ooohTerryHurlock

Nephew???

Wheres the link griffo?

Steve did you get my message?.... are people going for h/g or s/g boots?

Good job too as we could really do with Drugs scandal as well!

i'm a bit confused as when I spoke to DL on Wednesday he said that the club were sort of shying away from this approach at the moment until the points deduction thing is sorted out - so not quite sure why we have gone direct to 'Bucket Collection' when something more high profile might have been better advise. I suggested that everyone donates a days wages, this would be a catch all situation and relatively means tested. DL also suggested how stretched the staff were in order to organise this so I would suggest we get a fund raising committee sorted pronto - hence also suggesting we rush through the fans parliament, but instead this has been put on the back burner. If we are in a tunnel does anyone know where the light is so we can at least aim in that general direction!

No we would nt .... Summer Signing from the channel islands is a bit of a whizz with the dead ball.... Matt le .... cant remember his lst name but they reckon he can play a bit?

Its people like you that are ****ing our country - so we borrow £24 million off Norwich Union and then we take them for £19million..... Of course they will just forget about..... oh no what they will actually do it probably slide off to the government to get the money from Gordon.... Of course then honest hard working staff at Norwich union will be laid off and put on the doll que. .... Perhaps I am just too moral and straight up to be on here!

I think its a shame cause it was a cracking idea for faraway saints - Its a shame a lot of the ideas are not being utalised.

We owe Aviva £24million - they could probably be encouraged in the current climate to listen to offers of around £20million - Part of that deal being naming rights on the stadium. Lets say we asked them to pay £500 000 over a ten year period - So £5 million - this is then taken off the mortgage debt? So we owe £15 million on the place - If the council Pay half of this £7.5 million and the fans are tasked with raising the rest - We see if Aviva will except this over £2 installments so pay £3.75 million initally - the council pays £3.75 million as well up front. We can raise £3.75 million with pledges and the concert.... I have CB Fry down for four tickets to the concert (he will love it as i am going to throw on a bouncy caslte!) Some charity games and high profile events. This works on all levels: Aviva gets the majority of its money back from a toxic loan that looked like it was going sour . They also get loads, heaps and heaps of positive publicity which must be unheard of in the financial industry at the moment. They also get loads of good will... Don't forget they have a tie to the city as they have big offices here (or did until the recession)... The Council enjoys a surge of positive publicity and really cannot afford for a white elephant like the stadium just to sit there - they also get to use the venue for the events and it can become one of the few jewels in there crown. ..and the Fans well like i said we get to help keep the club we love afloat but somehow get to keep a check on ST/Ticket prices. I know your scheme didn't work but like anything it needs to be publicised and marketed right - maybe you did have a deafening response but maybe no one heard what you were saying over all the othernoise!

So what do you suggest you depressing defeatest - stick it in a bank earning ****e all interest - so some other fat cat bussiness man can **** it off on his pension? Thats what I call obscene - being ridden like a donkey by another bussiness man isnt something that appeals to me. Or do you want to watch the government screw the country into the ground more and watch your money dwindle away with increased cost of living? or do they do something to help save the club they love, and in doing that maybe change the way the club is run in the future? As I have said before you might have a small enough brain not to care about 124 years of history for most people that is one of the most endearing aspects to the club - the fact that we were a little bit dfferent to other clubs. Despite years of profit Margins and targets and share deals and reverse take overs and the like, as soon as the bussiness men have screwed it up with their ego building power struggles; the true routes of the club come to the fore and the family that is Southampton Football Club try to pull together to keep the club going? and you view this as obscene? I struggle to deal with people like you who call themselves a fan of Southampton football club but have nothing in you - no fight, no spunk, to roll your shirt sleeves up and say ... actually this aint going to beat us?.... where has that fight gone? You carp on about people moaning in six months time but that is probably what you will get when another longed for multimillionaire business man takes over the club and starts treating the fans as "customers" again - pushing up prices to recoup their investment and make sure they see a fat enough bottom line to satisfy the trophy Wife and pay for the Aston martin on the drive. If the fans could organise themselves into one group and go to the council with a plan to buy the stadium, the council would surely support this ground swell of opinion and then you are nine tenths of the way to a sollution - and in doing so have a lever to keep a check on ST and Ticket prices. I may be puffed up like a lemon - but I certainly aint green enough to think that some other Bussiness man is going to do or be anything better for Southampton football club, unless we do really strike it lucky and get one of the truly well off ones but do you think they are really queing up to buy a club that is on the verge of dropping into League 1 of the pryamid?? Your right I am puffing myself up because everyday this goes on it just sickens me even more that all the hard work and years of hard graft and loyalty shown to the club by true greats like Le Tiss and Ted Bates has been so badly abused and mis managed - I'm no saviour and I am a bit of a god ****e but as I said to David luker on the phone I will try to help the club in anyway I can to keep it going because it is important to me - One of the true constants in my life - not the be all and end all but important to me. It just fascinates me that there are people like you out there that would rather stick there head in the sand and let some one else sort the mess out - I guess you probably have sloping shoulders and leave parties once the cake has gone? nighty night x

