Pardew on talksport

[saint_stevo]

If we are not mid-table after a few weeks, AP out

[Clifford Nelson]

Every thread seems to deteriorate into the old mud of yesterday. I'm as responsible as anybody, really, but I just realised that I'm heartily sick and tired of reading about last years scenario yet again.

 

Returning to the thread's early content I'm pleased that Lallana is not being sold, since in his current form and state of mind that is the last we would hear of him. He isn't ready to go anywhere, and a season under AP will do him the world of good.

 

There are other talented youngsters still at the club, but with the possible exception of Gillet and Mills they need a psychological re-building job.

 

I'm struggling in my mind to put out a solid starting eleven which can commence battle towards mid-table by christmas. Kelvin, Perry, Gillett, John, Harding...maybe Wotton, Thomas if he's fit, Schneiderlin, but can he play with Gillett, probably not...I can get part of a bench together with youngsters like Mills and maybe Lancashire, who isn't ready for L1 CB duties yet, but it's awfully thin out there. It's still looking like another 5 or 6 experienced players needed.

 

Good luck AP!

[Lord Duckhunter]

That was in October,and Lowe agreed the new figure.Instead of breaching it why didn't he sell someone in the Jan transfer window?

 

QUOTE]

 

Who and for how much?

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/7873058.stm

[RonManager]

Why does virtually every thread end up in an argument over what happened in the past and in particular about Lowe. He's gone, it's all in the past. Time to look forward with ML and AP in charge. We also must be patient, there is massive rebuilding to be done.

 

I'd like to see a new forum created for pre-ML regime discussions/arguments.

[Greenridge]

Every thread seems to deteriorate into the old mud of yesterday. I'm as responsible as anybody, really, but I just realised that I'm heartily sick and tired of reading about last years scenario yet again.

 

Returning to the thread's early content I'm pleased that Lallana is not being sold, since in his current form and state of mind that is the last we would hear of him. He isn't ready to go anywhere, and a season under AP will do him the world of good.

 

There are other talented youngsters still at the club, but with the possible exception of Gillet and Mills they need a psychological re-building job.

 

I'm struggling in my mind to put out a solid starting eleven which can commence battle towards mid-table by christmas. Kelvin, Perry, Gillett, John, Harding...maybe Wotton, Thomas if he's fit, Schneiderlin, but can he play with Gillett, probably not...I can get part of a bench together with youngsters like Mills and maybe Lancashire, who isn't ready for L1 CB duties yet, but it's awfully thin out there. It's still looking like another 5 or 6 experienced players needed.

 

Good luck AP!

 

Would be interesting if JP Saeijs could be tempted to League 1, as you say we are desperately short on numbers and quality but seems AP is on the case.

[Saint Bowood]

I agree with Ron

 

Marvellous innit....

 

new forum for the highs

old forum for the Lowes

 

( see what I did there - remarkable !)

[Clifford Nelson]

I'd like to see a new forum created for pre-ML regime discussions/arguments.

 

Excellent idea! Somewhere where everyone can go and empty yesterday's bile when the need arises.

[John B]

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/7873058.stm

 

Yes so Wotte

[SaintRichmond]

Why does virtually every thread end up in an argument over what happened in the past and in particular about Lowe. He's gone, it's all in the past. Time to look forward with ML and AP in charge. We also must be patient, there is massive rebuilding to be done.

 

 

 

I agree it's "in the past" ........ but please remember ....... it was all "in the past " before when he left .........

 

...... then a long came Judas Wilde .........

 

So forgive me if I am not a s quick as you to say "he's gone" ....... he's still breathing for a start ......

[RonManager]

I agree with Ron

 

Marvellous innit....

 

new forum for the highs

old forum for the Lowes

 

( see what I did there - remarkable !)

 

I like the Ron Manager/David Coleman fusion thing going on there

[Saint Bowood]

Whitehouse and the ****ehouse - marvellous !

[Junior Mullet]

Sounds good, AP says all the right things.

 

I've been impressed with everything he's said and done so far

 

Good times ahead!

 

Doesnt he remind you a little bit of Pearson in this respect?

 

It's so nice to have a proper football man running the team.

