sadoldgit

Here we go again. Go check the other teams that have gone down over the years apart from Man U. Spurs, Leeds, Notts Forest etc. And gues what, not one of those clubs had Lowe as CEO. It was always going to happen to us at some point and how it didn't happen before I don't know. Goodness knows where we would have ended up without MLT for all those years. Most years it seemed that the pundits were tipping us for relegation, even Dave Jones quipped that he thought we were called "Struggling Southampton". Face it, we were a small club with a long histroy in the top flight whose day was going to come and did, just like a host of others clubs our size.

Wasn't he given £6m ???

A wasted opportunity when he was here. With the team fading fast if you were manager would you knock on his door and ask for advice? What was there to lose apart from our Prem status and Harry's ego? I just find it odd that we are so quick to knock down anyone who has any success, I mean it is not as if this club has not needed some of that over the last how many years??? I suspect that he still suffers from his association with Lowe. If he had been a part of the Wilde Bunch I wonder if his arrival would have been greeted differntly by those who think that his methods can't be transferred to other sports? We went down the shoot not because of Woodward but because certain people were too arrogant to let him near the first team. Maybe he would have made a differnce, maybe not, but could he done any worse than Arry? Still, not to worry, he won't be back, nor will anyone of note after the way they get treated by a large percentage of our fans.

Playground mentality again Alpine? You can dish it out but when it all comes rushing back to you you pick up your ball and trot off home.....

No harm in trying to raise the level of debate out of the gutter and away from bigotted, petty minded abuse though is there? It is all too easy to come on these places and spout ill thought out rants as the member we are dealing with here does all too often. I don't know about you, but I feel very uncomfortable when a fellow human being not only delights in seeing another fail, but constantly uses up a lot of time and energy to point any such or alleged failures out to everyone else. It is also easy to peddle third hand internet gossip as fact to back up weak arguements, something else our fellow scribe does on more or less a daily basis. This should be a place where Saints fans can come and deal with the issues surrounding the club without having to wince at the performances from some people who seem to get a kick out of pulling people apart and in wallowing in pessimism and negativity. I have lost count at the number of times Alpine has been banned. Maybe we should adopt the US way forward, three strikes and you are out? Maybe then he will behave himself and treat others with a bit of respect.

Yep, you never fail to let me down Alpine, and you never fail to bite, no matter how many times you say you will no longer respond. Well don't worry, I won't ask you to expand on your subjective, rascist and downright prejudiced opinions any longer. Like most opinionated bullies, instead of responding with a reasoned arguement you completelty sidestep the question and just reaffirm your ignorance by bolstering your orginal position with further abuse aimed elsewhere. England might not look like world beaters but they have maximum points. I know that means nothing to you because you think that a manager that took us to the players offs was a total failure, so no doubt, when we qualify for the next world cup we shall be total failues too. Still, as you have either bailed out of this country (or have been hounded out by your neighbours) I expect that your allegence now lies with that football powerhouse, Austria? Oh, and if you mean by reaching the top pinnicle of your profession, whether that means being the CEO of your company or managing your national football team is seen as making it "big", then yes. I think that most people with a reasonable grasp of basic decsion making would think that was the case. The biggest prize in footballing hisory is the World Cup Alpine. Therefore no manager can claim to be the "world's best" until he has won the world's biggest competition. ps, if you want to throw in winning the Champions league, that excludes clubs from a large percentage of the world.

As much as I can understand why people don't warm to Mr Cole, as long as the manager picks him he is an England player. If we want to win something again we need to support our team (ie the players) while they are playing. If booing ever had a benefit on a teams/players performace then why are teams who are booed regulalry top of the league? Because it doesn't work and it doesn't help. If you are doing a crap job and people come up and slag you off, do you work better or worse? Does your confidence rise or sink and do you feel better about yourself or worse? I know the old arguement that it makes people want to prove the booers wrong. Listen it doesn't work like that. It is ignorant and unhelpful, plain and simple. As for the, "I have paid my money and am entitled to boo brigade", do you boo a horse when it loses a race or a Britsish tennis player when once again they fail to win a majour tournament? No. So why boo a footballer? Whether Cole is good or bad is neither here nor there. I think a lot of it comes down to plain jealousy. He earns shedloads of money for kicking a ball abaout and has a lifestyle (and a fit wife) that 99.9% of the fans can only dream about. Therefore, as soon as he makes a mistake he is fair game. There is a hint in here. It is the word "supporter". The word "supporter" is derived from the word "support". "Support" implies positivity. Where does booing fit in with that ethos?

No bigotry there then Alpine? LOL. And you talk about me lsoing credibility??? You really have no problem at all in slagging off people you have never met and know precious little about do you? And if they are foreign so much the better. If they ever make a movie of Till Death Us Do Part you would be perfect for the Alf Garnett role. Whilst you are at it Geoff, England gave the world Alpine Saint, boy does this country have a lot to answer for. Okay, I am done, feel free to make another comment about my membership status instead of answering the many questions you have either ducked or responded to with racial slurs and general abuse.

