saint1977

To be fair Solent Stars, both sides - Stanley et al and Sundance et al are equally guilty. It's like British newspapers, I don't understand why the likes of the Daily Mail has to be the propaganda arm for a particular political party and only trot out the official line. Why not praise when praise is due and criticise when poor decisions are made and sloppy Government ensues? Likewise, I have praised Lowe in the past for appointing Jones, Hoddle and WGS and for building the stadium to a good budget and schedule. Lowe recieved a lot of praise in the national media at that time too. However, his management appointments (I still say he was unfortunate with Burley) since WGS have been unacceptably poor and he lost a lot of trust after the PR companies involvement in S4E was revealed using club money. I have to say I backed Rupert until that point - I've never been an Askham fan though - but I lost major confidence in him after that and also the wasted first parachute payment season.

The whole system is as rotten as a pear. It's all very well Cameron wanting to make those involved accountable but remember David, Maggie's de-regulation started all of this although this is far from an anti-Tory post as Blair and Brown are even more culpable IMO. Brown in particular has let investment banks and hedge funds dodge tax that most small businesses have had to bear and this is why we've been so popular with the likes of Abramovich. This is a real chance for the Tories to reinvent themselves away from the disasterous later Thatcher years (not the TU-Busting earlier ones) in a One Nation mould and to support people that want to kick on in life whilst shunning big corporations and the creaming off of so much money and assets. Hard work leading to prosperity over greed for the sake of it. State funding of parties and kick the corporates out of UK politics. As for Madoff, he's proof that Wall St/The City is full of manure and it's no better than going into your local branch of Ladbrokes and sticking several Billion on a horse. Real money has to be earned by real work eventually. Bet Coventry fans are fearful now, SISU stand to get decimated by this, if they went into administration that would only leave 2 relegation spots to fight for. Even our green, raw side might stand some chance on those odds.

To be honest, those that think this experiment is going to end in anything other than relegation are probably 5-10% inside SMS and slightly more, maybe 15% on this board. The sad thing is that 3-4 good CCC pros and we could be OK but the balance is wrong and we will not close enough games out over a season. Our away form is very hit and miss, the Reading performance was the high watermark so we need plenty of home wins but we've only had the one and to be honest Norwich were by far the better side before Robertson's corker out of the blue and Skatefanovic's sending off after the penalty award. 9 or 10 isloated wins over a season will not keep us up, however hard earned they are by our youngsters. In particular, the striker situation is worrying and it is hard to see where the goals are going to come from.

It's a very good XMAS destination, Grand Place is superb. I really like the Flemish cities - Bruges is a bit touristy if very pretty but Antwerp and Ghent are my favourites.

Didn't say anywhere that Moss is/was better than Davis, just that he wasn't the worst keeper I'd ever seen and would at least get on the bench. Hiley was a steady RB, not PL standard maybe but I don't remember him embarassing himself or us either and he'd have to be an improvement on Lloyd James. This would free Lloyd to R/M where he would be in my first XI. Colleter was a LB and would do a better job than young Mills who has genuine potential but it's a lot to ask him to be our regular LB in this situation. How much was Colleter's goal V Charlton worth in 98/99? Granted, he was a waste of space under Hoddle but he was 33/34 when we signed him on a free so he did what we needed him to. Great fight with the Notts Forest coaching staff too! Howells and Hughes we'll never know but Hughes did well when fit and was only on a fringe wage, Howells was playing top flight football for more than a decade, we didn't see the best of him bar his goal at Highbury but he couldn't have been a total mug for that time.

Did you go to Brussels or one of the Flemish cities? Belgian food is also v.underrated IMO.

Love the final sentence, CB is on fine form today. Didn't Rupert say at some point "football is a results business"? If we were allowed to keep any of the Surman/Lallana/John/Saga/Rudi money, I'd buy 3-4 experienced CCC animals to kick the younger players remaning some space. All the spin is exactly that, the academy is actually running on empty and there is no "strategy". The plumbing on my sink is knackered, will see if the plumber uses a banana......

5 Live were saying yesterday lunchtime that all did not seem to be well at Blackburn before a ball was even kicked this season. Perhaps his Macclesfield - where he did work wonders to be fair - and MK Dons approach is less effective with multi-millionaries? Blackburn was a bad choice IMO, financially stable but when a medium-sized club has overachieved with one manager who has been there a while - Curbishley at Charlton for example - it can be a poison chalice.

V.True. Even if he joined in 1997, he's still been there getting on for 12 years now and can't hide from responsibility if he's on the board of a limited company and particularly as the equivalent of Head of Finance.

This and Safehands's post below it are totally on the money.

Sums up my feelings very well. JP comes across as a decent bloke, not convinced he's the man for a CCC relegation battle but you won't hear me singing for his head at SMS. That is reserved for our "friends" in the SFC boardroom.

Agree and I'd add Colleter, Hiley and even Howells and David Hughes to that as well. Ripley wasn't my idea of a Saints player but the bloke was a PL regular for many years. Hassan was a super free transfer signing, great memories of the Fez's at Selhurst. Colleter's attitude stank but he'd walk into this side, Hiley was a steady RB and we badly need one of those and Howells had no knees left but would have done a job at this level even so. David Hughes was a real shame - lots of ability and a cracking goal at QPR but he wasn't called the bionic man for nothing!

