Leon Crouch speaks

[Mole]

Hissy fit and beating your own chest and trying to show other posters how clever you are.The one eyed look of surprise of a starboard lookout who supports the Captain, who is ashore whilst the ship sinks in the middle of the ocean..Now I understand why you are called JONAH...OR IS IT TO DO WITH YOUR POOR STOCKS AND SHARES PORTFOLIO...sIMILIAR TO YOUR LOVED ONE AND HIS BRILLIANT BUSINESS ACUMEN..

 

JONAH..You have not got a clue about finances or Football and you should stick to Sailors and being a lookout.

Please No more Hissy Fits Jonah old boy the City is not impressed with you.

I think this might just be my opinion of you and your matey Lowey.

 

I'm glad i'm not the only one who realises this.

[ottery st mary]

Talking of sailors,its Jonahs turn in the barrel.

 

Now is that Jolly Jack Tar talk or Public School boy hissy fits Ga, Ga for ones mentor?

I am sure one is Rum and the other is Pink Gins.

 

To be honest I quite Like Jonah in a Sailor sort of way..So no offence against Public Schoolboys and what they did in that Sailors Barrel.

 

Happy Xmas to Lowey and all his supporters we LUV Ya Rilley.

[1965onwards]

Still waiting for the morons to tell me when LC signed all these high-earners whose wages have brought our clubs to its knees.

[ottery st mary]

Still waiting for the morons to tell me when LC signed all these high-earners whose wages have brought our clubs to its knees.

 

With the posters from whom you expect reasoned debate and the possible reply to a fair question you will just get more rubbish thrown at Crouchey who at least gave his all for the Club and the fans. I do hope he returns with Salz, Corbett, Trant, Thompson, Hunt and my Lottery winnings. I know they are on the right lines and if given chance, we at least have half a go at the future. They made statements re Crouchey after such a short time and yet Lowey has messed up for many a year and continues to do so.

The Lowey(not worth mentioning Wildey as the Lowey Luvvies forget and want to hide from talk of Wildey and his history) group are either blind to the truth or just hell bent on supporting their paymaster or the friend they have shared wine at the top table... No matter how many times Lowey and Wildey mess up they believe he should be given free reign for a couple of years in the hope by some fluke he pulls something off and says look at me Nobody knows better than me.

Edited 3 December, 2008 by ottery st mary
spelling I am watching other posters to learn.

[ALWAYS_SFC]

Lets nail the lie perpetuated by many morons on here than Leon Crouch has some responsibility for our financial plight and never took any action to mitigate our losses.

 

LC was first Chairman from Febuary 07 to July 07,obviously after the winter transfer window,no players were signed in that period.After he was ousted by the execs we signed on big wages John,Thomas,Safri,Euell.

 

Raziak was effectively signed by Lowe.Skacel and Davis were signed long before Febuary 07.All the journeymen let go this summer such as Wright,Ostlund and Licka were signed

before Febuary 07.

 

When LC became chairman again in December 07 the high-wage deals had already been done.

 

In January he sent out Raziak and Skacel on loan to save money as Burley did not want to use them.Not exactly doing nothing IMHO.

 

Yes he sanctioned the loans of Wright,Lucketti and Perry.If he hadn't we would have been relegated and you morons would really have had something to whinge about.

 

Lowe carries the main responsibility for our problems for replacing Sturrock with Wigley and then choosing a Manager(Redknapp) who never wanted to be here.Wilde carries the remaining responsibility for appointing the execs who put the nails in our coffin.

 

So you lying Lowe and Wilde luvvies can just F**k off.

 

Well said sir.

[ALWAYS_SFC]

Still waiting for the morons to tell me when LC signed all these high-earners whose wages have brought our clubs to its knees.

 

The silence is deafening.....

[Mole]

Come on Luvvies, time to explain yourselves.

[ottery st mary]

Group meeting taking place to discuss the strategy/way forward and then a final decision from Wildey after Lowey has made the really final decision.

[lordswoodsaints]

just what we need...more mud slinging and *****iness mixed with a generous helping of 'what ifs'.

me thinks crouch would have been better off keeping silent,for the sake of his beloved club and himself.

next he will be mounting a serious challenge to retake the club from lowe,perhaps the st marys entrance should be a rotating one.

[Mole]

Group meeting taking place to discuss the strategy/way forward and then a final decision from Wildey after Lowey has made the really final decision.

