Legod Second Coming

better than sex better than politics better than shopping better than SKY better than Gillettesoccersaturday better than nothing delete as appropriate...

LOL. You're right. I've gone to the dark side...

You misrepresent me TOTALLY. I do remember an 80s era which to me was far more golden than our recent success (2001-2004). My point, and it is valid, Is that no-one called the era of FA Cup Final and 8th in the league - 'a failing regime'... People are choosing not to go now but being disingenuous about their reasons. I cannot see how anyone staing away is achieving anything? All it does is hastens adminstration. If that is people's motivation - fine. It's not something I support, but it is at least valid. But this rubbish about 'not propping up a regime', 'not supporting Lowe' - it's a fallacy. Otherwise, from the minute he arrived the stadium would have been half-empty. AGAIN - I am not here to support Lowe. I am here to ask why people who have enough passion to spend £20 a month on broadband to post about them, £40 a month to watch Jeff Stelling talk about them, and £5 a year to maon about them, can't or won't pay to watch Southampton... If you geniunely believe staying away will rid us of Lowe, good luck. I think we will go into adminsitration as a result. Is that your idea for our future?

This is bonkers. Anyone but Burley was OK. But not anyone who isn't winning every game? So, in other words, we really wanted Ferguson or Mourinho. Not Warnock, but maybe now. Not Davies but maybe now... Lordy, it's comical. Like listening to kids in the playground... my manager's better than yours... Can we at least let the bloke have a dozen games against CC opposition with a handful of experienced players at his disposal and then have an intelligent review? Or can't your knees wait that long...

Giving their all.

Thank you. That is the first really cogent argument I have seen on this subject for some time. I did not go through the previous relegation so perhaps this is my version of your earlier experience. I do not go expecting to see us lose, of course. And I totally understand the motivation of the modern football fan who will ally themselves only with success (perhaps it were ever thus and we never noticed before because we had such a small ground??) What this shows is that there only ever were about 14,000 loyal fans of this club. The kind who will trudge through snow and tears to be there - that's all the city can muster. A vast bulk of the remainder were attracted by the glamour of the Premiership and all that entailed. That's all I want people to admit. That staying away is no protest or principled high office. It is about where we are and what we are. And I agree that winning will bring many of those people back. But only if there is a chance of promotion to the Premiership. Yes, the SFC fans has been kicked in the nuts too often in the recent past. And when we have seen a victory away and people have turned up at home, they have been let down. But someone (and I include you and me in this) needs to establish why we have lost that siege mentality at home, or how it could be recaptured. And my gut feel tells me, bigger crowds would help!! And all we're seeing now is a young team trying their fecking hardest, under pressure and with slimmer support than this club has ever seen. If you know nothing else about me, you will know that I believe in justice and equality. And for the life of me I cannot see that visiting the sins of the father on the son, is in any way shape or form, remotely fair.

That's a very poor argument my friend. There are good and bad businesses. Do you think there is Chairman who does not run his club as a 'business' in some way shape or form? Do you think John Madjeski just signs cheques every week and never asks where the money is going? On whom and why?? I am NOT here to support Lowe. But if you treat supporters as customers you do not do so for the WRONG reasons. Some of the things he did for his customers (and that includes ALL the customers of the club, not just us foot-soldliers) were welcome. In treating the club as a business, he did not make it a failure did he?? Otherwise every club that is run as a business would fail. QPR is a business. Sunderland is a business, etc, etc. I agree that there are people in boardoom who should be considering what THEY can do. But to use the boardroom to justify not suppporting the team? To say 'hahah Rupert, you wanted us to be customers so now we will vote with our feet and support...' Exactly. Support whom? Watch Jeff Stelling maybe? Or Sunderland v Middlesborough?? What?? Call me old-fashioned, but this club could and should be here long after Lowe. I'm not going to tell my grandchildren that it went bust while I was watching Westwood and Garcia... IF it still goes bust. Well, that's life. I tried and still turned out for the REAL REASON I am there - to support the lads who play in the shirt I would kill to wear.

He's already picked Commander Picard...

I don't attach 'blame' to anyone but this is all false argument in my view. For 30 years I have had the misfortune to support this club. No-one EVER put a gun to my head and made me choose this club. Nor did they make me go. But for my sins I'm saddled with it. For some of the time, I have had amazing good fortune. To see Paine, Channon, Ball, Keegan, Moran (my hero), Shearer and recently Le Tiss. I had a Cup Final and a flirt with Europe too. And then it went back to being the dross that was served up for plenty of that time. And still I go. Out of a sense of duty? Maybe. But to suddenly assume a 'customer' mentality is a ****-poor reflection of what this country had become - people interested only in celebrity and success. No-one stayed away in the Premiership when Lowe wasn't investing his money in the club. There are friends of mine who could not get tickets for Cardiff despite the fans who refused to go as their vote against the incumbent board... Fans not paying becuase they are not seeing winning football is an alien concept to me. I stop buying products and services if they are poor. A football club is not an economic purchase, it is a 'spiritual' or 'religious' or 'emotional' one. It is clear that this club needs money. If people think that depriving the club of money will further its success, then so be it. I don't see how it can. If people cannot afford to go, fine. No-one can ever justify the cost of football. But deliberate withdrawal of affordable investment? Hmmm, I have to be convinced this is a cogent argument.

