Begrudging thanks to Rupert Lowe and Southampton City Council

[The Kraken]

I see it as it was. The method of his arrival here has no justification, as it was a deliberate ploy to enrich the Old Board members. The shades of grey people will attempt to justify it by pointing to the benefits they perceive of us then becoming a PLC, but it doesn't excuse the unethical nature of Lowe's arrival and the greed incentive that brought it about. It certainly didn't bring much in the way of investment, which was always lacking throughout his tenure.

 

To be honest I think that whole part paints a poor picture of Askham and all those at the club who got rich from it. Lowe wasn't beyond reproach but he was just buying in to the club.

 

Lowe is given credit for gaining us St Mary's, but I merely point out that Stoneham appeared to be the only option at the time and he cocked-it up. Is it too black and white to credit Southampton City Council for saving his bacon?

 

No, its a fact. But to give him no credit at all for St. Mary's is a bit churlish IMO.

 

The good things he did for the club? Well, the catering was supposed to be good and of course we had our own radio station. We avoided relegation on many occasions, but credit for that could be laid at Le Tissier's door. Whether the new manager every year could be classified as a plus or a minus, I don't know. The position achieved under Strachan was definitely a plus, but then his leaving and the lack of investment to cement our position was a minus. There was the "tell Lowe" email address, I suppose. That might have been a plus, had he taken any notice of it.

 

Other plusses? I'm struggling frankly and in any event, the minuses weigh the scales far more heavily.

You missed his greatest legacy, the Academy. We have always been a good club in that regard but he made a determined effort to step up the facilities and how we operate. the satellite centre at Bath gives us an enormous leg up in attracting young talent. Again, to give Lowe no credit for that is extremely churlish IMO.

[um pahars]

But we'll ever know if it was a certainty if Lowe had stayed, because he was ousted by someone who sucked a lot of people in with his using of Keith Legg as his fall guy.

 

What we do know for a fact is that the guy who ousted him spent millions we didn't have, promised investment that never came and when all else failed went back to Lowe to clear up his mess. That was the reason we went into administration.

 

Lowe made a lot of mistakes and I've said several times he was to blame for the 2005 relegation, saying administration was guaranteed under him pure speculation as it came 4 years after the premier league relegation and having gone through a succession of other chairmen who spent a fortune In that time.

 

Two years of parachute payments keep the wolves from the door. Of course administration was not guaranteed, but your initial claim that no other club of our size went in to administration is wide of the mark. At that time in football the gulf between the Premiership & Championship was soooo big that every club suffered terribly, with many going in to administration and others only avoiding it by having a sugar daddy.

 

It would be harder to find clubs of our size and stature who managed themselves well following relegation, than it is to find those who struggled.

[shurlock]

if you go back to his early teams at Leicester in the third tier they were heavily populated with youngsters and players coming through the youth set up (plus a few youngsters loaned in).

 

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?8760-Nigel-Pearson-He-only-plays-old-carthorses-who-are-expensive!&highlight=Leicester#.UuUVxjLfWSM

 

True he and his sidekick Steve Walsh had very good links with United and Liverpool youth academies -and had some good youngsters: Gradel, Hobbs, Cleverley. But they also had some real experience, not least Oakley who was their captain (but also Chris Powell, Steve Howard, Wayne Brown, Bruno Berner -proper, savvy pros)

 

Chasing promotion is a different task from staying up - the latter arguably places a greater premium on experience. If anything, the loans he brought in -Perry, Lucketti, Wright- was an indicator of how he would have played it if he had stayed on. Indeed, Perry was one of our better players in our relegation season.

[Turkish]

Two years of parachute payments keep the wolves from the door. Of course administration was not guaranteed, but your initial claim that no other club of our size went in to administration is wide of the mark. At that time in football the gulf between the Premiership & Championship was soooo big that every club suffered terribly, with many going in to administration and others only avoiding it by having a sugar daddy.

