Rudi: Too many youngsters playing and I want away

[sotonjoe]

Skacel was disappointing for us long before this season started.

 

It seems quite fair to me that we tried to offload him in the summer as he wasn't part of our plan, and even fairer that we told him so. The fact that he has found himself playing is down to circumstances, not a chance of heart on our part.

 

I don't think he's done much to change our opinion of him with his performances this season, except to say that due to the inexperience of the majority of our team, he's looked a little better than he has done previously.

 

All in all, I won't be sorry to see him go, but I will be sorry that we won't be able to recoup a decent proportion of the large fee we paid for him due to his current contract situation.

[Gordon Mockles]

can't remember where I heard this, and have no idea if its true but I was under the impression that he agreed to have his contract adjusted to less wages and to expire this summer so he could play. I.e. no appearance fee

 

Heard the same thing, something like a 50% cut and reduced duration to a year or something like that (minus appearance fee)

 

I think the treatment of the senior pros has been nothing short of disgraceful. Still, our board hold most people in contempt so why quit while you're behind?!

[Arizona]

Ask yourself this do you want to rely on a player that clearly doesn't want to be here, in this crucial relegation battle?

 

Well, if the board didn't treat all our experienced proffesionals like sh*t to the point that they all wanted out, that wouldn't be a problem. If you only have players in the team who want to be here, then you're pretty much just left with the kids, which is pretty much what Woopert has been gunning for all along.

 

I went to watch Saints training along with LatvianTolix a few weeks ago. When we got there Rudi and Morgan were out kicking a ball about 15 mins before anyone else had even begun warming up. Throughout the training session a few things became apparent about Rudi.

 

1. He seemed a real character and a nice bloke. Him and BWP were the two taking the p*ss. When we asked him for a couple of autographs and photos after he was all to happy to oblige and seemed genuinely happy that we'd come to watch them training. The last player I'd have said didn't want to be here.

 

2. He is f**king quality. His crossing and finishing were far better than any of the other players training that day. DMG on the other hand was knackered after about an hour and seemed intent in making holes in the tarpaulin on side of the dome.

[Whitey Grandad]

I still don't believe Skacel looks any better than anyone else in our team, but that wasn't the issue. We had to, and still need to, get one of our biggest earners off the books. It wasn't a footballing decision but a financial one because of our desperate need for cash. It really is as simple as that

But this ignores the matter of getting bums on seats. Any fool can cut costs but the real skill is in maximising revenue from the assets that you do have. If having players of Rudi's quality leads to increased gates through better performances then the extra cost is more than compensated. Manchester United don't buy the best players just because they can afford them, they realise that they are in the entertainment business and they have a big ground to fill.

[austsaint]

Rudi & Kevin are our last links with real world football and they are both class acts. I woldn't blame eithet of them for moving on now.

 

With at least 4 ex-Saints in their line-up, Stoke have, if only temporarily reminded us all of just how far the Club but not it's ex-stars have fallen away from the premiership.

 

Yes, agree totally. I would add Perry to that list. Of the games I've seen, Rudi has put in a decent effort and shown his class.....you could hardly blame him for losing motivation...even if only half of the reports of his treatment by Lowe are true.

[benjii]

Doesn't exactly fit with his claim that he is up for a new challenge though does it?

 

 

 

And the article says that he has found himself at left back this season??? Hmmm

 

:rolleyes:

 

Yeah, I'm sure he was really talking about a financial challenge.

 

Honestly, what a dullard.

[Alain Perrin]

Feel sorry for players like him John and Rasiak etc.. We treated them like ****. I still fail to believe all of jans signings (how many now 8?) cost less then 1 of those players.

 

Yes, it must be a right ****er being on £15K a week. The poor little things.

 

Just as a question. How much do you think we are paying the following players per week:

 

Schiederlin

Smith

Pulis

Gasmi

Wotton

Molyneaux

 

Help me out, who are the other two?

 

Given age and experience personally I doubt they are being paid more than £2-3K per week each. Wotton perhaps the exception (but he's out on loan).

 

Given that Saga is seen as too expensive on £7K per week then it gives you a clue how little (and I use the word advisedly) some of players are on.

[ottery st mary]

Yes, it must be a right ****er being on £15K a week. The poor little things.