[up and away]

I think the word rape is a bit over the top but or once in my life I'm going to agree with you Richmond.

 

It wasn't JP's or Mw's strategy, it was Lowe's. He did it with perhaps the best of intentions but it was a flawed strategy, he was told as much, and wouldn't listen. Maybe Barclay's made it so that he wouldn't listen.

 

The idea was a mix of youth and experience, but the emphasis was far too much on youth. MW did his best after JP left but let's face it, we were f*cked from the start

 

Either way, it's done, it's dusted we are where we are, rock bottom has come, and hopefully gone now.

 

I can't say the strategy was flawed, it was something forced upon us by our financial circumstances. This was more the case of " a drowning man clutching at straws". When you are in that position you just look at any possible way to get out of the mess and I have no issues with it from that point of view. Still many fail to realise what a financial hole we were in at the start of last season and I could not understand why Barclays had not pulled the plug on us sooner, as they would have done with any other business.

 

We could not sell players, we could not give them away, we could not force them out of the club, so we were stuck with those costs and it's subsequent implications. We could not afford to use these players if they insisted upon their bonuses and all Lowe could do was sell up the youth and whistle in the dark. I have no problems with Lowe regarding this as our fate was sealed before and he was just left with a hope and a prayer that we could develop the youth to plug the financial hole.

 

You can argue the point regarding Pearson or the Dutch, but again given the financial conditions, I can see certain logic in the direction. Lowe was fully aware of the risks as demonstrated by going with Burley previously when the Dutch looked a done deal. Pearsons record with us was such there was no guarantee of doing any better than relegation, when you compared previous results with what might be accomplished, with what he would be left with. Again you have to consider that he would have to be trying to force these players out of the club and not be able to use those insisting upon their bonuses. As many had already said the young players found it all to much, mainly down to the physical demands of the CCC impacting upon form. But again what degree of choice did we have when you could not successfully compete with League 1 clubs for players and with the exception of Perry, no better than the youth we had.

 

Lowe was never the issue this time round, our bed had already been made and it was just a question of taking a line that gave us some chance of getting out of the mess, however limited. Even so I could never see us getting out of this hole long term with the mill stone of the stadium debt. As it is our wildest dreams have come true with Liebherr, even considering League 1 and starting on -10.

[SaintRichmond]

I can't say the strategy was flawed, it was something forced upon us by our financial circumstances. This was more the case of " a drowning man clutching at straws". When you are in that position you just look at any possible way to get out of the mess and I have no issues with it from that point of view. Still many fail to realise what a financial hole we were in at the start of last season and I could not understand why Barclays had not pulled the plug on us sooner, as they would have done with any other business.

 

We could not sell players, we could not give them away, we could not force them out of the club, so we were stuck with those costs and it's subsequent implications. We could not afford to use these players if they insisted upon their bonuses and all Lowe could do was sell up the youth and whistle in the dark. I have no problems with Lowe regarding this as our fate was sealed before and he was just left with a hope and a prayer that we could develop the youth to plug the financial hole.

 

You can argue the point regarding Pearson or the Dutch, but again given the financial conditions, I can see certain logic in the direction. Lowe was fully aware of the risks as demonstrated by going with Burley previously when the Dutch looked a done deal. Pearsons record with us was such there was no guarantee of doing any better than relegation, when you compared previous results with what might be accomplished, with what he would be left with. Again you have to consider that he would have to be trying to force these players out of the club and not be able to use those insisting upon their bonuses. As many had already said the young players found it all to much, mainly down to the physical demands of the CCC impacting upon form. But again what degree of choice did we have when you could not successfully compete with League 1 clubs for players and with the exception of Perry, no better than the youth we had.

 

Lowe was never the issue this time round, our bed had already been made and it was just a question of taking a line that gave us some chance of getting out of the mess, however limited. Even so I could never see us getting out of this hole long term with the mill stone of the stadium debt. As it is our wildest dreams have come true with Liebherr, even considering League 1 and starting on -10.

 

 

 

OK, but go back a little further .......

 

WHY did we find ourselves in Debt ???

 

Why did we find ourselves slipping further into Debt ???

