Ward Prowse / Rupert Lowe

[Frank's cousin]

But SCW ended up as our Director of Football!!! a long way from just being in charge of Sports Science (and as came out in the wash later, the plan was for him to become Manager).

 

Had he just been in charge of Sports Science or Sports Performance, and had the existing management team accepted it, and had it been a priority, and had he not bought Clifford in, and had it not been a massive distraction, and had it not cost us money that probably should have been spent securing "repromotion" [sic], then it might have worked.

 

Now that is actually quite funny!

[Frank's cousin]

Forgive my ignorance: In a few posts above Leon Crouch gets a kicking for being involved in the Lowe Wilde triangle. If I remember correctly he was the deciding factor with his shares to tip the balance of power in Wilde's favour, then after time realised in error that he had backed a bit of a Mickey Mouse Circus and a Mad Hatters Tea Party in the boardroom.

But when we were hurtling towards the abyss (yes he was involved in the demise) and Pinnicle were dicking about he put his hand in his own pocket to keep folks in their jobs at SMS, which was far more than anyone else involved appeared to have done.

I stand to be corrected (Sans abuse would be nice).

 

In the grand scheme of things when the wheels were coming of its amazing that whatever of value there was in the Academy and training set up was not disposed of to keep heads above water, it's something our friends down the M27 had been without for years and they were looking pretty comfy in the Prem.

 

 

Think everyone now recognises that Crouch and even Wilde to some extent were well intentioned and 'good guys' - that maybe lacked the experience to bring it all together. The mistake was in not being able to work together and the blowing of the 7mil cash we had in one attempt to get back up - but football is like that - had it worked they would be heralded as geniuses, because it failed it sowed the seeds of financial melt down. Despite not wanting them around at the time, the benefit of hindsight clearly demonstrates Crouch was a decent bloke who lost money simply to 'as you say' keep folk in their jobs - I would suspect he knew that pinnacle were probably tyre kickers but his 500k deposit kept us going long enough for ML/NC to get their deal done...

 

As I look back on it all, remmember all the bitterness, factions and firece divisons it caused and as a pretty hideous time - and it seems that alot of that is still around under the surface whenever these threads show up. It was teh volume of misinformation and made up stuff, gossip etc that painted Lowe as the baby eating devil that I had a problem with - huge number of mistakes made, attitude stank and ego/arrogance made him unlikelable, but the principles by which he operated (whether for selfish reasons or not - and that is just speculation) were as others have pointed out not disimilar to what we are doing now - financial stabilty, (eventually) living within our means and a desire to drive youth into the first team ranks - but now we have cash to back it up.

 

The legay of teh success of the 70s and 80s gave us the foundation on which to enter the sky era with confidence, the Money allowed us to plan and build/improve infrastructure if we did not get carried away like those down the road - but a couple of seasons of standing still and major blunders nearly ruined it all - we were not teh first and wont be the last and relative to some, if could have been a lot worse.

 

I tried to argue that the principles of Lowes ideas were not wrong, just utilsied the wrong people, and were poorly executed and communicated, and serious timing issues - which was my crime. But still not convinced that his role and leadeship that led to the fall from grace warranted the level of hatred and vitriol that was leveled against him - whatever the uberfans say, it is only football and there ARE more important things.

[david in sweden]

I work with a bloke now who was on Saints books in the early to mid nineties. He was hot property at the time he tells me and turned down Man U and Spurs due to Saints reputation and him living near Bracknell. He told me plenty of stories about Merrington, The players and just how well respected Saints youth team set up was back then. At the time he was there we had a lot of Scottish players Apparantly. Says the banter was excellent and would have boarded on bullying these days. Magilton was the worst for it. Ironically Souness released him towards the end of his tenure which was Lowes first season in charge IIRC and he went to Fulham and ended up playing for the likes of Aldershot and AFC Wimbledon. As has been said yes Lowe made changes but it was also very good and well respected long before he arrived.

 

 

with one thing I will agree Turkish.

The real value of the youth set-up at SFC has always been underestimated. Dave Merrington's input (almost 10 years) was the groundwork for what followed. As someone who grew up watching Reserves and youth team games equally as much as first team games (I lived close to the Dell in those days)...I saw hundreds of players pass through...(but more often out of)... the ranks of youth players, and whilst its well-publicised that we "let go " the likes of Dennis Wise and Kevin Phillips at a young age ...its clear that not everyone was ever going to make it. However, the training and skills they learned at SFC often made for good careers in lower league football.