 

Just as a question. How much do you think we are paying the following players per week:

 

Schiederlin

Smith

Pulis

Gasmi

Wotton

Molyneaux

 

Help me out, who are the other two?

 

Given age and experience personally I doubt they are being paid more than £2-3K per week each. Wotton perhaps the exception (but he's out on loan).

 

Given that Saga is seen as too expensive on £7K per week then it gives you a clue how little (and I use the word advisedly) some of players are on.

 

Pulis and Gasmi are on big wedges as team mascots..very strange.

[ALWAYS_SFC]

Pulis and Gasmi are on big wedges as team mascots..very strange.

 

They cost a fortune in medical treatment..

[ottery st mary]

They cost a fortune in medical treatment..

 

The whole of Alain Perrins list of young signings have injury problems of different sorts...Not least ..none are really match fit for 90 mins in a CCC game at the moment...Poor aquisitions in anybodies book...Our Director oF Football knows best and his luvvies will tell us so, time and time again.

 

Get some proper players in the next few weeks or its curtains before Feb.

[Alain Perrin]

This is what i dont get. Yes we have to rely on a number of youngsters - as financially we have no option, but why arent we bringing in /utilising properley the experience that weve already got and we need to give us a chance. Kids on their own just arent going to do it, they need some experience with them. So by paying Rudi ,and at the same time treating him as an unwanted goods, we are just shooting ourselves in the foot. Why isnt Jan looking to Rudi as an experienced pro , to help bring on the youngsters - thus getting more value out of him?

 

We are. That's why Rudi has played 17 games this season. When we realised we could sell him / loan him we played him.

 

We have a number of 'high' earners, all of which when it comes to the books would be sold/loaned to get their weekly wage off the books.

 

Saints wanted to sell Rudi to Ipswich but they couldn't meet his wage demands. What does that tell you about his wages???? No surprise that Lowe used the "we're not going to play you line". Most professionals care about playing as much as they do about the money but there is probably a point though when the cut in money to play just ain't worth it (again what does that tell you about Rudi's wages?)

 

Not begrudging him it. He negotiated the contract and we need to honour it. It doesn't make the club evil for trying to get that contract off our backs though.

[Alain Perrin]

The whole of Alain Perrins list of young signings have injury problems of different sorts...Not least ..none are really match fit for 90 mins in a CCC game at the moment...Poor aquisitions in anybodies book...Our Director oF Football knows best and his luvvies will tell us so, time and time again.

 

Get some proper players in the next few weeks or its curtains before Feb.

 

Pray tell, what's it like ****ing Debbie McGee?

 

If you can only pay peanuts, you get monkeys. Unless you've got a magic idea how we can magic money from somewhere I don't see we have much alternative. You might be able to shuffle the pack a bit, or get a couple of players in on sub-£3Kpw, but that's it.

 

I hear that the club is still losing £10K per week. That's 60% of a John, or Rudi plus a Schiederlin.

 

ps. add Holmes to the list, I forgot him. One more to hit the eight mentioned, who am I missing.

[Arizona]

We are. That's why Rudi has played 17 games this season. When we realised we could sell him / loan him we played him.

 

We have a number of 'high' earners, all of which when it comes to the books would be sold/loaned to get their weekly wage off the books.

 

Saints wanted to sell Rudi to Ipswich but they couldn't meet his wage demands. What does that tell you about his wages???? No surprise that Lowe used the "we're not going to play you line". Most professionals care about playing as much as they do about the money but there is probably a point though when the cut in money to play just ain't worth it (again what does that tell you about Rudi's wages?)

 

Not begrudging him it. He negotiated the contract and we need to honour it. It doesn't make the club evil for trying to get that contract off our backs though.

 

Telling the players we cannot afford the wages or putting them on the transfer list would be the proffesional way of doing it. Going by reports from many players however they are being told they wont be allowed to play if they don't agree to leave. On top of that there have been a lot of rumours spread around about the senior players not giving a s**t, which I'd be very surprised if they weren't engineered by the club in some way.

 

In short, there are correct ways of getting rid of players we can't afford without treating them like garbage. Telling Skacel he wouldn't get to play unless he took a 50% pay cut to join Ipswich... that's just wrong.