 

Lowe decides to bring out the big guns with Lordswood leading the counter attack.

 

[um pahars]

me thinks crouch would have been better off keeping silent,for the sake of his beloved club and himself.

next he will be mounting a serious challenge to retake the club from lowe,perhaps the st marys entrance should be a rotating one.

 

To be fair to Crouch I think he held his counsel for as long as he probably could. If he's as passionate as some say, then I imagine the old blood vessels have been close to bursting since he was booted out.

 

I think he probably came to the end of his tether with Lowe's comments when the accounts were released last week and then by Lowe's further mud slinging in the local press about how he feels that the Man Yoo money was a mere drop in the ocen compared to all the money that had been watsed before his ressurection.

 

If Lowe had been more restrained with his accusations, mud slinging and passing the blame and instead tried to be more concilliatory and interested in bridge building, then maybe Crouch would have maintained radio silence.

 

Some subjective/dodgy bits in his interview, but then some other really good bits in there as well.

[Long Shot]

Oh dear Alpine, you do choose your heroes randomly don't you.

 

Of course we were such a success both footballwise and financially under Crouch's control weren't we?

 

And as for you blind allegance to Nigel "Three Wins" Pearson, he actually managed to take us to the brink of relegation. If Lowe had appointed him as manager we know full well you would still be leading the witch hunt on Pearson to this day.

 

 

This is quite possibly the most uninformed and utterly wrong opinion I have ever read on this forum.

It is blatantly obvious the writer has no grasp of what really happened last year. But that is hardly a surprise.

If he had bothered to attend a match last season, under Burley it would have been obvious that the team was in rapid free fall, especially post Autumn when Burley was ironing his kilt.

Pearson performed a minor miracle keeping us up considering how dire things had become (I don't think many on here would argue with that whatever their "political" persuasion). To say he took us to the brink of relegation is almost offensive and certainly ignorant.

 

I think it great that fans from all over the world can come on here and give their views but I would hope that perhaps if you were not actually going to matches (and I gather you don't live that far away, SoG) then at least you appreciate that your non-attendances might actually mean that your opinions could conceivably be a little off kilter.

 

Fans who do not attend matches are perfectly entitled to posting their opinions on this forum but I know if I wasn't "bothering" to go I would be a little less strident as to the rights and wrongs of where we currently find ourselves.

 

So, SoG when are you next going to make the short trip to St Marys and did you get to Charlton? Why don't you get your arse out of your armchair, push your keyboard to one side and actually pay a visit to watch the Saints - then you will at least be able to contribute with a modicum of genuine knowledge.

[Channon's Sideburns]

I havent read the whole thread but has anyone brought up the fact apart from LC RL MW the others in the bunch have done a really poor job. Wiseman Corbett and Trant , fans who have overseen this disaster by saying nothing it seems.

 

Christ Nick, I have to agree!! )

 

Wiseman filled his boots at the reverse takeover, swung with Lowe for many years and then bit the hand that fed..by going with Wilde.

 

Corbett and Trant seem to have become mute - why?????????

[ottery st mary]

Lowe decides to bring out the big guns with Lordswood leading the counter attack.

 

 

To be fair, lordswood is a proper real Saints fan, so I am told,(he does not care about me and I don't give two hoots about him) unlike some of the top table employees of the agency for Lowey. I am a disgraced fan, so these Loweites say and not a real fan, as I will not go to St Marys and will not be there for Man Utd. I choose some away games and what I purchase from the club so I may still contribute to the Bank saving our ass or not.....Not that I have much time for Bankers and Financial people like Lowey and Jonah.....The cause of all our problems so my Wife tells me.

 

Bring back Woggy, The four Corners, Ethel The Tea Lady and I will consider

negotiating my attendance....But I want Lowey out before we commence our

future.

[Mole]

This is quite possibly the most uninformed and utterly wrong opinion I have ever read on this forum.

It is blatantly obvious the writer has no grasp of what really happened last year. But that is hardly a surprise.

If he had bothered to attend a match last season, under Burley it would have been obvious that the team was in rapid free fall, especially post Autumn when Burley was ironing his kilt.

Pearson performed a minor miracle keeping us up considering how dire things had become (I don't think many on here would argue with that whatever their "political" persuasion). To say he took us to the brink of relegation is almost offensive and certainly ignorant.

