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One has to consider the true start of
Southampton’s demise. As much as I’m not a huge admirer
of Lowe the guy was at the helm for some time and despite some topsy
turvey times in the main remained successful during that spell. You
will always experience up and down times when you are a club fighting
to stay in the Premiership, and let’s not kid ourselves
we were in that category.
During Strachan's reign we were starting to stabilize as a
mid table Premier Club, new Stadium and new hope. The problems occurred
when Strachen departed, then we experienced a managerial crisis at
a time when team building was much needed with the calamity appointments
of Sturrock (out of his depth) followed by Wigley (not enough experience).
Wigley was left in charge for far too many games before panic set
in, we were by then a long way in trouble. A managerial problem,
13 league games squandered and a stale team in need of rejuvenation.
Dare I say it:- I was a fan that appreciated the value of
re-appointing Hoddle and the effect that could off had. But Lowe
was decried by all the fans at that time and was forced to appoint
an alternative, so up popped Sturrock instead.
One has to ask themselves
one question:- Had Hoddle’s re-appointed taken place back then
would we be where we are today? He would have brought stability at
that time when it was most needed instead of the shenanigan’s
that followed soon after. With that I feel the stubborn fan base
at that time are as much responsible and not only Lowe for the continued
decline of SFC. Harry Redknapp was and still is a fantastic Manager
but even Harry hudini was unable to stop the inevitable happening.
He took over when all that remained of the outstanding fixtures where
the big tough games. The winnable games you rely on had all been
squandered under Wigley earlier. Although Harry soon departed for
Pompey I remain a Saints fan that will always be grateful to him
for at least trying. Without him we would have been relegated long
before the final game. So I will say this to every single Saints
fan out there. If Lowe is returning with something positive in the
offing then let’s
hear him out. If not then he should finally bow his head in disgrace
and walk away.
As for Wilde I think his feature will be short-lived
anyhow so doesn’t warrant much discussion . Crouch on the other
hand deserves a big thank you for making the best of such a difficult
tenure, but more positive actions are now required. One thing is
for certain, a true Saints fan will stick by their club no matter
what, not just in the good times. All this talk of how fed up we
all are and not renewing Season tickets etc etc is not the answer.
We must stand by the club more than ever, reunite as both fans and
management if we are to see SFC, our club rise again. Being from
Southampton I travel from Norway where I now live about 6 times a
year to watch Saints at home. I even watched the pre-season friendlies
over here in Norway when Saints did their pre-season preparations.
I’m not deserting our club and sincerely hope most of you out
there will do the same
Clive Swatton, Norway |
As a season ticket holder since the move to St. Mary's
I won't be renewing next season if Lowe comes back. I will still
support the team (God help me) by paying on the gate rather than
give Rupert a lump of my hard earned cash to put straight into his
back pocket and those of his cronies. Yes Lowe played a big role
in getting us to St. Mary's, but equally a massive role in getting
us relegated and into our current position. He is not coming back
out of love for the club, purely his wallet and his ego (don't
get in the media much when you're just plain old chief exec of a
medium-sized building company eh Rup?).
As for Wilde ... his behaviour defies belief. He should be thoroughly
ashamed of himself.
Alan Brooks (200 mile Round Trip To Every Home Game) |
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I don’t really care who runs our club, well what remains
of it, the club is unrecognisable to me in its present state, and
to be honest I think I am past caring who next takes over the reins.
As for MW and RL returning at the end of the season, I can only
see this ending in tears and no doubt more public humiliation will
be heaped upon the club when the press start elaborating on their
petty squabbles. However, I am more than happy to see Andrew Cowan
return, I have the greatest respect for him, he knows SFC brick
by brick, he knows the fans and what there expectations are.
There is no queue around SMS offering
us untold riches, there is no knight in shining armour coming to
rescue us from relegation and/or liquidation so we have no choice
than to accept the inevitable that Rupert Lowe is going to return
along with Mike Wilde. Personally I have not had any problems with
either RL or MW, I have always found them to be very genuine men.
Do I think they are the right men to run our club to put Southampton
Football Club back on the football map and my answer would be a
resounding no.
I don’t want to take anyone’s
side, I just want whats best for the club not matter who or what
that is.
Janet Formby, Southampton
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| As a supporter of saints since the
late seventies i can say its been a sad slow demise of a team who
on there day could beat anyone. Since our relegation and all the
loyal football players moving on to keep there football careers on
track, as well as selling them all to try and work some financial
damage limitation it amazes me that the guy who is responsible for
the mess wants to come back and have another go! In the same of all
things Saints this man should carry a government health warning.