Why don't they share our training facilities? - would make more sense in todays climate.

For someone who has a better grasp of the bigger picture than I do - its quite amazing that you have managed to confuse owning the ground (the main home of our debt) and owning the club - obviously you are looking so far into the future that you cant actually see the wood for the trees!!! - Most of your posts about fundraising hark back to the salaries being paid to players that probably won't be here in a few weeks or months time so how is that seeing the bigger picture or is it some kind or repeat your watching? Quite simply all our problems from the millstone that is SMS - I think with the hepl of AVIVA, The City Council - who cannot affort to loose the ground as the whole regeneration of that area is built around the stadium, and the fans could cobble together the monies to purchase SMS - There is a deal to be done on the ground with AVIVA, and the council are willing to help - so we are not talking of raising £24million ourselves but a %of this amount - YOu say about scraping £1000 here and £1000 there but at the moment Derrys pledge thread has about £700000 pledged - and that is just from those that use the forum. Coupled with some good exhibition matches, a charity concert and donations we could get to the point where we own the stadium and suddenly the club is a more attractive proposition to anywould be investor as there is not this massive debt. We only owe £30 million - Coventry owed that and Didn't own the ricoh - that is council owned andSISA invested there after the clown that ran this club sent them begging. Like I say I think the only Bigger Picture you've seen is the last time you scraped your pocket money together and managed to get into leisure world to see a movie .... now trot on .... some of us have a club to save!

I think you are missing the point - which is so often the case! Some of the 34 potential investors are nothing more than fan groups that are trying to save the club. In some ways some of the stuff suggested is a bit blue peter (thought i woud put that in as you obviously love childrens TV!) but there is enough good will out there and potential funds to get this club back on an even footing. What is being talked about is the very future of the club - a club with what 124 years of history - and something which we can do something about in the short to medium term. Is it possible that we could raise somewhere near £24 million to buy the stadium so that that issue is resolved - i believe that if we co ordinated efforts and liased with the City Council, Aviva, and other groups- then a deal could be done to own the stadium. This then provides a free home for the club to play in. The money can be raised with donations, naming rights, bond schemes, membership levies, input from the council. The debt to Barclays could simply be cleared by the introduction of 320 50 year season tickets at £12500 - that would represent good value to £320 investors. You say fundraising worked at Aldershot and also at York by rattling a bucket - but although there problems and debts were smaller than ours - so indeed was there fanbase and there profile - not sure i remember the Shots winning the cup and haveing European Footballers of the year and Internationals turning out for them every week. We remain a well supported team, and a team that is well connected and dear to a lot of peoples hearts - and the mindless actions of a few clueless so called bussinessmen need not be the end of this club. Anyway I'll let you get back to CBeebies now .... oh and don't be late to bed!

As Terry Wogan says every little helps - don't see you donating anything except constant negativity! Honestly you seam to be the type of person that would moan if you won the fecking lottery - open your eyes, roll your sleeves up and see if you can use your brain - (thats the thing between your ea..... sorry between you thighs that makes you think.....) to come up with one positive post that can help us.... for gods sake man! .... By the way in a crowd of 20K peiople I am sure more than 10 would come on to the pitch to score into the kingsland or northam stands - There would be more than 10 kids that wanted to do it for a start. I said it was n't a million maker but for little work it could bring in a monkey or a rio. thats all.

I think two bites at the cherry is enough for anyone - I bear him no malice but the taxi is at the front door and as Sir Alan says so well - Rupert - YOUR FIRED!