 

Youth players were good, if " they made it " to the first team by 21 in those days, today we can sell 17 year olds for millions....(times change, but not the theory).

Good role-models, organised training programmes, further education and a "caring " environment give good opportunities for talented lads to have a footballing career - even if they all don't all make it at the highest levels.

 

Lowe did make some inroads in the concept of the Academy, but it was the coaches in later years who worked with the lads day in and day out who brought the success to the Chairman's vision.

[um pahars]

with one thing I will agree Turkish.

The real value of the youth set-up at SFC has always been underestimated. Dave Merrington's input (almost 10 years) was the groundwork for what followed. As someone who grew up watching Reserves and youth team games equally as much as first team games (I lived close to the Dell in those days)...I saw hundreds of players pass through...(but more often out of)... the ranks of youth players, and whilst its well-publicised that we "let go " the likes of Dennis Wise and Kevin Phillips at a young age ...its clear that not everyone was ever going to make it. However, the training and skills they learned at SFC often made for good careers in lower league football.

 

Youth players were good, if " they made it " to the first team by 21 in those days, today we can sell 17 year olds for millions....(times change, but not the theory).

Good role-models, organised training programmes, further education and a "caring " environment give good opportunities for talented lads to have a footballing career - even if they all don't all make it at the highest levels.

 

Lowe did make some inroads in the concept of the Academy, but it was the coaches in later years who worked with the lads day in and day out who brought the success to the Chairman's vision.

 

I'd argue there was Bob Higgins even before Merrington! (And probably someone else before him).

 

And Lowe should indeed take credit for some good appointments to the set up (Prost, Jennings etc).

[david in sweden]

I'd argue there was Bob Higgins even before Merrington! (And probably someone else before him).

 

And Lowe should indeed take credit for some good appointments to the set up (Prost, Jennings etc).

 

 

Bob Higgins did a fantastic job.... considering he had no special facilities, almost no financial support and no specialised staff to assist him.

 

Prost and Jennings were both successful, too but they came in to an already established system and improved it enormously.but it WAS already up and running - even then.

.

[david in sweden]

it's not difficult to criticise Rupert Lowe, I've done it myself on this site a few times, but ;

 

the evil that men do lives on, the good is often interred with there bones .....OK I stole that from Shakespeare I know

 

The one interesting, and perhaps most telling part of that article was R.L's statement on forming the Academy.

 

" we didn't select players on footballing ability, we selected them on athleticism and intelligence - we thought we could do the rest ourselves ".

 

Although it took several years before we had the likes of Proust and Jennings to really make the concept work, watching the passage of; Walcott, Bale, Alex O-C... and now the current crop headed by

 

JWP, it's good to see an interview with players who can talk about the game in realistic terms are aren't restricted to mono-syllabic utterances, liberally interspersed with slang /swear words.

 

some interesting interview material can be found on You Tube with the above-mentioned trio.

Edited 23 August, 2012 by david in sweden

[hypochondriac]

Bit unfair to link how someone talks with intelligence. I always thought Bale and Walcott weren't too bad for footballers in terms of speaking clearly.

[david in sweden]

Bit unfair to link how someone talks with intelligence. I always thought Bale and Walcott weren't too bad for footballers in terms of speaking clearly.

 

 

they were at least coherent, (which I obviously something I lacked when I wrote it).

 

But that was the point I was trying to make, I think all three made interesting listening when interviewed.

[Wallington Saint]

WOW! Lowe’s levels of arrogance know no bounds!! He helped with the academy, not disputing that, but that is all. He took more than he gave.

 

I still laugh as Rupe’s Wiki “POWER BROKER” self-appointed tag. Says it all. It is hardly rocket science and he used the club as a farm rather than an investment because no businessman with a modicum of sense would invest with him at the helm. Ask yourself, in all his time at the club – is it not odd no-one made any substantial investments? Much like the Jim Hone period – I expect any interest we may have had would have been instantly muted with more focus on engineering personal financial reward. Conjecture based on observations, history and my own meandering opinion. All that time in charge and no investment. Says it all and I would love to know why but can hazard a guess.