[St Landrew]

Appalling way to treat a good quality player. SFC have never managed to get the best out of Rudi, which is unusual, but symptomatic of this club recently. Time was when players played out of their skins for Saints, and were less effective elsewhere. Now it almost appears to be the other way round.

 

Totally agree with his comments too.

[Whitey Grandad]

In any other business it would be called constructive dismissal.

[ottery st mary]

Pray tell, what's it like ****ing Debbie McGee?

 

If you can only pay peanuts, you get monkeys. Unless you've got a magic idea how we can magic money from somewhere I don't see we have much alternative. You might be able to shuffle the pack a bit, or get a couple of players in on sub-£3Kpw, but that's it.

 

I hear that the club is still losing £10K per week. That's 60% of a John, or Rudi plus a Schiederlin.

 

ps. add Holmes to the list, I forgot him. One more to hit the eight mentioned, who am I missing.

 

 

OK Mr ANGRY,OR Rupert spokesperson tonight...Steady on with all your facts and figures...You will be called jonah, computer mechanic with the financial times under his arm if your not careful.

 

You seem to know so much about wages and other times you know nothing, so you say...Close to the boss , maybe....

 

Anyway you leave Miss McGee out of this or you will upset Pauley.

 

Can I call you jonah the man with the payroll at his fingertips.

Next time you see Lowey, have a word about his destruction of our Football Club.

You are so far up yours or somebody elses Arsenal it must be painful

 

Can I call you Perry, to make it more pally between us, fellow supporters or

the likes of me beneath your exalted position next to the boss at St Marys.

 

Happy New Year by the way Perry.

[Whitey Grandad]

I hear that the club is still losing £10K per week. That's 60% of a John, or Rudi plus a Schiederlin.

... or 1300 more bums on seats at every home game.

[Alain Perrin]

Telling the players we cannot afford the wages or putting them on the transfer list would be the proffesional way of doing it. Going by reports from many players however they are being told they wont be allowed to play if they don't agree to leave. On top of that there have been a lot of rumours spread around about the senior players not giving a s**t, which I'd be very surprised if they weren't engineered by the club in some way.

 

In short, there are correct ways of getting rid of players we can't afford without treating them like garbage. Telling Skacel he wouldn't get to play unless he took a 50% pay cut to join Ipswich... that's just wrong.

 

"Rudi, thanks for coming"

"Není problém Rupert"

"Rudi we have problem, we can't afford your wages and we'd like you to look for another club. If you don't we won't be able to play you because of the win/goal/appearance bonus in your contract. This is is not a reflection your ability, you know we think you're a top player, it's just that we in financial difficulties. Anyway Ipswich want to speak to you, it's only £6K per week, half of what you are on now, but please speak to them"

"Polib si Rupert, chci všechny vaše peníze vám kachna myslivost kurevníku"

"Hmmm, well it looks like we have a problem then......."

 

Anyone speak Czech?

[Mr X]

Anyone else think it weird that we couldn't afford to keep stern yet we can pay skacel, he must be on at least as much money as john was

[saint lard]

With all the fuss over his signing, he never reached his full potential,be this mis-management or otherwise.

Promised so much,delivered so little.

I would not lay the blame with the player solely,he was totally mis-managed.

Such a shame,he could of been a extremely influential part of the squad.

If im honest i dont think his heart was really in it.

He never looked completely fit,nor comfortable at Saints.

He had aspirations much greater than Saints could deliver,and those that his ability would allow him.

[Alain Perrin]

OK Mr ANGRY,OR Rupert spokesperson tonight...Steady on with all your facts and figures...You will be called jonah, computer mechanic with the financial times under his arm if your not careful.

 

You seem to know so much about wages and other times you know nothing, so you say...Close to the boss , maybe....

 

Anyway you leave Miss McGee out of this or you will upset Pauley.

 

Can I call you jonah the man with the payroll at his fingertips.

Next time you see Lowey, have a word about his destruction of our Football Club.

You are so far up yours or somebody elses Arsenal it must be painful

 

Can I call you Perry, to make it more pally between us, fellow supporters or

the likes of me beneath your exalted position next to the boss at St Marys.

 

Happy New Year by the way Perry.

 

 

Not Mr Angry and I don't know who Perry is (other than the SISA bloke but I'm not him)?