 

It would be harder to find clubs of our size and stature who managed themselves well following relegation, than it is to find those who struggled.

 

Making things up as you go along, no wonder no one wanted you as a FOTB!

 

I never said no club of our size did, I said plenty of clubs didn't, which is true.

 

And regardless of how much it must rankle you you can't say for certain that we would have gone into admin with Lowe. What we can say for certain is the man whose arrival you and your little band of power crazed wannabes heralded the arrival of did.

[ecuk268]

Imagine a scenario where Rupert Lowe never existed and we were stuck with Guy Askham and his biscuit tin.

 

With a capacity of 15000 the dear old Dell could never have sustained Premiership football. Also, Stoneham was to be a 25000-seater so it was fortunate that we ended up at St Marys, much the better site.

 

It's been a rollercoaster ride but we're now in a good position both on and off the pitch and I think that Rupert Lowe and Andrew Cowen deserve some credit for starting the process off despite the darker days that we had to go through. Personally, I really enjoyed the L1 and Championship seasons - more honest football and fewer prima-donna divers.

[The Kraken]

Imagine a scenario where Rupert Lowe never existed and we were stuck with Guy Askham and his biscuit tin.

 

With a capacity of 15000 the dear old Dell could never have sustained Premiership football. Also, Stoneham was to be a 25000-seater so it was fortunate that we ended up at St Marys, much the better site.

 

It's been a rollercoaster ride but we're now in a good position both on and off the pitch and I think that Rupert Lowe and Andrew Cowen deserve some credit for starting the process off despite the darker days that we had to go through. Personally, I really enjoyed the L1 and Championship seasons - more honest football and fewer prima-donna divers.

Very much agree with all of that.

[shurlock]

Imagine a scenario where Rupert Lowe never existed and we were stuck with Guy Askham and his biscuit tin.

 

With a capacity of 15000 the dear old Dell could never have sustained Premiership football. Also, Stoneham was to be a 25000-seater so it was fortunate that we ended up at St Marys, much the better site.

 

It's been a rollercoaster ride but we're now in a good position both on and off the pitch and I think that Rupert Lowe and Andrew Cowen deserve some credit for starting the process off despite the darker days that we had to go through. Personally, I really enjoyed the L1 and Championship seasons - more honest football and fewer prima-donna divers.

 

Rupes did a lot of good, no doubt.

[um pahars]

Making things up as you go along, no wonder no one wanted you as a FOTB!

 

I never said no club of our size did, I said plenty of clubs didn't, which is true.

 

And regardless of how much it must rankle you you can't say for certain that we would have gone into admin with Lowe. What we can say for certain is the man whose arrival you and your little band of power crazed wannabes heralded the arrival of did.

 

I do admire your ad hominen attacks LOL.

 

The main reason plenty of those didn't go in to administration was because sugar daddies/external investors covered the losses following their relegation. Take away those cash injections and you have a huge black hole that many clubs, including us, succumbed to.

 

And how can a hypothetical situation rankle anyone?? You'd have to be weird to get wound up about something you can't prove one way or the other.

 

And of course using your same simple logic we could always say for certain that a process that started and ultimately ended with Lowe saw us go in to administration (but of course as we all know, things were a little bit more complicated than that).

[um pahars]

So one manager who might we've kept us up but equally might not have, excellent work.

 

You asked who would be up for the job, I provided an answer.

 

Any other candidates will be purely conjecture (either way) and as for success, hypothetical.

[Turkish]

You asked who would be up for the job, I provided an answer.

 

Any other candidates will be purely conjecture (either way) and as for success, hypothetical.

 

You also and I agree that we don't know if he would have kept us up or not, so therefore we don't know if we would have been better. Certainly given out performances when he was here coupled with the fact he'd have had a weaker squad you'd have to say it very doubtful.

Edited 26 January, 2014 by Turkish

[Turkish]

I do admire your ad hominen attacks LOL.

