buctootim

Like people everywhere Lowe is a mixed bag. Some things hes done have come off brilliantly some have been failures. You may or may not like him but only the most deluded believe he has deliberately tried to run the club into the ground. Since its pretty clear he is neither the Angel Gabriel or the Devil incarnate - cant we now just ignore the ownership politics and enjoy the football.

I'm not sure I understand the references to Lilies (the flower for funerals) or to rubber gloves - but I agree with the sentiment.

Didnt think much of their forum or team, but I did like their choice of smilies.

You sure?

Imagine it is part of the Davies deal and he will be used as backup during a long season.

You went to the unveiling of a bus and it was good?? :smt102

Most of us were mouthy at 15 and full of ****e. I wouldnt read too much into it.

Two wins, no Fulthorpe fantasy football takeover and Pompey going down the pan. What a cracking week this is turning out to be.

He's even got the accent already - "I want to play for the first team, but there definitely be competition".

Good match report from a Brummie perspective. Complimentary about Saints and quite funny too. "Just got back from soton so thought I would pass on some thoughts... Blues made several changes from Saturday with Doyle coming in for Taylor in goal, Kelly coming in for Taylor in central defence, Augustien made his debut in central midfield and McSheffrey came in on the right side of midfield. Bent and O'Connor started up front. The first half started very much as the previous encounter at St.Mary's - Southampton played the 'Dutch' system to good effect. They were mobile, first to the challenge and moved the ball around effectively. Blues, on the other hand, played the lesser known 'Sunday League' system. This consisted of Blues players constantly passing the ball to the opposition, hardly moving and, when they did attempt a pass to their own player, invariably it was head or chest high at around 40 miles per hour. It was a pretty sorry performance and when southampton scored I doubt anyone was surprised. It was a good finish by Holmes to the bottom right hand corner giving Doyle no chance but I think Blues defence could have done a little better - the ball seemed to bobble around for an age before the actual goal. The goal didn't seem to have any impact on Blues - Blues constantly changed shape and at times, I couldn't actually tell what system, if any, they were supposed to be playing. At times, Quincy was playing in the middle of a front three with Bent on the left and O'Connor on the right, then he was playing central midfield with Augustien on the left. McSheffrey stayed on the right hand side and had a complete mair. And, even the [upto now] efficient Carsley not having the best of games. I suspect that was due to Augustien but more of that later. O'Connor and Bent tried hard up front but they got little, if any, service. The service they did get was head or chest high at 40 miles per hour. The half time whistle went and to a few boos, off trudged Blues with several players moving quicker than they had all of the first half. Changes at half time were inevitable. Jordan Mutch came on for McSheffrey and super Kev came on for O'Connor. And, for five minutes or so, Blues actually played some nice football - we even got a corner. But then, it all seemed to fall apart again. In the first half we played with 8 players, the second half we played with 9. One of them, McSheffrey was taken off at half time but the other two Quincy and Augustien stayed on the pitch and continued to cause us more problems than southampton did. I think Blues eventually had a shot on goal (Quincy in a positive spell) but the ball didn't bounce to our one other player in the box, Philips, choosing instead to bounce to one of the six southampton players. Stern John came on and southampton showed Blues how to play to a lone striker - funnily enough to his feet so he can hold the ball up and bring in other players. Blues seemed to constantly try the other well known tactic of hoofing the ball up to Bent. Now, Bent has his critics but tonight he did all he could. He harried, chased and I think he won every header but he couldn't do any more with how blues were playing. I think this had to do with the complete ineffectiveness of the midfield. If I had been playing in the back four I would have just lumped it forward because I would know that, if I had given it to one of our midfield players they would have given it straight to southampton. Their second goal was a good finish again into the bottom right corner following some nice football. I don't know who scored. I was numb by then. I think of myself as a fairly positive blues fan but tonight was a little mistifying. I am sure McLeish thought he had enough in the team to at least be competitive and probably beat southampton. He certainly tinkered with the system throughout the game but I wonder whether that was to try and see how he could get the team to function...And, although we lost I suspect he learnt some valuable lessons... I suspect McLeish is wondering whether he has been conned by purchasing Augustien. I am not sure he passed the ball to a blues player all night. ok, ok, that's harsh and I am sure it's down to a lack of match practice and the speed of the game but there will be a nagging doubt of that I am sure. My note to Augustien: Blues play in BLUE (the clue is there). On the other hand Jordan Much made not a bad start and was the one positive for me. If it was a choice between him and augustien for a start in the centre of midfield I would pick Larson. Oh, and then Much. He could do a job for us there and is way ahead of Augustien. There is no doubt that Quincy is quick and skillful. I don't know whether he is trying to hard but, for me, he needs to gel in to the team quickly or he will turn in to a luxury. Too many times, he played impossible balls to team mates and whilst Southampton doubled up on him a lot but too many times tried to beat all the players rather than play the simple ball. That's about it. I am sure tomorrow it won't seem as bad but at this second I am so glad this game only cost a tenner and only took me 30 minutes to get there/back - otherwise I would have been really depressed".