If my beloved team were an animal at the vets
they would put it to sleep writing this Sheffield Wednesday are
winning and we will be dropping into the relegation zone, but with
the lack of players and assets and some of the performances of
this season its all we sadly deserve.And with the grim reaper coming
back for a second term at HIS football club i am concerned for
the future of our beloved team on and off the pitch.
Scott
The Lincoln Saint |
I'm not against Lowe & Wilde returning -
there I've said it.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not happy with either of them really as
both men have made mistakes (see below) but as they represent 46%
of shareholders that's tough on us. Other clubs have had Chairman/owners
that are hated by fans, Deadly Doug for example, but he ran
Villa well financially, which in the Sky era is all that matters.
If Lowe & Wilde can put their past grievances behind them
and sort out the financial & football mess Saints are in
then I'm happy for them to run the Plc & Club together.
Of course it's to protect shares but I don't care about that. The
duplicate board members idea should also help any potential
financial takeover too, after which one or both of them could then
be gone again! Wilde got to run the club after Lowe was pushed out on a
wave of unpopularity, but Wilde's promises of investment proved
false and then he dropped out after a year and left us with
the current mob. He may be a favourite of the "Lowe Out" brigade
but for me he is more responsible for the financial mess Saints are
in than Lowe is. His lack of leadership and resignation lead to Crouch
being Chair and although he is obviously a keen Saints fan he does
not appear to be up to the job.
I wasn't really in favour of Lowe going in the first place
although I accept that most fans disagreed with me then, but it's
not who you get rid of its who you replace them with that counts.
Lowes financial running of the club always seemed fine, I met him
once at one of the annual fan nights, and after my question regarding
expanding the stadium to increase our then full 32,000 gates, he
clearly stated he was in no rush to spend what was then Premiership
revenue without at least 26,000 season ticket holders. He also kept
to a wage regime we could afford - unlike Wilde/Crouch and the
current board. There was probably a majority of fans against Lowe
ever arriving in the 90s with the reverse takeover initially and
then later Lowe did make some (not all!) bad managerial
appointments and must shoulder some responsibility for his poor working
relationship with Redknapp who is clearly a good manager - but just
not for us! He also fell out publicly with McMenemy too which upset
loads of fans. Cumulatively this suggests he is arrogant but
at least he made good long term decisions for the club, like building
St.Mary's and the investment in the academy. He also appointed
Strachan who must be our third best manager ever and let him have
money to spend on ...erm... Higginbottom!
So its Wilde & Lowe for me, until someone better financially
equipped takes over.
Let's hope Saints can upset the Albion and get at least a draw
on Monday night and then it's up to Saints next Sunday to
ensure we play in the same division as Sheffield Utd next season.
Steve Derham, Sholing/Birmingham
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I have been a supporter for more than 50 years and cannot believe how
badly this club is now being run.
How, having received more than £20 million in transfer fees over
the last two years can they be in such a financial mess. there are
a number of clubs in this league with much smaller budgets and yet
are doing so much better.
As others are saying it may take relagation and administration to sort
out this horrible mess and rid the club of its incompetent managers.
Phil Walker
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I have to agree with the eloquent views of Clive Swatton and
Steve Derham which I can do little to improve on .
I think back to the days when we stayed in the Premiership
every season by the skin of our teeth , whilst at the Dell. What
a struggle that was when the capacity only permitted gates
of 15,000. So I thank Le Tissier and other loyal players
like Dodd and Benali and Oakley and the good financial management
of the Board under the Chairmanship of Mr Lowe .The manager for
most of the last season at the Dell was Glenn Hoddle . Moving
to a magnificent new Stadium was something Lowe managed well also.
I wished he had not fallen out with people like Laurie McMenemy
along the way but I would prefer Mr Lowe to Peter Ridsdale
any day of the week.A financial man has to say no to expenditure
requests sometimes.
In hindsight he made a mistake on the playing side by not reappointing
Glenn Hoddle as soon as Strachan resigned but he succumbed to the
pressure of a large number of vociferous fans and did not
appoint him . We should have forgiven Hoddle. It was very
disappointing to drop out of the Premiership so soon after
moving to the magnificent new Stadium. Maybe like politicians
,we get fed up with Chairmen of football clubs after a few years when
they cannot deliver all we want. And we had no divine right to
stay in the Premiership .
Unfortunately the reality is that we have been and are
unable to attract a billionaire to fund the club. And the
reality is that the days of good young players like Bale Walcott
and Jones staying loyal in the face of offers from big Premiership
clubs have gone. So players and managers come and go, but
it is hard for the fans to change allegiance to a club that is
in their hearts.And it is so painful and it hurts so much being
a fan at the moment especially when the players do not seem to
care as much.