 

The main reason plenty of those didn't go in to administration was because sugar daddies/external investors covered the losses following their relegation. Take away those cash injections and you have a huge black hole that many clubs, including us, succumbed to.

 

And how can a hypothetical situation rankle anyone?? You'd have to be weird to get wound up about something you can't prove one way or the other.

 

And of course using your same simple logic we could always say for certain that a process that started and ultimately ended with Lowe saw us go in to administration (but of course as we all know, things were a little bit more complicated than that).

 

The sugar daddy/investment your hero mr Wilde promised us, yes?!!

[um pahars]

Imagine a scenario where Rupert Lowe never existed and we were stuck with Guy Askham and his biscuit tin.

 

With a capacity of 15000 the dear old Dell could never have sustained Premiership football. Also, Stoneham was to be a 25000-seater so it was fortunate that we ended up at St Marys, much the better site.

 

It's been a rollercoaster ride but we're now in a good position both on and off the pitch and I think that Rupert Lowe and Andrew Cowen deserve some credit for starting the process off despite the darker days that we had to go through. Personally, I really enjoyed the L1 and Championship seasons - more honest football and fewer prima-donna divers.

 

Stoneham was already well under way when the reverse takeover came upon us, (think within days of the takeover planning permission was granted), so the big question is, would the old board have been able to oversee Stoneham and/or would they have had the ability to deliver St Mary's????

 

On the plus side, the influx of SKY monies would have made their task easier, on the negative side, they hadn't shown much evidence of driving on in the past.

[um pahars]

You also and I agree that we don't know if he would have kept us up or not, so therefore we don't know if we would have been better. Certainly given out performances when he was here coupled with the fact he'd have had a weaker squad you'd have to say it very doubtful.

 

Have no idea why we've jumped to would he have done this or that, I merely answered your question of who would have been up for the job.

[um pahars]

The sugar daddy/investment your hero mr Wilde promised us, yes?!!

 

Indeed. Not mega millions, but a few million to fill in some of the losses whilst we regrouped.

 

Wilde failed to back up his promises of investing money and failed in finding others to aid him in that respect.

[Guided Missile]

Just a reminder of the crock of sh !t, so many swallowed at the time, with Legg swallowing harder than most...

 

21 June 2006

 

Dear Southampton Shareholder

 

 

I am writing to you on behalf of myself and four colleagues to explain our reasons for requisitioning an Extraordinary General Meeting of Southampton Leisure Holdings Plc.

I have been a keen supporter of Southampton Football Club for some 20 years. I own 4,622,470 shares in Southampton representing 16.5 % of the issued share capital. In addition, I have power of attorney or proxies from other shareholders representing a further 8.3 % of the issued share capital, in total representing 24.8%.

I believe that the Company’s existing management team has lost the support and confidence of a wide body of shareholders and supporters alike. Moreover, we believe there has been a breakdown in communication between the Football Club and its supporters. The Club’s fortunes, both commercially and on the field of play have also deteriorated. This has come against a backdrop where the existing Board has failed to raise any new equity investment monies for a period of in excess of 5 years.

We believe that if the Saints are to be put back on the road to success, significant changes need to be made to the strategy and operations of the business, in order to revitalise and re-establish Southampton as a Football Club that is genuinely capable of sustained success on and off the field of play. We intend to achieve this by replacing selected members of the present board with our team.

I am pleased to have been able to bring together a management team comprising a blend of exceptional business people; highly committed fans; and experienced football business executives. Together, we share the philosophy and motivation required to “give” the Club back to the City of Southampton and its supporters.

This document spells out, as far as we can at this stage, our proposed strategy to achieve a renewed unity of purpose and mutual trust amongst everyone connected with the Club. Our aim is to deliver the success that all supporters and shareholders and indeed all other stakeholders rightly demand and deserve. The document is lengthy and detailed. I summarise briefly below its core components and the philosophy of our approach.