 

I think it great that fans from all over the world can come on here and give their views but I would hope that perhaps if you were not actually going to matches (and I gather you don't live that far away, SoG) then at least you appreciate that your non-attendances might actually mean that your opinions could conceivably be a little off kilter.

 

Fans who do not attend matches are perfectly entitled to posting their opinions on this forum but I know if I wasn't "bothering" to go I would be a little less strident as to the rights and wrongs of where we currently find ourselves.

 

So, SoG when are you next going to make the short trip to St Marys and did you get to Charlton? Why don't you get your arse out of your armchair, push your keyboard to one side and actually pay a visit to watch the Saints - then you will at least be able to contribute with a modicum of genuine knowledge.

 

I couldn't agree more, but Bern is no ordinary poster - he's a "Saintsfans" poster. In case you didn't know "Saintsfans" is a secret forum where the Luvvies meet and perform certain rituals.

[1965onwards]

SOG was one of Burleys biggest apologists,tells you all you need to know.

[lordswoodsaints]

Lowe decides to bring out the big guns with Lordswood leading the counter attack.

 

 

just where in any of my posts does it say that i support lowe in anyway?

all i want is stability for my club,unlike yourself who cannot see past your hatred for lowe.

even if lowe were to inject £50 mil of his own money,the club was debt free and in the prem and challenging for the champions league,your hatred for lowe would consume your every waking minute................and this behaviour would be looked upon as obsessive.

 

i on the other hand have a realistic outlook,lowe,wilde,crouch have all done a bad job imo,none of them are the right men for the job but we have got what we have got and we have to make the best of a bad situation.

what we dont need is the constant back stabbing between the 3 of them,the constant point scoring.all of them are unpopular in their own ways and whoever is the top dog will have just as many enemies in the fanbase as the others.

 

if i had a say in the sad situation then i would do away with the lot of them and find somebody who would do a good job with the resources at hand,but i dont have a say and i doubt that a lot would change whoever was top dog.

 

i am a realist that realises that we dont have a lot of money,we are in serious debt and we have a bunch of shareholders who will never get on.they have all had a crack at the job and have failed.what we dont need now is another round of musical chairs,not with these three anyway........but as nobody is beating the doors of st marys down,i am happy for lowe to continue until something better comes along.this doesnt make me a lowe luvvie.

 

by the way the picture doesnt look anything like me,im more scarier than that.

[saint63]

Reading Leon Crouch's words today it is abundantly clear to me that were LC still in charge tonight SFC would be a better run , better supported and far more united football club than it is now - the fact that he is no longer our Chairman represents a minor tragedy for all those who hold the best interests of this club close to their hearts .

 

Well done Mr Crouch. This is a reasoned and illuminating response to rebut some of the acerbic generalisations from the current board made in the Annual Report, who seem to have lumped all post Lowe activity as one. We were relegated solely due to poor leadership at the time and failed to use the first year down to greatest effect - as other clubs have done. Mr Lowe has to take responsibility for the greatest errors of judgement and Mr Wilde for his subsequent role. Perhaps Mr Lowe will show similar humility and admit his key role - and his board - in our decline. This might, peversely, do him favours in the eyes of supporters.

[saint63]

Reading Leon Crouch's words today it is abundantly clear to me that were LC still in charge tonight SFC would be a better run , better supported and far more united football club than it is now - the fact that he is no longer our Chairman represents a minor tragedy for all those who hold the best interests of this club close to their hearts .

 

Well done Mr Crouch. This is a reasoned and illuminating response to rebut some of the acerbic generalisations from the current board made in the Annual Report, who seem to have lumped all post Lowe activity as one. We were relegated solely due to poor leadership at the time and failed to use the first year down to greatest effect - as other clubs have done. Mr Lowe has to take responsibility for the greatest errors of judgement and Mr Wilde for his subsequent role. Perhaps Mr Lowe will show similar humility and admit his key role - and his board - in our decline. This might, peversely, do him favours in the eyes of supporters.

[ottery st mary]

just where in any of my posts does it say that i support lowe in anyway?

all i want is stability for my club,unlike yourself who cannot see past your hatred for lowe.

even if lowe were to inject £50 mil of his own money,the club was debt free and in the prem and challenging for the champions league,your hatred for lowe would consume your every waking minute................and this behaviour would be looked upon as obsessive.