 

IMHO, the fundamental reason was ... we, ie Lowe, did not attract £1 of Investment over ALL of his 12 plus years in charge . FACT

 

It really is ironic, that we only "attracted" Investment, ie Leibherr, when we were massively in debt, on our knees, and in serious jeopardy of going out of Business

 

OK, ML may of got us "on the cheap", but we have (I am told) a level playing field now, with NO debt, and a Stadium which is ours, and a future which looks bright, even in spite of the - 10 points

 

Lowe was always heralded as a Good Businessman ... yet under his "Leadership" he drove us to the brink of extinction

 

I too welcome the New Dawn ......... but never forget the terrible past, and whose actions caused it.

[Steeleye Saint]

RUBBISH !!!!!!!!!! .... That worked then ?????

 

All Lowe did was to virtually DESTROY The Team ...... leaving Youngsters to battle on in the CCC

 

The CCC may not be the Prem, but it si also NOT a bad League, you NEED decent players to survive in it

 

Lowe's "excuse" of reducing the debt also reduced the Quality of the Team, which reduced the performance on the pitch, which reduced the points tally, which reduced the attendance figures, which reduced incoming Revenue, which reduced ANY chance of Really reducing the debt

 

Lowe's "experiment" plus The Dutch Duo. etc. etc WAS the cause of our catastrophic Demise

 

Never Never forget how close Lowe came to Destroying us .........

 

 

...but we have to remember that if Lowe hadn't followed his disastrous policy, and had perhaps kept Nigel Pearson, we may well have survived in the Championship, with higher gates and more income and so possibly might not have gone into admin, and we'd still have him here now!

IMO we had to sink as low as we have to get rid of Lowe and begin a new era with Liebherr and AP.

[once_bitterne]

AP's first comment was that we have a 'dysfunctional' squad!

[krissyboy31]

AP's first comment was that we have a 'dysfunctional' squad!

 

Yes, well we've had that for about 3 years now!

[Charlie Wayman]

AP is bound to say that everything that went before was crap and it's all at rock bottom. It leaves acres of room to squirm later on if things don't go quite according to plan.

 

I do not agree that our youngsters are that bad. Rooney was only 17 when he played in the Prem. We have some very talented kids and if AP succeeds only in demotivating them and ****ing them off, they will seek their futures elsewhere. We've lost quite a few in recent years and the bleeding must be stopped otherwise what on earth is the point of The Academy?

[Frank's cousin]

OK, but go back a little further .......

 

WHY did we find ourselves in Debt ???

 

Why did we find ourselves slipping further into Debt ???

 

IMHO, the fundamental reason was ... we, ie Lowe, did not attract £1 of Investment over ALL of his 12 plus years in charge . FACT

 

It really is ironic, that we only "attracted" Investment, ie Leibherr, when we were massively in debt, on our knees, and in serious jeopardy of going out of Business

 

OK, ML may of got us "on the cheap", but we have (I am told) a level playing field now, with NO debt, and a Stadium which is ours, and a future which looks bright, even in spite of the - 10 points

 

Lowe was always heralded as a Good Businessman ... yet under his "Leadership" he drove us to the brink of extinction

 

I too welcome the New Dawn ......... but never forget the terrible past, and whose actions caused it.

 

NOt quite sure what you mean here - we were a club owned by multiple shareholders - therefore the only INVESTMENT to be attracted would have been if the the shares were sold and the new owner decided to put cash in... or donations - Its why some of us could not understand what Wilde meant by his mythical investors in the wings.... I do now and its called BULLS HIT. I think what continually happens in these debates is that ALL the issues are lumped together and many cloud any reasonabble discussion on the financial debate with the anger that comes from footballing errors - the two are linked, but also seperate. eg we saw that Lowe was a fan of the Dutch system especially Ajax's copnveyor belt of youth development several years ago - he would be into this system for two reasons - providing replacements for first teamers when their agents took them off elsewhere for more money, and because its a revenue stream in itself - as at Ajax with sellling the very best for good money which can be reinvested. As a Strategy its not bad, and I can see the logic in it... It failed though because the youth was ALL we had, not integrated into a maturer squad - the question then is, how much of that was down to the financial need to get rid, and how much choice did LOWE have.