 

I'm just a fan, like you, just with different opinions. If you think that anyone who disagrees with you must be on the inside / a PR plant or whatever, then it says more about you than me.

 

I know what I've heard - that John was on £17K per week and Rasiak not far behind him. The rest is speculation on my part.

 

What I know for certain (because I can read the published accounts) is that we have a problem. We have wages too high and income too low. The only way, the ONLY way to solve that is to increase income (takeover, attendance, exceptionals like Man Utd, player sales) or reduce costs (Wages (biggest %), staff, closing corners, free buses).

 

I don't know any other way of doing it and therefore I can't slate Lowe for the inevitable.

[L1Minus10]

Rudi has probably played his last game for us now due to speaking out which is a shame as he's a good player. He was hyped to **** based on 20 good games for Hearts - this was not his fault. He was signed for £1.75 million and given a good contract. Neither of these thing are his fault either. He played ok in his first season, nothing earth shattering but pretty well. Whisky George then started to **** him about, dropping him for no good reason and this season JP/Lowe have carried his on. He's a good footballer and he has a lot of ability - a damn site more than anyone else in the squad at present and more than a vast majority of them will ever have. He's been badly managed and for the past 2 years, we haven't got the best out of him. He was signed primarily due to the goal blitz at Hearts when he was playing 'in the hole' and guess what, we have never even tried him in that position.

 

I do not blame him in the slightest for wanting to leave.

 

Poortvliet Out

Lowe Out

Wilde Out

[ottery st mary]

Not Mr Angry and I don't know who Perry is (other than the SISA bloke but I'm not him)?

 

I'm just a fan, like you, just with different opinions. If you think that anyone who disagrees with you must be on the inside / a PR plant or whatever, then it says more about you than me.

 

I know what I've heard - that John was on £17K per week and Rasiak not far behind him. The rest is speculation on my part.

 

What I know for certain (because I can read the published accounts) is that we have a problem. We have wages too high and income too low. The only way, the ONLY way to solve that is to increase income (takeover, attendance, exceptionals like Man Utd, player sales) or reduce costs (Wages (biggest %), staff, closing corners, free buses).

 

I don't know any other way of doing it and therefore I can't slate Lowe for the inevitable.

 

I have no problem debating with you Perry short for the french spelling I never get right.

 

But you started of accusing me of making luv with a lady called Debbie and then you expect sensible debate...I resort to banter with people like you for one reason the truth hurts you.

 

You can shove Lowey right up the Arsenal.

 

Most of your facts and figures do not support the truth or the idiot destroying our club.

If you happen to be a freind or associate, take him with you and close the door.

Noffence intended Matey.

[Alain Perrin]

I have no problem debating with you Perry short for the french spelling I never get right.

 

But you started of accusing me of making luv with a lady called Debbie and then you expect sensible debate...I resort to banter with people like you for one reason the truth hurts you.

 

You can shove Lowey right up the Arsenal.

 

Most of your facts and figures do not support the truth or the idiot destroying our club.

If you happen to be a freind or associate, take him with you and close the door.

Noffence intended Matey.

 

 

None taken, but I would like to know what the truth is.

 

My problem with anti-Lowe bluster is it just that. All anger, no (affordable) solutions.

 

If someone had a plan that got Lowe out, didn't put us into admin and kept us in the CCC, then I'd support them absolutely.

 

To date, all I've seen is some grumpy old men complaining about photos in the boardroom.

[Arizona]

"Rudi, thanks for coming"

"Není problém Rupert"

"Rudi we have problem, we can't afford your wages and we'd like you to look for another club. If you don't we won't be able to play you because of the win/goal/appearance bonus in your contract. This is is not a reflection your ability, you know we think you're a top player, it's just that we in financial difficulties. Anyway Ipswich want to speak to you, it's only £6K per week, half of what you are on now, but please speak to them"

"Polib si Rupert, chci všechny vaše peníze vám kachna myslivost kurevníku"

"Hmmm, well it looks like we have a problem then......."

 

Anyone speak Czech?

 

And then as they were leaving the room.

 

"Oh, by the way Rudi, if you don't leave, you will be left out the team anyway, we will spread rumours about you not giving a sh*t about the club and generally do anything we can to force you and all the other experienced players out the club. We have to cut costs, so I'm going to completely anihalate the first team squad to save wages. We wont have a hope in hell of stay up, so I'll hire so cheap foreign coach and spin a load of bull about 'total football' to keep people interested so the gate receipts don't drop too low."