 

i on the other hand have a realistic outlook,lowe,wilde,crouch have all done a bad job imo,none of them are the right men for the job but we have got what we have got and we have to make the best of a bad situation.

what we dont need is the constant back stabbing between the 3 of them,the constant point scoring.all of them are unpopular in their own ways and whoever is the top dog will have just as many enemies in the fanbase as the others.

 

if i had a say in the sad situation then i would do away with the lot of them and find somebody who would do a good job with the resources at hand,but i dont have a say and i doubt that a lot would change whoever was top dog.

 

i am a realist that realises that we dont have a lot of money,we are in serious debt and we have a bunch of shareholders who will never get on.they have all had a crack at the job and have failed.what we dont need now is another round of musical chairs,not with these three anyway........but as nobody is beating the doors of st marys down,i am happy for lowe to continue until something better comes along.this doesnt make me a lowe luvvie.

 

by the way the picture doesnt look anything like me,im more scarier than that.

 

My point is, why do the shareholders, Lowey group plus Wildey, put Lowey up and it is not for his business acumen or his leadership.

I really can't understand why out of all these shareholders/Directors they will not see the vast majority of Fans do not want Lowey..

With most of us it is not an obsession just an honest realisation he is and has never been good for this club....Some time ago I would have said Cowan if he was a free man from Lowey..Now I say Salz because I have studied his background and a free man of his ability could really do something and lead this club...Lowey will never be a leader and will only achieve for himself. HE does not like Football, The Saints or Saints/Football fans..He has a massive ego and is now slowly creeping from the background and will slowly put his big foot in it time after time...

This Man. Utd. match is a big temptation for him...Look at me I am Mr Southampton, I have kicked everyone else into touch.

 

Again I really want to find out, the honest truth why he has this hold over, ASKHAM and The Lavender Hill Mob....No please he is not the best and his Dutch treat is not working even with the odd result...we are still down here and about to go lower.

Personal opinion.

[Mole]

they have all had a crack at the job and have failed.

 

Explain why Crouch failed during his spell in charge please.

[dubai_phil]

Explain why Crouch failed during his spell in charge please.

 

Well from both sides of the argument

 

Well, first and foremost then we have to blame Crouch for taking control at the AGM and NOT having a viable plan to remove/buy out or negate Lowe's influence. He marched in and left the enemy at the Gate

 

Secondly, the club had serious financial issues and he applied sticking plaster in loaning out Rasiak & co, but did not look at the overall cost structure as aggressively as the finances seem to have shown they needed to be. Also in that time, he made promotions of staff when financially maybe we should have been reducing our total labour costs

 

Thirdly, he appointed Gorman & Dodd, their spell in charge set up the mess that NP then managed to rescue us from. Sure the damage was done by Burley but for all our guessing at whether NP would be better than what we have now, we seem to have collectively forgotten that IF he had appointed NP early we may not have had the end of season nightmare AND NP may well have had enough of an impact to make it impossible to let him go/not renew/can him

 

So there you go, different ideas for different sides in the argument.

 

My opinion - he should never have been Chairman in the first place as all THREE of them should have been long gone.

 

Fair for him to have a right of reply, but why not last week?

[saintwarwick]

This is quite possibly the most uninformed and utterly wrong opinion I have ever read on this forum.

It is blatantly obvious the writer has no grasp of what really happened last year. But that is hardly a surprise.

If he had bothered to attend a match last season, under Burley it would have been obvious that the team was in rapid free fall, especially post Autumn when Burley was ironing his kilt.

Pearson performed a minor miracle keeping us up considering how dire things had become (I don't think many on here would argue with that whatever their "political" persuasion). To say he took us to the brink of relegation is almost offensive and certainly ignorant.

 

I think it great that fans from all over the world can come on here and give their views but I would hope that perhaps if you were not actually going to matches (and I gather you don't live that far away, SoG) then at least you appreciate that your non-attendances might actually mean that your opinions could conceivably be a little off kilter.

 

Fans who do not attend matches are perfectly entitled to posting their opinions on this forum but I know if I wasn't "bothering" to go I would be a little less strident as to the rights and wrongs of where we currently find ourselves.

 

So, SoG when are you next going to make the short trip to St Marys and did you get to Charlton? Why don't you get your arse out of your armchair, push your keyboard to one side and actually pay a visit to watch the Saints - then you will at least be able to contribute with a modicum of genuine knowledge.