• As a priority, we are seeking to establish an open, inclusive and interactive system of communication with our stakeholders The new Board of Southampton Leisure Holdings Plc will exercise overall financial and operational control over Southampton Football Club and will be responsible for ensuring that the governance of the Company is both proper and effective. The Directors will be held fully accountable for their actions and will ensure transparency in all of the Company’s dealings. The proposed new Directors will comply fully with their obligations as Directors of a public company which has publicly traded shares. We believe there are several potential new investors who are fans and are genuinely interested to invest in the Club, but who are categorically unwilling to do so while the present Directors remain in place. We also believe that ownership of the Club should remain widely spread amongst fans.

• Our aim is to put at the Football Manager’s disposal the best facilities and resources to enable him to develop a playing squad capable of delivering football success; adoption and implementation of a Football First philosophy.

• We do not merely intend to achieve a speedy return to the Premiership. As we explain in this document, our objective is to build the infrastructure, management team and playing squads necessary for sustained football and business success. Such a plan has a substantial cost and without access to the financial and other proprietary business data of the Company, and a thorough analysis of that information, it is impractical for us to suggest precisely the level of investment required to achieve our objectives. However, we would propose to keep all shareholders and fans alike fully informed of the results of our analysis once we had completed such a review.

• We also discuss in this document the characteristics that single out Southampton Football Club as a family orientated, community-based institution. Within the bounds of sound commercial principles we intend to introduce ticket pricing and related initiatives to recognise these factors.

I hope you will read the document and agree with our aims to partner with the Club’s supporters to recreate a strong team and commercial business. I believe that the supporters are the lifeblood of the Club and their relationship with us should be a strong, long term and special bond. To this end we will be discussing with supporter representatives how they can be represented at board level.

I strongly believe as a substantial shareholder and fan of our Club that now is the time for Board changes – my colleagues and our proposals enclosed are full testament to this. Please support us in our proposals by voting in favour of the resolutions we have proposed. I look forward to sharing with you the success I believe we can bring to Southampton Football Club.

Below we provide some guidance notes on filling in the proxy form and voting on the resolutions. We hope that you find this helpful.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Michael Wilde

 

Proposed New Directors

 

• Ken Dulieu proposed Non-Executive Chairman

• Jim Hone proposed Chief Executive

• Lee Hoos proposed Operations Director

• Patrick Trant proposed Non-Executive Director

• Michael Wilde proposed Non-Executive Director

 

I can only imagine the hard-on, um pahars and Wes Tender are getting, just reading it again...

 

Less than 3 years after this we were in administration. The only reason we got out of the sh !t, was that the structure Lowe et al had put in place, was so attractive to an investor. Otherwise we'd be playing Pompey in League 2

[um pahars]

Just a reminder of the crock of sh !t, so many swallowed at the time, with Legg swallowing harder than most...

 

 

 

I can only imagine the hard-on, um pahars and Wes Tender are getting, just reading it again...

 

Less than 3 years after this we were in administration. The only reason we got out of the sh !t, was that the structure Lowe et al had put in place, was so attractive to an investor. Otherwise we'd be playing Pompey in League 2

 

As I mentioned above I think Lowe should be given credit for delivering the stadium and helping set up an infrastructure that brought the club in to the 21st century. Although the previous board had started out down the new stadium route, they seemed to be struggling to really get it moving.

 

Whether they could have used the SKY monies and delivered SMS is something we will never know. Always thought Staplewood was over hyped as was Lowe's claims of starting the Academy, I think he did reinvigorate it with some judicious decisions.

 

But at the same time we shouldn't forget that Lowe squandered that legacy through a series of poor decisions that led to relegation and ultimately administration. Poor decisions that continued throughout our first season in the Championship.

 

Given our cost structure (inc a rather expensive "mortgage"), the huge drop in income and what had happened to many other teams who fell out of the top flight around that period, then unless (a) we got repromoted in 2 years, or (b) found new investment to plug the holes we were always destined for a visit from Mark Fry.