... This is something Dave Luker and I talked about - I think is a fab idea and he said he thought it was a good idea but there are a lot of Logistical reasons why it can't be done - and also the situation with this audit seam to be holding us up. I think the idea of having a ticket sent out that says you were there is a great idea - especially if you are a far way saint in oz or America - but to be honest I was pretty much left with the impression they could n't even afford the stamp! He said the franking machine was broken and they can't even afford to get it fixed - things are very desperate, very depressing really.

I think its his work one = he had never met me and was happy for me to call him on it so can't see the problem with it

I phoned Mr Luker today to have our chat. TBF found him a nice chap and probably appreciated much more the predicament they are in. I think there hands are pretty much tied with regard to the fundraising due to the football league enquiry. A lot of red tape I guess - he left me with the quote that the best way people can help at the moment is by BUYING A TICKET! It appears from the conversation that they are understaffed and doing the best they can in the circumstances - but until the league situation clears itself the fundraising stuff is on the back foot. With regard to auctioning the shirts from the games it appears they simply do not have enough stock! Anyway with regard to his article in January it was pretty much the case that we were somewhat mis informed as to how bad the picture really was - however I did point out that this was in stark contradiction to MW programme notes at the Cardiff game that stated we were having very constructive discussions with our backers - but some four or five weeks later we have gone pop on an overdraft facility that is £100K over limit but some £2million less than at the start of the season - very strange. Mr Luker and I talked for half an hour at length - and I apologised for some of the critisium I levelled at him and appreciate now that he probably isn't as influential as I thought him to be. However I still think some of the decisions made and the plans of action that have been followed are shocking to say the least.

I think you could be right - does this sum up my no drive, no vision view? I think as long as the can stay cocooned in the ticket office and people will just walk up and give them money that will be enough for them. Who did you speak to out of interest? Why have they not rushed throught the steering group for the fan parliment to get a well established link with the fans in place this would have taken some of the pressure off them- its lucky we are only trying to save a football club and not fight a war as there does n't seem to be much dunkirk spirit flowing from the club?

Thought we could have one thread with them on (sorry if this has already been done - but if it has it should be on the first page so it easy to see) My lastest one is Score at St Marys..... run on at half time pay your tenner and score your goal from the penalty spot. Photographer takes a picture (which you can buy for a fiver!) - use both goals to double your money and away you go ..... not a million pound idea I know but it keeps the folding stuff rolling in!

Pretty worried by the constant use of "we" and the "its like a drug once its in your system it wont go away" - as to the "Football Romantic" remark - well that was a classic. Don't ever write him off - he is like a dose of the clap - very nasty and very hard to get shot of!

Dont post ****e then! Leon showed his true character when he stumped up the cash to get the TBS cluster ****ed sorted out - another mess overseen by RL - Ted Bates was the heart and soul (or do you have some perverse opinion on this) of this club and I am sure he is turning in his grave at the moment at what is going on - despite a life times service Lowe sent round the begging buckets to raise cash for the original disgrace of a statue. Also Crouch showed his true metal when he honoured his pledge the sophies gift campaign whilst RL was scoring cheap shots against deposed boards. With regard to LM - he went back to his native north east to manage a club that he percieved could be a massive powerhouse - he had taken us to a place no one thought was possible - in the top 6 or 7 club sides in the english league. The second time he walked out was over a disagreement with RL - so what is your problem with him.

.... But there was time for this at 8.30am yesterday:- Dear "OTH" someone bought to my attention this weekend the number of posts you make with regards to me. I would guess at some point i must have done something to upset you. Please feel free to call me on 02380 71913, or [number removed] or even email me at dluker@saintsfc.co.uk I think i need to clarify what my role at the club actually is for you best wishes David I have emailed him to let him know that I will take him up on the offer of the chat, and it was obviously reassuring that what gets written on here feeds it way back to the club - but honestly is there nothing better to do at the moment? One of my questions that I will put to DL is why are the club so slow to act on the numerous good suggestions that are floated on here - from his notification to me it is obvious that they do keep an eye on what is written on the forum - I eagerly await the discussion! ... By the way i have never met the guy and he has never done me any disservice and from what some have written I understand he is a nice guy, all I have done is questioned his focus and his drive (as also with Leighton Mitchell and also Mark Long... in fact the whole team working under RL and also MW) but his email on monday has done little to change my opinion but I am open minded enough to be convinced otherwise.

I thought that 25000 might be a bit high but I think 20000@750 comes in somewhere near .. but hey you can tinkle with it whichever you want its just an idea. Suggested that the 50 years would be transferable but they would sell and would easily raise nearly £4million on there own.