The reason Redknapp failed here is because he could not be bothered. In his own words he ddn't know what he was doing here (probably getting back at Mandaric), he always talked about SFC in the third person. THese things had nothing to do with Lowe or Woodward. When Harry could not buy Morrison he gave up the chase for a striker saying he would make do with what he had (in a season when we couldn't score). That had nothing to do with Lowe, who said at the time he was waiting for Redknapp to provide him with a list of targets. On the day before the most crucial game in years (home against Man United) he gave the players a day off. Nice one Harry. That worked a treat. BY all account Redknapp was constantly on the phone to Mandaric whilst here, and who can forget the notorious thumbs up to Mandaric at Fratton Park after Portsmouth had humiliated us? I think that most of us thought that Redknapp could keep us up when he arrived, but he watsed something like £6m on rubbish like Davenport when we were crying out for a decent centre half. I don't believe that he came to deliberatlely sabotage the club, but he surely could not have done much worse if he had.

We were poor for a long time in the Prem but I guess people turned up just to see a Prem game. I used to live in S London and go to Palace with my mates, not because I was interested in Palace but because I wanted to see a Prem game. Less people are interested in CCC footy and what we have now is probably a true refection of the hard core "paying" support. I used to turn up at the gate and get in with my pocket money, now you need a second mortage and a ticket. I am not going to spend the same amount of money going to a football match as I would to a rock concert. I think football has priced itself out of a certain market.

However our manager is right now would have a tough job. This is not about the short term, it is about the long term, but how many fans have any patience beyond the next half a dozen games? Whether you agree with the building on youth strategy or not, I don't see that we have much option. With little money available for new signings JP has to build for the future with what he has and he needs support whilst doing so. Whether he succeeds are not, only time will tell, but I think it is way to early to make any judgements yet. On the up side he does want his sides to play football whereas we could easliy have ended up with someone who just wanted to lump the ball forwar. That is the easy and quick option. As Burley found, it is not easy to get you teams to keep the ball on the ground and play when there is so much at stake. JPs sides seem to want to do that, so perhaps if he can keep working on the football ethic hopefully it will all come right at some point. One thing is for sure, it certainly isn't going to happen overnight or anytime soon.

Burely is obviously not a useless manager. He has a decent record at club level and now manages his country. To say it was all down to Snodin is pure conjecture. As far as I know, Snodin was nowhere near Ipswich when Burley took them up and into Europe. What I would like to know (and I know that I will not get an answer as Alpine avoids all tricky questions) is, given that Redknapp was the manager who took us down, wasted millions of pounds buying poor players, dissed the kids, ignored the advice of a world cup winner and talked about the club in the third party as if he was nothing to do with us, why does Alpine not spill some of his toxic bile on him? Burley has one full season with SFC in which we scored lots of goals, were one of the more entertaining teams in the league and were very unlucky not to make the play offs, yet that is reason the rip him to shreds at EVERY opportunity? Last season Burley lost two of the best defenders in the league and a decent striker, a striker I should add that flourished under Burley's management. A senior exec thens launches into print and effectively says that we are parking our ambition. Yet somehow that is Burely's falut and he is rubbish. Hoddle has the best first 10 game start with 14 points. In Burley's last 10 games he picked up 14 points. Listen to Alpine and youw ould think we were in freefall. No Alpine, we were in freefall after he left. Who can forget that awful game against Bristol Rovers when we had Dodd, Gorman and Pearson at the helm? We bumped along after that and managed to srap together 3 wins which just about kept us up. At the time Burely left we were still within a hand full of points of the play offs. But no, he is rubbish and no amount of debate will persude him otherwise. Despite the fact tht he has met no of these men and does not go to games, Alpine manages to deduce all of this heavy stuff from behind his computer screen. He knows that Burley is apparently a usless Scottish drunk(doesn't that smake to you of bigotry Alpine?) and that Pearson and JP are both decent chaps who are doing great jobs despite everything just by reading third hand stories on the internet. With an ability like that Alpine should be Prime Minister. History Alpine, shows that a) you learn nothing from it and b) your rewrite it constantly from your dingy dungeon bolt hole. I shall now give you an opportunity to prove to all of us doubters that you do, in fact, know what you are talking about. Please provide us all with hard fact to show that it was Snodin rather then Burley who was responsible for getting us to the play offs. That would be proof that Snodin bought the players, trained them, sorted out the tactics, gave the half time talks and decided on the substitutions. Hard proof mind, not just half baked theories that you form in the gloom of your bunker. While you are at it you can throw in your reasoning why, if it was all down to Snodin, he is not the Scottish manager now? Then if that doesn't tax your brain too much, I would like an indepth reasoning behind why you think that it is perfectly okay to come on and make your unpleasant allegations about George Burley but why Harry Redknapp escapes your vitriol. Afterall, everything we read on the interent is true, so good old 'Arry was on the take wasn't he? Surely wedges of cash in brown envelopes is just as big a target as alleged drunkeness Alpine? And if Burley winds you up because he failed to take us up, surely the man who took us down in the first place is more deserving of your attention? If you think people bait you Alpine, why do you think that is? You accuse me of being a bigot yet quit happily come on here and spout bigotry. You do not go to matches yet come and make judgement on the managers when having nothing to found your comments on other then 2nd and 3rd hand stories on the internet. You make judegements (some of the damning and probably libellous) against people you have never, and will never meet, again, just using what you have gleaned from the internet -and you think that is perfectly acceptable. Every time, yes every time Alpine, someone puts you on the spot you sidestep the question and resort to your well honed abuse, smilies or ZZZZs. Your posts are highly subjective and inconsistant and your constant negativity is a drain on the soul. Take your recent classic, two nil up and looking good for a third and all you post was, "I hope we can hang on". Speak volumes about your mindset Alpine and I feel sorry for you and anyone within earshot of you. You seem to revel in doom and gloom and only come alive when things are not going well. There is a little song from the end of The Life of Brian that, everytime you sit down to post, I would like you to sing to yourself Alpine. It goes, "Always look on the bright side of life." Go on, give it a try, let's see if you are capable of lightness, evenhandedness, balance, objectivity and dare I say it, fun?