 

So, rather than building the youth or trying to keep them, sell at first big offer. Good for the bank, bad for the team. My friend in the academy spoke direct with Gareth Bale's Dad at the time of the Spurs transfer so I know exactly how the Lowe level of trying to keep a players differs from that of how Cortese kept Lallana and tried to keep Oxo. Offering a player a p*ss poor contract and saying "but we'll really look after you" is pathetic and akin to telling them to "foxtrot oscar". Personally, I think he may have stayed had a reasonable package been offered but we were not in a good way financially and no way would he or his cronies invest. They need that share money for their personal accounts along with the dividends and such. Pathetic how we also wrote off Bale’s resale fee for Forecast and the other dross he got in. Such sporting and financial acumen!

 

I love the way arrogant people think, it's laughable. Totally into themselves and blinded from reality. Almost sociopathic without sense and empathy, so they say. He truly has forgotten he removed Pearson, instilled 2 Dutch no hopers and thought he knew better than lifelong professionals (an EPIC FAL!!) pleading with him a squad of academy kids will not work yet he conveniently forgets this and the fact his magnificent "financial prudence" failed to balance the books and he had not been vigilant enough to prevent Barclays putting us into admin. with a relatively small debt, at a time AFTER the 10 point deduction cut off.

 

Of course, Lowe blamed Barclays as people of his ilk do. Never man enough to hold their hands up and admit fault from the massive catalogue of failings and his absolute ineptitude in the sporting arena. Conveniently forgetting how he run us into the ground and almost destroyed us. It’s likely an article deliberately made to goad the fans. Arrogant people in tw*tty financial circles have a perverse sense of humour and place themselves above “normal” working classes and you only have to analyse that t*sser from Barclays on the Libor scandal to realise. Bunch of bankers – no offence Nicola cos he’s hardly Captain Charisma and certainly doesn’t have a warmth and empathy for people which is sad but, unlike Lowe, he does run the club well and the management of SFC currently has the 2 key elements which has strangled our club for years under Askham, Lowe and all the other self serving cronies (I don’t include Best as he did try, he did care, he did appoint a decent manager in Pearson and he did invest (personally) rather than profit personally from shares, etc. and use the club as an egotists train set. Almost child-like.

 

Yes, he appointed well with Elias, Jennings, etc because Lowe did know the value of the Academy and he saw it as the only facet to bring in money and he was so tight, he would hold out for the absolute max transfer fee which was good for the club, no-one can deny. However, what he fails to mention to the absolute detriment of any sporting success is that he sold every performing academy players as soon as the first big money offer came in and subsequently sold off any other player that hit form. From a sporting perspective, suicide. Hence why I was relieved when Lallana was kept with a proper package offered and future rising stars will likely be made good offers and the club will try and keep them....rather than offering a p*ss poor contract, knowing they’ll say no so you can turn to the fans and say “they wouldn’t sign the contract we offered”.

 

Luckily, the parasitic rein of Lowe has long gone and it took us 7 hard years and almost extinction to wash away the bile which pervaded every nook and cranny within St Mary’s (sadly, just Forecast left on a STUPIDLY contract long contract. Worst keeper we must have had – how long shall we sign him for without knowledge of his skill? Errrr, 5 years, 6....why not 7? Wonder what idiot signed that.................). What a t*sser. The article isn’t serious. Just a troll trying to stir up fans. If he does truly want credit still, he’ll need to accept all the blame first but sadly I don’t think people of his blinded reasoning will ever do that. Cheeky sod. His prevaricating rein is dead but our club, no thanks to him, is not. Good riddance and don’t you dare try and piggy back on our current rebirth and as Lowe is akin to the afterbirth. Send him away to be examined....preferably in a padded cell with the purveyors of a one world government to do some exploratory work!!

He is a part of our history I would prefer forgotten and his mere name on the main page in our bright new era is an insult to the club, the fans, Cortese, the Liebherr’s and those whom helped rebuild the dilapidated ruins which was our club post Lowe. Foxtrot Oscar please and take your sensational tabloid t*ssy hack with you.

The ending of the article is pure Lowe, funny guy when he wants to be, and I quote - “I was kicked out of the club but I think I left them with a pretty good legacy”. LMAO – There’s no point even engaging a comment like that if that is his mind set. The nutter!

 

er...I don't think Lowe was in charge when Bale left