eelpie

.....and attack.....and midfield. Otherwise we can rest on our laurels.

That collectively makes all us trapped fans scape goats. So Rupert was right. He said it wasn't his fault.

It's usually Friday

I felt the need to post that there is no news today.

This had always puzzled me. I was just wondering if SCW through his contacts was doing his bit to throw us a lifeline. (He does owe us, imho)

I bet it's Friday....

That Crouch is bankrolling the players wages is awesome. He alone is keeping this club afloat at immense personal cost, and if we do somehow survive we will owe him an enormous debt of gratitude, whatever we think of his past role.

I blame Wilde equally for the debacle. Lowe was a plain egotistical 'do no wrong' stupid amateur, completely out of his depth in football matters. Wilde was weak and deceitful. He lied to us.

We seem to win more in our grey away shirt. How about wearing these at home next season, and yellows away?

Foolish too. Barclays deserve to lose out imho.

But we must have applied for inclusion in the Rugby World Cup bid proposals, because St Mary's is one of the proposed stadiums.

True. And haven't we got enough debt without taking on Pompeys as well?

Why are we the most unambitious club in the four divisions? (No need to answer.)

Something I've raised several times (and got shouted down). Even when we were relegated to the old Div 3 South in the fifties we managed 5 home wins. The Dell was a fortress, like Fratton Park is now for Pompey. Close to the pitch and quite steeply raked stands. Frightens the opposition. Compare to St Mary's and you have the answer. It certainly is not the fans.

Because the FA, FL and Premier League don't like us.

Nostalgically that Margaret Rutherford (or was it Alistair Sim?) film, 'The Happiest Days of Your Lives' followed by how I feel now, 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (Ok, so Paul Allen never turned up...)

Are the 'obstacles' to do with the purchase or leasing of the ground, Duncan?

You're right. With better performances and with the anti-Lowe 'stay-aways' in the ground we would have had bigger crowds, so it's anyones guess whether we could have avoided administration altogether. I'm sure though we would not have been in the relegation zone at the end of the season, and probably would have been more than 10 points above the drop zone.

Do they mean 'for once but never again?' Seriously, as you say. ******** to the lot of them!

Handicaps could be linked to players wages. The more a squad costs the greater the handicap.

Traditionally Saints have had a strong but small squad. The quality of the Ted Bates and LM's squads gradually got better on a shoe-string budget. This is the strategy that got us promoted to the top division (twice) and how we survived there. Strachan's teams were based on a core of 16 main players too. Here is where I just don't understand why Lowe changed policy to one of gradually increasing the number of average players in the squad at the expense of quality. Overall costs did not decrease. The consequences were inevitable.

Yes. We would have become insolvent earlier, but we would have been higher up the table because we would have been fielding a much more experienced blend of players, with a much better manager than the hapless Poortvliet - ie Pearson. There should have been more advanced warning that administration was going to be inevitable, giving us time to find a buyer - like Coventry did. And if we did not find a last minute buyer and consequently we were deducted 10 points, we would have probably amassed enough points to avoid the deduction next year in League 1. Does this not answer your question? (PS yes Wilde does share the blame equally)

The way it's going, our nearest top team is going to be Aldershot

Blimey. I don't like the Jack the Ripper analogy. But this is Saints...

On the nail. We are an example to all.