Good post actually Corp. Do you think that you will be subject to a firesale in the window or will one big player - probably Diarra as there seems to be a clause in his contract - will sacrificed along with 4-5 fringe players? Or do you think that more of the biggest earners - Campbell, Defoe, Crouch, Distin, will have to go?

Cork can play in a number of positions so he could cover a few injuries. Not sure how big their fire sale is going be but the Skates are apprehensive believe me. Claridge said on 5 Live yesterday that they won't go down this year but they are only 5 points above the drop zone and anyone beneath Hull (who unless they do a Reading and lose 8 or 9 on the spin won't go down from 27 points pre-xmas) could easily go down. For all the Redknapp "revolution" at Spurs, they are only a point or 2 above the drop zone after Newcastle's win. What would really kill them is if Diarra is sold and the likes of Defoe start sulking and wanting to leave. They'll stay up if they keep scoring goals with Defoe and Crouch but strikers that score goals in the PL cost money, unless you are canny like Phil Brown.

I think we need to get stuck into them to create the space for Lallana. I wish we had a natural RB as Cork would be my pick to be the DM to disrupt Forest. Mills at LB and Skacel LM so we get some decent distribution. Not sure who I'd play up-front but I'd play 2 as we need the points, toss a coin and see which 2 from 3 you'd get from McG, Robertson and Pekhart.

Sadly I think you have spotted the strategy of Pulis and possibly Hodgson. Trouble is, Rupert was very good at doing it to clubs in trouble at the start of this decade, the low price driven for Higgy from Derby being one example so it's painful to see the tables turned. If Pulis wishes to take Saga or Stern though, he is most welcome!

Looking at the world economy, you may well be right. Coventry must be cacking themselves as hedge funds look set to shrink into a tiny shrub - SISU are not immune - and even Blackburn with the Walker legacy are terrified of relegation. The skates are in awful trouble with a tin shed for a ground and few fixed assets. This doesn't excuse the poor running of SFC since 2004 but I rue the day Abramovich wheeled his roubles into the Chelsea boardroom and ripped the heart of an already top-heavy PL albeit one that was still functional. Look at the state of Liverpool as well.

Saga I don't know about, Rioch was fired over there so a perm deal looks remote. John might be a target for one of the promotion push clubs possibly, I like him but we can't keep both and perhaps neither. With Cork it depends on what he earns at Chelsea I would guess and whether a low-end PL club comes in that will either buy him outright or offer an 100% wage contribution. This is why only having the loan until January was always a calculated risk, it would be hard for a new loan player to arrive and be as effective as Cork has been from game 1 in a relegation battle. I really like Cork but I can't see us being able to afford him.

The only reckless acceptance of Hone et al came from Mike Wilde Jonah as I'm sure you are well aware. Let's see if Mike Wilde wants to answer that question? Thank you for the update on David's start date though.

Do see what you are saying but if various different SLH boards have ignored him, should we have someone in there instead with the clout and personality to stand up to Wilde/Crouch/Hone/Lowe/Askham and make an impact? I do agree with what you are saying in many ways, the Chairman takes the ultimate buck but Jones has been a board member for a long time, before Lowe was even at the club and Secure Retirement had to bail Askham out of a £3m overdraft. I'm not blaming Jones but I do question his long-term effectiveness as a board member.

True, they rely on shorter pacier players like Earnshaw and Tyson. Our defenders may find that easier than a lump like Kuqi but we really have to get stuck into Forest in midfield and exploit the fact that they have even less confidence than us.

I wasn't at those events but BWP and McG have been used as wide forwards/advanced wingers for some home games. It hasn't been particularly successful as both players tend to come infield and clog up where Lallana plays and I'd rather see us get in behind Forest. With our good headers of the ball on loan we can't just float crosses in but I'd like to see us drive efforts across the face of goal and attack the second ball if we can't beat them with height. That way, you bring Surman into play as well if he gets forward.

I hope you are right Chez, I really do because the board seem to pushing him to JP as this season's main striker and we need goals really badly from forward areas to stay up. Trouble is Chez, he's 21 and does have a surprising amount of league experience. I think a bit of competition, if we could send Smith, Pekhart and Robertson back, via a decent loan striker that is better than we already have, might kick McG up the backside a bit. That said, Holmes and McG did link fairly well and we've missed Holmes since he's been out. He might do better in a 4-4-2 but as a lone striker or wide-right, he isn't up to the job, IMO of course.

Sounds like you had a great day out despite the result. The Burnley area is also good for Moorhouses' beers, particularly Black Cat but also the stronger Witches' Pendle Brew which would have helped the first half go a lot faster. Burnley cricket ground also serves real ale I seem to recall, just behind Turf Moor.

Very good question, if anyone is a shareholder and is going, this would be a very good point to raise at the AGM. Let's see how he responds. He is very accountable IMO and I can see why some posters - for different reasons - get frustrated by the heavy focus on Lowe. I don't like Lowe but Jones clearly hasn't performed in his role and should he be allowed to remain in post?