Fulthorpe is either a bullsh!tter or not a fan. If he had the money or the will, he could have been on the phone in June asking how he could help stabilise the club. Surely, we have to forget these false knights and ask what we can do?

The bloke has had SEVEN league matches. And lost three. If he'd lost all of them I'd be sh!tting myself. He may well turn out to be a dog. But to call that now is just too early in my view. What result did Burley achieve against Barnsley at home? And Birminghan were just beaten 1-0 by Blackpool. The bloke and players MUST be given time. If it's all gone TU by November then there is AMPLE time to act - there must be if seven games is enough to make a judgement...

Tell me when this club was well run and by whom? For the period during which it reached it's highest league position for a decade and a Cup Final and Europe perhaps? And what stops you now supporting the same boardroom which delivered that? By whom have you been 'taken for granted'? Which football fans have NOT been taken for granted - name the clubs.

So tell me what being a fan is? Perhaps you could have a sensible debate if that's possible? Tell me, why you and others staying away is benefitting: 1. My club now. 2. My club in the future. 3. The team who play now.

1. Supporting a club only comes down to money IF you cannot afford to go. It is not a trade. I will pay only if we win... 2. I do not care nor have I ever given a to55 who is in the boardroom. I support the club - which to me is the people on the pitch. And a 'thing' which is indefinable which is 'the club', which yes, I will pay to support and keep afloat. 3. Were you asked to pay a bonus to the club for getting to the Cup Final??

Tell me then, what is being a football fan to you?

And thank the fans who kept it afloat for them?? When our club goes bust, you and Alpine will be the first to mourn its passing and blame everyone but the people who decided to deprive it of income at the VERY time its needed most. Quite, quite bizarre and beyond any comprehension to football fans the world over I would imagine.

Lol - suddenly we have 'discerning fans'... Only prepared to go to watch wins. Only prepared to go to be 'entertained'. Well done all the Brian Sewells. It never once crossed my mind watching players like Kenna, Monkou, Tessem, Benali, Heaney, Shipperly... that I wasn't being entertained or watching good football. Just that I was supporting my club and hoping beyond hope for a win. A spectacular win even better.

Not at all friend, the offer's open, I'll have a beer with you next time you can come. I think we have the same sense of humour if not the same optimism... but yin and yang and all that... anyway gotta go, got a motor-racing brother to go and support from 20th on the grid...

LOL, did i liken him?? You get my point I'm sure???

I always do, but not today - family business. U turning down a free ticket?

DD you were proved right once! Doesn't make you the oracle. You were wrong about season one under GB when we made the play-offs... (PS: last season I told you he was a bad manager in July when he bought a midfielder to replace a centre-half!! So we were both right...) As for this season, I have the benefit of Lao-Tse and clairvoyancy and can assure you, we'll be comfortably lower mid-table... Morbid happy-clappy's eh?? Interesting juxtaposition... Now get off your arse and get down to SMS and sit in my seat - I have to go to Silverstone on family business. If you go for me, I'll send you the £24.

Yep, must win game and try something new for the first time in his career... and your logic here friend is what?? We could try Kelvin up front too... How about we simply play like we did against Birmingham and Derby and long spells against Birmingham and QPR??

No, for the most part you will have people call the game as they see it. But the masochists (of which you have sadly fallen foul) will cry armageddon and the fatalists (such as me) will refer you to Doris Day...

That was the only time he was fast then...

Ignoring my incoherence... Firstly, I'm not sure that the plan is all that experimental. OK, the manager has no experience in this league. The overall plan is, however, pretty straightforward and has been the bedrock of success for many clubs over the years - some with great success, notably Arsenal and Ajax. I also think that people have taken the 'total football' too literally. We don't play the Dutch total football of the mid-70s. Even the Dutch didn't play it. What they had was Johann Cruyff - arguably and rightly, the most versatile, skillful footballer ever - really, knocked Best into a ****ed hat, Pele nowhere near - both by their own admission. So around Cruyff, they encouraged footballers who were confident on the ball, who would pass and move, pass and move. At the same time, in England, Liverpool played a very similar game. All my youth I can remember people referring to Liverpool's 'little triangles' - when one man has the ball, he always had two options to pass to. It worked. It still does. The best football teams play good football - in simple terms they are comfortable on the ball and giving it to one another. What formation they use, really doesn't matter. You can have 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 4-5-1... if your players do not want, covet and use the ball, you are wasting your time. For my money, far from being 'experimental' this is about getting back to the basics of football - players with technical skill making the ball do the work. Yes, at times, our players are making mistakes. But if Simon Gillet in any formation gives the ball away to a man running onto our defence, it will spell trouble. Ahah, you say - what if Safri had been playing the ball out - a proven experienced pro. Answer? He may or may not have given the ball away. Put it this way, Jhon Viafara should have worked for SportsWorld he gave the thing away so often... So, to me, at least we have a plan. And that's how all good things start. We won the Ashes not by selecting the best 11 to play Bangladesh at the expense of all else, but by restructuring the league system, introducing an Acadmey, central contracts etc. Did it stop us beating Bangladesh? No. Does our long term plan stop us beating Barnsley today? No. Ah, but the manager. He is unproven... True. But neither did he relegate Coventry...