 

(Should I trot out the Man United of the South speech and suggest you were sexually aroused by that ;-) )

[Saint86]

I would put that down as wishful thinking i'm afraid. I have no doubt he did what he genuinely thought was best for the club but ultimately he was a disaster. Under him we were only ever destined to go in one direction, so it came to pass.

 

always destined to go in one direction... He also doubled the ground capacity, built the countries top youth academy, got us to an fa cup final and Europe... All on a shoestring budget. His only weakness was that he scripmed on managers and wouldn't overspend until it was too late.

 

People knock him fine, but where we are now there is little bad about RLs management of the club and a bell of a lot to be grateful for. He built everything that is positive about the future, the liebherrs could walk 2m and the club would continue because of what Lowe built. If only he could have kept( rather than fallen out) GS, GH or NP's class we would have done well. Yet ironically our fans refer to him as some kind of devil. A tad harsh.

[alpine_saint]

I see the beetroot-faced bastard is getting the credit for us home-growing our own talent from an early age. That really is the best piece of revisionism yet.

 

Matty, the Wallaces, Shearer and many other that came through the system before that pr*ck turned up were clearly f**king sh*t and of no importance...

[The Kraken]

I see the beetroot-faced bastard is getting the credit for us home-growing our own talent from an early age. That really is the best piece of revisionism yet.

 

Matty, the Wallaces, Shearer and many other that came through the system before that pr*ck turned up were clearly f**king sh*t and of no importance...

 

 

So angry!

[alpine_saint]

 

So angry!

 

At the sycophantic snivelling ? You betcha...

[buctootim]

Matty, the Wallaces, Shearer and many other that came through the system before that pr*ck turned up were clearly f**king sh*t and of no importance...

 

Very sycophantic towards Guy Askham imo.

[CB Fry]

I see the beetroot-faced bastard is getting the credit for us home-growing our own talent from an early age. That really is the best piece of revisionism yet.

 

Matty, the Wallaces, Shearer and many other that came through the system before that pr*ck turned up were clearly f**king sh*t and of no importance...

 

Shearer came through in 1988, a decade before Lowe arrived. Rod Wallace very shortly after and then pretty much eff all until Wayne Bridge arrived in the Lowe era, with Oakley the only one in the decade between: the hit rate of any old club, rather than one with a strong youth set up.

 

Our youth set up was pretty weak during the Branfoot to Souness years.

[alpine_saint]

And he only supported the youth set-up so the sales would fund dividend payments

[Turkish]

This is one of my favourite quotes from that time.

 

http://www.southampton.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=12889

 

Are we roaring yet steve?

[offix]

The rosy cheeked bastard took us down twice, hired a succession of clown managers (Gray, Wigley, the Dutch duo), got rid of a good young manager (NP) out of spite, never came close to finding us a buyer (and I don't think he wanted to), and to cap it off took us into administration a few days after the points carry over deadline.

 

No thanks, begrudging or not, from me. C**t.

 

My sentiments exactly. Arrogant, self serving, wannabe king of the club. I will always feel nothing but hatred for that sh1t.

[ottery st mary]

I can't wait for the Lawrie Mac or Crouchy fred to come back:mcinnes:

 

Rupert Lowe and his Ra Ra/ pom pom girlz will be spitting feathers:D

 

Time to put all this nonsense about Rupert to bed...he has gone...thank goodness:)

[The Kraken]

This is one of my favourite quotes from that time.

 

http://www.southampton.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=12889

 

Are we roaring yet steve?

A top quality quote, only bested in the annals of Saints history by this beauty:

"Ian has done a tremendous job. It's very rare I'm lost for words but I saw the statue last week and it's awesome - a tremendous tribute to a great man. Fans have waited a long time for this and it's fantastic."

[Dark Munster]

So one manager who might we've kept us up but equally might not have, excellent work.

