hugh

The only thing from Fry has been that bit in the Echo : Reading this a couple of times and assuming the Echo quote is verbatim, then he seems to be saying that not only is it a show stopper for Pinnacle, but any other purchaser. Therefore it is in Fry's interests to work this through with Pinnacle and the League on Monday. Even if he were to start with another consortium, he would be faced with exactly the same problem with them. Oh yes, source : League to hold emergency board meeting over Saints takeover .

what is the reality here? Fry and Pinnacle are almost over the finishing line, to start again with someone else, so close to the start of the season could very well spell the end of the club. Surely Fry's only real course of action is to work with Pinnacle and the League on Monday to sort whatever the real problem is?

Fergie is very perceptive!

Money - Ratcliffe Chairman - MLT Board - Ratcliffe, Lyneham, Crouch, DOF - Keegan Head Coach - Dowie or Tisdale

Keegan and Tisdale might work. Keegan and Dowie might work. Keegan and Ince would last a month, tops. I just don't see Ince in the equation at all TBH. Too many negatives, his home life/distance, antipathy between MLT and Ince, etc., etc.

In the absence of KK, I would be more than happy with Tisdale. For the benefit of Delldays, I have seen the Tisdale managed Team Bath play four times (I live six miles from Bath) and they were very exciting. Mostly students, Tisdale moulded them into a very effective and attractive team. From reading Ottery's description of Exeter, it seems that he just carried on at Exeter where he left off at Team Bath. Fills me with more enthusiasm for the future than Ince. Ince and Shearer just strike me as the football equivalent of the emperor's new clothes. WTF people see in them God only knows. KK would definitely galvanise the city, but he is flawed. TBH I don't think that would matter at this level. It would still be a short term appointment though. Tisdale being appointed would signal to me that the new board are looking long term, which would be a refreshing change.

LOL! Four minutes for righteous indignation at Nick. You are all too slow today.

To be fair, the Echo are in the same situation as us, not a clue as to what's going on.

The one advantage in having MLT on board is that he will be able to attract players to the club and we do not have to have a celebrity manager to do that. Personally I am comfortable with any of the stated choices, but to be honest appointing Tisdale would tell me that the club has long term plans, rather than short term gain. It is a long, long way to the Premiership.

I was fairly relaxed about the whole Keegan thing. If he becomes manager then great, if not it wouldn't be a disaster. However, now I really, really, really want to see him as manager. :smt045

Oh God, Ince, Noooooooooooo.

Really good read & well laid out. Easy on the eye. Certainly got my attention. If you could consistently keep that standard going, then I would buy it.

We can't knock ourselves out! Can we?! #-o

Both the Admistrators and Pinnacle have been extensively quoted as saying that due diligence has been completed and that the creditors are happy with the offer, so what is going on now has nothing whatsoever to do with the finance, it is purely legal. Anything stating otherwise is simply mischievous muckraking.

My problem is not with Nick's view, seems perfectly valid to me, it is more with how the Echo have presented it. Personally my choice would be between Nigel Adkins or Paul Tisdale, but I am only a fan, what the feck do I know?

I remember talk on here ages ago about a local businessman who was very well off. I think there was something about a publican talking to someone on here. The pub was somewhere in the New Forest area, Lyndhurst maybe. I vaguely thought the bloke was something to do with the chemical industry. Specialised in turning failing companies around. Sorry to be a bit vague, but it was several months ago and I have slept since then....

Whoever the new owner is, he/she will only be news for one microsecond. After that no one will care. We are only a third division outfit after all.

but we didn't did we? It was the parent company, not the football club. As usual the football league changed the rules to suit the circumstance. TBF, I would have been surprised if we had got away with it.

Is that sarcasm then?

Can someone just clear up something for me. Pinnacle have completed due diligence, yes? I thought the payment of the £500,000 was to enable the preferred bidder to do exactly that? Have Pinnacle just paid the £500,000 just to keep the others at bay, to enable them to complete the deal then? Apologies if I have not been paying enough attention.....

Swindon, as it will only take me 30 minutes to get there, which is a good hour less than it takes me to get to St.Mary's. Looking forward to negotiating The Magic Roundabout again. I was one of the first to negotiate it. I had to get from Old Town to Gorse Hill at just before 8am on the first morning. God was that confusing.

Excellent piece TT. My period of Saints addiction almost exactly matches yours. I just hope that better days will be ahead again now.

That is a real downer. I was always proud that we were not one of the herd and went our own way, even if the editorial line left something to be desired at times. The whole "one size fits all" approach of Sky stinks to be quite honest and I can't say that I like the look and feel of the other clubs sites. Locking off a lot of the content to subscribers only seems typical of Sky's whole approach and not really fitting the ethics of the working mans game. In fact I hate what Sky has done to football in general, but that is a whole different thread I feel!

I would be careful about putting too much faith in "plans". I still remember being suckered by Michael Wilde's "plans" .........

I would just like to say how much I have enjoyed this thread for several reasons : 1. The initial post for giving me hope again. 2. For teaching me a lot about grammar and punctuation, that I will now probably ignore. 3. For teaching me a lot about various Irish footballers that I had largely forgotten. 4. For teaching me stuff about U2 that I had mostly ignored in the past.