[saint lard]

None taken, but I would like to know what the truth is.

 

My problem with anti-Lowe bluster is it just that. All anger, no (affordable) solutions.

 

If someone had a plan that got Lowe out, didn't put us into admin and kept us in the CCC, then I'd support them absolutely.

 

To date, all I've seen is some grumpy old men complaining about photos in the boardroom.

 

Please excuse me for putting my two pennyworth in.

I have no solutions, but all i know is that Lowe is not good for Sfc.

We were constantly told that being financially prudent was the way ahead,this was trumpeted by Lowe.

We have not been financially prudent in all aspects of the running of this club,and yes you can blame Crouch for his part in our demise also,but it is the way that Lowe has performed throughout his two tenures of being at the helm of Southampton PLC that wrangles with me.

I am a grumpy old man but i will never concede that Rupert Lowe has done nothing less than transform this club from a half decent run,family,supprter orientated club into nothing else than a plaything that will help him to gain kudos,a point scoring vehicle against his detractors and to feed his own ambitions.

I'm just a supporter of a football club,thats all,from boy too man i have followed everything that is SFC,but i will always lay the majority of the blame for our decsent through the leagues,and lets be truthful here,we could easily go a lot further into the mire,we could become a non-entity in English football.

 

Again,i dont have a solution but im sure i know what the problem is.

We need shot of the lot of them,Lowe,Wilde,and yes even Crouch.

 

They have been and always will be poison to Southampton Football Club.

All IMO.

[LostBoys]

I cannot complain about Scacel's viewpoint concerning himself or his comments about too many young inexperienced players in the team. He was left on the sidelines after his move to Ipswich fell through so we could avoid paying him his 'play' bonus. He was then put back in as we were desparate and for no other reason. The other side of the coin is that overall he has been a disappointment but it has coincided with the departure of any 'class' forwards leaving us with players who were too slow or inexperienced to get on the end of his crosses.

[LaptopSaint]

We'll go into administration next week anyway.

 

Then in early Feburary a freak earthquake under Southampton Water will see St Mary's slip into the Itchen.

 

In March a 747 will crash into our temporary home on the Common rendering it unplayable.

 

Midway through April half our squad will be out injured with arse-burn due to falling over too many times on our astroturf pitch at the Sports Centre.

 

But then on May 3rd a hat-trick from Andrej Pernecky (playing as an emergency centre-forward) will see us escape relegation on goal difference despite our thirty point deduction (10 for going into administration, 20 for having a chairman called Rupert).

 

Supporting Saints is never dull, but some of you lot need to relax a bit. If we supported Dynamo Gaza then we'd have some real problems.

[Saint in Paradise]

Add Rudis remarks to the fact that Cork says that Watford wanted him more than Saints

and it really shows the total lack of man management skill at SMS.

[um pahars]

Add Rudis remarks to the fact that Cork says that Watford wanted him more than Saints

and it really shows the total lack of man management skill at SMS.

 

Where did Cork say Watford wanted him more? Never heard that one before? Can't believe he would come out and say that.

[Big Ron fan]

Pray tell, what's it like ****ing Debbie McGee?

 

If you can only pay peanuts, you get monkeys. Unless you've got a magic idea how we can magic money from somewhere I don't see we have much alternative. You might be able to shuffle the pack a bit, or get a couple of players in on sub-£3Kpw, but that's it.

 

I hear that the club is still losing £10K per week. That's 60% of a John, or Rudi plus a Schiederlin.

 

ps. add Holmes to the list, I forgot him. One more to hit the eight mentioned, who am I missing.

 

£20k per fortnight is also about another 1,000 on the gate. Easy to imagine our gates being 4-6k higher with another 2 or 3 decent players playing under a decent manager like Pearson. Then there's the extra store revenue, etc.

[JustMike]

Skacel was disappointing for us long before this season started.

 

It seems quite fair to me that we tried to offload him in the summer as he wasn't part of our plan, and even fairer that we told him so. The fact that he has found himself playing is down to circumstances, not a chance of heart on our part.

 

I don't think he's done much to change our opinion of him with his performances this season, except to say that due to the inexperience of the majority of our team, he's looked a little better than he has done previously.