 

How much you blame Lowe for this seems to depend on what you believe about the finance. If you believe that we had enough cash to maintain the majority of the first team squad we had when we survived on the last day and supplement this with a the best of youth, then quite rightly you will think Lowe f***** up in getting rid of Pearson and bringing in the Dutch and also getting rid of experenced players on loans. If you believe that the financial situation was so dire that Lowe was forced to send these players on loan and work only with the cheap kids and thus looked at bringing in a duo with experience of working with kids (in his view) then you will see it differently - two sides and all that.

 

I have no problem with all that, but both sides need to appreciate that WE DO NOT KNOW THE FACTS about the finances or how they influenced the decisions taken... we can only guess..

Edited 24 July, 2009 by Frank's cousin

[S-Clarke]

AP is bound to say that everything that went before was crap and it's all at rock bottom. It leaves acres of room to squirm later on if things don't go quite according to plan.

 

I do not agree that our youngsters are that bad. Rooney was only 17 when he played in the Prem. We have some very talented kids and if AP succeeds only in demotivating them and ****ing them off, they will seek their futures elsewhere. We've lost quite a few in recent years and the bleeding must be stopped otherwise what on earth is the point of The Academy?

 

The point he made was a valid one though. These young kids confidence has been ruined because they were all thrown into a loosing side.

 

A couple of players have come out of this better, i.e James, but the majority of them look a fragile mess (look at lancashire and Thompson a year ago - a huge difference)

 

Yes they're good young players, but they weren't ready for week in week out football last year, a few appearances here and there would have prepared them much better. In a way last year has possibly slowed their progress.

[sotonjoe]

How on earth has a thread about AP talking about our future decended into another argument about Lowe!?!?!? Some of you lot need to give it a rest.

[SaintRichmond]

The point he made was a valid one though. These young kids confidence has been ruined because they were all thrown into a loosing side.

A couple of players have come out of this better, i.e James, but the majority of them look a fragile mess (look at lancashire and Thompson a year ago - a huge difference)

 

Yes they're good young players, but they weren't ready for week in week out football last year, a few appearances here and there would have prepared them much better. In a way last year has possibly slowed their progress.

 

 

Completely agree with that ............

 

...... A Bridge too far so to speak ..... it will take a long time and patient " Counselling " to restore their confidences now

 

An absolute tragic mis -use of some very very good young Footballers IMHO

[eelpie]

Would be interesting if JP Saeijs could be tempted to League 1, as you say we are desperately short on numbers and quality but seems AP is on the case.

 

I think Saeijs is our single most significant loss from last season's squad.

[Baird of the land]

Originally posted by S Clarke "Yes they're good young players, but they weren't ready for week in week out football last year, a few appearances here and there would have prepared them much better. In a way last year has possibly slowed their progress."

 

Which of the youngsters played week in week out. Mcgoldrick(did ok got a move back to the champ). Gillett(did very well), James(got better as the season went on), Lallana(had funny season but think it had more to do with not finding a position to make his own than playing too soon. Sneiderlin(started ok but really had a hard time adjusting to english football once we chnaged the way we were playing post poortvielt)

 

Academy players didn't play regularly

Thomson(handful of games), did ok on loan at bournemouth

Mills(handful of games), did well on loan at s****horpe

White (handful of games), did ok at Shrewsbury

Gobern(handful of games)

Lancashire(handful of games)

Patterson(handful of games)

 

Problem is they played their handful of games in a losing team. More likely why pardews looking to get them playing reserve team football is so he can get some senior players in and get the average age of the first team sqaud up to something reasonable.

[ghq]

Completely agree with that ............

 

...... A Bridge too far so to speak ..... it will take a long time and patient " Counselling " to restore their confidences now

 

An absolute tragic mis -use of some very very good young Footballers IMHO

 

It's easy to be wise after the event, but I will be anyway. I know this is showing my age, but I've seen in their formative years, Paine, Sydenham, Greavesy for Chelsea against Pompey at Fratton Park as a seventeen year old, George Best, Morgan of Man U and the only one not to look like a teenager being 'looked after', Duncan Edwards. Now there is a fair bit of precocius talent amongst those, a lot more than was on show with Saints last season. All of those aforementioned had minders/mentors and were developed into the players they later became. I remember Paine being developed by partnering him with Don Roper, brought back from Arsenal for the job. I can tell you now, as I could have told you

when this silly idea of RLowe's was implemented, we had no T Paine,certainly no Don Roper.