 

Please explain how we were in freefall, inconsistant yes but not in freefall. Seven points from the playoffs when he left but more importantly ten points from relegation. Under Crouch we were on the brink of relegation because of his Dodd/Gorman appointments, that's when we went into freefall so please get your facts right.

[um pahars]

Well, first and foremost then we have to blame Crouch for taking control at the AGM and NOT having a viable plan to remove/buy out or negate Lowe's influence. He marched in and left the enemy at the Gate

 

To buy out Lowe you have to have a willing seller. Crouch offered to buy Lowe's shares to remove him from the picture, but Lowe refused.

 

But after that I'm not really sure of what your point is here.

 

Secondly, the club had serious financial issues and he applied sticking plaster in loaning out Rasiak & co, but did not look at the overall cost structure as aggressively as the finances seem to have shown they needed to be. Also in that time, he made promotions of staff when financially maybe we should have been reducing our total labour costs

 

Mid season is not the best time to start restructuring for a number of good reasons (the window is shorter, contracts expire in the summer, you have no pre season to rebuild your team after selling players, games are thick and fast etc etc).

 

Thirdly, he appointed Gorman & Dodd, their spell in charge set up the mess that NP then managed to rescue us from. Sure the damage was done by Burley but for all our guessing at whether NP would be better than what we have now, we seem to have collectively forgotten that IF he had appointed NP early we may not have had the end of season nightmare AND NP may well have had enough of an impact to make it impossible to let him go/not renew/can him

 

The indecision when Burley finally left was definitely something that should have been handled better. I think He should have got someone in ASAP and not stuck with D & G for as long as he did.

 

As for your second point, NP would never have had a chance no matter what he did at the end of that season. Lowe had a vision and it did not include Pearson, think you're being a bit naive to think Lowe would have stood by him.

 

Fair for him to have a right of reply, but why not last week?

 

There's been a constant drip in various outlets attacking Crouch's tenure (mostly pretty unfair IMHO) and the Accounts barrage, plus another attack by Lowe on Sunday/Monday was probably the final straw.

 

I think he's done well to hold his tongue for this long, considering some of the stuff said by Lowe & co.

 

As much as Crouch might be considered a loose cannon, I think the way he has conducted himself since the end of the season has been pretty good (particularly when judged against the words and deeds of those who deposed him). His words today seem rather dignified when compared to some of the stuff Lowe has come out with since he first started sniffing around at the end of last season (Cowen and Wilde should be attempting to rein Lowe in as his outbursts are a continual string of own goals).

[The Rover]

Have to say I agree with UP's assessment above. Lowe is certainly not doing anything to bring unity to the club. If he can't be civil to other shareholders, what chance is there of unifying the fanbase.

 

His dig at fans in the AGM report won't have won him too many friends either imo.

 

I certainly wouldn't advocate a return of Crouch to the Board but neither do I think this club is going anywhere with Lowe or Wilde as significant shareholders either.

 

At least Crouch has said he'd be willing to give his shares away to the right new investor. Hell will freeze over before Lowe and Wilde do the same imo.

[Viking Warrior]

.................

Edited 7 December, 2008 by Viking Warrior

[Alain Perrin]

Pearson performed a minor miracle keeping us up considering how dire things had become (I don't think many on here would argue with that whatever their "political" persuasion). To say he took us to the brink of relegation is almost offensive and certainly ignorant.

 

Pro-Lowe or No-Lowe, this myth must be killed.

 

Anyone who was at Hull or the Burnley capitulation would not agree. I am thankful NP kept us up, his passion was refreshing, and bringing on Lallana at QPR was either inspired or a last throw of the dice.

 

Sheff Utd was a highly charged and emotional day, but to use that to judge Nigel Pearson is like telling a one night stand you love them whilst 'doing the bad thing' - it seemed right at the time but so, so wrong the morning after.

 

To paint him as some kind of demi god is wrong in my opinion.

[Torrent Of Abuse]

Have to say I agree with UP's assessment above. Lowe is certainly not doing anything to bring unity to the club. If he can't be civil to other shareholders, what chance is there of unifying the fanbase.

 

His dig at fans in the AGM report won't have won him too many friends either imo.