 

All in all, I won't be sorry to see him go, but I will be sorry that we won't be able to recoup a decent proportion of the large fee we paid for him due to his current contract situation.

 

so that would be when he got more assists then anyone else would it, playing in his correct position.

 

We tried Surman at LB too and he was crap, its called bad management. Id rather have Rudi here, playing in his correct position not in the stands being frozen out in an attempt to **** him off so that he leaves

[saint1977]

None taken, but I would like to know what the truth is.

 

My problem with anti-Lowe bluster is it just that. All anger, no (affordable) solutions.

 

If someone had a plan that got Lowe out, didn't put us into admin and kept us in the CCC, then I'd support them absolutely.

 

To date, all I've seen is some grumpy old men complaining about photos in the boardroom.

 

Cowen would do a far better job as Chairman, Lowe is only an employee owning barely 6% so his incompetence is unneccessary. This move would involve no shares changing hands but would put a far more respected man at the helm. Sorry to pull the "where's the alternative" comfort blanket away. There is no reason for Lowe to continue.

[Give it to Ron]

Yes, it must be a right ****er being on £15K a week. The poor little things.

 

Just as a question. How much do you think we are paying the following players per week:

 

Schiederlin

Smith

Pulis

Gasmi

Wotton

Molyneaux

 

Help me out, who are the other two?

 

Given age and experience personally I doubt they are being paid more than £2-3K per week each. Wotton perhaps the exception (but he's out on loan).

 

Given that Saga is seen as too expensive on £7K per week then it gives you a clue how little (and I use the word advisedly) some of players are on.

 

But this in a nutshell is exactly where Lowes problem is..he buys quantity rather than quality - this was exactly what he did after the cup final we had 42 players in the squad! The club shop hardly had enough space for for the printing.

Instead of recruiting decent players (Malbranque)we went along the Jelle Van Damme, Jacobbsen, Nillson, Neil McCann route that saw us fail and in the ****e we are in now.

You also left Forecast out of the list but there are reasons why he was signed - yep to take over from our regular player of the month.

As a Lowe apologist can you tell me why he had to come back in person when he knew the unrest he would cause - is that good business sense to further alienate your customer base?

Why did he not put in someone to oversee things and just report to him in the background and work with all the parties to get this club back on track?

We all know the answer to that really and how anyone can continue to support him baffles me when everything he now touches turns to poop like a Midas in reverse.

[trousers]

A 4 page Skacel thread and no-one has asked if he's signed yet.

 

It's a sad sign of the time IMHO.

 

No one can even be arsed to be mildly amusing anymore.

[Alain Perrin]

But this in a nutshell is exactly where Lowes problem is..he buys quantity rather than quality - this was exactly what he did after the cup final we had 42 players in the squad! The club shop hardly had enough space for for the printing.

Instead of recruiting decent players (Malbranque)we went along the Jelle Van Damme, Jacobbsen, Nillson, Neil McCann route that saw us fail and in the ****e we are in now.

You also left Forecast out of the list but there are reasons why he was signed - yep to take over from our regular player of the month.

As a Lowe apologist can you tell me why he had to come back in person when he knew the unrest he would cause - is that good business sense to further alienate your customer base?

Why did he not put in someone to oversee things and just report to him in the background and work with all the parties to get this club back on track?

We all know the answer to that really and how anyone can continue to support him baffles me when everything he now touches turns to poop like a Midas in reverse.

 

Thank you for giving me Forecast - I knew I was missing one.

 

I can't disagree with much of what you say. I remember thinking before the relegation season what a good squad we had in comparison to the previous one where, at one point we were struggling to find a fit 15. However, as became clear, it is not the squad, but the team that is important and our team didn't cut it. Lowe has to take the lions share of the blame for this because he was behind the managerial appointments that recruited too many 'squad' players. There are other factors, not Lowe's fault, and these are well documented (see any of Dalek's posts ).

 

When he was ousted the first time I supported him, but accepted that the new guys would bring benefits (best of all in my mind was the end of the poisonous fans atmosphere at SMS which I don't think benefited the team). That said, Wilde, Hone and Crouch let us down, promising much and delivering nothing except a memorable night at Pride Park and a bag load of debt.