Still as charming as ever Alpine I see. So you HAVE meet Burley, Pearson and JP and spent time with them both in the office and out on the training ground? That is why you are able to make such an objective judgement about the merits of all three men. Good, I am glad we cleared that up. I am also glad that you think a manager who took us to the play offs is one of the worst we ever had. In that case your list of "worst managers" must be pretty long Alpine. 1.54 points a game, yeah rubbish wasn't it. I suppose Sir Alf Ramsey was rubbish to for failing to beat those pesky West germans in 1970 despite having one of the best squads in the competition. Or every manager that Chelsea have had recently are rubbish for not winning he Champions League? Bigot? Do I come on here and make unfounded slurs against people and their birthplace? No. You are the one that comes on and slags people off matey. Feel free to provide proof of this so called love of the, what, football messiah? I simply point out that the manager who you rate as complete rubbish not counting all of the other slurs about alchohol that you rake up actuall succeeded in his aim of reaching the play offs and may have done so again last season if the club had not sold Bale, Baird and Jones. He is also the manager with the best points per game record. If that is a love affair then I pity your wife Alpine. So then....did he run off with her???

You have Alpine's lack of char so I definately think you two have something going on. Just FYI, I don't think you live in Spain, I was just using your name and applying a litle imgaination to make a point. If you are not anti-Burley why do you continue to rally to Alpine's defence everytime I challenge him on his obsessive hatred of the man? Now back to Alpine. You are still doing it aren't you? When faced with hard facts there is not response other than your usual digs. Tell me, what would you give for 1.54 points a game? Tell me, have you ever actually met all of these men who you have made judgements on or are you just going by what you read on internet forums? Tell me, what do you hate George Burley so much? Did he run off with your wife? Burgle your house? Tell me, why no scorn for all of the other Southampton managers who have failed to deliver success? And just to help me get a fix on where you are coming from, feel free to tell me how many live games you saw under a) Burley b) Pearson and c) JP so that I know that your judgement on their management abilities are based on what you, yourself, have witnessed. Hacienda, let's see if Alpine can manage these questions on his own shall we?

1.54 points per game. That is all the credibility I am interested in.

Ah, Alpine in disguise! What is with you two? Long lost brothers? One in Austria and one in Spain brought back together by Spite-Fuelled Agenda-Ridden Football Fans Reunited? As far as I know, Alpine has never met either Burley, Pearson or JP. Yet he has decided that Pearson and JP are thoroughly decent chaps worthy of his admiration and support and that Burley is fit for nothing but a dog's abuse. What is Burley's crime? Lack of success. I am no spring chicken and in my lifetime the only two managers have given SFC any measure of success. They would be Ted Bates and Lawrie McMenemy. So then, why no bile and hate agenda against all the other manangers that have failed to give us success Alpine/Hacienda? You guys (guy if you are one in the same) need to get out a bit more. Maybe I am not that bright, but I am bright enough to know that this is only football and that most managers at most football clubs will never deliver what the fans clamour for. If you can't see that and have to take your frustations out on a bloke who is only doing a job, then perhaps my Alpine supporting friend, you are not so bright either? By the way Hacienda, for one not so bright, I would gladly have a manager at SFC right now who could deliver 1.54 points a game, wouldn't you?

