Lowe did have a point and did do us a favour

[SaintBobby]

All very historical, as others have said. But here's my 2p...

 

I was very supportive of Lowe until the 2003-2004 season and moderately supportive of him until about November last year. I've reached the conclusion that he's like Gordon Brown - he preaches prudence rather than practices it.

 

The "unforgiveables" for me are:

 

1. Botching going into admin so we start next season on -10 rather than taking the hit last season (even if Lowe believed there would be no penalty, he should have pre-empted things and gone into admin 48 hours earlier)

2. Greater prudence should have been practiced to avoid administration. I would have swallowed a viscous austerity package if this had succeeded in fending off administration, but it didn't. This is just incompetent business practice.

3. I'm sceptical about how serious and proficient the SLH board were in attempting to sell the club. Although the 98-day nightmare was protracted, it does seem that there were several parties willing to buy the club. Why were SLH's efforts so pitiful for so long? Even if their aim was to try and maximise their own share values in their own narrow financial interest, they did this very incompetently.

4. Presiding over two relegations and a -10 starting point is a pitiful performance - even if others have contributed to our demise.

 

I know a lot of people are saying that any mention of Lowe should be banned and we should all look to the future. But I'm beginning to take a different view. Now that Lowe is out for good, I find it easier to talk about him rationally. I even find it pleasingly cathartic.

[70's Mike]

Thanks Mike - funny, I was thinking that was an odd statement coming from you!!

 

NO problems i have always tried to be consistent in my dislike of the man, his abilities and legacy

[SW11_Saint]

We are in it, but we do have a rather large paddle

Agreed, or a rather nice life-raft!

[shurlock]

UHm...probably get slated but this is one of the biggest problems I have with these posts - too many dont seem able or willing to take Lowe out of the equation and look at the situation objectively.. Whatever... so the moment anything 'positive' is mentioned, its not analysed or debated rationally, but the thread ends up in too often with OTT emotive boll ox that never actually allows decent discussion.

 

Whatever you think of Lowe's spending policy - and many do believe his prudency was stingy and in effect a false economy as it prevented the necessary squad improvements to keep us up, nor was it supportive enough of good managers to make them want to stay - in effect a policy that 'lacked ambition' - the fact is that whether good or bad in your eyes - we did NOT borrow heavily or increase debt on player transfers and wages - as many other clubs have done.

 

We did borrow heavily to pay for infrastructure - whether you think the stadium was down to others or not is irrelevent, because the funding was still needed and this was approved by that board - so in effect you had a board that refused to borrow funds that would inevitably end up in the pockets of players (wages) or agents or other clubs. The merits of that is another debate... but it did mean that our debt at the time of admin was not a result of reckless spending with no assets, but had provided the infrastructure such as SMS - now stadia are only worth the land they sit on, BUT , remember if a buyer is looking at a club, if that is already in place and part of a cost effective deal, it means a hell of a lot considering our stadium would probably cost in excess of 60 mil to build in todays terms... something a new owner does not have to shell out for.....

 

So in no way can we 'congratulate' Lowe for any benefit we get from the new owners, but it is FAIR to suggest that because the board at the time invested in infrastructure /assets rather than wages - following administration we did have more advantages than many other clubs... we also had many disadvantages such as a crap squad, and -10 points and in div 3 if that helps balance things out, but there is truth in there being a benefit to having already got a new stadium that is picked up for a bargain of about 7mil...

 

Excellent post- its possible to be even-handed, even with such an emotive subject.