 

If RL can sort that out so that we still have a solvent club in 12 months time and hopefully stay in the CCC, then good luck to him. I haven't seen any of the alternatives Leon, Laurie et al. offer any evidence that they could do a better job (and their behaviour at the AGM solidified that for me).

 

If RL was ousted again and crowds went up by 3,000 then I'd support whoever came in. It didn't happen last time (despite the claims of Football first). Our attendance owes more to our league position, results, recession than it does to Rupert Lowe.

 

I think that the best way to improve the league position is to be financially secure first. Clearly we don't want to be relegated to achieve this but this is a massive balancing act. Imagine if we kept John or Rasiak, stayed up by 6 points and then were relegated because we went into Administration???

 

Personally I think RL can steady the ship. I don't think Cowen can (he turned down the role on the grounds of experience) and I think that switching to Leon without a takeover will leave us with the same problems, if not worse (because Leon is a fan first, a business man second - RL is, in my opinion, the otherway round).

[saint1977]

Thank you for giving me Forecast - I knew I was missing one.

 

I can't disagree with much of what you say. I remember thinking before the relegation season what a good squad we had in comparison to the previous one where, at one point we were struggling to find a fit 15. However, as became clear, it is not the squad, but the team that is important and our team didn't cut it. Lowe has to take the lions share of the blame for this because he was behind the managerial appointments that recruited too many 'squad' players. There are other factors, not Lowe's fault, and these are well documented (see any of Dalek's posts ).

 

When he was ousted the first time I supported him, but accepted that the new guys would bring benefits (best of all in my mind was the end of the poisonous fans atmosphere at SMS which I don't think benefited the team). That said, Wilde, Hone and Crouch let us down, promising much and delivering nothing except a memorable night at Pride Park and a bag load of debt.

 

If RL can sort that out so that we still have a solvent club in 12 months time and hopefully stay in the CCC, then good luck to him. I haven't seen any of the alternatives Leon, Laurie et al. offer any evidence that they could do a better job (and their behaviour at the AGM solidified that for me).

 

If RL was ousted again and crowds went up by 3,000 then I'd support whoever came in. It didn't happen last time (despite the claims of Football first). Our attendance owes more to our league position, results, recession than it does to Rupert Lowe.

 

I think that the best way to improve the league position is to be financially secure first. Clearly we don't want to be relegated to achieve this but this is a massive balancing act. Imagine if we kept John or Rasiak, stayed up by 6 points and then were relegated because we went into Administration???

 

Personally I think RL can steady the ship. I don't think Cowen can (he turned down the role on the grounds of experience) and I think that switching to Leon without a takeover will leave us with the same problems, if not worse (because Leon is a fan first, a business man second - RL is, in my opinion, the otherway round).

 

Fair play, good reply. I don't agree with you on Rupert being the best man for this situation, I'd prefer to see someone bring in a manager with CCC experience that knows how to make the team as competitive as it can be in the circumstances, bearing in mind that we don't want to to be cut adfrift with 20 games to go which is starting to look likely if we don't win the Barnsley and Doncaster games. That manager obviously will cost more than JP but would be worth more than say £100k extra if he keeps us up. It's becoming clear that this is a task beyond JP, nice as guy as he is and as good a player as he was.

[Give it to Ron]

Some good points here and a few I agree with especially the way that Crouch etc acted at the AGM but loveable old rosey cheeks really got them going and knew which buttons to press.

To treat the AGM as points scoring just shows how little regard he has for the club as surely the main factor is to get us back on track not his ego.

Judas Coward Wilde is the main problem in this club he started a lot of this and really sold many of us down the river to the point we are now frightened of anything else taking over. As I said why did old rosey cheeks not get in someone to run it for him and that way we wouldnt have the torn club we have now.

We could easily have recruited someone via an advert there are many big institutions that do this.

I agree its a balancing act but to soley put your faith in an inexperienced manager in this country together with inexperienced players is not good business but pure insanity IMO.

Pearson brought in Lucketti who was available on a free and ended up at Huddersfield there are many players out ther that could of done the job and not rely on the kids.

One recent game saw 8 players that turned out for the reserves at Exeter and only won 3-2 yet we ex[pect them to compete in the CCC.

Look at Wotton and the deal given to him....is that the deal of a good businessman?