Excellent. Cheers! Just watched it 8 times and now I'm going to watch it again.

I'll be there Saturday. Definitely.

I think you have (at least) two different sorts of fans - those interested in being associated with success and those interested in seeing 'the beautiful game' and having a craick with mates /family on the day. Those motivated by success will come to watch a winning team. They will turn up at games and buy the shirts for their kids but will drift off again when the winning stops. We cant afford to buy the team that will 'guarentee' winning so we cant buy those fans support either. We can however play attract footie and bring back the 'I want to be entertained crowd'.

You think we'll lose to Blackpool at home but win away to Doncaster?

Puts things in perspective. Makes you wonder how long this competition will remain viable for if even CCC fans dont want to turn up. Bit surprising tho considering there is still a UEFA cup place at stake.

My point was not, of course, that fans shouldnt attend away matches. Its simply that refusing to attend home matches and only attending away matches is a perverse form of support in itself - made all the more rich by attacking someone who does hold a season ticket for something they might or might not have said on 606 ages ago.

Agree with that

No, you're a posturer.

Hacienda = Talks but does nothing to help the club when its most in need Scooby = Has stated he has a season ticket Words and actions - wonder which count more.

No. Being principled about it would mean pledging the money saved from a season ticket to a childrens charity or even to buying shares to vote Lowe out. Actually only giving money to Saints rivals whilst criticising others for mere words stinks.

Just pointing out how hypocritical you are.

Less harmful than only giving your money to rival clubs.

Honestly it is really, really simple. I mean REALLY simple: There was some money. It got spent in the past three years. Now there is none. **** or bust has been tried - which is why we are now bust. I know you dont think its fair were not in the prem but the only way we are going to get there is by developing a lot of good young players and selling a few to pay the bills.

I agree. An increasing number of people only want to be associated with a glamorous 'brand' or 'name'. I saw an interesting article a few weeks ago about how Nigerian professional football is being driven to bankruptcy because the locals only want to watch Man U and Chelsea on tv. Many people now choose their team by their success rather by locality. You can blame Lowe, or Sky, or 'the company' or the FA or anybody you like - but really its down to more people now looking for a little bit of reflected glory as they spend money to watch 'their' Man U win another cup on Sky in front of their branded tv and sipping the latest advertised lager. "Havent got Ronaldo and Berbatov in your team? -well f off then" Complaining about the inevitable repecussions of that to the people who are stuggling to deal with the fallout is perverse.

The gates were 6,000 down because people dont want to watch a half arsed team get beaten whilst playing turgid rubbish. Once they see it might actually be a fun way to spend Saturday afternoon again they'll come back. Sure a small minority will always think that bad things that happen in the world can be blamed on one person - a police chief after a bombing; an airline CEO after a crash (notice how the pilot hardly ever gets he blame?). Thats part of the blame culture. Its not the way I choose to live my life.