Agreed. But how can we get any sort of stability when we have one part of the boardroom sniping at another via the AGM report? Surely it's inevitable that Crouch would have gone on the defensive in the media. If he hadn't replied, the usual suspects on here would have assumed his silence meant that he accepted guilt. Of course, Mr Wilde is no stranger to this sort of blame-throwing. I remember he and his cohorts (including Crouch) did so in their first set of financial results. Strangely Michael always seems to be on the side doing the criticising rather than the side taking responsibility.

 

I just hope that this is not the first set of shots in another of those leaks and counter leaks we had in years gone by. It's the last thing this weakened club needs.

 

As for the criticism of the fans in the AGM report - well I had hoped Rupert had changed but it seems he's just the same. He's not really much of a businessman really: When it suits him he calls us "customers" and yet when those customers don't buy his product, he doesn't blame the company (or its leadership) but blames the customers. I don't think a businessman gets that far without listening to his/her customers...

[CB Fry]

Crouch's contribution in that article is utterly pointless, as was the drivel Lowe came out with a week or so ago.

 

Much like Lowe droning on about what happened when he wasn't in charge helps no-one, I really can't see what Crouch grumbling about Arry being given £90k four years ago is going to help our plight either. It's over, it's gone, son.

 

They're all self justifying pig headed children.

 

Tell you what chaps, why don't you all shut up?

[ottery st mary]

Crouch's contribution in that article is utterly pointless, as was the drivel Lowe came out with a week or so ago.

 

Much like Lowe droning on about what happened when he wasn't in charge helps no-one, I really can't see what Crouch grumbling about Arry being given £90k four years ago is going to help our plight either. It's over, it's gone, son.

 

They're all self justifying pig headed children.

 

Tell you what chaps, why don't you all shut up?

 

Then there was great silence all around the forum.....

 

Can I have the last word..please..

[CB Fry]

Then there was great silence all around the forum.....

 

Can I have the last word..please..

 

 

Sorry - the "chaps" I meant were the three stooges, as opposed to the fine people on this forum. You lot can blather on as normal, as I will.

 

To be fair this forum is a lot more silent for a lot more of the time than it used to be, but then that's another story altogether....

[Wade Garrett]

I don't think Crouch would have said anything if Lowe and Wilde hadn't tried to 'scapegoat' him in the local press recently.

 

I agreed with a lot of what he said. I think if he and Pearson stayed we would be 20k plus for home attendances. Just my opinion mind you, not a fact.

 

His appeal for boycotting fans to return struck a chord with me. Maybe it's time I went back.

[ottery st mary]

Sorry - the "chaps" I meant were the three stooges, as opposed to the fine people on this forum. You lot can blather on as normal, as I will.

 

To be fair this forum is a lot more silent for a lot more of the time than it used to be, but then that's another story altogether....

 

Once again ye oldey, wisey one, in what you have spoken, I have hung on every word and once again, I will obey without question.

 

Merry xmas by the way..saves me sending out cards. But will send cards to my matey Lowey and of course Uncle Wildey.

 

Would love to see Saints beat United for The Fans...Meantime we need a few wins in the league very urgently..

Edited 3 December, 2008 by ottery st mary
Spelling and throwing in a few commas for good measure

[lordswoodsaints]

Explain why Crouch failed during his spell in charge please.

 

he failed to attract any finance,he failed to prevent lowe returning,he failed to appoint a decent manager when he had the chance (although this is personal opinion).

 

its nothing personal about crouch,i just dont think he was strong enough for the position,he was weak.

fans should never hold high positions at a football club,the decisions they make are not always in the best interests of the club and this is why i was never a fan of the saints trust,letting a fan have a say in the running of the club is suicide imo.

[Legod Third Coming]

I don't think Crouch would have said anything if Lowe and Wilde hadn't tried to 'scapegoat' him in the local press recently.

 

I agreed with a lot of what he said. I think if he and Pearson stayed we would be 20k plus for home attendances. Just my opinion mind you, not a fact.

 

His appeal for boycotting fans to return struck a chord with me. Maybe it's time I went back.

 

Wait until 4th January like the other boycotters I would...

[Master Bates]

LEON Crouch has revealed his masterplan for Saints to satisfy the bank manager in 2008/09 contained the first team squad being based mainly around the club’s academy and reserve players.