Would have put money at Alpine biting at this one. LOL at Alpine for ignoring the fact that he got us into the play offs and still has the highest points per game ration of any manager since the war. But hey, why let a few stats get in the way of your agenda eh Alpine? Or perhaps we should just take a random selection of games rather the the whole lot in order to prove our point? BUrley inherited a right mess from Redknapp and it took him a while to turn things around, but turn around they did. We had a great finish to his first season and but for some idiot play from a couple of players would have made the play offs. Indeed, how useless was that? Alpine hero, as much as he might be a nice bloke, only managed what 3 wins out of 13 and damned near took us down. Dump your prejudice for a change and look at the facts.

Which is a huge worry. He says the right things in general terms and perhaps he feels that it is inapproriate to single out one area for critisism, who knows? But we do concded far too easily and the fact that Kelvin has been our best player of late speaks volumes. I have not taken to critising managers over the last few seasons because I think they have a very tough job here and have done what they can with what they have, but I am worried that JP seems happy to bring in more midfield and attacking options whilst not addressing the defensive fralties. Perhaps it is a Dutch thing? For all of the quality players the Dutch had and have they don't have much sliverware to show. Probably the greatest squad ever was the Brazil team in 1970, and they could defend. I am guesing that the plan is to keep a group of youngsters together and spend time moulding them into a team. I can live with that, but if some of these players are not good enough and maybe never will be, I for one would not stick with them. It is always a tough call, but I would rathe see a bunch of old warhorses at the back and use the youth in midfield and upfront for a time. It does nothing fo anyones confidence to see the way that teams cut through us at the back. Lots of work to be done, just hope it is done in the right areas!

My point was that there is a small gap and that we too can climb up there. Will Coventry drop again? Who knows? But they were not doing that great until yesterday were they, for all of the supposed advantages they have over us.

Perhaps he was jumping about when the camera wasn't on him? Really, who cares? Wenger does not leap around much. Would much rather have a manager who thought things through than behaved like a chimpanzee on speed. JP has a lot to think about and a lot to do. Judge him by his results rather than his histronics (or lack of them). It is still early days. Nothing is going to transform this club over night. WE are far from the worst club in this division - sort the defence out and we will do fine. Coventry were down with us and have shot up the table.

Beg Rupert Lowe and Michael Wilde to stay.

Whilst I am sure that no Saints fan wants to see them lose (although there are some on here I wonder about) there is no doubt that some revel in it when we do lose or play badly. They also enjoy finding a scapegoat and ripping the living poo out of him. You find Drama Queens in all walks of life so no surprise then to find a bunch alive and well on here. My ex wife was like that, if there wasn't a drama in her life she would soon create one, thrived on the adreneline you see. I guess you could throw in an element of attention seeking too. Yes football is an emotional game, but there are some people who are able to handle a slump in their clubs fortunes without finding the need to "hate" someone they have never even met or to think that the world was over. You have to take your hat off to the moaning minnies, how they manage to make such distinctions between a set of managers that most have never met on the basis of a load of third hand gossip on an internet forum never fails to amaze me. Another sourse of constant amazement is the notion that when we f**k up, we suddenly become a national laughing stock? Most people outside of the deep South couldn't give a tuppeny one about Southampton Football Club, let alone spare a chuckle ot two at our plight. A couple of wins and the DQs have mellowed a little, but give it one or two bad results and they will be back in droves telling us how the club is "finished", how no one knows what they are doing, how there is no point in even drawing breathe anymore.... Jeez, you guys should come down to my workplace, you would have a field day. It is called the Real World and that is where the real dramas are played out. Don't get me wrong, I think they have every right to feel the way they do, but why do they feel the need to drag every last soul down to their own dark depths? Even my partner's 16 year old son's Goth and Emo mates seem better company than some of the wrist slitters here!!! Lighten up. It is only a game and as such meant to provide a sourse of enjoyment. If you can only find enjoyment through wallowing in despair then perhaps your Saturday afternoon's would be better spent with the Goths and Emos down at the local graveyard?

It is good to see KD proving his detractors wrong. He got some fearful stick on here (as did a previous manager for picking him over Bart) but battled through that and is proving he is a solid, decent pro. Proof if further proof is needed that fans should have nothing to do with running football clubs and picking football teams! I suppose if the Drama Queens on this site can see the merits in a one time nemesis, eventually they might even see that the world will not end tomorrow and SFC are not exactly "finished".

Yep, cos I am the one who wrote the club off after only a few games and said we were finished. Still, I am sure you will find something else to moan about soon.

Blimey I won't be able to come on and say the club is finished tomorrow if we do hold on. Blimey I won't be able to slag off the management if we do hold on. Come on Norwich. Blimey, we can't have the club winning football matches FFS.