The last two years have been no better without Lowe. We should
forgive him and not forget that most of the Directors of the Football
Club over the past twenty years are not millionaires
or billionaires , but businessmen who support Saints and give generously
of their time to keep the club going . I honestly believe that
you do not become a Director of a football club like Southampton
with the idea of getting rich quick. Most do it because they love
the club. And the offer is open for any fan who has pots of money
to buy a majority holding and see if he /she can do any
better.
I hate where we are at the moment , I am a fan . But is no one
person's fault. It is certainly not all down to Mr Lowe.Good luck
to all concerned in the next few critical days.
Andrew Franklin, Basingstoke
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That the club are in a mess there
is no doubt. Some of it caused by bad management but a lot
caused by the fact the football is polarising. Virtually all clubs
outside the top ten are struggling and the position can only get
worse.There simply isnt the money to survive.Nor is there the loyalty
of managers that there was in the past.
I personally think Lowe is the most likely of the present people
involved to get the mess sorted out and a buyer found thus ending
this very sorry saga.
I honestly think they would be better in the short term than the
present board but if they come back, they've got to act as a team
with a sense of direction.
he therefore deserves a chance.
Crujack, Bournemouth
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Whoever had the bright idea to
let Rasiak and Skacel leave on loan should be shot! seriously were
we safe then no! And then get a manager with no experince! make
it two bullets!
We need everyone out and a fresh start, administration would kill us. We
cant allow the useless players to get away that easy, its so easy to
let players leave after they have got us in the shit! but at the same
time its about time Mcgoldrick got a start, or played regularly. We
all know if he don't he'll leave and be scoring for fun somewhere else,
look at dexter! But seriously lets not forget the manager clearly these
players need motivating, clearly he aint doing it! I know now isn't
the time but he gotta go! I know everyone will bang on about yer but
he could be good! Well thats the trouble, Claus could be good, he just
can't run! Pearson could be good he just aint ready and we are
in the shit! get someone in to help with the last 2 games!
Le Tiss, anyone who will give the whole place a lift!
And one final thing I bet we sell Rasiak and Skacel for a combined
fee of less than a million which will be an utter joke!
Anyway at the end of the day its all Harrys fault he sent us down on
purpose, He signed players who couldn't run and never played players
he thought had potential. look at Cranie, who was class long
before he came along. Could have filled in several times but
never got a look in. Then as soon as Harry gets the chance he signs
him for Pompey! God I hope Cardiff wipe the floor with those
fish smelling chavs from skateville!
Dave Rogers
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Well i can only hope Wilde/Lowe
has some kind of investor lined up or its going to be a disaster.
They are going to be on a hiding from the off and it won't take
long before the 'Out' protests start to kick off. I'm not aware
of many fans wanting the return of Lowe or Wilde and the only
way they are going to change things is with hard cash to buy better
players.
Mark Smith, Bitterne |
| My direct and indirect family
have always supported the "Saints" through thick and thin.
I have met Rupert Lowe who I think is a very shrewd businessman.
I am not quite sure
of his ethics or even if he has any,
but one must remember that he has helped the club
move to it's present location (even though I personally don't
think it is strategically placed)
If we were still in the Premiership I do believe that Rupert Lowe
would still be our Chairman
if he didn't make such poor appointments of a couple of managers.
Then along came Mike Wilde, a good developer but
I am not too sure about his business
acumen or his ability in the wide World ! But knows nothing about
football other than it's round.
The World of Business and Finance are not made
up of "Nice people",
take a look at Alan Sugar as an example .....or don't ! Leaders are
arrogant, aloof, they have to be, they are
persistent, go getters, workers, they will get what they want,
because they are leaders.
Leon Crouch is a really nice person, runs his
little Empire, but he is not of "Captain of the
Ship Material". He loves the Club and we love him, but sorry Leon,
you are not the right person for this job.
I am sure that given half an hour we could
all write a "Job description
for a Chairman" and we would
all be of a similar mind. So why don't we all do just that.
Paul Jones |
I do not believe that Rupert Lowe is capable of injecting
capital into Southampton FC. Selling players was normal under his
stewardship and has been rampant since he oversaw our relegation.
We need a Chairman who recognises that he knows insufficient about football
to continually meddle, which includes appointing managers not fit
for purpose. We need a Chairman who will listen to fans, care passionately
about the club and bring others on to the Board who can shore up
Saints' financial stability over the long term. The spiral downwards
over the past four seasons is Lowe's legacy to the club and its fans
and only a very arrogant man could think that anyone who genuinely supports
the Saints would welcome him back.
Bruce Freeman, fan since 1965 |
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