I know this is old hat, but the actions that took place over the years at Saints were heading us in one direction. We've now arrived, and far from being a rocket scientist,or Mystic Meg, if I could see it was wrong why couldn't the experts? Surely we are now

allowed to make the point still, that those of you still defending Lowe's actions do tend to grate a little even at this late date. Having got that off my chest I will be moving on. I hope!

[trousers]

FFS

[eurosaint]

FFS

 

Fabulous, Fascinating Stuff ??????????????

 

[CB Fry]

OK, but go back a little further .......

 

WHY did we find ourselves in Debt ???

 

Why did we find ourselves slipping further into Debt ???

 

IMHO, the fundamental reason was ... we, ie Lowe, did not attract £1 of Investment over ALL of his 12 plus years in charge . FACT

 

It really is ironic, that we only "attracted" Investment, ie Leibherr, when we were massively in debt, on our knees, and in serious jeopardy of going out of Business

 

OK, ML may of got us "on the cheap", but we have (I am told) a level playing field now, with NO debt, and a Stadium which is ours, and a future which looks bright, even in spite of the - 10 points

 

Lowe was always heralded as a Good Businessman ... yet under his "Leadership" he drove us to the brink of extinction

 

I too welcome the New Dawn ......... but never forget the terrible past, and whose actions caused it.

 

 

Oh do shut up you dopey old slag.

[the saint in winchester]

Seems to be suggesting the 'Academy' graduates where promoted before they were ready and indicated they will be taking out of the firing line and replaced with players with more experience.

 

As I see it, the season before last we played the experienced (=expensive) players and only just escaped relegation. Last season our finances dictated that we couldn't afford those players and they were sold or loaned out and we played with the younger (=cheap) players. It was the same on the management side. Poortvliet and Wotte were not necessarily adjudged better than Burley or Pearson, they were simply cheaper.

Now our finances are such that we can again afford to play the experienced (=expensive) players again (or bring in newer experienced players). Sounds like the younger lads will be taking a back seat again?

[CanadaSaint]

FFS

 

If that was intended to convey "For the love of God let's park the pro/anti Rupert sh*t" I'm totally, completely and utterly with you.

 

Keeping that futile debate going at every opportunity suggests a simple mind.

 

And that's being kind.

[Capel Saint]

NOt quite sure what you mean here - we were a club owned by multiple shareholders - therefore the only INVESTMENT to be attracted would have been if the the shares were sold and the new owner decided to put cash in... or donations - Its why some of us could not understand what Wilde meant by his mythical investors in the wings.... I do now and its called BULLS HIT. I think what continually happens in these debates is that ALL the issues are lumped together and many cloud any reasonabble discussion on the financial debate with the anger that comes from footballing errors - the two are linked, but also seperate. eg we saw that Lowe was a fan of the Dutch system especially Ajax's copnveyor belt of youth development several years ago - he would be into this system for two reasons - providing replacements for first teamers when their agents took them off elsewhere for more money, and because its a revenue stream in itself - as at Ajax with sellling the very best for good money which can be reinvested. As a Strategy its not bad, and I can see the logic in it... It failed though because the youth was ALL we had, not integrated into a maturer squad - the question then is, how much of that was down to the financial need to get rid, and how much choice did LOWE have.

 

How much you blame Lowe for this seems to depend on what you believe about the finance. If you believe that we had enough cash to maintain the majority of the first team squad we had when we survived on the last day and supplement this with a the best of youth, then quite rightly you will think Lowe f***** up in getting rid of Pearson and bringing in the Dutch and also getting rid of experenced players on loans. If you believe that the financial situation was so dire that Lowe was forced to send these players on loan and work only with the cheap kids and thus looked at bringing in a duo with experience of working with kids (in his view) then you will see it differently - two sides and all that.

 

I have no problem with all that, but both sides need to appreciate that WE DO NOT KNOW THE FACTS about the finances or how they influenced the decisions taken... we can only guess..

