Capel Saint

I think some fans do need to get a proper perspective and take into account that the start of our season was never going to be spectacular with the combination of some tough starting fixtures, new management, rebuilding a squad and Pardew to try to instill a winning, positive mentality within the team. Time is the key element and if the fans can give Pardew and the coaches a little time (August & September) to hopefully bring in 3-4 new faces, I'm sure the wins will start to come. As i said in another post, most of the teams haven't faced a huge upheavel, like Saints have experienced, during the summer.

It certainly is a concern if AP has started to become tactically inept. One thing to his credit, he is at least trying to get the right players in to strengthen the squad. He has already bought a proper left back, a proper right back, a proven League 1 goal scorer, an attacking midfielder, albeit on loan and hopefully an influencial central midfielder who can break up oppostion attacks and support Saints attacks. Also had Jaidi signed then part of the centre back problem would also have been addressed by now. I think we have to take a pause and remember that the new owners and Pardew have virtually had no time to prepare for this season. Liebherr bought a club with virtually no internal structure (football management staff, scouting network and a depleted and vastly demoralised squad). Pardew, in a short amount of time, not only has to rebuild a squad but get the new players to gel and turn a team that is used to losing into a team that will start believing in themselves and play more positively. I think some of the players need a right royal kick up the backside and to be brought in for extra training sessions and to work on their fitness. I'm not saying Pardew is not at fault for the disappointing start to the season, but there have been a lot more barriers to overcome than most of the other League 1 clubs who have not had the major disruption over the summer than Saints have had. Personally, I am prepared to give Pardew until the end of September to turn things around and continue to strengthen the squad. If not, then questions about Pardews future should be asked.

I reckon it will be Leeds.

I get the impression that Lowe thought the bank were bluffing when they must have warned the club that the loan needed significantly reducing. Otherwise they would have sold players during the January transfer window. Also someone from the club (can't remember who) said at the time that although they had had offers for some players but they didn't have to sell as they thought the offers were far too low.

Some interesting points of discussion being raised here. The Premier League - Its hard to know what the future will be although as the original poster stated, the bubble will either burst or reduce in size. People are switching off to the Premier League in the UK because it is becoming boring. The big 4, Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool tend to dominate and although it will turn into the big 5 this year with Man City spending a large fortune on players. So that leaves the less glamorous clubs to scrap it out for the hope of mid-table safety. Yawn! That is why The Championship is the fifth most watched league in the world. Why? Because no team dominates that league, it is much more competitive where any team can beat any other team on their day and is much more entertaining and that is the key. People like to be entertained and I know the quality of football isn't quite as good but at least it is much more interesting. Players Wages - The PL is becoming unsustainable and there is going to come a time where clubs will simply say 'no' to players wages demands. After all, there are only a few clubs that can afford paying a player £150K a week and it can't continue otherwise more clubs will start to go into administration. The gravy train that the current players and their agents are on needs to stop somehow. Platini - I applaude his motion to limit the number of foreigners allowed in a team, to encourage clubs to produce home-grown talent. Not only will this level the playing field but will improve the national teams. One tiny but significant flaw in this plan is that it would contravene European Employment Law and therefore unless this could be exempted (which I doubt), FIFA/UEFA will be unable to force this through, even if the clubs agree to it.

Spot on! Redknapp always try to buy success rather than graft, working with youngsters and moulding a good team into an excellent team. Yes, you need a bit of money to strengthen here and there but Redknapp just buys. I remeber just before he joined Saints that he enjoys the buzz of buying/selling players. He has only ever been moderately successful if he has access to a lot of funds and BS you are quite right to say that when he leaves a club, they are in a financial mess. Bournemouth, West Ham, Saints, Pompey......the list gets longer. The problem is that he is very media savvy, says the right things and deflects critiscm. He will never admit he's wrong and he will never apologise publicly to any set of fans. For that, he will never gain my respect.

By the sound of your posts I reckon you could do a good job!

Maybe Euell has settled well at Blackpool which can make all the difference to good or bad performances. Still, these are pre-season rather than league games. It will be interesting to see if he scores so many in the CCC. At least we have a squad who want to play for Saints......well almost, barring our Polish striking contingent!