 

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/3948085.Crouch_planned_to_back_Saints__academy/

[dubai_phil]

To buy out Lowe you have to have a willing seller. Crouch offered to buy Lowe's shares to remove him from the picture, but Lowe refused.

 

But after that I'm not really sure of what your point is here.

 

 

 

UP I was posting some alternative views.

 

Did not say anything about buying out Lowe. Simply that Crouch took over the reins without a plan to marginalise Lowe and keep him away.

 

The simple FACT is that Lowe was able to get back in because Crouch did not find a way to slam the door in his face.

 

Now one way would have been to buy him out.

Another would have been to secure political allies to keep him out.

Another way would have to brought him IN to the fold but under Leon's strict control.

Another way would have been to address the concerns that Lowe used as his excuse to form his own alliance with Wilde

And I am sure that there are other ways that none of us could even speculate about.

 

Now, I am not so naive as to believe that these were necessarily feasible, but the fact is that Leon came in and within months he had allowed Lowe back in.

 

To me that shows a lack of strategy on Leon's behalf, if you then argue that any other outcome was impossible, then again I would have to query why Leon went into a political battle armed with rallying calls and forum soundbites, and IF it was impossible to keep Lowe OUT then how does that reflect back on Leon to embark on something purely based on HOPE?

 

As for the other bits, no time is ever good to have to restructure, I agree, certainly in a football team, but IF your ship has struck an iceberg, waiting until the main course is served before doing something about it empirically has been shown to be the lesser of the solutions.

 

My point on NP was not an IMHO, it was simply speculative for discussion.

 

We all use what if? everyday on here, but what if he HAD come in the day Burley left.

 

Perhaps we could have pulled together much quicker, how much of the damage was down to Dodd & Gorman? I don't know.

 

It is POSSIBLE that 20 games or so or even a run by Pearson to the play-offs would have made a stronger case for his retention than the actual facts that we debate.

 

That was just a question that had not been asked yet by any of our what if? threads. We credit NP with keeping us up, but he only had to do that because we didn't show any real improvement in results under the caretakers.

 

My apologies for trying to add some new ideas into the usual repititions. Of course I could have just agreed with Stanley, because we all know everything is simply Lowe's fault, but then that just gets dull and boring

[dubai_phil]

LEON Crouch has revealed his masterplan for Saints to satisfy the bank manager in 2008/09 contained the first team squad being based mainly around the club’s academy and reserve players.

 

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/3948085.Crouch_planned_to_back_Saints__academy/

 

Ah that helps matters then. So no matter who was in charge fans would have had the issue of watching the youth team.

 

Perry signed

KD this season vs RW? tough call

Lucketti v Cork/Pearce youngsters may shade that

NP v JP we'd have kept NP but JP is hanging in there and still has 20++ games to go.

 

Fair to say I worried we gambled once to many appointing a coach with no experience on top of all the other changes.

 

But again, conciliatory words - not such a gap between them as we have made out strategy wise. All we need now is the olive branch or the investors...

 

(both as unlikely as snow in Dubai TBH)

[um pahars]

It is clear that between hone and crouch that they are responsible for much of the finacial mess we find ourselves in, Ok lowe was in charge when we were relegated. when he left in 2006 the club had 3.4 million deposited in the bank not only has that be wiped out but we also had an overdraft of 6.3m when lowe returned. thats almost 10m. I estimate the cost even higher as this dosent include the monies we recieved for the payers that left the club.

 

Im no finance whizz kid but its clear the club is in a right state. wges and salaires doubled from the the previous year from 528K to £1.o3 million

600k being for loss of office payouts, i guess that must be hone and co's pay off.

 

With all due respect your financial analysis is wide of the mark.

 

Lowe did not leave this Club in a healthy financial state.

 

Cast your mind back to that first year down and we had massive sale of players to pay the bills.

 

We had Lowe being quoted as saying "We don't know where the next penny is coming from!".

 

The accounts for that year showed we haemoraghed 9 million in cash on normal operations (even after getting a 7 million parachute).

 

The idea that he left a robust, cash rich, forward looking business is a myth.

 

The financials of this Club were holed below the waterline the minute we got relegated and tens of millions of revenue were lost.

 

Some of the decisions over the last two years have not been good and have added to the inherent problem (including Hine's decision not to implement Plan B), but they are the drop in the ocean compared to the millions of revenue that we have lost when we got relegated during Lowe's tenure.

[Saint Bones]

Far Out.