 

Indeed we don't know the financial goings on at the club but I believe that the financial problem was simply that the club was run by a plc structure. This proved disastrous as it meant the power was shared through various factions who in the end, as we all know, kept arguing and stabbing each other in the back. This led to the chaos on the pitch with the reduction of quality on the pitch, no investment and different people 'playing with the train set' and subsequent relagations.

 

The plc structure had to go before Saints were ever going to rise again and the only realistic way to get rid of it was to go through the painful and worrying process of administration because no serious investor was going to splash the cash if they had to buy million of shares from the shareholders, if they were willing to sell to that individual in the first place.

 

So pleased the club is back in private hands and can be run in a professional manner and this great club can be rebuilt and moved forward after years of mis-mamangement.

[Wes Tender]

As I see it, the season before last we played the experienced (=expensive) players and only just escaped relegation. Last season our finances dictated that we couldn't afford those players and they were sold or loaned out and we played with the younger (=cheap) players. It was the same on the management side. Poortvliet and Wotte were not necessarily adjudged better than Burley or Pearson, they were simply cheaper.

Now our finances are such that we can again afford to play the experienced (=expensive) players again (or bring in newer experienced players). Sounds like the younger lads will be taking a back seat again?

 

Why? Surely the best adage is that if a player is good enough, he is old enough. When we played mostly the youngsters we were unbalanced. The same with playing the oldies. Why can't we have a blend of older, more experienced players alongside some exciting youngsters with speed and ambition? Leicester got out of this division with precisely such a blend.

[Toadhall Saint]

AP's first comment was that we have a 'dysfunctional' squad!

 

And going on results he's right a "functional" squad would have kept us up.

[Saint George]

AP's first comment was that we have a 'dysfunctional' squad!

 

If he were to read this thread and one or two others, he'd prolly conclude we have a dysfunctional fan base to go with it!

 

FFS! Here we are on the dawn of a fantastic new era and all some peeps want to do is continue bleating about Lowe

 

Let it go and move on FFS!!!

[sussexsaint]

I figued the 5 year plan was

 

2 years L1

2 Years Champ

1year Prem

 

In that case there is no point splashing cash too soon - just get the team functioning as a unit and building back up from the very bottom of the bottom

 

I think people who seriously think we will be top 2 by the end of the season are deluded

[Thedelldays]

I figued the 5 year plan was

 

2 years L1

2 Years Champ

1year Prem

 

In that case there is no point splashing cash too soon - just get the team functioning as a unit and building back up from the very bottom of the bottom

 

I think people who seriously think we will be top 2 by the end of the season are deluded

who has said this..?

[John B]

who has said this..?

 

I dont think anybody said it

 

It is just the expectations of the posters

[RonManager]

I dont think anybody said it

 

It is just the expectations of the posters

 

I did and I'm never wrong

[Kingsland Red]

As I see it RL attempted two conflicting strategies at the same time.

 

1 - Cost cutting - which required a manager able to put together a side with cheap players from lower divisions ( Not a Dutch manager with no UK player knowledge)

 

2 - Total ( Dutch ) football - which required an intelligent bunch of players able to move around a field like Ajax did the other day. Several of their team played in virtually every position during the game. ( Not kids starting out)

 

As mentioned elsewhere we all foresaw disaster on here this time last year.

[OldNick]

Oh do shut up you dopey old slag.

Lol.

[OldNick]

OK, but go back a little further .......

 

WHY did we find ourselves in Debt ???

 

Why did we find ourselves slipping further into Debt ???

 

IMHO, the fundamental reason was ... we, ie Lowe, did not attract £1 of Investment over ALL of his 12 plus years in charge . FACT

 

It really is ironic, that we only "attracted" Investment, ie Leibherr, when we were massively in debt, on our knees, and in serious jeopardy of going out of Business

 

OK, ML may of got us "on the cheap", but we have (I am told) a level playing field now, with NO debt, and a Stadium which is ours, and a future which looks bright, even in spite of the - 10 points

 

Lowe was always heralded as a Good Businessman ... yet under his "Leadership" he drove us to the brink of extinction

 

I too welcome the New Dawn ......... but never forget the terrible past, and whose actions caused it.