Who was here already, who averaged 1.23 points per game when he was here, who wanted to stay, who has continued to be a fine coach elsewhere, and who was booted out by Lowe (out of spite to Crouch), replaced by clowns who did take us down.

[OldNick]

This is one of my favourite quotes from that time.

 

http://www.southampton.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=12889

 

Are we roaring yet steve?

Turks you obviously have a problem with Um Pahars, no doubt the thought of the trappings of being a fan on the board etc turned his head, but I suspect he thought he was doing the best for the club/fans at that time. Some of us saw through the Wilde thing and understand that Rupert was not the anti-Christ, others trying to cloak their stupidity for being duped by it have to thrash out . The wounds are still there and this thread will keep the undos fresh.

it would be great for the real truth to come out but sadly the people in the middle of it have kept quiet

[Turkish]

Who was here already, who averaged 1.23 points per game when he was here, who wanted to stay, who has continued to be a fine coach elsewhere, and who was booted out by Lowe (out of spite to Crouch), replaced by clowns who did take us down.

 

And he was replaced for financial reasons as clearly stated her.e. Again something people seem to be forgetting, another thing people are forgetting. Is Wilde was involved in appointing him too, instead they're all blaming Lowe for this. So ill ask again, if we couldn't afford Pearson, what other decent managers would be quotient up for the job at the time?

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/7427097.stm

[LGTL]

A top quality quote, only bested in the annals of Saints history by this beauty:

"Ian has done a tremendous job. It's very rare I'm lost for words but I saw the statue last week and it's awesome - a tremendous tribute to a great man. Fans have waited a long time for this and it's fantastic."

 

 

[um pahars]

And he was replaced for financial reasons as clearly stated her.e. Again something people seem to be forgetting, another thing people are forgetting. Is Wilde was involved in appointing him too, instead they're all blaming Lowe for this. So ill ask again, if we couldn't afford Pearson, what other decent managers would be quotient up for the job at the time?

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/7427097.stm

 

You're as gullible as I was with regards Wilde if you believe him when he said Pearson was being "released" due to financial reasons.

[Turkish]

Turks you obviously have a problem with Um Pahars, no doubt the thought of the trappings of being a fan on the board etc turned his head, but I suspect he thought he was doing the best for the club/fans at that time. Some of us saw through the Wilde thing and understand that Rupert was not the anti-Christ, others trying to cloak their stupidity for being duped by it have to thrash out . The wounds are still there and this thread will keep the undos fresh.

it would be great for the real truth to come out but sadly the people in the middle of it have kept quiet

 

I don't have a Problem with him, he's just a bit of a Joke figure. I felt sorry for Keith Legg, he was used by Wilde as a pawn to get popularity with the fan base. Um Pahars on the other hand loved the limelight. I remember his posts at the time lots of alluding to things then saying 'i can't say too much but...' Those Type posts were a regular occurrence in those days. The life he made out for himself in his posts I that era was something out of a James Bond film, clearly exaggerated, I think he actually admitted this later on. You have to wonder why if his apparent jet set lifestyle was true he would want to impress people on an anonymous Internet forum with endless exaggerated tales of his exploits.

[Turkish]

You're as gullible as I was with regards Wilde if you believe him when he said Pearson was being "released" due to financial reasons.

 

What was it then?

[Turkish]

A top quality quote, only bested in the annals of Saints history by this beauty:

"Ian has done a tremendous job. It's very rare I'm lost for words but I saw the statue last week and it's awesome - a tremendous tribute to a great man. Fans have waited a long time for this and it's fantastic."

 

That is the work of genius, the back tracking a few weeks later was equally as funny. Something about not having seen the whole statue just bits of it or something like that.

[shurlock]

And he was replaced for financial reasons as clearly stated her.e. Again something people seem to be forgetting, another thing people are forgetting. Is Wilde was involved in appointing him too, instead they're all blaming Lowe for this. So ill ask again, if we couldn't afford Pearson, what other decent managers would be quotient up for the job at the time?

