Lawrie's view of the football world than Lowe's any time. I don't believe that Lowe was all bad for the club, but his spiteful actions last summer ensured we would be where we are now. For that reason, I would argue that Lowe lost any previous respect he may have earned, and we are far better off that he's no longer anywhere near the club.

But the point with Rupert is he buys or joins an organisation at the wrong time, and leads them downhill faster than Franz Klammer. One or two **** ups in the current environment you can excuse, but with RL it is everything he touches. Seeing as the only thing going for him is the perception he is a good businessman, the facts show he isn't really any good at all. If he comes anywhere near my firm with a brilliant business plan, and a scheme for world domination, I will prepare for administration immediately.

Rupert Lowe super businessman strikes again, another £400,000 lost. http://www.citywire.co.uk/adviser/-/news/other/content.aspx?ID=340848&re=5518&ea=164555

I am now going on Saturday, firstmatch since Reading.

I think that today was the very last straw for me with this club. I left the game on Saturday unsure about whether to ever return, and today's shambles has pushed me over the edge. To start an AGM by reading an anonymous letter that he had probably written himself was all part of Lowe's strategy to let the meeting descend into farce. Once he had done so, he then smirked as insults were hurled at him, failed to answer most questions, kept repeating that people were entitled to their opinion, and introduced Leon Crouch by saying "lets get Leons point out of the way." The man is clearly mad, and I am more sure than ever that we will be never rid of his influence. At the end of the day, he has won with me. I don't want anything to do with the club whilst it is so divided, and with so little chance of recovering. 40 years of great memories, days out, great friends, and a sense that Southampton Football Club was something to be proud of. I don't expect to be arguing at games with other Saints fans, and even less so at the AGM. Not any more. Rupert Lowe and the other clowns have shown that they have no feeling for the clubs past, nor its future. He is just trying to get back at everyone over his treatment in 2006, and he is not having a penny more out of me to pay for or justify it. The club is in its death throes, and to be honest, I'm not sure I really care anymore. Also NickH, he did read the "letter" at the very start of the meeting, no one had asked him a question, or even thrown coins or abuse at hikm before he read it. He did it to provoke, and it worked.

My point about the fit and proper persons test is not that the PL would object, cos they would welcome Pol Pot, Stalin and Hitler if they backed the 39th game proposal, its that if there has been any lying over ownership, it won't be a slap on the wrists. Nobody outside the PL chairmen, Richard Scudamore and Poopey supporters believes that Daddy has nothing to do with the club. It will finally come out, probably in Israel, but hopefully when Daddy is charged with gun running, junior will walk away, and the club will be left with the debts. I also don't think that anybody believes that the debts are less than £30m, secured on assets that apart from the players are virtually worthless. In the current transfer market, you need to hope that either Chelski or Man City want to buy your players, as noone else will be buying at ful price for some time to come. Then again, you could have our t**t of a Chairman, and you would need to be really worried.

But he could have made a profit already. Say he took out loans on the back of the club, and then pocketed the cash, it would look like a great way of making money from an asset. Of course, this kind of financial trickery could never happen in real life, because if there is one group of people everyone can trust it is Russian businessmen, and their immediate family. Especially as it all appears to be in Trust, and nobody knows who ultimately owns it. The problem for you is that noone knows whether he is a white knight with a love for a crappy football team, or a man who knows how to milk every penny out of a number of gulible people. Also, if it is his Dad who is behind all this, you are likely to get a hefty points deduction, as at the last count he hs lied to the Premier League three times over the ownership.

Ther are several points in this reply that need making. Both Saints and Poopey are similar in terms of crowds. If you build a new stadium of 30-35k you will fill it in the prem, but not in the Championship. There are other premier league teams with similar ridiculous wages, but no-one is sugesting that you could be the only club to see it all disintergrate. The main point is that your owner has been borrowing money against the security of the club, and if he leaves, it is the club that needs to pay it back. This makes a further takeover less likely as whoever takes over needs to repay/guarantee the debts. If he clears off, having mortgaged everything that moves, saggy face will be right behind him, and the whole thing will collapse. The loan taken out last January needs to be repaid, and the balance of some of the transfer fees are also due soon. Still, it could be worse for you, after all, Sol Campbell must have a massive sell on value.