A solid signing who will help galvanise what is currently a weak defence. If Jaidi signs today then it will leave Pardew to concentrate on a striker or two if Rasiak and Saga are very intent on still leaving.

Yes, it would seem imperitive that AP signs two new strikers albeit possibly one of those may be have to be a loan as I wouldn't have thought there are too many decent strikers that haven't found a club. At least we almost have a squad that is accepted to play League 1 football and want to stay at Saints - with the exception of Rasiak and Saga of course. I guess as fans, we have to be patient and leave it to the guys in charge to find the right players whioch is going to take time. This season is going to be consolidation with hopefully a strong push for promotion the following season. It will be interesting to see if the new owner is willing to get his chequebook out.

Yes but to counter balance your statement, there were quite a few of them hoping we didn't go into administration/liquidation.

Interesting, cheers David. I wondered if Saints, once they get the scouting network back up and running, they could find some promising talent that could fit in well at League 1/CCC level who the club could nuture and who would hopefully improve to be good enough at CCC level once we achieve promotion. (Thinking positively here!)

Is there any reason for the decline in quality of players?

I was wondering the other day why Saints haven't been looking at the Scandanavian leagues for players? We used to get players that were fairly cheap and of a good quality Lundekvam, M Svensson, Ostenstad etc. They were used to the faster pace of English football and seemed on the most part to adapt well. Is it because Scandanavian clubs have increased the prices for their players and are now asking silly money? Or is there not the same level of quality players coming through the ranks in these leagues? Any thoughts?

A football legend. A great loss to all. RIP

Because it's a nice market town?

Indeed we don't know the financial goings on at the club but I believe that the financial problem was simply that the club was run by a plc structure. This proved disastrous as it meant the power was shared through various factions who in the end, as we all know, kept arguing and stabbing each other in the back. This led to the chaos on the pitch with the reduction of quality on the pitch, no investment and different people 'playing with the train set' and subsequent relagations. The plc structure had to go before Saints were ever going to rise again and the only realistic way to get rid of it was to go through the painful and worrying process of administration because no serious investor was going to splash the cash if they had to buy million of shares from the shareholders, if they were willing to sell to that individual in the first place. So pleased the club is back in private hands and can be run in a professional manner and this great club can be rebuilt and moved forward after years of mis-mamangement.

Same here! Can't get to the Millwall game unfortunately so Brentford is the first game I will see. There are going to be 8 of us to swell the St Mary's faithful!! COYR!

Yes, there will always be that element of doubt until we see the results roll in after the season is underway. I was certainly nervous when they appointed Strachan but look how successful he was with Saints. I think it all depends on the club and the manager. Sometimes it just clicks and when it does, things go well. Let's hope that Pardew clicks with Saints!

Much more than I was over the last three seasons! Let's hope the club has turned the corner and our new owner can propel Saints back up the Leagues.

Bold decision by the new owner to start a fresh with a new manager and better to do it now rather than part way through a season. Not sorry to see him go. Was financially restricted with who he could buy but clearly showed he did not have the tactical nous when Plan A didn't work. At least for Wotte he will get his 12 month contract paid up and will no doubt find another job soon. Just hope the new owner has someone in mind to take over sooner rather than later. Curbishley, WGS or Tisdale would be good options IMHO. Only problem is I doubt Curbishley would drop down to manage a team in League 1. Mind you, in football, anything could happen.

Fabulous news!! What a relief and let us hope we have now turned the corner! Let's hope the new owner pumps in some cash to strengthen the squad. It will be interesting to see what his plans are for Saints.

Depends how advanced the Swiss deal is. If most of the documents have already been signed then the answer would be a swift 'no'. However, there is always that element of doubt in business until the ink is dry on the contracts.

Don't forget, Sean Davis has also just gone to Bolton, albeit on a free.

Quite agree. Most of the 'poison' walked off when the club went into administration anyway which leaves a club with a modern 32,000 seater stadium, prem quality training facilities, a training ground, youth academy and a decent sized fanbase. Ok, the new owners will have to pay off the negotiated debt be it £15m, £13m, £10m or whatever it may be, but then all is required is investment in the squad and a good manager and things could soon rapidly turn around.