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/7427097.stm

 

 

 

Want to buy some magic beans off me.

[OldNick]

I don't have a Problem with him, he's just a bit of a Joke figure. I felt sorry for Keith Legg, he was used by Wilde as a pawn to get popularity with the fan base. Um Pahars on the other hand loved the limelight. I remember his posts at the time lots of alluding to things then saying 'i can't say too much but...' Those Type posts were a regular occurrence in those days. The life he made out for himself in his posts I that era was something out of a James Bond film, clearly exaggerated, I think he actually admitted this later on. You have to wonder why if his apparent jet set lifestyle was true he would want to impress people on an anonymous Internet forum with endless exaggerated tales of his exploits.

fair point, but if suspect a lot of us may have our heads turned by mini celebrity. You only have to look on here at some who think they are celebs by look at me threads. I was on Radio Wiltshire the other day, the autograph signings have now dried up

[CB Fry]

That is the work of genius, the back tracking a few weeks later was equally as funny. Something about not having seen the whole statue just bits of it or something like that.

 

There was a brilliant line about how amazingly detailed the shoes were.

[Turkish]

 

Want to buy some magic beans off me.

 

Ahh of course, it was all lies wasn't it. The media making things up, Wilde lying. Yet every word that was printed and spoken by Cortese is the gospel truth.

 

Another amusing thing is that Lowe is regularly blamed for employing the Dutch mugs, yet all the quotes came from Wilde.

[um pahars]

I don't have a Problem with him, he's just a bit of a Joke figure. I felt sorry for Keith Legg, he was used by Wilde as a pawn to get popularity with the fan base. Um Pahars on the other hand loved the limelight. I remember his posts at the time lots of alluding to things then saying 'i can't say too much but...' Those Type posts were a regular occurrence in those days. The life he made out for himself in his posts I that era was something out of a James Bond film, clearly exaggerated, I think he actually admitted this later on. You have to wonder why if his apparent jet set lifestyle was true he would want to impress people on an anonymous Internet forum with endless exaggerated tales of his exploits.

 

Rich, methinks you're taking the ether of the internet a tad too serious. 'Twas never a James Bond, more a Simon Templar. As for the exaggerations, well sadly most were actually true, or were they?

[um pahars]

What was it then?

 

Go back on the search function and you'll refresh your memory. Lowe had the pair lined up well before he actually got back in at SMS.

[LGTL]

Sorry to hijack the thread but these get me every time...

 

 

 

[The Kraken]

Over on b-anter there were some excellent photoshops of the statue.

[um pahars]

Sorry to hijack the thread but these get me every time...

 

 

 

 

 

The years go by and I must have seen every mock up of these, but they still never fail to make me p1ss myself.

 

Can still remember a 30 minute phone conversation with Exit2 on the night of the unveiling when we only managed to get about 5 words in between the fits of giggles.

 

These pics are instant pick me ups!!!

[OldNick]

There was a brilliant line about how amazingly detailed the shoes were.

a wood carver in charge of make a bronze, always works in the Fine Art world .

[The Kraken]

That the Ted Bates Statue thread doesn't exist any more is an absolute travesty. I genuinely couldn't read that thread without laughing out loud every single time.

[OldNick]

That the Ted Bates Statue thread doesn't exist any more is an absolute travesty. I genuinely couldn't read that thread without laughing out loud every single time.

It did bring levity when all around was falling to pieces

[um pahars]

a wood carver in charge of make a bronze, always works in the Fine Art world .

 

He was a Saints fan though.

[OldNick]

He was a Saints fan though.

I know a dentist who is a Saints fan but I wouldn't ask him to do a vasectomy lol

I think you will find that one of the best galleries in Stockbridge the owner is a Saints fan, who could have pointed the club in the correct direction

[aintforever]

That statue should serve as a warning to portsmouth - This is what happens when you let a bunch of football fans make executive decisions.

 

The thread should be restored, the funniest thing ever seen on the internet.