Saint Fan CaM

Ah, got some commentary now thanks to SaintsTV payment. Wayne Thomas doing good at RB apparently.

Incredible! I went out and signed up to Virgin mobile broadband yesterday to listen to the game and now Solent is not transmitting. So p*ssed off! Come on guys, there's gotta be more links out there surely???

Please - away on hols and need radio station web link for game please!!! Radio Solent not transmitting? Thanks.

We'll be lucky to see one more.

Needed quite urgently TBH. Otherwise AP needs to get another player in quick.

Thats exactly as I would see it to have any chance of a win.

If Wotton plays we'll lose 0-1. If he doesn't play we could win 3-1.

That's what I would like to know. And if not, has he signed somewhere else yet?

I come across very poor CEO's in my line of work and Lowe fits the bill hand in glove. He had no idea how to properly manage a modern multi-million £ business with so many staff, let alone a football club. Portvliet sounds like a typical "victim" in that interview - he self-perpetuated this character attribute while with SFC. And that also made him a loser too unfortunately. I think he lost the plot under Lowe while Lowe groomed Wotte, but of course its clear Lowe also did not empower JP or support him with the tools to do the job at hand (other than to big-up and sell the youth). Wotte is your typical snake-in-the-grass opportunist. Cuddles up to the CEO and tells him all the things he wants to hear. He waits for his boss to fail - waits in the shadows and does nothing to support the business - then steps up to the plate to receive his chance. He has typical "bully" character attributes. The problem with these people is they tend to be all mouth and no substance - the THINK they have the nouse to sort things out, but when the chips are down they're actually no better and sometimes worse. Oh yes, Lowe ran a VERY disfunctional ship. And he has nobody else to blame except himself. JP and Wotte were just the pawns. The one question I cannot reconcile is, why the hell are some of the old Directors still in situ???

My word - with those guys, you would think we would walk all over this league. Trouble is it doesn't seem to work much like that....does it? I am so hopeful of a turn-around game on Saturday. On paper we really should trounce the oppos.

As others have said it's free. A word of warning though- get in before 2.30pm otherwise the security guys will turn your mate away.

Could turn out to be a gem. But it's a risk I'm not sure AP should have taken...time will tell. Strange it's just a loan though-perhaps there is another perm on the way. Not putting my house on it though.

Perhaps we're beginning to see the full extent of the shell of a club Saints have become. And perhaps the sloppy scouting that AP aludes to is another indication of how dire the operational aspects have been allowed to get.

Mmm, very interesting stuff Phil... a simple little search unearthed some very interesting stuff here... http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/dec/10/premierleague For example... "Hero first drew up plans to get into the economic rights business in the summer of 2006, enlisting Elleray as an adviser, along with the Israeli dealmaker Pini Zahavi. Roberts said they held off because of Lord Stevens' bungs inquiry and the murk surrounding the transfer system, but have pressed on since, securing the Emirates NBD investment. They decided not to proceed with Zahavi's involvement because he works as an agent which, Roberts said, could have created conflicts of interest. The Hero fund will pay money directly to clubs here and in Europe, to enable them to buy or retain young players and pay their way in a difficult economic climate. In return the fund will be entitled to a share of the transfer fee when the player is sold — Roberts quoted potential cuts of 10% up to 40%, promising that the deals will be open and above board. The fund will not stipulate that a club must sell a player if a profitable offer comes in, will not charge interest, and will make a loss on players who do not secure lucrative moves." The depth and extent of this are almost too complex to fathom and although not directly linked, it gives a small insight into why a club like Saints might invest in a player like Pulis perhaps?

Andrew Driver at Hearts anyone?

LOL - now I'm scared! :smt118

Oh yes I agree JB we do still need the academy, if only to straighten out and retrain the poor youngsters who have had the first part of their careers ruined by the last 2 odd years of mis-management. While that's happening, the 1st team needs to be injected with new blood to flush through the motivational, cultural and tactical aspects of the team that have been poisoned by the Rupert/Dutch experiment. Oh yeah, and also to get rid of rubbish players like Wotton who can only pass backwards. Now THAT's what I call re-building the club...only time will tell if Markus, Nicola and AP think the same way. If not, I fear for the results and the ability of the team to perform at a level that will overturn -10pts and then play their way to safety this season.

Top post - it's there for all to see and has been for...well...5 years actually. Midfield really has been a complete gash-up of players that could not cut-it as strikers.

Agreed to an extent - it's not just the kids though, 50% of the problem is Wotton who is a very, very long way from being good enough and he needs to be dropped. I think I will lose all hope in AP if Wotton stays in the side alongside Hammond. What I cannot understand though is that I recognised the dire nature of the midfield at Salisbury in pre-season (and when AP was in attedance in the stands)....how long ago was THAT?! And we've only JUST signed Hammond? Perhaps it takes that long to sign Colchester's Captain?!? :confused:

My hope is that Hammond is good enough to be team captain with KD club captain. An ideal combination IMO.

Wow - I think the Mulder and Scully references are starting to get to you Phil!

An excellent point made about the academy and I completely agree about the tail wagging the dog. The solution IMO as I aluded to in my previous post, is that same as you suggest essentially. We HAVE an academy still - trouble is some of them are fulfilling the duties of 1st team players still and this must stop. AP needs to rethink the fundamentals of the 1st team make-up by bringing in the players essential to deploying a side more suited to L1 or CCC and then, only then, will he (we) start to see improved team and individual performances on the pitch.

Having read through the entirety of this thread (mad!) I thought I would add a few comments. I would have thought it was blatantly obvious why some of the players were 'terrified' (although that's not the word I would have used) - put yourself in their shoes - they've been told that their professional training was going to prepare them for great things with the evidence displayed by Walcott et al. They then have two seasons of utilising that training under very underqualified coaches with disastrous results. They are then told to re-think that coaching and its resultant tactics by AP and hey presto it doesn't seem to work. They are, as professionals, suddenly not equipped with the tools to ply their trade! Imagine an apprentice chippy, trained with pro chisels in college, being given a spanner and a screwdriver on day one of his new job in industry to create a professional job of an expensive cabinet - it ain't gonna work and he/she is going to be scared ****less that his career has been built on sand. That's what has happened to our youth players over the last 3 odd years IMO. It has infected the squad. The ONLY way out of this is to take them out of the picture until such time the coaching team has had a chance to sort their training out and they have regained their confidence.

Good post. The above is key - if we have not improved in the areas needed by this time, then I'll be getting quite concerned about the prospects for the season. Xmas window will be too late for us this season due to the -10.