 

I guess one thing we ALL can agree on is the boardrooms antics at Southampton have been very dispruptive to the fan base over the last few years. Relegation sure would not have helped - But oh for the days when football was the main topic.

 

PS - Stanley - That's one kick arse Mo

[stanthemanfairoak]

NO SIGN OF A REPLY FROM SOG WELL DONE GIRL[LONG SHOT] YOUVE SHUT HIM RIGHT UP .

[INFLUENCED.COM]

But again, conciliatory words - not such a gap between them as we have made out strategy wise

 

Its simply a question of personalities, all of the protagonists will be divisive, it would be nice to have a chair that was popular with all, but what are the chances ?

[saintwarwick]

NO SIGN OF A REPLY FROM SOG WELL DONE GIRL[LONG SHOT] YOUVE SHUT HIM RIGHT UP .

 

Guess I've shut up longshot with my post then as she as yet replied and I don't need to make my point large

[Guided Missile]

I remeber when Leon Crouch first spoke and it cost the club millions in wasted money:

 

Major shareholder Leon Crouch has today announced his decision to side with Michael Wilde at Monday's EGM.

The current board had hoped the Lymington-based businessman would side with them or at least abstain. In a statement today

however Crouch has revealed his intentions to vote for change.

He explained:"I will be backing Michael Wilde and his team of proposed new directors to take our great Club forward.I had hoped that it would be possible for both sides to unite, agree some common ground and avoid the need for an EGM.However, it was not meant to be and I have no wish to blame this on either side."

[saintjay77]

I remeber when Leon Crouch first spoke and it cost the club millions in wasted money:

 

Major shareholder Leon Crouch has today announced his decision to side with Michael Wilde at Monday's EGM.

The current board had hoped the Lymington-based businessman would side with them or at least abstain. In a statement today

however Crouch has revealed his intentions to vote for change.

He explained:"I will be backing Michael Wilde and his team of proposed new directors to take our great Club forward.I had hoped that it would be possible for both sides to unite, agree some common ground and avoid the need for an EGM.However, it was not meant to be and I have no wish to blame this on either side."

 

funny how he wanted all sides to work together yet wilde a rupes couldnt agree so crouch had to pick a side. Yet now the 2 who could work together are in and crouch is the one out in the cold. Why can they all not work together now and get rid of the snipes in the papers?

 

If its true that crouch was going to use the kids and reserves this year why does his plan not fit in with what is happening?

[Weston Saint]

To buy out Lowe you have to have a willing seller. Crouch offered to buy Lowe's shares to remove him from the picture, but Lowe refused.

 

I would like to know when that offer was made.

[Guided Missile]

funny how he wanted all sides to work together yet wilde a rupes couldnt agree so crouch had to pick a side. Yet now the 2 who could work together are in and crouch is the one out in the cold. Why can they all not work together now and get rid of the snipes in the papers?

 

If its true that crouch was going to use the kids and reserves this year why does his plan not fit in with what is happening?

I heard that it was Wilde that couldn't work with Lowe, at the time. He had a meeting with Lowe and Cowen, over a cup of tea and told Lowe that he didn't want him as part of the board structure, because he didn't want "toffs" on the board....

[Guided Missile]

I would like to know when that offer was made.

 

According to the Daily Echo:

 

Wednesday 17 May 2006

 

Saints chairman rejects share buy-out offer

 

 

RUPERT Lowe and Guy Askham this week turned down Leon Crouch's £1.5m offer to buy ALL their shares, the Daily Echo can today reveal.

The second largest shareholder offered the chairman 50p each for all his 1,877,969 shares - which works out at about £938,000.

New Forest-based Crouch also offered vice-chairman Guy Askham the same price for his 1,120,000 shares - which would have landed the former Dell chairman £560,000 had he accepted.

But both of them refused Crouch's offer, which was then followed by another snub - Crouch failing to win a place on the board at Thursday's meeting.

[Snowballs2]

The sad fact on here is that it identifies the posters who can forgive Lowe anything. I wonder what they get out of it? Is it free tickets or other financial benefits?

In the real world it is like supporting an African dictator who is seeking to ruin his country.

I trust Crouch more than the other dubious duo.

[Rogerfryisalegend]

It might be worth listening to radio Hampshire tonight between 6-8, I hear Crouch will be interviewed, and there may be a phone in.