I am not advocating the return of Crouch as I want them all gone but there is middle ground here.

How can anyone keep saying Lowe is a good businessman when there are many occurences to prove otherwise.

 

Apologies for the grammar but its an emotional subject for me.

Edited 7 January, 2009 by Give it to Ron

[up and away]

Originally Posted by up and away

If you cannot figure out by now the depth of our financial problems by now, is there really any point no matter who comes out and paints everything as black as the ace of spades? Skacel is still here because he would not take a massive pay cut to go to Ipswich, which all of a sudden has given him an uber fan status amongst the players?

More likely Skacels salary is nigh on the equivalent of all the youth players he plays alongside and you are holding this muppet out to be a shining example?

As for the other idiots muttering that Lowe has no business in trying to force Skacel out, that is exactly what the chairman should be doing when we are in this predicament. No wonder "head up his arse, and do FA Crouch" is so popuplar with the idiots on here.

But he didn't sell him so the intelligent thing to have done would have been to play him as he's going to get paid anyway.

 

It would appear, like your pin up Rupert, that you're not too clever.

 

Not to clever? you are extending this to new limits unless we have a new youth player by the name of Skacel that has been playing at LB? As soon as the windows were all closed and we could not even get him out on loan, then it would obviously make sense to use the guy as long as his fitness and performances dictate. Unless I have been misreading the team sheets, that is exactly what has happened.

[Robsk II]

We'll go into administration next week anyway.

 

Then in early Feburary a freak earthquake under Southampton Water will see St Mary's slip into the Itchen.

 

In March a 747 will crash into our temporary home on the Common rendering it unplayable.

 

Midway through April half our squad will be out injured with arse-burn due to falling over too many times on our astroturf pitch at the Sports Centre.

 

But then on May 3rd a hat-trick from Andrej Pernecky (playing as an emergency centre-forward) will see us escape relegation on goal difference despite our thirty point deduction (10 for going into administration, 20 for having a chairman called Rupert).

 

Supporting Saints is never dull, but some of you lot need to relax a bit. If we supported Dynamo Gaza then we'd have some real problems.

 

Man after my own heart; good post.

[Chez]

You also left Forecast out of the list but there are reasons why he was signed.

I am very interested to know what they are/were?

[JohnnyFartPants]

Man after my own heart; good post.

 

How can you say good post, ffs? If all that happens, as is expected, we are totally fu(ked.

[Greenridge]

I am very interested to know what they are/were?

 

I imagine they relate to trying to offload Kelvin which fell through leaving us with 3 keepers.

[Give it to Ron]

I imagine they relate to trying to offload Kelvin which fell through leaving us with 3 keepers.

 

In one! I believe Ipswich were involved but ended up with Wright. Now we have a goalkeeper that is one of the better paid players and out of contract soon I believe.

[sadoldgit]

A 4 page Skacel thread and no-one has asked if he's signed yet.

 

It's a sad sign of the time IMHO.

 

No one can even be arsed to be mildly amusing anymore.

 

I think we should start asking if he has left yet.

 

All this wailing and wringing of hands is a bit of a joke though isn't it?

 

Skacel has been roundly slagged off here as a failure. This time last year the perceived wisdom on here was that the "journeymen" (Skacel, John etc.) were a waste of money and that we should play the kids.

 

Now it seems that we are treating said journeymen really badly???

 

As my old mate Um Pahars would say (with lots of rolley eyes things), you couldn't make it up.

[trousers]

I think we should start asking if he has left yet.

 

All this wailing and wringing of hands is a bit of a joke though isn't it?

 

Skacel has been roundly slagged off here as a failure. This time last year the perceived wisdom on here was that the "journeymen" (Skacel, John etc.) were a waste of money and that we should play the kids.

 

Now it seems that we are treating said journeymen really badly???

 

As my old mate Um Pahars would say (with lots of rolley eyes things), you couldn't make it up.

 

Hands up. I was one of those calling for giving the academy boy(sh) a bigger/longer crack of the whip, but I don't recall us asking for a complete reverse of the previous philosophy of overloading the team with said journeymen. We were simply calling for a balanced approach. We've gone from one end of the scale to the other.

 

So, not complete hypocrisy to be fair!

[ottery st mary]

Has Rudi signed yet?