It takes a long time for things to sink in doesn't it. RL is gone, he is history he is a dead parrot,now forget him.He is not the bogey man and still at the club and he's not hiding under your bed.Give us some peace FFS.

[VectisSaint]

I dont think that is fair.

 

The whole object last season was to reduce the wage bill and try and keep out of administration.

 

 

JP and MW were thought to be the best to achieve this strategy.

 

 

If we were not in such a bad financial situation the strategy would not have been adopted

Only by people who knew little about football, unfortunately specifically our dear departed Chairman. If this was the strategy we already had a much better person in charge with much more experience working with kids and able to blend with some cheap experience, but thats water under the bridge now sadly

[eelpie]

AP is bound to say that everything that went before was crap and it's all at rock bottom. It leaves acres of room to squirm later on if things don't go quite according to plan.

 

I do not agree that our youngsters are that bad. Rooney was only 17 when he played in the Prem. We have some very talented kids and if AP succeeds only in demotivating them and ****ing them off, they will seek their futures elsewhere. We've lost quite a few in recent years and the bleeding must be stopped otherwise what on earth is the point of The Academy?

 

We do have talented lads, but their confidence is shot. It's back to the drawing board with many of them, while they rehab. Then they need to be re-introduced into the squad gradually with Senior mentors, as and when appropriate.

[eelpie]

It takes a long time for things to sink in doesn't it. RL is gone, he is history he is a dead parrot,now forget him.He is not the bogey man and still at the club and he's not hiding under your bed.Give us some peace FFS.

 

Unfortunately Lowe's shadow is still here because we have the -10 points hanging over us like the Sword of Damacles. Not until we are mathematically safe will his legacy be truly behind us. Until then, possibility of a third relegation is a spectre that haunts.

[CB Fry]

We have some very talented kids and if AP succeeds only in demotivating them and ****ing them off, they will seek their futures elsewhere.

 

 

Not quite sure who these talented kids are and I don't want them to get in the side on talent alone. If they want to squinney off because their manager gives them a rollocking then **** them. Why should the manager lay out the red carpet to the first team?

 

Ever heard of fighting for your place?

 

They can all seek employment elsewhere if they like. If Pardew gets us into play offs this season with not one academy lad playing a single minute of football I'd be as happy as larry.

 

Every club's fanbase is guilty of over hyping their own kids but at SFC it has reached religous cult levels. I was hoping the JP MW experient might have killed it off but I see the feeling still lingers.

 

Earn your place.

[NickG]

thought he was complimentary about the younger players - talented and technically good.

 

Said they lacked the knowledge to work when things went wrong or close a game out and that is why he would ease them in

[Redondo Saint]

Yes a strategy based on saving money nothing to do with football

 

What?

 

Money has everything to do with football.

[Thedelldays]

Not quite sure who these talented kids are and I don't want them to get in the side on talent alone. If they want to squinney off because their manager gives them a rollocking then **** them. Why should the manager lay out the red carpet to the first team?

 

Ever heard of fighting for your place?

 

They can all seek employment elsewhere if they like. If Pardew gets us into play offs this season with not one academy lad playing a single minute of football I'd be as happy as larry.

 

Every club's fanbase is guilty of over hyping their own kids but at SFC it has reached religous cult levels. I was hoping the JP MW experient might have killed it off but I see the feeling still lingers.

 

Earn your place.

 

all too true

[John B]

What?

 

Money has everything to do with football.

 

They wanted to save money in order to reduce the debt

 

Irrelevant of what happened to the team

[ulstersaint]

AP is bound to say that everything that went before was crap and it's all at rock bottom. It leaves acres of room to squirm later on if things don't go quite according to plan.

 

I do not agree that our youngsters are that bad. Rooney was only 17 when he played in the Prem. We have some very talented kids and if AP succeeds only in demotivating them and ****ing them off, they will seek their futures elsewhere. We've lost quite a few in recent years and the bleeding must be stopped otherwise what on earth is the point of The Academy?

 

 

The only Saints youth player to come anywhere near the talent and power of Wayne Rooney when he was aged 17 years was Theo Walcott. The rest of our youth players - with due respect to them - are miles off a comparison with Rooney.