luvaduck

This one is a bit obvious but Bobby Stokes winner in 1976 Travelling up on the train from Central Station - reading all the newspapers and hoping that we would not get hammered Then being behind the goal - the ball seemed to travel in slow motion you knew something would prevent it from going in - either a pigeon would swoop down and puncture the ball or it would hit a divot and be diverted for a Goal Kick And when it did cross the line - absolute mayhem - finished up halfway down the terracing and missed the next five minutes of the game until we all sorted ourselves out!! Absolute Magic

Remember a Cup game against Norwich in the early nineties - first game I took my son to - he was a Liverpool supporter as most young kids were at the time Managed to get tickets in the stand close to the Directors Box Saw a lot of the ball because it spent most of the game level with our eyesight!! Branfoot never understood the concept of FOOTball only LONGball I think next month's game will be more attractive to watch! Thankfully my son was not put off and is now a keen Saints fan

In the interview Fry says that his choice of Pinnacle was one of desperation He needed to get somebody over the line. He hadn’t paid the wages. It was a very difficult time and not paying the staff and keeping everything together to enable it to be sold, it could have fallen apart very easily. Quote – “Whether or not we had preferred options at that point, unfortunately we just didn’t have the luxury of time, so it was really just a case of the first across the line with the non-refundable deposit. “

Sorry try this one!! http://mobile.thisishampshire.net/sport/hampshiresport/4487870.Mark_Fry_reveals_all_about_the_Saints_takeover/

I posted this link earlier http://mobile.thisishampshire.net/sp...ints_takeover/ In the interview Fry answers a lot of the questions especially about the panic around the end of May when the wages weren't paid - but it probably raises other questions as well

I know it is a newspaper but it does suggest it is a face to face interview http://mobile.thisishampshire.net/sport/hampshiresport/4487870.Mark_Fry_reveals_all_about_the_Saints_takeover/

An offer to buy is not a guarantee of immediate cash – and at the end of May that is what Fry needed to keep SFC afloat Here is a link to a timeline of events – obviously only includes events that are in the public domain http://www.thisishampshire.net/sport/4481632.From_the_brink_of_oblivion_to_a_billionaire/ It seems to me that the relevant date is 28th May – the staff have not been paid and Fry asks them to work on for a further week as a gesture of goodwill. He needs to sell Dyer and obviously needs more cash to pay the outstanding wages/debts at the end of the month From memory I seem to recall that although ML/NC had made an offer, Pinnacle (through Crouch) were the only group prepared to pay a NON-RETURNABLE Deposit of £500k within the week. This enabled Fry to pay the wages and keep the company afloat so that our eventual owners could complete the deal Interesting to note that although Pinnacle’s exclusivity ended on 19th June, the staff’s wages were not paid again at the end of June and ML/NC did not complete the deal until 8th July Actually, reading through this timeline has brought back the sense of panic that we now could be in the hands of any number of amateurs !!! Thank God that ML/NC stayed with it!

That’s exactly my point – he took the easy option at that time because he was desperate for cash to keep the club going and Pinnacle/Crouch were the only ones prepared to come up with what he needed. Perhaps he saw the lack of urgency from Cortese/Liebherr as a lack of commitment I am sure that he was also aware of the fans opinions Remember at the time there was the buzz from the fans about MLT being the chairman/figurehead – pity that his backers were amateurs playing at being football club owners We had a lucky escape!!

We have to look at this in perspective. The judges for this award would not have experienced the heart-stopping moments that most of us went through this summer. As objective outsiders what they would see is that a once successful Premiership football club fell on hard times, went into administration, was kept alive throughout the worst part of the year, was successfully sold off to a Swiss Billionaire and is now attracting one of the highest attendances in League One. From an objective point of view that sounds like a successful outcome Remember that Fry’s job was to obtain the best deal for the creditors, not the fans. The simplest (and to him, less stressful and probably also on a time/income basis the most profitable ) would have been to have wound up the company, sold off all the assets individually, pocketed his fee and walked away. But he recognised that there is a hardcore of loyal fans and there was a possibility of selling the company/club as a going concern. To do that the company/club had to generate income throughout the period of administration to pay for the ongoing expenses- that is why we were all asked to turn up in numbers to the last few games of the season But once the season was over there is no income (Bon Jovi are not touring until next year!) but the expenses/wages still have to be paid That is why our “best” players were sold – that is why Crouch put in his first contribution to make sure the wages were paid. From my reading of the situation Fry had got to a stage where unless he received a further contribution he would have had to wind up the company – so he set the target for exclusivity in return for a financial contribution. AS far as I can remember the Swiss Consortium were not ready to make a contribution in that timescale So I don’t think Pinnacle were AWARDED exclusivity, they BOUGHT it when Crouch aligned himself to their bid and stumped up the cash – and Fry had bought himself another month to keep the club going and hope that a sale could go ahead Thankfully Cortese/Liebherr held their nerve and patiently waited until Pinnacle fell apart – true professionals who have dealt with this sort of thing before – which is why our owner is a billionaire!!

Whilst acknowledging that he is not perfect (who is?) I will always be a Lawrie Mac fan because for a certain period he made it respectable to be a Saints fan. I have always been proud to tell people who I support – but I have worked all my life in London alongside supporters of the big clubs – including some who were born on the South Coast but suddenly became Londoners when they moved there. In the early days I received pitying looks when I told them who I supported - but LM and later MLT enabled me to be on (almost) equal terms and the pitying looks stopped – especially after the runners-up year when we finished above all of them!! Just to add fuel to the flames I will post this link which I put on the 19C thread last night http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1158937/THE-LIST-Sportsmails-30-21-greatest-managers-British-football.html

He was offered a "big club" in 1981 - Martin Edwards wanted him at Manchester United -but as far as I remember after a fans campaign in the Echo he turned it down So presumably that indicates another character flaw - like MLT he lacked ambition He then went on to take us back into Europe - two years later runners up to Liverpool taking four points off of them -qualifying for Europe again the following season butwe could not take part because of the ban on English clubs

It certainly is a funny old game I am sorry I did not read this message-board’s small print about choice of source material – which makes it very difficult because most of this country’s national and local press have owners of a right-wing persuasion Also makes it difficult to watch matches on the television which are hosted by Sky – so presumably we should not watch Sky Sports News or Soccer Saturday – and indirectly we should not actually go to the games because the whole system is underpinned by Sky’s money And while we are talking about being whiter than white – George Graham and Terry Venables anyone??

Perhaps after a successful couple of weeks on the field we should be magnanimous and accept the pedantry of Nineteen Canteen (and the other Lawrie Mac detractors) It is obvious that the agent is hyping him up – the book quoted is almost thirty years old – surely only semi-blind Saints Fans wearing red and white tinted spectacles could possibly think that he should be considered one of the best UK football managers .- nobody else could possibly agree with us could they? But before we close this thread just check out this list from March 2009 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1158937/THE-LIST-Sportsmails-30-21-greatest-managers-British-football.html Number 27 Good Night